Give Me Strength

by Kate McCarthy

  I chuckled. “Christ, she isn’t worried is she? It’s all been sorted out. I’m on my way to the hospital now. Are you there?”

  “I am, but there’s a problem. A really big, horrible problem.”

  My stomach sank. “What?” I barked.

  “Quinn’s gone.”

  I gripped the phone tight to my ear. “What the fuck, Mac!”

  “Don’t shout at me,” she shouted. “I already know I fucked up. Oh God,” she moaned.

  I twisted in my seat and eyed Casey and Jared. “Quinn’s gone.”

  Waves of tension rolled through the car, and Jared planted his foot, just catching an orange light.

  I put the phone down and hit a button. “You’re on speaker. Talk.”

  “We were out the front of the hospital. Evie went to get the car and bring it around and—”

  “Why the hell was Quinn leaving the hospital?”

  “I…she…you were locked up, and it was all a mistake. She said they were releasing her anyway and that we were going to bust you out. Well, not bust you out but clear everything up and get you released.”

  “Christ, Mac,” Casey snapped from the back. “The doctor said she’d be in at least overnight if not two nights.”

  “Well obviously she’s a big, fat liar.”

  “Never mind,” I growled. “Just tell us what happened.”

  “Evie went to get the car and then Quinn told me she left her phone on the counter inside where we signed the release paperwork, so I said I’d duck in and grab it and to wait right there. The uniform at the door was dismissed because we were leaving. When I came back out, she wasn’t there.”

  I banged the back of my head hard on the headrest, twice. “Okay. How long were you gone?”

  “Five minutes maybe.”

  Casey shoved his phone towards me. “I’ve got a trace on her phone. It’s tracked her to the M4 heading west.”

  Without hesitating, Jared checked his mirrors and swung the steering wheel hard left. The back end fishtailed wildly as we started for the most direct route to the M4.

  I gripped the dash as I spoke to Mac. “So obviously you didn’t find her phone. Did you see her speak to anyone or see anyone that was suspicious?”

  Jared accelerated, screaming down the road nowhere near fast enough for my liking, as he fought through thick afternoon traffic.

  “No! I wasn’t paying attention to anyone else because Quinn’s body was pumped full of painkillers. She wasn’t steady on her feet.”

  “Where are you and Evie now?” Jared asked, changing gears and checking his mirror as he shifted lanes.

  “We’re still at the hospital.”

  “Both of you back to the duplex now,” he ordered. “Whatever you’ve got on tonight, cancel it.”

  “But we can—”

  “No.” I cut her off. “You can’t. Just do it and ring us when you’re there.”

  She replied with a muffled okay, and I disconnected the call.

  “Jared, give your phone to Casey. Casey, get Coby on the line. Tell him what’s going on and to get over to the duplex and stick with the girls.”

  I dialled Quinn’s number. It rang out. I dialled again.

  “Mr. Valentine,” answered the male voice.

  “Who is this?”

  “You’re speaking with Luka Zampetti.”

  “Fuck!” I yelled as my stomach rolled in fear. Sonofafuckingbitch. “The Zampetti’s have her,” I muttered to Jared as Casey spoke to Coby from the back seat.

  “Such language you people have. Yes we have Quinn if that’s what you were trying to ask me. We’re absolutely delighted with her. She’s so very pretty.”

  “You better not harm a hair on her head, Zampetti. You’re about to have every police officer in the damn state on your ass. Put her on the phone.”

  “You want to talk to her? Why not.”

  There was a muffled fumble and then the sweet sound of her voice answered the phone. I closed my eyes for a brief second.

  “Quinn! Are you okay?” My voice cracked. I leaned over and held my head in my hand.

  “Oh, Travis,” she murmured. “You wasted your phone call.”

  “What?”

  “Your one phone call,” she repeated.

  “Quinn, Jesus. It was a misunderstanding. They let me go when they realised it wasn’t me who shot David. Have they—”

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Motherfucking Zampetti’s,” Casey yelled from behind me and kicked the back of the centre console in frustration. I held up a hand, indicating for him to shut the hell up. “Have they hurt you?”

  “No. I’m fine too.”

  I didn’t believe her. Her voice was shaky and she sounded so damn scared.

  “Hold tight. I’m coming for you. I promise.” I swallowed hard. God. If anything happened to her I don’t… I pushed the thought away. “Just…I need to know we’re okay—you and me,” I pleaded. “I need to hear you say it.”

  There was a pause.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t trust in us. That I didn’t give you a chance to explain before I ran. Nothing we have is a lie,” she told me with a voice thick with tears. “I love you.”

  “Oh, God, sweetheart,” I whispered hoarsely, my heart swelling as I stared blindly out the window. “I love you so much.”

  “I… Travis—” she cried out and then she was gone.

  “Mr. Valentine,” Luka said into the phone. “Quinn is going to prove very valuable to us, but we’re going to be busy from here on in. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t bother us again.”

  The line went dead and hot tears filled my eyes. After a deep breath I handed Casey back his phone and picked up Quinn’s signal on my own.

  “Casey.” I cleared my throat. “Ring Mitch. Fill him in and tell him where we’re headed.”

  The scenery flew by as we hit the M4 Freeway, and Casey spoke in the background on his phone. I blanked his words and tried to clear my mind and stay calm, but when Quinn’s location stopped moving passed the M7 Westlink, my heart stuttered.

  “Hell,” I muttered.

  Jared glanced across at me as he drove. “What?”

  There was nowhere to turn off and stop along that freeway. It could only mean one thing. “He’s dumped her phone.” And I lost the only link to tracking her. “I promised her we were coming for her,” I whispered.

  Rage built up like a force inside of me.

  “Trav,” Casey said from behind me.

  “Fuck!” I roared and slammed my fist on the dash. The brief burst of pain was a welcome relief. I threw my phone on the floor, my body shaking from the effort to contain the desperate fury. “Sonofabitch!”

  “We’re going to find her,” Jared said. “We need to work out where Zampetti would be heading.”

  “Mitch said the AFP isn’t talking.”

  “Maybe once they know they’ve got Quinn they might start,” Casey muttered.

  I bent over and grabbed for my phone. We’d reached the signal for Quinn but as my eyes took in everything ahead, all I could see was empty road. Rubbing my forehead wearily, I started to dial Mitch when he rang me at the same time.

  I answered. “Yeah?”

  “Here’s the deal,” he began. “The AFP have a nark high up. He’s sent a signal to get the police ready to close in. His last location was at a safe house in Penrith. If your heading west on the M4 it sounds likely that Zampetti could possibly be heading to that safe house right now.”

  I twisted in my seat and indicated for Casey to give me his phone. He handed it over, and Mitch spelled out the address as I typed it in the phone and called up the map.

  “Thanks, Mitch. We’re heading there right now.”

  “Travis, wait,” he said quickly before I could hang up. “I’m right behind you, but…be safe. This shit is a big deal. They’re calling in choppers left and right. No matter what, we’ll find her, okay?”

  Even though he couldn’t see m
e, I nodded anyway. “Okay.”

  After hanging up I ran the coordinates of the safe house with Jared and sat back in my seat, fighting the urge to tell Jared how to drive. My legs were cramped from the tiny matchbox car, and I needed a cigarette. Quinn first, but a cigarette straight after to calm the itchy nerves would be really fucking good right now.

  After what seemed an eternity, we arrived at the address in time to see two unmarked sedans and agents busting down the door.

  I glanced across at Jared as he squealed to a halt, parking sideways across the driveway. “Guns?” I yelled.

  “Boot,” he replied.

  We both bailed out and I slid the front seat forward for Casey to get out before running for the boot. I grabbed one of the two handguns Jared held out and engaged the slide with a quick, efficient movement.

  The three of us approached the house at a jog, and stepping through the open door, heard the agents yell ‘clear’ even as my eyes took in the empty room.

  “Back here!” one yelled and I followed the sound, leaving Jared to pass on our identification.

  “Oh God,” I moaned when we stepped through to the dining area. I swallowed the nausea from the sight that greeted me, the effort causing a sweat to break out on my brow. A window had been shot out, shards of glass scattered across the floor. The room was empty apart from two chairs, one was kicked over, but both were covered in blood. I spun around. Blood spatter trailed up the wall. It smeared across the floor and pooled on the timber flooring. The metallic tang of it filtered the air. My body dropped to a crouch, and I hung my head in my hands, the gun still clasped tight in my fingers as I fought to breathe past the waves of fear that rolled through me faster than I could repress them.

  A hand landed on my shoulder. I shook my head, my body starting to shake with the sobs I couldn’t contain.

  “Travis,” Casey croaked, the heartbreak in his voice staggering, dragging me further into despair. “This doesn’t mean anything.”

  After a moment I stood, and disengaging the gun and tucking it into the waistband of my jeans, strode blankly from the room and straight out the front door. Dusk had arrived. The sky was tinged with pale blues, yellows, and pinks, the air cold, the street lit up with flashing police cars as uniforms stormed the house, setup up police tape, and took over the street.

  One hand on my hip, the other wrapped around the back of my neck, I stared blankly at the paved driveway, my mind working frantically to decide on our next move.

  “Travis!” A car door slammed and I looked up.

  Mitch jogged towards me, his partner Tate on his heels as Casey and Jared reached my side. He spread a directory over the bonnet of the nearest car, and we huddled around while he hurriedly flicked pages.

  He pointed and said breathlessly, “Here. Old man Zampetti has a wife. Her sister has a company that owns a rural property along this road. You need to get back on the M4 and head farther out towards the Blue Mountains. The place has a private airstrip. The crew I was talking to think that’s where they could be headed next. Luka drives a black BMW 760 sedan.” He rattled off the registration number. “Those cars can move bloody fast.”

  I committed the location and registration to memory and looked up, relieved to have a focus. Mitch met my eyes and gave a nod. “Let’s go.”

  We sprinted to our cars and moved out, taking the most direct route to the property, having no idea how far we were behind them, or even sure it was the direction they were heading in.

  Jittery, I tapped my hand on my thigh, my eyes peeled to every car in front of us that we eventually reached and overtook. My phone buzzed a message from Mac.

  M: Any news? Lucy and Rick are here at the duplex.

  I replied as quickly as possible.

  T: Working a lead.

  We hit a quiet winding road, thick with tall trees and scrub, making the dark nightfall approach that much faster. Mitch and Tate were behind us, two cars of agents not far behind them.

  I checked the map on my phone.

  “Close,” I muttered.

  “Fuck!” Casey shouted and pointed at a right angle through the two seats. I followed his line. Down an embankment, crushed against a tree, was a black BMW and in the fading light I could just make out a partial on the registration Mitch had given us. The entire front and left side was crumpled inwards, the bonnet steaming, headlights blazing deep into the forest.

  Jared tore off the side of the road, and I was out of the car and sprinting at a dead run before the car had even peeled to a full stop.

  “Quinn!” I shouted breathlessly, my heart in my throat. I grabbed the handgun from my waistband and engaged the slide, skidding my way down the embankment. “Quinn!”

  ***

  “This, Quinn…” Luka lifted the gun again and my heart hammered so hard in my chest I thought it would split wide open. He aimed it at my leg. “…is how we’re going to get Agent McKinnon to talk.”

  Seth swept his leg out, connecting with the man standing to the right of his chair. The sudden movement had Luka swivelling the aim of his gun from my leg to Seth, but Seth was a blur. He ripped the gun from the man he took down and fired twice.

  I sat dumbstruck, my heart thumping as the man’s body jerked from the force of bullets tearing into him.

  “Quinn!” Seth yelled before another man was on him. They fought and another shot was fired, splattering blood up the wall and over my face and chest. I glanced downwards, disconnected from the horror playing out before me. No amount of bleach would save my shirt. A tear trickled down my cheek.

  Huh.

  Why was I crying over a ten dollar tank top?

  “What are you doing? Get out of here!”

  I blinked.

  “Quinn, goddammit!”

  Standing on shaky legs, I wiped at the blood, feeling it smear across my face. Seeing my hands covered in red, cold adrenaline rushed through me. Wiping them on the back of my jeans, I reached out and grabbed the back of the chair I’d been sitting on, and for the second time in my life, I yelled and swung hard with everything I had. It connected and Luka staggered backwards before he could take a clear shot at Seth. The chair splintered from the force, and I stood frozen, holding the empty remains as I met Seth’s eyes for a single moment that stretched for an eternity.

  “Run, damn you,” he panted as he struggled against the last two armed men standing. The other two were down, bodies still, blood pooling on the floor.

  I dropped the chair as Luka made a recovery too swift for my liking and lunged for me. I turned to run, but his arms locked around my waist and in my ear, he breathed, “Little bitch.”

  “Fuck you,” I grunted and kicking my legs, tried to push off against the wall with my feet to unsteady him, but he jerked me backwards towards one of the dead men on the ground. I closed my eyes as I panted and struggled. Reaching into the man’s pocket, Luka dug out a length of rope and started binding my wrists together before dragging me outside and into the back of the BMW. I drew in a breath to let out a scream, but he backhanded me until I saw nothing but stars before it all faded to black.

  When I came to, the car was moving along a windy road. It was getting dark so I could see my reflection in the window. It wasn’t pretty. In fact, I looked like utter rubbish, but my whole day had been utter rubbish from the moment I woke up so that was only to be expected. In the passenger seat in front of me sat Luka, the driver was one of his armed thugs, and to my right sat Seth. He was unmoving and watching me.

  “I’m sorry,” he mouthed.

  My eyes searched his face.

  This man was my father. Was I supposed to feel an immediate connection to him?

  All I could feel was defeat, the taste of it bitter and harsh.

  “Hold tight. I’m coming for you. I promise.”

  I’m holding tight, Travis, and I know you’re coming for me, I stared bleakly out the window at my bloodied reflection, but I think my time is finally running out.

  Tears spilled over my cheeks a
nd our bodies jerked, the driver cursing as the car bounced over a pothole. The action pulled at my bound arms and I felt the knot loosen.

  My breath quickening, I jerked them again and realised my slender hands were slowly working free of the knot. I caught Seth’s eyes and nodded behind me.

  He frowned so I nodded again.

  He shook his head.

  Did he not understand? I pursed my lips. Wasn’t the head nod the universal language of all men?

  The car was speeding along and despite seeing it in the movies, actually considering the leap from a moving vehicle seemed impossibly daunting. My hands free, I wriggled them. Seth saw and widened his eyes. He looked at me and then nodded at the car door.

  I rolled my eyes at him, frantically trying to think of an alternative. There was no way I could untie Seth without being seen but damned if I was going to sit back and await my doom or watch the man who was my father die.

  My eyes fell on the driver and breathless, I realised there was only one other option, and it was a really stupid one. I was sure Travis wouldn’t condone it, nor Casey, or Seth for that matter. But I knew Lucy would, and so would Mac and Evie.

  “I can only fight for you for so long before you have to start fighting for yourself.”

  Well, Travis, you said to fight, and I’m pretty sure you didn’t mean it like this, but here goes nothing.

  Leaping forward between the two front seats, I grabbed at the steering wheel and swung it hard. Surprised, the driver grappled as the car spun. Luka grabbed my arms and pulled but I hung on like a goddamn barnacle, screaming as he yelled and tore at my fingers. Even when the tyres caught loose gravel and started spinning out of control, I held tight.

  Seth shouted something at me as the car hurtled down the embankment, but I couldn’t hear through the blood roaring in my ears. I was thrown back in my seat. Breathless, I grabbed for my seatbelt, fighting with trembling fingers to click it into place as trees hurtled towards us at amazing speed. The scream of metal crunching in my ears deafened me, and I lost consciousness.

  “Quinn!”

  Hands were running over me.