Dark Star

14. Ensnare

Vesper jumped to her feet as the door flew open. Upon seeing the man holding the gun, she froze where she stood. He wasn't one of the thieves, she had seen all of their faces. This man was a stranger to her.

“Vesper.”

The man knew her name. Not only that, but his voice seemed somehow familiar. He lowered his gun, no longing pointing it at her, looking rather surprised upon seeing her. After a moment, she realized why she thought he seemed familiar. She'd heard his voice somewhere before.

“Detective Carter?” she asked, unsure.

“Are you okay?” He asked, walking towards her quickly, concern written on his face. “Are you hurt at all?”

“I'm okay,” she answered. “I'm not hurt, well, at least not severely.”

“What happened when they caught you with the phone?”

“I was scared,” she admitted. “I thought Josef would kill me, but he didn't. He didn't do anything. We just left the hotel, and they brought me here.”

She decided that telling the detective about Josef kissing her was an unneeded detail, for now. It would make no difference to their current situation.

“Josef?” Carter asked, recognizing the name. “Do you know where he is? I'm here because he called me, and told me where you were. He said he was going to turn himself in to me.”

“Is it only you that came?”

“Yes, that was part of the deal. He told me to come alone, or he'd kill you. I couldn't risk bringing backup. I will call for men to come, once I have Josef in custody.”

“It doesn't make sense,” she told him. “Why would he just turn himself in? From what I've overheard, and everything Josef has told me, I get the feeling that there is more going on here.”

“More? We already have a bank robbery and a hostage situation. What more could there be?”

“I don't know,” she admitted. “They've kept me out of the way so I haven't been able to hear anything important. I just have this bad feeling.”

“Well, feeling or no feeling, we need to get you out of here. That is my first priority. Once you're safe, then we can try to figure out everything else.”

Vesper wanted to argue, her intuition told her she should, she had gotten to know Josef a little and she knew that he was excellent at being unpredictable. Carter was a cop, though, so she finally decided to let him do his job. After all, he had more experience then she did.

She nodded, giving him her assent.

“Alright, come one then.”

Carter lead the way, Vesper following closely behind him. He held his gun in hand, ready to use it if the occasion arose. It was eerily quiet in the warehouse. The sense of foreboding grew inside her, she knew that this all seemed way to easy, but she had no choice but to continue to follow Carter through the warehouse.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, she felt hands grab her from behind. Before she could make a sound to warn Carter, one of the hands clamped over her mouth, making it impossible for her to make any noise whatsoever. She felt herself being shoved against something, and felt a cold object trace along her neck, all the while still being unable to speak a word of protest aloud.

Disoriented, it took her a minute to realize what happened. She figured out that she had been pulled away from Carter, and pushed against the back of one of the large metal crates that had been left in the warehouse. When Carter turned around to check on her, she would be just hidden from his sight. She also realized that the person who had grabbed her also held a knife pressed against her throat. That person happened to be Josef.