Night Hack: A forced proximity alpha hero hacker romantic suspense (Nightshade Book 4)

Chapter 28

Jana

The momentI heard my phone ping—and once I’d gotten over the confusion that the fucking thing was on again—I knew my night was about to go from bad to worse.

Unknown:

Kind of a dingy spot to be holed in, no?

The telltale bubbles of another text appeared, but my phone started a vibrating-ringing dance in my hands, that made me cry out in terror.

The comfort of seeing Brycen’s name on my screen was short-lived, and I knew I couldn’t ignore him.

Tapping the Answer button on the screen, I braced for what I would have to do next.

“Jana?”

His simple utterance of my name had me breaking down.

“Baby, don’t hang up. Don’t do this,” he pleaded. “Please don’t run.”

I have to.

“You don’t have to. We’ll keep you safe, baby. We’ll find him,” his voice cracked.

“I can’t risk losing you, Brycen, and that’s what will happen if I stay,” I explained, no longer caring about the tears that fell. “I-I can’t?—”

“Listen to me!” he growled down the line. “Devolin is working on tracing him. He knows where you are.”

“I know!” I screeched. “It’s why I have to go, Brycen. He’ll kill again, and I can’t have any of you at risk.”

“Baby, we’ll find him before he gets to you.”

I shook my head. They wouldn’t. Not before someone paid the ultimate price before then, and I’d be damned if I had to live with that guilt.

Just then, a text pinged, and I pulled the phone away from my ear to read it.

Unknown:

I hope you’re ready for me.

A shiver of dread washed through me, slithering down my spine. I had to get out of here.

“I love you, Brycen. Goodbye.” Without another word, I hung up, powered down my phone, then walked to the bedside table, leaving it on its surface.

Grabbing my purse, I stuffed its former contents back into it, opened my backpack, and shoved it in there except for my car keys, which I deposited next to my phone.

Heading for the door, I turned every light off in the room, then moved the chair away from the knob, twisted the deadbolt to the unlocked position, and unsecured the chain. Erring on the side of caution, I hoped the cloak of darkness would help me make my getaway.

Noticing the same truck parked slightly around the corner from the room I’d rented, I was careful to move quickly in the event someone was in it. The feeling of being watched was unsettling, and I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of Dodge.

When I reached the end of the row of rooms, I made my way for the trees lining the property’s edge. If I followed the tree line long enough, I could stay close to the highway and maybe hitch a ride to the next town over.

I just hoped it would be enough.

Brycen

I love you, Brycen.

When I should have felt like I was on cloud nine as I heard those words for the first time, Jana’s proclamation only gutted me.

I love you.

Goodbye.

“Like hell it’s goodbye,” I shouted to the interior of my truck.

As I pulled up to the dilapidated Coastal Motel, I slammed the brakes hard on my vehicle, coming to a stop next to what I knew was Jana’s car. As soon as I spotted the front end of Rex’s truck, fear filled me when I noticed the cab’s interior lit up.

Making my exit, I kept an eye on my surroundings, withdrawing my Glock, and released the safety. I gripped it, ready to shoot anyone who came at me as I scaled the side of the building, using the wall as a shield in case someone lay in wait around the corner.

There’s no way Rex would have left his vehicle for anything, and if he’d had to take care of business, he sure as shit would have never left his truck door open, let alone the cab light on.

Deeming the way clear, I turned the corner, and my blood ran cold.

On the ground, Rex lay unmoving, a growing pool of blood beneath him.

“Shit, Rex!” I analyzed my surroundings before scurrying to my knees, feeling for a pulse and finding a very faint and thready one.

It took a bit to locate the source of his bleeding because the front of him was covered in the coppery fluid. Once I found the massive gash in his gut, I applied as much pressure as I could while I reached for my pocket to get my phone.

“Tell me she’s with you,” Dalton barked in answer.

“Negative.” I took a breath and powered on. “Get Huss to dispatch an ambulance to the Coastal on Wilmington. Rex has been attacked.”

“What?”

“Shit, D, it’s not looking good,” I announced, my voice cracking. “You’ve got to hurry. I’m putting my phone down because I’ve got to do something to help stop him from bleeding out. He was here?—”

“Chasing someone down, yeah, Huss told me,” the man gritted out. “I’m thanking the fucking Lord he was there long enough to ID your woman, but fuck, Bryce, this is getting messier by the day.”

Tell me something I don’t know.

“We’re on our way.” I heard voices in the background. “Ambo’s out to you too. We’re looking at about twenty. Keep him alive, Bryce.”

“I’m trying.” I spotted a sweatshirt on Rex’s truck’s armrest between the front seats, and scrambled to nab it, bunching the material up so I could use it as a compress to apply more pressure. “Just get here already.” I pushed hard on Rex’s abdomen, netting a groan, followed by a gurgle from my friend’s throat.

The extended Nightshade gang congregated in Onslow Memorial’s surgical waiting area, impatiently anticipating news on Rex’s condition. The man had been brought in, having flatlined once in the back of the ambulance while I sat by and watched the medics work to bring him back. Thank fuck they had. I shuddered at the thought of how I’d deliver that news once we got Jana back had we lost him, and the reality was he still wasn’t entirely in the clear.

Shortly after we’d arrived, the medics rolled Rex in while I headed to the nearest bathroom to wash as much of the man’s blood off my hands as possible, changing into a set of scrubs an orderly brought me, but all I saw was red, and I was quickly losing my bearings.

I’d almost lost a good friend.

It looked as though I’d lost my woman—the love of my life—before we could really get our relationship off the ground.

And I had no idea if life as I had known it would ever be restored.

Two hours had passed since they’d wheeled Rex into surgery, and we’d yet to hear anything when Tate and Shane came striding into the waiting room.

Snapping to my feet, I rushed them, Shane putting his hands on my shoulders, a somber look on his face as Tate presented me with a Ziploc bag with what I recognized to be Jana’s car keys—thanks to the hummingbird key chain—and the phone Devolin had given her.

“Truck’s parked at NSI,” Tate said as Shane told me what I already knew in my heart. “She’s gone, man.”

Reeling from his confirmation, I spun and punched the wall next to us, the drywall exploding once my fist met it. “Sonofabitch!” I roared.

A nurse came running, her eyes rounding with trepidation followed by her flaring temper. “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to calm down or leave,” the tall brunette said, her hands on her hips. “If you don’t, I’ll have to get security to escort you out.”

Dalton waved her off as I let myself drop into the chair that was littered in dust and pieces of the wall I’d just smashed. “We’ve got this handled, Miss. He’ll be good.”

“You better,” she griped.

“Here.” He pulled out a business card from his pocket, presenting it to her between his index and middle fingers. “Please call us with an invoice for the damages.”

With a curt nod, she snapped the card from his fingers, then turned to head back where she’d come from.

“What are we doing?” I rasped, running my hands down my face as I leaned forward on my knees. My brain had shut down and all I could do was worry about Jana—about Rex.

A small hand clasped my shoulder and I turned to find Devolin standing before me, tears streaming down her face while Dalton held her from behind. “We’re going to find her, Bryce. I promise you.”

“How? The only play we had was to activate her phone and hope she’d answer a text or a call,” I told them all. “She left her fucking car so forget tracking her that way.”

“She may have gone to ground, but you and Devolin are the best in the fucking business, Matthews,” Tate stated, and I heard the agreeing murmur throughout the waiting area. “And don’t forget, as soon as Rex is out of surgery and awake, he might have some information for us.”

Another forty or so minutes went by before Rex’s surgeon came looking for those awaiting news on Rex. The man had made it through surgery, but he was far from out of the woods, and would most likely have a lengthy recovery, and that was if he managed to avoid any secondary infections since one of his intestines had been nicked by the blade Tate and Shane had found at the scene.

CSI was still currently combing the motel’s property to gather any and all evidence, and Shane, despite being a homicide detective, had taken it upon himself to keep the pulse on all matters pertaining to Rex’s attack, as well as Jana’s disappearance.

When a nurse made an appearance nearly two hours after we’d received the news that our friend and coworker had pulled through, she indicated only two of us would be able to see Rex now that he was awake.

“You guys are all family?” she asked as she led Dalton and me to his room.

“Something like that,” D answered as we came to a stop by a room.

“You have five minutes,” she said it as if she meant business. “The man was nearly eviscerated and needs to rest.”

Dalton spoke for the both of us, but I nodded assent, “Got it.”

Machines beeped, the smell of antiseptic was potent, and when Rex’s eyes met mine, the defeated expression on his face had me hurrying to his side, even though he’d averted his gaze from mine by letting his head loll to the side away from me, on its pillow.

“Lost her, man,” he whispered.

“Not your fault, Rex,” I told him.

“Fucking asshole nearly gutted me,” he added.

“I know. And damn am I glad he didn’t succeed,” I put a hand on and squeezed his shoulder nearest me.

“Wasn’t the skip,” he mumbled. “I’ve seen this fucker around though.”

“Who?” Dalton pushed. “Rex, I don’t want to rush you, but they’ve only given us five minutes.”

“The prick who stabbed me.” He swallowed hard. “Seen him before.”

“You sure?” I asked, and Rex turned his head so his eyes met mine, and no matter the amount of drugs in his system, I knew he was lucid about his recollections.

“Get me a sketch pad, I’ll fucking draw you a damn picture. Fucker’s been lurking around everywhere.”

I chuckled. “Buddy, you can’t draw stick figures worth a damn.” Looking up to Dalton, even he wore a smirk.

“For your woman, Matthews, you bet your ass I can.” Rex closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he opened and met my gaze. “I fucking lost her,” he repeated despondently.

“Rex, you couldn’t help what happened,” I told him.

Dalton cupped the man’s other shoulder and squeezed gently. “And she’s not lost. She went to ground. Now, it’s up to us to put the pieces together and catch this psycho so she can come out of her hidey hole.”

Rex grinned then. “He might have caught me by surprise, but I got a few licks in before I went down. There should be spatter on the rear driver’s side fender. Man, I hope this fucker is in the system.”

“I’ll get Shane on it,” Dalton said as his eyes met mine and he nodded toward the door.

“We’ll let you rest. Be back in the morning, bud,” I added.

“Hey, Bryce?” Rex croaked just as I was about to pass the room’s threshold.

I turned to face him. “Yeah?”

“Give her hell when you find her, will ya?” The man gave me a pained smile.

“Tell you what,” I returned, feeling my lips tug upward in my first real smile since I’d woken up without Jana. “When I get her back, I’ll fucking make sure she knows how I feel, and then I’ll redden her ass so much she won’t be able to sit comfortably for a week.”

And I meant every goddamn word, and maybe a few more I simply wasn’t about to share, because Jana deserved to hear those words first.