Page 73 of Mountain Trial

My phone is in the pocket.

“Any fun and games, and I’ll have Dogfish put a bullet in your boyfriend’s head. I would consider that a favor, if I were him, to tell you the truth.”

“No. Please,” Kat begged. “I’ll do everything you say, just don’t hurt him.”

Bull smiled broadly. “That’s exactly what I was hoping you’d say.”

“It’s cold outside. Let me get my coat, please.”

Bull considered for a second.

“Nah, don’t bother. Dogfish will keep you warm, when the time comes.”

Kat shivered with cold and fear.

“Now, when we go outside, not a sound. Remember, it’s your boyfriend’s life on the line.”

Bull shouldn’t have worried, as there was nobody outside that she could reach out to. The apartment next to Luc’s, which his friend Scott Reynolds had rented out, was dark. There was nobody home.

Dogfish had opened the trunk to a sedan car parked right across the street. She must have walked right by it a few minutes earlier, and never even noticed it.

Local plates.

Kat struggled to memorize the number.

Just in case.

Dogfish unclipped Luc’s handcuffs and roughly recuffed his hands together at the back. He picked Luc up easily, as if he were a child, and shoved him headfirst into the trunk.

Large snowflakes fell on Luc’s wheelchair, abandoned at the edge of the ramp.

Kat felt a gust of air near her head, followed by a sharp pain―then blessed darkness.

Chapter 28

Luc

He’ll just slow us down.

Luc knew Kat had been trying to save his life. Again.

He groaned behind the gag. His body flapped around uselessly in the trunk. Though he couldn’t feel anything, he knew his legs were getting bruised, perhaps dangerously so.

I could be lying on knives and wouldn’t fucking know it.

He pushed so his shoulders were flat on the trunk’s floor, trying to grab on to the floor of the trunk with his cuffed hands―a pitiful attempt to steady himself.

The journey went on and on. The air in the trunk was getting stale. To distract himself, he spent his time chewing through the gag―finally, he could feel himself making some headway. The fabric, now wet with his saliva, was getting stretchier―Luc pushed with his tongue to spit it out, then scraped his cheek against the floor of the trunk until the gag dropped to his neck.

The relief was instantaneous. Luc opened and closed his jaw a few times to get his mouth back in working order. For a second, he felt like he’d accomplished something much more significant―until he realized there wasn’t any point in screaming, not when he was inside a moving car.

His biggest concern, even as he flopped around the dark space, was for Kat. Kat wasn’t in the trunk with him―which meant she was inside the vehicle with Bull and Dogfish. He strained―unsuccessfully―to hear her voice, to hear anything beyond the rushing of his own heartbeat.

Luc felt tears build up in his eyes. Never, in his entire life, had he ever felt so helpless―not even back at the hotel.

But he had to stay alert―had to believe the chance to help Kat would come. And that when it came, he’d be ready.

He inhaled and exhaled slowly. He was burning through the oxygen in the trunk too quickly.