The door opened.
Rae stepped out.
I didn’t relax when I saw it was her and not some enforcer. “Get outta here!” I roared. My hand was still on the gun.
“Please, please. I gotta talk to you.” She sent the cab away.
I laughed bitterly. “I don’t know why the fuck you just sent him away, because I don’t wanna have anything to do with you.”
She looked dejected. Good. I wanted her to. She should have. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Huh? Why would you come here?”
“Man, relax. She might have some info for you.” Flash put a hand on my arm, the one behind me. “Steady.”
I let go of the gun, and he dropped his hand. He was right. She was the only person who might be able to tell me something that could help. Otherwise, I was totally screwed. “What do you want?” I asked. My voice was quieter.
“I wanna help find her.”
“Them. You wanna help find them.”
“Them?” She looked at me, then Flash.
“Jamie. Gigi’s teacher. He took her, too.”
“What?” Rae covered her mouth with her hands. “Oh no. Jesus.”
“Yeah. You know her, huh? Anyway, they’re both gone. Because of you.”
“Lance, please. Come on. I came here to help.”
“How can you help?” Flash asked.
Rae opened her mouth like she was about to say something, then closed it.
I shook my head. “She can’t. She doesn’t know shit. She only came here so we would protect her.” I got on the bike, ready to ride away. “She already did enough damage.”
“I can help, I swear!” I could hear her over the engine.
“Lance, wait.” Flash stopped me again. He asked Rae, “What do you know?”
“I know where Scarecrow does all his deals.”
That was enough to stop me. I turned off the engine. “Where?”
She paused again. “Will…will you help me? Like, if you find him…will you help protect me from him?”
I knew it. I laughed, shaking my head. She was fucking insane. “Rae, if I find him, there won’t be anything to worry about by the time I’m finished. You better start talkin’.”
She nodded. That was good enough for her. “There’s a motel on the highway. North of here. Almost nobody ever goes there.”
I thought I knew which one she meant. “The one that looks abandoned? The sign is broken?”
“Yeah, that’s the one.”
I saw it all the time. It used to have a big sign you could see from miles away. All that was left was a metal frame—the glass and light bulbs were gone.
“You know which room he uses?”
“Yeah. Room two thirteen. I’ve been there.”
“I’m sure you have.” She still made my skin crawl. “You said he makes his deals there?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Drop offs, sales.”
“Sales of people, you mean?”
She looked at the ground. Who the hell was she? She knew about this shit, and she never did anything about it. I stared at her. She wouldn’t look at me. At least she still knew she should be ashamed of herself.
“And this is where he’ll be now? You know it?”
“He doesn’t use any other place. That’s it. Out of the way, not a lotta people there. He can do what he wants.”
Flash and I looked at each other. “It’s as good a shot as any,” he said.
I didn’t need to think about it. It was about a half hour up the interstate. I was sure I could make it in less time than that.
“Get everybody together, I want them all there.”
Flash nodded, and I took off. I didn’t look at Rae when I did—I might have run her down. She wasn’t even a person to me anymore.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jamie
The ride to the motel was the longest half hour of my life. I was terrified that I wouldn’t get there in time to help Gigi. God, if he let anybody hurt her…! How many people were there? What were they doing to her? I felt sick just thinking about it.
I couldn’t think that way. I told myself not to. She would be just fine. I would get to her in time, and she would be all right. I would find a way.
How, though? How would I get her away? What did I have that he would take? Money? Sure, I would give him money. Every last cent I had, and that was saying something. My parents had left me fairly well-off. I’d hand over the keys to my house, even. Anything it took to get her away from him.
But even then, was that a guarantee that he’d let her go? No. It was a sobering reality to come to. I couldn’t be sure he’d keep his word.