“I don’t know. I think I can walk. I think they want to kill me.”
Novah’s throat constricted because she agreed. “We need to go.” The seriousness of the situation seemed to become more daunting by the second. “Come on.” She tossed the towel onto the floor and reached out her hand.
Lindsay was thin with long hair and an intricate tattoo around her arm. She was pretty, although the fear drained her complexion. The shirt she wore hung low on her chest. The material was stretched out as if someone had clutched it.
“How can I trust you?” Lindsay said after she was off the bed.
“You can trust me. Why would they want to kill you?” They were to the door now and Novah opened it to peek out.
“I-I…can’t say.”
Novah didn’t have time to dissect Lindsay’s words. “It’ll be okay. Listen to me, I don’t know your situation or how you got here but right now we need to concentrate on one thing and that is getting you out of this house and to safety. I know it must be hard to trust me, or anyone, after what happened, but I promise you, we’re in this together now. I need you to trust me long enough so that we can get out before those men come back. Okay?”
“They gave me something. A drug. I feel loopy.”
“Let’s get out of here.” Novah reached for her hand and together they took a step across the threshold, but the dinging of the elevator as it came to a stop on the second floor made them step back inside. There was no way of getting down the hall without the men seeing them and Lindsay couldn’t run. “They’re coming back. They’re close.”
Lindsay squeezed Novah’s hand tight. “We’re dead!”
“Not if I can help it,” she whispered, closed the door, then looked around the room. “I have an idea. Find something heavy. Fast.” As Novah grabbed a porcelain statue she noticed that Lindsay was moving sluggishly. She stood in the center of the room as if she couldn’t wrap her brain around what she needed to do. Novah slipped the statue into Lindsay’s arms and said, “I need your help. There are two of them. The only hope we have is to catch them off guard and hit them over the head as hard as we can, even if only to disable them long enough to get out of this room.”
With no time to waste, Novah grabbed the poker from the fireplace, turned off the lamp, and dragged Lindsay with her to stand against the wall.
Leaning in close, Novah whispered, “Stay with me. We can do this. Just as soon as they both cross the doorway, we hit them. Got it?” Fear rushed through her because she knew Lindsay was still under the influence of whatever drug, let alone they were about to take on two brawny, dangerous men. What choice did they have? Hiding only meant they’d lose the element of surprise and that was their only leverage now.
Novah’s hands became slick with sweat as she heard footsteps right outside the door then she heard them laughing. She tightened her grip on the poker and inhaled deeply.
The knob jiggled and the blond man stepped into the room first and he was so busy talking about racing cars that he paid no attention to the fact that the light was now off.
“What the fuck—” the second man muttered.
Novah lifted the poker high and brought it down on the first man’s head and luckily knocked him out cold. Lindsay had dropped the statue and started to run across the room, but the second man caught her by her hair and jerked her back. She fell and screamed. Novah came up behind the man and brought the poker high in the air once more. He’d shifted so she missed hitting him over the head and instead the poker landed on his wide shoulder. The contact didn’t seem to faze him, but instead made him turn his furious attention on Novah. He caught the poker in his strong grasp and she was no match against his strength. With a jerk, he sent the poker flying from her hands.
“What are you doing in here?” He forced through his tight lips.
Novah said the first thing that popped into her head. “I got lost and thought this was my room.”
One corner of his thin lips lifted. “Shitty luck.”
She took a step back, but he was quick for a man his size. He caught her, wrapped his hand around her neck and squeezed. She couldn’t breathe but she fought against him. Flinging her arms trying to make contact with him in some way. Her nails nicked his cheek but again, he was unfazed. She kicked at him but it was useless as she felt her chest tighten. Stars blurred her vision. Her limbs were going numb. She thought her life would be over but suddenly she was dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Coughing and sputtering, she sucked air into her parched lungs. It took her a minute to recover. Lindsay had struck the man over the head with the poker and he was now lying flat on his back now, blood pouring from the gash on his balding head.
“Oh no.” Lindsay trembled. “I think I killed him.”
Novah forced herself to her shaking feet, feeling woozy, but each second counted. “Better him than one of us. Let’s go.”
They raced for the hallway, frantically glancing through the shadows.
“Where are we going?” Lindsay cried.
“We need to make it to my room. I can get my phone and call Egan.” Then it struck Novah that they would be seen on the cameras. They would be ambushed within seconds. The only thing the women had on their side was time. And not much of
