Chapter Seventeen

Randy let out an aggravated sigh as he walked away from Daniel, ignoring the soft chuckles coming from the beaten man. By all accounts, he should have been unconscious by now, taking hit after hit for the last three hours. Randy wasn't sure if it was just pure resilience on the other man's part or the fact that he actually did have a hard head. Randy was betting on the latter.

"You can hit me all you want," Daniel said, spitting blood on the floor before smiling. "I'm still not going to tell you where they are."

"How long do you think you can keep this up?" Randy asked, rolling up the sleeves of his dress shirt.

Daniel smirked as he rotated his neck. "Well, let's see…we've going on about it for three hours now. I'm thinking I have at least another twelve hours before I require my daily beauty rest."

"Do you really think you're funny?"

"I think I'm hilarious."

Letting out a roar of frustration, Randy kicked a chair clear across the room as he made his way back to Daniel. Grabbing the other man by his shirtfront, he lifted him on the floor, chair and all. "Do you even care whether you live or die?"

"No."

"So, you're really willing to risk your life for some woman you don't even know?" Randy asked, giving Daniel a shake.

"I was raised to be a gentleman," Daniel answered calmly. "Besides, I would be more than happy to risk my life for that woman, especially if it keeps you and your friend from doing despicable things to her."

Randy clenched his teeth in anger. "Maybe if you're lucky, you'll get your wish." Letting go of Daniel, he took a step back before leaning down to smile cruelly. "And she'll still die right along with you and Max."

Daniel narrowed his eyes. "You still have to find them first."

"This is ridiculous, Wolfe," Krieger said from where he was sitting in the corner of the room. "It's obvious that he's not going to tell us anything. We should just cut our losses and kill him already."

"If you kill me, then it kind of defeats your purpose, don't you think?" Daniel asked, glancing over at Krieger.

"Not at all. If we kill you, I'm sure both Ms. Drew and Mr. Gray will come running," Krieger said, still hiding in the shadows.

"I'm beginning to like the sound of this plan," Randy said, smiling for the first time in a while. "I kill you now and it does two things for me. One, I no longer have to listen to the sound of your annoying voice."

"Annoying?" Daniel scoffed. "I will have you know that my voice has never been considered annoying. Delightful, yes."

"And, two," Randy went on as if Daniel didn't even speak. "I bring Nancy and Max right to me with very little effort on my part."

Before Daniel could say anything, the ringing of the phone interrupted them. Reaching into his pocket, Randy pulled out his cell phone and answered it. "You better be calling me with good news." A slow smile tugged at his lips as he listened to the person on the other end, before hanging up.

"I'm going to have to assume that it's good news, considering the Cheshire grin that's decorating your face," Daniel said, with a heavy sigh. "You might as well spit it out already."

Randy ignored Daniel as he glanced at Krieger. "Looks like everything is a go. We'll be ready to begin as soon as Nancy shows up."

As if on cue, the front door swung open, revealing Nancy standing there with her arms crossed over her chest. "I heard you were looking for me."

Nancy had to admit that her heart was about to thump out of her chest as she stood in the doorway, staring at Randy and Krieger. She tried to ignore the fact that Daniel was sitting bound to a chair, his eyes screaming at her to turn away and run. But she couldn't do that; she would never be able to forgive herself if she chose her life over Daniel's.

Who was she to decide that her life was more important than anyone else?

All she wanted was to put an end to Randy's twisted game, once and for all. And that was what she spent the better part of the flight explaining to Max. To say he wasn't happy with her sacrificial plan would be the biggest understatement of the week. To be honest, he had been livid. She was surprised he hadn't taken control of the plane himself and turned them back around to the Keys.

But in the end, Max knew they needed to put an end to this and get Daniel out of danger. There was no doubt in their minds that Randy and Krieger would kill him without any hesitation whatsoever.

Nancy just had to hope that their plan would work and wouldn't come back to bite them in the ass.

Randy smiled as he took a step towards Nancy. "I have to say, blue eyes, this is quite a surprise."

Nancy arched a brow. "Did you really think I wouldn't show up?"

"Oh, I knew you would show up. I was just expecting Gray to be right beside you."

"I never said he wasn't here. I'm not stupid enough to show up alone, Randy." Nancy smirked as she took a cautious step inside the building, possibly sealing her fate. She just had to hope that Max would be able to take them out as he promised. All she needed was time to get Daniel out of there. "You should give me a little more credit than that."

"I'll give you all the credit in the world, blue eyes," Randy said, his smile quickly forming into a frown. "After all, you were able to convince Gray to turn the tables on me and screw me over."

"Believe me," Daniel spoke up, amusement in his voice. "It didn't take much convincing on her part."

"No, I don't imagine it did." Randy took another step forward. "I imagine she was able to charm him the same was she was able to charm me years ago."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nancy asked. She tried to keep her expression schooled as she saw Max creeping up behind Daniel, holding a finger up to his lips.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Nancy. Flash a little flirtatious smile here, bat your eyes there. Make him promises that you never intend to keep, just to get him to help you so you can turn around and stab him in the back. You did the same thing to me."

Nancy frowned as she shook her head. "What the hell are you talking about? I think you have it backwards, Randy. Everything you just described, you did to me."

A chilling smile turned up Randy's lips. "And you fell for it, just like Gray is doing with you. If I didn't know any better, I would dare say we may be the same person, blue eyes."

"I'm nothing like you."

"Would you like a mirror?"

Nancy swallowed hard, hating that she was letting Randy get to her this way. She never wanted to admit that he was right, but when he put it that way, was she really any better than Randy? Was she just using Max? She didn't want to believe that it was possible, but to the outsider, maybe it would look that way. But she knew that her feelings for Max were real—and he felt the same way about her.

At that moment, Max glanced up at her and she knew without a doubt that she was right. No, she was nothing like Randy. He only wanted to get under her skin, make her put her guard down.

"You're forgetting one thing, Randy."

"And what's that?"

Nancy kept her eyes locked on Randy's green ones as Max finally freed Daniel from the ropes. "Unlike with you, my feelings for Max are real."

"And speaking of Max, where is your shining knight in armor, Nancy?"

"I'm right here, you son of a bitch." The safety being released on Max's gun echoed throughout the abandoned building.

Randy slowly clapped his hands as he whirled around, noticing that Max and Daniel were standing directly behind him. "Bravo. You got Miss Drew to distract me so you could free your little friend."

"It wasn't exactly a genius move on our part, but it served its purpose," Max admitted as he moved in a slow circle around Randy to stand closer to Nancy. "Get to the car, Nancy. We'll be right behind you."

"Max—" Nancy began.

"No arguments, Nancy. I let you come in here alone, even thought I was against the idea. Now it's time for you to listen to me. Get to the car."

Nancy opened her mouth again to argue, but closed it when she saw the hardened expression on Max's face. He wasn't in the mood to screw around, she could see that. She wondered if he was still angry with her from coming in here alone.

Max let out a low growl as he saw she wasn't moving. "Daniel, get her the hell out of here!"

Just as Daniel took a step towards her, Nancy felt a strong pair of arms grab her from behind, slamming her body against a hard chest. Before her brain could even scream at her to get away from the threat, she felt the barrel of a gun press into soft flesh of her temple.

"So good to see you again, Miss Drew," Krieger said softly in her ear. "It's been a while."

Randy's laughter echoed throughout the room. "Did you honestly think it was going to be that easy to get out of here? First rule of a great plan: always have a backup plan ready to go."

Max's grip tightened on his gun, his aim never wavering from Randy's head. "Let her go or I blow his brains out."

Nancy felt Krieger shrug as his grip on her tightened to the point where she was sure she would have a bruise. "Go ahead and do it."

"Krieger and I have an understanding," Randy said, green eyes twinkling with delight. "We don't care about each other. What we have right now is simply a business relationship. We're not friends and we don't pretend to be. I hate him just as much as he hates me, but we have the same endgame in mind."

"Killing me," Nancy answered.

"Well, tormenting and torturing, but eventually, we'll get to the killing part."

"You should see the fun and excitement we have in store for you, Miss Drew," Krieger said, chuckling softly.

"You're not going to get the chance to show her," Max said, barely concealing his anger.

Nancy wasn't sure if it was anger directed at her or the turn of events. She prayed with everything that he wasn't angry with her. She was already angry enough with herself as it was. She didn't even think about Krieger being in the room anywhere, considering he always had others do his dirty work for him.

"Oh, I think we will." Before any of them could react, Randy reached behind him and pulled out a run, aiming it at Max's chest and firing. Nancy let out a terrified scream as Max stumbled back, dropping his gun. She barely registered that Randy fired another shot until she heard Daniel drop to the ground beside her. She struggled with all of her might to break Krieger's hold against her, but he only tightened his arm around her neck, choking her.

"Max!"

Dropping to his knees, Max locked eyes with Nancy—eyes that were full of regret and sorrow. It was then that Nancy noticed there was no blood on Max's shirt. There should have been blood—lots of it. Randy had shot him at point blank range. Then she noticed the dart sticking out of his body—a tranquilizer dart.

Nancy couldn't help the wave of relief she felt wash over her. At least Max wasn't dead.

"Nancy…" Max collapsed the rest of the way to the ground, reaching desperately for his gun. Just as his fingers brushed against it, Randy kicked it out of his way.

"It's dangerous to play with weapons when you're under the influence." Randy squatted down beside Max and flipped him over onto his back. "After all, we wouldn't want you to hurt yourself, now would we?" He grabbed Max by the chin and turned his head so he could see Nancy. "And don't worry. We're going to take good care of your lover."

Standing up, Randy turned to face Nancy. "Any last word you'd like to say to him, blue eyes?"

Nancy let out a strangled gasp as Krieger squeezed his arm around her throat.

"No?" Randy smiled as he aimed the tranquilizer gun at her and fired. "Sweet dreams, Nancy."

Well, I'm back.

And hopefully for good this time, considering I don't have another computer crash where I lose EVERYTHING. I had a few chapters written for this when it happened, and no—the dummy me didn't save it to a flash drive. But I think it's going to end up being a blessing in disguise, because the story is now going in a different direction than I originally planned.

Can you guys ever forgive me?

I really need to thank everyone who sent me a message, asking about Runaway. It touches my heart that you guys care about it so much to ask about it, letting me know that you are still thinking about it. I don't think I can say it enough—you guys rock!

I also want to thank the following people for their reviews for the previous chapter: Michelle Gallichio, Randompersonality, Unknown #1, Unknown #2, SarahE7191, Unknown #3, AngelvieS, Alicia Hardy, SC15, Dani9513, raven678, Cupcake, NancyAustin, Guest #1, Jeaninelovesu, JaneBonesNancy.

I will update as soon as I can…and it won't be 5 months from now.

I apologize for any mistakes in this chapter and please let me know what you think!