Eleven
Bay
Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. The silence was deafening. I could hear my heart beating in my chest. We weren’t driving in the same direction.
Was he taking me back to the airport?
He was angry. I could tell that much, but why? Was it because I had gotten out of the vehicle, or was it because of his phone call? I wanted to ask, but I was currently terrified. I couldn’t seem to get my voice to work.
I kept thinking he’d say something, explain, but he didn’t seem to be planning on it.
Chancing a peek in his direction only caused my fear to escalate.
He didn’t look like the man from earlier.
He had taken on a threatening appearance.
One that I realized fit him a little too well.
As if this was who he really was and I’d only seen a facade until now.
Should I text someone? Let them know who I was with. Dan had seen him. Maybe texting him would be the best idea. He’d take this seriously. Lillibeth, not so much. She’d want details and find it exciting.
Reaching into my bag, I pulled out my phone. This might be my overactive imagination, and it was likely Dan would make fun of me for it on our flight next month, but I was doing it anyway. Better safe than—
“You won’t be needing that,” Hale’s dark tone snarled as he snatched the phone from my hand.
The fear was now full-blown panic.
“Why did you take my phone?!” I asked in horror.
He smirked. The man smirked. But this time, it wasn’t sexy. It was threatening.
Oh God. This was not good.
“You can drop the innocent shit, Snow White.”
Innocent shit? What was he talking about?
I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”
He laughed. Not a humorous one that would calm the growing terror, but a sadistic sound that only heightened it. “Folks don’t fuck with us and get away with it, darlin’. Your man should have known better.”
My man? I didn’t have a man, and who was “us”? I hadn’t fucked with anyone. Figuratively speaking and literally. I minded my own business for the most part. I went to work, the gym, and the center to volunteer. My life was not exciting enough to fuck with anyone.
“I don’t know what you’re—”
“Cut the shit. It’s only making me more pissed off, and you don’t want to see my temper. It can get real ugly.”
He drove past the entrance where the bus to take me home was at the airport and headed past the parking deck.
There was nothing else out here, except…
the airstrip for private jets. I’d never been back here.
I knew a few people who also did flights for individuals, but I had never wanted to do that.
I was fine working for the airline. Maybe someone I knew would see me. If that was where we were going.
Did he have a private jet? My eyes darted back to him.
He wasn’t polished and sophisticated, but he also wasn’t your average joe.
How had he known the leader of the gang, and why hadn’t I Googled that…
Hughes guy? I didn’t have a phone to do that now.
What was wrong with me? I should have looked into that more.
He’d known Pooky’s tattoo and what it meant.
He’d known the name of the gang leader. The guy had been scared of him or whoever the Hughes man was.
But had I gone inside and googled it? No.
I’d gone inside and looked up the gang and tried to find ways to help Pooky before falling asleep from exhaustion.
Not once considering I’d ever see this man again.
“If this is about Pooky, I’m—”
“Stop playing stupid. It’s only making it worse,” he warned.
I wasn’t playing stupid. Damn him! Why wouldn’t he let me get out full sentences?
He had me confused with someone I wasn’t. At least, I thought he did.
I was doubting this was a regular abduction. But…maybe it was. He could be involved with the sex trade.
My throat tightened. Oh God. Oh God. That would fit. Handsome man, drawing out females. Tricking them, then taking them. I wasn’t young though. Did they take thirty-four-year-old women? Why would they want someone my age? But what else could this be?
Okay, think, Bay.
Dan had seen me leave with him. Lillibeth could pick him out of a lineup if they ever caught him.
She could describe him. TSA would be able to pull up his photo from the flight.
He’d been sloppy. When I didn’t show up at After the Bell, they’d start looking for me.
And Hale Carver had left behind a trace.
Breathe. Calm down. Think. Do not be a victim. You’re not helpless. You’ve watched enough crime TV to figure this out. You aren’t going to be shipped overseas to never be seen again.
He pulled the Escalade right through security and feet away from a Gulfstream G650ER. Holy shit. This wasn’t a typical private jet. This was an elite one.
“If you try and run, you’ll only regret it. Be good. Shut the hell up and do as I say,” he said, snapping my attention from the jet to him.
The idea to scream at the top of my lungs that I’d been taken against my will the moment we stepped out of the vehicle had been there, but right now, I wasn’t sure that was a good one anymore.
Who was he? Who did he know?
If I did the wrong thing, then it might make things worse. I had to stay alive until someone found me.
I nodded.
He swung open his door then and stepped out, taking my phone with him.
My eyes went to the glove compartment and the phone that had rung in there.
He’d not opened it which meant it was still inside.
I lifted my gaze to see him speaking to another man in a black suit.
With my heart hammering out of my chest, I made the quick decision and opened the compartment.
I found the phone and grabbed it, shoving it into my bra and closing the hatch quickly.
He hadn’t seen me. That didn’t calm my racing heart though. What if he went to get it after I got out and it was gone? He would know it was me. No one else had been in the vehicle. Shit. I hadn’t thought of that.
His intense gaze locked on me as if he could hear my thoughts.
What had I done? I didn’t know how to break into another person’s phone.
It would have a passcode. But there was a way to send an SOS without that.
The smaller phone in my bra currently wasn’t like one I had used before, so figuring out how to make it do that might take me a minute.
If I had to use the restroom, he wouldn’t follow me into it.
He’d most likely wait outside. I could do it then.
That was, if he didn’t go to get it and found it missing once I was out of the vehicle.
My door opened, and he glared at me in a challenging way.
I didn’t dare look at the other man for help.
Not yet. He could be in on this sex trafficking thing.
I had to be careful who I trusted. I decided shooting a quick, silent prayer up to the god I was still not so sure about wasn’t a bad idea at the moment.
Stepping out of the vehicle, I held my breath.
Please do not let him go for the other cell phone.
Afraid to watch, I stared straight ahead and waited. The sound of the door closing behind me was such a relief; I blew out the breath I’d held and sucked in some fresh oxygen.
Thank you, God! Now, if you could, get me out of this alive and unscathed, please.
A large hand wrapped around my upper arm tightly, and I was suddenly being pulled along beside Hale, who had much longer legs, forcing need to jog to keep up or have my arm jerked out of its socket.
He wasn’t hiding the fact that he was manhandling me.
No one around seemed to notice or care. If I screamed, I doubted it would do much good. They all were in on this together.
But why me? I was old. It made no sense. Did he think I was younger because of Pooky? Or had Pooky done something and they thought I was involved with him?
I opened my mouth to tell him he was wrong and closed it again. I had a phone. I’d send an SOS. Until then, I needed to keep this man from snapping.