Sweet Harmony (28 page)

****

Time oozed by. Annamarie stared out the window, her mouth sour. How many minutes had it been since Lee had called Daniel? Five? Ten? She wasn't sure. All she knew was that every second that went by made her stomach ache. She hoped that Daniel had called the cops and wasn't dumb enough to just come on his own. Even the thought of that had her stomach cramping.

As she chewed her bottom lip, she
saw a silver car pull up beside the warehouse. It was Nathan behind the wheel of the car. She lost all remaining feeling in her legs. She officially had the worst luck in the world. With her hands bound, she was as helpless as a drowning cat.

"He's coming," she whispered.

Lee nodded, his face paling.

A
second later, Nathan opened the door of the warehouse and stepped inside. To her shock and horror, she saw that the guy was drenched in blood.
What the heck did he do?
The psycho made eye contact with her. Since his nose was broken, he had two black eyes. It only made him all the more terrifying.

"You
're much smarter than I thought," Nathan said. "When I was following you, I thought you were on the slow side. I was wrong. You turned one of my own men against me."

"Evan," she whispered, eyeballing the blood stains.

"He's gone now." Nathan cracked his knuckles. "It doesn't matter. I just needed him to help me capture you. He was disposable. Too bad he didn't know that when he came after me."

The color drained out of Lee's face.

"What about you?" Nathan pulled a gun out of his pocket and leveled it at Lee. "Are you going to give me trouble too?"

"No." Lee shook his head wildly. "Please don't, man. I have a
sick brother who needs me."

Nathan let out a cold, cynical laugh.

"That doesn't matter to me," Nathan said. "Help me kill the girl."

Though Lee's eyes b
ugged out of his head, he didn't say anything.

All hope she would survive was gone now. Daniel was too late. He'd probably arriv
e just in time to find her dead.

"What are you going to do to me?" she whispered.

"Hmmm." Nathan walked in a circle around her, his eyes glistening evilly. "At first I thought about throwing you off a bridge or something, but that's been done too much. I've decided I'll burn you alive. It's painful and I'll get to watch."

Angry
wasps crawled in her ears as she shivered.
No. This isn't happening.
She'd never tasted true terror before this moment.

"Finally, there's the expression I wanted to see all along." Nathan's eyes glistened
with excitement. "Genuine fear."

She tried to compose herself. Even if she did die, she didn't want to give Nathan the pleasure of seeing her fall to pieces.

"You can bite me, Nathan," she said.

"Wow."
Nathan chuckled. "There's that anger of yours again. I must admit I admire your spirit. Evan didn't fight nearly as hard as you at the end."

Lee cursed.

"You have something to say, buddy?" Nathan trained the gun on him again.

"No." Lee shook his head.

Is he really going to let this happen?
Annamarie stared at Lee, desperate. The guy was avoiding eye contact at all costs.

"
Grab all the old wood that's lying around and stack it around her." Nathan nodded at Lee. "I'm going to light her on fire before I burn down the building."

Nathan left the warehouse
. While he was gone, Lee grabbed the stacks of old wood piled in the corner. As he piled the pieces around her feet, his eyes reddened.

"I'm so sorry," Lee mo
aned, sounding close to tears.

She couldn't say anything. Her tongue was stuck to the
roof of her mouth.

Nathan
re-entered the warehouse holding a container of gasoline. Her skin covered with goosebumps at the sight of it.

"You ready for a shower before you burn?" Nathan asked, approaching her.

She glowered at him, even though she felt more like weeping.

The guy unscrewed the top of the gasoline
container and poured the flammable liquid over her head. The gasoline was cool and filled her nostrils with an awful, pungent odor. She squeezed her eyes shut as she fought down the tears.
I've got to get loose,
she thought, attempting to free her hands again. Her efforts were futile. This was really how she was going to die—trapped in a chair in front of a psycho. She couldn't believe she didn't even get to live to see her eighteenth birthday.

Daniel, I really wish I co
uld see you one last time.
She stared down at her damp clothes, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall.
No crying,
she chanted inside of her head. Even though she'd always believed she was tough, she knew she would scream once she was on fire. She'd once read that burnings were one of the most painful ways to die. Nerves flared, skin melted off. It wasn't pretty. She'd never thought she would be the victim of a burning in the twenty-first century.

Lee slowly walked over to her and placed wood beneath her seat. When she tried to catch the guy's eye, he avoided her gaze
again.

"I think that's enough," Nathan said. "The gasoline should do the trick."

"I don't know." Lee shrugged, his whole body shaking. "Maybe there should be more wood."

He's trying to buy me more time
.

"Get over here, you numbskull," Nathan snapped. "When I say it's enough, it's enough."

Once again Lee's conscience took effect. He stopped. Nathan trained his gun on him again. As noble as it was that Lee was going to die for her, she couldn't let that happen. Nathan would kill him and then light her on fire anyway. Even if she couldn't save her own life, someone else shouldn't take a bullet for her.

"Help him
burn me, Lee," she pleaded.

"Huh?" Lee stuttered.

"Don't you get it?" she asked. "It doesn't matter whether you live or die, he's going to kill me anyway."

"
She's right, you know," Nathan said. "My patience with you is already at the breaking point."

Lee
groaned, but he still walked over to Nathan's side. Nathan dug in his pocket and pulled out a pack of matches. She was so scared vomit crawled up her throat.

With an evil smirk, Nathan struck the match. An orange flame glowed at the end of
the wooden stick. She stared at the flame—her enemy—and shut her eyes. In just a moment, her body was going to hurt more than ever before. She was prepared to be overwhelmed by searing flames.

An engine roared and tires screeched.

"What the heck is that?" Nathan yelled.

A Lamborghini came crashing through the wall to
Nathan's right. Though he hadn't been hit by the car, the guy was knocked to the ground. The match fell from his grasp and the flame went out.
One more chance,
she thought.
I'm getting one more chance.
It was all thanks to Daniel who'd driven his car through the wall.

"Lee, grab his gun!" Annamarie yelled.

Lee rushed at Nathan who was already struggling to his feet. Even though the guy was bigger and operating on sheer craziness, Lee had the element of surprise and tackled him to the floor. They wrestled for a moment before Lee staggered to his feet, shaking and holding the gun. Somewhere mid-tussle Daniel had gotten out of the car and now rushed toward her. He'd brought Jaiden with him and the guy stumbled out of the passenger seat.

"Daniel."
A tear trickled down her cheek. She couldn't contain her emotions anymore.

Her face must have looked a lot worse than she thought because the color drained out of
Daniel's face when he reached her. Of course, it could have been the fact she was soaked in gasoline and tied up to a chair too.

"What did
Nathan do to you?" Daniel touched her chin.

She shook her head, unable to respond.
The sound of sirens filled the night.

"The police are coming," Jaiden said.

"About time," Daniel said. "I called them fifteen minutes ago."

"Wait a second, Nathan," Lee said. "What are you—
ugh
."

She looked up just in time to see Nathan ram Lee with his shoulder
, sending him flying. Nathan fled from the warehouse at a full sprint.

"He's getting away!" she
yelled.

"Like hell." Daniel turned his gaze from her. "Jaiden,
untie her and take care of her until the ambulance arrives."

"What about you?" she
asked.

Instead of answering, Daniel tore out the door after
Nathan.
No. This can't be happening. I have to help Daniel.
She struggled against her ropes, sweat mingling with gasoline as she squirmed. Jaiden rushed over to her, his face red and blotchy.

"Oh, Annamarie," he said
, his eyes filling with remorse as he gazed at her.

I must really look like crap
.

"Get me out of
this chair." She stared at Jaiden, her teeth chattering despite her efforts to make them stop. "Please."

Jaiden
examined the ropes.

"These are really tight," Jaiden said. "We're going to need a knife or something."

No duh.

"I've got a pocket knife," Lee said
. "Move out of the way."

Lee laid the gun on the floor and pulled a pocket knife from his pocket. The
blade glinted in the dim light.

"Wait a second," Jaiden said, stepping in front of her.

"He's had more than enough opportunity to hurt me," she said. "Let him cut the ropes."

Even though Jaiden ground his teeth,
he nodded. Lee bent down and sliced through the ropes on her wrists. When she examined them, she sucked in air. It was no wonder her skin burned when she tried to get free. Her efforts had made the ropes eat through her flesh to the point that her hands were covered in blood. Jaiden sucked in air and groaned. Lee cut through the ropes on her ankles too. Though the bindings had caused a bloody rash from her squirming, the injuries weren't as bad.

"You're
really hurt," Jaiden whispered. "We've got to get you to an ambulance."

He should see my mental scars,
she thought bitterly.

"No." She stared at Jaiden. "I'm going to
help Daniel."

Police cars screeched
to a stop outside of the warehouse.

"You're too badly
injured." Jaiden shook his head.

"I don't care." She staggered to her feet and fell straight into Jaiden.

She pulled away, trying to ignore the fact her aching head swam and her wrists throbbed. The adrenaline and her quick moving thoughts gave her strength despite the physical pain. She could suddenly understand why superhuman power was reported during emergencies. She shouldn't have been able to stand, but she could. At that moment, the police came crashing through the warehouse door, guns drawn.

"
Nathan is already gone," Jaiden said.

She was either really stupid or really brave. While Jaiden was distracted, she darted past him and rushed through the hole in the wall
caused by the Lamborghini. The police men yelled for her to stop, but she didn't care. She had to get to Daniel to help him.

Now that she was outside of the warehouse, she saw
several other abandoned buildings. She thought Nathan had run to his car, but it was still parked on the street. Daniel must have reached him in time to stop him from getting in. Before she was able to deduce anything further, the policemen left the warehouse and approached her.
To the right it is,
she thought, making a sudden decision. She sprinted, her ankles throbbing.

"Hey, stop!" a man yelled from behind her.

Yeah, right. Considering she was the victim, she doubted he would shoot her.

As the police
men gained on her, she became desperate. Just then, she heard the sound of angry grunting and yelps. She headed down the street between two buildings and came to a stumbling stop when she saw a pair of struggling figures.

Daniel hadn't needed her help. The guy had Nathan pinned to the ground as he threw enraged punch after enraged punch. Nathan was trying to cover his bloody face, but Daniel
kept on issuing blows. The policemen cried out and soon she was overrun by an ocean of people in black uniforms. The authorities pulled Daniel and Nathan a part.

"You hurt Annamari
e, you bastard!" Daniel yelled, still struggling.

Two of the police
men hauled Daniel toward her. At the same time, Nathan was pulled away by three guards with guns. The guy wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. She looked up just as Daniel shook off the policemen with his face pink with anger. Everything was fine now, she realized. She wasn't going to die.