“Well, aren’t you trussed up like a turkey? I don’t like that I didn’t know who you are.” The man grabbed his chin. “And I have decided I don’t want you around my Bunny and Pup. However, Angie seems to want you back in one piece. So I’m only doing this for her. But if you ever misstep again, I will come for you.”
“You’re the Fox,” he whispered.
“Yes,” the Fox replied as he cut the ropes around his wrists and ankles. “Come on. I’ve got to get you out of here. There are people waiting for you.”
He helped him out into the sunshine. North squinted. But moving helped him shake off the effects of the drugs. The waterand sandwich the Fox gave him once they reached a dark car helped even more.
They drove for a few minutes in silence then North turned to him. “Mr. Z?”
“Should be out of your life for good. All part of the ransom deal. Of course if you or Jared break your part of the agreement, all bets are off and I won’t be able to help you. All I will do is shield Angie from the fallout.”
“She’s the reason you saved me?”
“I used her to get what I wanted; it was only fair that I helped her now. But she’s the only one that I owed. Remember that. I will kill you if I have to. Even if The Collective is fucked up the way they use children.”
North nodded. He knew it.
The Fox pulled up into the middle of nowhere. “This is where you get out.”
North glanced around. There were just trees and hills as far as he could see. “Where are we?”
“Wyoming. Bartolli should be here soon.”
North nodded and undid his seatbelt before opening the door. Turning back, he nodded to the Fox. “I know you didn’t do it for me. But thank you.”
“Angie deserves to be happy after all the shit she’s been through. So don’t get yourself kidnapped again.”
As North stepped away, he took off and North sat down to wait.
She was so nervous.
What if he wasn’t there? What if something went wrong?
“Easy, baby,” Jared said soothingly. “Everything will be fine. The Fox said he dropped him off at the agreed spot. And Eli said he has eyes on him.”
Eli, Ammo, and Webb had gone ahead to the pick-up point to watch North and make sure that no one followed him there. That it wasn’t a trap.
Zander was driving her and Jared to the spot. Jared hadn’t wanted her to come, but there was no way she was being left behind.
“When we get there, you stay in the car,” Jared told her for the hundredth time. “You let me bring him to you. Understand?”
“I know. The plan hasn’t changed in the last five minutes,” she said.
“Yes, I’m beginning to think that you like the sound of your own voice, Bartolli,” Zander said.
“Like you wouldn’t be the same if it was Keira,” Jared said.
“No, I wouldn’t have been. Because I wouldn’t have allowed Keira to come. Angie should be back home. Where it’s safe.”
Angie tuned them out. She only wanted to concentrate on one person.
North.
He was all that mattered.
Finally, they pulled into a small clearing and there he was. She nearly raced out of the vehicle, but Jared placed his arm over her chest. “Stay. Put. Or you’re in big trouble.”
She nodded and he left. Taking off her seatbelt, she slid across to watch as Jared hugged him, saying something.
