Shit.

Someone had switched the lights on. White light washed over him, as he held Brielle in his arms. He had caught her when she was falling , preventing her from hurting herself further. But if anyone saw him now they'd think he was---

"What the hell are you doing to an unconscious woman Zachary?" boomed a loud voice, as heavy footsteps thudded against the concrete floor. Zachary cursed gruffly and laid Brielle's limp body on the floor.

"I wasn't doing anything." he said irritably as two stout, burly men came into the scene. The men glared at Zachary, both of them twirling their long brown moustaches.

"If she dies, we probably won't get any share of the company." said the man on the left, lighting a cigar. He had noticed the wound on Brielle's head.

"I know that you dumbass." said Zachary under his breath. "I formulated our plan."

"What was that?" asked the other man sharply. 

Zachary knew better than to get into a fight with these men so soon. They would probably kill him in the blink of an eye.

"Nothing." amended Zachary. " Tell me, Chris, when do you think Jack will arrive here? He's pretty smart and will probably find out our location soon."

"Is this your feeble attempt at changing the topic?" sneered the man wielding a cigar. "We are the Kormin brothers, Harvey and Chris Kormin. You have no idea how much damage we could do to you."

Zachary looked at them, knowing full well that they were right. He was no match for them when it came to physical strength. His night of lust with Brielle would have to wait till he claimed her as his concubine after he gained control over Dixon Enterprises. 

"She's hurt, but I didn't do it." said Zachary. "She was already bleeding when I opened the door."

"And you grabbed the opportunity to try something." said the man named Chris, spitting the cigar out of his mouth. It would have started a fire, had he not stepped on it with his enormous foot and put it out.

"I'm sorry." said Zachary holding up his hands.

"Better be." said Harvey. "Our showdown is with Jack. We mess with him not his girl. We do a lot of illegal stuff, and people often fear us, but we are not known for raping women. Females hold a lot of respect in our eyes. So while you are here, keep your fucking hands to yourself."

"And keep that sorry excuse of a dick in place." said Chris , as he rolled up his sleeves menacingly. "Or we'll castrate you."

Zachary opened his mouth and shut it again. What was he going to say anyway? All he had were snide and snarky retorts, any of which would probably have him saying his last prayers.

"Sorry." he said again, trying to sound sincere. Chris and Harvey seemed to buy it, as they dropped the matter.

"We need her conscious." said Harvey. "I have a first aid kit in the car outside. We need to fix the cut on her head, she's lost a lot of blood already."

"You do that." sad Chris nodding as Harvey turned and left. Chris faced Zachary giving him a glare. "You---tell me the plan again."

How stupid can you be to forget it so soon?

"Jack comes here looking for Brielle and we keep her locked in the cellar. Then we talk to Jack right here inside the basement and explain to him that if he wants to see her again, he needs to hand over the company to us."

"What if he says no?" asked Chris harshly.

"He's in love with this woman. If we didn't kidnap her he'd have married her anyway before his 25th birthday. Jack's contract with my father wouldn't hold until he has a divorce. But that's unlikely since they share a trusting bond or something like that. Its too much effort to wait till after the wedding to destroy their marriage and then obtain the company via fulfilment of the contract. Its better this way, we get the goods, he gets the girl. Everyone's happy."

"Hmm." said Chris as Harvey returned with a white box. He started applying some medicines on the cut on Brielle's head. "Good. Listening to this plan of yours just reminded me not to kill you."

Zachary cursed inwardly. Without me, against Jack, they'd crumble to tiny pieces. They should seriously show me more respect.

"Looks like this is the place." said Jack gaining in on a dilapidated looking building. "I'll park near the shady trees a bit far from there, where the Kormins and Jones can't see is. The bike will come in handy in case we need to make a quick escape."

Jack swiftly drove past the storage house as he tried to avoid being discovered. A small group of trees surrounded the building from the back and Jack had every intention of using the extra cover it provided.

Jack finally skidded to a halt at what he thought was a safe place and turned off the engine. Paula was to scared to move. Gingerly, she let go of Jack's torso, she could have sworn she had scratched him with her nails while holding on for dear life. Good thing he hadn't complained.

"You stay here Paula." said Jack as he got off the Harley-Davidson bike. "I'll go and try to find those scumbags. If you sense any danger just blow the horn of the bike three times, okay?"

"O-o-k-kay." she stammered. 

"Good. See you." he said turning and walking towards the isolated building they'd left behind.

Brielle, I'm coming, please be okay.

The path to the abandoned building was through a tiny forest-like area. The sun shone through the thick canopy above, barely able to trickle in. Jack, however, wasn't complaining about the lack of light. It gave him ample cover to get near Brielle's location without being found out. He broke into a run, no longer able to delay rescuing Brielle. He covertly got close to the boundary eventually only to be confronted by a wall. He neatly jumped over it, wryly recalling the number of times he'd done this as a child after stealing apples from someone's orchard.

Piece of cake. He was quite sure he hadn't been spotted yet.

"I see him clearly." announced Harvey looking through his binoculars, while pacing inside a room on the first floor. "The height is perfect."

"Aim towards him. But maim don't kill." ordered Zachary as he sipped tea, while sitting on a dusty sofa. It was just the two of them as Chris Kormin was still with Brielle, underground, tending to her wounds. 

"Are you sure?" asked Harvey as he made sure the black device inside his jacket was loaded.

"Yes you idiot." snapped Zachary dropping his cup and letting it shatter to the floor. "Hurry up before he gets inside and ambushes us."

"Okay, okay." said Harvey poking the snout of his weapon ever so slightly through the curtained window.

BOOM

Dust, gravel, pain and blood everywhere. Jack knew he was so close, he could almost feel Brielle's presence. Why the hell did he have to be so careless? He ducked into the shadows behind a couple of water pipes, trying to regain his balance.

The blood dripped from his thighs to his ankles as he struggled to pull the bullet out of the wound. He was surprised the wound wasn't too deep. Not looking to kill me yet. 

Jack knew retreating was not an option anymore. With his wounded leg, he would never be able to scale over the boundary walls. It had been a smart move by the Kormins, to corner him like that. He cursed inwardly. He had never thought he would be hurt so soon into his rescue mission. The agony in his thigh seemed to shoot through every cell in his body.

Brielle.

He could handle a little pain. At least now he knew the exact location of his enemy. He thought he saw a tiny movement on the window on the first floor.

Time for the next move.

Harvey didn't know what happened. As soon as he turned from the window to let let Zachary know that he'd maimed Jack, a sharp bullet tore through the sealed curtains and hit him squarely on the shoulder.

Crying out in pain as the blood soaked through his jacket, he fell to his knees. 

"You fool!" yelled Zachary jumping up. "He knows where we are! What kind of a sniper are you if you give away your location?"

"A bad one, I know." said Harvey grimacing at the pain. "Get me the first aid kit, damn it I can't move."

"You have to move." said Zachary helping him stand up. "We need to get back to the basement. If Jack gets here, we both know what he's capable of. Unlike us, he won't hold back."

"He'll go berserk if he can't find that girl. You're right. There is no way for us to defend ourselves. I can't shoot at him with my right shoulder hurt." agreed Harvey as he leaned on Zachary for support. The two of them exited the room and reached the end of the dark narrow corridor. A hand operated elevator stood at the wall. Zachary pulled the ropes, signalling to Chris who was already in the basement to pull down the elevator. He responded almost immediately.

Harvey went down first, and just as he heard footsteps coming towards them, Zachary climbed in and escaped into the protection of the hidden basement.

Without the elevator, it was almost impossible to reach the basement, that is of course if one even knew there were underground chambers.

Jack looked around the recently occupied room to see a shattered teacup and a blood-strewn carpet. No doubt that this was where the high school shooting champion Harvey Kormin had been. Jack smiled, my aim is pretty good too.

Brielle. Where are you?

He clutched the wounded thigh that he had tied up with his shirt. The white cloth had been soaked with his blood, but Jack was finally feeling better. He would rescue Brielle. He would get back at these old enemies. He would get married to the woman he---

Did he love her?

He clutched the pink scarf in his pocket and sighed. Of course he loved her. Loved her more than life itself. And she was in danger, because of him. God forbid, if something happened to her, he knew the company, the money, the status, the riches...would mean nothing at all.

Damn it. 

"I will find you Brielle." he said aloud as he turned on his flashlight and stepped into the dark corridor.