My fingers twitched behind my back.

The silver chain was gone, taken by Derek when he threw me into the back of his van.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small silver pendant.

It was shaped like a key, inlaid with a tiny red stone.

“This is just a piece of metal without the password,” he said.

“Give me the code, or I will paint this floor with you before Moretti even gets through the door.”

A floorboard creaked somewhere in the darkness.

Derek froze.

He spun around, dragging me up by my collar.

The rope cut deeper into my wrists as I struggled to stand.

He kept the gun pressed to my head, his chest heaving against my shoulder.

“Who’s there?” Derek yelled.

His voice bounced off the empty walls.

Only the wind answered, whistling through a crack in the siding.

The red laser dot was gone now.

The darkness felt alive, watching us.

“Vincent!” Derek screamed.

“I know you’re here!”

“Take another step and she dies!”

He dragged me backward, toward a stack of rotting wooden pallets.