by Jordan Ford
“Maxine!” Her mother’s call is in vain and she knows it. She doesn’t even rise from her chair.
As I walk out the door, Cairo pats my shoulder. “I’m sorry, man. We’re going to find her, okay? It’s going to be all right.”
I wish I could believe him.
I trail Max down the path and slip into the back of the yellow Camry. I’m determined to hope for the best, to fight with every ounce of strength I have to bring Chloe home, but I can’t ignore the torturous questions in the back of my mind.
What if we don’t find her?
What if we do, but we’re too late?
41
Silenced
CHLOE
I’ve been struggling with these ties for an eternity.
The skin on my wrist feels raw and I won’t be surprised if I’m bleeding.
My cheeks are damp with tears. I’ve fluctuated from moments of stubborn determination to heart-wrenching sobs. I’ve been desperate, enraged, and exhausted.
Everything aches and quivers, but my effort has led me nowhere.
I’m still on this damn leather couch, tied up and gagged.
I don’t know where Luisa and the mayor have gone. They’re off somewhere setting up my boyfriend and I don’t know how to make them stop.
Vincent won’t kill me. Whether I’m masked or not, he’s not the type to pull a trigger. Even if he puts on that front, he won’t do it.
Right?
I mean, he’d never get mad enough to actually kill someone, would he?
I have to believe in him.
They’ll just have to come up with another plan to save their asses.
But what if they kill Vincent too?
I squeeze my eyes shut, my body convulsing with the thought.
Shit!
I have to get out of here.
Shaking my woozy head, I attempt to stand again. My last few tries have failed, but maybe if—
The door punches open and Mayor Carter rushes in. Yanking my arm, he throws me over his shoulder and hustles toward the closet.
Luisa appears in the doorway, smoothing her hair back.
“We should just pretend we’re not here,” Mayor Carter whisper barks.
“No, I’ll go smooth things over. Throw them off our scent so they don’t come back later. Just keep her hidden and quiet!” she snaps before dabbing a little more gloss on her lips and putting on a demure smile.
“No!” My scream is muffled by the gag, but I fight like an angry toddler, flailing my body to get away.
Someone’s here. I have no idea who it might be, but they’re here. And I have to let them know where I am.
“In here!” I scream, kicking and bucking as Mayor Carter struggles to walk me to the closet.
“Shut up,” he barks, roughly dropping me onto the floor.
Pain fires through my body as I smack onto the wood.
He puffs and glares at me, panic flickering over the edges of his expression. Opening the closet, he drags me inside.
“No!” I kick my bound legs, catching him in the thigh.
“Arghh!” He slaps me across the face, then points at me. “Shut up!” His voice breaks with desperation.
A stinging pain radiates across my cheek and tears blur my vision before I can stop them.
“Keep your mouth closed. You hear me?” Spittle coats his lips as he shoves me into the closet and slams the door shut.
I’m instantly shrouded in darkness, but I’m not about to let that stop me.
Bringing my heels down on the wood, I squirm and pound the inside of the closet until the door’s whipped open again.
Light pours in, creating an ominous glow behind Mayor Carter. He crouches down, grabbing my face and giving me a shake. “Don’t make me hurt you.”
I narrow my eyes, pouring every ounce of anger and disgust into my glare.
“Stop looking at me like that,” he spits.
He pushes my face away, but I just turn right back and keep glaring at him.
His jaw juts out and he sniffs, reaching behind his back and hesitating over something. “Shit!” he barks and then powers his fist at my face.
He clips me on the side of the cheek and my head smacks against the back of the closet. Darkness creeps into the edges of my vision as the band of pain around my skull tightens.
My throbbing heart is now pounding in my brain, tugging at my conscience and trying to drown out the world around me.
I have to fight it.
I can’t black out now.
The words keep screaming through my head as my eyelids slide shut and I’m once again shrouded in darkness.
42
The Only Name to Yell
VINCENT
Being mid-morning, the club is locked up tight, but Chief Barlow’s not going to let up banging on that door.
I look over my shoulder. Maddie and Holden have gone to ask around the local shops for any glimpses of Chloe.
Cairo wanted to stay and talk to Luisa since he knows her, but he lost the argument pretty quickly and Max dragged him away before her father could find another excuse not to like him.
From what Cairo said in the car, he’s doubtful Luisa would be capable of murder or kidnapping, but he did concede that he doesn’t know her that well. She turned a blind eye when Max was in trouble at Escapar, so maybe she’s not as nice as she appears.
When we arrived on the scene, Chief Barlow was on the phone to the Cullington PD. “I don’t care about a warrant!” he barked. “I just want to talk to the owners … Okay, fine, I’ll wear that, but if I sense something’s off, I’m calling you guys in for backup.” He growls in his throat and finishes the call with a terse “Just send a squad car down here!”
I don’t know if they will. All I can hope is that we don’t need them.
Bile swirls in my stomach as I try to ward off images of what Chloe might be going through right now.
I close my eyes and force air through my nose as Chief Barlow pounds his fist on Club Matrix’s big black doors.
“Police, open up!”
Stepping back with a sigh, I can see him eyeing up the doorframe and then hesitating. He so wants to kick it in, but he’s got no warrant and no proof in order to get one.
Maybe if he showed Luisa’s picture to Todd McCrae’s girlfriend and she gave him a positive ID…but we’re working on a clock here.
“Do you want me to kick it in?” I murmur. “You can arrest me later for destruction of property.”
He gives me a sidelong glare and is about to reply when the locks on the door start turning.
Luisa Garcia appears. She eyes us up and down before pasting on a pleasant smile. “Good morning, gentlemen. We’re actually closed until five. Is there something I can help you with?”
I step forward with a snarky answer prepared, but Chief Barlow shuts me up with a tight squeeze to my shoulder. He’s still pissed off that I’m standing here. He tried to send me away with his kids, but I refused. If Chloe’s in here, I want to be able to reach her quickly.
Pulling out his badge, Chief Barlow quickly flashes it at her before stating, “Are you Luisa Garcia?”
“I am.” She smiles. “How can I help you, Officer?”
“We’re looking for a missing girl and have reason to believe she’s in this area. We were wondering if you could tell us anything.” He shows the picture on his phone to Luisa and watches her face carefully while she glances at the image.
“Wow, beautiful girl,” she murmurs before giving us a pained smile. “I’m very sorry, but I haven’t seen her.”
“Okay.” Chief Barlow nods. “Were you at the club last night?”
“Yes, I was. Do you think she was here?”
“Maybe.” He nods, gazing past her shoulder to get a look inside. “I don’t suppose you’d mind if we check the bathrooms. Maybe she got a little tipsy and fell asleep in a corner somewhere.”
Luisa’s smile tightens. “Officer, we have very strict rules here. No underage dr
inking.”
“I didn’t say she was underage.”
“She looks young in the photo. I just assumed.” Her smooth reply riles me. “As I was saying, we have very strict rules and this club is always empty before we lock up. Every corner is checked.”
“Are you sure?” Chief Barlow crosses his arm, looking taller and wider than usual as he bores the petite woman with a look that would make most quake in their boots.
Her red, glossy lips pull into a patient smile. “I really don’t want to waste your time. I would never do anything to impede an investigation, particularly concerning a missing young woman, but I cannot help you.”
“Then you won’t mind us looking around,” I growl, pushing past her before Chief Barlow can stop me.
“Hey!” she shouts, trying to grab my jacket.
I flick her off me and stalk into the empty club. “Chloe! You in here?”
My voice bounces back to me as it pings around the cavernous space.
“Boy, get out of my club!”
“He’s just having a look, Miss Garcia.” Chief Barlow’s voice is gruff as he trails after me.
“You have no authority being in here. I will happily file a lawsuit against the police department unless you can show me a warrant!”
“Chloe!” I ignore the woman’s threats and shout my girlfriend’s name, heading for the bathrooms.
She’s still spouting off when I emerge empty-handed.
Chief Barlow’s trying to calm her down and I can tell by the look on his face that he’s going to call me out of here soon.
Before he can say anything, I duck through an archway leading backstage.
“Get out of there!” Luisa yells. “Are you just going to let him walk through my club? He’s not even a police officer.”
“I guess I don’t have to worry about you suing my department, then,” Chief Barlow clips.
“He is trespassing!” she screeches. “Now you get him and drag him out of my place or you will most definitely regret it. I highly doubt your supervisor will let you keep your job if you’re planning on behaving so unprofessionally. And I don’t think your city council will appreciate having a lawsuit on their hands.”
Her voice fades as I delve farther into the back passageways.
“Chloe!”
My gut pinches as I’m met with nothing but silence.
Rubbing a hand over my mouth, I head past one more door and notice a stairwell on my left.
Do I take it? Or am I wasting my time?
That lady out front is going ballistic. If the Cullington PD show up, whose side will they take?
Shit, I’ll probably get arrested.
Scraping my fingers through my hair, I look up those stairs and murmur, “Who fucking cares.”
Thumping up the steps, I risk arrest and shout the only name I care about. “Chloe!”
43
A Whole New Level of Terrifying
CHLOE
“Chloe!”
The name is a distant shout but it pulls me into consciousness.
My eyes pop open. I’m still in the closet, shrouded in darkness. I’m still tied and gagged, and my head is killing me.
But I heard my name.
I swear it wasn’t a dream.
“Help!” I scream against the gag, kicking the wood beneath me and trying to create as much noise as I can. “Help me!”
It’s so hard to be heard when my voice is muffled by the gag, but I keep screaming until the closet door is flung open.
“Shut up.” Mayor Carter grits out the words, pulling me out of the closet.
My feet drag along the ground as he painfully wrenches me under the arm.
I scream and buck, trying to squirm free, but he just tightens his hold on me.
“Shut up!” His voice rises with desperation. Crouching down, he wraps his arm around my waist and hauls me to my feet.
“Chloe!”
My name’s closer this time, and I think I recognize the voice.
Vincent?
“Chloe, can you hear me?”
Vincent!
He’s here!
He’s come for me.
“Vincent!” I scream.
“Stop it!” Mayor Carter warns, clamping his hand over my mouth and finally producing the one thing that can shut me up for good.
I can’t see it, but when that cold metal presses against my temple, I know exactly what it is.
A breath catches in my chest, stuck there while my heart beats wildly with fear.
There’s a creaking on the stairs outside the door.
It’s Vincent.
He’s coming for me.
He’s walking straight into a trap.
“Chloe?” His call is softer now, like he’s not sure whether he just imagined my muffled cry a moment ago.
He didn’t rush up the stairs when I shouted, so maybe he didn’t hear me anyway.
I finally take in a breath, my chest heaving when his silhouette appears in the glass doorway.
A tear slips from my eye as he walks straight past it. There must be another room on this floor. The one where I heard these killers discussing how they were going to set Vincent up.
Shit, is this all part of their plan?
How’d he find me anyway?
Or did they lure him here?
The questions jump through my mind, only stirring up more tears as the gun pokes into my cheek, telling me my time is nearly up.
Vincent’s heavy footsteps lead him back to the door and I shake my head as he goes to open it.
I whimper behind the gag and Mayor Carter squeezes me so hard it hurts.
The second the door swings open, he tightens his grip even more and calls across the room, “Take one more step and she’s dead!”
44
All That Matters
VINCENT
I jerk to a stop in the doorway.
My heart jumps into my throat the second I see that asshole holding my girl.
Tears are trailing down Chloe’s gagged and bruised face. And his talon grip around her body is obviously causing her pain.
Anger flares bright and it takes everything in me not to run across the room and rip his face off.
His…
Holy shit, that’s Mayor Carter.
I blink, kind of astonished, before my brain tells me to focus on the main problem.
He has a gun pointed at Chloe.
I raise my hands in a symbol of surrender and slowly inch toward them. I hope my eyes don’t give away how much I want to kill this guy.
I don’t give a shit that he’s the mayor. He could be the president of the whole fucking world and I wouldn’t care. He’s hurting my girl and he’s going down.
But first I need to get Chloe to safety.
“Just let her go,” I say, as calmly as I can.
“Stop walking!” He digs the gun into her cheek and she whimpers.
The sound breaks my heart, stirs the protective rage flaring inside of me. Forcing myself to stand still, I lift my hands a little higher and try again. “Let her go.”
“She’s seen too much,” the mayor’s voice quakes. “Now you shut that door. You—”
“Hey, Vincent, you up here?”
Chloe’s eyes pop wide while Mayor Carter flinches at the sound of Chief Barlow’s voice. I can tell they both know it’s him. Chloe’s eyes are so bright blue right now and Mayor Carter looks like he’s ready to throw up.
Panic sets in at the first creak on the stairwell.
Mayor Carter points the gun at me, then at the door, his voice fast and panicky. “Get rid of him. Turn around and tell him you saw nothing.”
I shake my head, but freeze when he cocks the gun and presses it back against Chloe’s cheek.
“You want to save her life, you walk away.”
“I can’t do that,” I whisper.
“I will blow her brains across this floor, do you understand me?”
“Don’t do it.” My voice catches. “Plea
se, just put the gun down.”
“Tell him to go. If he reaches the top of these stairs, she’s dead.”
Okay, he’s seriously starting to freak out. I can tell by the wild look in his eyes that he’s losing it. I can’t have him kill Chloe, but I won’t turn my back on her either.
Shit! What do I do?
“Vincent! Where are you?”
Chief Barlow’s nearly at the top of the stairs. I inch back, hoping the move will calm the mayor enough to relax his finger on that trigger.
“Keep moving,” the mayor mutters.
Chloe’s chin starts to tremble, fresh tears lining her lashes as I back away from her.
I don’t know what to do or how to save her.
“Vincent!” Chief Barlow’s at the top of the stairs now, and he’s sounding pretty pissed that I’m not answering him. “Vincent!” he snaps and turns my direction.
I can feel his eyes on me now. He’s spotted the back of my head through the door.
If he appears behind me, will Carter pull the trigger?
I step back, desperate to stop this, but Chief Barlow’s only two steps away. His feet jerk on the floor behind me.
Shit, I’m too late!
“Chloe?” He chokes out her name, and I hear the sound of a weapon being drawn.
I quickly glance over my shoulder.
“No, stop!” I shout before whipping back to face Chloe.
The mayor’s upper lip curls, panic distorting his features as he aims the gun straight and fires.
I lurch to the side, jumping in Chief Barlow’s way just before the bullet hits me.
Chloe screams as I jerk and drop to the floor.
One more shot goes off—another muffled scream—a cry of pain.
What just happened?
I scramble to see through the blur.
Is Chloe okay?
Did he shoot her?
A body thumps to the floor and my insides scream in despair until I see Milo Carter writhing in agony, shouting curses to the air as he holds his arm and curls into a ball on the floor.