****Part 29

Part 29

I was ready to walk away since I removed all of my DNA from her body, but something came over me. The feel of guilt. As fast as it came, the feeling left. I got on the elevator to head back to the hotel and suddenly halfway down, the elevator stops. I heard the first gate open, but it got stuck. Looking around to see if there's an emergency exit out because my face isn't covered, and I don't have anything without blood on it to cover my face with. Hearing more than one voice, I look up, and there's a hatch that's normally used by elevator mechanics. I jump to push the hatch to see if there was a lock on it, but it swings open making a loud noise. Whomever is on the other side of the elevator doors pauses, giving me enough time to lift myself up and through the hatch. Closing the hatch softly as the gate then door opens. There's a lot of chatter as the elevator descends to the ground level. Once they exited the elevator, I jumped down, and went back up to the floor they got on. When I opened the door and gate there it was, a line of doors with numbers. This isn't an abandon warehouse, it's an apartment building. I went back upstairs to check this woman's purse. I put on a fresh pair of latex gloved so I could locate her wallet. I found both her wallet and keyring, the keyring had only two keys occupying it. One key was for a house or apartment and the other for a car. Looking at her identification I see that she knew about this building because she lived here, on the third floor.

I rechecked the elevator, then the top and bottom floors of the building for cameras. Once again, I was in the clear. Exiting the building, I keep my head down, but walked at an even pace. I made a few stops only when I got closer to the hotel. There's things I needed to get but I didn't want to get them when I was too close to the warehouse. Although most places out here doesn't seem to have surveillance, the majority of stores do, so I didn't want to take a chance. I went down the list in my head and I believe I got everything I wanted and needed. As soon as I walked out of the of the mini market two guys approach me demanding money. The kicker is, they didn't seem to have a weapon. Not a gun, knife, shit they didn't look like they had a slingshot. I chuckled as I shook my head and proceeded to walk back to the hotel. I heard two clicks then felt a cold metal cylinder against the back of my head. I guess I was wrong about the gun.

My dilemma, there's cameras all over this place, inside and out. The last thing I need is to be questioned by police, knowing underneath my clothes is dried blood that'll began to smell at some point. I quickly weighed my pros and cons, dug in my pocket, and gave them everything I had; which was about $137.00 and some change. Unfortunately, they wanted more than what I had to offer and forced me to walk with them at gun point. After a few blocks of uncomfortable walking, the one with the gun pushed me into the alley, telling me to take off everything.

"Listen, you don't want to do this. Please, take my word for it." I said, wishing they would understand the error of their ways.

"Take your word for it? Your word ain't putting food on my table." The one without the gun stated pushing me against the wall.

"There's no need for the two of you to lose your lives over a tad over $100.00, it's just not worth it."

The gun-less man steps to me, pressing his chest against mine. I whispered to him that he didn't want none. He reaches for my throat, I swatted his arm away with one hand, and pushing him in the same direction with the other. Doing so forces him to pivot and do a 180 degree turn, so now his back is facing me. Putting him in a choke hold, lifting him slightly off the ground; but not to the point I choke him out. I pushed my knee against the back of his leg to make his was off balance anytime he tries to move. The young guy with gun started to panic. I yelled out for him to calm down and put the gun down before he shoots his friend. I told him I don't want to kill them but will if that gun goes off, I'm not going to have a choice.