C9

They talked about everything under the sun during their conversation in the living room... About her childhood, about growing up in Canada, about becoming interested in business, about meeting her future husband... Maya was surprised by how much information the two men shared with each other since neither one ever asked or mentioned a single question about her; which caused her to wonder exactly what their relationship really was. Were they colleagues? Co-workers? Friends? Or were they lovers who had fallen in love with each other over the course of a couple of months, causing them to form the closest bond either of them had experienced thus far in their lives? "So what happens now?" she asked while staring blankly ahead. "Are you going to kill me or something? Will you take me somewhere else and torture me before killing me?"

The man smirked at her words before sighing lightly as he placed his hand on his chin. "I doubt it. I'm not THAT type of person... Besides, I don't see the point in hurting someone unless absolutely necessary... Do you?"

"Not particularly," Maya muttered quietly, still trying to comprehend the fact that the people she thought were friends actually turned out to be hired assassins after all.

"Well then... In that case, I suppose it won't hurt for us to take you home with us tonight. We'll drop you off at your place tomorrow morning... Unless you'd rather go straight to our house?"

"What is wrong with going to your house?"

The man shrugged his shoulders while scratching his stubble. "Nothing. You're free to do whatever you want... Though I think it might be easier for you to stay with me... At least for tonight."

"Why do I need to stay with you? Why can't you bring me home?"

He raised an eyebrow in surprise at the unexpected request but decided not to mention it. Instead, he merely shrugged his shoulder while gazing back down into his drink for a moment. When he finally brought his gaze up again, he looked directly at Maya while continuing talking. "Look, if you prefer staying with me instead of returning home alone... I can respect that. However, that would mean that we'd be sleeping together every night until the job's done... Is that alright with you?"

Maya hesitated before glancing away from him, unable to meet his eyes as she contemplated her options; eventually deciding that she didn't care about sleeping with him if it meant being able to return safely home the next day. After several moments of hesitation, she nodded her head reluctantly; silently acknowledging the fact that she didn't have the courage to refuse him. "Fine," she mumbled quietly. "We can sleep together... But only because you insist... So let's make sure to have safe sex with protection."

She waited expectantly for the man to respond but didn't get the reaction she was expecting. Instead, he just stared at her blankly; making her frown in frustration while crossing her arms defiantly across her chest; refusing to look at him anymore after hearing him speak. Finally, she snapped her mouth shut angrily. "What's the matter? Don't you like girls who aren't virgins anymore?" she spat sarcastically. "Or are you gay? Does that even matter?"

"I didn't know you cared whether or not I liked women, Miss Maxwell," he replied coldly while shaking his head slightly as he downed the rest of his drink and slammed his glass down on the coffee table. "Now please put some clothes on so we can leave. There's no reason for you to wear nothing at all inside your own house. It's embarrassing..."

***

The two men took turns driving the car as Maya remained silent throughout the entire drive, focusing on trying to ignore the fact that the other man kept touching her thigh and occasionally brushing against her arm while they both remained quiet. She tried not to pay attention to his hands as they wandered up and down her body but couldn't help feeling embarrassed by the way his large palms felt on her skin. Even though he stopped short of groping her inappropriately and never made any sexual advances towards her, the mere idea that he could feel her breasts through the fabric of her bra and panties left her uncomfortable despite knowing that he wasn't capable of doing anything worse than what she had already experienced. "This isn't fair!" she cried aloud in exasperation, forcing herself to stop thinking about it altogether. "I should be allowed to walk home by myself! They shouldn't have kidnapped me like this!"

After a few more minutes of silence, the man who had driven earlier pulled into a parking space outside of a shopping mall near their apartment complex; leaving the keys in the ignition along with his sunglasses and cigarettes before turning to face her. "Alright," he spoke loudly in order to be heard above the sounds of traffic. "Get out of the car."

As soon as she had stepped out of the vehicle and stood at the front door with her purse in one hand, the man holding the gun gestured toward the building. "Wait here until I call you to come inside... If anyone approaches us, shoot first... And aim to hit anything besides their faces."

Before Maya could ask him for clarification, he hurried away without saying another word; disappearing into the crowds of people passing by in a hurry as she stared around at her surroundings curiously, wondering where she was supposed to wait for him. As she glanced over at the security cameras mounted on the wall beside the main entrance to the parking garage, she saw a man wearing a black suit standing at the edge of the surveillance camera frame as he studied his watch and appeared to be waiting patiently for the police to arrive. She immediately realized that she was completely helpless in this situation and began pacing anxiously within sight of the guard while listening intently to the voices of nearby strangers walking past her in groups of two or three.

A woman approached her cautiously while studying her suspiciously. "Hey... Are you okay?"

Maya jumped nervously upon seeing the female approaching her from behind while keeping an eye on the man who had ordered them to remain motionless from within his hiding spot. "Yes... How did you know I needed help?"

"I overheard the guy with the gun telling his friend to wait outside for ten minutes and then called 911 when they didn't show up," the woman explained before reaching out to squeeze Maya's forearm comfortingly. "Come with me... I live right upstairs from you."

"That's kind of you but I can't..."

"Don't worry about it," the woman assured her kindly. "You don't need to thank me for helping you out. Just stay there until my boyfriend gets home later today... Okay? Now, follow me, please."

Maya followed after the stranger as she walked past her into the building; entering a lobby filled with various shoppers browsing through racks of clothing, jewelry, cosmetics, books, electronics, and more; stopping briefly to stare at the displays before heading down a flight of stairs into the basement level of the complex. While descending down several flights of steps, Maya's mind replayed everything that happened over the last week and wondered what her life would be like once her parents got involved. Would they try to force her to marry someone that she didn't want to spend the rest of her life with? What if he was old enough to be her grandfather? Or perhaps she'd end up marrying one of the rich businessmen that she met online who were always trying to get in touch with her in order to convince her to move to another country and work for their companies? Either scenario terrified her but she knew deep down that she had no choice but to accept either possibility if it meant escaping from the nightmare she found herself trapped in...

The pair exited the building on the second floor and crossed a parking lot full of parked vehicles; stopping for a brief moment at the corner of the lot and looking around before crossing the street toward the back side of the shopping center; following the path of lights illuminating the sidewalk until they arrived outside of the grocery store. The woman pushed open one of the sliding glass doors and entered the brightly lit interior of the establishment, quickly moving through the shelves of food items while Maya stared blankly forward, still lost in thought. Several moments passed before the woman came to Maya's rescue, grabbing her wrist tightly and leading her past the checkout lines. "Let's get started... My boyfriend works over in customer service so I'll introduce you to him so he can start processing your application."