no problems so she got those first. But the beams in the ceiling area were going to be more difficult to film. Looking around she realized the office in the back would give her much better access to the shots she needed of the ceiling framing.
Sophia cautiously made her way back to the steps leading up to the office. It didn’t look as if there were any serial killers or cyborgs living here, but the place still gave her the creeps. Wooden crates and boxes were piled all along the stairs and landing, making getting up them precarious. Sophia kept a firm grip on the railing for as long as she could until she had to let go to step around a huge crate.
As she began climbing the second set of steps, Sophia caught something moving out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see what it was just as an arm reached out from behind her and covered her mouth, pulling her up against a hard chest and silencing her startled scream.
A deep voice breathed quietly in her ear, “What the hell are you doing here?”
Sophia was shocked into complete stillness for a moment then burst into a flurry of action. She elbowed the abs behind her and swung her legs backward at his shins. Although she heard a couple of grunts, the hand over her mouth didn’t move.
Terror completely overwhelmed her. The hand was cutting off her air and she couldn’t breathe. Panic made her blows even more frantic and she heard more grunts, but he still didn’t release her. She reached back and tried to scratch his face, but he caught both her wrists with his free hand before she could do any damage. He pulled her closer to his chest so her kicks couldn’t do any harm, either.
“You’ve got to calm down. I’m not going to hurt you,” the voice said, but his words barely penetrated Sophia’s terrorized brain.
She was desperate to get his hand off her mouth. She allowed her knees to give way so all her body weight fell. He didn’t let go of her face, but he did let her hands go so he could grip her weight with his other arm.
Sophia reached up and grasped the hand covering her mouth with both of her hands, her need for air overwhelming all other thoughts. Somewhere in the back of her mind she could hear Dr. Fretwell reminding her that there was plenty of oxygen, that there was always plenty of oxygen, but she couldn’t make herself believe it.
“Listen, I don’t want to hurt you,” the voice said again in little more than a whisper in her ear. “But I need you to calm down.”
Sophia didn’t believe his assurances for her safety for a second, but her only thought was to get the hand from around her mouth. It took all of her mental energy, but she forced herself to stop struggling.
“Good.” The hand over her mouth eased just the slightest bit. “I’m going to let you go, but if you scream we’re going to be right back in this position. Got it?”
Sophia nodded. The hand moved very slowly from her mouth, as if he was gauging whether she would keep her word not to scream. It hovered there, ready to reclamp over her mouth at the slightest noise from her. Sophia gulped air and struggled to get a hold of herself.
She wasn’t going to scream. She knew there wasn’t anybody around the warehouse close enough to hear it. Plus, she definitely didn’t want that hand—or worse, a gag—over her mouth, cutting off her supply of oxygen. Well, not cutting off the actual supply of oxygen, but making her brain think she wasn’t getting enough oxygen.
Damn claustrophobia. The last thing she needed was to become a sobbing nutcase on the floor because some creep gagged her. She needed to keep her wits about her and figure out how to get away from the big chest still standing right behind her.
Whatever trouble she was in here, she was going to have to get herself out. Because screaming wasn’t going to help.
“Are you okay?” the voice asked, the mystery man still standing directly behind her, hand still hovering near her mouth.
“Yes. Look, I was just here to take some pictures of the door and ceiling.” She was breathing so hard she could barely get the words out, so Sophia lifted her camera to the side so he could see it. “Whatever you’re doing here, I don’t know anything about it and I don’t care.”
There was no response from the man behind her. Sophia didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing.
“I haven’t seen you. I have no idea what you look like. I’ll just leave. There’s no cell phone coverage out here, so it’s not like I can call anyone or anything.” Sophia didn’t know if that was true or not. She had forgotten to charge her phone again last night, so it was sitting dead out in her car. But she wasn’t about to tell him that.
She realized she was rambling, but the longer he was silent, the more she was afraid he was going to do something terrible to her, like kill her.
Or cover her mouth with his hand again.
“I’m just going to go, okay?” Sophia took a small step away from him. “I’m not going to look at you and I’m just going to go.”
The arm in front of her dropped. When he didn’t stop her, Sophia took another step. Then another.
“Just get in your car and leave immediately. Don’t let anybody else see you or believe me, the trouble will be much worse.”
Now that the voice wasn’t whispering, it sounded vaguely familiar. As Sophia took another step away she turned to look at the man behind her before she could stop herself.
But before she could get a good look at him she tripped over one of the boxes lining the stairs. She grasped for the railing but couldn’t reach it.
Just as she began to plummet down the stairs an arm reached out and grabbed her around her hips, sweeping her easily off her feet and yanking her back against him.
“Are you trying to get us both killed?” the voice hissed.
Now there was no doubt in Sophia’s mind that the voice was familiar. She shook loose from the arm that held her and turned to face the voice. When she saw him clearly she almost stumbled again.
Just as tall, dark and handsome as ever—a walking cliché. The man who had walked out of her life five years ago. Without one single word.
“Cameron?”
Sophia watched as shock stole over Cameron’s face. He was obviously as surprised to see her as she was to see him.
“Sophia? What are you doing here?”
“I’m taking pictures for a friend, for an arson investigation.”
“An arson investigation? Are you law enforcement?”
Sophia shook her head. “No. Not really. I mean kind of, but no.”
Cameron stared back at her in confusion and Sophia realized she wasn’t making any sense.
“I work for the FBI, but I’m not an agent. I’m a graphic artist.”
“You work for the Bureau? You’re here for them?”
Cameron seemed overly shocked at her mention of the FBI. Sophia shook her head again. “Well, yes and no. I wasn’t supposed to be here at all, but I’m helping a friend out by getting some pictures he wasn’t able to get.”
“Is anybody else from the Bureau coming?”
Sophia didn’t understand why Cameron was asking her this, but the only thing she could think of—the only thing that really made sense about any of his behavior here—was that he was some sort of criminal now and she had walked in on something illegal.
Sophia would never have thought Cameron Branson capable of a criminal lifestyle when she had known him before. He’d just gotten out of the military and had more of a love for his family than anyone she’d ever known. He definitely had not been any sort of delinquent then. Trying to figure out where he belonged, sure. But not a criminal.