Chapter 20
Afuzzy sensation vibrated its way along Cam’s skull. She opened her eyes and took in the black plastic floor at her feet. Her shoulders screamed. She ran her tongue over her lips, and the movement peeled away dry layers of skin. She winced. Tuning her ears in to the sounds around her, she didn’t dare lift her head and alert anyone that she was awake.
Material crackled under a gentle breeze. She inspected the ground and slowly crept her eyes up the plastic walls to the overhead ceiling—what the hell? She sat on a folding chair in what appeared to be a huge military tent. Staggered cots took up the far wall, and a few feet away from her was a dinette table with chairs. A shelving unit held laptops and science equipment. A filing cabinet and mini-fridge sat against the wall next to it. In the center of the room was a hospital bed, complete with operating lights, tools laid out, and... leather straps at the sides and foot of the bed.
Oh, dear god no. Her chest rose and fell erratically. She sucked in a deep breath but it did nothing to calm her. She jerked her arms, but a restraint cut into her wrists, keeping them locked behind the back of the chair. She had to get out of here. Getting shot would be better than whatever Leonetti did for fun. She moved her feet to stand but her ankles didn’t budge. She glanced at her feet and her stomach bottomed out at the sight of the restraint binding them together.
Tears stung her eyes. She couldn’t get choked up now. There was no one to help her. Brooks was still at Conrad’s, and Lexi and Tess would be clueless as to how to find her. Cam rolled her hands into balls and then opened and closed them as quickly as she could, drawing blood into the sleeping extremities.
She checked the table beside the hospital bed, ten feet away. A scalpel sat on a metal tray—if she could get to it, she might be able to sever the restraints and escape before Leonetti’s men came back. Pressing her heels into the plastic floor, she bent forward and lifted the chair up an inch. With the effects of the stun gun still arching through her body, her equilibrium teetered. She hopped forward and dropped the chair down. Her chest tightened with exertion.
She’d made it a foot closer. If she pushed too hard, she’d topple over. Screw it. She had to try. Summoning her strength again, she bent forward. This time she hopped twice before dropping back down. Sweat beaded over her upper lip.
C’mon, Cam. You can do this.
She stood and hopped twice as far this time. Dropped down and did it again. And again. Sharp gasps broke through her lips as the last attempt brought her to the medical table. She stared at the knife, committing its location to memory. Standing again, she turned so her back faced the table. Stretching her fingers as far as the restraint would allow, she felt along the edge of the metal table. She was too far. The binding wouldn’t let her gain another inch. Frustrated, she grabbed the edge of the table and shoved it.
The tinkling sound of metal skittering reached her ears. Turning to look over her shoulder, she saw the scalpel hanging off the edge of the table. She stretched her fingers, grabbed the handle of the metal tool, and then dropped the chair back to the ground. Sweat rolled between her shoulder blades.
Voices sounded from outside the tent.
No! She didn’t have enough time to cut the restraints. Standing, she scurried toward the spot she’d vacated. Two more tries and she was close enough that they likely wouldn’t notice she’d moved.
The male voices became clearer. Shadows appeared on the tent’s walls. Cam swallowed gulps of air. She probably looked as if she’d just run a marathon.
“Any luck locating him?” The man’s voice carried a well of authority.
“He must be using an encrypted phone if he has one at all,” said another. He sounded decades younger.
“Not to worry. I’ll get ahold of him through his girlfriend.” The curtain-like tent door yanked open.
Cam jumped, squeezing her fingers around the scalpel. Her sweaty palms threatened to drop the utensil.
A man in his sixties wearing a white lab coat entered the tent. Light bounced off his bald head and a pair of wire-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. His eyes were small and beady. His lips stretched into a smirk. “Hello, Camryn. It’s nice to finally meet you. I’m Dr. Leonetti.” He strode farther into the room and stopped next to the chair tucked into the table. His gaze slid up and down her body, and he pushed out his bottom lip in mock sympathy. “You look uncomfortable. We’ll take care of that shortly.” The statement should have been reassuring, but blasts of warning shot through her brain.
“What do you want?”
Dr. Leonetti grabbed the back of one of the chairs, pulled it out, and sat, his knees a foot away from hers. She lifted her gaze to the man standing watch at the door of the tent, his arms at his sides military style. His dark-blue uniform suggested he was a guard.
Dr. Leonetti pressed his palms to his thighs. “It’s very simple. I want Brooks.”
Cam gritted her teeth. If her hands weren’t confined, she’d stab this horrible human being in the throat. “So you can continue torturing him?”
Dr. Leonetti cocked his head then let out a deep sigh. “Lucky for you I’m a forgiving man. You see, I know you let Brooks go. I know you stole one of my syringes of the drug, and I know you haven’t gone to the police.”
She hiked up her chin. “What’s your point?”
“That I can do a lot of experiments on you before anyone besides Brooks notices you’re gone.”
All the sensation left her face. Terror crawled up her legs like a mouse.
“You can give me his phone number, or I can pull it out of you.”
Cam focused on her breath. If she didn’t keep her attention on something, she’d give in to the panic plucking at her mind. Gripping the scalpel, she found the dull side of the blade and fit her thumb against it. If she could cut the restraint without slicing her wrist, she’d maybe have a shot.
“I don’t remember his number. We’ve been using encrypted phones and didn’t store each other as contacts.”
Leonetti nodded. “Hmm. I see.” He delved into his coat pocket. “That was test number one, to see how truthful you are.” His eyes glittered like the sun on swamp water. “You failed.” He pulled out her phone and brought the screen to life, revealing a picture of her canoeing on a vacation the previous year. “I used your thumbprint while you were passed out,” he explained, his tone placating.
She curled her lip. “Of course I lied. I know how valuable he is to you, but you can’t have him. He’s free now.” She wet her lips. “And whether you kill me or not, he’s coming for you.”
The amusement left Leonetti’s smirk. “Oh my. Do you really think I’d kill you?” He laughed without humor.
Cam’s blood turned solid. Her heart pattered against her breastplate.
“You’re even more valuable than Brooks—do you know why?”
She didn’t answer. Her mind worked at break-neck pace, but nothing clicked.
“Because I can control him... with you.”
Leonetti picked up her phone, tapped the screen, and stood. “Say hello to your boyfriend.”
“Hello? Cam, are you there?” Brooks’s desperate tone told her he’d discovered she was gone.
Fresh tears stung her eyes. The drops flowed down her cheeks before she could stop them. She couldn’t save Brooks or herself now. All she could do was hope that he didn’t come for her. A futile hope.
“Cam! Dammit, are you there?”
Leonetti tsk-tsked. He brought the phone to his ear. “Hello, thirty-six. It appears your girlfriend thinks she’s doing something heroic by pretending I don’t have her here with me. Listen carefully,” he said.
Cam furrowed her brow.
Whack!
Leonetti’s knuckles cracked against her cheekbone. She let out a cry as her head snapped sharply to the side. Blinking, she saw stars.
“If you want her to live, you’d better switch spots with her.” Leonetti’s warning punched through her consciousness.
No, no, no. It’s a lie!
Pain radiated through her cheek and head. She gripped the scalpel tighter.
Leonetti’s mouth pinched. “Sure, you can say hello. Make it quick.” He leaned forward and pressed the phone to her ear.
“Cam? Are you hurt?” Brooks’s voice blanketed her, surrounding her in the memory of being in his arms.
Agitation thickened in her throat. She might never see him again, might never hold him or hear his laugh. “I’m fine.” She shot daggers at Leonetti. “Don’t come here. It’s a trap.”
Leonetti yanked the phone away. “You’ve got ninety minutes to get here before I start taking her apart, piece by piece. I’ll send you the coordinates.” He disconnected.
Cam’s vision blurred. Her body quaked. Leonetti dropped the phone in his pocket. He slid his gaze over her body, then back up to her face, his pupils dilating. She curled her toes. Frost collected at the back of her neck.
“I need to get ready for our friend. Don’t worry, we’ll have time to chat before he gets here.” Leonetti stretched his lips into a waxy smile, turned on his heel, and left. The guard tapped his fingers against his weapon and eyed her curiously. The scalpel started to slip in her sweaty palms. If she wiggled her hands too much, he might notice. If she dropped it, she was screwed. Then the guard turned and disappeared through the door. His shadow remained just outside the tent.
Cam focused her attention on the knife. If she cut herself and bled to death, that would be better than waiting for Leonetti to play Operation with her. She brought the sharp edge of the scalpel to the loose part of the zip tie. The knife slid in her palm as she pressed against the restraint. She grunted as she contorted her wrists, trying to get another angle. Frick, it was no use.
She flicked her gaze to the hospital bed and her chest constricted.
I’m running out of time.
***
As soon asDare screeched to a halt in front of the house, Brooks ejected himself from the vehicle. The only thing that made him more on edge than the fact that Cam was missing was knowing Leonetti had her. Hearing Leonetti hit Cam had made him see a blinding flash of red. He’d kill the sonofabitch.
In assault-rifle fashion, images stormed through his mind: Being strapped down and injected. His body fighting to combat the drugs. His brain moving at warp speed and his muscles so full they felt as if they were going to fucking split. Pain so intense he’d wished he could tear himself right out of his body. He tunneled his hand through his hair as he approached his sister, who sat on the front step, her head in her hands. He couldn’t let that happen to Cam. One experiment could be enough to kill her—one of Leonetti’s sick torture games could mutilate her body or mind-fuck her into oblivion.
Lexi looked up and stood. A woman with brown hair hovered near her side, then she bolted off the step and ran to Dare.
“I’m so sorry, god I’m sorry,” Lexi sobbed.
Part of him wanted to console her, but he couldn’t stop the pumping of his arms and legs—not until he found Cam. He yanked open the front door and went inside. His pulse ricocheted against his temples. Anger made his face hotter than a fuckin’ sunburn.
The front door opened and the brothers entered along with Lexi, her eyes rimmed with red, and the woman who had to be Tess, given the way she clung to Dare’s arm.
“How the hell did they find her here?” Brooks yelled. His demand reverberated off the walls. They’d done everything right, been so fucking careful.
Nash stepped forward. “We’ll find her.” His grim expression disputed his vow.
He yanked at the neckline of his shirt to stop himself from punching the wall. His phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and read the coordinates. “Finding her isn’t the problem.”
Nash stepped forward and took Brooks’s phone. “Just going to forward Leonetti’s message to myself so I have the location.” Nash pulled out his phone and grunted. “They’re about an hour out of the city.”
Brooks cursed. “I need to leave now. He’s given me an hour and a half to get there before he—” He chomped into his tongue. He couldn’t let his mind go to that dark corner or he’d never make it to Cam standing.
Nash nodded. “I’m coming.”
“Me too,” Cole said.
“I’ll drive.” Dare kissed Tess’s hair and turned for the door.
Lexi folded her arms across her chest. “Tess and I are coming too.”
Nash slashed his hand through the air. “No fucking way. Who knows how many men he has?”
Concern pulled Lexi’s brows together, and a pang of guilt hit Brooks. He stepped forward and cupped the back of his sister’s head. “It’s not your fault. I need you to stay here. I can’t lose you too.”
Tears swam in her eyes. She wrapped her arms around his waist. “Fine. I’ll stay for you, but I’m calling the cops. I need to do something, and talking with police is one thing I can handle.”
Dare grumbled, and Cole blew a breath through his lips.
“I know who to call,” she said defiantly. “There are people I trust.”
Nash nodded. “I agree. Let Lexi take the reins on that. We need the best of the authorities in our pocket.” He turned his attention to her. “I’ll send you the coordinates so you can get some squad cars there.”
Determination set Lexi’s face. Tess came up and wrapped an arm around her friend’s shoulders.
Brooks jerked his head toward the door. Anticipation buzzed through him. He was wasting valuable seconds. He marched outside and the guys followed. Dare jumped back into the driver’s seat, Brooks took shotgun, and Nash and Cole hit the back seat.
Brooks bounced his knee, keeping his gaze on the dark road ahead as Dare peeled out of the driveway and down the street. Until now, he’d planned to get back at Leonetti for how he’d made him suffer. The drugs, the restraints, the torture, the studies inflicted on him, and, most of all, the people Brooks had been forced to kill. All to see how well he could perform, and how the drug could override his mind. After taking Cam, Leonetti had brought things to a new level. He needed to suffer.
The minutes ticked by and the energy in the vehicle was thick with angst. Everyone wanted out and wanted blood.
“What did Leonetti say?” Nash asked after nearly forty minutes of riding at Dare’s breakneck speed.
Replaying Leonetti’s words might send him over the deep end. But sitting here doing nothing wasn’t helping him cope with the time slowly ticking by either. “That he’d trade her for me.” The statement hissed through gritted teeth.
The air in the cab changed. Cole leaned forward. “You’re not doing that.”
Some of the tension in Brooks’s arms softened. Cole had a stick up his ass, but it wasn’t as if he didn’t care. He just had a weird way of showing it.
“I’ll do whatever I have to. We can’t let Cam stay in his hands.” He rolled Cam’s words over in his head. “She said it’s a trap.”
“Cam did?” Dare turned his face toward him and then jerked it back to look at the road.
“Yeah.”
“What do you think that means?”
Brooks balled his hands into fists. The mountains loomed over them. Finally they were farther from civilization and closer to Cam. “That he wants to keep her for... experiments.”
“Jesus,” Dare whispered. “What kind of sick piece of shit—?”
“Any idea how many guards he has?” Cole’s terse question cut through the vehicle.
Brooks shook his head. “When I escaped, he sent about five or six guards after me. I killed or injured all of them. So I’m anticipating he’ll have double.”
“You killed them?” Cole asked, his tone high with disbelief.
Brooks kept his gaze trained on the winding road, letting the question fall into the emptiness between them. “How much farther?”
Dare glanced at the GPS on his phone. “Six minutes.”
A deep calm settled over Brooks. They were close. In a few minutes, he’d find Cam. And all that mattered was getting her out alive. Nash and his brothers would ensure that happened.
He still had the long-lasting physical advancements of the drug. It wasn’t just about revenge now. Now, he had to get Cam out alive. He had backup, but he couldn’t endanger his newfound family. No. Going in, putting his neck out—that was his responsibility alone.
And that might mean he’d never get out.