12. Craig
12
CRAIG
I jerked awake, only to be halted by my seatbelt holding me in place. I winced as metal cut into my leg and my arm throbbed, but I was alive, and that was all that fucking mattered right now.
“Alec,” I croaked out, trying to get his attention. I could barely crane my neck at the moment. When he didn’t answer, I twisted as best as I could. Hell, he was knocked out with blood dripping down his face.
I had to get out of here and make sure Audrey was okay and then clear the scene. I couldn’t be sure that it was just an accident. She’d already been kidnapped three times. The chance that this was a coincidence was highly unlikely. But the thing that pissed me off was that I didn’t see a fucking thing. That vehicle came out of nowhere. I didn’t even see any headlights. I wasn’t even sure how we were hit from the side.
I pressed the button to release my seatbelt and fell sideways into Alec. I cried out as something was torn from my leg. I sucked in a breath through my nose and after a moment, I looked down at the torn pant leg and took in the damage. My leg was shredded, but I’d seen worse.
Alec hadn’t moved, even when I fell into him. I pressed my fingers to his throat and sighed in relief when I felt his pulse steady under my fingers. Black spots danced in my vision as dizziness washed over me, but I pushed through it and turned to the back seat.
“Audrey,” I called out, hoping she wasn’t dead and I hadn’t failed her. Even through the spots in my vision, I could tell she wasn’t anywhere in the back seat. My heart started racing out of control at the implications. This was really fucking bad. Being ejected from the vehicle was most likely a death sentence.
I reached up to the door and tried to push it open, but it was smashed in. It would need the jaws of life to pry that thing open. The windshield was my best option right now, and since it was already shattered, it wouldn’t be too difficult to kick out. I climbed back through the wreckage and started kicking, steadying myself as best as possible as waves of nausea washed over me. Fuck, I needed backup now.
Climbing out, I staggered away from the man trying to reach for me. He might be trying to help, but I had no fucking clue who he was. I pulled my gun instantly, holding it on him as I swayed on my feet, blinking back the dizziness.
“Back up,” I snapped.
He held up his hands, his eyes wide with fear. “Yeah, sure. I was just checking on you.“Are you okay, man?” His eyes narrowed on me. “You don’t look so good.”
“There was a woman,” I mumbled, barely coherent. “A…woman.”
The man nodded. “Yeah?—”
“Where is she!” I snapped, glancing to the side. More spectators moved toward me, but I had to find Audrey. I swung my gun in their direction. “Everyone back up! Stay the fuck away!”
I tried to move forward and stumbled, falling into the side of the vehicle. The man moved toward me again, but when I turned my gun on him, he stopped moving.
“The…woman…”
“She’s gone,” he whispered.
“Gone? She’s dead?”
The man shook his head. “I don’t know. Another car came and—they pulled her out. They took off that way,” he said, pointing ahead of the accident.
“Fuck,” I muttered. I pulled out my phone and dialed Cap, hoping like hell he didn’t kill me. I was already feeling pretty shitty.
“Craig, where the fuck are you? You’re supposed to be here for a job!” he snapped.
My head pounded as he shouted at me. “Uh…I have some good news and some bad news, Cap.”
“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath. “Alright, tell me the bad news first.”
“Well, I came out to California to pretend kidnap an old friend so she could get some time off from her job.”
I heard his groan and knew he wasn’t going to be happy with the rest of what I had to say. “Kidnapping? Again? Craig, what the fuck is wrong with you?”
“It was her idea, Cap. I swear to God!” I winced as my head felt like it split in two.
“Fine. We’ll cross that bridge later. What happened?”
“Alec is with me and…long story short, someone nailed us on the interstate.”
“How bad?” he bit out.
I looked at the wreckage and tried not to throw up as nausea swirled in my stomach. Fuck, I really didn’t feel good. “I’m gonna need some back up.”
“How fucking bad, Craig?”
“Could you stop yelling?” I asked, grabbing the side of my head as I made my way back around to the front of the vehicle. Well, what was left of it.
“Where’s the girl?”
“Gone. They took her.”
“Alec?”
“Knocked out.”
“So, what exactly is the good news?”
I scratched my jaw, hoping he saw this the same way I did. “Well, we’re alive.”
“Maybe not for long,” he ground out.
“See, I’m gonna choose to believe that you’re saying that because you think they might come back to finish us off and not because you’re going to kill us.”
“Take it how you will.”
Police sirens could be heard approaching. I needed a crew out here asap and I needed Becky on this now so I could find out what happened to Audrey.
“Boss, I really need Becky’s help on this.”
“No shit. Send me coordinates. What’s this woman’s name?”
Yeah, this was the part where he was going to kill me. “Audrey Leigh.”
“Audrey—” He was quiet for a minute and then he chuckled. “Craig, are you telling me that Audrey Leigh—the actress, the same fucking woman who went missing this morning—is the same woman who was in the vehicle with you?”
“That would be correct.”
“And she was your…friend?”
“Hey, I was on leave and…it was a rough night,” I said defensively. The only thing I had going for me right now was humor. It was the distraction I needed from the splitting headache and the way everything kept spinning around me. Were there supposed to be lights swirling in the sky?
He snorted in amusement.
“What’s so funny? You don’t think I could get a woman like Audrey?”
“No, I think it’s going to be hilarious when Reese meets her.”
“Why does everyone keep saying that?”
“Because she’s gonna kick her ass. And probably yours.”
Alec shifted in his seat and I climbed into the wreckage, hoping like hell he was okay. “Boss, I gotta go. Alec’s waking up.”
“Get yourself to the hospital.”
“Sure.”
“Craig—”
I hung up before he could razz me any further about it. “Alec, you okay, man?”
He pried his eyes open and winced. “Fuck, you look like shit.”
“You should see yourself.”
He pushed himself up, pressing the button for the seatbelt release. “Fucking hell, that hurts.”
“Which part?”
“All of it. You know, the next time you want to run off to help an old girlfriend, remind me of this moment, and then tell me to fuck off.”
“She’s not an old girlfriend.”
“Where is she?”
“Gone. They took her.”
I gripped his hand and helped pull him up just as the ambulance pulled up beside us. Lights swirled all around the scene, making it fucking difficult to walk in a straight line.
“This is gonna be a clusterfuck,” Alec muttered.
“You’re lucky. I had to talk to Cap.”
He sighed, clapping me on the shoulder, using me for support at the same time. “I hate to tell you this, but you’re gonna have to be the one to tell Florrie, too.”
“What? No, I can’t?—”
“Sorry, man. Your op, your responsibility.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “That’s just mean.”