The Elevator door hissed open.
"Get out, bitch!" the taller woman barked at Ashley, giving her a violent shove.
Tessa also needed a push to walk forward. She was almost paralyzed with fear.
'After all, the girl is only eighteen years old,' Ashley thought anxiously. 'Why does she keep getting dragged into my troubles?'
She looked around and found they were in the underground parking area of the mall.
Ashley felt foolish cooperating with her abductors thus far. The elevator was delayed ten minutes due to people getting on and off. She could have raised a racket and taken the risk of getting shot. At least Tessa could have the chance to escape.
But then, Ashley wasn't afraid for herself. She could just come back to life again if a bullet wound killed her.
What if the abductors had killed Tessa in the commotion? What if sufficient time had passed and she could not reverse time?
That apprehension had prevented Ashley from doing anything rash.
The parking lot seemed desolate. It was perhaps the side of the lot where employees parked their vehicles.
The abductors took them through a narrow passageway that had a dead-end door. It was a metallic double-door, reinforced and painted black.
The taller abductor, Nadja, was close to forty. The younger woman was Olga.
"Come on," Nadja nudged Ashley, pinning her to the wall. "Stay right there."
Olga pushed Tessa to the other side.
Nadja approached the door and knocked three times. A metal panel opened in the middle, and a masked man peeped out.
"Password?" he asked.
"Dragonfly sings no more."
The masked man shut the panel closed and unbolted the door.
"What took you girls so long?" he posed. "I've been waiting for half an hour."
"The bitches walked into a lingerie shop," Olga scoffed.
"Fucking billionaires! They're always shopping for things they don't need!" Nadja spat.
The abductors bound the girls' hands with ziplines and gagged them so that they would not scream.
While they were at it, Tessa struggled a bit and flailed. She calmed down when Olga sucker-punched her in the rip.
"So! Are we allowed to rough them up?" the masked man asked. He had an American accent. There was a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
Olga turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "And you are?" she asked him. Clearly, the women and the man were hired separately. Perhaps they did not know each other. The practice could be to keep authorities from tracing the employers if things went south.
"I am Bob."
"Well, Bob. Marvin said we could kill and dispose of them. So, roughing up barely scratched the surface."
"We may kill and dispose of them after dark," Bob corrected her. "Right? And we've been asked not to hurt them meanwhile. We have to make it look like an accident. Any stray marks of violence, and the police will suspect a conspiracy."
"Bob, I am starting to dislike you." She pushed up her sleeves.
The masked man threw up his arms. "Okay, sorry, sorry! I am not a fighter like you girls. I am just a planner. Go ahead and do what you want to with them. Just be careful."
"Thought so," Olga scoffed, pushing him aside. "Where's the kit?"
"Right there, over the table."
Nadja opened a leather box, which revealed an assortment of knives.
The two women chose one each. Then they headed towards Ashley and Tessa, who had been made to sit in the corner.
"Can I check these out?" Bob asked, seemingly interested in the rest of the kit.
"Go ahead," Nadja replied. "But don't play with them, or you may cut yourself." Olga sniggered.
Nadja gripped her knife tightly. "Olga, how about we just stab them all over? Once they die, we tear up their clothes and shove stuff up their cunts. Can we make it look like a mugging and rape? A psychopath on the loose?" Her voice sounded almost manic.
"Sounds good," Olga replied, nodding her head. "Sis, you are crazy, you know that?"
"I know. And right now-"
Both raised their arms to stab the girls. Ashley and Tessa retreated to their corners, whimpering and hugging each other.
"You know-" Bob interrupted from behind them.
"Kid! You know, you're really a party pooper," Nadja growled without turning around.
Olga, who was younger, had a more extreme reaction. She turned around to confront Bob. 'Let me give this guy a beating first, sis- Guck!"
Olga stopped speaking abruptly as a knife went through her neck and came out the other way.
Splurge! Blood poured on the girls sitting in the corner. Tessa screamed maniacally into her gag.
Nadja flipped around, sensing danger. She found herself face to face with Bob's masked face. Another knife had already found its way inside her body, just above her sternum.
Bob gave the knife a forced twist to ensure he punctured her vena cava. Nadja was frozen, shocked, and paralyzed by what was happening.
Both women fell forward and started bleeding profusely.
"I appreciate women's participation in this business," Bob said, eyeing the collapsed women. "But unfortunately, I am not a feminist."
Ashley and Tessa stared at Bob, bewildered.
The man leaned towards them, and they cringed in their corner.
"It's okay," he said, removing their gags. "It's all right."
Ashley glared at him, unable to think of what to say. Who was he? Why did he kill his comrades?
Bob took off his mask to reveal flowing brown hair and a handsome Frenchman's face.
"Chevy!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"How is that even possible?"
It was Guiscard!
"It was not very difficult to infiltrate their ranks," he explained, snipping the ziplines on their wrists with his knife. "I just found one of their goons, got the password out of them, came into their safe room, killed everyone, and waited for the superwomen to bring you. It's quite simple, actually."
The first thing Ashley did as she got to her feet was slap Guiscard's lapel.
"You could not have told me earlier? That you had such a plan?"
Guiscard smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry about that. I was thinking on my feet."
Tessa was shaking. Ashley hugged her to calm her down.
"Inside, there is a washroom. Clean yourself up."
Ashley took Tessa inside, and they returned ten minutes later.
By then, the room was squeaky clean. The dead bodies had been rolled up in plastic sheets.
"Did you find out who their leader was?" she asked, giving Tessa a cup of coffee.
"I have a general idea now. There are limited contractors in Norwich with this sort of modus operandi. But you don't have to worry. I will take care of them while you are on your date."
"My date?"
"With Mr. Elijah Wood. The lawyer."
"How did you know?"
"We had agreed to place a bug on your phone, ma'am. I can read all your messages. A message arrived from Elijah Wood fifteen minutes back. Dinner reservation at Benihana at eight."
"Oh."
Ashley found her cellphone and checked her messages.
Tessa was calm but was mute for most of the time.
"Do you need any help with the bodies?"
Guiscard shook his head. "Do you really think I get paid millions of dollars just to stand beside a fat billionaire? I have to do these sorts of things all the time."
"How many have you killed by now?"
"Do you really want to know that?"
"No. Maybe not. But have you killed anybody innocent?"
"Innocents? No?"
"Good."
Ashley started at his buttons, as if waiting for him to come closer.
"You are free from the masked men of Scarlet. That much, I can assure you. She'll need a lot of time getting another team together."
"What about Zetelica?"
"About Zetelica, you need not worry over the next week. The Serbian mafia has a big wedding outside Norwich, and most of the heads are away. We can expect no attacks during that period. Anyway, one of my teams will escort you everywhere you go."
Ashley pursed her lips. "What should I do?"
Guiscard tilted his head as if he was addressing a little girl. "Go on your date, Ashley. Have a normal day for a change."
She nodded. Then she walked forward and hugged Guiscard lightly. "Thanks," she whispered. He hugged her back for a moment and then pried her off him. "You're getting late. Be on your way."
Ashley walked out of the basement, holding Tessa's hand.
She wondered how much she had changed. She just saw two murders. Buckets of blood. And yet, she was just walking away, unaffected.
In fact, Ashley felt calm and collected.
Perhaps she had finally grown up.