Hold On

Chapter 2

Juliet went straight to the study. She became deeply worried about Magnum's state, it was unusual for him to get sick so suddenly and she had a feeling something bad was happening. While her mind was occupied with her worries, she didn't notice that three armed men entered the house silently. She finally reached the study and when she was about to pick up the blanket,  she suddenly felt someone's presence behind her. She was more than sure that it wasn't Magnum because he wouldn't be able to get there so all her senses went on high alert at once. Her instinct kicked in and she focused on using her defending skills.

She spun around knowing from experience that attack was the best form of defense. She wasn't surprised when she saw a man dressed in black, wearing a ski mask and holding a gun. Her plan worked. He definitely wasn't expecting such course of action. He didn't even have time to react as Juliet knocked his gun out of his hand in one swift motion and then gave a very painful kick to his stomach. He stumbled and with Juliet's hard blow to his jaw, he knocked over an antique vase, fell backwards and hit his head on the floor. For a moment, he seemed quite groggy.

Juliet got to the man, who was lying there, grunting in pain. She deliberately leaned on his stomach, making it hurt even worse.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" She asked, her tone of voice sounded unemotional and authoritative.

The man cried out in pain but didn't say anything. Just as she wanted to try to get the information out of him once again, she found herself being grabbed by the arms and hauled to her feet. She turned and saw that another man came in. He looked just like the first one, but this one had visibly more weight and as she was about to find out, he was a bit more experienced in a fight. Not wanting to lose any second, she wriggled and stamped the heel of her shoe right on the attacker's foot. He hissed in pain and slightly loosened his grip on her. That was all she needed. She made a move to swing at him but it turned out that he was faster – he ducked and her fist didn't reach its target. Immediately, she made another attempt – she kicked him with all her strength and this time she succeeded pretty well. For a moment, the man was dazed and she didn't wait any longer to punch him right on his nose. She felt and heard a loud crack and at the same time an agonized cry escaped his mouth. He grabbed his nose and doubled over in pain.

Just as Juliet thought it was over, she heard a well-know click somewhere to her left. When she looked there, she saw a third man pointing a gun at her. At that moment, she realized that the chances of her winning in that situation were very slim so she was forced to change the tactics and instead of fighting the intruders, she tried to get information from them.

"All right, guys. Now that the lady here beat you so easily, let's get it over with, shall we?" Said the third man who seemed to be their leader.

"Who are you?" Juliet tried again, she hoped that this man would give her the answers she wanted so much.

Unfortunately, something completely unexpected happened. First, one of the remaining men caught her by the arms again and held her tight. A few seconds later, she felt a needle being plunged into her right arm and a liquid that was inside the syringe quickly pushed into her.

Blood rushed to her head. Now, she knew she didn't have much time left.

"What do you want?" She asked as she felt her legs started trembling and were just about to give way.

"That's not the kind of question you should be asking now, miss Higgins." The leader replied. "The correct one is – Who do we want?" He was laughing menacingly.

At that time, her whole body became extremely heavy and she was desperately fighting to stay awake. The last thought she had was that Thomas was out there, in no condition to fight those men. She hoped he was already asleep on the couch where she had left him and they wouldn't target him. Then she finally gave in and everything faded to black.