Chapter 55

I ran down the alley despite everything inside me objecting. I didn’t want to leave Hunter behind and despite what he had told me, I knew he wasn’t right behind me. I could hear the gunshots as I rushed out on the main street. For a second I thought about turning back, but Hunter had told me not to. He was risking his life to keep me safe. If I went running back into the situation I would only make things worse. He had told me to run, to get to safety, and that is what I would do. I didn’t want to take the cab he had ordered, he had told me not to get into closed spaces and I had no idea who the driver was. Hunter said to get home or to his office, I could do that. The thought of his office made me remember the phone I was clutching in my hand. As I started to speed walk in the direction of Hunter’s apartment I turned off the speaker mode and held it to my ear.

“Jason?” I asked, surprised my voice obeyed me.

“Hana? What is happening?” Jason’s voice was steady and calm but it held determination.

“We were on our way home from the restaurant and were surrounded by men. I think it was eight of them, but there could have been more. Hunter told me to run. He shot two men so I could escape and he stayed to block their way I think. There were a lot of gunshots,” I told him. Trying to tell the story in somewhat of an orderly fashion, but facts just kept popping into my brain at random. “They were Aksakov’s men, they had the tattoo,” I added.

“I heard,” Jason confirmed. “Where are you?” he asked. I knew I could trust Jason. But what if someone was listening to me? Then I scolded myself. If they were close enough to be listening to what I was saying, they would already know where I was.

“On my way down 12th street,” I told him.

“Okay, there will be a car there in a moment to pick you up. The car will look like the one Hunter is driving, the men in the car will hold up a phone on speaker and I will be at the other end of it. Don’t get into any other car,” he ordered me.

“Okay,” I agreed.

“The men will take you to Hunter’s place and they will stay outside the apartment to make sure you are safe until this is solved,” he continued.

“Um. Could we go to the office instead?” I asked.

“The office?”

“That’s where you are right?”

“I will be in a moment,” he confirmed.

“Then that is where I want to go as well. You are going to help Hunter, right?” I asked.

“Of course, our men are almost at his location as we speak. Okay, I get it. I guess you are just as safe here as in his apartment. But when he asks why you are here and not resting comfortably in your bed, you will have to tell him you forced me to let you come here,” Jason said.

“Deal,” I told him without hesitation.

“The car will be with you in five minutes. Do you want me to stay on the line with you until then?” he asked.

“No. You go and do what you need to do to help Hunter. I’ll be fine,” I said with more confidence than I felt. We said goodbye and hung up. I looked around, the sidewalk had people walking up and down despite the late evening. Cars were driving past and I tried to look at everyone, trying to judge if they were a threat or not. To be honest, I had no idea what to look for. But I kept at it until I saw a black SUV pull to the side just in front of me. I prepared to run the other direction as the driver rolled down his window. I had a feeling I recognised him from when I met with Aksakov. He held up a phone.

“Hana, these men will take you to our office,” Jason's voice sounded from the phone. “Even if Hunter will kill me for it,” he added with a sigh.

“Thank you, Jason,” I said. As if it had been the password, the back door opened and a man got out and helped me into the car. I found myself sandwiched between two men dressed in tactical gear. It hit me how serious this was when Jason had sent a full team ready for anything. As I felt safe my mind switched from survival to anxiety. I didn’t know what had happened to Hunter and my mind tortured me by making up new, horrifying outcomes. I felt guilty for leaving him behind, despite knowing there had been nothing I could have done to help him. Most likely I would just have gotten in his way. I was clumsy and had no idea of what to do in a gunfight. I tried to take deep breaths and try to think positive. When we got to the office, Jason would tell me the men had reached Hunter and he was on his way to the office as well. When the car parked and we all got out, the men escorted me to the elevator and two of them got in with me while two stayed behind. Jason stood waiting as we reached the floor where he and Hunter had their offices. My mouth didn’t work, I was deadly afraid of asking what was happening. I just looked at him.

“Let’s go into Hunter’s office. Clair is getting some tea for you,” Jason said. The two men stayed behind as Jason led me away. I turned my head.

“Thank you,” I said to them. They gave me a weak smile and nodded. Inside Hunter’s office, Jason lead me to the couch and made me sit down. Clair walked in not long after and handed me mug with piping hot tea.

“It will be okay,” she told me, patted my shoulder and left.

“It’s bad isn’t it?” I asked. My gut feeling told me as much, as did all the sympathetic looks everyone was giving me.

“It’s not good, but it could be worse,” Jason said. I nodded. “When the men got to Hunter’s location there was no one there. No injured or dead men, no bystanders… no Hunter,” he told me.

“How on earth is that classified as ‘it could be worse’?” I asked.

“If they had killed him, we would have found Hunter’s body on the site. They wouldn’t have bothered to bring it with them and there was too little time to dispose of it,” Jason said and even though it was good news, kind of, I would have preferred to not know things like that.

“Okay. So you think they took him?” I asked, trying to push my squeamish nature to the side.

“Yes. Most likely the leader of the group didn’t want to tell Aksakov they came back empty handed. Hunter would be better than nothing,” Jason said.

“Do we think he is okay?” Jason sighed at my question. “You need to be honest with me, Jason. I won’t like it, and there is a slight chance it will cause a breakdown. But I need to know so I can prepare myself,” I insisted. He nodded.

“I can’t see Hunter giving up and going with them. If they could take him, something had to have forced him into that situation.”

“You think he was hurt and got overpowered?”

“Most likely, there was a lot of blood on the scene, it’s hard to know if any of it came from him. Even if he was unharmed when they took him, the likelihood he will stay that way is small. Aksakov won’t be happy to have his plan ruined. For some reason he wants you and he might force Hunter to tell them where to find you,” Jason said.

“Torture?” I asked in an unsteady voice.

“Yes. Don’t worry, it won't be the first time Hunter has been in this situation.”

“Why would that make me worry any less?”

“Right. Good point. What I meant was, he knows we are coming for him and he can handle it. The good news is that we know who has got him. Aksakov feels safe because we have never interfered with his business. He thinks he is too powerful, that we won’t dare to go against him. He is wrong. We haven’t gone after him because we see no point in it. Someone else will just take his place. But now he has declared war. That is a dangerous thing to do when the people you are fighting have been through actual wars. Don’t worry, Hana. We will get Hunter back,” Jason told me.

“Okay. Thank you,” I said, looking into my mug with tea.

“You did the right thing by running,” he said. I looked up at him. “Hunter told you to run, you ran. That was the right thing to do. Hunter would have known it was the only way or he would have never left you to get to safety on your own. You did good.” I nodded and felt the tears well up in my eyes. I felt weak and useless as all I could do was to sit and cry over tea as Jason awkwardly patted me on my back. It was the uncomfortable look on his face that snapped me out of my pity party. I had to giggle at how out of place he looked trying to comfort me.

“I’m sorry, thank you for letting me embarrass myself. I feel better,” I told him.

“It’s okay. You have had a long day. Why don’t you rest here for a while. Or you could use one of the overnight rooms we have,” he offered.

“I think I will stay here,” I said. It made me feel a little better being somewhere I associated with Hunter.

“You do that. I’ll let you know the moment I get new information.”

“Thank you, Jason. For everything.” He just shrugged and left. I saw a folded knitted, lilac blanket hanging over the back of the couch. It hadn’t been there earlier and I smiled as I took off my cardigan and laid down on the couch and pulled the blanket over me. It had to be one of the blankets he had bought for me. The thought made my heart hurt. I tucked the blanket closer and imagined it to be Hunter’s arms around me.