Free London Dusk (A Dawn to Dusk Novella) by Leigh K. Hunt

Every now and then we would pass a bobby car, and every time I saw one, my stomach turned. I didn't know if I should try and capture their attention or not. Giving my abductor a sidelong glance told me that he was more than assured that I would do anything that stupid.
    I flicked the cigarette butt out the window , and wound it up. We entered the more industrial part of London, and my nerves kicked in. I had heard a million stories about people being killed and buried in building sites and the like. I reached for my phone, to try and at least send out some sort of help signal, but I felt a hand clasp around my forearm.
    " What are you doing?" he asked.
    I shook my head . "Nothing. Just trying to… find my rescue remedy."
    He looked at me in surprise . "Rescue remedy? As in the homeopathic stuff?"
    " Yeah," I said quietly. He released my arm, and I found that I actually did want it. I pulled the bottle from my bag, unscrewed it, and lifted the dropper to my mouth.
    " I wouldn't have thought that a party girl like you would have a need for it." I ignored him, and recapped the bottle before dropping it into my bag.
    A few moments later he pulled the vehicle down a long narrow alleyway between two old brick factory buildings with enormous arched windows. They both looked abandoned, which didn't give me any hope. At least I was now mostly dry from the heating in the car. We pulled up to a garage, and he pressed a remote that opened the door wide. Lights flickered on as we pulled in, revealing a very clean, well maintained space. There was enough room for another three cars.
    " Where are we?" My words came out small. In fact, I sounded afraid. I sucked in a deep breath to calm myself down. I had to pull it together.
    " That's for me to know, and you to find out," he said gruffly. The garage door closed behind us. "Come on."
    I grabbed the laptop case full of money and my handbag and got out of the car , following him over to an old metal gated elevator that rattled to a close behind me. It slowly ascended through the building, revealing a few musty and unused floors, until we reached the third floor. We stood in an enclosed foyer. He switched the lights on, and my mouth fell open in surprise.
    The floors were polished wood , the walls painted a muted greyish green, and it actually had a beautiful hall table with a key bowl on it, of all things, and a huge abstract oil painting hanging above it. For a big tough guy, he seemed awfully domesticated.
    I watched him throw the keys in the bowl , and step through the door that led out of the room. He turned and looked at me. "You coming?"
    " Um…" I have him a quizzical look. This situation was becoming weirder and weirder by the second. First he had killed my client, then he'd let me live, and helped me rob Darren. Now I was out in some remote warehouse, which so far resembled something out of a design magazine. Everything felt completely out of context. "Yeah… I guess." I trailed after him, only to find that my suspicions were confirmed.
    It looked as though an interior designer had been well and truly over this place. High warehouse ceilings were littered with pendant halogen lighting. Enormous glass windows looked out at the night sky, and towards the roof line of the other buildings around us. To my left, I saw a kitchen with a huge stone island. And when I say huge, it was massive. I watched the man walk around and turn on more lights, revealing a very bachelor-like living area decked out in leather sofas and dark wooden furniture.
    He looked up at me , and pointed at one of the chairs. "Sit."
    I crossed the expansive room and did as I was told , watching him as he turned on heat pumps and emptied his pockets onto the coffee table between us. The case that held the diamond choker caught my eye, and I itched to pick it up. He put a smaller black case on top of it. There was also a hard drive, and a few USB drives that he'd also removed from the hotel suite. Finally, he sat down