From Frying Pan to Strange Fire

Outside the main door, she paused as she came face to face with the guard assigned to provide them security.

“Is everything alright, Madam?” He asked, looking at her quizzically. He couldn’t understand why she was all dressed up and out so early in the morning.

“Um, yes. I just want to grab coffee downstairs. I’ll be back.” Joan answered his question, but he wasn’t satisfied.

“It can be delivered to you up here, or I can go and get it myself. You don’t have to go through that stress.” The guard suggested, and was about to move when she stopped him..

“No, don’t bother. I need the walk to clear my head. I will be fine.” She didn’t wait after she finished speaking. She went straight to the elevator, knowing from the buzz of her phone that her ride had arrived.

When the elevator door closed, she let out a sigh, seeing that he made no move to follow her. However, with the door now blocking her view, she didn’t notice that he brought out his phone and made a call as soon as the door closed.

The cold wind hit her face as soon as she stepped out of the hotel building. She sighted her ride and walked hastily toward the car, climbing in without hesitation.

This was it. She was leaving and never turning back. Although her heart was squeezing tightly inside her chest because of guilt, she steeled her mind. She would communicate with Grace when she arrived at her destination, and she believed Grace would understand. As for Roman, she hoped he would never find her. Even though she had turned a deaf ear to Grace’s warnings, somewhere in her heart, she was kinda scared he would hunt her down.

The farther the car drove from the hotel, the less her heart panicked that she would be caught. She slowly regained some peace as no one seemed to notice or follow them. By the time the guard would notice, she would be long gone.

With that thought in mind, she turned on a soothing music in her phone, which she listened to via earbuds. Finally relaxing against the back rest, she shut her eyes.

The journey progressed smoothly until five minutes later when the car screeched to a halt, forcing Joan to snap her eyes open. She sat up instantly, knitting her brows.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, looking at the driver through the rear view mirror.

“I’m not sure. A car just drove out of nowhere and blocked the road.” The driver responded, watching the car with confusion on his face.

Joan’s heart skipped a beat. She looked ahead and saw two men in black alight from the car, and walked toward her ride.

“What do they want? Are they police officers? Were you over speeding? Or did you commit an offense?” Joan asked without breaking her words, leaving no room for the driver to answer any one of them.

The driver didn’t know whether to reverse or wait, seeing the men approach his car. Trying to be on the safe side since he wasn’t sure what they wanted and he knew he had not committed any crime, he waited, winding down the glass on his side of the car so he could ask them what they wanted.

However, before he could say a word, a gun was placed to his head and the trigger pulled.

Joan screamed in terror when she saw what happened. She wanted to run, but where would she run to when the killers were already at the doors on her left and right?

She did the first thing that came to her mind, pressing down the door lock, while she tried to call Grace.

The glass came crashing in when the men punched them at the same time.

She successfully dialed Grace’s number, but dropped the phone trying to stop the hands from opening the door. But to her utmost shock, the man, instead of reaching for the lock, pulled the door off its hinges, leaving her utterly terrified and frozen.

He lowered himself and stretched his hand to grab her. He didn’t succeed because something pulled him away from the car with such force that Joan couldn’t comprehend. Her ears picked up sounds of snarls and growls, and she made to see what was happening, forgetting her second attacker.

A chloroform laced piece of cloth was placed over her face by the second attacker, and just before she would pass out, he was also pulled away from her, leaving her struggling to stay awake.

But she couldn’t fight the effect of the gas she inhaled. However, before she passed out, she saw a familiar face approach her. He had blood on his shirt and worry on his face. When did he get there? Wasn’t he supposed to be with Roman?

“Are you alright, Madam?” Joan heard him ask when he reached her, but everything turned black the next second.

“Is she hurt?” The guard at the hotel asked, approaching the car after dealing with the second attacker.

“No. She just passed out.” Daniel answered, frowning and looking around with narrowed eyes.

***

Two hours later, Grace woke up from her slumber, and the first thing she checked was her phone. She believed she had heard it ringing earlier but was too sleepy to pick it up. To add to that, it had only rang once.

When she saw Joan’s missed call notification, a frown appeared on her face. Why would Joan be calling her when their rooms were just a few meters apart? Was she alright?

Grace moved unhesitatingly to Joan’s room and found that she wasn’t there. Did she go out? Grace proceeded to dial her number, but no one was answering.

Worried, she went outside to ask the guard where Joan went. Meeting the guard’s absence, she didn’t know what to think anymore. Did she go to buy something and took the guard along?

When forty minutes passed, Grace couldn’t take it anymore as her worry had escalated. She tried calling Joan’s line again, and this time, a man picked up and was about to say something when the call dropped. Grace tried again multiple times to no avail. The phone was switched off.