“Whittley’s in it for the power, not the money, although that’s a definite perk. So his employees are probably afraid of him, or at least intimidated by him. They stay out of his way, secretly wishing they could strap him up, spread-eagled on a wall so they could practice knife-throwing.” He whipped his head towards Danielle. “Am I warm?”
“I’m not sure about the porn collection, his dad, or his impotency issues but it all sounds likely. And the knife-throwing is right on.”
“Where would he have taken Eden? He wouldn’t want to soil the drapes at his place and there’d be too many witnesses at his office. But if he has—hopefully had—Eden, he’s strong. And he’s smart, but then we already knew that because of all the seemingly smart people who do really fucking stupid things for him. But he’s a hell of a chess player—better than I am because I’m not sure I could take Eden down. So he must have built her trust. But she’s only been gone for what?” He waited. “Justin, how long has she been gone?”
The kid swallowed, his eyes wide. “Um…”
“You can do it.”
“Two hours tops.”
Mitch winked at him. “Two hours isn’t enough time to get Eden to do anything.” Not exactly true, but he wouldn’t let his mind go there right now. “So how’d he get her to trust him? Or make her think she had no other option?” He stopped. Wiped his face with both hands. Mumbled, “What’s wrong with us?”
“What?”
The bait Eden would swallow no matter what. Me. They deserved each other. Because it seemed like neither of them wanted to live all that badly. They couldn’t go five minutes without offering themselves up for the other.
“He got her because of me,” he said quietly.
A team works together, shares info, and doesn’t move separately. The fucking Clinic was less dangerous to them than they were to themselves. Right now, they were all too busy protecting each other from danger to be smart. Life was dangerous no matter where they were. And the only thing they would do alone is die.
“I swear to God, Landon. When we get her back, she doesn’t move without one of us at her side. She doesn’t breathe where we can’t hear it.” After he got the nod he needed, he continued. “Now I’m on a bit of a time schedule here.” Four to twenty-four hours before he got useless again. “So I suggest we get moving.”
“Except for you.” He pointed at Justin. “Someone needs to stay here, just in case. If she gets out, this is where she’ll come. And I don’t want her to be alone when she gets here. Got it? Don’t answer that with anything other than a yes.”
“Yes.”
“Great.” He didn’t want to split up, but there was no way everything would get done otherwise. Probably stupid, but definitely necessary.
“You”—he pointed at Danielle—“for the love of whatever you believe in, figure out how to keep me human. I’ll take whatever you got. Consider me a free-range guinea pig. The only thing this four-to-twenty-four hour shit does is make me grumpy. So get whatever sciencey-crap you need and Bunsen-burn the hell out of it.”
He waited for her to nod and then turned to Landon. “Alright, cop, seeing as you are my oldest and only friend, I will tell you this once and then we can move on. I am very unhappy that you let her out of your sight. You know how…volatile she’s been lately. I know she’s not your responsibility, so that unhappiness is unfair to you and I’m sorry. That said, I would appreciate you making sure that she’s far away from all of this once it gets ugly. Because it will get ugly. Because I’m going to make it ugly. But I don’t want her to see it—she’s seen enough.”
He turned his volume down. “I love her more than you can possibly imagine. I’ve brought her more pain than I can possibly imagine. But she would still give up her soul for me, and that’s exactly why I can’t let her.”
Landon nodded. “I’m in this till the end, man. You aren’t the only one who cares about her.”
He swallowed, nodded, and headed to the door. “Meanwhile, I’ll be looking for someone who knows where the bastard would take her. Possibly this Newman-guy.”
Landon was at his side. “You’re going to make yourself bait?”
He nodded. “It’s what Whittley is doing with Eden, so we need a counter-offer.” Not that he would ever be worth as much as Eden was. “No offense, cop, but I’m more desirable to them than you are. Plus, I’m more pissed off and more violent. So yeah, I’m bait.” He didn’t actually realize how quickly he was moving until he saw everyone jogging to keep up with him.
“Wait.” Landon grabbed him by the shoulder. “You’re going to stand outside of the building and scream until someone tips him off?”
“If that’s what it takes. Did you find anything on Alex?”
Landon shook his head. “Nothing.”
“Wait!” Justin called.
Mitch cursed, sighed, and then turned. “Time. Ticking. Whatever you say needs to be important.”
“You’re looking for Alex Bertram?”
“Yeah.”
“She has a sister who lives around here.”
“Anything else?” Landon asked. “Because that’s not enough to move on.”
“Her sister’s name is Desiree, but I don’t know if her last name is Bertram or not. She’s a kindergarten teacher.”
Mitch almost laughed—one sister watches over six-year-olds and the other watches over monsters. Hopefully, that was where the career similarities ended, or those kids were going to need decades of therapy.
“We could look at all the elementary schools in the area for a teacher named Desiree.”
“It’s Powell Elementary,” Justin said.
Mitch looked at Landon, Landon looked at the kid. “How do you know that?”
“It’s my last name: Powell. I think Alex told me because she thought it would make me trust her.” He laughed bitterly. “Guess it worked, huh?”
“They’re great liars,” Mitch said. “I think they all have to take classes or go through a degree program for it.”
“Whatev.” Justin dropped his gaze back down to the floor.
Mitch turned to Landon. “We can find her with that, right?”
He held up his phone. “I’ll do it on the way. Then you can drop us off and go find her.”
“It’s a good thing I didn’t kill her, huh?”
“Don’t!” Justin shouted.
“You’re gonna need to work on the full sentences, kid,” Mitch said. “Because ‘don’t’ doesn’t mean a lot to me.”
“I need to ask her a question. A really important question. So…”
Mitch let the ‘so’ slide because the kid looked like he was about to break in half. “Okay. I’ll make sure she can still hear and speak.” But he wouldn’t guarantee anything else.
Chapter XXIV
Eden hadn’t killed him, despite the urge to do so. Because Ryan was the answer to all her questions. All she had to do was come up with a way to get him to talk. He’d been so forthcoming at the restaurant, not stopping to think about what to say next, so maybe some of the things he’d told her weren’t lies. Even for pros like Ryan, good deception takes forethought and planning.
She wasn’t worried about the sound coming from the trunk—she knew how to tie a knot better than he did. His hands and feet were as useless as the interior trunk-release mechanism that was now standard in all vehicles. If he’d broken it, Eden might not have been able to get out. But he would’ve had to damage his beautiful car, which he probably couldn’t do. It really was a beautiful car. With the Jag gone now, Mitch should buy one of these for Landon.
Since she didn’t know the city and didn’t want to use the GPS, it took her a while to find her way back to the warehouse. “Hallelujah.” She pulled up and pounded on the door so Justin would open it. “Justin! It’s me!”
His face lit up at seeing her again. Did he really doubt he would? He threw his arms around her, momentarily forgetting he was supposed to be cool and angsty.
“Good to see you too.�
�� She held him for another moment and then pulled back. “Where are the boys?”
“After Landon woke Turner up, they talked to that guy. Then Turner freaked out, and they left.” He took out his cell phone. “I’ll call—”
“Could you do me a favor first?” She looked at the empty truck and the chains. They wouldn’t work—the cuffs were Hyde-sized, not man-sized. So if Ryan worked at it and wasn’t afraid to shed some skin, he might be able to slip his hands out. She should set-up something similar to how Justin had been tied.
“I need help lifting a package,” she said. “Are you up for it?” She pulled the car into the warehouse, grabbed some rope, a pair of cuffs, and the wooden chair and put them all into the back of the truck.
Justin was looking over her shoulder when she opened the trunk. “Holy, shit!”
Ryan squinted his eyes at the change of light. “Can I get some aspirin? I have a hell of a headache. It feels like I got kicked in the head.”
“Why don’t we hold off on that aspirin? Because your headache’s going to get a lot worse.” The last few words were drawn out as she dragged him partway out. “He’s a gift for the boys,” she told Justin. “Can you help me get him into the truck?”
“That’s the guy?”
“Yep, that’s the guy. He won’t do anything to you. I won’t let him. Promise.”
Maybe it was a mistake to involve Justin at all, but she was just too damn tired. The days of carrying full-grown men around were a few weeks behind her. Plus…
Evil weighs more than good.
To get him into the trunk, she’d had to drag his unconscious body and chucked him inside limb by limb. It was actually a liberating moment of payback. But there was no way she could lift a full-grown, conscious, and pissed-off man into the truck. No way. Not even if she knocked him out again.
Justin averted his eyes but didn’t shy away. Eden was so proud of him. They each took an arm. Ryan didn’t seem particularly worried, only pulling away because it amused him to see them struggle.
“Who’s your friend, Eden?” Ryan asked.
“Since he’s my friend and not yours, let’s just call him ‘None of Your Business’.”
“I’ll have that engraved on his headstone.”
Justin flinched, and then hopped into the truck to pull while Eden pushed. Ryan’s foot landed in her stomach—something she’d pay him back for really soon. When his ass was over the edge, she jumped up, and they dragged him the rest of the way in.
“Do you think no one will notice I’m gone?” Ryan asked. “That no one will come after me? People will miss me.”
Eden laughed. “Sure they will. Who doesn’t enjoy a daily dose of humiliation from their asshole of a boss?” She shoved him into the wooden chair and began tying him to it with both rope and chain, making sure not to loosen a knot before another was in place.
“There are people far more important who will be looking for me.”
“Of course there are. And I bet they’re getting their horses ready and setting up a posse as we speak. Or maybe they’re on their way already. Why wouldn’t they be? They have nothing to lose.” She yanked hard on the rope to finish a knot. “Oh wait. No, that’s me—I have nothing to lose. Do you think the ‘important people’ would risk their money or power, let alone their lives, for you?”
“We’ll see who’s laughing at whose grave as soon as they find me.”
“And how will they do that again?”
Ryan smirked.
“It’s fairly low-tech, isn’t it?” She palmed his cell phone, holding it, the battery, and the SIM card out for him to see. She’d crushed it with her shoe. Repeatedly. Happily. “More useful for parents to keep track of their kids than for important people to keep tabs on their asshole.” His amused expression faded. “I wouldn’t have thought of it if I didn’t know Landon. He’s taught me a lot.”
“Landon’s a smart man. Not smart enough though.” He looked at Justin. “If I were you, I’d run as fast and as far from this as I could. But…not before I loosened some of these ropes.”
“Shut up.” She tried to get Justin’s attention, but he was staring too intently at Ryan to notice. “Hey.” She finished one more knot and then stood, stepping in between them. “Don’t listen to him. He talks a big game because that’s all he can do. Don’t let him inside your head.”
Worry lines had already imprinted on Justin’s forehead, making him seem so much older than sixteen. Ryan made those lines to appear. Not just right now. This was something Ryan had been building for years. By using other people and places and drugs, he’d manipulated all of them.
Justin shouldn’t see what she might have to do to force Ryan to talk. He shouldn’t know about things like that. Even if she sent him out, eventually he’d come back and see the bloody mess she’d created. Because she would, if she had to.
It can’t happen here. “Come on.” She ushered Justin out of the truck. “Ryan needs some time in the naughty chair to think about what he’s done.”
“What happens then?” Ryan called out just before the back door closed.
Eden wasn’t sure. But whatever it was would leave both of them wounded.
She flipped the lock. “I need another favor. I’m starving and exhausted. Can you go get some food? The boys will probably be here by the time you get back.”
“Sure.” He shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. “Shit, my phone’s almost dead.”
“It can charge while you’re at the store,” she said, handing him a twenty.
“Nah, I’ll take it just in case. Landon’s an ass about not being able to reach people.” He checked the phone again and stuck it and the cash in his pocket. “It’s probably good for one more call.” After a quick glance at the truck, he nodded, said goodbye, and took off down the street.
How much time did she have? Not enough. It was never enough. She felt like she was walking though a minefield, and all the mines had timers on them. Mitch, Landon, Ryan, herself—everyone was ready to explode. They were all so interconnected, she didn’t know where to focus. Or which of them would blow first.
Prioritizing was impossible. This entire situation was impossible. She was afraid of doing something, or not doing something, that would make them lose the whole game. If she made the wrong move right now, it would be her fault. Instinct didn’t help because self-preservation was integral to instinct. Self-preservation demanded she run for it, and that would mean doing something she’d never do—leave Mitch behind. So she had to think logically in an illogical situation.
She didn’t want to leave and miss seeing Mitch again, but she also knew that he and Landon would stop her from doing what needed to be done. Landon because he still held onto the belief that the world was just. And Mitch because he didn’t think he was worth getting a little blood on her hands for.
Both of them were wrong.
I’ll call them when I have good news. She climbed up into the truck’s cab and pulled out of the warehouse.
This had to end. She would never have this chance again. If Ryan got free, if he didn’t give her answers, if just one of a million things went wrong, she would lose. Her knuckles were white on the steering wheel. Soon they might be red. A whimper made it through the tightness of her throat.
Toughen up. It didn’t make her happy, but she couldn’t see any other way. It was maddening, infuriating, and awful. But she’d do it. And she’d ignore the part of her that screamed ‘stop’ and tried to warn her of what she was turning into.
It wasn’t hard to find a quiet spot where the truck wouldn’t be noticed. She pulled into a small area along a barren strip of road. It looked like a truck graveyard. Before opening the back, she steadied herself with a deep breath.
Ryan had fallen and, with bound arms, hadn’t been able to brace himself. He looked dazed. She climbed up and righted the chair, checking that nothing vital was broken. Nothing vital on the chair. She couldn’t care less if any part of Ryan was broken.
“How does it feel to be chained up like an animal?” Just like he’d done to her and others. All she was doing was returning the favor. What would he do if she busted out the needles and tested some drugs on him? Unfortunately, he was human…barely, so the drugs probably wouldn’t do much, if anything. “Ever been inside of one of the cages you put people into?”
“Humanity is its own cage,” he said calmly. “Don’t we all feel trapped at one point or another?”
“I’m pretty sure most people would prefer the metaphorical kind.”
He licked his lower lip, grimacing when it hit blood. “You’ll have both kinds soon.” Maybe he enjoyed being tied up, saw it as a sexual thing. Nah, if anything, he was the ‘S’ in S&M. But not today.
“The problem with screwing people over is that they have a hard time letting it go. You built me a hell of an army—Landon, Fields, Mitch. All mean sons of bitches whose only goal is to scratch you off the planet.”
“And yet, you’re still afraid.”
He was right. She was afraid. But not of him or his people. Not anymore.
Mitch, Carter, Mom, Ian, Landon, Tara, Alicia. The things he did to them had left Eden with battle scars that made her skin impenetrable. Her enemy had created a shield for her. One so thick, so tough, not even they could get through.
So her fear was real, but not in the way Ryan thought it was. Because the shield was impervious from both directions, and she was only afraid of the stuff inside.
“Sometimes fear makes us do things we wouldn’t normally do,” she said.
He took a deep shuddering breath. “It’s hot in here.”
Yeah, it was. She leaned against the side of the truck to separate herself from the thick air around him. The craving for violence wasn’t the only thing suffocating her. There was also a craving for sex, and the more time she spent around him, the stronger the feeling became. As if the two things were intertwined, which she knew they couldn’t be. There was never any violence between her and Mitch. There was burning heat and intense need, but no violence.
You can worry about how you’ll pay for all the therapy you need later. When there wasn’t too much to lose and this much uncertainty.
Strange Case, an Urban Fantasy (Hyde Book III) Page 19