13. Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Amelia
“Walk faster,” Maddie mutters as we trek through the casino toward the parking garage on the heels of the police officer Caleb sent to protect us.
“You walk slower! Your legs are freakishly long,” I retort.
“I can’t help it if I have better genes than you.”
“You do realize your children might get these exact genes,” I mutter.
“What children? I’m never going to have children because we aren’t going to make it out of here!” She’s hyperventilating. I get it. This is her first brush with danger and it’s scary. I should be considerate.
I snatch her arm. “Pull it together, woman!” Or I can be rude as well. “I need your lawyer confidence to sell this!”
“I coach high school volleyball, Millie. I can’t pretend to be someone I’m not.”
“It’s a lot easier than you think.”
Maddie’s eyes dart around as if looking for hitmen to come after us. I’m sure they haven’t found us yet, but it’s really only a matter of time, which is why we will be safer on the move.
“Let’s just get out of here and then maybe I can breathe again,” Maddie says.
I nod, and we match each other’s pace to the garage. Once there, I realize I’ve forgotten where I parked my car, so I sound the alarm. Maddie nearly jumps through the roof when the car right next to us beeps.
She glares at me before opening the trunk and shoving her bag inside. “I need to call Connor.”
“Let’s not make any rash decisions!” I grab her hand after she shuts the trunk.
“We’re going to die!”
The police officer with us raises a brow but looks unconcerned. Everyone is so dramatic these days. What would happen if we were actually dying? No one would react. “You ladies good?” he asks.
I nod. “Thank you, officer. You can go rescue some other damsels in distress now.”
He chuckles and steps back and folds his arms, content to watch us drive away. I’m sure Caleb gave him strict instructions on that part.
“We are going to be fine,” I insist to Maddie, nudging her to the passenger side. She reluctantly gets inside, and I take a deep breath. It’s exhausting trying to convince someone they aren’t going to die.
“But what are we going to do?” Maddie asks as I put the car in reverse.
I check my blind spots and pull out slowly. “I’ll call Liam. He’ll know.” I put the car in drive and wave to the officer as we leave the parking garage.
“I have a better idea. How about he hops on a plane and fixes this mess for us?” Maddie says, an edge to her voice that makes her sound a bit psychotic.
I put on my blinker and take a right. “He’s under house arrest. Do you want the poor man to be stuck there forever?”
She narrows her eyes at me. “I don’t even know the man, but I know he pulled a gun on you, so I say better him than me.”
“You’re so heartless,” I tsk, “Hand me my phone, I’ll call Liam.”
Maddie reaches into my bag and digs around.
“You don’t need him,” a deep voice grunts from the backseat.
The hair on my neck stands on end. Maddie screams, and I grip the steering wheel, barely avoiding a collision with pedestrians on the sidewalk.
I glance in the rearview mirror at the man who just sat up in my back seat. “Thane!”
“Hello again.” Thane grins.
“Thane?” Maddie screams again. “As in Caleb’s dad, the criminal?”
“One and the same,” he replies.
“Oh my gosh, he has to get out now.” Maddie covers her face with her hands. “If we knowingly transport him, it could be considered harboring a fugitive and we could go to jail. I’m going to lose my job again.”
“I’m not running from the law,” Thane says, “at least not right now.”
I study the road for a spot to pull off but we are in the thick of traffic. “What are you doing in my car?”
“I needed a ride.”
“How did you know which car was mine?”
“I’m a people reader, I literally do this kind of thing for a living.”
“Squat in people’s cars?”
“Find a mark, and con them.” He leans over the seat, his warm breath hitting the top of my shoulders and making me shiver. How do I get rid of this man? “After our lively discussion, I determined that the vehicle with the bumper sticker blondes have more fun and the thrift store bags littering the back seat was yours. Most women have cars, and you have pink bedazzled dogs around your license plate. You strike me as a dog person. Wasn’t that hard.”
The fact that he was able to piece that together from our brief interaction frightens me.
“You need to get out!” Maddie yells at him.
“Can’t. You have something I need.” He grins eerily at me.
“Finders keepers.” I stick my tongue out at him. “You don’t need it. Caleb does, and I’m going to make sure he gets it.”
Thane laughs. “You stupid girl. You have no idea what you have, do you?”
I shrug. “Doesn’t matter.”
“Oh, it does. Because it has every U.S. government agency listed on it. The names of every agent and every ongoing mission. If you’re found with it, you’re dead.”
He’s right. I had no idea what was on that tiny drive, and I’m sufficiently frightened. Because whoever has it knows about Caleb and Serena, two people I love. Which only makes me want to protect it more. “And what were you planning on doing with it?”
“Selling it and finally retiring.”
“How selfless of you,” I deadpan.
“I’ve been tracking this thing for months! It’s mine,” he yells, then seems to cool off and shoves a hand through his graying hair. “Look, this has been a riveting adventure with my son’s girlfriend. We’ll call it a family reunion no one wanted to attend and agree to never see each other again. But now I need you to turn it over. I have a flight out of here in one hour.”
“Don’t give it to him,” Maddie says.
“Not planning on it,” I say, especially since I don’t have it. She does. I saw her tuck it into her bra when she pretended to find chapstick in my purse.
“You’ll give it to me.”
“You’ll get out of my car,” I retort, but my phone rings, the bell chiming through the speakers.
“Liam.” I breathe a sigh of relief and hit the answer button. “Just the person I wanted to talk to.”
“I wish I was always greeted so warmly,” Liam says. “Unfortunately, you’re not going to like what I have to say.”
Nerves creep up my spine.
“What?”
“Your boyfriend was just kidnapped by the Russian mafia.”
“Excuse me?” I slam on my brakes, and Thane smacks his head on my head rest. I must have heard Liam wrong. “What do you mean the Russian mafia kidnapped my boyfriend?” That's who's after this drive?
“Caleb called me thirty minutes ago looking for his dad, but I found the wrong guy exiting the parking lot. It looked like his dad, but it wasn’t…”
“I found his dad!” I yell. “He’s in the back of my car.” Maddie switches to FaceTime and aims the phone at Thane, who has the gall to wave.
Liam curses. “Awful cameras. It should be illegal to have such antiquated security features. I’m so sorry, Amelia. I think I know where they took him though.”
“How?”
“He was still on the phone with me when they found him. They didn’t find it until they stopped. I was able to track him there.”
“Good, because we are going to go get him,” I say as Maddie aims the phone back at me.
“Oh no, you’re not.” Liam looks right at me, but I ignore him because hello, driving. “Caleb will kill me if I let you walk into that building. Do you remember me saying Russian mafia? The person in charge goes by the name of Fox. No one knows who that is.”
“I might not know who that is, but I have what they want,” I say, firm in my resolution to save my boyfriend or die trying.
“Actually, you don’t. It’s mine,” Thane says.
I lay on my brakes and Thane flies forward, slamming his head on the back of my seat again. That's what he gets for not wearing a seat belt. And for being a grade A jerk.
I maneuver off the road and turn around.
“You are a despicable human being. You have never once put your son’s life ahead of your own, because you are a narcissistic piece of trash. But that ends now. You’re going to help us get Caleb back, or I will sic this man on you.” I point at the camera. “He can drop you in the middle of the Sahara desert without ever laying a finger on you. This is your chance to save your son, and you will do it. Got it?”
Thane raises a brow, looks from me to the camera, then back to me. “You know I could take you in a fight, right?”
I shake my head slowly. “Oh no. I have the adrenaline of a mom when a car is on top of her child, so I could destroy your pitiful butt and protect my boyfriend the way you should.”
His eyes widen a touch and a thousand expressions try to manipulate his face, but in the end, his eyes fall and he sighs. “Alrighty then. Guess I’m helping.”
“Good choice. Now sit back and shut up.”