T’s voice is like an annoying gnat buzzing in my ear at this point. If he doesn’t shut the fuck up soon, I’m disconnecting him from my earpiece.
Sighing loudly, “T? I know you’re trying to help, but I’m gonna need you to be quiet.”
We’ve received more footage from traffic cams and learned Alejandro and Eddie deposited Kelsey in another vehicle. We’re no longer looking for the SUV and are now following the white Mercedes. I’ll never understand how Teegan hacks shit like that, but I’m forever grateful for his skills. I check the time and realize we’ve been following them for almost nine hours. We’ve only stopped for gas and piss breaks. We can’t risk getting any further behind them.
Their last marked location was exiting a highway in Cooter, Missouri. Yes, Cooter. This can’t get any more ridiculous. After entering the location into the GPS, it shows we’re an hour away.
“Speed up,” I demand. I haven’t slept in over twenty-four hours. What little sleep I got with Kelsey beside me felt like nothing.
Just as I start to doze off, T is yelling in my ear.“There’s a lead!!” My heart thumps wildly.
“What are you waiting for? Say it!” I snap.
“I was able to hack the Mercedes built-in tracker. We lucked out that they haven’t disconnected it yet. They’re at an abandoned house exactly two miles off the highway. But…”
“We can make it in less than an hour,” I clip, cutting him off.
“Ry, we can’t go there without a plan.”
“The fuck we can’t!”
“Can you listen for a second and stop being so arrogant?”
Teegan’s never talked so recklessly to me. I go deathly silent, biting back my anger.
“I’m sorry, but we can’t go straight there. You risk all your guys’ lives without a single plan, and I know none of them would argue, because they’re loyal to you. You would be setting them up to be killed, and we can’t lose any of our guys.”
I grunt, but remain silent. He has a point about not being able to afford the loss of my guys, and I won’t arguethat. I’ll do this all on my own. Kelsey’s my responsibility, so I’ll happily blow every one of those motherfuckers up to get her back. They wanted a war, so a war is what they’ll get, and I’ll make this a lesson for anyone else who thinks they will fuck with what’s mine.
“There’s a motel we can stop at—lay low for a bit, and get everyone prepared. We can set up a fool-proof plan to bring these sons of a bitches down.” He’s organizing his plan as I’m plotting my own. As I dissociate, he becomes nothing more than background noise.
Jessie has been pissed with me because I made her stay at the house where she’s safe with security. We left without saying anything to her, so I know that has her more pissed than anything. She hates being left behind and will accuse me of calling her a weak little girl later. Which is far from the truth. Jessie is one of the strongest women I know and has faced more fucked up shit than most. My Little Bird has already been abducted from me. I’ll be damned if something happens to my sister, too. I send off my fourth text since leaving her, knowing she is only going to leave me on read.
I’m sorry, Jess. I can’t risk losing you, too. I’ll get her back safe. Promise.
I watch as “delivered” turns to “read” and wait a few minutes in hopes she’ll respond. When I’m sure I won’t be hearing back from her, I decide it’s best if I go into this with at least an hour of rest under my belt. So, I study the backs of my eyelids like nobody’s business, but all I see is Kelsey—terrified and alone. The anxiety clawing through my psyche prevents me from actually falling asleep.
Hayden hasn’t spoken a single word the entire ride. Good. He knows he fucked up and that guilt should be eating him alive. I hope his brain is running just as wild as mine is. I expected him to keep her safe after they smashed the car trying to get to her and take extra precautions to prevent danger from coming for her. Hayden’s stated multiple times that he only wants to keep her safe, and here he is, handing her right over to these evil fucking people.
Sitting up in the backseat and dropping my head in my hands, resting on my knees, I clear my thoughts of Hayden and his negligence. His name alone sends rage vibrating through my bones and causes me to lose my train of thought on the most critical issue at hand. Kelsey.
I pat myself down, checking to ensure I have everything I need secure and in place. I’ve never known the Vipers to come out this far before, so something is off about all of this. They’ve only ever been pissed and fighting us about money. I knew they were dangerous and thought they would take Kelsey hostage to threaten us to send them money they believe is theirs, but no threats have come.
Teegan has hacked the Vipers’ phones, searching forany messages or calls that could give us information, but that resulted in nothing. We think they’re using cheap burner phones. Regardless, they can’t outsmart us and never will. It will be their blood smeared across the asphalt at the next race, and it will serve as everyone’s warning—don’t fuck with me.
Kelsey
I groan as blinding bright lights invade my eyelids. My stomach churns, and if there were anything in it, I’d be vomiting it all up this very moment. Fucking Hell. Where am I?
I attempt to rub my temples, but my arms don’t cooperate. On second thought, I can’t feel my arms or legs at all. I begin to panic as thoughts of paralysis race through my head. What have they done to me? I wish that blow to my head had killed me.
I hear a tapping against tile flooring far off in the distance, but that could be a figment of my imagination, Lord knows I’m hella fucked right now. My head alone has taken far too many brutal blows in the past, what? Two days? I don’t know how long I’ve been unconscious. Another fracture splits through my heart at the thought of me being here longer than that. I was hoping Hayden and Ryder would’ve rescued me by now. What if they aren’t coming? What if they really don’t care, and I was just another meaningless girl to them? I’m all on my own in this.
The tapping stops, so I tally it up to nothing more than my mind playing tricks on me. Now, the ear-ringing silence has taken back over. I fucking hate this sound. It makes me feel crazed out or some shit. The lights and deafening silence are their own form of torture. If that’s whatthese motherfuckers were aiming for, then they hit the bullseye.
The tapping resumes, but it sounds much closer, followed by the sound of a door clicking shut. I listen intently, trying to follow the steps. When I realize they’re heading straight for me, my heartbeat picks up speed, and suddenly I feel an intense wave of vulnerability lying here helpless. I try to lift my arms again to sit up, but chains jingle and I realize I’m not paralyzed. I’m fucking chained to an ancient, haunted-looking hospital bed.
As my eyes come more into focus, I peer around the room. It looks the way I’d imagine an abandoned hospital operating room would. Packaged sterile surgical tools lay on a silver tray beside me, and a bedside toilet that looks like it hasn’t been disinfected in a decade sits at the foot of the bed. White abused wooden cabinets line the room, some of the doors falling off the hinges, hanging by threads. Just like me. I relate to you, cabinets. Lifeless and barely hanging on.
