“Down this way.”
Kenzie halted and leaned past Taylor. The dark alley might as well have had bats swooping and the grim reaper dressed in his cloak.
“You’re kidding, right? A dark alley.” Kenzie looked around wishing there was a way to get her friend to back out of this plan.
“Relax. It’s the metal door at the end of the building.”
“Metal door? Could this be anymore cliché for a bad idea? What’s next, a fat old guy in a van asking us if we want some fucking candy?” Kenzie spread her hands out in frustration. “This is nuts, Taylor. We’re probably going to die, or worse, get sold into sex slavery, be chained up and left to piss in a bucket in the corner. Or what if they stab us will dull kitchen knives. Slit our throats?” She threw her hands in the air. “You’ve come up with some risky plans in the past but this one tops the rest.” Kenzie knew she was being harsh but her nerves had just hit an all-time high. She clapped her hands dramatically. “Well done.”
Taylor stared back at her and raised her eyebrows. “You finished?”
Her rant did nothing. She dropped her hands and arms, her shoulders deflating in the process. It was over. Her last-ditch effort.Done. With or without her, Taylor would go through with the worst scheme ever planned.
“Yeah,” she muttered.
She followed her down the alley with the scent of stale piss burning her nostrils. They stood in front of the door,staring at it. It gave her a hitch in her heartbeat. Maybe Taylor was having second thoughts. The moment was fleeting as she leaned forward and knocked.
She stepped back from the door and they stood shoulder to shoulder. “What, no secret knock?”
Taylor rolled her eyes. “You watch too much TV.”
Kenzie closed her eyes and silently prayed. God was always listening, right?Please, Lord, save me from my own stupidity.She mouthed ‘Amen’.
Taylor snorted. “You’re praying? Seriously? Asking God for forgiveness?”
Kenzie cocked her neck. “Actually, I was asking Him to let the men inside be dumber than us. That’s the only way this will work in our favor.”
Taylor chuckled, staring at the door. “You are making this worse than it really is. Nothing bad is gonna happen. We’ll go in, talk to Dante, when he leaves, I’ll grab the cash and we scram. What could go wrong?”
Her confidence wasn’t soothing.
“Everything,” Kenzie mumbled, and flinched when the lock shifted on the door.
The door opened and the bouncer jerked his head for them to pass through. She was expecting some code word or to have to give a secret clue. Something, anything. For all this man knew, they were undercover vice, or FBI. Obviously, he didn’t take his job seriously.
She leaned closer to Taylor and whispered, “How the hell does he know we aren’t police or something?”
Taylor glared over her shoulder and mouthed, “Shut up.”
They followed the bouncer down another hall. A flickering green light flashed and he slid a card though the lock and opened it in front of them. Taylor walked through. She could hear the voices of people beyond the music pounding in the background. Kenzie was almost through the door when thebouncer moved next to her towering over her. She glanced up at his hard face.
“You know how I know you’re not a cop?”
“Uh.”Was it a rhetorical question? Should she even answer? This was not someone who passed through her everyday life. This man was like the boogeyman, nothing inviting or soft about him. He seemed to be waiting for her to respond.
“How?”
He leaned closer, his arm grazing hers. “You’re still breathing.”
What the fuck?She watched him lean back, the corner of his eyes crinkling. She darted forward crashing into Taylor’s back. She couldn’t be sure who grabbed whose hand first but suddenly, Taylor was pulling her through a crowd of people. She kept her eyes set on the bouncer, who watched her intently until they were lost in the sea of people.
Her heartbeat spiked. They were never going to pull this off.
“You made it.” A deep sinister growl came from behind them and Kenzie turned to see a tall man in a suit. It struck her as odd that the place was crawling with degenerates in jeans and t-shirts, and this man looked like he was going to a business meeting, or for a date with a high-class call girl.
“I told you I would stop by.”
Kenzie refrained from rolling her eyes at the sultry tone Taylor was giving him. She was too busy scanning their immediate area. If she could have dreamt up a nightmare, this would be it. The sight, the smell, the entire vibe of the large room with people, was dangerous and illegal. The music in the background made it hard for her to hear what Taylor was saying to the man.
