Just as Matt moved to open my door, Kade came flying out of the front door of the precinct and leapt down the four steps onto the sidewalk. He ran to Matt and they were talking quietly between them. I couldn’t catch what they were saying, but they looked serious and worried.
Unable to stay put any longer I opened the door and climbed down the high drop to the sidewalk. The moment my feet hit concrete, Matt and Kade were before me.
“What’s going on?” I asked as I looked up to Kade.
“I didn’t make any call for you, Love. Something’s wrong. Either this guy is up to something, or someone else is, and made the call over the radio with my name.” He was talking just above a whisper and gestured to the uniform who still stood watching us all suspiciously.
“Can’t you check for the call? Aren’t there logs of the radio calls?” Matt asked.
“I can, and I will, but right now we need to make sure Livy is safe. Let’s get inside.”
“Is….is he here? Do you think he set this up?” I asked shakily as I started to frantically look all around me for anyone lurking.
“I don’t know Love. Something’s clearly going on, but we can and will keep you safe. Let’s get you to my office, then once I know you’re secure, I can start looking into it all, yeah?”
“Ok.” I agreed. They were both so worried, constantly watching the area around us, and the cop who had led us there. I was too, but I tried to stay calm on the outside. I couldn’t worry them both anymore by freaking out.
“I’ll warn you Livy, It’s chaos inside. A gay rights rally got out of control today, and arrests were made. I think half the damn protesters are in the reception demanding justice right now.”
My heart began to pound even harder at that news. I was anxious enough about all of the uncertainty surrounding me. Walking through a riot of disgruntled protesters sounded terrifying.
“Just stay close to us Cariña. We’ll get you straight through the chaos and up to Kade’s office, ok?” Matt assured me as he took my face between his hands and looked deep into my eyes. I nodded and he placed the sweetest kiss on my forehead, then took my hand and led me, alongside Kade, into the building.
When Kade said it was chaos inside, he lied. Chaos I had a chance of coping with. The scene before me exceeded chaos a long time ago. The space was packed with people, a mixture of protesters in brightly coloured t-shirts, emblazoned with gay rights slogans, and cops. There was a seriously stressed out looking woman at the front desk trying to be heard over the deafening roar of the angry protesters, all demanding the people who were, in their words, ‘unjustly arrested’ be freed immediately. There was a lot of yelling about freedom of speech and right to protest, and some people were waving placards with more slogans in huge letters clearly displayed. These people were clearly enraged, and the atmosphere between them and the police- both uniformed and not, who were trying to calm everyone down, was charged.
I hesitated at the door, petrified to walk into the midst of all of those angry people, but the guys plowed on until Matt’s hand was pulled behind him, stopped by my own clinging to him with everything in me. He stopped and turned to me, the confused look on his face rapidly turning to concern. He began to backtrack towards me when suddenly screams broke out from the crowd. I looked up immediately for the cause of the frantic panic, but the entire crowd of protesters just started to come at me, racing to get out of the building as fast as they could.
A large man with a bright orange t-shirt reached us first and slammed right through Matt’s and my own joined hands, separating us as he sped past me and fled from the building. More were right behind him and I realised if I didn’t hurry to move, I’d pretty quickly be knocked over and trampled.
In a panic and unable to move anywhere else, I turned on my heel, and ran amongst the masses out onto the street where the protesters were now assembling in a huddle a few metres away from the building. They all looked panicked and shaken. A few women were crying and being comforted by others as more people continued to pour out onto the street.
What the heck happened? Why were they screaming? I was scared and wanted the guys more than anything. I stopped off to the side, clear of the outpouring of people, and watched the doorway for Matt or Kade to come through.
Shaken and confused, terrified about what had happened to make everyone scream and run, and even more terrified about who had lured me there in the first place, I began to back away from the building, never once taking my eyes from the doors, desperately looking for my guys.
I backed away about ten steps, just starting to get far enough from the madness to feel a little less jittery when suddenly a hand clamped down over my mouth, as another wrapped tightly around my waist and lifted me clear off of the ground.
My first instinct was to scream, but the hand over my mouth muffled it to little more than a whisper with my weak voice. I fought, attempting to kick and hit out. I slapped and scratched and nipped the arm around my waist, but the grip was unrelenting. My eyes darted between the doorway and the people in the street, but
