Beyond Duties

Chapter 18

A/N

Hey, guys!

Sorry for uploading late... I was so caught up with work and could only put in a few paragraphs every weekend ***sniff sniff***

But here it is - I hope you enjoy.

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With panic slowly creeping her entire body, Vee backed away from the unknown men who invaded the bathroom. She consciously adjusted the shirt she was wearing to reach down her thighs and mentally cursed as it dawned on her that she wasn't wearing any underwear. She knew that it was the least of her worries at that time, but she was determined not to get caught by the strangers looking piteous, and it meant having to fight back and escape.

"What do you need?" She asked, trying not to give away the shakiness in her voice. Her eyes travelled from one man to another, and she told herself to memorize their faces.

The men were all eyeing Vee with great interest and shamelessly ogled her body while licking their lips. They started cackling as one of them randomly reached inside his pants and scratched his manhood.

Seeing such a rough behavior, Vee knew that the worst could happen to her if she wouldn't find a way to escape. The bathroom was surrounded, though. And the only exit she saw was blocked by the biggest man of the group.

"Did you come here for sex?" She asked, as she casually went back inside the shower area to put on her used clothes. She half-expected the men to follow her inside or drag her out, but they all remained unmoving. When she finished, she went out again and assessed how she could create an opening for escape.

"We would love to fuck you but we have strict orders," one of the men responded. He had a strong accent which Vee figured as Russian. "You are to lead us to your next clue."

Finally hearing what her captors needed made Vee sigh in relief that she wasn't about to be raped, but she remained equally alarmed that her family's unknown enemies are now out to join in the quest. She wondered who they could be, or if they happened to work for someone. She tried asking, but only got chuckles in return. She realized that whoever sent the men knew enough about the Yates and Gallaghers and were after the same thing which she and Jordan were working on.

"I guess you would need me alive, then?" She taunted, eyeing a hairdryer which was hanging on the bathroom counter in front of a large mirror. She saw other hair equipment on display which were all electronic. As she approached the counter, the biggest man by the door moved and pointed his gun at her.

"Not too fast, princess," he said. "We will never let you kill yourself. You stay alive, yes. But do anything stupid and we kill you. Better to have you cold and rotting that be the ones beheaded by our Boss."

Finally seeing an opening to escape, Vee created a distraction to be able to speed towards the door. She knew the risk it entailed, but her only choice was to run away. She grabbed the hairdryer and hair ironing rod and turned them on as she splashed water on the floor. She knew that it would create quite a strong current, so she hurried and stepped on the rugs as she slid straight to the opening like a professional skater.

The men were obviously surprised by her sudden movements and their attention were diverted to the sparking hairdryer on the bathroom's wet floor. Within those few seconds of distraction, Vee managed to slip through the door before one of the men fired his gun.

"Hold it!" The biggest one, who seemed to be their leader, shouted. "Let her run. She would not have anywhere else to go, anyway."

Unsure how she even managed to pull off the stunt, Vee didn't stop running until her feet took her to the left wing of the castle. She headed straight to the office rooms but decided against it, and went for the door which had a knight statue beside it.

Vee was relieved to see that the door led to the armory. The room was full of swords of various sizes all perched either on their stands or mounted on the wall. There were stands dedicated for staff and flails, ball and chain, and even bows and arrows. Wooden dummies are placed at the other end of the room together with punching bags, speed balls, and kicking targets. One corner of the room had shelves for firearms.

This is too open... She told herself. She could not think of other places to hide, though. If she wanted to at least be able to defend herself, the armory would be the best place to hide. The risk is giving her opponents more options for weapons.

Composing herself for the inevitable, Vee wished that she could still recall her archery school days as she unmounted a bow and arrow set. She then looked for a good hiding spot and decided to stay behind the huge shelf of firearms.

As she waited in the dark, all her shock and nervousness came back. She tried calming herself by breathing heavily and letting herself silently cry. She wished someone was with her to help her deal with the bad men who broke into the castle, but she wouldn't be able to call for help when her phone doesn't have signal, and no one except Frank knew where she was headed. She wondered if he would at least let Jordan know about the steps she had taken on her own.

He may be too busy with Aya, she rolled her eyes, not comfortable with the weird feeling she develops whenever she recalls how she had last seen Jordan.

Not wanting to be sidetracked, Vee shook her head and listened for sounds to tell her if the men have found her hiding place. She could not help but wonder how they were able to pass through the tight security and sneak in without any alarms going off.

A soft squeak on the floor to her right made Vee jump a little and she instinctively aimed her arrow to its direction. Her eyes darted left and right, but she lost her view when the dim lights of the room got darker as she heard the rest of the castle's electrical connections die down. She knew that the men must have decided to scare her by switching the electricity off, knowing that she didn't have anything on hand which could help her go around the castle.

"Come out, princess..."

Fear dawned on Vee again when she heard one of the men approaching the armory. She poised her arrow to the direction of the door, ready to fire, but it was pitch black and she wasn't even sure if she was aiming the right way. She relied on the sound of footfalls and prayed she could at least hit something. Deciding against her fear, she let the arrow fly and almost jumped in glee when she heard the man curse as he got hit.

"She's here! Block the armory!"

Lights turned on again and as Vee sped towards the exit, two of the men caught sight of her. She tried to run away but they whipped her with a rope which caught her long hair. Getting off-balanced, Vee almost fell face-down to the floor had she not used her elbow as support. She didn't mind the stinging bruise she got as she tried to get up, but the men were quick to strangle her and they forcefully dragged her by the feet.

"Let me go!" Vee screamed, as she forcefully tried to free her limbs from the men's tight hold. She shot them dagger looks as they shut her up with duct tape over her mouth. Tears drenched her face as she continued fighting back until she felt something cold and hard hit her nape before everything turned black.

A/N

Whew! I had a hard time writing this with all the distraction.

I hope I made you feel how I imagined everything to be.

Please don't forget to Vote, Comment or Share!

Lovelots,
liquidfiredragon