Chapter 10
The taxi was waiting for her outside of the hotel. She stepped in, sitting in the back seat, and checked the time. Her eyes were still blurred by tears and she muttered the address to the driver, wiping away the streaks on her cheeks packing her phone back in her bag.
She felt miserable. She couldn’t believe that Fang had just dropped her like that. She swallowed the pain that was threatening to consume her whole, to overwhelm her in the worst way. She felt sick, felt shaky, but she wasn’t about to lay down and die. Janet took a deep, shaky breath and shook her head. She was a business woman. She was the head of her company.
She wasn’t about to lie down and die because of some man. She wasn’t about to let it all get to her, not like this, not in the worst way possible. She needed to make sure that she stood up for herself, stood up for the company. She could do this, with or without Fang. Although she had to admit that she would have been happier doing this with him.
Janet was so lost in her own thoughts, that she didn’t realize that things were changing rapidly around her. It was subtle at first, an extra turn here, and a missed set of lights there. By the time Janet realized that they were going the wrong way, they were nearing the outskirts of the city.
Janet bit her lip, wondering, for a moment, if maybe they just knew a better way. In some ways, this city was like a rabbit’s warren, with lots of streets that only went one way. Maybe they knew the best and quickest way to the center.
But as they turned off onto the highway and veered sharply into the twisting, turning roads that lead east, Janet started to feel real panic rush through her body. She bit her lip hard and peered through the windows. She didn’t know where she was, didn’t know which way she was going, didn’t know what they were doing. She didn’t know the driver, but she had just assumed that it was just another taxi driver that she didn’t know, just another person that didn’t really matter in her life. She was now realizing, with a mounting sense of horror that this person mattered very much to her story, her life and what happened in the next few hours. They mattered very, very much indeed.
Janet shuddered, feeling the panic start to creep up on her, working its way through her skin and across her body.
She slid her hand across the door and brushed the handle. It was locked and when she tried the lock itself, it held fast. Child locked. So she couldn’t just jump out that way. They were getting further and further from the city itself. She shuddered, feeling the worries and the panic crawl beneath her skin.
She took a deep breath and fished in her bag for her phone, trying to act casual. She glanced down, only to find that it had no signal. So she was trapped.
She swallowed hard. Okay. Maybe Fang had been right that she was in danger. She felt a flush of anger move through her. He should have driven with her instead of leaving her feeling stranded, and like she had no other choice.
She shook the anger off. It wasn’t his fault any more than it was her fault and playing the blame game was not going to help anybody get through this in one piece.
She needed to stay calm.
She looked around herself for a weapon, trying to find something, anything that she could use to fight him off. She couldn’t find anything. She supposed that she could swing her purse, try and make a run for it.
He probably had a gun. The thought was like ice through Janet. She knew that this was the likely ending of the story, and yet it terrified her to no end. She bit her lip deeply, drawing a tiny bit of blood.
She had to figure a way out of here! No one else would know where she was. They would report it when she missed her meeting and never returned to her hotel, but that would be far too late for Janet, too late for her.
They drove for a little bit longer, eventually slowing down, pulling over to the side of the road. The area seemed deserted, a cross between rich bushland and empty stretches of road. There was no one else coming this way. No cars, no houses, nothing at all. Janet swallowed, feeling the shudder move powerfully through her.
The man in the front got out after stopping the car. He moved towards her door and Janet felt her body tighten. She would have to jump for him the moment he opened the door, knock him flat and run. She only had the element of surprise. She had nothing else to use and she had to get away.
Determination filled her. She would not die here. She pushed the terror down. She would not die here, in the back of a car, where her body could be swept away. She would not be forgotten. Unbidden, the thought of Fang rose in her mind. No matter her anger at him, the thought of his calm, unwavering eyes and strong arms gave her strength.
He had braved impossible odds. Now it was her turn to do the same, to brave the same impossible odds and get out of here alive, get out of here in one piece. She could do it. She had to do it. What choice did she have?
The door opened with a click. Janet lunged at her would-be attacker.
The man gasped in surprise and before Janet knew it, his arms were wrapping around her. She shrugged him off, kicking him hard. She felt her foot connect and he gasped, a sound of pain. She shuddered and thundered past him, slamming her shoulder into his. He stumbled backwards and Janet saw her chance.
She ran. She ran with everything that she had, kicking off her shoes and tearing across. She remembered being told to run in an off-beat pattern, in order to dodge and avoid a bullet. Janet felt the air tug at her lungs, tighten and threaten to squeeze what was left of her out. She heard footsteps and shouting behind her and she felt panic flood her system.
He was faster than her! He was already on his feet and she could hear him getting closer and closer. He was obviously fit and she was not, no more than a few days in the gym worth. He was catching up with her! He was on her tail and Janet didn’t know what to do!
She bent her head and ran harder, ran with all of the strength and speed that her body possessed. She didn’t dare look behind her, to the side or even up. A shadow passed above her head and, for a fleeting moment, she found herself convinced that she was going to get chased down by a plane as well.
It didn’t take long for Janet to trip. With the uneven terrain and the rocky ground, Janet was lucky not to have tripped earlier. She stumbled, not quite hitting the ground. By the time she had regained her footing, it was too late.
A powerful figure was barreling into her and slamming her to the ground. Janet tried to scream but there wasn’t enough breath left in her lungs. She felt his crushing pressure, the pain of her injuries, the bruises nursed into her skin. She was so close, and yet….he’d caught her anyway.
Tears welled up in her eyes and she blinked them away furiously. She would not give him the satisfaction. Janet fought, twisting in the dirt, furious and desperate to move, move, move!
“Get off me!” She managed to gasp, twisting with all of her strength.
“Shut up!” His voice was hard, like stone, “Shut up!”
Janet felt a fearful sob catch in her throat as the barrel of a gun was pressed against the back of her neck. She didn’t have to know guns to realize that the thing pressing into her neck was deadly.
“Shut up.” He sounded calmer now and Janet did as he said.
“You deserve this. Your whole company deserves this.” He spat the words, “You exploit good, hard-working people. You send them to early graves. And for what? For money!”
Anger was seeping back into his tone and Janet could hear it mingling with a distinct shade of hurt, or anguish, “What right do you have?”
Janet felt her heart twist. For a second, just a fleeting second, she felt pain for this man, this man who was threatening her in the worst way.
She didn’t speak, feeling her words get stuck to the sides of her throat. What could she say that wouldn’t just provoke him further? What could she do that wouldn’t get her killed?
“It ends now.” The hard edge to his voice was back and Janet felt shock hit her, numb and empty. She was going to die. There was no one here to save her and there was a gun pressed into the flesh of her neck. She was about to die for a crime she didn’t even know she was committing. She wasn’t being given a chance to fix things, a chance to make things right.
Not with these people, not with the company, not with Fang. She felt a tear spill down her cheek. Fang. She pictured him in that moment, saw the smile that graced his features, the sparkling color of his eyes, almost inhuman. She thought, fleetingly, of the clever fox in the book.
If Fang was the clever fox, she was the fool, the fool who hadn’t listened to a word that he said. She was going to die here. It was all over. Janet squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the shot.
It never came. Instead, the man above her uttered a curse. Then the weight was lifted from her back and she heard an unearthly sound. She heard a roar, a roar so fierce and so terrible that it echoed around the empty land, made the very ground shudder and Janet cover her ears.
It was terrible and beautiful all at the same time. A great shadow descended on them, covering them and blocking out the light. Janet didn’t dare to move. Then the ground rocked and her hand was forced. She stumbled back, pushing herself up onto her knees, scrambling back, doing everything she could to get into a better position.
She ignored her stinging skin, her bruised body, the pain that coursed through her. Instead, she looked up, and Janet’s mind went black. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She couldn’t believe what she was looking at, the image was just too unreal, just too unbelievable, too overwhelming and incredible to imagine. It was just too much.
Standing over a cowering man, was a dragon. He was massive, his wings spanning across the air like a massive tent. He was huge and powerful and he was bearing his huge teeth. He was menacing the man who had threatened her. His scales gleamed in the sunlight, a beautiful white, so white they almost looked silver. Unearthly, like nothing she had ever seen. Terrifying, absolutely terrifying.
And at the same time, so very beautiful. A terrible creature. A perfect savior. And when he turned his head towards Janet, she knew with a startling clarity that this dragon was not here to hurt her.
He was here to save her.