Then, he listens, and I can only hear the murmuring of a voice before the officer hangs up and turns to the driver.
“Take the old quarry road. Lose him in the cut.”
The car speeds up. Turns sharper.
I brace myself the best I can with my hands cuffed behind my back. All the time, I watch that single headlight, keeping up with us until suddenly it’s gone.
A bend in the road, a sudden descent, and the night swallows it.
I press my forehead to the window and see nothing but trees.
But I know he’s still out there.
Sin is coming for me.
My breath fogs the window because I can’t keep myself from searching for that headlight. Sin is smart enough to hide from them.
Dangerous enough to get to me. To get me out.
We finally pull into a parking lot of an abandoned weighing station half a mile off the road. Fear buzzes through me harder this time.
The cuffs come off as my bare feet hit the rocky dirt, and they zip tie my wrists and ankles. I should fight, but I’m frozen as they bind me, too afraid to give them more reason to hurt me.
One puts his shoulder into my stomach and hoists me up. I lose my breath in a wheeze at the sudden pressure and wriggle against his hold when cold air flies up my shirt, but since his grip doesn’t roam, I focus on my breathing.
This will not last forever. Someone is coming for me.
Someone I just watched beat a man to death this morning. For talking about me. For sharing information with Sheriff Knox. How much leeway has he allowed these two? Because if Grant is after me, he’s going to want me alive. That doesn’t mean I have to be whole. Not if they hurt me in ways that can’t be outwardly seen.
Asking questions won’t help me here. I doubt these two know much.
A minute later, I’m dumped on a dirty floor in a small room. It jars my shoulder and hip. They could have been gentler, but they could also have been rougher.
The other one hesitates at the door. He won’t meet my eyes.
Knox might not have told them who I am, but he did inform them about what they’ll get for me?
He closes the door, which gives me one advantage. Warning.
My racing heart pumps fresh oxygen to my brain as I take deep, deliberate breaths. I’ve trained myself to think in tough situations. In ones where I have zero control.
It’s obvious they don’t plan to keep me long. This isn’t an elaborate operation. At least, not on this end of it.
Grant’s money. His influence. It stretches a long way. And it’s only aided by my father’s. I have no trouble believing he’d help with a scheme like this. Kidnapping me because he thinks it’s in my best interest, in whathewants for my life.
I will give my dad one thing, though, he’s probably why they haven’t hurt me or taken advantage of my partial nudity.
Thanks, Dad.
Huffing, I roll onto my back, fingers and toes tingling from the zip ties already. I stretch and wiggle, trying to improve blood flow.
There are no sounds, nothing to see out of the small window. Not from my angle anyway.
Diesel and oil and smoke has a strange calming effect on me. It reminds me of the bar, but it’s missing leather and liquor and sweat. I breathe deep and wait.
If Sin was behind me once, he’ll find me again.
He will find me again.
