“Unless you want to end up like your friend, I suggest you tell me where the girl is.”
“Go to hell.” The man panted as if he’d run a marathon.
Greg wasn’t in the mood to keep playing this game. He picked up the gun and aimed it at the man’s kneecap and popped off a shot.
The man bellowed in pain. He sat up to grip his knee, but Greg kicked him back down to the ground and planted his foot on the guy’s chest. “This is your last chance before you lose something else.” Greg aimed the gun between the man’s legs for emphasis. “Where are they taking her?”
“It’s a house south of town. The address is in the GPS. In the car,” the man said between gritted teeth. His body shook from the pain. Good, that’s what he got for coming after Greg.
“How did you know where we were?” The guy tightened his jaw, not wanting to answer. Greg leaned closer with the gun pressed to the man’s groin.
“She’s bugged,” he spat out.
Greg had suspected that.
He stepped away and went to the truck where he grabbed the phone from the phone mount next to the radio. It had a map on display with a blue line and red pin. The red pin wasn’t moving which meant they had stopped. It wasn’t too far from where they were at now. He could be there in a few minutes.
“You can’t just leave me here,” the man protested from the ground, struggling to sit up as he clutched his knee to stop the flow of blood that was leaking onto the pavement.
“The nearest hospital is that way a few miles.” Greg pointed behind him before he slid into his car and took off.
He had no intention of just leaving the guy there to fend for himself. There was also a dead body to clean up. Greg leaned the GPS on the dash against the windshield as he pulled out his phone and called the police. “There has been a car accident. One person dead and another injured.”
“Sir, what is your location?” the dispatcher asked calmly.
Greg rattled off the address and hung up. He switched gears as he raced down the street, his eyes straying to the map on his dash, hoping he wouldn’t be too late to save Zoe.
Chapter 9
Zoe remained calm as she was pulled from the car and brought into a rundown house. No one secured her with anything, but men stood on either side of her with a hand wrapped around her bicep. She thought about taking them down and stealing their car and leaving this dump, but she wanted to know why they’d had such a hard on to get her. Twice in a twenty-four hour period they had tried to kidnap her. If she didn’t go with them now, they would just keep coming after her.
She didn’t recognize the men with her other than they had tried kidnapping her the previous night. She’d made many enemies since working for Maxim and Viktor. Zoe would just have to wait until she met their leader and find out what they wanted.
Maxim wasn’t the type to negotiate if these people thought to hold her for ransom. Maxim would pretend and then when they went to the meet, he would execute them. At least that’s what he’d done in the past.
Zoe scanned her surroundings as she was led to the living room. The house looked just as bad on the inside as it did on the outside. The walls were cracked and missing drywall in some places. The curtains over the windows were moth-eaten and let in more light than they kept out. It smelled old and moldy. It was in desperate need of a demolition and rebuild.
Zoe was shoved forcefully into a high-back upholstered chair. She cringed when she felt the springs in the cushion dig into her body. The back was lumpy and the forest green fabric was missing in spots revealing the yellow foam underneath. A cloud of dust also rose up.
Where had they found this dump? Good thing she wasn’t planning to be here long. She’d hate to be here long enough to need to use the bathroom.
Besides the two men escorting her, she didn’t see anyone else lurking around. It was time to get this show on the road. She was not going to wait around and hope for a rescue. Logan was most likely dead, and no one knew where she was. It was up to her to save herself. “What is this about?” she demanded of the man standing—more like hovering—over her right shoulder. The man ignored her. “You’re obviously just hired help. I demand to speak with your superior. Now.” She was not going to cower in fear of these men.
When neither man acknowledged her, Zoe had had enough and took matters into her own hands. “Fine,” she popped to her feet, “I’ll find them myself.” She didn’t make it more than a step before her path was blocked.
She kicked out at the knee of the man standing to her right. He bent forward when his knee buckled, and she punched him in the side of the face. The man to her left took a swing at her face. Zoe brought up both of her arms and blocked the punch from impacting too much damage.
Both men came at her at once. She went on the defense from their swinging arms. They didn’t hold back. Obviously whoever had them kidnap her, they didn’t care if she got roughed up a bit.
Zoe saw an object out of the corner of her eye on the stand next to her. It was a small bottle. She grabbed it and tossed it at the man to her left then followed up with a foot in his stomach before turning on his friend and blocking a powerful right hook aimed for her face.
She brought up her foot to kick his stomach, but he caught it. His face twisted into a sinister grin as he twisted her ankle. Zoe spun in the same direction her ankle was going. Bracing her hand on the ground as her body turned in a cartwheel, she kicked him in the face with her free foot. She followed through with a spin kick that sent him staggering to the ground.
Zoe had turned to take on her last attacker when he tackled her to the ground like a linebacker. They both fell into a wooden chair that collapsed under their combined weight. Zoe threw her hips up, sending the man sailing over her head. His friend came charging up to her like a bull that had just seen red.
Her gaze darted around, and she found a piece of broken chair leg. She rolled to her feet as the man got closer, then brought the wood splint into the side of his knee and hooked it behind his leg and pulled, dropping him to the ground.
Zoe rose above him and drove the wood deep into his shoulder. He bellowed in pain and started reaching for the wood when Zoe was suddenly pulled back by two meaty hands and spun around.
