Chapter 21
Panic rooted Ivy’s back to the tree. Every breath caught in her throat, making her struggle for oxygen.
A gun to her head would have been less terrifying than Wayne.
The sight of his gangly body and missing-toothed grin drop-kicked her right back into the camper.
Wayne was her warden. Her grim reaper. Her kryptonite. The one who dominated the dark corners of her mind. Memories of him assaulted her, threatening to bring her to a panic attack.
Wayne knelt next to her. The other men were gone. “You look good, chica.” The Spanish term of endearment sounded silly on his American tongue. If she weren’t frozen with trepidation, she’d snap out a comment about his still-ugly appearance.
His gaze swept over her body, giving her the sensation of a hundred snakes sliding over her skin.
All the clothes in the world wouldn’t be enough to block his prying eyes.
She cemented her knees together and drew them closer to her chest. Her knuckles brushed against the tree trunk, reminding her that the rope was very close to snapping.
“Did you miss me?” he asked.
Terror spiraled in her senses. “You’re supposed to be dead,” she wheezed, her chest gripping the words and then pushing them from her throat like a marble through sand.
A hard glint consumed his empty eyes. “Well, I’m not. One of those military fuckers tried to kill me.” He peeled down the material of his shirt to reveal a bandage covering the skin just above his heart. “Got me good. Didn’t work, though. Marty’s dead. Bet you’re happy to hear that. She got a bullet through her skull. Can’t say I’ll miss her bitchy ass.” He released his shirt and inched closer.
“Mmm.” He brought his fingertips to dance along the top of her knee. “I missed this sweet little body. Now we won’t have anyone in our way.”
Revulsion hit her. She kicked out her foot to shake off his hand, and her heel connected with his thigh. He grunted.
“Don’t fucking touch me.” The growl rumbled from deep within, predatory in nature. If her hands were free, she’d relish scratching the skin from his face—and she’d do far more damage than she’d done to Luis.
“That’s one thing I regret. I should have touched you. Now that Marty’s gone, it can be just the two of us.” He licked his lips as if the idea made him hungry. “Fernando promised me a few days with you.”
Repulsion clenched Ivy’s insides.
“We just got to put on a show for your boyfriend.” He jerked his head toward the camera Gabriel had set up. “Then we can go to a motel for a little staycation.” His smile widened. “And when we’re done, we’ll send your head to your family.”
Ivy’s muscles turned to stone. The blood drained from her face faster than an avalanche barreled down a mountain. “What do you want from me?” she hissed.
Wayne’s face hardened. “It’s not you, honey. It’s what’s due. You’re collateral damage.” A note of regret struck his voice, as if the whole situation were unfortunate yet necessary.
“Let me go.” The words came out on a wobble. She’d sworn to herself that she wouldn’t beg for her life, but maybe, just maybe she could bargain. “I can promise you money,” she whispered, glancing toward the fire to make sure all the men were occupied. No one was paying them any mind. “Let me make one phone call. Fernando doesn’t have to know.”
Wayne’s gaze sharpened. Contemplation flashed across his acne-pitted face.
Yes, yes. He was falling for it. All she had to do was get Wayne to let her call Rami. Rami would find her.
She was certain of it.
Wayne moved his lips from side to side then shook his head. “Nah, see. That’s the kinda shit that’ll get me killed. Too many stupid motherfuckers have double-crossed Fernando, and he likes gory punishment.” His gaze turned sinister. “As you’ll soon find out.”
All her hope deflated. He adjusted the camera, which was on a tripod, and the flash came on, bathing her in its wide glow. Wayne’s mouth slid into a smirk. “Don’t worry, beautiful. Just a quick video. Your family needs to know who they fucked with.”
Ivy’s muscles spasmed.
Wayne reached for her waist. “We’ll do this from the waist down since you’re all tied up.” He reached for the waistband of her pants.
The panic inside her exploded into red-hot rage—and adrenaline. Using all her strength, Ivy kicked him in the stomach.
“Oof,” he coughed.
Letting out a hiss of delight, she booted him again. This time, her foot connected with the wound on his chest.
Wayne clapped his injury and bent forward. Ragged, painful gasps followed. Ivy ripped on the ropes. They released her.
Air filled her chest as she shrugged out of the bindings and jumped to her feet. Wayne reached for her, but she leapt out of his grasp.
“She’s getting away!” he yelled.
Ivy took flight as Wayne struggled to stand. Gabriel and Luis shouted.
Terror chomped at her heels as she sprinted through the woods, darting around trees and dodging branches. Hurried footsteps stormed behind her.
Her legs ached and her head pounded with each stride. Her cheekbone burned where Fernando had struck her, matching the blinding pain in her head.
But she didn’t slow. Determination pushed her beyond physical limits. She’d run until she collapsed. Until her heart gave out. She couldn’t get caught again. This was her chance. Her only shot at survival.
Please, God. Give me strength.
Gathering all her breath, Ivy let out a scream loud enough to shock the airwaves.
***
“No shit,” Tothsaid into the phone. Surprise hiked up the syllables. He swung his gaze to Rami.
Hope flared in Rami’s chest, despite the slim chance they’d be able to use the tracking device to locate Ivy. It wasn’t inconceivable that the technology could be hijacked.
The shocked look on Toth’s face had Rami’s insides twisting. “What?” he demanded.
Toth tilted the phone away from his mouth, his gaze on Rami. “You’re onto something. Dare said their system is weak as shit. Almost as easy as getting into the gas station security cameras.” Pulling the phone from his ear, he tapped an icon on the screen. “Bro,” he said to Dare. “You’re on speaker. Tell us what you found.”
“I think I’ve located the device tag used on Ivy. Of course, I can’t be certain without matching serial codes, but since the tracker is in her body, that’s not gonna happen,” he said dryly.
“So how do you know you’ve found hers?” Rami asked.
“Well, it’s the only active one in the area. The others are all stationed in Mexico and California right now. Which,” he said, dragging out the word, “will come in handy when I turn this shit over to my contact at the FBI so they can rescue those victims.”
Pride swelled inside Rami for a beat. If they could save other women or minors from being trafficked, it wouldn’t be just a bonus—it would be a miracle. As cool as that was, though, there was only one person who held his heart. “Good. But you’ve got a location on Ivy? Now?”
“Sending you the coordinates.”
Toth smacked Rami’s shoulder. “Ha! Yeah, man. We’ve got her.”
Rami released his clenched teeth. The tension cinching his chest eased a fraction, only to be replaced with urgency.
Now they had to devise a rescue plan under pressure—the kind of pressure that made his head split in two.
“Thanks.” Toth disconnected and a beat later, a message came through.
Snatching the phone from his friend, Rami stared at the red dot on the screen. Blood hammered against his eardrums, and his relief was so great it almost cut him at the fucking knees.
But a sobering truth immediately hit him: just because they had her location didn’t mean she was alive. The realization that they could be hunting for her lifeless body was enough to turn his skin cold and clammy. Emotion burned his eyes, but he fought it down.
Ivy’s a fighter.
Shoving all other thoughts from his mind, he swallowed the ball of tension building in his throat. He quickly allowed their location to be picked up by GPS. A little red route line showed the way down the road then jutted off into the forest.
“Twenty-three minutes away,” Rami confirmed, despite his tightening vocal cords. He jerked his head toward the vehicles. “Let’s go.”
“I’ll hop in with Rami,” August announced, flicking his gaze from the screen to them. “Toth, follow in your vehicle.”
Rami got in the driver’s seat and set the phone on the console while the navigator called out his first direction.
“Can you type the coordinates into the drone?” Rami asked, as August got in the passenger seat.
“On it.”
Rami shifted into drive, anticipation thundering through him. He stomped on the gas and turned onto the highway. He glanced in the rearview mirror. Toth was right behind him.
“Go slow by the gas station,” August instructed absently. “Don’t want to get pulled over.”
Rami grunted but eased off the gas. They coasted by the rest stop without drawing attention. He didn’t even try to look for Taschen, who was likely losing his shit standing around answering the cops’ questions.
When the rest stop fell behind them, he accelerated. The lines in the road blipped by his vision, never ending. Twenty-three fucking minutes.
He’d do it in fifteen.
Which might still be too late.
“Any sighting near the coordinates?” he asked.
“It’s loading. One sec—” August straightened in his seat. “Got ’em. They’re a little off the mark where Toth found them. Close, but... she’s on the move.”
Rami’s heart beat in triple time. She was moving. Thank god.
August turned the screen to show him. Sure enough, a little marker with a serial number blinked over an active heat source. Three other fast-moving, colorful figures weren’t far behind.
“Someone’s chasing her.” As the words left Rami’s lips, his foot sank heavily onto the pedal. Fiery rage boiled over inside him.
His woman was running from a fucking sociopath. Scared. Alone. Fighting for her goddamn life and likely injured. The need to teleport himself to her side was so great, he felt he could defy science by will alone.
“It’s all right man. We’re close.” August’s reassuring tone fell flat.
Rami moved his tongue around his dry mouth. It wasn’t all right. He white-knuckled the steering wheel. “I need you to see if there’s a road close to where they’re running. Can we get ahead of them?” If they had to run through the forest in Ivy’s wake, it’d take forever to reach them.
“Hang on.”
Impatience rattled Rami’s nerve endings.
“Yeah. You can turn up ahead and take a back road. Looks like that’ll cut us closer to them than if we take the highway.”
Rami took the turn instructed after a few minutes. Stones and dust pelted the sides of his truck as he barreled down the road at Mach speed. His headlights lit the trees and dirt road in their whitish glow. Yellow eyes on the side of the road warned him of wildlife, but he didn’t give a damn what jumped out at them right now.
“Do you still see them?” Desperation was closing in on him, sealing his sanity between its claustrophobic walls.
August shifted in his seat. “Yeah.” A grave note clung to the word. “Looks like she’s stopped—hiding maybe? It’s hard to tell.”
Dread lay heavy on Rami’s chest. Each twist and turn of the road threatened to throw them into the woods, but somehow, he managed to stay on track.
He couldn’t lose her. Not now, not ever.