Chapter 14 #2
My gramps warned me that the most dangerous trap is the one you don’t see coming.
It’s true that I never suspected that I would be abducted when I decided to go with this officer.
I wish that I had been more guarded and suspicious of this lawman.
I should have trusted my gut. I should have told this baby cop to go talk to my husband.
Weaver gets out, comes around to my door and opens it. He waits for Bran to join us.
“Hey, Nova,” he says in a casual, friendly tone as he approaches. He’s acting like we’re a couple of friends meeting up for lunch instead of one of my abductors.
“You absolute piece of shit!” I say, raising my voice. “Whatever in the hell it is you want from me, the answer is no.”
A strange expression flashes across his face. It’s a cross between mild amusement and contempt. When Weaver hands Bran the key to my cuffs, I realize how screwed I am. He leans down, uncuffs my hands and tries to pull me out of the cruiser.
I turn on him in a flash, slapping him hard across the face. He grabs my arm and jerks me out of the vehicle, complaining, “You don’t have to be such a nasty bitch all the time, Nova.”
I try to pull away and run but Bran throws me face first against the side of the cruiser and forces my hands behind my back.
Weaver helps him cuff me again, even though I’m struggling with every bit of strength I can muster.
When he begins dragging me towards his SUV, I plant my feet, forcing him to drag me.
Weaver comments, “Better be careful, Bran. She’s a feisty one.”
Ignoring him, Bran says through gritted teeth, “You can either get in the fuckin’ SUV or I can knock you the fuck out and dump you in the back. Your choice.”
I let him push me along because I don’t particularly like the idea of being knocked out and put in the back.
I spit out, “You’ve been planning this the whole time.
I knew there was something shady about you.
The way you kept circling around me, getting close, acting all sugar sweet and asking where Mica was all the time, threw up a dozen red flags.
Your nose was in everything that didn’t concern you. ”
“Yeah, spying was my job. In order to get good intel, you have to stay alert and stick close to the officers.”
“I thought you were working off your punishment for spying for Viper. You must not be too bright to make the same mistake twice. Mica is going to burn this whole county down looking for me and all the evidence is going to lead right to your doorstep.”
“So far, Mica hasn’t been able to stop me from burning your shit to the ground,” Bran says snidely. “So, forgive me if I’m not shaking in my boots.”
Bran opens the back seat passenger side of the SUV, puts his hand on the top of my head, and pushes me in.
Before I can get turned around, he slams the door.
I make a grab for the door handle before I realize there’s a man in the back seat I don’t recognize.
He grabs my cuffed wrists and pulls me the rest of the way across the seat without saying a word.
Bran gets in the front, starts the engine, and peels out, leaving Weaver standing in his wake.
I don’t fight him because I know I can’t win. I’m saving my fight for when I have a chance of escape. Maybe if I act docile, they’ll think they’ve intimidated me into submission. That will make it easier when the moment is right to make a break for it.
With my hands cuffed behind me, I can’t reach the phone that’s in my back pocket. The man beside me has one hand clamped around my upper arm and isn’t messing about. I hate that I’ve gotten myself into this situation. I’m also scared because I don’t know what these men want with me.
What I do have is grit, determination and Mica’s voice running in a loop in the back of my mind telling me that I’m smart and stronger than I know.
I look through the front window and start memorizing everything we pass.
We turn off at the exit for Dead Man’s Pass.
I know that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going there.
We keep taking turns, two rights and a left, until we’re on a gravel road.
Through it all, Bran is scrolling on his phone, sending messages to some unknown person.
My anxiety builds as I think about all the ways this could go really badly for me.
Maybe they’ll ask for a ransom Mica can’t afford to pay, traffic me or heaven forbid, sell my organs.
I hear there’s good money to be made in shady shit like that.
“Do you have an ETA on the prez?” the driver asks nervously?
“He’s already there and impatient for his delivery.”
“He’s going to want to see her himself,” the driver adds quietly. “He’s got something big planned for this one.”
This is when it hits me that Bran is just the middleman. He said he was spying again. Now, he’s taking me to some club president. Bran has been taking orders this entire time. All the creepy lurking about, the casual conversation and keeping tabs on everyone has been part of a greater plan.
The vehicle slows as the tires hit a pothole, sharp and uneven.
At least they aren’t going over them at full speed like Weaver did.
When the vehicle stops, we’re in the middle of nowhere.
The door opens and the man sitting beside me uses his grip around my arm to drag me out so fast that I stumble.
I’m barely able to get my legs under me before they shove me forward with one big hand pressing between my shoulders.
“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll do what we say and not cause trouble. Now, move.”
I do as he says because resisting would be a futile effort.
There are two of them and one of me. I manage to keep my head up, and when a camp comes into view, my eyes jump around trying to figure out what I’m seeing.
There is a campfire with several guys sitting around drinking beer.
I can’t see the back of their cuts, so I don’t know what club they’re with.
There is trash scattered about and the closer we get, I see the gaping mouth of a cave jutting out of a rocky outcropping.
My fear spikes as they push me through the entrance. When they give me one final push, I slam right into a stack of unmarked wooden crates. They’re stacked floor to ceiling. The air smells like piss and whiskey. Where the hell am I?
Somebody wanted me brought up here, to this ruin, but what I don’t know is who or why.
I hear someone rattling around behind the crates. A male voice that I don’t recognize curses in a barely audible voice. When he rounds the corner, I recognize him by sight.
Darkness is an evil man. My gramps always said to stay away from him. His black eyes rake over me in the most possessive, obscene way. Darkness has to be the person behind all this.
“I see you finally got her for me,” Darkness comments dryly.
“Yeah,” Bran answers. “It wasn’t easy. You know those Ragers sit on top of their old ladies like mother hens. Those bastards made my job much harder than it needed to be.”
“Well, that means we can let the party begin.”
“I’m not partying with you. You have no right to bring me here.”
Darkness takes a threatening step forward, causing me to stumble back in terror.
“You’re a brave little bitch, mouthing off like that when your hands are tied behind your back.”
When I move back a bit more, he laughs.
“It’s good to see you have an ounce of self-preservation left in that tiny little brain of yours, girl.”
“You took the wrong person,” I tell him, lowering my voice. “You have to know that you aren’t going to get away with taking an old lady. Mica and his family are going to come looking for me. I don’t even want to think about what they’ll do to you when that time comes.”
He tilts his head slightly. “No one’s coming for you, girl,” he says roughly. “They don’t know about this place. No one does.”
“I don’t understand why you’re doing this. You can’t possibly be stupid enough to think burning my grandfather’s businesses and dragging me out to the middle of nowhere is going to end well for you?”
He steps closer. His movements are quick and aggressive. He’s radiating anger, like I’ve never seen before. “Nobody talks back to me, least of all a fuckin’ woman. You got a death wish or somethin’?”
I can tell that his hand is itching to slap me down, so I don’t provoke him further.
The thing is, I’ve been listening to hard men say threatening things my entire life.
I know when to push my luck and when to shut up.
Whatever Darkness has planned, nothing I say will change his mind.
He’s already decided my fate. Now, I just have to hope that Mica and the Sons of Rage will get here in time.
Hope.
That has to count for something. Because right now, it’s all I have.
Darkness studies me for one more long moment. Then he says, “Best shut that pretty mouth of yours, girl. That’s the only way you’re gonna live to see tomorrow.”
“I’m not as easy to break as you think I am,” I tell him.
“Time will tell,” he responds before walking off. He says over his shoulder, “Take her phone and destroy it. Those fuckin’ idiots didn’t search her before bringing her here. Then tie her securely to the fireplace.”
The man with his hand still wrapped around my upper arm jerks me to the side, almost pulling my joint out of its socket. I hate every damn thing about this situation.