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It was a cold night, one of the coldest so far. Winter was arriving early, and all hopes of no snow and ice into the new year ended. The smell of snow was already in the air, and another storm was brewing. This cold night tonight was merely the calm before the white.
Crissa hurried into the cold embrace of winter. She spun around to check on her associate, who quickly locked the store doors behind her. She shuddered in sync with the other girl as they exchanged looks, and both clutched their hands tight to their chest. The wind blew between them, and slowly they moved into the parking lot toward their cars.
With a quick good-night, Crissa unlocked the driver side door of her car and jumped inside. The key was slipped into the ignition, and the engine roared to life. A few minutes was given to ensure that the battery was still charged because the last thing that she wanted was to get stuck again on the side of the road and wait for a car service to come and rescue her.
A hard tapping against her window broke her out of her daze. She pushed a button on the door before turning, and the glass slowly slid down. Her eyes moved from the lights of the dashboard to a hooded man's face, but before she could react, his bare hands were already wrapped around her throat.
"Let me in." Crissa was frozen in place. "Let me in, or I will kill you." His grip tightened against her skin.
"Okay..." She tried to breathe. "Please... Don't hurt me." Her fingers shakily found another button on the door, and all the locks in her car snapped open.
"Then, do what I say." He moved like lightning into the backseat. "Now, drive." His breath touched her ear, and his gaze met hers in the rearview mirror. "Drive!"
Jumping, Crissa quickly rolled up the window. She put her car into drive and slowly pulled it out of the parking spot. Her frantic gaze raced across the barely lit parking lot, and there was no sign of life in any of the parked cars. And there was no sign of the girl that she had left the store with, and she was alone with the man in the backseat of her car.
"Let's go," he hissed, and Crissa obeyed.
"Where are we going?" Crissa's hands shook so badly, but she continued to lead the car onto a side road nearby. "Where do you want to go?"
"Not the highway. Keep to the side road." He sat back against the seat. "I'll tell you when to stop."
"Look, I'll take you anywhere, anywhere you want to go, but please, don't hurt me." Something metal glinted off the rearview mirror. "Please."
"I won't hurt you as long as you do what I say." He gently held a gun in his hands. "Now, drive."
The drive along the side road felt like it would go on for eternity. Not one single car had driven by except for one with its brights on, and the car sped by too fast without giving Crissa a chance to signal for help. Crissa's tires continued to crunch down on the pavement below, and the roar of the engine was all that was heard inside the car.
"Drive for another mile and then stop."
"There's nothing here but road." She looked at the man behind her. "There's nothing here." The fear was tight in her throat.
"I know."
A mile or so later, the car slowly pulled to the side of the road. The engine continued to hum, and the soft wave of heat tried to kill the chill rising in the car. The lights on the dashboard were bright, but every now and then, they flickered, a warning. But its warning came too late.
"Give me your wallet."
Crissa stared at the man in the rearview mirror. Her hands left the steering wheel and reached for a pocketbook sitting on the front passenger seat. Her fingers fumbled with its latch until it popped open, and she withdrew her wallet from the darkness inside. She then handed the man the small leather pouch, knowing what was coming next.
"Where's the money?"
"I don't carry cash with me anymore."
"No checks?"
"I only use plastic."
"And how much money do you have on your plastic right now?"
"Twenty dollars."
"Twenty dollars?" he repeated incredulously.
"I don't get paid until Friday."
"That's not until the end of the week!" She flinched at his tone. "What else do you have? Jewelry?"
"I don't wear any."
"So, you have nothing?" She didn't like his tone. “To sell, at least." He was now right behind her. "You might have one thing to give, though."
"You want the car? You can have the car. It runs fine. It's yours."
"I wasn't talking about the car."
"Well, that's all that you will get from me." She turned around to face him. "Nothing else." Her anger killed the fear that had held her captive until now. "Nothing else!"
"Which one of us is holding the gun?"
Crissa didn't even register that this man could be armed. His hands were deadly enough. He was strong, but with a gun, he was beyond dangerous. And she was a prisoner in his storm of dark thoughts.
"Take off your seatbelt, and turn off the car."
"Why?"
"Do it!" Crissa obeyed. "Now, lie across the driver seat and onto the passenger seat."
"You've got to be kidding me."
"Listen." He placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "We can do this easy or hard." His lips touched her ear. "I would rather not hurt you."
"Bullshit. You’re talking about rape." Her eyes met his in the mirror in front of her. "Don’t do this. You’ll regret it."
"Like I said. Which one of us is holding the gun?"
The pounding of her heart echoed with the click of a gun. Metal touched her right temple. Out of the corner of her eye, a finger curled around the trigger. A bullet with her name on it waited to be fired, and she could almost feel it burn into her skin. But she was not shot. Yet.
"Okay..."
Crissa cut the ignition, and the car gave one last shudder before dying. The seatbelt slid over her chest and back into its cradle. Her long hair brushed against the seat as she moved her body onto the passenger seat and lied on her back. Tears stung her eyes, and her hands slid down along her legs.
The man pulled himself over the driver side seat. He slithered on top of her. His breath poured against her skin. His weight almost crushed her, nearly stealing her breath. His fingers pulled at her pants as she tried to lie still beneath him.
"If you’re good, you will live." His words were empty of promise.
Something glinted in the darkness. Metal bit into skin. Droplets of red fell against leather. Heavy breathing was heard, and then nothing was left but silence.
Slowly, Crissa pushed the man off of her. She looked over at the front passenger door behind her head and reached for the handle. Throwing open the car, she pulled herself out into the cold night air.
Falling hard onto the ground, Crissa paused for a long moment and then slowly rose to her feet. She zipped up her pants. Her gaze moved from the road to the man now pushed against the steering wheel.
A small knife protruded out of the man’s jugular. Its handle melted into the darkness. Red droplets slid down skin and onto the seat below. Hollow eyes stared upward into nothing.
Sticking her finger in her ear, Crissa felt a small click. A hum tickled her eardrum. A series of clicks were heard, followed by a voice.
"You’re not supposed to contact us." A man’s voice was heard.
"Oh, I’m sorry. I guess I should call the police instead."
"The police? What happened?"
"Oh, nothing except for a stupid piece of shit that tried to rape and kill me." Silence followed a moment later. "He’s terminated." More silence followed. "I’ll call the police. I’m sorry to have bothered you." Crissa leaned against her car and sighed loudly. "I forgot that you can’t interfere except for watching. That’s what you do best, and I know you’ve been keeping tabs on me."
"Don’t call the police."
"Are you coming out to me?"
"I can’t. You know that. But you were right to call. Walk down the road a few miles, and then call a cab. First thing tomorrow morning, call the mechanic to ask about your car. We’ll leave it in the parking lot tonight, and just tell him that it didn’t start again. And you had it towed to his place in the middle of the night, and please, get a battery. We are trying to keep you off the radar here."
"And the body?"
"We’ll take care of it."
"And my knife?"
"Get a new one, and that’s it. Until we contact you."
"And in the meantime, I’ll hear clicks on my phone. I’ll abruptly lose service on my internet, which will come back a minute later. Stuff like that still?"
"Like you said. We’re keeping tabs on you."
"You could offer me a better job than retail."
"What does off the radar mean, Crissa? You’re a ghost. Got it?"
"Yes, sir." The loud click in her ear signaled the end of the conversation. "Pain in the ass," she muttered.
Looking one last time at the body, Crissa snatched her pocketbook out of the car along with her wallet. She turned on her cell to make sure that she got service. Worse case scenario, she would drive the car a little ways down the road and give them something to look for instead of pinning the vehicle to the location of the call. The four bars on her cell meant she was in business, and the car would be left behind along with the John Doe slouched against the wheel.
"You picked the wrong target, pal." She drew in a deep breath of arctic air. "And that was your last mistake." She blew out a white cloud of air in front of her. "That was your last mistake." She started walking away from the car and into the dark, cold embrace of the night.
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