Fatal Attractions

XXXIV

I feel like a stoner.

As I pace in this alley wearing dark clothes, I feel like someone waiting for drugs. I bet the majority of the passerbys thought I was a stoner too by the way I waited so impatiently. I just couldn't help it, I was overflowing with nerves.

I glanced down at my watch, seeing that it was almost ten thirty. I wasn't expecting Owen to be late, if anything I thought he might be early after the threats I laid on him. Maybe he was dead. Maybe Hypothermia killed him. Maybe we will find him in an abandoned warehouse dead like we found Poison Rose.

I couldn't decide whether or not I should leave after ten thirty, he could just be late, but he also might be dead or setting a trap. I said ten thirty sharp so maybe he is waiting until then so he doesn't seem eager or something, then again, who would be eager to do something life threatening? Maybe I should've planned a little better, or at least as well as someone could plan for this new situation. Who knew blackmail could be so difficult?

Looking at the text this morning from him that read I have something, I can't help but say I was a bit shocked at how quick that was. It had only been a week since I last spoke to him and he had already initiated himself into Hypothermia's group, which was good for me because I wasn't a patient person. Like I said, I live for action.

The big hand of my watch landed on the six and I took a glance around me, waiting for Owen to step out of the shadows, to my disappointment, he didn't.

I looked down at my watch again to make sure the time was right, then at the text I had sent him. Right time. Right place. No person.

I pulled my collar up to my neck and turned to leave when I heard footsteps clicking against the pavement then bouncing off the walls of the alley.

I turned around slowly, careful not to show my face if it wasn't him, but sure enough, there he was, his face hooded by the moonless night sky.

"You're alone?" I asked, my nails burrowing into my palm.

He stepped out of the shadows and into the milky lamplight of the street. "Yes, and I'm not wearing a wire, you can pat me down if you want-"

I put up a hand to stop him. "That's not necessary. So what happened? Do you know who he is?"

He took a deep breath and shook his head. "I didn't even see him. I went to that website you showed me and emailed them, almost immediately I got a reply saying to go behind the McDonalds dumpster alone in my suit-- which is super sketchy and I only went because my identity was on the line thanks to you." He said bitterly. "I went and somebody stuck me in the neck with a needle, I passed out, and when I woke up I was in a dark room tied to a chair with those ski mask guys around me."

"Do you know where they brought you?"

He shook his head. "Like I said, I was knocked out, but the room was cold, damp, and I heard a rumbling noise every now and then, making me think that I was under the subway tunnels or a main road. Anyways, they had taken my mask off and asked me my name and all that, telling me to pledge allegiance to Hypothermia or else they would kill my family and expose my identity-- which, in the end my identity was revealed but I actually trust them more than I trust you to keep my secret-- then they made me do some batshit crazy stuff, Madisyn." He shook his head, a look of petrifaction in his eyes. "I haven't slept very well since then. They kept me there for 4 days and wouldn't let me leave, just making me-" He took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he pressed his lips together painfully. After a few moments he opened them again and seemed more relaxed. "Then they told me that my first job was to assist the recently escaped criminals in escaping again."

"Did you see Hypothermia at all?" I asked, bored at his long and monotonous story about things I could hardly care about.

"No," He sighed. "I thought I would be a higher priority and he would talk to me personally but all I got was his lieutenant-"