Chapter 16 #2
Brinley left a quick message. He knew about her meeting with Natasha today and had asked her to let him know how it was going, but in her message, she asked if he might be able to meet her at the drive-through coffee shop near her apartment, if he was free around ten.
She made it clear that she didn’t expect any trouble, just mentioned that Cypress was worried.
Looking at her watch, she saw it was almost eight.
She needed to shower, change, then get her notes organized so when she and Natasha came back here, she’d be ready to show her what she’d been sketching, based on their previous conversations about colors and designs.
Then get to work taking her measurements and finalizing payment info.
When she hadn’t heard back from Dash after her shower, she belatedly remembered that he said he’d be in the field today.
That he and his team were setting up a new land-navigation course.
Cell reception wasn’t great once outside the city, so it was possible he wouldn’t get her message until he was back on base.
She sent a quick text, telling him not to worry about her voicemail, that she’d be fine and she’d message him when Natasha, her mom, and boyfriend had all left.
She also called Natasha but got her voicemail. She left a message, asking her to meet at the drive-through coffee place instead of the apartment, and gave her the address. She followed that up with a text as well, relieved when she got a reply within a few minutes, agreeing on the change.
With that done, Brinley made a plate of scrambled eggs with lots of cheese and ham crumbles, drank another cup of coffee, then got ready to head out.
She was second-guessing giving in to Cypress’s paranoia, but it was too late to change her plans now.
Hopefully Natasha wouldn’t be too irritated.
Brinley decided to purchase a coffee for her to make up for the last-minute change.
She waved at her neighbor, a seventy-something man who went for a walk every morning, rain or shine, and headed for her Outback in the parking lot.
It didn’t take long to drive to the coffee place.
Brinley parked in a spot out of the way from the constant traffic at the drive-through.
She scrolled on her phone as she waited for Natasha to arrive.
A knock on the passenger-side window scared the crap out of her, since she’d been doomscrolling social media. Looking up, she saw a man she didn’t know standing there, smiling at her. The car doors were locked out of habit, and she rolled the window down a tiny bit.
“Can I help you?”
“I’m with Natasha. Are you Brinley?”
She smiled and nodded, and reached for the unlock button next to her so she could get out and greet her client. “I am. Hang on and I’ll get—”
Brinley didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence. As soon as she hit the unlock button, the man threw open the door and slid into her passenger seat. His welcoming smile had morphed into a cold, harsh glare.
But the thing that had her entire body freezing was the gun pointing straight at her.
Her first thought was that Cypress was right. Damn it!
The back passenger door opened and Brinley did a double take when the last person in the world she expected or wanted to see got into the back seat.
“I warned you that you’d regret not taking me on. You should’ve listened.”
Tamika.
Shit.
“Keep your hands where I can see them,” the man growled, as Brinley tried to sneakily reach for her phone, which she’d dropped in her lap.
Tamika leaned over the seat and grabbed the cell, laughing as she did so.
“Drive, bitch,” she ordered.
“Where?” Brinley was so pissed at herself.
Now that she had a second to think, the man who’d said he was with Natasha wasn’t the guy she’d seen in pictures with the girl.
This guy had blond hair, blue eyes, and was about the same height as Tamika, whereas the guy she’d seen online with Natasha had dark hair and eyes, and was probably only about five-eight or nine.
Brinley shouldn’t have unlocked the doors. But it was too late now.
She was scrambling to go over her options in her head.
She could leap out of the car, but would probably get shot if she tried.
Though, she was pretty certain that was the end goal for these two anyway.
And she’d seen enough of Cypress’s crime shows to know that letting a kidnapper take you away to a secondary location was never a good idea.
“Drive, Brinley! Get us the hell out of here. Now!”
Brinley didn’t want to. But she also didn’t want to die. And that gun the man was pointing at her looked big. She knew nothing about guns, but the size of the bullets that were probably in that stupid thing—and the thought of what they could do to her—was enough for her to do as she was told.
Staying alive was the goal. She’d do and say whatever she needed to in order to make that happen.
She had so much to live for, and Dash was a huge part of that.
He’d changed her life. Made her stop thinking about what others thought of her all the time.
He made her feel beautiful, and she no longer felt like the weirdo she’d been made to believe she was growing up.
And the thought of how much Dash would suffer if she ended up dead was enough for her to vow to never give up.
To comply. To do whatever Tamika and her goon wanted.
He’d been so devastated by his mom’s death, and she didn’t want to be the cause of more grief.
And thanks to her voice message, Brinley knew he’d feel guilty that he hadn’t been able to meet her today.
He’d hear that message and blame himself for anything that happened.
But the blame lay solely on Brinley’s shoulders. She should’ve gone to the cops way before now. Just because Tamika was young and a spoiled beauty pageant contestant who was used to getting her way, didn’t mean she wasn’t a threat.
But hindsight was always twenty-twenty, or so the saying went.
It was abundantly clear that Tamika had pretended to be Natasha all along…and Brinley completely fell for it.
She thought she’d done all the right things.
She’d researched Natasha online, had thought she’d vetted her properly.
They’d exchanged countless emails. They’d spoken on the phone several times, but Tamika must’ve used some kind of app to disguise her voice, because Brinley hadn’t realized it wasn’t Natasha all along.
The real Natasha Blue had probably never heard of her. Didn’t know she existed.
This wasn’t good. Not good at all.
But when Cypress didn’t get any of the expected texts, she’d worry. She’d sound the alarm. All Brinley had to do was outsmart Tamika and whoever the guy was, just long enough for her friend’s paranoia to kick in.
She drove slowly out of the parking lot, going in the opposite direction from her apartment. The thought that Alaska was a big state, and there were a lot of places where a dead body could be hidden, ran through her mind.
No. She had to stay positive. Tamika was a spoiled bitch, but she had to pray she wasn’t a murderer.
But the guy who was smirking at her from the passenger seat, whose gun hand hadn’t wavered for a second? He was another matter. He looked as if he would enjoy putting a bullet in her brain.
A shiver ran through Brinley as she drove. Swallowing hard, she tightened her fingers around the steering wheel as she took a deep breath. One minute at a time. That’s all she had to get through.
Her best hope was that, after Tamika and her goon did whatever they had planned, they’d leave her somewhere, thinking she was dead or too hurt to survive, and that she’d never be found. But if anyone could find her, it was Dash and his team. They were experts at being in the back country.
She was scared. Terrified. She vowed to stay strong, no matter what.
But deep down, she was screaming at the top of her lungs. Crying for what could’ve been. Apologizing to Dash for not being smarter.