“Hi. Hello. Hi,” I mumbled, my hands shaky. “How can I help you?”
“You need to come with us,” one of them said with a scowl on his face.
I took a step back, my eyes going wide. “What are you talking about?”
“This can all be over in a few hours as long as you cooperate,” the same guy said.
I gasped, taking a step back. “Cooperate?”
Is this guy on drugs? Of course I wouldn’t willingly go with them. That just screamed bad slasher movie. They looked like they could kill me with their bare hands.
I tried to close the door so I could call the police like I should have done as soon as they knocked. Instead of the click of the latch, there was a grunt, and the guy who’d talked to me stepped inside, pushing the door open. It hit me in the head, and I fell back.
“Shit,” I howled, clutching my forehead. When I pulled my hand away, there was blood.
“Clean up and let’s go,” the big guy barked at me.
I stumbled to the sink, grabbing paper towels and pressing them to my head. “I can’t just leave.”
Big Guy crossed his arms over his chest, the other two men flanking him. “This isn’t a negotiation. We’re taking you to the clubhouse with or without your cooperation.”
Okay. Think, Nora. Oh God, what if they start cutting off my fingers? Or lock me in a room and only feed me once a week? What would happen to my kids?
I stopped thinking mighty fast when I saw Lena standing in the doorway, clutching her stuffed octopus to her chest. The guys followed my line of sight and shifted when they spotted my daughter.
“Mommy, me hungry,” Lena said and came up to me, holding her hands up.
I picked her up with one arm and sat her on my hip, my other hand still holding the paper towels to my face.
My eyes met the cold glare of the guy who’d been speaking. “I can’t leave her here.”
“Fuck,” he yelled.
“Language,” I scolded immediately, and my eyes went round when I realized what I’d done.
He didn’t seem to mind, or maybe he didn’t hear me, because he talked to the other two guys in hushed whispers, and they disappeared shortly after.
“We’re taking your car.”
I didn’t think I liked that option any better than the last. “Let me just call someone to watch her. She doesn’t have to be involved in this. She’s only a toddler. She wouldn’t even be able to describe you.”
Or pick them out in a police lineup. Me, on the other hand…
“No phone calls. Now get her ready. You have two minutes.”
I stood unmoving, staring at him. How did this happen? Why did this happen? I must have done something really bad in a past life. And two minutes? To get ready to go with a two-year-old? Is he delusional?
“One minute thirty seconds.”
“No way, that wasn’t thirty seconds,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him. “You didn’t even look at your watch.”
When he stepped forward, I sprang into action, dumping the paper towels in the sink and rushing to find Lena’s bag. She had snacks and diapers in there that should hold her for the next however many hours we’d be gone.
I grabbed it off the kitchen table where it was buried under a pile of clean laundry and turned. “Ready.”
He didn’t respond, just herded us out of the house and to my car. The other two guys were sitting on their bikes, ready to pull out. They’d moved his bike to the end of the driveway, so it was sitting in front of the garage that I only used as storage.
My car was so old, putting it under any sort of cover would just extend its suffering. I hoped it would die a swift death soon so I could claim insurance and buy another rust bucket.
I strapped Lena into her seat and got in on the passenger side. Big Guy needed a few attempts before he figured out the best way to fold himself into my tiny car. I would have laughed if this situation weren’t so scary.
“Phone,” he barked, and I jumped in my seat.
At this stage, I thought it was better to cooperate. I’d done nothing wrong, after all. Maybe if I didn’t piss them off too much, they’d just let me go.
I handed my phone over, and he put it in his pocket. There was no way I was going to try and get it back from there. He turned the key and was greeted with a cacophony of warning lights. I noticed my fuel light had joined the choir, beeping alongside the engine and battery lights.
The biker raised a brow at my brightly lit dashboard and backed out of my driveway. The drive was short but still gave me enough time to work myself into hysterics. If they hurt my little girl, I would go nuclear on their gang. It was one thing to threaten me, but if they thought to do anything to my kids, they’d learn what a pissed-off mom could accomplish with wet wipes and large toys.
We pulled up to large gates, and the biker talked to the guy manning them. He waved us through, and we pulled up to a warehouse-looking building that had seen better days.
“Get out and follow me,” he barked, heaving himself out of my small car.
I did as I was told, getting Lena out of the back and holding her to me. She didn’t like being held so close and started to wiggle, but I couldn’t put her down because then we’d never make it inside. And I thought it wasn’t a good idea to piss them off this early in the game.
The interior was bright, windows covering the top part of the walls. The
