Free Love Condemned: Beginnings by Stephanie Brown Page B

not to think of what would happen next. Would they kill someone from her room? From another? Her insides twisted when the thought crossed her mind to pray it would not be her or Adrian. She knew the others had just as much right to live as them. With a hard push in her back, Miranda stumbled forward through the door opening. She rushed back to the bed where she sat down again next to Adrian, afraid to sit too close or to do something that might set the terrorists off. She concentrated on her breathing again. She had to remain calm and not show her fear. The Italian took the gun from his belt and pulled back the slide. 
    "So," he grinned at the hostages, "who's ready to die?"
    The words cut through Adrian’s heart and made it hard for him to breathe. If Miranda was executed, he would not be able to live with himself. When the Italian man took the gun out and pointed it in turn at everyone, each person cringed and diverted their gaze. Adrian was the only one that stared directly into the killers face. The thoughts of Miranda getting hurt were still fresh in his mind, he stood up. “I am ready.”
    It took Miranda a moment to realize it was Adrian who said this. The wall she had been staring at was instantly forgotten, replaced by the face of the man who said he wanted to die. Before he could leave the bed, Miranda reached out and managed to get hold of the fabric of his jeans. He looked back at her, seeing the desperate look on her face.  Why you, Adrian? Why are doing this? Please... stay.  . 
    Adrian nodded to her and stepped away, prepared to meet his fate. As they left the room, Alice grinned, knowing that he would be stupid enough to sacrifice himself. Young hostages in love are always the easiest to manipulate. They will do anything you ask of them because they are protecting the one that they love. Miranda could not move from the position she was sitting in for a while, only able to stare at the door through which Adrian had disappeared, listening intently for a gunshot of sorts, hoping it would never come
    Adrian was walked up to the front glass doors of the hotel and forced onto his knees. The men that stood next to the doors scrambled and talked fast in Italian. Adrian could not understand what was about to happen, but he knew that he was at the center of it. One of the men came into the room off to the side of the door. He carried a bucket, but Adrian could not see what was in it. One of the men positioned himself directly behind Adrian with an assault rifle pointed at his head. With a nod from the man that brought him in, one of the Italian men pulled down the curtains that blocked the glass. As the sun shined through, the man behind Adrian pulled the trigger with a loud bang. At the same time, the man with the bucket threw the contents all over the windows.
    It took a couple minutes for Adrian to regain consciousness. The concussion from the blank round had knocked him out. From what he gather ed, his execution was staged, to put on a show for the police. They escorted Adrian away while the Italian man went back to Room 23. As he entered the room alone, the Italian man wiped his hands with a bloody cloth. “Who wants to be the second?”
    There was no stopping it. Miranda had lost control faster than she was able to realize. She hardly felt she had gotten to her feet, staring at the Italian. She leapt forward; hitting him everywhere she could manage until two others managed to pull her off him. "You killed him!" she screamed, beside herself in horror. "You murderer!" 
    Restraining her this time proved to be more than they anticipated. Miranda was full of rage, lashing out with all that she had until a blow to the back of her head with the grip of a gun knocked her out. Alice shook her head wearily. "And she was such a good girl," she said with a sideways grin towards the man with the bloody cloth in his hands. "Take her away." The man picked her up as if she was nothing and threw her over his