Chapter Five: Liana
Beep, beep, beep.
With an annoyed sound, Liana hit the snooze button on her alarm. Then she closed her eyes again, sleepily burrowing beneath the blankets.
A minute later, she resurfaced in sudden shock.
It was a Sunday. Why the hell was her alarm going off at seven in the morning?
She fished for her phone, then groaned once she found it. The screen said 7:01. It was way, way too early for a Sunday. Especially since she’d only gone to bed a few hours ago.
Oh, right. The landlord wanted to send someone to check that leak in the bathroom.
She should probably be glad that her landlord wasn’t one of those people who just ignored that kind of thing—but on the other hand, couldn’t he have found someone to come a bit later in the day?
She yawned and stretched, then blearily made herself go for a shower. Half an hour later, she sat in the kitchen, dressed and clutching her cup of coffee.
I hope those guys aren’t late. If they get done quickly, I might be able to nap for a bit...
On the other hand, if it turned out that it was really her shower that was causing the leak in the apartment below her, they might decide to break open her wall to fix the pipes. And there was no way she’d be able to sleep through that.
She rubbed her eyes with a sigh. At least there was her date tonight to look forward to...
Half an hour later, the plumbers had arrived, and Liana had grabbed her tiny laptop and decided to retreat to the coffee shop on the corner of her block.
Because this was her lucky day, the leak had indeed been caused by one of the pipes connected to her shower. All the noise was giving her a terrible headache, and even though she didn’t think she’d manage to get much work done, it was better than listening to the banging in her bathroom.
She took the shortcut that led through the little alley behind her apartment complex. This early in the day, the area was completely deserted. Everyone was still asleep—that was, everyone except for her neighbors, she supposed.
It was very silent. It felt a little eerie—it wasn’t a bad area, but it wasn’t exactly great, either. With her pay, she couldn’t afford great.
Maybe one day, she’d get a sudden idea and do the same thing her boss had done: program a little game and sell it for a few millions after a year or two.
But right now, her small apartment would have to do.
There was a weird noise in front of her. Liana stopped for a moment, but she couldn’t see anything.
Someone had been mugged nearby last week—but that had been late at night, and at the other side of the complex...
She swallowed, and just in case, grabbed her phone tightly.
She couldn’t see anyone—and anyway, who’d mug someone out here in broad daylight, just a few steps away from the busy street?
Only, of course, the street wouldn’t be bu
sy at all this early on a Sunday...
Then, out of nowhere, three figures stepped out of the shadows at the end of the alley.
Where had they come from?
Liana shivered. The men were between her and the street where she’d be able to find help in the coffee shop. She’d stopped walking.
A heartbeat later she realized that she was holding her phone in her hand.
She took a step backward as she unlocked it, hesitating just for a moment before she began to dial 911.
Before she’d even got to the 1, the men came rushing forward.