Chapter 20
AVA
Ava shifted in the supple leather, her heart still thudding dully from leaving Alex behind at The Board’s mercy. Sebastian’s muscular arm reached around her, clicking her seat belt into place as she struggled to breathe with the hood over her head.
“Can we lose the hood, please? It’s hot. My hair is going to be a wreck.”
He chuckled as he fired the engine. “The simple ways you try to manipulate me never fail to amuse me, Ava.”
“You love my jokes.”
He huffed out a breath. “Yes, I do.”
“So, I guess it’s a no, huh?”
“It’s a no, Ava. Maybe if you’d agreed to my terms…”
Ava heaved a sigh with a shake of her head, fighting the panic building in her which the warmth of the hood only added to. “And here I thought you wanted to impress me.”
“I do,” he answered. “But there are so many other things to use.”
“Really, the hood would be a good start. It’s extremely hot.”
“You’ll survive. Take some long, cleansing breaths. And while you’re doing that…reconsider my offer.”
“I’d really rather we didn’t use the entire drive for a lecture. It was tedious enough the first time, but a second time is downright painful.”
Sebastian didn’t answer her, and she shifted again, the zip tie biting into her wrists as she struggled to ease the ache in her arms.
“Problem, Ava?” Sebastian asked.
“Now that you mention it, yes. This zip tie is digging into my skin and making me bleed.”
“I’ll be sure to clean that wound before you leave.”
“Thanks, but no thanks. Doc’ll do it. He is a trained physician after all.”
They finished the rest of the ride in silence. The next time her door opened, he whipped the hood from her head. She squinted against the bright sunshine, staring up at the Bancroft manor.
She thrust her wrists forward. “Cut these off.”
“You’re a little demanding for someone not in control.”
“I’d really like to be on my way to start my lonely night of contemplation.”
He pulled a knife from his pocket, flicking it open, and sending her heart pounding a little harder at the sight. He sliced through the restraint, cutting her loose.
She winced, glancing down at the crusted blood around her wrist before she held her hand out. “Thanks. My keys, please.”
“I wouldn’t be so cavalier, Ava. My patience does have a limit. And while Miranda Vale may have moved a little too quickly with capturing Alex, I still will use the situation to my advantage.”
“Miranda did this? Without your okay?” Ava cocked her head, curious to know if there was something she could exploit within the ranks of The Board.
“Don’t read too much into it,” he answered. “She only moved a little too early. And like I said, I will still use this to my advantage. So the moment the situation no longer benefits me, I won’t be so–”
“Benevolent? Yeah, I got it. Now, where are my keys?”
“You really are trying at times,” he said as he motioned for her to follow him into the house.
“I know. Better Alex to be married to me than you. You’re dodging a bullet, really.”
With a shake of his head, led her to his studio where she retrieved her purse from the chaise. “Well, I wish I could say it’s been fun, but it really hasn’t been. Thanks anyway.”
He lunged at her, grabbed her by the wrist and tugging her against him. “You can joke all you’d like, but think very carefully, Ava. You may not get another opportunity to save Alex Stone.”
With a flare of her nostrils, she yanked her wrist away. “I’ll make sure to give your offer an appropriate amount of reflection.”
She spun on a heel and stormed away from him, hurrying through the house to her car. She fired the engine and tore down the driveway, her chest heaving as she sucked in breaths, allowing the weight of the situation to cascade over her.
When she reached the end of the driveway, she hesitated, a few tears falling before she wiped them away, licked her lips, and used her car’s Bluetooth to place a call to Kyle.
“Ava?” his panicked voice shouted through her speakers as he answered.
“Hey, Doc, I’m okay. How are you?”
“Scared to death. Where are you?”
“On my way home. I’ll be there in a few minutes. You okay after the whole shooting of your tire thing?”
He heaved a sigh. “Yeah, I guess. I’ve had worse things happen to me. But I didn’t get to follow you very far.
“That’s okay, Doc. Thanks for trying.”
“Ava…” His voice took on a worried tone.
“I’m almost there. We’re going to figure this out.”
“Right,” he answered. “Well, I’m staying on the line until you are here. I’m taking no chances.”
She smiled at the words as she pulled into the driveway, finding him pacing out front. He threw his arms in the air as she slid from the car. “Thank goodness.”
He wrapped her in a tight hug, and she leaned against him, happy for the support after the ordeal.
He pulled back, an arm still around her shoulder. “So, did you see Alex at least? Is he okay?”
She wrapped an arm around his waist as they headed for the house. “I did, yes. He’s okay, more or less, but we have to get him out of there.”
“How?” Kyle asked as they ducked into the house.
“Well, we’re going to have to break in there and grab him.”
“If we can find him.”
“Oh, I can find him,” she said as they collapsed on to the couch. “He left me awake the entire time. I memorized the route.”
“Ava!” Kyle said, his eyes widening. “Are you serious?”
“I am. The only thing I’m not sure about is security. I’m hoping Raven can tell me more about that.”
“Do you think he will?”
Ava pressed her lips together as she sucked in a breath. “I don’t know, but I hope so. I don’t want to go in there blind.”
Kyle narrowed his eyes. “We’re not going in there blind, right?”
“We aren’t doing anything. I’m going in there,” Ava said as she tugged Alex’s laptop onto her lap and opening a document to type in the directions as she recalled them.
“Uhh, no, that’s not happening.”
Ava offered him an arched eyebrow glance.
Kyle shook his head. “No, don’t give me the scary eyebrow thing. I’m not letting you go alone. No way.”
“Doc–”
“No, Ava! No way!” Kyle leapt to his feet and paced. “This is crazy dangerous, and I’m not letting you do it alone.”
“Yeah, it is crazy dangerous, which is why I’m not taking you with me.”
“No, you’re not taking me…I’m going. So…give me a gun, and…let’s do this.”
“Wait, whoa,” Ava said, her features crinkling, “a gun? Should you have a gun? Have you ever used a gun?”
“Uhhh, well, I mean…I’ve been around guns. I’ve seen guns. I’d be way better off with a gun than without one.”
She stared at him for a moment. “Unless you shoot me or Alex.”
“I will not do that. I promise.”
“Okay, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she detailed as much about the instructions as she could.
“Okay, I think I have this down. We should drive this and see if we can find the location, case it.”
Kyle clapped his hands together and rubbed them. “Stake out, yes.”
“No, that’s a different thing. We need to be careful, though—we don’t want them to know we found this place.”
“Right. Well, then taking your bright pink car is probably the wrong move.”
Ava climbed to her feet, laptop in hand. “We’ll take Chris’s car.”
“Ohhh, good idea. He’s not using it. Okay, let’s go. I’ll drive.”
“Uhhh, I don’t think so.”
“Why can I never drive?” Kyle asked.
“You’re untested. What if we’re in a car chase?” Ava asked as she retrieved Chris’s car keys.
Kyle screwed up his face. “Do you think we will be?”
“I don’t know… I was once before with Raven.”
Kyle snapped his fingers. “You’ve got to text Raven. You can’t text and drive. I drive.”
“You really want to drive, don’t you?”
Kyle’s features melted. “I do, I really do.”
Ava rolled her eyes and dangled the keys in his face.
He snatched them and raced toward the door. “Let’s go!”
They climbed into the car, sliding on their seat belts. Kyle rubbed his hands together. “Where are we going?”
“Sebastian turned right from his driveway.”
“So, should I drive there or…”
“Yeah, drive there,” she said as she pulled her phone from her purse.
He turned onto the road, aiming for the Bancroft manor. “Are you texting Raven?”
“Yes,” she said as she typed a message. Found Alex. Need intel on a Board location.
“Hey, you’re not thinking of taking Sebastian up on his offer, are you?”
“No, I would never join The Board. Although…” Her features scrunched as she glanced up.
Kyle gave her a sideways glance. “Ava! No!”
“No, no, I wouldn’t join him. I wouldn’t even pretend to do it, the price would be way too high.”
“Then why did you say although, like you were considering it?”
“Does it seem weird that Sebastian took me to see Alex?”
“Nope,” Kyle said as he made the next turn on Ava’s direction list.
Ava furrowed her eyebrows. “It’s not weird?”
“No. This guy thinks you are going to go for this. He’s drunk on power. He doesn’t think you’ll actually turn him down.”
“Or the place is so secure, we’ll never get to Alex.” She heaved a sigh as she gave him the next turn.
“Anything from Raven yet?”
She glanced at her phone. “No. We’re on this road for a while.”
“I know. This is where he shot at me.”
“Oh, sorry,” Ava said with a wince.
“It’s okay…I’m fine with it. No big deal. A man fired a weapon at me and shot my tire and I nearly wrecked. Totally fine.”
Ava patted his shoulder. “You’re a brave guy, Doc.”
“Thank you. I appreciate you acknowledging that. I mean I’m not being held hostage by The Board brave, but still…”
She giggled at him. “You’re doing good. Right turn somewhere up here…uhhh, I’m not sure where.”
“There are a few,” he said as he slowed. “Ummm…”
“Third right. We didn’t turn again and both of those dead-end pretty quickly.”
Kyle bobbed his head as he sped up and took the last turn. “Where are we going from here?”
“It was about twenty more minutes, I think. Three more turns. This one came about five minutes after the last one.”
Kyle glanced at the clock. “How did you tell the time?”
“I counted, so it’ll be off a little bit.”
“I do not know how you had the presence of mind to do this while being basically kidnapped.”
She blew out a long breath. “I tried to think of it as not being kidnapped. And I knew I needed to figure this out to find Alex. It’s our best chance.”
“You did great, Ava. We’ll find him.”
Her phone chimed, and she grabbed it as Kyle made the next turn. “Raven says, ‘How? What have you done, Ava?’”
She clicked her tongue, annoyance roiling inside her. “I can’t believe him.”
Her fingers pounded across the keyboard.
“What did you say?” Kyle asked as he searched for the next turn.”
“I said Sebastian was stupid enough to drive me there without knocking me out. We’re looking for the building now, and once we find it, I need to know specs, security, codes, et cetera.”
“Do you think he’ll have that?”
“No idea, but it can’t hurt.” She glanced out the window. “One more turn and we’ll be there.”
Her stomach twisted into a tight knot as she scanned the horizon for the building that held Alex.
Kyle slowed as they approached a dirt road on the left. “Is this the turn?”
“Uhh, I think so. It was a rough ride at the end.” She grabbed her phone, texting her location to Raven with a message that Alex was nearby.
Kyle swung the wheel before Ava stopped him.
“Wait,” she said, “maybe we shouldn’t drive up there. I don’t want them spotting us.”
“Not to argue but I’d rather be in my car than on foot.”
“The car is obvious, do you want to be shot at again?”
Kyle pulled the car onto the side of the road. “I don’t like leaving the car here. Anyone could spot it.”
Ava scanned the horizon. “Pull up around the bend. We’ll have to walk a little further.”
Kyle nodded as he sped up, hiding the car around a bend. They climbed out and hurried toward the dirt road.
“We should just follow it in case someone’s coming out,” Ava suggested.
They continued toward a bend in the dirt road, following it until a large building came into view. “Whoa,” Kyle murmured. “That place is huge.”
“Yeah, it seemed large when I was in there,” she said with a nod.
“How are we going to find him?”
“I know where we went from the entrance. Unless there’s more than one.”
They squatted as they reached a fence, staring at the building. “Okay, so there’s a fence with a gate,” Kyle said, “so maybe it’ll be easy to get in there.”
Her phone chimed, and she glanced at the screen. With a sigh, she shook her head. “I doubt it.” She flashed her phone to him.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously,” she answered as she read the message again.
That is a Board Fortress. Nearly impossible to penetrate.
She slapped a hand against her forehead, her heart plummeting as she came so close to getting Alex, but still was so far from seeing him again.