Free (2013) Shooter by Jack Parker Page A

man spoke, smoothing his suit. "We can get started."
    Get started with what, exactly? Was my first panicked thought. Then he continued. "Bring the young ladies here, please."
    Shit.
    "
Come on." Grandpa muttered under his breath to me. I (very reluctantly) followed, all the way to about five feet from the lady in the dress. The Hispanic girl was placed right beside me. We didn't dare look at each other.
    "
You obviously have no idea why you are here, of course, as no one has told you… and I ordered them to be brought here strictly
unharmed
, Jason. Miss Pryor is bleeding."
    I didn't even care if I was bleeding or not. How the hell does he know my name? Why am I here? What have I done? But only then did I register the slow trickle of blood running down the side of my face from my forehead.
    Jason/Grandpa answered quickly. "She's really fast, boss. Had to stop her somehow."
    "
There are much better ways of doing that, and for god's sake, un-gag her." Suit guy scolded softly. His eyes went an even more frightening color, and I flinched away when his gaze fell upon me again.
    Jason gently untied the strip of clean cloth in my mouth, and it fell to the floor, forgotten.
    I held my breath and kept my mouth shut. Suit Guy turned his attention back onto me. "I do solemnly apologize for your treatment, Graecia. And yours, Miss Serrano. It was not my intention for either of you to come to harm."
    My feet went numb. He knows my whole name. How does he know my name's Graecia Pryor?
    The air was thicker now, it seemed, and I was having difficulty breathing.
    Who is he?
    And why me and this other girl? What is the purpose of us being here? I mean, all I was doing was walking home, going to do my homework, hang out with my big sister.
    I finally dared to croak out words. "Why are we here?" I whispered.
    Lady-in-the-dress snorted. "So, it speaks." She had a musical voice, as serene and assured as it carried the threat of a painful death.
    "
Sinclaire," Suit Guy scolded softly. "That so happens to be an extremely relevant question." He turned his attention back to me. "You see, I need you two young ladies to do something for me."
    "
What do we need to do?" What my question really was; are you going to kill us?
    I may have had the courage to speak, but my sentence quivered with an undertone of pure fear, and I was sure he'd picked up on it.
    "
You will see, in a moment. But be assured that so long as you cooperate, you won't be harmed." He answered patiently. "Any other questions?"
    I took a chance on that one. "Who are you?"
    I figured that if he said he needed me to do something, he wouldn't kill me just yet.
    "
Hopefully, your future employer." He smiled, and his eyes softened. "For now, call me Kendall."
    That might have been an alias, for all I really cared. What I had wanted was some clue as to why I had been brought here. But before I could meditate further on this one, he snapped two fingers at the Asiano man, and that one disappeared from my field of view for a moment. I dared not turn and look to see where he had gone. I did, however, look at the girl beside me, now that she wasn't flanked by any big, scary people.
    She looked like she was either going to throw up or run for it. Or both. She was shaking pretty violently, and her olive skin was paler than I'm sure it should have been.
    I had the sudden thought to reach out with my elbow and touch hers. I meant to reassure her. She glanced at me and back at the floor.
    Kendall had been watching. "If you run, Julia, the both of you will be shot." He whispered. "You will find in a moment that your fates are tied."
    He glanced back at me, a meaningful look in his eye, before a loud scuffling sound drew his attention behind me. I took the opportunity to whisper to Julia. "It's going to be fine. We just have to do what he says."
    It was a pretty shoddy attempt at reassurance, if I do say so myself, but I tried.
    Seemed to work, though. She stopped shaking as badly, and took a few deep