“Oh, she’s hiding under the desk? That’s smart,” Gino laughed.
“I know…like we wouldn’t find her or something,” Chris joined in with the laughter.
It was creepy how quickly Chris was able to change from the man I had started to love into this crazy creep that worked for this guy Gino. I looked at the two of them as they laughed and I walked out into the main room.
“Alright sweet thing, was that kid Kyle the man you know?” Gino asked. I just looked at him and shook my head no. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do or say. Maybe I should have just said yes since Gunner was dead now. Maybe I was right to say no? I had no idea. When I looked at Chris, I didn’t see any response from him.
In fact, when I looked at him I didn’t really see Chris at all. He had turned into Skinner and didn’t respond to me one bit. The way he held his body, even the way his eyes looked; Chris did not look like the man I knew.
“So you know someone else in my group then?” Gino asked. Again I shook my head no.
Gino reached up and grabbed me by the throat and pushed me up against the wall. It happened so quickly that I didn’t know what to do. My hands darted up to meet his and I tried desperately to pull them away.
“Listen here bitch, I will kill you. Do you understand?” Gino said as I shook my head yes. “Now tell me who the fuck you know in the group.”
“Maybe we should bring her downstairs so she can show us,” Chris suggested.
I shook my head yes again.
Chris appeared so calm and withdrawn from the situation. He didn’t react to Gino strangling me, he didn’t even make a motion to come rescue me. It was disturbing. I didn’t know who I was going to show Gino, I didn’t know what was next, but I did know that I needed his hand off of my throat.
I felt the pressure on my windpipe and I couldn’t inhale. The pain increased the longer his hand was wrapped around me and I felt myself getting dizzy as I went longer and longer without oxygen. My eyes got bigger and I looked from Gino to Chris and back again. Chris looked calm and didn’t seem to care at all that I was in the midst of being killed by this man. He kept his cool and kept his attention on Gino.
“Yeah, let’s just bring her downstairs and let her point out the guy. I’m sure by this time she is ready to cooperate,” Chris said as he inched closer to Gino.
I didn’t know if he had intended to actually do anything if Gino continued to strangle me, but luckily Gino released me from his grip. My body collapsed to the ground and I gulped in air as much as I could. I grasped onto my neck and felt the sharp pain that rushed through me as I tried to fill my lungs back up with the sweet oxygen that they had been deprived of.
“You better not fuck with me bitch,” Gino said as he walked toward the stairs at the other end of the warehouse second floor. I now knew why he was such a feared man. His kindness toward me at first had only been an act; that man was clearly willing to murder me without a second thought. I searched Chris’ eyes for some sort of help or understanding as he grabbed me and pulled me to my feet.
For a second I thought I saw something, but then he turned back into Skinner and pulled me roughly toward the stairs.
“We need to stall for about twenty more minutes, do the best you can. I promise I’ll keep you safe,” Chris whispered as we moved down the stairs. There he was; there was the Chris I knew. Now I just had to figure out how to stall a killer for twenty minutes.
Chapter 56
When we reached the bottom floor, no one was asleep anymore. I saw Gunner’s body near the door and it looked like he had a gunshot to his head. I looked away quickly. There was no time to be sad about his death; that would have to come later.
“Line them up,” Gino said to the man who stood next to Chris.
Everyone lined up quicker than I had hoped and within a moment they were ready for Gino. Chris still held onto me as Gino moved toward the line of people.
“This is over, I’m going to kill the girl if you don’t step forward,” Gino said as he looked at the group of people.
I saw the guy from the bed and breakfast and he looked at me and then at Chris. I didn’t know who the third guy was that Chris
said was undercover. I also didn’t know how on earth I would be able to stall this situation at all. Chris and the other guy who Gino seemed to trust brought me up to the line of people and stood me next to Gino.
Gino held onto me and Chris and the other guy let go and stepped back. I felt more unsafe than I ever had. Gino clearly had no concern for my life at all; he didn’t care about me or anyone else in the room. He just didn’t want the mole to continue to feed information to the police.
He grabbed me by the hair and pulled me down to the first person in the line.
“Do you know him?” Gino asked.
I shook my head no. We stepped next in line.
“Do you know him?” he asked again.
I again shook my head no. I felt relieved though, if this was how it was going to go, we would easily take twenty minutes and the raid would be here by the time we got to the end of the line. But I wasn’t that lucky. After about ten people, Gino got frustrated and threw me onto the ground.