She was even heavier than she looked. By the time Vlad reached the kitchen at the far end of the enormous restaurant he had dropped their prisoner from his shoulder twice. It occurred to him that perhaps Cliff would have been a better choice for the task. He chased those thoughts away immediately. He didn't need Cliff, or anyone else for that matter. He had been trained to operate alone. Relying on the others would make him dependent upon them. What happens when the mission is over? They leave and I'm left without a way to handle the responsibilities I left to them. That’s what. Whatever needed to be done in his life he could handle himself, just so long as he thought it through. When he reached the kitchen he undid the girls leg-cuffs. She would have to 'walk the rest of the way.' He told her. She whimpered once as he showed her how menacingly his longblade could gleam within the shaft of light his flashlight cast upon the gritty floor. There would be no attempts to escape from her after that. Her bound hands struggled with the heavy door before he helped her push it open. The kitchen had once been home to the constant aroma of roasted pork, succulent turkey and other delicacies Vlad could never afford.

?Rats scurried away from the reach of his naked beam of light and his prisoner jumped at the sight of them. Vlad and the girl walked on through the kitchen, Vlad touching the knife to her back to guide her. The kitchen was big. It had to be, he thought. A small kitchen couldn't handle serving all of the tables he'd seen outside. There would have to be meat lockers as well, but he didn't see any yet. Rusty pots sat forgotten in the dishbins, home to an uncountable number of vermin. At the end of the kitchen was a hall that led off to their right. He poked her in the back gently and told her to go down it. The hallway was big enough for two normal people to be able to walk side by side. Vlad and his plump prisoner wouldn't be able to do that.

?He flashed his light down the length of the corridor. The powerful mag-lite beam reached the end, showing dust particles like gray snowfall. At the end of the corridor there was an exit sign. He filed it away in his memory. If he needed to make a quick escape for any reason, that exit door was the easiest route. Vlad skimmed his beam along the right side of the wall. There were two metal doors there. He walked his prisoner to the first. "Wait."

?These were meat lockers. The closest thing he could find to a cell for her. Somewhere where she was out of the way and couldn't cause anymore trouble like what had happened on the highway only an hour ago. The rusty lock was busted off and the door hung open. Scraps of cloth and remnants of a fire inside the walk-in freezer suggested that a homeless person, a squatter, had once made a home here.

?" Move." He told her. They stopped at the next door. The lock was still on this one. It was rusty like the last, but the latch still worked. This fridge could lock from the outside, and that was what he needed.

?" Get inside." He opened the door for her. The fridge was stacked with old plastic crates. The floor was sticky and covered in filth.

?" Sit down over there." Vlad instructed, pointing to one of the crates. The girl sat down. A muffled whimper escaped from her throat. Vlad took up a seat across from her and then set the flashlight down on its end so that it pointed up, lighting the ceiling.

?" I don't want to hurt you. I don't kill kids. Do you understand?" She shook her head. " That doesn't matter. I want you to try to have faith. Your father loves you very much. He'll pay the money to set you free. Now I'm going to leave you here. Please try to get some rest. This will all be over soon." When Vlad got up to leave, the girl began to cry.

 

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