Chapter 20

Hailey's head dropped to her chest. The kidnapper regarded her with a sneer and spat on the floor. "American bitches. Too much talk." He turned on his heel and left the room. The door slammed behind him. It did not, however, lock completely.

Time passed and the fog in Hailey's brain slowly began to lift. The scratchy black hood still covered her head, but she sensed she was alone. She got busy twisting and turning her hands and soon freed herself. Cold air wrapped around her, and she wished she still had her jacket.

Discarded office equipment littered the room – desks, chairs, a lone file cabinet. She had no idea where she was. But she knew she had to locate something to use as a weapon and get the hell out. The team must be going crazy by now.

She stood up, but quickly sat back down. A wave of nausea came over her as she rubbed her head. That moron hit me harder than I thought. After several deep breaths, she tried standing again. Okay, I can do this.

She made her way toward the desks to look around. Nothing in them except some old receipts and invoices from a company she'd never heard of. She sighed and looked around. Come on, come on. There must be something here I can use.

In another corner, under some boxes, she spotted something promising. Yeah, I like this. After checking it out, she decided it would at least serve as a distraction.

To her shock, she found the door not locked. She eased it open and listened. There was a low murmur of male voices at the end of the hall, but she could not make out what they were saying. Voices suddenly raised like they were arguing. Then, chairs scraped against the floor. "Leave them. They're not going anywhere," said one man loudly. "Let's go. Sergei will be waiting." It was not the voice of her kidnapper.

They? Who else is here? Could it be the missing girl?

Hailey felt her pulse kick up. Maybe we're getting closer to solving this. She closed her door and positioned herself behind it. If someone came to check, her distraction was ready.

The group passed her door and the hall was silent again. What is going on? After counting to ten, she slid out the door and went toward the vacated room. There on a long folding table, next to food takeout containers, was a forgotten cell phone.

Sorry, guys. It's about to be your very unlucky day. The wrath of Hank Voight is going to come down on you.

"My phone. Dammit. I left it inside," said one of the four men who'd just exited the abandoned warehouse.

The leader of the group said, "Forget it, Vlad. We'll be back soon." But Vlad had already turned his back and was walking toward the building. "He never listens. I should just shoot him right now," muttered the man.

"Da. He is a fool. But we still need him," said another man, shaking his head.

Hailey punched in Dante's number and prayed he would pick up. The phone had very little power left. It would probably die at any moment.

Dante was going through pod footage when he decided he needed a break. The rest of the team was out searching the area around The Silos. He got up and wandered around the corner. He fed coins into the soda machine and a cold can dropped down. As he walked back, he heard his phone ringing. It was not a number he recognized, but something told him to answer it anyway.

"Dante, it's me!" said a breathless Hailey. "Some Russian guy grabbed me. I'm at an empty warehouse, but I don't know where. I overheard them talking. There might be someone . . ." The rest of the sentence was lost as Dante heard a man burst into the room and start yelling at Hailey.

"Hailey! Hang on. We'll find you," shouted Dante. "Hailey!"

Hailey dropped the phone and picked up her distraction – a fire extinguisher – and mentally recited the acronym – pull, aim, squeeze and sweep. The blast caught the Russian by surprise and he lost both his gun and his footing. As he slithered around on the floor cursing, he almost got a grip on his weapon.

But Hailey's foot stomped down on his wrist as she bent to scoop up the gun. "I don't think so," she said.

More invective spilled from his mouth. "My wrist! You broke it," he wailed.

"How about I bust your balls, too?" She didn't wait for an answer. I'm starting to sound like Voight. "Is there someone else being held here? A young woman? Things will go easier if you tell me the truth."

"What is taking that fool so long?" said the group leader. He shoved one of the minions toward the door. "Go find him."

At the District

Dante was frantic. "Hailey, can you hear me? Are you still there? Hailey, talk to me!" Either the man took the phone from her, or it had died. Both situations were bad.

Trudy had come into the room when she heard him yelling. "Okay, see if you can find the tower it pinged. I'll let Voight know."

Dante was already searching. After a minute, he said, "Got it. It looks like it's near The Silos, but not right there at it. Maybe a couple streets over."

"Good. Okay, at least we know she's alive," said Trudy.

"And she's a fighter. She won't go down easily."

Trudy nodded. "Amen to that."