Liv raised a fist as she reached the door on the fourth floor, and as if they had been partners signaling to each other for years, Ezra stopped just behind her. She nodded her head, counting down from three before she silently twisted the handle and eased the door open. They both held their breaths as they waited and listened.

When they didn't hear anything, Liv poked her head out just far enough to look around. The door from the stairwell opened up on a long hallway. Every few feet there was a door, but they were all shut. She pushed the door open further and stepped out. Ezra quietly shut the door behind them and they began to slowly creep along the hallway.

All of their muscles were taut, prepared to drop and find cover at the first sign of someone, but they moved uninterrupted. Halfway along the hallway, it branched off in a perpendicular direction. They paused and looked both ways. If they kept walking straight it seemed to lead them towards more closed offices. If they turned right, they could see the short walkway lead to a large open area but they couldn't see how far it reached.

Liv thought it was best to continue straight. Her mind went to finding a good hiding spot and she thought the hallway might offer more concealed positions. She looked at Ezra and motioned moving forward like a question, and he nodded. She peeked around the corner leading to the new walkway, making sure the coast was clear before she quickly cleared the gap. Ezra did it in two big steps.

They continued walking but kept an ear out for anything behind them. When they reached the end of the hallway they discovered it turned into a dead end. As they retraced their steps, Liv tried every doorknob they passed. She wasn't surprised to find them all locked. This floor consisted of small businesses renting individual office space, but she had been hoping to find potential hiding spots.

Without having to signal about it, they paused before they peeked around the corner leading to the open space. The sneaking around that had felt silly and slightly crazy at the beginning of the night was now a necessity with strange people searching the building.

They chose to sneak along the right wall until they reached the end. Like all the other floors, the emergency lights were the only source of illumination, but they were enough to reveal the expansive open space. There were clusters of chairs and coffee tables, and a few desks tucked into the corners. On the far end there was a large desk that looked like a welcome counter and behind that a doorway leading into a dark room.

Liv didn't like moving into a space so open, but standing in the short hallway wasn't much better. She looked at Ezra and he gave her a reassuring nod. He lightly grabbed her upper arm and they stepped out together. He scanned left as she scanned right and they took another step. They made it to the first cluster of chairs without anything happening and let out a sigh of relief.

The chairs were positioned in a pinwheel formation with a table in the middle and on the table was a phone. Liv grabbed Ezra's hand in excitement. It was a landline. There was a chance that since it ran through the power lines, it would still work. She quickly rounded the chair and grabbed the phone. She held it up to her ear hopeful but there was no dial tone. She pressed some of the buttons on the base but there was still no sound. Disappointed, she replaced the phone.

She looked to the other cluster of chairs to see if there were any more phones they could try. There were four more phones. She moved to the next set of chairs and Ezra took a different one. But they got the same result for all four.

She moved on to searching the desk in the corners. She was in a far corner when Ezra whistled quietly to get her attention. He motioned her over to the front desk. She hurried over and saw he had found a fax machine and a computer.

"If we can get the computer on and the internet is still working, we could make contact that way," he whispered.

It was a big 'if' but worth the try. They were searching for the power button for the computer when suddenly they heard voices. They both froze. The voices were coming from the hallway past the front desk. They were still speaking in a foreign language and it was clear there were multiple of them.

Ezra and Liv looked at each other and dropped to the floor. Hearts racing, they tucked themselves under the desk, their shoulders pressed together. Ezra pulled his long legs in as close as he could and Liv rolled the chair over just an inch to provide more cover.

A second later, the voices became clear as they rounded the corner. Liv held her breath as the men came to a stop on the opposite side of the desk. They exchanged a quick back and forth before they switched into thickly accented English

"Where is the safe?" one of them said.

For one horrible moment, Liv thought they had switched to English because they had discovered hers and Ezra's hiding spot. But then someone answered in English.

"I told you, I'm only in charge of who comes into the building. I don't know what you're talking about?" It felt like Liv's heart stopped as she recognized the voice. It was Tommy.

"We don't believe you," the thickly accented voice said.

"Come one," Tommy pleaded. "I've never even been on these floors."

A voice came over the radio and there was an extended back and forth between the man on the radio and the men with Tommy. Liv's heart was beating so hard, she feared it might break through her chest and give away their hiding spot.

"We're going to the thirty-first floor," one of the men finally said.

"I don't know anything," Tommy argued. There was panic in his voice. "Please, just let me go. I won't tell anyone you guys are here." One of the men scoffed at his offer and they started to move. "I swear, I don't know anything."

"Silence."

Liv flinched at the unmistakable sound of someone getting slapped. She held on tightly to the terrified scream rising in her throat. She reached for Ezra and held tightly to his arm. He covered her hand with his own, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

It felt like it took hours for Tommy and the men to cross the office to the stairwell. When they finally heard the door slam shut behind them, it sent echoes through the whole floor. Liv's hand that gripped Ezra had begun to cramp, and even though she told herself to let go, her muscles wouldn't listen.

It was only when he moved that she managed to release his arm. He leaned out, daring to look around the office before he sat back, running his hands through his hair. "This isn't good."

"That was Tommy. They have Tommy," Liv said woodenly.

"The security guard?"

She nodded. "What if they hurt him?"

A panicked cry got caught in her throat as she thought about all the times she had left the office late and stopped at the security desk to chat.

"No!" Ezra said sharply. "You can't start down that train of thought."

"But..." she wanted to argue.

"No," he repeated firmly. "It's doesn't benefit anyone. Especially, Tommy."

She wanted to argue with him. Not because she disagreed with him, but because inside everything seemed to be spinning out of control and he was an easy target. But he gave her a challenging look as if daring her to start something and the fight in her left. Her shoulders slumped. He was right.

"Okay," she said. She pushed the office chair out and climbed out from under the desk. "Let's try to get this computer on."

It took less than five minutes to realize that no matter how many different things they tried, without power there was no way to get the computer on. They moved onto the fax machine but had the same luck. As a last-ditch attempt, Ezra smacked the machine, letting out a string of curses against its inability to turn on.

"Ezra, Ezra!" Liv said, grabbing his arm to stop him.

"Why won't, this, stupid, machine, work!" he said, punctuating each word with a hit.

"Stop!" She grabbed his arm more forcefully and tried to pull him away.

"We're screwed!" he said, giving up his fight with the fax machine. "Nothing is working."

"Hey!" she snapped. She tried to lead him in taking a deep breath, but he tensed his jaw and resisted. "You said no panicking," she reminded him.

"I know," he snapped back. He ran his hand roughly through his hair so it stood up at wild angles. "But..."

"The roof," she said. He frowned at her like she was mad. She scrambled for something more. "We might be able to get a signal on the roof. Whoever broke in is using some sort of signal-jammer, but this is a tall building and there is a chance the jammer doesn't reach that far."

There were many flaws to the idea, and a high probability that it would come to nothing, but she didn't know what else to do. They couldn't just stick to their plan to hide and wait it out now that they knew Tommy could be in danger.

He still looked at her like he was mad. "Let's hear your grand plan," she said tersely. His shoulders sagged in defeat and she softened. "We can't just hide. They have Tommy."

"I know," he said. He took a deep breath and straightened his shoulders, rising to his full height. "How many floors does this building have?"

"Sixty." She winced, her legs already protesting the climb.

He nodded slowly. "Well, we better start moving."

**********************************************************************

(I'm too nervous for a proper greeting so let's move on)

*Paces in a circle* Not good! This is so not good! They have Tommy, poor Tommy! This ish is getting real people!

*Calmly eats ice cream*

How can you just sit there and calmly eat! Tommy is in danger and Ezra hasn't confessed his feelings for Liv! This is a disaster!

What feelings? They just keep fighting!

Sure! But around that they exchange looks and we all know what that means...LOVE!

Come on, say you're with me. Or don't and simply share the lovely thoughts you have in that reader brain of yours!

Vote, comment, follow or Tommy dies.

Jeez! You're so violent!