Love Condemned: Beginnings Read online

  "Adrian...?" she whispered in confusion. "You're ... alive ... "

  He was so glad to hear her voice to know that she had not been seriously injured. “I am here, Miranda. It appears they do not really want to kill anyone, they just want the police to think they have.”

  Miranda sat up slowly and pulled herself over to Adrian’s side against the wall. Her head pounded as she tried to understand what happened. As she went through the thoughts in her mind, she realized the events that had unfolded earlier. She snapped herself up quickly in a seated position and looked at Adrian with fury in her eyes.

  “You! What were you thinking! How could you do that to me! I thought that I had lost you!” She started to swing her arms in frustration as she relived the moment in her mind. Tears started to streak down her face. “What would I have done then, hotshot? Why?!”

  Adrian was surprised by her sudden outburst. He sat there and let her anger play our before he responded. He knew that if he responded then, she would not have heard him anyway. Once she had collapsed back against him, and asked ‘Why?’ repeatedly, he pulled her back at arm’s length to look at her. Miranda continued to avert her gaze until Adrian spoke to her. “Miranda, look at me. Miranda!”

  She looked into his face, tears still streaked down her face. “They threatened to kill you first. They were going to have you be the one sacrificed in front of the police. I could not let that happen. So, I…… “ Adrian looked away and said in a very low voice. “I wanted to protect you, even if it cost me my life.”

  Miranda stared at Adrian's face, processing what he had just said while he looked away from her. All her frustration flowed out of her body in seconds, and even the pounding of her head was momentarily forgotten. Did he just say...? She tried to get a glance of his expression, but he was still turned away from her. Still in awe, she wondered what was going through his mind.

  All the fury had seemed to explode the moment she realized Adrian wasn't dead and she had every right to be angry at him. Something had been devouring her from the inside the moment Adrian said he was ready to die first, something destructive and powerful. Miranda knew she wasn't really angry. She was just frustrated that he would leave her alone like that when she cared about him more than she was ready to admit. Furiously, she tried to wipe the tears off her cheeks, but they seemed only to increase in number. Miranda was not the crying type, so something really had to have an impact to get her thus far. She only looked at Adrian when he forced her to.

  "Adrian?" Miranda said softly, turning his face towards her with her hand on his cheek. "Why would you do that... for me? I cannot be worth your life.."

  Adrian thought long and hard to find the answer to her question, but the answers that he kept coming up with were too impossible for him to say. He shook his head, Miranda’s hand still on his face. He closed his eyes and put his hand over hers so he could feel her touch against his cheek. He knew that she waited for an answer, so he said the only thing that he could think of. The truth.

  “Miranda, this may sound crazy, but I care about you. I could not let them hurt you. There is just something between us…..at least, I think there is.” His words seemed to stumble a little like he was very nervous to admit his feelings. He could not look at her directly in the eyes. He expected her to pull back at his statement and reject him. As he looked down, he felt her hand pull his face up. He did not expect what came next. She leaned in slowly and kissed him gently on the lips.

  It felt like an explosion of a thousand tiny lightning bolts shot through him. It literally took his breathe away and he felt his heart skip a beat. He let the moment sink in and he felt every feeling and took in every detail. Slowly, his hand reached up to her face, pulled her in closely as he kissed her back. These were the best moments in Adrian’s life, even if they were being held captive.

  When they finally broke the kiss, they both gasped for air, stared at each other in disbelief. A small line of blood trickled down from Miranda’s lip from the cut she had received earlier. Adrian reached forward and brushed the blood away and looked into her eyes. In a very serious tone, he repeated, “I care about you.”

  Miranda had never thought she'd have the guts to do what she just did. Somehow she felt safe with Adrian, in every way possible. Perhaps the realization of what she was going to do before she was going to do it, and not backing away from it, made it even more phenomenal. What Adrian said opened the door for her to do it. Miranda didn't think about the cut in her lip, about the bruising and aching on the back of her head, about the fact that they were captives of an Italian terrorist organization. When she put her hand beneath his chin and lifted his head, all she could think about was him.

  The moment Miranda kissed Adrian she knew she would never want to let him go again. She had been with a man before, but it was never like this. With Adrian, it was the first time that she felt like every square inch of her body and soul was activated. She desired to be as close to him as was possible. Her hands landed on his chest as she leaned into him, loving the feel of his heartbeat beneath her palms and the rough stubble on his face that tickled her skin. She was sorry they had to break the kiss, but they were both out of breath. If such a silly thing as breathing hadn't been standing in her way, she could have and would have made the moment last several hours.

  "I care about you too," she replied softly after a few seconds, and looked up at him again. "I was devastated when they came back from... from pretending to kill you. I thought you were dead. I kind of attacked the man that took you away." She grinned at this thought, the irony being that exactly this had caused them to be together again. Miranda fell silent again, while she changed position so that she sat closer to him.

  "Adrian?" she asked then in a small voice. He looked down on her with a quiet smile on his face. "Do you think we could... do that again?"

  Adrian was lost to everything around him, all his focus on Miranda. Her beautiful eyes glowed as they looked into his. He felt that she cared about him in the same way that he cared about her. Everything else in the world did not matter to him at that moment. And when she innocently asked to kiss again, his heart skipped a beat. It was like all his dreams became a reality. He looked at her with a quiet smile on his face and dared not to say anything to mess up that perfect moment. He leaned down slowly, their lips moved closer.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The door was kicked open and startled them from their trance. The tall Italian man threw in another person to the floor in the small space. Miranda pulled at Adrian’s arm to find any comfort that she could. The door slammed shut without a single word spoken. Miranda and Adrian regarded the still body. Blonde hair matted with blood, face down on the floor. Adrian moved slowly to the body and gently turned it over. It was the blonde girl that Miranda argued with on the bus. Adrian grabbed a towel off the shelf and put it under her head.

  He pushed back her hair to check if she was alive. “Sophie, can you hear me?” Adrian leaned closer to hear her breathe, relieved to know that she was not dead. Adrian looked back up at Miranda, “It looks like they needed to execute another prisoner. At this rate, this little closet will fill up very quickly.” Adrian stood slowly and turned in circles to survey the room. “We have to find a way to get out of here.”

  Adrian paced back and forth as he looked for a way to escape that little closet. The air vent was way too small for a person to get through, the door was locked on the outside and the ceiling was solid. It proved to be more difficult than he would have thought. He walked to the back of the room where two shelves lined the back wall. He pulled on one to see how easy it was to move. After a little effort, he was able to move the shelf a little without much noise.

  He looked behind the shelf at the blank wall. The only thought that Adrian had was to find a way to break through that wall. He could use the shelf to cover up any hole they made if someone came in the room. Now, he had to search for a tool to use to chip away the plaster and brick.

  Sophie started to stir
and mumble. Adrian pushed the shelf back in place and went to help her. He knelt beside her and told her to take it easy. He explained the situation to her and that she was not dead. A wave of relief crossed her face, then quickly replaced by anger. She sat up quickly and glared at Miranda, “You! It is your fault we are in this mess!” It did not take more than that for Miranda to swing a balled fist. Sophie’s nose broke, sending her back to unconsciousness as blood covered her face. Adrian was shocked at the sudden outburst by Miranda. He could not believe that she was so aggressive. He went to comfort the girl and see if she would become conscious again soon. He glanced over at Miranda and she just laid her head back against the wall and stared at the ceiling. Adrian focused his attention at making Sophie as comfortable as possible while she tried to recover. The cloth he pulled off the shelf quickly filled with blood as he tried to stop the bleeding coming from her nose. After a couple minutes, the blood seemed to stop flowing.

  “What?” Miranda asked as Adrian stared at her. “She had it coming from the moment she stole my seat on the bus.” Okay, perhaps I overreacted a little, Miranda thought.

  She scowled at Sophie's limp body while she rubbed her knuckles, and couldn't help but feel just a little guilty. She would not have let herself go like this at any other time. It was the fact that it was this blonde tramp who invaded their moment of peace in this hell hole just as she and Adrian were just getting intimate. Combined with her throbbing headache and the tension that had been on her mind all day, it was enough for her to explode at the slightest insult. Miranda muttered an apology in Adrian's direction before she leaned her head back against the wall and stared at the ceiling.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  When Giorgio returned from disposing of the third victim, Alice was leaning against the window post with a bored expression, eyeing the hustle of policemen outside. They hadn't seen her yet. They would probably have a hard time doing that anyway since the lights in the room were off and it was already dark outside. The night was clouded and hot, announcing thunder and rain. Alice was still pissed off that they had to "execute" a third victim today. They did not have a choice since the girl’s behavior had been impossible. After taking the American and his little English girlfriend, the French girl had been in raising her voice and acting crazy. Giorgio had appointed her his new caller, but she could hardly hold the phone let alone utter one proper word.

  There was something to Giorgio’s gaze that Alice could not place. She would not have given him a second glance, but his eyes beckoned her outside. He was followed by Vittorio, one of the other conspirators who were to replace her while she was absent. The prisoners in the room were calm now, but they were not about to take any risks. Alice followed Giorgio outside. A muscle in his jaw was flexing when he closed the door for her and held up an identity card. She recognized the man in the picture as their first bus driver. Her eyes shot back to Giorgio's.

  "Tell me, Alice," he said through clenched teeth. "Tell me what happened to this man after he was replaced."

  She stared at him, a mixture of fear and determination shooting through her heart. They couldn't do anything to her. She was the one that made this whole operation possible. If it hadn't been for her experience as a travel guide and her easy-to-love attitude, none of this would have been accomplished. She raised her chin in the air determinedly. "I had to get rid of him. He was a traitor. An infiltrator. We could not trust him."

  Giorgio's eyes seemed to be spitting fire and he looked like a predator when every muscle in his body seemed to gain in tension. "A traitor," he hissed. "I think I would have known if my best friend was a traitor, Alice."

  Oops. Alice swallowed. That was rather troublesome. She suddenly felt very vulnerable, with only an empty gun to defend herself. Unwillingly, she took a step back, betraying her guilt simultaneously with her fear for his revenge. Giorgio let out a loud roar and leapt towards her, his fist colliding with the socket of her right eye. There was no time to scream as Alice felt the bone crack and reached for her eye. One hard push in her back made her trip over her own feet and fall face first. She screamed but dared not open her eyes in fear she would only increase the damage, as she fell down the wooden stairs.

  With enormous effort, she lifted her head and peered through her eyelids to the Brigade members that stood near the doors. They looked down on her, and she found only contempt in their faces. A kick in her back forced the air out of her lungs, and a tear escaped Alice as Giorgio's hand around her neck hauled her up. He threw her against the glass doors, which miraculously did not break.

  "It's the end of the line for you here, Alice." He said with a voice cold as ice. He took his gun out of his belt and pulled back the slide. Alice looked at the ground and closed her eyes.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Miranda's gaze wandered through the rest of the room, pausing momentarily at the shelves that Adrian had been moving. Looking for an escape? It was possible. But she didn't see how the shelves were going to help. Miranda gazed at the air vent. It wasn't very big, but possibly she could get in there and explore where it led to. Her yoga skills might come in handy here. But just after she proposed this to Adrian, the sound of a gun going off reverberated through the building and cut off his reply, leaving both of them startled and staring at the door. It was not that they had not heard it before. But it sounded different this time. It had a hollow, empty sound at first, whereas now it sounded very much like a bullet had actually left the barrel. Miranda's eyes found Adrian's, searching for something resembling comfort. He was just as shocked as she was.

  “Did that sound………real?” Adrian asked.

  Miranda still could not find her words, so she shook her head in agreement. Adrian got up from the floor and quietly walked over to the door. He pressed his ear against it in an attempt to get any information. He concentrated really hard to get any sense of what is going on, but all he heard was a couple of muffled voices.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  “Clean this up and get her out of here….now!” Giorgio commanded to the guards standing at the door. The sudden outburst shocked them, making them hesitate to respond. Giorgio turned and stormed away without another word. The body on the floor quickly started to spill blood on the floor; a growing pool of red invaded all the space around it. The body stirred a little, making a groaning noise. Alice was wounded badly, but not dead yet. The bullet went through her shoulder, missing her heart and vital organs by inches, but the blood flowed freely.

  The men grabbed her roughly, which caused the pain to shoot through her body. Flashes of intense heat ran down her spine, her vision blurred instantly. They dragged her away from the front doors and towards the closet to put with the rest of the hostages that have been ‘killed’. One of the men dropped the arm he dragged to open the door. He pushed the door open very roughly, which caused Adrian to fly backwards, where he tripped over Sophie and crashed into the shelves. The men did not even look at Adrian as they dragged Alice into the small room. They dropped her body next to Sophie and walked out of the room.

  Adrian slowly got back up as he heard the door slam shut and the lock clicked back into place. He walked over to the body that was dropped on the floor, streaks of blood made a trail from under the door. Adrian reached down and turned the woman on her back. He quickly recognized it to be Alice. Adrian looked at Miranda with great shock. She did not look at him, but continued to stare at the woman who had betrayed them all. The blood continued to create a small pool around her.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The things that flashed through Miranda's mind when she first heard the gunshot were nothing compared to when she saw Alice's tangled body laying helpless on the floor. While the horror of realizing they were actually killing people now washed over her. An even greater terror bubbled up inside when it occurred to her that when the terrorists were killing amongst themselves, things were really getting serious. When Alice moved slightly and groaned in pain, Miranda blinked. She was not dead yet. That was sloppy of
them.

  Miranda was conflicted. On one side, her humanity and principles were pulling at her to get up and help Alice. On the other side she was revolted by the woman for what she had done. Miranda’s rational side took over. If Alice would live through this she might be able to help them escape. That tiny possibility was the motivation she desperately needed. With a sigh, Miranda moved towards Alice on her hands and knees, pulling a clean sheet from one of the shelves which she ripped into long bandages. She wrapped them firmly around Alice's shoulder, hoping she would stop the bleeding this way and that Alice might have a chance to live. Her eyes opened momentarily and gazed at Miranda in a way she couldn't possibly define. It lingered between disgust and gratitude.

  Adrian did not know whether to help this woman or strangle her. But to his surprise, Miranda got up and started to make a bandage to try and stop the bleeding. He checked on Sophie to see if she was awake yet, but she was still out. That probably was the best thing. The last thing that he needed right now was a crazy blonde freaking out about the almost dead woman on the floor next to her.

  When she was done, Miranda stood up with a frown on her face, and eyed the shelves that were placed right beneath the air vent. She guessed that if she tried hard enough, she could get through the narrow tube without getting stuck. Adrian was still sitting on the ground, in between Sophie and Alice, looking from one to the other and then to Miranda. His eyes were inquisitive. He must think she was crazy for helping Alice instead of Sophie, whose crime was much greater and deserved a broken nose more.