The faint smell of bleach stung Brynn’s nostrils. She could feel a tightness on her wrists and ankles that tugged at her skin. Carefully she opened her eyes to only get a few pinpoints of light. She had no sense of how long she was out, but she knew it was at least a few hours. Pausing her breathing to listen, the voices in the distance were muffled by a soft buzzing of machinery. “Maybe a meat packing facility”, she thought from the other odors that now stung her nose. There was no mistaking that the people who got the jump on her were lucky. She could hear a set of footsteps moving toward her and another climbing some sort of metal structure. If she had not been trying to keep Jack alive after his stupidity of wanting to go it alone, she would have seen them coming.

She could feel the movement of someone behind her, tied in the opposite direction. “Damnit” she muttered to herself. “The self righteous bastard just had to not listen.” Her thoughts searing with anger. She couldn’t free herself without first knowing what she was walking into. The only way to go was through. Best to get them to remove the blindfold and then figure out the plan. She struggled against the restraints on her wrists. Gasping and choking as though she was scared. Tears rolled down her cheek and licked the cut that she had gotten when pistol whipped for trying to stop Jack from pissing off the whole Russian mafia.

A presence now loomed over her. A set of fat hands grabbed her wrists. “Well look who is awake.” The voice was deep. She had heard it before, but couldn’t place it. “You and your little friend have some explaining to do.” The duct tape quickly yanked from her mouth, made a whimper emerge.

“Someone help!” She screamed at the top of her lungs before a the meaty hand clamped down on her mouth.

“No one can hear you scream.” The quick twist of her neck let the blindfold slip slightly, revealing a pair of oversized sneakers.

“What do you want? If it’s money I can pay. Just please let me go.” She sobbed as the feet moved backwards. In the distance she could hear another person enter the room. They spoke quickly in Russian and a new pair of feet emerged, this time in fine Italian leather. “Please, I will give you whatever you want, just let me go.”

A gently touch skimmed the wound on her face. It moved slowly toward the blindfold and carefully removed it. She blinked a few time to adjust her vision. Before her was the one they had named The Comrade, since his true name was never verified”. Interpol had been trying to years to nab this guy, the Feds had not fared better, and the CIA wasn’t sure what country he was in at the moment. Brynn Steel was looking at him, but couldn’t believe he was the kingpin behind the deaths of thousands of people. His deep blue eyes glared back at her. It had been some years since she had come this close to a cold blooded killer without anything but her own wits.

“Please, just let me go. I won’t tell anyone.” She noticed three other men enter the room along with an arsenal of chests. Jack had been right that The Comrade was behind the missing shipments in New York. Hating that he was right, she knew her was not the place to escape. She needed to know the plan and who the buyer was.

“Why were you with this man?” The Comrade motioned to his men, who went behind her to grab Jack. As the brought him around, her eyes had to refocus. It wasn’t him. They had inadvertently taken the wrong guy, and she could see in the shadows that one of the men carrying a Uzi held a finger to his lips.

“I don’t know who that is.” Carefully the Comrade stroked the mans head, as though comforting a child. The man looked at her, as though to speak. A loud shot rang out.

“I was just looking to play some poker.” Tilting her head down, she knew that four against one were not good odds, but it was now or never. Twisting her hands to the sides of the chairs she felt the weak point. Taking a deep breath she counted in her head “Three…two…”