Chapter 9

At 5:45 p.m. A black Dodge charger pulled into the parking lot of Runaway Technologies. The driver got out and looked around in every direction. A security guard approached the car to warn the driver that the plant was closed on the weekends.

The driver shot the security guard and took his keys. Another large man got out of the car and helped him to prop the security guard on his stool in the guard shack. To anyone watching from a distance, it would seem that the guard was reading.

Anna/Charlotte got out of the car and entered the building with the men. Of the 5 men she'd hired these were the only two left. It didn't matter. They were enough to subdue Preston if necessary. They were very large and they were professionals. They wouldn't hurt Preston, because if they did they wouldn't get paid, but they'd make sure he went with her. One way or another, Preston would be hers again in a matter of minutes. After they got safely to South America and she had fucked Preston into submission, she'd send them after her mother and Preston would never know.

"In a few minutes, someone will come into the building after me," she told the two men. "You are not to touch or impede them in any way. Do not let anyone else come in after them. If they attempt to flee or leave the premises without me, stop them. Other than that don't come into the room no matter what you hear. I get kind of wild when we go at it, if you know what I mean."

Neither of the men knew what she meant. Strangely enough, since she'd been in Anna's body, Charlotte had actually been faithful to Preston.

The two men took up stations near the only stairway that led upstairs. They were expecting to see that God Damned orange Mustang pull up. They couldn't believe that fucking car had run rings around their Hemi Charger, but it had.

They were shocked, but didn't say a word when a sleek silver helicopter landed in front of the building. Amanda got out flanked by two security people. They watched Amanda walk up the stairs, and then stopped the security men from entering the building.

"She said only one person was allowed up," said the smaller and smarter of the men. Suddenly one of the security men jumped at the man who'd done the talking. His partner attacked the other man at the same time. They started fighting and slammed each other into the wall. While they were fighting, Preston arrived at the plant. He parked right in front of the charger and while the men were busy fighting, he walked into the building.

Charlotte's smaller thug got tired of trying to keep things quiet. He'd seen Preston go in and knew he had to stop him. That crazy bitch had told them that if anyone other than the first person went in, they wouldn't get paid. He pulled out his gun and shot the security man. His partner was losing his battle with the other security man. The guy probably studied some kind of martial arts. He had kicked Tim in the stomach and then in the leg. It looked like Tim would have trouble getting around. He didn't see Tim pulling his gun either, so it must have been knocked away.

He had no qualms about it, he shot the second security man in the back and helped Tim into the building.

"That little fucker with the Mustang got past us," shouted the thug. "He didn't go up the stairs though, he went somewhere else. Find him." Tim nodded his head and limped out onto the shop floor.

Both of the thugs noticed that the building looked different. None of the main lights were turned on but there were a lot of smaller lights on. There were also noises coming from everywhere. They looked around and didn't see the guy. It was weird and neither, Tim or Bart would admit it, but they were slightly on edge. They weren't afraid, they were trained professionals. As mercenaries they'd hunted and killed men, in jungles and in cities around the world. They'd adjust and adapt to the enemy's terrain, the way they always did. Tim limped off to the right while Bart holding his gun in front of him, stealthily walked to his left. Bart held the gun close to his body so a sudden jab or move wouldn't knock it out of his grasp.