I didn’t know whether to scream or cry. Standing there quivering in a mix of horror and disbelief, I tried to make sense of what they were saying to each other.
What the hell just happened? How could it be that the man who proposed to me would turn me over, put my fate in the hands of these men, these thugs?
For what exactly? For what was in that case?
The man who shot Todd pointed at my captor.
“Take that slut’s picture. Send it off. They’ll tell us what to do with her. Hurry up! We need to figure out what to do here.”
With that, the man who kept his gun on me circled around to my front. “Okay chica, smile big for the camera.”
I lifted my eyes towards him just long enough for him to snap the shot. He finished and admired his handiwork for a second, grunting with satisfaction.
“Damn. You fine.”
After he raised the phone to eye level, the man’s thumbs raced across the surface of it sending off a text to who knows where. Once finished, he slid the phone back in his pocket and took one giant step towards me. I flinched, trying to move away, but before I could he thrust his hand between my legs, cupping my pussy with a viselike grip.
“No matter what that rich fuck texts back telling us how to handle you, I know exactly what to do with this sweet culo.”
I didn’t even think. Rage overwhelmed me.
My fingers tightened, curling into a hard ball of knuckles. On instinct, I punched the shit out of him, using every bit of strength I had in my body.
Wincing, I groaned at the feel of the hard strike while the man staggered back. I took off. I hadn’t gotten more than a handful of steps when he yelled.
“Take another step and I’ll kill you, bitch!”
In every direction I looked there was nothing but open space, endless fucking terrain. Where the hell was I going to go?
From behind, I heard him walking towards me, his feet crunching on the dusty gravel. His presence closed in around me like a six-foot-tall scorpion.
“You do something like that again, and you won’t live to try it a third time.”
I swallowed hard, biting the inside of my mouth.
“Hey! Quit fucking around!” The other gunman yelled. “There’s plenty of time to fuck that whore later. Right now, we have a job to do. Now tie her slut ass up. We need to get the fucking case open.”
From behind, the man grabbed my arm and yanked on it, spinning me around to face him. There was no way I’d let him see me scared. Instead, I went along with him for now, remaining calm while he restrained me with layers of tape, wrapping them around my wrists in front of my body.
When he finished, he curled his fingers around my wrists, covering the tape binding my hands. He yanked hard and waited until I looked into his eyes before speaking. My gaze met the two soulless black beads behind the mask.
“Don’t run off again,” he snarled. “I’ll be back soon to take a piece of that sweet pussy. My cock sliding inside of you will be the last thing you remember.”
In a kind of sick romantic gesture, the psycho reached for my cheek.
Recoiling, I leaned away.
He chuckled. “Don’t worry. I promise you’ll enjoy it… Right up until the last second when I put a bullet in your skull. Now, sit down, and don’t say a goddamn thing.”
Once I had, he grabbed my purse and rummaged through it, pulling out my cell phone and tossing it to the man who killed Todd. He proceeded to destroy both Todd’s old phone and mine, smashing them to pieces.
Left alone, I watched the two of them discuss what they were going to do. It wasn’t long before their voices began to grow louder. They argued with each other about what to do next, about the case and about me.
“Can’t you get it open?” the man who had threatened me asked the other.
“Shut up! It’s not my fault.”
He paused and gestured towards me. “Her piece of shit boyfriend must have changed the combination.”
“So what the fuck?” the other man interrupted.
“It’s not our problem. It’s up to the boss to get it open. The only thing we’re here to do is get it. That’s it.”
The two of them walked around to the front of the Mercedes. The man who killed Todd slammed the shiny metallic case on top of the hood.
“That’s bullshit!” the man who taped me up protested. “The deal is that we can’t collect the full bounty without proving the contents of the case. We need to get it open and do it now. I sent that picture. They know our GPS coordinates. They know we’ve got the case. What the…”
Letting go of the handle on the case, the other man stepped away from the car and raised his pistol.
“Who said anything about ‘we’ being able to collect the bounty?”
I don’t think I blinked. I don’t think I took a breath. The guy who tied me up backed away, drawing his gun at the same time.
“Don’t do anything stupid. There’s plenty of money -- enough to go around for both of us.”
In the setting sun, I watched a modern-day version of an Old West showdown. The two of them stood there, arms rigid, guns at the ready. For several seconds, nothing but silence followed and then, hellfire.
The sound of bullets leaving the chamber deafened me. Brightness blazed from both gun barrels. Their bodies wobbled back and forth until at last they struck the ground at the same time, riddled with bullets, lifeless and covered in blood.
I squirmed in place, yanking on my restraints, stunned.
Todd was dead. They were dead. I was all alone, somewhere between Las Vegas and Reno with no phone, no clue and no hope. My eyes darted in every direction. I had to figure something out and fast. After managing to get up on my knees, I staggered to my feet when I heard the sound of a cell phone ringing.
Where was it coming from?
Squinting, I looked towards the dead men. The one who took my picture… Someone was calling his phone. My heart raced. I didn’t want to get anywhere near him, but at this point I really didn’t have a choice.
Scrambling over towards his body, I looked down at him just in time to hear the ringing stop. I knelt down next to him before trying to figure out where the cell phone was. Luckily, it started to ring once again.
I reached for it, sliding my hand inside of his pants pocket and pulling it out. Answering it was a different story. It took me a few seconds, but at last I slid it on and kept it between my hands, holding it against my ear.
“Hello? Who the hell is this?”
Nothing. I didn’t hear single sound on the other end of the phone. Whoever it was, they weren’t expecting me.
“Answer me! Who is this?”
I heard the sound of a person clear their throat. A man. “Where is the person who this phone belongs to?”
I was on my knees. The incessant, unrelenting sun of the high desert amplified my rage. “He’s dead! You still haven’t answered my question!”
The man didn’t respond right away. There was silence once again. “I see. Did you kill him?”
Curling the fingers of my free hand into a fist, I yelled in response. “No!”
“What about his associate? Is he…?”
“Dead!” I screamed, cutting him off. “What is going on! They killed my fiancé! I’m stranded. Who the hell are you?”