Chapter Sixteen
Rebecca
My head was so heavy, leaden, and my mouth dry and itchy.
I was jolted as the vehicle I’d been bundled into bumped in and out of potholes.
Feeling like nothing more than a rag doll, I was consumed by the white-hot visceral fear that swirled within me.
It was raging and frantic and burned in my veins.
How was I going to get out of this?
Fuck knows.
The truth was…I wasn’t.
I’d been kidnapped and drugged by a madman and, most likely, no one had any idea where I was.
The car came to a stop. The relief of the end of the jolting journey lasted only a moment, and then a new grip of terror clenched my belly. If we had arrived at our destination it meant new, awful things were about to happen.
The door was pulled open, and the scent of the countryside breezed in; cattle, hay, and oilseed rape.
“Right then, bitch, get ready for it.”
I couldn’t answer, my mouth wouldn’t obey my brain the same way my legs and arms wouldn’t. I was aware of my surroundings and what was happening the entire time I was locked inside my useless body.
Reg hauled me out, my legs falling to the ground and my hand scraping on the grit.
“Steady there.” He hoisted me up into a rough hug and then half dragged me, half carried me alongside a fence.
Through the slit of my eyes I guessed I was at some kind of farm. The ground was cobbled and littered with straw and muck. There were trees, a green tractor, and I heard the low of cattle nearby.
This was terrible. A farm. Isolated. No one would hear me scream…if I even could scream.
I tried. No luck.
“Nearly there…fuck, you’re heavier than you look, bitch.”
I tried to flex my fingers, going for a pinch. Nothing happened.
“Hey, Reg, I was expecting you earlier, asshole.”
“These things take fucking time,” Reg said in his deep scratchy voice.
My stomach clenched anew. Who on earth was that?
Instinctively, I knew that this new person was not going to help me.
“Where is she going?” Reg said.
“You can use that room there.”
“That’s not a room, it’s a fucking stable.”
“Beggars can’t be choosers, besides, it’s got a big fucking bolt on the door. When what you’ve given her wears off she can’t go anywhere.”
“What about where you keep your girls? Can’t I put her there?”
“You gonna want some privacy, right?” The other man laughed. “If what you told me you were gonna do to her you actually are.”
“Course I fucking am.”
We came to a halt. There was a scrape, a clunk, and the creak of a hinge. The smell of horses filled my nose the split second before I was dropped onto a pile of dry straw. It poked sharply at my skin, scraping my cheek and going into my ear. My limbs were at odd angles and my back twisted.
A grunt huffed from my lungs, and I attempted to sit. It was no good, I stayed where I was, but I did manage to flex my index finger. Just a little.
Was the drug starting to wear off?
I sent a prayer heavenward, not something I was prone to doing, but I needed all the help I could get. And this paralysis had to go, it was the only way I had any chance of getting myself out of here and away from Reg Jacks and his vengeful madness.
* * * *
Finn
The hawthorn hedgerows flew by in a blur of green and white flowery dots. Jamie was driving our communal vehicle at a rate of knots down the skinny lanes.
Beside me, Cillian sat with his fists clenched. He was ready to kill, the same as I was.
But first we had to find her.
“Try and keep your cool, guys,” Dalton said, turning around from the front passenger seat. “You’re famous for it and you need it on top form now.”
“I’m cool, really fucking cool,” Cillian muttered and flexed his fingers.
“About as cool as a volcano,” Phil said with a roll of his eyes. “Keep your emotions out of it, yeah.” His gun sat on his lap.
“How the hell do we do that?” I asked with a frown.
“This isn’t some…” My words ran out. I couldn’t say ‘some prostitute’ or ‘some stranger’ because that undermined everything we all believed in.
Women needed protection from assholes end of, and the more vulnerable they were the more they needed decent men, like us. “This is Rebecca.”
“We’ll get her.” Phil shrugged his wide shoulders and stared out of the window. “I gotta feeling.”
“You just don’t want us to kick your ass for letting her out of your sight,” Cillian said.
“Yeah, there is that.” Phil folded his arms and grimaced.
We sat in silence for a few minutes and then turned left onto a narrower, bumpier road.
Dalton’s phone rang, and he answered it. “Mitch?”
I leaned forward, gripping the seat in front so I could hear.
Dalton tapped the screen, switching it to speaker.
“Where are you?” Mitch asked.
“Just coming up to the spot her phone is meant to be.”
“Ah good. I can’t see anything suspicious in the local area but I’ll keep at it.”
“Cheers.”
“And this Conner guy she went to see in prison,” Mitch said.
“Yeah, what about him?” Dalton said.
“He was Reg Jacks’ cellmate.”
“What?” I gripped the seat in front of me. “You mean this was a setup, even from prison they managed to get her where they wanted her.”
“Seems that way, mate, sorry.” Mitch tutted. “Fucking bastards.”
“Should be here. The phone.” Jamie pointed forward and then slowed the vehicle. He came to a stop.
I slid open the side door and jumped onto the grass verge.
What I wanted was to find Rebecca there, with her phone in her hand, enjoying the countryside and the sunshine, a spontaneous solo picnic maybe.
But of course that wasn’t the case.
Cillian pulled out his phone and called Rebecca.
A tinny ringing to my right.
Quickly, I stomped through the wheat field, following the sound. And then, sure enough, with my heart sagging, I spotted it. Alone. Unanswered. The screen flashing Cillian’s name.
“It’s here.” I held it up, still scanning the area and hoping to see her striding toward me with her pretty face lit up in a smile.
“Clues?” Jamie called.
“Not that I can see.” I retraced my steps, searching for anything that might give us a lead.
“Fuck.” Cillian set his hands on his hips and studied the horizon in a slow spin. “Where in the name of the Lord is she?”
“I don’t think she’s far,” I said. “These roads are crap, who would go miles on them?”
“Yeah, I think you’re right.”
I pointed over Cillian’s shoulder. “What’s that over there?”
“A barn I reckon,” Dalton said at my side.
“And that?” I pointed to a tall metal structure.
“Phone mast.” Cillian pointed to the right. “But there’s a farm over there. Big one, too.”
“And over there,” I said. “Another one. Smaller”
“And this track leads to them both.” Dalton gestured to the vehicle. “Let’s pay them a visit and be ready, if she’s there they’re not going to want us to get her back.”
“Only fucking thing that’s going to happen,” I said and rolled my shoulders. Someone was going to die soon.
That was the price for kidnapping our woman.
* * * *
Rebecca
The stable wasn’t quiet. Apart from the cows I could hear birds, a dog barking, a distant engine—a tractor or combine perhaps.
And every minute that went past I managed to move my fingers a little more. Taking deep breaths, I wondered if perhaps I could breathe the poison out of my system. I stared at the wooden slats on the walls and an orange bucket that had been knocked over, the water spilled onto the stone floor.
The sense of helplessness was overwhelming. Nausea gripped me. Fear swirled in my system. I tried to concentrate on the scent of horse and hay. It took me back to my childhood when I’d had a friend with ponies and used to hang out with her at the stables on sunny days.
I swallowed, the taste in my mouth bitter. Finn and Cillian would never find me here. Neither would the police. I had to rely on myself. If Reg hadn’t thrown my phone away, I would have had a chance, Amy might have looked to see where I was.
But that sliver of hope was gone now, and I was at a madman’s mercy.
I wriggled my toes and then moved my ankle, just a little. It was still heavy, but at least it was doing what my brain was telling it.
A distant plane murmured overhead, and I flexed my opposite ankle.
Yes. There was movement coming back, and fairly quickly, too. Goodness knows what that bastard had put in my system. I’d kill him for it if I got the chance.
I took in the walls of the stable and spotted a pitchfork, the type used to fluff up the hay. It was good and sharp. Perhaps I’d spear him in the guts. Watch the horror cross his face when he realized it was all over for him.
Never in my life had I considered killing someone, but now, now it was me or him.
A thud. A door slamming perhaps?
Fuck, was he heading my way?
Was he alone or did he have fellow assholes with him?
“You do what the fuck you want with her,” a loud chilling male voice, “but I don’t want a big fucking mess, okay? If the cops come sniffing, blood gives them fucking hard-ons, and I can’t be doing with that while I’ve still got three girls to shift.”
“You worry about your business, Bateman, and I’ll do mine.”
Bateman! Fuck I knew that name. Another A-star asshole. And that was Reg’s voice…
Blood? Was he going to kill me…now?
I managed to drag myself to sitting, my hair falling forward because holding my head up was an effort.
Why couldn’t he have given me another five minutes, ten even?
I was sure my body would be back by then.
I’d have had a chance at fighting him off and defending myself. But right now…I could barely move.
A panicked sob caught in my throat as I heard heavy footfall heading my way.
The clank of metal, the slide of a bolt. The stable door opened, and light flooded in.
He stood there, wide shouldered, arms hanging gorilla-like, and stared at me.
I whimpered and tried to push away, put distance between myself and him.
“Ah, you’re awake. I see the nice little shot I gave you is wearing off.”
“Leave me alone,” I managed, my voice croaky.