With Us
1466 Words
Chapter 6
With Us
He's with us.
Nadia read the message once.
Then again.
Then a third time.
Her fingers had gone numb around her phone.
She almost dropped it.
Layla noticed immediately.
“What?”
Nadia couldn't answer.
“Nadia?”
She turned the screen toward her.
Layla read the message.
Her face lost what little color it had left.
“No.”
Nadia's phone vibrated again.
STOP CALLING.
She stared at it.
Then another message appeared.
11:00 P.M. WAREHOUSE. COME ALONE.
A final line followed.
OR WE KEEP HIM.
Nadia's throat tightened.
She pressed Adrian's name.
The call rang.
Voicemail.
She called again.
Voicemail.
Again.
Nothing.
“I'm going,” Nadia said.
Layla grabbed her wrist.
“That is exactly what they want.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you saying it like you're going?”
“Because Adrian is there.”
Layla shook her head.
“And if you go there, you might be there too.”
Nadia pulled her hand free.
“Then what am I supposed to do?”
“Think.”
“I am thinking.”
“No, you're panicking.”
Nadia stared at her.
Layla's voice softened.
“If you walk into that warehouse alone, they control everything.”
Nadia looked down at the photograph in her hand.
The fourth person.
The Westbridge incident.
Adrian.
Everything had become connected.
“I can't leave him.”
“You don't even know if he's alive.”
Nadia looked up sharply.
“He is.”
“How do you know?”
“Because they told me they're keeping him.”
“That doesn't mean—”
“They want something from us.”
Layla fell silent.
Nadia took a breath.
“If Adrian were already dead, they wouldn't need me.”
Layla looked away.
She knew Nadia was right.
That didn't make it safer.
“I'll go alone,” Nadia said.
“No.”
“I have to.”
“No, Nadia.”
Nadia placed the photograph into Layla's hands.
“If I don't text you by twelve-thirty, take this to the police.”
Layla stared at her.
“Tell them about Westbridge.”
Nadia swallowed.
“Tell them about Ethan.”
Layla's eyes filled with tears.
“Don't do this.”
Nadia stepped forward and hugged her.
For a moment, neither moved.
“I need you to stay hidden.”
“What about you?”
Nadia closed her eyes.
“I'll come back.”
It sounded more like a promise she was making to herself than to Layla.
When Nadia stepped outside, rain had already begun falling.
---
The streets were quieter than usual.
Rain blurred the lights along the road, turning everything into broken reflections.
Nadia walked quickly.
Every sound made her look over her shoulder.
A car passed.
She froze.
It slowed.
Her heart jumped.
The vehicle continued past her.
Nadia released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.
She kept walking.
Adrian's face kept appearing in her thoughts.
The library.
The tunnel.
The way he'd told her to hide.
The way he'd stood between her and the men.
The way his voice had changed when he'd said her name.
She had known Adrian for only a short time.
Yet somehow, the thought of losing him frightened her more than she wanted to admit.
She reached the docks shortly before eleven.
The warehouse stood beyond a rusted gate.
Its windows were broken.
Rainwater ran down the walls.
The air smelled of salt, rust, and oil.
One light flickered somewhere inside.
Nadia's phone vibrated.
INSIDE. NOW.
She stared at the message.
Then she pushed the warehouse door open.
---
Cold air hit her face.
Water dripped from the ceiling.
Her shoes echoed against the concrete floor.
“Nadia.”
She stopped.
Three men stood ahead of her.
The same dark coats.
The same faces she'd seen at the library.
And between them—
Adrian.
He was tied to a metal chair.
His clothes were dirty.
There was a bruise near his eye and a small cut at the corner of his mouth.
But he was awake.
The moment he saw Nadia, his eyes widened.
He shook his head.
“No.”
Nadia's heart twisted.
One of the men stepped forward.
“You brought the photograph?”
Nadia kept her expression steady.
“No.”
The man stared at her.
“You expect us to believe that?”
“I don't have it.”
Another man moved toward her.
“We'll search you.”
Adrian pulled against the restraints.
“Don't touch her!”
The room went silent.
The man stopped.
The first man smiled.
“Still protecting her?”
Adrian glared at him.
“Leave her out of this.”
The man walked toward him.
“You already failed at that.”
He turned back to Nadia.
“Where is the photograph?”
“I don't know who the fourth person is.”
The man's expression hardened.
“You're lying.”
“I don't know.”
He stepped closer to Adrian.
Nadia's pulse raced.
“Then perhaps you need a reason to remember.”
He pulled a knife and held it close to Adrian's throat.
Adrian's eyes stayed on Nadia.
“Don't.”
Nadia's hands curled into fists.
“Put it down.”
“Tell me where the photograph is.”
“I don't have it.”
“Ten seconds.”
Nadia's heart hammered.
Ten.
She looked at Adrian.
Nine.
He shook his head slightly.
Eight.
She understood.
He was telling her not to give them anything.
Seven.
The man tightened his grip.
Six.
Nadia forced herself to breathe.
Five.
Then every phone in the warehouse buzzed at once.
The men froze.
The lights suddenly switched on.
Harsh white light flooded the room.
A door opened behind them.
Footsteps echoed across the concrete.
Slow.
Calm.
Familiar.
Nadia turned.
The person walking toward them wore clothes she'd seen almost every day.
A dark jacket.
A silver watch.
A familiar leather folder beneath one arm.
Nadia knew that walk.
She knew that face.
Her lecturer.
Mr. Elias.
The man who had taught her research methods.
The man who had returned her assignments with careful comments.
The man who had once told her that she noticed details other students missed.
The same man who had been at Westbridge High three years ago.
He stopped beneath the light.
And smiled.
“Hello, Nadia.”
Her mouth went dry.
“What are you doing here?”
Mr. Elias didn't answer immediately.
His eyes moved toward Adrian.
Adrian's entire expression changed.
“You.”
Mr. Elias smiled.
“I wondered how long it would take you to recognize me.”
Adrian stared at him.
“You were there.”
“Three years ago?”
Mr. Elias tilted his head.
“Yes.”
Nadia looked between them.
“You know each other?”
Neither answered.
Mr. Elias stepped closer.
“I've been waiting three years for this.”
Silence filled the warehouse.
Nadia looked at Adrian.
He looked frightened.
Not confused.
Not surprised.
Frightened.
That was when Nadia realized something.
Adrian hadn't been afraid of the people who brought him here.
He had been afraid of this man.
Mr. Elias walked toward Adrian.
He crouched in front of him.
“You shouldn't have brought her into this.”
Adrian spat the words back.
“She isn't part of it.”
Mr. Elias laughed quietly.
Then he looked at Nadia.
“She isn't part of it?”
His smile disappeared.
“She's the whole reason.”
Nadia felt the room tilt beneath her.
“What does that mean?”
Mr. Elias stood.
“Did you look at the back of the photograph?”
Nadia's hand went to her pocket.
She pulled it out.
She had looked at the date.
She had looked at the photograph.
But there had been something beneath the writing.
Something she'd missed.
She turned it over.
Her breath caught.
There were three lines.
A name.
An address.
And two words written underneath them.
IT'S HER.
Nadia stared.
“Who is her?”
Mr. Elias extended his hand.
“Come with me.”
Adrian's voice was sharp.
“Don't.”
Mr. Elias didn't look at him.
“Or he dies.”
Nadia looked at Adrian.
His eyes met hers.
For once, there was no coldness in them.
Only fear.
And something else.
Trust.
He was trusting her to make the right choice.
Rain hammered against the warehouse roof.
Nadia looked at the hand waiting for her.
Then at Adrian.
Then at the words on the photograph.
IT'S HER.
She finally understood that whatever had happened three years ago had never really ended.
It had only been waiting for her to find it.
Nadia took one step forward.
And made her choice.
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