Page 79 of Dark Soul

The man walked closer to her, and she realized she’d played right into his hands. He didn’t need to stun her—he simply grabbed her and lifted her into the back behind Nikolai. The doors shut behind her with a clang, and she heard the sound of the lock engaging.

We’re trapped.

She ran to the front of the vehicle, to the small window that separated the back from the driver’s cabin—watched the man get inside and quickly turn the vehicle into drive.

And then there was somebody else there.

Two men, running full-speed towards the van.

“Help!” she yelled, even though she knew they wouldn’t be able to hear her.

As she looked at the closest figure, she suddenly realized she knew him—it was one of Dark’s friends, the large, blond man with the kind eyes.

He was shouting now and raising his own dark weapon.

The man in white pushed on the accelerator. Alexia lost her balance, looked for something to grab on to. The last thing she felt, before her own head hit the van’s floor was the thud of the vehicle as it struck the man.

24

* * *

Dark

“We need to get you to a hospital,” Griffin said.

“Relax, Griffin,” Slate smiled. “I’m a medic. I know what a concussion feels like.”

“So you do have a concussion,” Griffin said accusingly.

“Maybe.” Slate sighed theatrically. “Stop crowding me. You’re all giving me a headache.”

Dark raised his hand to shut them both up.

“You’re going to the hospital to get checked out, Slate.”

“No,” Slate said, standing up on wobbly feet. Though his coat had protected him somewhat from scrapes, Dark knew the entire side of the man’s body was black and blue. “I can help.”

“Rogue is monitoring traffic cameras,” Dark said, feigning a calm he didn’t feel. Ever since Griffin had called to tell them that Alexia and the boy had been kidnapped, he’d felt like his mind was swimming in a pool of molasses. “We’ll find them.”

“What about the bodyguard?” Ash asked.

“The man was still out cold when I took Slate out of there,” Griffin said. “He never saw us.”

Dark had a new respect for the ex-CIA agent who, as well as carrying his injured brother on his back, had also memorized the van’s plate numbers.

Even though they were probably fake, at least it was a starting point.

“He’s probably recovered consciousness by now, and gone back to tell Kvyat.”

“He’ll get a call from Lemercier soon enough, I’m sure.”

The molasses in his mind grew thicker. Dark wanted to curl up inside it.

This was all his fault.

You should never have let her go back.

You shouldn’t have left her alone.