45. Kali
45
KALI
T wo hours later, and I was out of things to say except for, “I gotta pee in Flagstaff.”
There. Not obvious at all.
Shelly let out an exasperated sound, her eyes bulging as she glared at me. “Are you serious?”
I shifted in my seat. “It was the coffee. And I’m a pee-er when I’m nervous.” Totally lying. I was not a pee-er when I was nervous. “You’re all tense and I don’t know what we’re driving into.”
Another exasperated half growl before she turned on the signal and slowed down to turn onto another road. I had no idea what her exact route was because she kept changing and taking other roads, and then other roads, and other roads until I was pretty sure one time we did a full circle and started all over again. The only thing I could get was that she was trying to stay off the main roads and trying to be unpredictable? Either way, I was glad when a sign popped up saying Flagstaff was nineteen miles ahead. I was also relieved when I saw other cars on the road with us.
I was not expecting to see all the trees.
We’d definitely been north of this area when I was road tripping with Aly and Harper before.
Harper.
Fear and panic seized me for a moment.
I hoped he was okay. I hoped he was alive? I hoped he was being fed chocolate covered strawberries and being fanned by hot shirtless guys. He joked that it was his fantasy. I doubted that was happening, but I needed to focus on that and not the other thing that I was thinking might be happening, him being hurt or starved or I didn’t know. I just needed to get away from Shelly, see if my call ever went through to Shane because I’d been terrified to check and then get my friends back. Safe. I wanted everyone safe.
When we got to the station, she pulled to fill up with gas. I guess she was being extra cautious, but I went inside and this time, she wasn’t following me. I pulled my phone out and saw the line was still connected. Holy–thank God for helping! “Shane?!”
I only heard motorcycles’ engines.
“Shane!”
There was a click, then silence. I panicked, thinking I’d lost the line, but a different, calm voice said, “Is this Kali?”
“Yes.” I frowned and looked at the screen. It showed I was connected to Shane’s phone. “Who is this?”
“My name is Seth. I work with the Red Demons. We’re their IT department. You’re at a gas station on the north end of Flagstaff?”
“Yeah! How’d you know that?” I needed to quiet down, but my heart was picking up. If they knew where we were, then things were starting to look way up for me.
“That’s not important. What is is that you need to tell me the exact whereabouts of Shelly. Where is she right now?”
I looked, and stepped out of the hallway, moving to a window where I could see the car.
The car was gone.
“Wha–” I started to go outside, seeing if she pulled to the side. “She’s gone.”
He got quiet on his end.
“Hello? You still there?”
“What do you mean she’s gone?”
“I mean,” I stepped more fully outside, looking to the right and left, “she’s gone. I can’t see her car anywhere and she wouldn’t go inside with the car not being here.” I was so happy that I was almost shouting. I was free. “She totally left without me.”
“Kali,” the voice came back, insistent. “You need to listen to me. Shelly would not have left you behind.”
“Well, she said that she overheard–”
“No. What she told you was a lie. She has to take you to Marco Estrada. If she doesn’t, they will kill her daughter.”
“What?!” I whipped around, feeling a presence at my back.
It was an elderly man. He jumped back, startled from me.
“Sorry. So sorry.” I moved out of the way, but I was processing what he’d just said.
“They took Katie?”
“Yes. Since you are currently away from her, remain among groups of people. Is she armed?”
My mouth went dry. “Yeah. She has a gun.”
“Okay. I’m coordinating with a local Red Demons charter. They’re coming to help. They’re closer than Ghost and his men. Now–”
I felt the press against my back before I felt the presence of another person.
Every cell in my body was telling me that was a gun at my back, and as I went still, I heard the safety being taken off.
“I’ll take this. Thank you.” Shelly was behind me, and she lifted my phone out of my hands, pressing it to her ear. She listened a second, saying, “Move around the corner. Walk casual.”
Oh, shit. This wasn’t good, but I moved forward, going slow.
She tossed my phone to the ground and a second later, I heard a crunching sound. As we kept going, she said, “When did you figure it out?”
“Figure what out?”
She laughed, the gun still pressed so tight to my back. “You know what I’m talking about. That I was lying to you. I didn’t overhear shit, but when’d you figure it out?”
We were around the corner. Her car wasn’t back here, but she urged me to keep going.
“Thirty minutes into leaving.”
She whistled under her breath. “Keep going. I moved to the back.”
I did. My heart was racing with each step because what would happen when I got back there? Would she let me stay conscious? My heart was up in my throat. I felt sweat dripping down my back.
“It’s nothing personal. I want you to know that, but I have to do this. Marco’s men came back and they took my daughter. That Jared kid had another party, and of course, we weren’t under lockdown. They nabbed up Katie when I gave in and let her go. Thought I owed her one night after having everyone move in, take over the place. She helped clean the whole place up too. Did a good job. She’s a good kid ,” her voice got thick, choked up. When she spoke again, it was hard again. “They took her, and they said to bring you for her so nothing personal. You know I have to do what I have to do. That’s my baby–”
We were around the corner, in the back of the gas station. There was one other car parked back here, but no one else was around. A chair was set up behind their back door. A can next to it, and I was betting there was a load of cigarette butts inside of it. “Let’s go.”
She went around, the gun still pointed my way. She opened her door, bent and pulled the trunk.
I took a step back. “Come on, Shell–”
She ignored me, going to the trunk and she pulled out some rope. She tossed it at me. “Pick it up. Wrap it around your wrists.”
“This isn’t neces–”
“Do it or I’ll have you finish the ride in the back of this trunk. I’m betting you don’t want that.”
I didn’t.
I picked up the rope and began looping it around my wrists. This was foul in so many ways.
“Tighter.”
I looped it around, making a knot as best as I could.
Think, Kali. Think.
I didn’t know anything about knots, but what a time to wish that I had a full career in yachting. A trick knot would’ve come in handy.
“Okay. Enough.”
I tried pulling it down over my hand, a little leeway.
She was going to tighten it.
Anything? What could I do?
I tried twisting my other hand around, getting a finger under the other side of my wrist.
Sheathing her gun in her pocket, she came over and grabbed my wrists. She jerked me around, moving my arm. Seeing the finger, she slapped it out of there. Her gun was pointing down, but the safety wasn’t on.
Oh, God.
Oh, dear.
Could I?
She was tightening the rope–I had to.
She was still holding my wrists up so I lunged, going hard and fast, hoping to get her surprised.
I did.
“Wha—”
BANG!
OH MY GOD!
I jumped back, my whole body feeling like I’d been shot.
My ears were ringing.
My vision was blurring.
What had I just done?
I blinked a few times, waiting for my eyes to come back to focus and when they did… Oh. My. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
I was fully praying to Him.
The blood was everywhere. On my hands. On my chest. My stomach. My legs.
But, no, no, no.
I couldn’t have–it wasn’t my blood.
I choked back a cry, stumbling backwards.
Shelly was on the ground, her leg a wrangled mess.
Oh, I was just hoping she still had a leg. I didn’t want to look anymore, but she was staring down, then at me, and she was losing color fast. “You–you shot me?”
Um. I started nodding. I had.
“Whoa. I’m sure hoping you’re Ghosts’ woman and not the one who’s shot, because, honey, you better start brainstorming your cover story because there’s no way you’re getting out of this one.”
A guy with dark hair, a face that could be on billboards, and wearing a Red Demons cut stood just around the corner. More guys came filtering in behind him, seeing us, and some whistled under their breaths.
Another guy stepped around, cursed, and pulled his phone out. “We need Doc. Now. Gunshot wound.” He scanned me. “Uh. I don’t know. There might be two.”
I shot her.
I couldn’t believe I shot her.
She was–Katie. This was for Katie.
OH–I shot Shelly and now they’d kill Katie.
The first guy strolled forward, cursing with a little more insistence. “Oh yeah. She’s about to lose it.”
I heard from the phone guy, “You might need a tranq. One looks ready to lose her shit.”
Yes. I started nodding, crying, and laughing all at once. I was so losing my shit, because I might’ve just killed two people .
I crumbled, falling to my knees and bent over. The blood was on the ground too.
It was caked to my hands. My arms.
The blood was on me. It was all on me .
“Yep. Totally losing her shit. Someone call Ghost.”