The Madison Jennings Series Box Set

by Kiara Ashanti

Both boys rolled their eyes as Dorete joined them in her painted-on faded-pink jeans. Her white shirt was snug, low cut, and, at the moment, totally lost on the boys—which did not pass her notice. She turned from looking at Aden to Tommy, who just gave her a blank stare. When a lewd comment was not forthcoming, she pursed her lips.

  “What’s going on? Tommy never fails to be a perv when I wear white. And you,” Dorete said, pointing at Aden, “have barely said two words to me all day.”

  “Nothing, Dorry. Look, I’ll call you later. OK?” Aden turned from Dorete. He started walking and pulling Tommy along by the arm. Eyes focused forward, he pondered what to do. “So, do we look for her?”

  “Look for who?”

  Aden hopped to his left into Tommy, startled by Dorete’s voice. He thought they had left her behind. “Jesus! I said I’ll call you later.”

  Dorete crossed her arms, then sent Aden a needle-sharp stare. “You do not seem to understand how this works. You don’t blow me off. I. Do. The. Blowing—”

  Tommy snorted. Even under current circumstances, Dorete’s Freudian slip was too good to ignore. And she knew it, throwing him a one-finger salute and following the gesture with as much scorn as she could muster. “You’re disgusting. Now, who are you looking fo—oh, of course, why am I even asking? Little Mad Madison.”

  “Don’t call her that,” snapped Aden.

  “I don’t understand what’s up with you two, but whatever. I’m bored, so wherever you think she is, let’s go get her.”

  “And how are we going to do that?”

  “Duh, we’ll drive. I have my dad’s car.”

  “What!” said Tommy, incredulous. “You don’t have a license or permit.”

  “I know how to drive, and my birthday is in two months. We’ll be fine.”

  Tommy raised his eyebrows and looked at Aden, who gave it a moment’s thought and shrugged. “It would be the most normal bad decision we’ve made in recent days.”

  “Fair point,” conceded Tommy. “But you’re on your own.” He pointed out the front window toward a pale-green Fiat 500 parked at the curb. “Dad’s here already, so I’m stuck driving home in the pukemobile.”

  Dorete looked out the window, one side of her lip curled. “That is pretty bad. It’s your mom’s car, and he’s just driving it, right?”

  “No such luck. Text me as soon as you find Maddie. Tell her I’m going to kick her ass.”

  Dorete barked out a laugh. “That’s funnier than that car,” she yelled at him as he walked away. He gave her the double bird.

  Not long afterward, Aden sat in the passenger seat next to an increasingly annoyed quasi-girlfriend. He still could not figure out what was going on on that front. Everything had both accelerated and stalled since the weekend of the game with Edgewater. The fight, the deaths of Allie and Zara. Lilly missing. No one in school was processing it well. Galvin was a school full of sleepwalkers—everyone was going through the motions but not present. Aden was number one or two on that list. He was just as obsessed with finding out the truth as Maddie. He just did not know what to do if they did. He also did not know how to spend his time focused on one thing and hide it from everyone else, which, of course, meant hiding it from Dorete. Instead, he had done as she claimed: brushed her off.

  Now that she was driving him around to look for the architect of his obsession, he’d had no choice but to fill her in on the secret. She had not been pleased.

  “She better be here, freakin’ Jason Bourne wannabe. I still cannot believe you freaks.”

  Dorete skidded into a parking space right outside the park while Aden exited before the car was fully stopped. He did not bother replying. One, he had listened to an endless tirade already. Two, the more she berated him, the dumber he felt about what he, Tommy, and Maddie were doing.

  He walked briskly as he headed into the park and toward the area where his phone app indicated Maddie was hiding. The click-clack of heels followed him.

  “Jesus, don’t you have any other shoes in that car?”

  “Sorry if I didn’t dress like a gardener today.”

  “We’re in a park, not at a farm, Dorry. You’ve got sneakers in your bag.”

  “And get them all dusty? I don’t think so.”

  “Could have stayed in the car, Dorete,” Aden snapped.

  She caught up to Aden and slightly shoved the back of his shoulder. “Don’t catch an attitude with me. I’m the one driving you around all for your precious Madison’s stupid wild goose chase. What does she even think—”

  “Hush, we’re here.”

  Dorete ignored him. “Maddie!” she screamed.

  Aden flinched. “What the hell, Dorete!”

  Dorete flicked her hand to the side, brushing him off. “Madison, come out here, you little loser,” she screamed again. When no one answered, she whirled toward Aden. “She’s not here. If she was, she’d be walking out from wherever she was hiding.”

  Aden frowned then pulled out the pet-tracker unit, which, unlike the phone, would give the tracker’s precise location down to the inch, not just indicate the general area. The moment he turned it on, he got a hit. His stomach bottomed out. The repeating beep from the unit meant he was within twenty feet of the tracker. But he knew Dorete was right. If she was here, Maddie would have walked over to them already.

  “Damn, damn, damn,” he muttered.

  He began walking around the area, making an ever-wider circle until he got a triple beep. He turned it off and started scanning the ground.

  “What are you looking for?” asked Dorete as she walked over to him.

  “The pet tracker we all have—it’s round and silver, about the size of a quarter. Look around this area.”

  “Right, the tracker. Weirdos.” Dorete pulled her keys out of her jean pocket. She grabbed a small flashlight on the chain and clicked it on. It was not even close to dusk yet, but a sweep with it illuminated a flicker of silver in the grass. She walked over and picked it up. “Here ya go.” She drew in her lips and looked around. “No Maddie though.”

  “Hilarious,” Aden said, his eyes still glued to the grass. He made a slow circuit around Dorete, even bending down in a couple of places.

  “Hello? I have it right in my hand.”

  “Yeah, I can see that Dorete.”

  “Then what are you looking for now, dammit?”

  “Blood.”

  Whatever Dorete had been about to say froze in her mouth. Worse, Aden’s continued search of the grass made it obvious he was not joking around. Dorete closed her mouth and started scanning their surroundings. Every bush and shadow were now potential hiding places for someone she did not want to meet.

  “If you’re looking for blood, then this is a place I don’t want to be. Let’s go. Now.”

  Aden stood up and brushed dirt and grass from his jeans. “Calm down. I don’t see any, which has to mean nothing happened, right? It’s Maddie. No way something happens to her without a fight, right?”

  Dorete did not answer. Instead, she walked swiftly in the direction from where they had come. Not another word was spoken until both teens were back in her car with the doors locked.

  “This doesn’t feel right. Doesn’t feel right at all,” Aden said.

  Dorete slapped the steering wheel before turning to Aden. “I thought you just said nothing could have happened.”

  “I know. But if she had just left, she would have called us by now.”

  “Aden, she didn’t even tell you she was coming here. And yes, if someone attacked her, she would fight back. So, if you didn’t see any blood or whatever, she left. She just could have dropped it.”

  “Maybe,” replied Aden, though his tone indicated he was unsure.

  “Didn’t Tommy give Maddie two of these trackers?” Obviously, Dorete had heard their conversation about the trackers though she had stood several feet away at school.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Ugh, so cute but dumb. Hello? We only found one! Where is the other one
?”

  “So what? Maddie took Tiffani’s . . . ooh,” Aden finished as the implication finally dawned on him. He had not even loaded Tiffani’s tracker info into the app on his phone. He pulled his phone out and pulled up the email Tommy had sent with the codes for each tracker. He plugged Tiffani’s code in, and moments later, a green dot appeared on a map.

  “Shoot, it worked.”

  “Don’t be so surprised. Brains and beauty, babe. Maddie is probably with Tiffani. Mystery solved.”

  “Maybe. Let’s go over to the location to make sure.”

  Chapter Seventy-Six

  The woolen, thick feel of her tongue was what finally woke her. Her throat was dry and her mouth pasty. The slow walk back into consciousness carried with it a throbbing in the back of her head. Maddie moved, knowing she needed to get a drink of water. In the same instant the soggy decision was made, she realized she could not get up.

  Something was wrapped around her wrists, and she was sitting. Still, in her groggy state, she could not process what was going on. She shook her hands while trying to bring them in front of her. All she got was a loud rattle and a little movement. Her hands were stuck behind her, but that did not seem right.

  As she opened her eyes, she grimaced as white light sent a piercing shot of pain through her. She squinted and flinched her head sideways once, then she fought through the pain. She blinked rapidly to dislodge from her lids the crusty mucus her sister, Janice, called “eye boogers.”

  “Wha—”

  “Good, you’re finally awake. Let me help you with that.”

  The voice sounded vaguely familiar, but the haze in her head would not allow her to place it. She jolted her head backward as she felt a hand grab her chin and something wet wipe her face. The action triggered a memory. A sweet aroma was burning through her nose right after she . . .

  With a jolt, she remembered that in the park, Tiffani had arrived to talk with her. Tiffani had told her that Tommy had mentioned where Maddie was—but Maddie had never told Tommy she was going to the park. In Maddie’s mind, no further explanations were needed. She snapped her head forward as hard as she could. With a crack, her head collided with the person wiping her face. The person yelped in pain and fell backward.

  Maddie’s mouth still felt like it was stuffed with a dusty rug, but the adrenaline spike cleared her head a little. She could see a little better. Sitting in front of her on the floor was Tiffani with a rueful sneer.

  “Look at you. Even half-awake you’re a goddamn banshee.” Tiffani rose off the floor, then slapped Maddie’s face. “Settle down, or this will go worse for you.”

  Without another word, Tiffani bent down to grab a bottled water off the floor. She brought it to Maddie’s lips, then grabbed her face like a vise clamp when she tried to turn her head away. Maddie did not know what was in that water and wanted no part of it. Tiffani did not give her a choice. She squeezed either side of Maddie’s mouth to force it open and dumped the water into it.

  “Don’t fight it. There’s nothing in it, and you’re going to be dehydrated if you don’t drink something.”

  Maddie gulped the water down. The forced pouring did not give her much choice unless she wanted to choke on the liquid. The moment it hit the back of her throat, her body sent a craving for it worse than a junkie needing a fix. A distant part of her felt shame at the need. She did not believe a word Tiffani was saying, but her body did not care.

  Tiffani poured the entire bottle down her throat, stepped back, and casually tossed the empty container aside. Without another word, she bent down again, this time bringing up a can of Red Bull. She tilted the can in front of Maddie’s face, showing her that it was unopened, presumably to reassure her that nothing was in it.

  The gesture was lost on Maddie. More alert, she realized she was bound to a chair in a bedroom. Her arms were stretched backward with the coldness of steel along her wrists. She moved her foot, which sent a rattle of metal through the air. Tiffani raised her eyebrow.

  “This will help with some of the grogginess and the headache. Don’t spill any or spit it out, or I’ll beat the shit out of you. I’m being nicer than I should.”

  “Tiffani, what’s going on? Where am I?”

  The question prompted Maddie to cast her eyes around the room. It was sparsely furnished with the mattress from the bed pushed up against the wall. It left a wide-open area in front of Maddie. The walls were painted a pale blue with rainbow-colored toys lying on a small dresser. Otherwise, the room was bare.

  Tiffani stepped directly in front of Maddie. Maddie wanted to glare into her eyes like the sun, but dark splotches of red on Tiffani’s shirt drew her attention. She knew it was not blood from her headbutt. Then she wondered if she had missed the stain at the park.

  “Where am I?”

  “Some place no one is going to find you. Don’t bother hoping someone saw us enter either. I pulled into the garage before carrying you out. No one is the wiser. The owners are gone and not coming back. What is also gone is that stupid ghetto version of a tracking device Tommy conjured up. No one is going to find us.”

  “Are you working with them? I thought we were friends.”

  The words spilled out in a rush, soaked in a plaintive plea. Maddie knew she was handcuffed, but she did not understand what Tiffani was doing.

  “Friends are we? Hmm, interesting.” Tiffani said nothing more, just opened the can of Red Bull and held it before Maddie’s mouth. When she did not resist, Tiffani gently poured the sugary drink and allowed Maddie to gulp it down without difficulty. When the can was empty, she stepped back. “OK, friend, what’s your name?”

  “Wha-what?” Maddie began in confusion. “You know my name. What the hell are you doing? Are you working with these assholes? Where’s Lilly?”

  Unable to do anything else, she screamed the questions as if pure volume would either set her free or provide the answers. Instead, she received another hard slap across her face.

  “Mind your tongue. My brothers are many things, including bigots, but they are soldiers of Blessed Allah, and you will show them respect . . . Madelynne Collins.”

  Maddie’s world turned upside down. Tiffani knew her real name. Worse, she was working with the kidnappers and had called them soldiers of Allah. This was the worst possible scenario, one that had made her mother keep their family in flight for years.

  “How . . . how did you find out?”

  “That’s immaterial. But if we were friends, you would have told me.”

  “You have me tied to a fucking chair because I didn’t tell you my real name?”

  Another slap.

  “I have you tied to the chair because through you, I will redeem my family name. Allah is merciful. I can cleanse my spirit and erase my sins. I will be welcome in his warm embrace and show that people like me can follow Allah’s will in jihad.”

  Maddie sneered. “I don’t remember those seventy-two virgins being men, unless you’re saying you swing in the other direction. Pretty sure your holiness of the desert ain’t down for that.”

  This time, Maddie knew the slap was coming. She braced for it by shifting to the side as much as she could. She succeeded in decreasing the impact, but Tiffani followed up the strike with a tight grab of her neck. She squeezed hard, digging her fingers in and displaying a strength Maddie did not know she possessed.

  “You Westerners, you’re all so blazon in your disrespect and filled with self-important bravado, at least when you think you’re in control. You’re so sure of your place in the world, but I am not fooled. I have seen how you really act when faced with a chance to meet your maker. When you do, he won’t look like some long-haired, sandy-blond white man, of that you can be sure.”

  Tiffani released Maddie, then turned and left the room. Her absence was only momentary. When she stepped back in, she held a tripod and video camera. She placed the tripod at the far end of the room opposite Maddie and attached the camera to it. Its purpose was clear and punctuated when Tiffani
left the room and returned with a black cloth with Arabic writing on it. She walked behind Maddie and hammered the flag to the wall.

  Maddie’s mouth went dry, and her stomach clenched. Everyone knew what happened when Islamists put people in front of cameras. Maddie glanced to either side of her at the floor. “This is going to ruin your carpet.”

  Tiffani snorted. “Not my house, though the fact that you can make jokes is impressive. Much better than the blubbering I’ve seen from the others.”

  “So, you know where Lilly is? Is she here?”

  Tiffani stepped back in front of Maddie and crouched down to look her straight in the face. “No. She and the others are part of another plan. This is different. They don’t know I have you, but they will soon. Soon all my brothers in jihad will know, and I will redeem my name. But first, I must cleanse myself. Don’t go anywhere,” she finished, chuckling at her own joke.

  She left the room, and a moment later, Maddie heard a shower running. She glanced around the room to give it a more studied examination. There was nothing to see. Other than the newly placed camera, the mattress, and its broken down frame on the floor next to it, there was nothing around. She tried to look behind her but could not see much. Her bag was also not in the room. Maddie presumed that Tiffani had dumped it along with the pet trackers.

  The thought sent a swirl of hope through her. She was still wearing her boots. She shifted her foot around in it to see if she could feel the tracker that she had placed inside the flap was still there. When she shifted slightly on her toes, she felt something digging into the top of her foot.

  Yes, she exalted inside. Tiffani had discarded one but not searched for the other. The good feeling did not last. Tommy and Aden would have to look for her, and they might not even know she was missing. She had to discover a way out of this herself.

  Her eyes snapped back toward the door when she heard the shower stop. She was running out of time. Feeling a surge of desperate urgency, Maddie shook in her chair, hoping in vain it would loosen the cuffs. Then a thought tip-toed through her mind—something Vaska had told her. Before she could consider the notion fully, Tiffani walked back into the room.