Chapter 38
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
SINCLAIR
"It looks like you ladies are free to go," Gus said regretfully. He tossed his phone up in the air and caught it a couple of times before shoving it back in his pocket.
I glanced at Wren, not quite believing what he said. Her eyes were wide, but she pressed her palms to the wall behind her and pushed herself to her feet.
I followed a moment later.
"Just like that?" Otis asked. "We let them walk out of here?"
"Just like that," Gus agreed. "That was the plan all along. The boss knew exactly what they'd do and they did it. They walked right into his trap. Those dickheads are nothing if not predictable."
I tried hard not to bristle and snap at him for calling any of my guys a dickhead. But he was still armed and he could easily claim he let us go and had no idea why we mysteriously disappeared.
I gripped Wren's hand and placed my other on the door knob. I held my breath and waited for one of them to stop us as I opened the door and stepped out into the cold darkness.
A light snow fell. Here and there, piles began to form. Keeping close together to share warmth, we headed out to the parking lot.
The ground was icy. We'd have to go carefully, it was slippery and treacherous.
"What now?" she whispered.
"We keep walking," I said quickly. "Get out of here as quickly as possible."
I didn't dare to look back in case we were being followed. Or worse. If they were about to shoot us in the back, I didn't want to see.
Listening for the shot out of pure instinct was bad enough. I wasn't just shivering from the cold.
We made it to Collins Street without dying or falling on our asses. Only then did I dare to look over my shoulder.
The door to the motel room was closed, but the lights of the van flared on when the engine started.
"Remember that movie where the guy in the car chased down that—" Wren started.
"Yeah, I remember." In spite of the ice under my shoes, I started to trot, keeping as close to the side of the motel as possible. My heart was racing, ready to leap right out of my chest and take off down the road at a sprint.
The engine revved.
"Shit." Wren sounded panicked.
The headlights grew bigger as the van roared up behind us.
Wren's panic was contagious. It crept up my spine and right into my brain, where it quickly spread. My thoughts became muddled, semi-coherent.
Calm down, I told myself.
The van drew closer.
"We're almost to the end of the building, we just need to—" I flinched hard as the van drew up beside us.
Laughter came from inside.
Gus.
The engine revved again before the van roared past us and sped off into the night.
"Holy fucking hell," Wren said breathlessly. "I thought…"
"Me too." I tugged her hand and headed around the corner. "We need to find somewhere warm." Preferably somewhere with coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. And a comfortable, dry bed that didn't smell like mould and urine.
"We need to tell the guys where we are," she said.
"We need to get somewhere safe first," I said.
I should have insisted Gus give us back our phones before we left. How fucking stupid was I to forget something like that? Oh, right, I was in a hurry to get out before he changed his mind.
"Shit," she said. "He was talking about them. They walked right into… Something."
I stopped mid-step. "Fuck. You're right." I felt the blood drain out of my face. Without our phones, we couldn't even warn them. We couldn't do anything. I couldn't remember ever feeling so helpless in my life.
I kept on walking. "We need to find somewhere warm with a phone," I concluded.
We might already be too late, but I couldn't let myself think like that. I wasn't giving up until I saw my guys alive and well with my own two eyes.
Until then, I'd cling to that thought. None of them were that easy to kill. Whatever they'd walked into, they'd walk out of it. They had to.
"Right." Wren nodded. "They'll be fine. They have to be."
"They will be," I said.
We walked down a street full of empty buildings, some with lights on, illuminating furniture or used cars. Others were abandoned and in various states of disrepair.
This was a far cry from the mansions of Dusk Bay, or even the city or suburbs. This was the industrial side of the city. The place where people came during the week to do business.
On the weekends it was a ghost town. The perfect place for people to keep abducted women.
Before it was abandoned too, one of the buildings here was used for human trafficking.
I didn't know which one and I didn't want to.
That was a side of this life that I didn't want to think too much about.
A side that guys like Orion were trying to stop from happening anymore.
"You don't realise how much you rely on your phone until you don't have one with you," Wren remarked. "For example, I have no idea which way to go."
"Me either, but we keep going straight ahead," I said.
We passed another block. The ocean was on our left. The beach was dusted with a light covering of snow. It would all melt in the morning, but it looked beautiful right now. Cold as fuck, but pretty.
"I'd love a hot chocolate right now," she said. "Good thing we're not travelling on an empty stomach."
"Yeah." The burger sat heavy in my belly, but it was better than nothing.
Every so often, I looked up and down the road, watching for cars. Hoping like hell not to see the van return.
If the laughter from Gus was any indication, he'd enjoy toying with us like that.
For all I knew, they weren't letting us go, they were just fucking with us.
Seeing what would happen when they opened the door to the cage and let us fly.
The idea they might be waiting for us, to take us back into that motel room, allowed a sliver of despair into my heart.
It started as a tiny pinprick and quickly grew from there.
I shoved it away violently. I couldn't let thoughts like that win. I couldn't even let them into my brain. The only reason they were there was because I was tired. I hadn't slept in a couple of days, not really. I hadn't had more than a light doze here and there.
That much time spent with guns on us, sitting uncomfortably on the floor…
No wonder I was starting to unravel. No one could go through that and come out completely unscathed. I was going to need therapy.
"You okay?" Wren asked softly.
I hadn't realised I'd stopped until now. I glanced down at my feet, then over at her.
"No," I admitted. "I'm not okay. I'm starting to understand why Elenna has nightmares. I've killed people and it hasn't gotten to me the way being locked up in there did."
She put her arms around me and gave me a squeeze.
"It's perfectly understandable. I feel the same way.
It's one thing to defend yourself and people you care about, and another to sit and wait and wonder what the hell is going to happen to us.
They could have killed us at any moment.
Or worse. And there was nothing we could do about it.
If we'd tried to attack them, we'd be dead right now.
Sometimes the smart thing isn't always the easiest thing, but it can be the most stressful and terrifying thing.
I wished neither of us went through that, but at least we had each other. "
I squeezed her back and rested my head on her shoulder for a few moments. "I still think you should have run when you could."
"And miss hanging out with you in a dirty hotel room, eating terrible hamburgers?" she joked. "Not a chance."
"Next time, let's find a different way to bond," I suggested. "Skydiving or bungee jumping might be safer."
"I'll watch while you do both of those," she said. "I like my feet firmly on the ground."
"We should get going," I said. "It would suck to get out of there only to freeze to death." I'd love my Oodie right about now. That would keep me toasty warm while we found a place to shelter, and a phone to borrow.
"Yeah, let's not have that happen," she agreed. She started to hum Winter Wonderland while we walked.
I didn't have the heart to remind her that it was a Christmas song and we were in Australia. The sound cheered me up. It might be just what we needed to get through this next while.
We walked for at least ten minutes before seeing another set of headlights. They pulled into the street with the motel before I could make out what kind of vehicle it was.
It was probably a complete coincidence, but the thought it might be the van made panic rise again.
Why would they go there when they knew we weren't there? I had no answer for that, I just walked a little faster, almost dragging Wren along behind me.
"We have to be nearly somewhere by now," she said.
"Of course we are." I suspected that wasn't anywhere near the actual truth. We were still a long way from anywhere that was occupied, warm and had a phone. Unless we broke into one of the buildings and used theirs.
I was toying with that idea when headlights pulled out of the same street and headed towards us. They flickered and danced, bouncing off the increasing snow.
"Shit," I said under my breath. I started frantically looking for somewhere to hide. If that was the van coming back for us…
"There's a gap between those buildings," I started to say. If we moved quickly enough, we could slip in between them and potentially find a place to hide until they were gone. If we didn't freeze to death first. It was better than being—
"Wait." Wren's urgent tone made me wrench my head around and look at her. She was staring right into their headlights.
"What?" I looked too. My lips dropped apart. "Is that?"
"The Demons' bus," she finished for me. The closer it got, the easier it was to make out the words, and the team logo on the side.
I'd never been so happy to see a bus in my entire life.
It pulled to a stop beside us, skidding slightly on the icy road. The door slid open and I almost burst into tears.
Coast ignored the steps and leapt out down to the street. He gathered me up in his arms and pulled me to him.
I leaned into him and sobbed silently. He rubbed his hand up and down my back and said soothing words in my ear that barely registered.
All I knew was the feel of him and his voice.
And the absolute relief that he was alive and so was I.
He squeezed me harder like he couldn't quite believe this was happening either.
I was vaguely aware of Tiger doing the same to Wren.
"Thank fuck you're okay," Coast said. "I was ready to kill a bitch."
Kill? Oh shit. Where was Phoenix and Javey? They couldn't be… No, Coast would have said something if they were dead. Wouldn't he?
I pulled back. "It was a trap. They wanted all of you to walk into it, that was why they took us."
Coast smiled. "Of course it was."