Chapter 19

"What are you doing Professor Kinsley?" Adam asked in a low voice, his eyes moving from her neck to her captor. The man's quick breathing against her hair was erratic sending shivers down her spine.

"Grab that phone and send a message to that damn lawyer!" his voice rumbled through the room, and the barrel of his gun scraped the skin on her temple as he pressed it against her head.

Adam stood in place eyes wide as he watched, in turn, the gun then her crazy captor whose whole body was shaking uncontrollably.

"Take the phone now! or I'll pull the trigger!"

Adam took a few steps forward, grabbed her phone from where it has fallen on the floor, and then held it up.

"Tell her lawyer that she's going to be late to the meeting. show me the screen as you send it," Kinsley said in an eerily calm tone that didn't match his shaking body.

Adam met her eyes then nodded and started typing, there was no way around this. He showed him the message then hit send, sealing their fate inside the closed lab.

"How did you know she was meeting him," Adam said almost casually, Kinsley jerked behind her as if Adam's voice startled him.

"Oh, I know a lot of things." he said with a sneer, " I know that he left it for you and ran away, and I know that you just discovered everything!"

Silence greeted his snarled last word and Sarah could see Adam's face stiffen in front of her.

"What do you want?" Sarah croaked through his tight hold, he was pressing against her throat and it was becoming harder and harder to breathe.

"I want what I owe him! " Kinsley said, "I want the drug!"

Her fear-ruled mind cleared out as she heard him, and her eyes met Adam's who was as shocked as her as he asked. How did Kinsley know about the drug?

"How do you know about it?" Adam asked voicing her question

The man let out a loud cracked laugh and said with venom. "How, did I know it? Let me tell you how I know it. Your professor introduced me to it, and didn't tell me what it was until I was deep into my addiction." He moved a hand to wipe away the sweat from his forehead, only to capture her in a more painful grip.

"He drugged you?!" Sarah's disbelief won over her paralyzing fear as she asked him.

"He provided me with a perfume, a present for our hospitality at the university; before I knew it I was using it more than my cigarettes, which I soon ditched for the damn thing. When it ended I struggled with my pride and asked for more, the process was slow so I didn't notice at first, but when I tried to pressure him into transferring the project, he came and told me that he would cut out my provisions" His breathing hitched, but the grip he had on her tightened.

"Still, we didn't know anything about this. We were drugged the same way you were!" Adam exclaimed trying to make out what was their situation since P.Kinsley was clearly addicted t something if his shivering hands weren't a sign.

"you were as fooled as me in this! your boss knew all along what The Queen was capable of, what he didn't bargain for is that his brilliant researchers would figure it out eventually"

"I tried to fight it but it was too strong, I fought it for almost two weeks with terrible pains and headaches, but I lost miserably, I lost everything from my family to my credibility at the university, all I could think about was the damn smell of that plant. I couldn't have him abandon me like this I needed that essence. He told me that you were the only one who knew where it was, and then the next morning he is nowhere to be found. You will give it to me Sarah. Or I'm going to blow a hole through your brain."