Chapter 28
“That stupid motherfucking tweaker!” Spider snarled, slamming his fist on the steering wheel.
The tires screeched as he took a corner going way too fast. Josie slid sideways, trying to brace herself with her free hand. Terror had her pulse pounding in her temples and sweat pouring down her back.
Adam.
Despite the danger from Spider’s desperate attempt to outrun the police cars that now chased them, the sound of metal hitting flesh and the image of Adam lying sprawled on the pavement cycled through Josie’s brain on repeat.
If Adam was dead, Josie would never forgive herself. She’d brought this danger to him and to the kids. At least the kids were safe, but they’d already suffered so much, they couldn’t lose Adam too. She couldn’t lose Adam.
A sob escaped, but when another lurch of the SUV nearly dislocated Josie’s cuffed wrist, her attention returned to the present.
The sound of sirens faded in the distance as Spider wound his way through a neighborhood in South Boston.
While Josie didn’t know the particular street they were on, she’d lived in Boston all her life and recognized the different sections of town.
Spider barked orders into his cellphone and spun the SUV into the parking lot of an auto repair shop. He sped into an open garage bay and skidded to a stop. Josie turned to watch the garage doors close behind them.
Spider killed the ignition, and for a moment, the only sound Josie heard was her own breathing.
When Spider jerked open his door and got out, a man wearing grease-stained coveralls greeted him with a chin nod.
Josie didn’t move, and with the tinted windows, he didn’t notice her hunched in the back seat.
“Deacon, I need a clean set of wheels,” Spider demanded.
Josie’s sharp observation skills kicked in. Deacon, whoever he was, didn’t seem all that pleased to see Spider. With arms crossed over his chest, and a scowl on his tanned, bearded face, he shook his head at Spider.
“I’m trying to run a clean operation here, man. I did you a solid last month, but you can’t keep bringing trouble to my door.”
“You owe me,” Spider said, poking a finger into Deacon’s chest.
Deacon swatted the hand away with a growl. Josie noticed the Celtic crosses on both of Deacon’s hands, along with a spider web of ink crawling up his neck, which matched Spider’s.
“Fuck you. We’re square and you know it.”
Spider’s jaw clenched, and he fisted his hands at his sides, but surprisingly, he didn’t argue. The air felt thick with tension as the two men faced off.
Finally, Spider sighed and nodded. “I’ll give you this SUV as payment. Strip it, sell it for parts, throw a legit tag on it, whatever, man. It’s practically brand new, and it’s yours. I just need clean wheels and I’ll be out of here.”
Deacon narrowed his eyes at Spider and stared him down for a long moment before he said, “I need a couple of hours.”
“I’ll owe you,” Spider said.
“Just fuck off for good, Shane.”
Spider stiffened but nodded.
“I have something in the backseat,” Spider said, rounding the SUV and opening Josie’s door.
He gripped her bruised wrist, fished a set of keys from his pocket, and unlocked the cuffs. “Don’t say a fucking word, and don’t try anything,” he snarled.
Josie stumbled when Spider dragged her out of the car.
“Who the fuck is this?” Deacon demanded.
“She’s with me. Don’t worry about her,” Spider growled, pulling Josie to his side.
Deacon’s hard, assessing gaze moved between Josie and Spider. Josie’s bottom lip trembled, but she didn’t speak.
“You can wait in my office,” Deacon said, gesturing to a small room at the back of the garage.
Spider kept an iron grip on Josie’s arm as he led her into the office. The other mechanics barely acknowledged them as they passed, and soon, Spider was shoving her into a plastic chair.
Josie surreptitiously observed the space around her.
A metal desk covered with paper invoices, files, and sticky notes.
An empty coffee cup. With dismay, she noticed there was no landline, not that she’d have a chance to make a call with Spider practically glued to her side.
Then, her attention caught on a framed photo of two kids.
The little boy in the picture looked to be about six.
His wide smile sported two missing front teeth, and he had his arm around a toddler, who wore a tiara atop her dark curls and a sparkly pink tutu.
Deacon’s kids, maybe. A whisper of a plan began to form in Josie’s mind.
Deacon had children. He’d told Spider he was trying to take his business legit. If Josie could somehow get his attention, he might care that she was in trouble. It was a long shot, but so far, it was the only thing Josie could think of to help herself.
Spider paced around the cramped office furiously texting on his phone. He reminded Josie of a coiled snake, tense and ready to strike. Stomach twisted with fear, Josie forced herself to calm her breathing and compartmentalize her thoughts. It was the only way she might survive this.
Calling on all her training, and using the calmest and most non-threatening tone she could muster, Josie said, “Is there anything I can do to help?”
Spider spun to face her, his lips pulled into a sneer. “Your brother is the reason I’m in this mess.”
Josie nodded her agreement. “I’ve only known him for a few months, but he’s been troublesome.”
Spider barked out a laugh devoid of any humor.
“What are you planning to do with me?” she asked softly.
“You’re a liability.”
Josie cleared her throat. “You could get your new car and let me go,” she suggested.
“I kidnapped you at gunpoint, and you watched me run over your brother and boyfriend. I don’t think I’ll be letting you go.”
Josie’s blood chilled at his words, but her therapist brain kicked into high gear as she considered her next words.
This man wasn’t a sociopath, not entirely.
He was too impulsive, and his temper was too volatile.
He’d been furious rather than calculating when he’d run down Kevin and Adam.
He also had some kind of connection with Deacon, even if that relationship seemed to have run its course.
While criminal psychology wasn’t Josie’s area of expertise, she’d use every nugget of knowledge to help herself stay alive.
“Kevin owed you a lot of money for this job.”
“Twenty-five grand,” Spider agreed.
“Originally, that’s how much he wanted from me. I told him no because I’d just met him, and I didn’t know why he wanted it, but I do have it.”
Spider’s gaze held a flicker of interest.
“If I could get that money for you, could we call it even?”
“If it turns out I killed your boyfriend, you’d hand me twenty-five grand and walk away?”
Josie chose her words carefully. “I would give the police a description of you, but they likely have one already since they were at the warehouse. With twenty-five grand in cash and a clean car, you can get a pretty good head start out of the area.” Josie leaned forward slightly in her chair and continued.
“If you cover that tattoo and grow out your hair, I’m sure you’ll look like a different person. ”
Spider considered her shrewdly, but his hardening expression told Josie he wasn’t convinced, so she added another layer to her argument.
Allowing genuine emotion to fill her voice, she said, “I love Adam, and I am praying he’s okay, but if he’s not, I love his children too, and I just want to get home to them.” She wiped a stray tear that trickled down her cheek. “Please.”
Whether she’d reached him on an emotional level, or she’d simply convinced him of her sincerity, she saw the shift in his demeanor. Spider wanted a way out of this mess, needed one actually, and Josie had just helped to provide it.
“How can you get this cash?” he asked.
Josie breathed in a slow, steady breath.
Hope bloomed in her chest. If Adam was alive, and she couldn’t allow herself to think anything else, he’d be doing everything in his power to find her.
If he was hurt or worse, the TSI team would still be looking for her, and she’d leave them as many breadcrumbs as possible.
“Well, I need to log into my account on either a computer or a phone and make a transfer. The transfer could take twenty-four hours to post before the cash is available in my checking account. After that, I can go into a branch and make a withdrawal. Twenty-five thousand is a big number, but I don’t think it will be a problem,” she said.
Spider resumed his pacing. Josie sat quietly, already running through the many, many things that could trip up this plan, including the fact that she had no identification to show a bank teller, and she wasn’t actually sure a branch would let her withdraw twenty-five thousand dollars all at once, but she’d sold the idea to Spider, and maybe, hopefully, she’d bought herself some time.