Chapter 100

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She swallowed again.

"Can I sit down?" she asked. "I feel kinda dizzy."

Andy laughed.

"You can sit once he calls."

As if on cue, Kat's phone began to ring, an unknown number with the same area code as hers. She answered the call and lifted the phone to her ear, but Andy snatched it from her hands before she could speak.

"Is this Jove?" Andy asked, dropping her voice a few pitches.

Whatever Jove's response was irritated her, and she rolled her eyes then pressed a button, the sound of air rushing on Jove's end suddenly audible.

"Say something," instructed Andy, and Brent nudged the gun into her as if an extension of Andy's will.

"Jove," Kat cried, and she heard him take a sharp intake of air at the sound of her voice.

"Where are you?" he said.

"I don't know," she wailed. "I don't know, I never should've come here Jove, I'm sorry, I'm-"

A blinding flash of pain zipped across her collar bone and Kat looked down to find herself bleeding, a thin trail that crossed from one shoulder to the other dipping like a necklace.

She touched the blood, unsure if she was imagining things until she felt the tatter of her cut shirt, until she saw the knife that Andy was now brandishing openly.

"Ow," she whispered while staring Andy in the face, too surprised to scream.

"Kat?" Joved called, his voice tinny.

Andy rolled her eyes again then reached out and jabbed Kat in the shoulder with the knife a bit more deeply this time, the knife back by her side so quickly Kat couldn't confirm Andy had moved. She couldn't believe what was happening, couldn't believe that Andy was stabbing her while Brent had a gun to her head, that things could go so wrong so quickly.

Andy rolled her eyes again.

"Scream," she mouthed, and suddenly the knife was buried in Kat's thigh, the blade pushed about halfway into her flesh.

This wound, a true stab wound, began to bleed heavily right away, gushing around the metal, and Kat screamed, wanting to collapse but held up by Brent's other arm.

"Finally," said Andy, speaking back into the phone. "She's got a high pain tolerance, that's fun for you."

"Kat," Jove was saying calmly, ignoring Andy's taunts. "Kat it's ok, you're ok. Just listen to the sound of my voice. You're ok."

Kat was gasping now, unsure if the wound was as bad as it looked but too afraid to find out.

"What happened?" said Jove. "Are you ok? Talk to me. Tell me what happened."

"Tell him what happened," Andy offered with a flourish.

"She. She has a knife," Kat sobbed.

"Ok, ok," said Jove. "That's ok. You're ok. Did you get cut?"

Kat nodded, forgetting he couldn't see her.

"Kat?" he asked, fear and panic tinging the edges of his words.

"Yea," she whimpered finally. "Yea, I got cut."

"Ok," said Jove. "Two hands, one on top of the other, put pressure on the wound. I'm gonna be there so-"

"Hate to cut you off," Andy interrupted. "But she's not gonna be doing that, she's mostly just gonna be bleeding."

"Kat," Jove said, ignoring Andy. "Everything is gonna be ok."

"God, shut up," Andy groaned. "Shut up. Everything is not going to be ok, nothing is going to be ok. You need to come now, lover boy. It's not a question of if we'll kill her, it's a question of how much she'll suffer. Tell him about the police scanner Kat," Andy insisted, shoving the phone back towards her almost playfully. Tell him about the cameras. Tell him exactly why he better come alone if he wants you to live long enough for him to make it through the door, tell him."

All Kat could do was cry, hopelessness overtaking her.

"Bring cash. Lots of it. Enough to get us out of the country," Andy instructed. "And call off your dogs. We're leaving. Tonight."

"Where?" said Jove in a voice so mired in anger Kat felt nearly afraid of him.

"7534 Appilier. Hurry," Andy said, and hung up the phone without waiting for a response.

Kat blinked, suddenly hopeful despite the all encompassing, dizzying pain in her head and across her body, the warmth spreading in her thigh. Andy and Brent just want to escape, they don't want to kill him, she thought.

But Andy, sideling up alongside her, grabbed the gun from Brent, its metal never leaving the side of Kat's head, and he pulled another identical black pistol from his waistband.

"Go get in position," Andy instructed. "I'll warn you on the approach."

Kat's heart sank as she realized the money was just a diversion, just the ask to lull him into a false sense of security. He didn't care about money, he had enough of it to feel that way, and Andy must've guessed that if money was the only thing on the line he'd willingly sacrifice it for Kat's safety, a thought process that was about to put him in major jeopardy. 

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