deep. Blood covered the man’s shoulder and dripped all the way down to the cement. He died quickly. The nails embedded into his skull had kept him quiet.
Darwin couldn’t believe his luck. Without wasting a moment, he turned and entered the building, the gun in his hand held high. He kicked the stopper on the door and shut it quietly behind him.
He was in. And there was light.
Rosina was here somewhere and he wouldn’t hesitate again. He wouldn’t try to intimidate these men again. They were hardened beyond that. He had been brought here like cattle to the abattoir and he didn’t even know it. The joke was on him, but now that he had the upper hand of surprise, nothing would stop him from getting his bride back.
He ran for the middle of the building where he supposed the elevators were. He knew what Paul said about the elevators being locked out of service was probably true, but no one ever thought of the service elevator. The one contractors used for equipment and supplies was almost never locked unless men were working on the building. But it was after nine in the evening. He doubted anyone was still working.
He rounded each corner with caution, his new weapon at the ready. He’d encountered no one by the time he found the elevators. Just to fuck around, he hit the buttons and ran away, looking for the freight one.
Two doors away from the elevators, someone stepped out behind him. Darwin spun around and squeezed the trigger to the point where the weapon almost fired. He held off and watched as the man tiptoed down the corridor, oblivious to Darwin in the middle of the hallway.
The man turned a corner without looking back. Darwin started breathing again. He may want to approach the bad guys without caution and show them who’s boss, but he didn’t want to start that by shooting one of them in the back.
He turned around and hustled down another corridor, his running shoes almost soundless on the tiled floor.
To his relief, the freight elevator was right where he thought it would be. He recognized the larger door right away.
He pushed the button and the cables and pulleys whirred into gear. As it came down, he kept his back to it and watched the hallway.
The amateur in the building with hired hit men was not the role he envisioned on his honeymoon, but nor did he think his new bride would be kidnapped. He had to do whatever he could. There was no turning back. He only wished he had Greg with him. Someone trained in this kind of thing.
The elevator motors slowed. He turned, prepared for anyone coming out.
The doors slid open to reveal an empty lift. He jumped in and pushed the top button, and then hit the close door button.
Immediately, the door began closing. He watched the hallway until the last second, but no one appeared.
He knew a certain number of the Fuccini men would file out of the building to look into the accident out front. He had a feeling that resistance would be at a minimum and for the ones inside still, they would fear him more than Paul did. They would think of Big John, then they would see Paul and think this was just the beginning.
What if a small army guarded the top floor? They would have heard the freight elevator and now, as he rode toward them, they would be flipping off their safeties.
At two floors away, as fast as he could, he jammed his thumb into the button below the top one. The freight elevator instantly slowed.
Darwin let out a sigh of relief and stood off to the side to see if anyone waited for him.
His heart in his throat, stomach in knots, the door slid open slowly. The room was cavernous. Dark too. That sealed his decision. He would have to go one more level and take his chances.
But he couldn’t. Going to the next floor could mean walking into an ambush. Getting off the elevator now only meant he needed to deal with the dark. As much as it terrified him, the dark wouldn’t kill him like bullets could.
The door began to shut. He hit the door open button and waited. He knew the right thing to do would be to walk out now and find a way to get up one more floor, but he didn’t know how. It was dark.
He broke out in a clammy sweat. Adrenaline spread through his stomach. Fight or flight set in. He had to fight. For Rosina. This was the way.
The door started shutting. He hit the button. It stopped and slowly opened again.
“Shit.”
Darwin stepped off the freight elevator and into the darkness of a floor under construction and almost fainted.
The door slowly closed behind him. He felt the door was closing on his salvation. All chance of survival was dying with that door.
It took everything in his soul to take one step. At every second, he waited for a knife to prick him, a needle to jab him. He wanted to scream, to shout, to run, but all he could do was take one more step.
Paralysis threatened him. The only cure was chanting the word, Rosina.
Under his breath, he whispered her name and took a step. He whispered it again and took another step. Only the dim red exit signs provided any lights to the whole area.
He wanted to run to an exit and scream until his voice gave out, but he used every ounce of self-control to continue walking, one step at a time.
Three minutes later he made it to the door that led into a corridor. An exit sign illuminated the stairwell in red.
He stepped out, and touched the door handle, ready to twist it and leave the dark floor from hell.
He had no idea how he was still standing. The last time, many years ago, when he had been in a room this dark, he had killed his stepmother. That was so long ago, a distant memory. No one knew he did it, but one day he would tell his wife.
He heard a noise behind him. Darwin spun around and saw the light from the freight elevator as its door opened. Three men exited it, guns drawn, flashlights in their hands.
Shit.
He opened the door to the stairwell and closed it behind him as fast as he could. They were bound to have seen the light from the stairwell. That meant they were on their way toward him now. He couldn’t just run aimlessly through a building he knew nothing about, chased by numerous men with guns. He would never have the time to find Rosina and get her out safely. Even if he ran right into her, the last thing he wanted was to be running from bullets with her at his side.
He had to take a stand.
He hustled up the stairwell to the half-level landing where the stairs turned. Eight more steps up was the door to the floor where they supposedly held his wife. He leaned into the corner so only his eyes could look down and see the top of the door to the dark floor.
He waited, breathing in and out in a controlled manner. He needed to focus, stay lucid.
The gun was heavy in his hand. He had no idea how many bullets it contained or how to fire it exactly. But its weight and knowing to just point and shoot provided Darwin some comfort.
This was it. Do or die. He had an accident and killed a man with his Ford Mustang. That’s something he would have to live with for the rest of his life. But now people were trying to kill him and his bride. And that he could not live with.
It was time to lower himself to their level. It was time to kill or be killed.
He raised his gun when feet scuffled on the other side of the door. Someone spoke muffled words into a radio.
He leaned forward until he could see the door handle. It slowly turned. Then the door moved an inch inwards.
He fell back against the wall to the point where he couldn’t see the door at all, and if they looked up, they’d not see him.
He waited. He breathed, softly, slowly. He waited.
At least two men stepped into the stairwell. He waited.
Then he pushed off the wall, stuck the gun through the metal bars of the railing and squeezed the trigger as
