Hide Seek Kill - A Thriller Novel || Draft One

Seven: Amelia

"¿A qué hora es? No... No, mi amor no está aquí...¿Son las nueve y veinticinco? ¡Ahora no! Si..."

"What do you think you're doing?" Amelia asks, startling the Spanish woman. Naomi is holding a bulky walkie-talkie device, and practically jumps in the air before regaining her composure.

She hurriedly ends the conversation.

"¡Me han descubierto! ¡Tengo que ir ahora!" She flips the device off with a huff and scowls at Mia.

She growls before trying to move past Amelia, but it is futile, as Mia has a hold of her wrist.

"Who were you talking to?"

"¿Lo siento?"

Amelia tightens her grip on the woman's arm. If she wants to play dumb, she thinks, then fine, we'll do this the hard way.

"Dímelo ahora, o nunca saldrás de esta habitación."

Naomi gulps, seeing that Amelia understands Spanish. Not everybody flunks out of the class in high school. Some people, like Mia, actually tried to achieve more than pass the class, and speak fluently.

She is a woman of many talents, as she also speaks fluent French, Hawaiian, German, and knows some Italian. However, she didn't get very far with Russian yet.

Such a pity, knowing that Sasha Volkov may have something interesting to say. She'd have to get back into that, if she made it out alive, that is. Oh well.

"It was a colleague of mine," Naomi answers.

Amelia taps her foot. Likely story.

"A colleague of yours? From where?" Mia is tempted to pull out her choice weapon of her late-grandfather's army knife, but resists, waiting for the perfect moment.

Small beads of sweat form on Naomi's forehead. She's nervous. Good.

Suddenly, there is a loud rumbling sound. Everyone's heads jerk toward Amelia, whose face has now gone red in embarrassment. Naomi takes this chance to get away from Mia.

"Sorry!" She grabs her stomach subconsciously. "I guess I had forgotten to eat breakfast."

More rumbling sounds come from around the room, echoing off the walls.

"Ok, well, I know this is a dumb question, but...Does anyone have anything to eat?" Zuri asks. She scans the room, but Mia shakes her head no, just as the others do.

"I might have something."

Mia whips her head around to see that it is James. Why, oh, why does it have to be James Smith of all people!

He pulls out some packaged crackers and a wrapped up sandwich. "I wasn't planning on sharing, but..." He breaks the sandwich in half and gives it to Zuri. "It seems that you need this more than I do."

The dark-haired girl looks at everyone unapologetically before practically devouring the thing. She could've at least shared.

Mia doesn't know if she should eat things offered by the people in this room. Despite her misgivings, she goes on ahead and asks James for some of those crackers.

"I guess I could give you some, seeing as I am your only hope." James mocks, holding out the package of crackers. Mia takes a few with a roll of her eyes, careful to watch his expression. In her business, she's learned that the face gives everything away—which is why she trained herself to control her emotions.