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Asher’s face flashes through my mind. The look in his eyes when he promised to protect me. Anything tied to him keeps me from losing what little connection I have left.
I stop, but keep my weight balanced on the balls of my feet, ready to run. My abductor comes into view, still limping. He bends over, bracing one hand on his knee while the gun hangs from the other. Breathing hard, he looks thoroughly irritated, as if this entire ordeal is nothing more than an inconvenience he shouldn’t have to endure.
“Didn’t know I’d need my running shoes today,” he says. “My leg don’t work so good after what you did to me.”
Anger takes over fear. My shoulders rise and fall as I stare daggers into him. If I could, I’d kill this man. Right here in the tunnel where no one would know.
“My brother was the one who stabbed you in the leg. I was the one who kicked your head in, remember?”
He glares at me before hawking phlegm into his mouth and spitting it on the floor.
“Who’s your boss?” I ask, squeezing my fists to stop them from shaking.
He straightens and wipes sweat from his brow. His T-shirt is soaked at the chest and pits.
“How did your brother know to find you there? Ever think about that?”
“He followed the car.” It’s made sense in my head this whole time. I saw the map on his phone. But how—?
“All the way from Des Moines?” He raises an eyebrow. “You really believe that?”
My rage spikes at the implication that Asher had anything to do with this.
“What are you saying?”
“He wasn’t tracking the car, babygirl. He was tracking you. With that little coin of yours.”
My hand slips into my pocket and closes around the medallion Edwin forced me to take after he confiscated Asher’s.
Asher tracked his medallion to find me. Which means Edwin can track this one too.
The man tucks the gun in his waistband and raises his empty hands as if that’s reassuring. I know he needs me alive.
He takes a cautious step forward, and I’m the deer in his crosshairs that he doesn’t want to spook.
“Why don’t you come with me, and we’ll get this all figured out?”
I step back, shaking my head. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
His eyes crease with a smile that stretches the scar across his lip.
“He’ll get what he wants. One way or another.”
“Who?”
His smile drops.
He lunges.
At the same instant, the lights overhead flicker and die.
The tunnel goes pitch black.
Panic floods my body. I spin, hands flying out uselessly as he moves somewhere nearby, shoes scuffing stone. His voice roughens into a roar, demanding I come forward.
I press myself to the tunnel wall and move along it slowly, feeling every groove and crack beneath my fingers. With quieter breaths and lighter steps, all my attention settles on the sounds behind me. Each one tells me where he is, and I can tell he’s getting closer.
The lights flicker, blinding me briefly until my eyes focus on what’s in front of me.
