Unbreakable (9 page)

Cory

Kill him kill him kill him…

It resounded in my head, a death knell that clanged in time to the slow, dull thud of my heart. Alex was clutching my hand so hard her nails had left little bloody half-moons on my skin.

Frankie danced around like an overeager chimp, though I thought I saw fear playing in his eyes. Doubt. If he were clean, I’d have hope that he wouldn’t go through with it. But whatever drugs he was taking were giving a manic, false bravado. At the door, Wolfman shook his head as if he were disappointed in the whole thing, in life in general. I forced myself to get calm and think. Maybe there was something in Wolfman that I could use. Appeal to his better nature.

But how long did it take a cell phone to charge up enough to open it and find a selfie of Amita, or a text with her name on it? I figured I had a minute at most to come up with something, anything, but my mind had seized up.

No one looked at me. They were all mesmerized by the cell phone, waiting. As if there were some other outcome. As if we didn’t all know the truth.

Frankie let out a whoop and Alex grabbed my arm with her other hand. On the floor, the cell phone’s screen came to life. Frankie crouched by the phone, his finger dancing along the trigger guard of his weapon, his face breaking open into a wide grin. “Ha! Not even a passcode! Amita fucking Patel.” He cackled and pointed at me like a schoolyard tattletale. “Liar! You’re dead meat, liar.”

“Don’t do it,” Tanya cried from our left. “Please.”

“You’re no murderer,” Carol told Frankie. “You’re a good kid…”
“Shut up, you old bag.”

Wolfman glanced down the hallway, shifting uncomfortably. “Let it go, Frankie.”

“The hell I will! You heard Connor. He’s mine!” Frankie’s AR-15 was still strapped to his shoulder. He took it in hand and aimed at me. “Get on your knees. Middle of the floor!”

“Whoa, hey, you can’t do it here,” Wolfman said, coming into the room. “There’s another office in back. Do it there.”

Frankie shook his head. “Uh uh. No way. I want them to see. Especially her. Red.”

I felt literally petrified—as if my body had become heavy stone instead of flesh and blood. It took an effort to turn my head, to look at Alex and try to give her some measure of assurance.
It’s going to be okay,
I wanted to tell her.
You’ll be okay
. Her beautiful face was a mask of horror. Some perverse happiness found its way between the cracks of my stony fear, but it pained me more to see her like this.

“Cory…” Alex breathed.

Then Wolfman was there, hauling me to my feet. “
Not here
.”

I suppose he held some authority over the younger man because Frankie said, “Yeah, yeah, fine. Let’s just do this. I can’t
wait
to do this.”

“No,” Alex said with a voice breathy with fear. “No.
No. NO!”
She surged to her feet and I was too slow to stop her. She flew at Frankie, swiping and clawing at him, but he grabbed both wrists and twisted, eliciting a shriek of pain and bringing her to her knees.

“Not now, Red,” he said, laughing. “But you’ll get your turn. I’m going to play with you later, oh yes.” He looked at me. “See this? See how she’s on her knees in front of me? I want you to remember. I want it to be the last thing you think about as I blow you away, because…” He laughed, an idea coming to him. “Oh damn, yeah! That’s what she’ll be doing to me later.
Blowing
me—”

Red rage, molten hot, washed over me, freeing me from the rigor mortis of fear. I shoved Wolfman aside to get to Frankie. The little fucker let Alex go and danced out of reach. He reached for his gun but it didn’t stop me. I was going to die anyway. I had nothing to lose.

Frankie fell back, his stupid grin falling away as I charged him. I expected Wolfman’s bullet in my back at every instant but that fear was distant, unimportant. I grabbed Frankie’s gun before he could level it at me and used it to drive him back. He was slight and weak, it took nothing for me to slam him against the wall between the window and door. I pinned him there with his weapon, jamming it under his throat as I leaned in hard.

His eyes bulged, his pale, pocked skin turning red. I felt a rough hand on my arm and then Wolfman was pulling me away.

“That’s enough,” he said, his voice hard. “Let’s go.”

Frankie slumped and gasped as I released him, but he started for his gun again. Wolfman stepped between us. “Let’s
go
.”

Frankie rubbed his neck where indentations from the AR were visible. “Oh, you’re dead, motherfucker,” he said hoarsely. “You are so dead.”

He slunk out of the room, into the hallway, while Wolfman nudged me to walk. The other hostages protested but he turned on them, silencing them by sweeping his weapon left to right, sending them cowering. At the door, I looked for Alex, but Wolfman was shoving me out and shutting the door behind him and she was lost to me.

#

We walked down the hallway, the same direction as the bathroom. Frankie shuffled ahead, whining and cursing and rubbing his throat. Wolfman walked closely behind me, the muzzle of his gun in the small of my back.

“You make sure he doesn’t touch her,” I muttered. The anger was slowly draining from me, leaving me watery with fear. “Promise me.
Promise me.
”

“Yeah, okay,” Wolfman said as we turned down a short hallway off the bathrooms. I could see a door at the end, and I felt like a prisoner headed to the chair. Dead man walking.

Frankie opened it and slipped inside and then Wolfman’s face was close to my ear. “It’s not loaded.”

“What…?”

“His gun isn’t loaded,” Wolfman hissed, too low for Frankie to hear. “Just don’t kill him.”

Then he shoved me inside and shut the door behind me.

Frankie’s eyes were wide with surprise at this development but he had his weapon at the ready, keeping it between us.

“Yeah, okay, I can do this. I don’t need that prick watching my every move,” he said, working himself up. He kept too far out of reach for me to charge him again.

I fought for calm, inhaled deeply, moved slowly. Wolfman could have been lying but I didn’t think so. I couldn’t guess why he was helping me, but I’d worry about that later. If I had a later.

“Get…uh, over there.” Frankie gestured with his gun for me to get in the middle of the small room, which looked to be an unused office. Chair, desk, lamp, and not much else.

My blood thrashed in my ears as each second brought me closer to finding out if Wolfman had been telling the truth. Frankie kept his distance, trained his weapon on me, and I knew then that if I survived, this moment would haunt my sleep forever.

Frankie said nothing and neither did I. I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of seeing me beg or plead. I knew I couldn’t talk him out of it but I wasn’t going to give up without a fight either.

“On your knees!” Frankie shrieked and moved just close enough.

I charged.

I expected to feel the punch of bullets in my chest and stomach but the small room resounded with a series of
clicks
as Frankie frantically pulled the trigger. I stumbled for a second as relief swamped me, making me shudder, and then barreled into him full tilt.

I grabbed the rifle and tore it off him. Swinging it like a baseball bat, I whacked his right hand as he held them up in a pitiful display of self-protection. Bones crunched and he let out a cry, like a wounded dog. I swung the other way, slamming the butt of the gun into his left hand. It struck true and he howled.

Frankie fell to his knees, holding his mangled hands in front of him, crying and staring as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. Three of the fingers on his right hand were bent at wrong angles and turning purple. The thumb and index finger on his left looked stuffed—the skin stretched and shiny.
He can’t touch her now
, I thought, satisfied.
Whatever happens to me, he can’t touch her.

He looked up at me with leaking eyes. “Why…?”

“
Why
?” I tossed the gun aside, disgusted. “I’m keeping a promise.”

He moaned. I don’t even know if he heard me. Wolfman returned, nodding as if satisfied.

Frankie held his swollen hands up. “Look! Look what he did!”

“Get out of here, Frankie.” Wolfman sounded tired.

“But…he…”

“
Get out!”

The other man scrambled out, sniffling, without even a parting threat to me.

I looked at Wolfman. “Why?”

“He’s a tweaker. Connor—Dracula to you—he knows that. He had to bring Frankie along, and made me his babysitter. But Drac’s not dumb enough to give a tweaker a loaded AR, and Frankie’s too hopped up to know the difference.”

“Yeah, okay, but why warn me? Why let this stupid shit play out? Why not kill me yourself?”

Wolfman sighed. “Drac wanted to keep Frankie busy and fuck with you for lying about the phone. It’s all just…madness. Not what I signed up for.”

“It’s almost over, isn’t it?” I asked.

He nodded. “Things aren’t going too great for us. Killing a hostage right now would be…not good. I almost think Connor was hoping you’d kill Frankie. One less thing to worry about.”

“Drac can’t do it himself?” I shuddered. “He seems capable.”

“It’s his little brother.” Wolfman waved a hand. “I’ve said enough. You’re going to stay in here. I’ll keep an eye out, smooth things over, but like I said, we got our hands full.”

“Tell her…tell them, my group, that I’m okay,” I said. “Please.”

Wolfman sighed again and scrubbed his hand over his face. “I will. But listen, tomorrow…Shit’s going to go down. I can’t protect you anymore. I can’t protect anyone, okay? I’ve already done more than I should.”

“Thanks.”

He took Frankie’s gun and went out, leaving me to wonder about tomorrow. It sounded like the standoff would end, but not in a good way. Not for the hostages.

I leaned against the wall and sank down, my muscles finally giving out from fear and adrenaline. I rested my hands on my knees, my head bowed. I felt sleep come for me at once, I was so exhausted, and I let myself fall away, one thought lingering. Alex was still in danger.

I still had work to do.

Alex

I watched them march Cory out of the room and my knees buckled like the weak, spineless wimp that I was. Why hadn’t I fought harder? My wrists throbbed where Frankie had twisted them, but what was that to what Cory was about to endure? Blown to pieces by that psycho. The horror of it made want to vomit.

I knelt in the middle of the room, the other hostages staring at me. No one spoke. We were all waiting for the sounds of gunfire. My lip curled.

“Cowards,” I seethed. “You’re all cowards. You did nothing! You just let them take him!” I heard the words, knew they were completely unfair, but the pain was becoming a monster in my gut, screaming to get out.

Carol moved to me, gathered me in her arms and I collapsed into her motherly embrace. She didn’t say anything to comfort me and somewhere, in the back of my mind, I appreciated it. There was nothing she could say to make this appalling situation any better and she knew it.

And yet, still no gunshots.

Hope flickered but I doused it. Frankie wasn’t about to let Cory go. They just took him too far away for us to hear him die.

A sob welled up in me but before it could burst out, Frankie streaked past the window, hands held before him, crying and wailing. The other hostages and I exchanged glances. Hope struggled to catch fire in me again, and then Wolfman came to the door. He opened it enough to put his head in. “Your guy’s okay. Just wanted you to know.”

He shut the door again, and Carol held me tight. I let out a breath that felt years old and miles deep.
He’s alive. Cory’s alive.
And then on the heels of that fathomless relief, came the wonder that it could be so powerful, that I cared so much.
We’re human, bound together by this situation, trying to survive. That’s all.

I nodded. Of course, that was it. That was all it was. That was all it could ever be.

After the intense terror passed, the remainder of the day crawled by. I felt as if we’d been in here for years. Only two things broke the tedium, the first being the power went out at what I guessed must’ve been twilight. The room was plunged into a grayish dimness and the whir of the AC died. Monster squad members ran back and forth outside our window, but Wolfman, not Frankie, remained on guard.

The second incident of note was a non-incident—no dinner. Wolfman scrounged up some water for us but that was it. I thought he looked harried, frightened. Whatever was happening outside the four walls of this office wasn’t good for the monster squad, that was plain. But instead of comfort, the other hostages and I grew tense. If things grew too desperate for them, it meant bad news for us.

More hours limped by, the darkness grew gradually. The office became shadows and dark shapes and outlines. There was light from somewhere—we weren’t in pitch blackness—but hostages were able to sleep better.

But for me.

My engagement ring was in the pocket of my short blazer. I put my hand inside and twisted it around and around. It felt heavy. It felt like nothing. A trinket.
What are you doing? What are you thinking?

I didn’t let myself think. I got to my feet and slipped quietly over the legs of my fellow sleeping captives and tapped gently at the door.

Wolfman cracked it. “What now?”

“I need to use the bathroom.”

“You went an hour ago. Get back to your spot.”

Wolfman had kind eyes. He carried a huge automatic weapon that he frequently brandished to get compliance, but he had kind eyes. I sucked in a breath and took a chance.

“Where is he?”

“Ah, Christ, lady…”

“I want to see him. I want to make sure he’s okay.”

“I already told you. He’s fine. Now sit down and shut up.”

“Please.” I continued to
not
think and pulled my engagement ring from my pocket. It glinted brightly even in the meager light.

Wolfman’s eyes widened. “How did you manage to keep it?”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s yours. Just let me see him.”

Wolfman snorted. “It’s mine if I want it.” He rubbed his chin, staring at the ring, then snatched it out of my hand. “Come on.”

I gasped as it disappeared into his pocket.
What have I done?
The diamond was too big, too ostentatious, too much compensation for all that was missing between Drew and me. But it came from him. A symbol of our pledge to spend our lives together and I had given it away for…what?

I have to see that Cory’s okay with my own eyes. I have to.

Wolfman walked down the darkened hallway and I hurried to catch up.

After several turns, we arrived at a door, its placard stating the office belonged to the assistant bank manager. Wolfman stopped and slipped a key in the lock.

“Ten minutes,” he said. “And then I bust the door in.”

“Ten minutes,” I said, over the pounding of my heart. “Thanks. Thank you.” I went in.

It took a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the dimness. The office was windowless and small: a desk, a chair, and not much else. Movement to my left caught my eye. Cory had been sitting against the wall but scrambled to his feet when I came in.

“Alex?”

“Are you okay?” He looked okay. The cut above his eye was a dark gash in the dimness but otherwise he looked unhurt. He looked beautiful. Alive.

“I’m fine.” He took a step toward me. “Why are you here?”

“I had to see you. To make sure you were safe.” My eyes met his in the dark. I swallowed hard, and whispered, “We have ten minutes.”

In two long strides, he was there, hauling me to him and crushing his mouth to mine. A knee-weakening thrill shot down my spine, one I hadn’t felt in months. Years, even. The first sensations coursed through me, burned through me, like a spark racing along a fuse. Somewhere, guilt and shame tugged at the corners of my mind, but they faded to nothing under the onslaught of the desire that consumed me.

This…this is fire.

He kissed me over and over, or perhaps it was only one long kiss he wasn’t willing to break. His breath rasped in his nose, as if he’d rather kiss me than breathe.

His tongue swept over and then into my mouth with a ravenous hunger, as if he was starving for me. But it was I who was starved for this. I felt as if a block of ice within me began to melt, at long last, leaving me warm and wet. I parted my lips for him, taking him in as deep as our mouths would allow, my tongue stroking his as I released breathy little cries of want into our kiss.

I clung to him until I found my legs. Then my hands tangled in his soft hair, cupped his strong jaw, confused as to what to touch first, wanting to touch every part of him all at once. I pushed his jacket off his shoulders, and let my hands trail down the broad plains of his chest, down, over his abdomen, to the edge of his shirt. I lifted it enough to slip my hands beneath, and heat rushed between my thighs to feel the taut ridges of his abdomen—smooth, soft skin over hard muscle.

He groaned into my mouth, and his hands surged into my hair, tore free the pins that held it. He broke away to watch, with slack-jawed awe, as it fell loose around my shoulders.

“God, Alex…So beautiful. So fucking beautiful…”

Another rush between my legs at the words, at the look in his eyes as he drank me in. And then his mouth was on mine again, his hands making fists in my hair, sending shivers of electricity down my spine as his mouth worked over my exposed throat, nipping and sucking. I whimpered at every touch. He
wanted
me, and god, it had been so long since I’d been wanted. But it had never been like this. Not with Drew. Not with any man.

He stripped off my suit jacket, and his hands went under my blouse, to my breasts, which ached for want of touch. I gasped as he rolled the ball of his thumb over one nipple through the lace bra, and wished desperately he’d put his mouth there, that I could feel his skin against mine, to be naked with him, but there wasn’t time.

“Hurry,” I urged. “Please...”

With a feral grunt, he hoisted me onto the edge of the desk and roughly pushed up my skirt so it rode over my hips. Blindly, frantically, my hands found the button and zipper on his jeans. I slipped my hand inside and moaned softly. He was huge and iron hard, but he grabbed my hand before I could stroke him, his forehead pressed to mine, his voice haggard with want.

“No condom.”

“I have an IUD,” I said. “And it doesn’t matter anyway. We might die tomorrow.”

“You’re not going to die,” he whispered fiercely. “I told you, I won’t let them hurt you. No matter what it takes. I swear it.”

It was an impossible promise to make but the intensity behind Cory’s words shook me to my core. “No more talk, Cory. Just touch me. Please. Touch me everywhere.”

I saw hesitancy in his eyes then. His innate decency wondering if I were too scared to know if this was what I really wanted.

I held his face in my hands. “I’ve never wanted anything in my life more than I want this. Right here. Right now. With you.”

He held my gaze a moment more, and I could see the heat rush to erase all doubt, all hesitancy. He captured my lips in a kiss that rekindled the fire into a roaring inferno, and I surrendered to it completely.

Cory’s hands slid up my thighs and then back down, taking my black satin panties with them. When the panties slipped to my ankles, I kicked them off along with my shoes. Desperate to touch him, I pushed his jeans and boxers down and stroked the hard length of him as his hands went around behind me, grabbed me roughly, to haul me to the edge of the desk. He thrust my legs apart with his knees, and I immediately wrapped them around his waist. I expected he would drive into me—he was poised and god, I was ready—but he broke our kiss, his dark eyes boring into me, his hands holding my face tenderly.

“Alexandra…”

I inhaled raggedly as he rolled his hips forward, achingly gentle and slow in this moment. He slid into me and I clutched his shoulders, arched my back to take him all in. He held me partially upright with one strong arm around my waist, bracing himself on the desk with the other. Then he began to move.

Not gentle, not anymore, he was aggressive as hell. Rough, but not fumbling, and—oh god—it was everything I’d been waiting for, everything I’d been missing. Every part of him was big and thick and heavy, and I clung to him as the deep pressure filled me with unimaginable sensations. Places I could never reach on my own came alive as he moved. So often, I’d had to create my own pleasure and for so long I’d had to convince myself it was enough. But my own ministrations were pitiful by comparison to what Cory was doing to me.

I bit his shoulder to silence my cries, and he grunted and moved faster, driving into me with an animal ferocity, every muscle of his glorious body feeding his need. I could feel him tense, ready to surrender to
me
, to my body, which was wrapped around his in every way. But he held back until wave after rolling wave of pleasure coursed through me until I’d lost count of how many, bringing the most intense ecstasy I’d ever felt to every part of my body. I nearly wept for all I had missed, but the pleasure crested and left room for nothing else.

I kept my legs wrapped tight around Cory’s slender waist and my mouth strove to touch his, to share his breath to the end. The last few thrusts were hard and slow and so very deep. Then he shuddered with the power of his own climax and collapsed on top of me, his breath gusting over my neck.

I held him there with arms and legs, reveling in the ebbing passion. A fire had roared and what remained were glowing embers I wished I could savor…or stoke anew. I wondered, if he could do this to me in ten minutes, what could he do with twenty? An hour?

What could he do if we had all night?

Reluctantly, Cory lifted himself off of me and from inside me, and just as reluctantly I let him go. The cool air and emptiness swooped in, and I quickly moved off the desk. I cleaned myself from the box of tissues on the desk, my back to him. I found my underwear and slipped it back on, my shoes, then my jacket. I smoothed my skirt, my rumpled blouse, and then my hair. When I turned, Cory had pulled his jeans back on and buttoned them, the expression on his face uncertain, grim, as if dark thoughts were haunting him.

A harsh knock came at the door and a muffled, “Time’s up.”

Cory moved to me quickly, held my face to gaze at me intently. “Tomorrow…I want you to be careful.”

Fear spurred my heart to quicker pace. “There
is
something happening tomorrow. I knew it. What’s is it? Tell me.”
“Just promise me you’ll keep yourself as safe as you can. I don’t know when I’ll be able to get to you, but I will, I swear it. Okay?”

“Cory, I don’t know what you’re asking me—”

From outside, “I said,
time’s up.
”

Cory kissed me again, fiercely, and I’ll never forget the look on his face, or the determination burning in his eyes.

It felt like goodbye.

“Cory, no…”

“You’re going to be okay. Just remember that.”

Then Wolfman opened the door and I withdrew from Cory’s arms, a horrible sense of loss washing over me. I moved to the door, then turned to say the only thing I could say, all I was willing to say, because I would not say goodbye. I would
not
.