Binding Attractions

Chapter 5

Being relaxed and at peace were emotions Nadiya wondered if she would ever experience again. It had been two days since she ran out of Glisson’s hotel room. Two days of hacking into security cameras and erasing every footage of her whereabouts that night.

It had also been two days of being a nervous rake. She jumped at every sudden sound and looked over her shoulder every thirty seconds as though expecting Glisson to just show up, dressed in black with a ski mask and end her life.

Her first instinct had been to hide in her apartment. Paranoia had her staying away from the windows and keeping her curtains shut. Yeah, Nadiya had watched some TV shows. She knew a little about not making herself an easy target. Which was why she had taken to not switching on her lights and making the least noise possible.

All that would have worked and kept her safe; she guessed, if she had gone grocery shopping any time the week before, but she hadn’t because she had been on a job.

So now, she was forced to go grocery shopping at the little store around the corner. It was the very last thing she wanted to do. But she was out of choices, unless she wanted to help Glisson and kill herself by starvation. That would certainly take care of the problem for him. He wouldn’t even have to cover it up.

Just then, something dropped in the aisle to her left and Nadiya nearly jumped out of her skin. Somehow, she contained the scream that rose in her throat and didn’t let it pass her lips. Her heart, however, slammed against her rib cage for a full minute before she could convince her brain that she wasn’t about to die.

Nadiya gave her head a shake. Damn, she had to get herself together. Glisson didn’t know where she lived. Actually, she highly doubted he knew her last name. They had been f**k buddies, nothing more. Things never got personal; something she was very grateful for right now. And she vowed to never give a man her full name or any personal information that would lead to her doorstep.

After another minute of composing herself, Nadiya adjusted her backpack on her trembling shoulders and made her way to the front of the store to pay for her purchase and head back home. Nadiya was certain she could make the supplies in her basket last a month. By then she hoped Glisson would have forgotten her. Or maybe she would have figured out a new city to move to.

As she waited behind a portly man in ill-fitted jeans and a faded blue t-shirt, she caught her reflection on the glass door of the fridge on her right. s**t, she looked terrible. Lack of proper sleep and stress had put dark bags under her eyes and made her skin pale and clammy. She hadn’t bothered to check her mirror before leaving her apartment, so she had no makeup on to hide the horror.

She was still assessing herself in the glass door when the television in the store's corner above the clerk said a name she had recently become familiar with.

Matthew Parsons’ attorney, in an interview with our reporter, has stated that Mr. Parsons’ daughter, Jessica Parsons, is safe and under the best protection following the exposure of a plot to assassinate her.

The police are still investigating the matter and are on a manhunt for the paid assassin, Glisson Barkley. It is still unclear why a hit was taken out on his daughter, but speculations are being made that it is in relation to Parson’s anti-organized crime campaign.

Mr. Barkley was last seen leaving his hotel suite on Partle street. The public is encouraged to call the police tip line with any information that would lead to the capture of Mr. Barkley.

Glisson Barkley is considered armed and dangerous. The public’s cooperation to capture this criminal and make our streets safe is greatly encouraged.

A very grainy picture of Glisson Barkley filled the TV screen. Nadiya looked at it and gulped. It wasn’t a great picture. If she didn’t already know what he looked like, she wouldn’t have been able to tell him apart from the man in front of her or the guy that lived across the hallway in her building. How could that be the best picture the police could produce with all the technological advancements in the last decade? Nadiya shook her head in disdain.

Just then, the portly man in front of her spoke, snapping Nadiya out of her thoughts. “Some people sure are evil in this world,” the man said in a gruff voice.

“Tell me about it,” the clerk responded. “And that one needs a special seat in hell just for him. I read that the man has killed more than fifty people.”

The portly man shook his head. “Sounds like a really small number for such an individual. I bet there are more.”

“Could be. The police didn’t even know he existed until they got a tip.”

“You don’t expect a killer to advertise his work, do you? He must be very good at covering his tracks.”

The clerk shook his head. “They will get him now. The police now know he killed all those people and was going to kill that girl.”

“Can they prove it, though? I watch a lot of crime shows, and it’s always about what the police can prove. If they can’t prove he did it, Mr. Barkley will be a free man and someone else will be dead.”

Nadiya had a feeling she would be that someone else that would be dead if Glisson wasn’t caught and locked up. Preferably in a very dark hole deep in the ground underneath a maximum security prison. Her mind raced through all the possibilities of her looking back on this someday and laughing. It didn’t look bright.

Her mind tuned out the rest of the conversation between the portly man and the clerk. And the rest of the news report on the TV. She was lost in her own thoughts. Even when it was her turn to pay, she didn’t engage in chitchat or smile at the young clerk like she usually did. Her face couldn’t pull the right muscles to smile if she tried.

Five minutes later, she carried her grocery bags and walked back to her apartment. She was about a block away from her building when she noticed her neighbors and several others all grouped together in front of the old building, looking anxious.

Her legs suddenly felt like she had stepped into wet concrete. She stopped walking and looked up at the building that housed her apartment. Nadiya was still too far to have a good view, but there was no missing the black smoke and angry red flames pouring out of her apartment’s broken window.

For a second, Nadiya couldn’t breathe or move. Her chest felt tight, as though she was stuck in her burning apartment, breathing in all that dark smoke. She stood frozen on the sidewalk, watching as what little possessions she had went up in smoke. Literally.

Then the sound of a fire truck cutting through the air finally jolted her. Nadiya blinked and gasped for air. A violent shudder ran through her body, and cold sweat covered her forehead. She looked around and then quickly stepped into the nearest alley between two buildings.

Her heart was beating at the back of her throat, but she kept moving. The only thought that went through her mind as clear as day was she had to get away right now.

Nadiya didn’t need a crystal ball to know her apartment hadn’t just spontaneously combusted and burst into flames. No. That was most definitely the work of an angry man out for her head. Needless to say, the cat was out of the bag and Glisson knew who had destroyed his business. And he knew exactly where she lived, apparently.

As she came out of the alley on the next street, Nadiya couldn’t help thanking her stars that she had picked up her backpack before leaving the apartment for the grocery store. The fire would definitely destroy all her clothes and simple belongings, but she had her laptop, phone, and ID with her. That was enough to give her hope that she wasn’t totally screwed.