I shove my card into my wallet before shoving my wallet into my bag. As I turn to leave, I grab the shopping bag with the shoes I just purchased and thank the clerk who helped me. Stepping out of the store, I scan all the people walking past me looking for my group of friends, spying several sitting at a table just down the way. Oh, how I hated coming to the mall, it was always so busy. Stepping up to the table, my best friend slides a smoothie my way as I sit down in an empty chair. "Thanks," I reply, taking the drink and placing the straw into my mouth taking a big gulp of the ice-cold liquid.
Suddenly I hear the pitter-patter of heels coming in our direction quickly, and I turn to see a girl from the group running our way waving her hands back and forth. "Girls hurry... you will never believe what I just saw coming out of Victoria's!" she yells, "A group of men just stormed the mall and began yelling at some guy. It was horrible!" As I stare at her in disbelief, I quickly realize that she was serious. Honestly speaking, I didn't much care for this girl because she was always looking for the next boy toy. She has also found herself in quite a few dangerous situations because she liked to chase the drama. I have had to be one who had to save her several times, let me introduce you to Rachel Hall. Among my small group of friends, she was often referred to as the slut. With flowing straight brown hair, crystal blue eyes, and a body to die for she was truly quite a sight. She had a lean slender body, decent-sized boobs, and an ass that stood out as she walked. As if this was the world's biggest secret, "Come on guys, let's go see what's happening. Those guys looked dangerous and some were very cute!"
"Woah, Rach... have a little patience." my best friend Zoey says. Zoey is the opposite of me in nearly every way. She is Bold, while I am shy. She goes out partying every weekend, while I work to pay for my father's bills. I am a little miss know it all, while she fails at nearly everything. I have naturally curly almost bleach-blonde hair, while hers is raven black and straight as a nail. Her eyes are a striking brown, while mine are grey like thick clouds during a thunderstorm.
Rachel grabs my wrist, pulling me up into a standing position as she says, "No, we have to leave right now, I don't want to miss this!"
"Okay, Rach... we are coming." I heard Zoey say before standing up, grabbing her bags. I too grab my bag as we follow her through the crowded mall towards where the group of men were. I quickly noticed that several people were rushing away from the scene. I heard several of them shouting that they had guns, and I immediately thought about turning around and running away from the threat.
"Stop!" I shouted, trying to get their attention.
Turning around angrily, "What now? Why do you want to stop... they are just right up here!" Rachels raises her voice trying to keep on walking. Right away I notice Zoey stop and look at me with clear concern in her eyes.
I point at several people running away, "Those people said they have guns, I really don't want to go over there, Rach!" I reply with concern.
"You need to shut your mouth up, we are going end of story! Trust me Grace... they are so handsome and so dreamy!" Rachel says as she starts dragging me along behind her.
"Rachel they have guns!" I shouted, trying to pull away from her.
She continues to drag me along, "Stop it, we are going to see what is happening... I don't understand why you have to be so boring all the time!" She replies with a glare.
Stepping up to the scene, it looked pretty nasty. Six men all dressed up in black suits were all pointing guns at a guy standing in front of them. Several other people were standing near the scene as if they were a part of it, and standing in front of all of the guys with guns was a single man shouting back at the guy in an extremely aggressive manner. "Tell me where it is, I know you know where he stashed it!" I heard the man yell, he had his back towards me so I was unable to see his face. But one thing that immediately caught my attention was his dark brown shaggy hair and sharp navy blue suit. Then I heard the man answer him, and I could tell that his answer annoyed this man as he turned around immediately shouting, "GET OUT, EVERYONE!"
At his sudden outburst, I nearly jumped but noticed that not everyone was running away from the scene. It had me mesmerized, I couldn't move. His eyes had me frozen to the spot, and the features on his face caught my attention... this man was so handsome! It would be an understatement to say that he was handsome. His dark features were both sexy and intimidating. "Come on Gracelyn, we have to get going!" Zoey yelled at me, and I felt her tugging at my wrist.
I glance up at her as she lets go of me, and begins to run away from the scene as fast as she could. Glancing around me, it took me a moment to register the danger in front of me. It was only after the first shot was fired that I ducked out and sprinted like the wind as fast as I could away from them, away from the danger. Through all the commotion, I lost all sight of my friends as I heard shot after shot ring out. What the hell was going on? I thought silently to myself as I approached an exit. As I pass through those doors, a couple of guys in black suits stop me in my tracks. One of them puts his hand in front of my face and says, "Stop, we have a few questions for you."
With wide frightened eyes, I reply, "No thanks." and try to push around them.
While gripping my wrist, one of them holds me in place. His clenched jaw and inflamed eyes stared down at me. "I am sorry Miss, but I insist! I need to know where that flash drive is!" he demands. Stormy clouds darkened the sky as I stood there frozen in place. It smelt like rain was coming. BANG... after hearing the crack of thunder above me, I jumped feeling startled. Shivering as the cold November wind whipped against my face, I stared back at him when I noticed a black Yukon pulling over and parking right next to us. Two more guys dressed in black suits jump out and approach us.
I was so confused as I glared back at the men, "What? I am sorry but I don't know what you guys are talking about!" I answered them, trying to pull my wrist free from his grasp. I was so scared because they were all so much bigger than I am and they all looked so dangerous. Although I was confident and steady in my reply to them, I hoped they didn't read through it and realize what a nervous wreck I was.
One of the men responded, "I don't have the tolerance to put up with your games... so do not play games with me, Missy. Just hand over the flash drive and we will let you go!"
I raise my voice, again trying to free myself from his grasp as I protest, "I don't have any flash drive!" He tightened his grip on my wrist causing me to wince from the pain.
"Girl, just give me that damn flash drive and we will promise not to harm you... otherwise, prepare to meet your worst nightmare!" he said, and I gulped for air.
"Please let me go, I really don't have a flash drive. I am not sure what you are talking about." I say, but his grip hardened causing me to scream out in pain. It was going to leave a bruise, I just knew it.
"Fine... just remember that you were warned, Patrick search her bags!" said the man holding on to me.
Trying to free my wrist from the guy's iron-hard grip, I began to plead with them. "Please don't touch my bags." I watched in horror as the man grabbed my bag and my purse and dumped out all the contents on the ground. "Stop... I don't have any flash drive!" I cried out as I watched them sort through all my belongings. When the guy starts to rummage through my purse as he didn't find anything on the ground, I widen my eyes as he pulls out a flash drive from one of the pockets of my purse. I had never seen this flash drive before, what the hell was going on? Where did it come from? My mind begins to sort through the most recent events as he hands it to the man holding onto my wrist.
"See, you had it all along and kept your filthy mouth shut. Be ready to pay for it!" he says as he leads me over to the Yukon.
I plead with him, with them as tears begin to stream down my face, "No, please let me go! I don't know where that came from... I didn't know that it was in there. Please let me go!" I say begging with them. As they pushed me into the back of the vehicle, their faces hardened. "Sit down and shut up!" one growled at me, pushing me down into a seat then covering my mouth and nose with a cloth soaked in chemicals. My senses were invaded by the sweetness of the chemicals before my vision became blurry. Darkness threatened to pull me in... the last thing I heard was the guy who was holding me saying, "Come on, hurry up. The boss won't be happy if we are late in getting back." before the blackness swallowed me whole.