With Melissa's picture displayed on every social platform, Mark increased her security. He got people to follow her everywhere she went.
He was afraid if identified, people may harass her, endangering her life. After dropping Tommy off at school, she went to the house renovation she was supervising. Checked the materials purchased, giving instructions where needed. Making sure her team was handling the work as planned, she asked Adams to stop at the mall to buy some items on her way to the apartment.
At the apartment building, she requested her bodyguards to help her carry the boxes to the apartment door.
Getting to the apartment, she pulled Lisa aside. Then she told her the plan to distract her bodyguards so she would leave the building without alerting them.
Fifteen minutes later, she walked out through the building's back door wearing sports shoes, blue jeans with a white t-shirt. Hailing a taxi, she pulled her cap down, covering her face.
"Sorry, I can't take you to this address." The taxi driver refused, stopping abruptly at the side of the road.
"Why? I'm going to pay you handsomely." She said ignorantly looking around.
"That place is dangerous. A few months ago they found a dead body around the area. Taxies are not allowed in the area. No matter how much you pay, I can't drive you there." Shaking his head, he adamantly refused.
"Well, can you get me close enough? Somewhere I can walk?" Melissa inquired, taking off the cab to convince the driver she was not a bad person.
He quietly looked at her in the rearview mirror for a while weighing his options. "You are the lady making headlines." Nodding, he said in realization. "What is a young lady of high status like you looking for in such a place?" He inquired starting the engine.
"Please don't consider everything you read in media. I'm meeting with someone there. It's a secure industrial area." Melissa said, putting her cap on.
"Don't be so ignorant." After driving for a mile, he stopped at the intersection. Then directed her to the street she had to follow to get to the address. Taking a knife from the glove compartment, he gave it to her to protect herself. "Should I call the police?" The driver asked taking the Money.
"No, don't, I'll be safe. No need for the police. Thank you for the knife though." She said looking at the paring knife. "If it is not too much trouble, can you pick me up from this location?"
"Yes, once you are done, call me. Another thing, stay away from the road and those street cameras. Be careful." He said before driving off.
Melissa followed the direction on the phone map carefully, walking along the walls. Keeping a good distance from the road. A few miles from the address, she heard a motor engine driving in her direction. Hiding in the flower bushes, she saw a big truck with ventilation on the top drive off.
The hand she saw waving through the small opening caught her attention. Mouth wide open, eyebrows raised, Melissa sat for a while watching the truck disappear escorted by three men in a pickup truck. Her legs were a little shaky when she got up to dust herself. With every step she took, she felt more and more scared, but it was too late to turn back.
In the stretch of warehouses, no one was on the road. The taxi driver had told her the companies drove their employees in and out of the plant, making it unlikely to find anyone on the road at that time of the day.
Following the map on her phone, she stopped in front of an incomplete building. The four story building was under construction but no one was around. Melissa looked around as she walked in. Moving the plastic curtains at the entrance raised the dust in the room. Which made her cough and her eyes watery.
Covering her mouth she listened to the vehicles driving in. For a while, she hid behind the pillar but no one walked in. Peeping at the door she noticed the movement coming from the back of the building. Curiously, she went up to the first floor. Standing at the window opening, Melissa watched two armed men unlock a container while several others guarded the place.
She had gone to the location two hours before the time written on the document to check out the area but watching them she suspected they had set her up.
If she had informed the police then they would get to the place after they had moved out.
Standing behind the wall she saw a lady in black jeans trousers step out of a saloon car. The lady walked to the two armed men guarding the container door and another man stood protectively behind her. From the men's body language, it was evident that the lady was their boss. Zooming the phone's camera, Melissa secretly took a video of what was going on below her.
One man opened the container full of boxes, then the other man opened a box tearing the plastic bag inside. Quietly, she watched as the lady sniffed some brown powder from the bag offered on a knife by the man accompanying her.
The lady walked around checking the boxes followed closely by the men. When the lady turned to walk out, Melissa froze and her phone slid from her hands.
She had suspected Stevens of running illegal businesses but seeing Diana gave her shivers down her spine.
Picking her phone to continue recording, the screen reflected the sun catching one man's attention. The man walked towards the building calling his partner along with his gun ready to fire.
Running towards the exit, she tried to escape before the men got to her. Heading for the stairs, she stepped on a broken piece of wood causing her to fall into the hole down to the first floor.
"What are you running after?" She heard the man ask his partner.
"I'm sure I saw something up here." He answered going up the stairs.
In the cloud of dust, Melissa covered her mouth. Closing her eyes she curled in a corner fearing to make a sound to alert them.
"There is nothing here. Let go." He urged his partner growing impatient.
Standing on the first floor, a rat crept out of the corner running towards the man's boots. Caught by surprise the man shot several times.
Curling in a corner, Melissa placed her head between her legs praying that they don't find her or accidentally shot her in the head.
"Jeez, are you crazy? Stop wasting bullets on rats." One man said slapping his partner lightly on the back of the head.
"I thought I saw someone up here." He said Looking around.
"We are moving out. Stop wasting time. Let's go." A third man called them from the door.
She listened as the footsteps descended the stairs, leaving the building and finally driving off. When she couldn't hear any more movement outside she got up, and dusted herself off looking around the room for a way out. She tried to unlock the door with a metal she picked from the floor, pulled and pushed at it a few times but it did not budge.
Using her cellphone light she surveyed the room full of boxes and building supplies but the only way out was through the hole she fell from. Lucky enough the ceiling was not too high, she stalked wooden boxes and balanced on them.
After managing to crawl out of the roof, she went to the back of the building but nothing was there. The container and all the vehicles were long gone, like the activities from the last hour never happened.
Afraid to stay for long in case they came back, she left in haste keeping away from the road. The taxi stopped at her footsteps as soon as she got to the road before she even had time to call him.
"Hurry! get in." The driver was more tense and anxious than she was. He wiped the sweat beams on his forehead before driving off when she got in the car. "You stayed in that place for so long. I almost called the police." He said looking back at her.
The driver had not left, he stayed hidden in a corner waiting for her to show up. As soon as he saw Melissa running towards the road taking out her phone, he started the engine fearing someone might see her.
"What happened back there, did you get hurt?" Concerned he questioned looking at her dirty clothes and arms. Her bruised palm was bleeding but she didn't feel any pain nor did she realize it until he asked her.
"I fell on my way back, I'll be fine. Thank you for coming back for me." She said breathing a sigh of relief then tied her handkerchief to stop the bleeding.
When she got the address from Mr. Steven's home office, she didn't expect it to be that dangerous since it was in an industrial area. Seeing Diana in the company of all those armed goons still gave her goosebumps. For a moment while hiding in that room, she wished she had told Mark about it. If those flying bullets over her head had hit her, they would never find her.