Someone grabs my ponytail and forces my head back.
“Drink!”
The rough command sends an icy chill through me. Liquid flows over my lips. Water? No. It’s…bitter.
I try to spit it out, but thick fingers pinch my nose. I don’t want to do this. But…I’m running out of air. Wheezing, I choke down a large gulp of the liquid, only to be forced to do it again and again.
The dark spots start to fade. Fuzzy shapes coalesce into people. Dark gray walls and black canvas upholstery. I’m inside the van. Pushed into a bucket seat. A plastic zip tie binds my hands together.
I try to lift my arms, but they’re so very heavy. Why are they so heavy?
“Dump her phone in the ditch, Brother Malone,” the man in front of me growls. His face is vaguely familiar. Where do I know him from?
After a sharp, metallic sound, my left wrist starts to burn.
Blood wells across the spot where my GPS watch used to be.
“Wha…?” My lips are going numb. My fingers. My toes. My entire body is floating away.
Do something…
The thought pings around in my head, but it’s a whisper, when I know it should be a scream. Why don’t I scream?
The man forces the last of the water down my throat. I should fight him. Do something. Anything.
“Prophet, I’ve destroyed the watch and tossed her phone,” another man says from the passenger seat. “I’ll burn the rest later. We should go. Now.”
The one in front of me—Prophet?—kneels and pins my ankles together. Someone else slips a plastic tie around them. The sound of it tightening should terrify me, but the world has gone soft. A gentle haze covers the inside of the van. My thoughts are hazy too.
The two men lift me out of the bucket seat and lay me down on the floor. The vibration of the engine rumbles against my back. I can’t squirm. My body won’t listen to me. The older man covers me with a blanket from my head to my toes. As the light fades, I moan.
“AJ…”
Chapter Four
AJ
“You stare at that phone any harder, your eyeballs are gonna pop right out of your head. Just call her for fuck’s sake. It’s worth interrupting her run to tell her the news.” Jasper drains the last of his coffee with a grimace. “Unless you don’t think she’ll be happy your promotion came through, Captain Stone. Or maybe you’re too chickenshit to tell her Harris wants us out there again tonight.”
My brother’s lucky we have witnesses or I’d be tempted to punch him.
“She knows we’re workin’ tonight. And I ain’t scared, asshole. We made up this mornin’.” I don’t tell Jasper I’ve already snuck off to the break room to call Grace three times this afternoon, but she hasn’t picked up. “She’s probably asleep on the couch with Belle stretched across her legs. We’ve got a couple of hours before we head out. I’m gonna run home by way of Whataburger. Grace always craves fries after a long run. Cover for me if Harris gets his britches in a bunch.”
“Be back by eight and I won’t have to,” Jasper says as he ambles off to the break room for yet another cup of what passes for coffee around here.
I stifle my yawn as I slide behind the wheel of my SUV. The two hours I caught in one of the bunks this afternoon wasn’t near enough. A large Dr. Pepper might keep me awake until McGrath and I park outside that goddamn strip mall for the second night in a row.
Any other day, my promotion would have gotten me out of this shit assignment. But Jasper just had to get pissy in his report this morning. The man has no sense of self-preservation. Or he don’t give a crap about his career. Or both.
I shouldn’t have to suffer because of his attitude, but Harris likes to punish us both equally. I’d tell him we’re twins, not the same goddamn person, but that’d just put me on his shit list permanently.
I’m next in line at the drive-up window when my phone rings. I don’t bother checking the screen. Probably McGrath asking what I want him to pick up for tonight.
“AJ Stone.”
“Mr. Stone? This is Misty with Bark Away Day Care. We close in fifteen minutes and no one’s come to pick up Belle yet. Mrs. Stone said she’d be back for her by five-thirty, and it’s nearly seven. We’ve left several messages, but she hasn’t returned our calls. I just need to confirm that one of you is on the way.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. There’s no fucking way Grace would forget to pick up Belle from doggie daycare. Something is very wrong.
