Chapter Two
Holly (Maddog)
The second Dad started blowing up my phone was the second I decided I really was going to kill Jax this time. Slimy bastard had ratted me out! Like I was four or something! I wasn’t about to answer until there was no way they could turn the plane around, or my dad would threaten to kill anyone he had to for them to head back to the States. So I turned my phone off. All that buzzing would wear down the battery. Yeah. That sounded good.
About six or seven hours later, we landed in Simón Bolívar International Airport in Rodadero, Columbia. The second we stepped outside, the heat hit me like a shockwave. It felt like I’d opened an oven door and got my face scalded. “Fuck me,” I hissed.
“Anytime you want, Holly.” Chris Alistair the Third purred in my ear. The guy was a fucking creep. He was also the reason I was here in the first Goddamned place. He was dating a friend from school and I had the feeling he was up to something. Since I couldn’t talk Andrea into not going, I decided I was going with her. It had seemed to delight Chris that I was going, which made me incredibly uneasy.
I gave him the side eye. “Not if you were the last man on the entire fuckin’ planet, Chris.”
He chuckled but backed off. Bastard had been making comments like that the whole trip. Now that we were in a place it wasn’t safe to navigate on my own, I was beginning to rethink not waiting on Jax. I’d actually been going to ask him to come with me when I’d called him. Then he’d gone and been the Jax I’ve known most of my life. Asshole Jax. So I’d let my temper get the better of me. Which was when I remembered my sat phone was still turned off.
I stuck my hand in my jeans pocket where I’d tucked my phone and turned it on. I didn’t want Chris knowing I had a working phone. Most everyone had cell phones, but where we were supposed to be headed outside the city didn’t have cell service. I was thankful I’d set the device to vibrate. If he was listening for it, he’d probably be able to hear it buzzing, but it was crowded and noisy outside the airport and he wasn’t close to me at the moment. The longer my dad kept trying to call without me answering, the sooner he sent someone after me. Shotgun could pinpoint my location as long as the phone was on. Though Chris gave me the creeps, I hadn’t realized how nervous I was around him until this very moment. Yeah. Turning off my phone had been stupid. And not a mistake I’d make again.
Andrea was cuddled up to Chris as we waited for the bus taking us to the village. I wanted to barf. Problem was, it wasn’t because I found them disgusting. I was jealous as fuck. While I knew Chris was a bastard, Andrea obviously thought she was in love. I wanted that. Not with Chris, obviously. He was a swine. No. When I thought about cuddling up with a guy, the only man I saw was Jax. Which wasn’t acceptable at all.
Jax had seen me at my worst. When I was so sick all I could do was puke and sleep. He’d been with me when I’d fought so hard during the last couple of treatments. Sure, I’d just turned five at the time, but even though I didn’t like him back then -- I was a kid and he was a teenager who didn’t want a little girl hanging around him -- I’d taken as much comfort in his presence as I had my mother’s.
The rest of my life had been one series of medical tests after another, trying to catch any sign of a recurring cancer as soon as possible. Even though he claimed not to like me, that I was a pain in his ass, he always seemed to be in my line of sight. Trying to prove to Jax that I was tough was the only thing that got me through some of it. But while I practically idolized him, Jax saw me as a kid. To be fair, I was twelve years younger than he was. It would probably creep him out if he knew, every single time he threatened to spank me for being a brat, it turned me the fuck on something fierce.
I tried to keep someone between me and Chris every time we moved around. There were fifteen people in our party, so it wasn’t too hard. What was hard was letting Andrea too far away from me. Afraid as I was for myself, I was even more so for her. Because whatever happened, when it did, she’d never see it coming. At least I had a heads up and could take precautions. Late though they might be.
We boarded a bus to take us to a village about six hours outside of Rodadero. My phone had been buzzing every half hour since I’d turned it on. It buzzed again, then the calls started coming every couple of minutes. I wanted to turn on the GPS on my watch but had to use the phone to turn the damned thing on.
Anytime I took a trip of any lengthy distance where cell coverage was questionable, my dad and Shotgun agreed to give me at least twelve hours before losing their Goddamned minds. It hadn’t quite been that long, but I was hoping and praying that Jax had gotten tired of waiting and they were finally going to activate the GPS remotely. And as much as my mom and dad loved me, I knew it would be Jax who would force the issue because Mom and Dad always tried to treat me like a responsible adult and abide by the agreements we made regarding safety. If Jax thought they needed to contact me earlier, he wouldn’t hesitate to ride roughshod over that agreement and do exactly what he deemed best for me.
To my tremendous relief, there was one long, continuous buzz for fifteen seconds from my watch. That was my signal that help was on the way. The phone had linked up with my watch to turn on its satellite GPS features. Now, if my phone got separated from me, Shotgun could still track my watch. It had been designed to save the battery. The satellite link would only turn on if I activated it, or Shotgun told it to.
Not a moment too soon either, because the bus braked hard. The driver gave a shout right before we slammed into something. My head hit the seat in front of me and knocked me silly. My ears rang and my vision blurred. There were screams all around me and a flurry of Spanish. A gunshot sounded in the confines of the bus. I cried out as my ears popped. There was a wet spray across my face and someone fell on top of me, pinning me to the floor of the bus.
“Everyone off the bus, now!” A male voice speaking in heavily accented Spanish shouted over top of all the screams and cries. There was more commotion as people moved down the aisle in a hurry, shoving and tripping over each other.
The weight on me shifted and I realized the person who had fallen on me was being dragged away. I fought to clear my head, to push through the hazy fog that had settled over my brain. The rapid pounding of my heart echoed in my ears while my chest constricted in panic.
I forced myself to open my eyes, wincing as the harsh sunlight hit me where it shined in through the broken bus window. When I could focus, I saw a pair of rough boots in front of me in the aisle.
I didn’t dare move. The man standing in front of me dragged me roughly to my feet and shoved me toward the back of the vehicle where the rear door was open. I stumbled forward and tried to brace myself to jump to the ground, but I was shoved, landing with a cry in a heap.
“Get up, bitch.” Again, I was manhandled, the guy dragging me to the rest of the group and shoving me hard. I tripped and went flying into the people in my party. I’d lost sight of Andrea and Chris, but figured I needed to worry about myself at the moment. Chris would take care of Andrea. If not, I’d do what I could, but I had to face the fact that I might not be able to save her. Or myself for that matter.
Around me, the chaos continued. The air was filled with the terrified screams and pleas for help. The heat felt like it intensified tenfold as fear and adrenaline coursed through me. I tried to stand but found myself dizzy and disoriented, falling back onto the ground. When I rubbed my face with my hand, it came back sticky. Blood streaked my fingers and the palm of my hand, but I didn’t think it was my blood. Which was when I remembered the person who’d fallen on top of me.
My gaze found the bus as they rolled a body out the back and onto the dirt road. Men were speaking Spanish to each other. Though I knew some Spanish, I couldn’t keep up with these guys. They gestured to the dead girl they’d shoved out the back of the bus, obviously upset for whatever reason. One of them was angry, the other on the defensive, but I couldn’t catch what they said.
“Get down! Get down!” I was certain that was the bodyguard with Chris. When I turned my head toward his voice, the large man had shoved Chris into the dirt. He had a small handgun out, tracking the guys who’d attacked us but not firing. The bodyguard seemed to be reluctant to shoot anyone and was more than a little scared. From the looks of things, he was panicking as much as everyone else.
One of the attackers turned to when the big guy yelled, aimed, and shot. I jumped as brain, blood, and bone splattered over the dirt road. Chris gave a terrified yell at the same time everyone else screamed, but didn’t move to get out from under the dead guard. I saw Andrea huddling at the front of the bus next to the tire. She screamed, covering her head with her hands and tucking herself into a ball.
During the chaos, all I could do was sit there and gape at everything happening. It was like I was frozen to the spot. My limbs were heavy and everything felt like it was happening in slow motion. I shook my head, trying to clear it and get my wits back.
“I said get down on the ground! All of you!” This guy spoke unaccented English, unlike the others who seemed to only speak Spanish. He was the one who seemed to be calling the shots. He had a confident stature, straight-backed and unflinching in the face of the chaos he caused. His jet-black hair provided a stark contrast to his icy blue eyes that were scanning the area for any signs of rebellion. A thin line of sweat trickled down his temple, but he made no move to wipe it away. In his hand was a semi-automatic, the sight of which sent chills down my spine.
No one defied him, myself included. I stayed put, my hands out in front of me, shaking like a leaf. A frightened whimper left me and when the guy turned my way, I ducked, keeping my hands up and prayed he wasn’t looking to kill us all. Didn’t these types of things usually end up making ransom demands? We were being kidnapped. Right?
“ Muévelos a todos aquí. Mantenlos a todos juntos.” He gestured to all of us in a sweeping gesture with his arm. I thought he said he wanted us all in the same area. Kind of like he was corralling us to better keep us contained.
Andrea still huddled in front of the bus, visibly trembling, a look of abject terror on her face. Chris was still underneath his dead security detail. The gun the guard had dropped when he fell lay next to him, well within Chris’s reach. I thought Chris might reach for it, but he didn’t even try to move. For a moment, I was afraid he might be dead. Of the fifteen in our group, five had been killed. Much as I thought he was a creep, I didn’t want him dead.
There were seven men around us, all of them armed with automatic rifles. All of them pointed at us. Someone pulled Andrea up by her hair from where she huddled at the front of the bus and tossed her in our direction. She stumbled and fell before crawling the five or six feet to me where I huddled. I reached for her, pulling her to me and wrapping my arms around her while she sobbed, as terrified as I was.
The conversation among our attackers was a cacophony of rapid-fire Spanish. They were obviously arguing, but my brain couldn’t translate quickly enough. The guy in charge scanned those of us who were left. Two of his men pulled the bodyguard off Chris and shoved Chris into the group of us. I thought Andrea might go to him, but she stayed with me, looking around her fearfully.
The leader stared down every one of us, studying all of us intently. Turning his gaze toward me, he paused. A chill ran down my spine as I huddled with Andrea on the dusty road, my throat dry as I tried to swallow.
I could feel his gaze on me as I stayed as still as I could, keeping my head down so he didn’t think I was challenging him. My only thought was to keep myself as safe as possible until Jax came for me. Because I knew it would be Jax who came for me. My heart pounded in my ears and still shook uncontrollably, but it was only a matter of time.