“Lock.”
“Mr. Lock. If you’re lying and intend to do me any harm, I would think twice if I were you. Miah won’t stop till he finds me, and if you’ve harmed me in any way, he will hurt you very badly before killing you just as badly.”
That starts him muttering and I almost smile when he looks at me with a little fear and a lot of respect.
“You Lane women have balls, you know that? Relax, sweetheart, I ain’t gonna hurt you. I just have to deliver you for a little meeting and then I’ll drop you off at the nearest gas station to make a call to that animal guarding you. Fuck, they all said Lane was not a man to mess with, but what could I do? I follow orders just like anyone else has to, you know.”
Whatever. I’m not even interested anymore and I think he knows it when he stops talking and starts muttering beneath his breath. After what feels like hours of nonstop driving in the sweltering heat, we turn left onto a gravel rack and bump our way down a long road that takes another twenty minutes of travel before he pulls over and turns the engine off.
“Now I’ll untie your legs and let you walk if you promise not to run. I don’t want you hurting yourself, and there are wild animals in the woods.”
“Fine. Just please let me out of here. My legs are going dead.”
He huffs and gets out to open the back door and I get a look at my surroundings and gasp. He’s right. There are trees everywhere, and enough thick vegetation that I know I’d never even make it to the forest before he caught me.
Another car sits a few feet away in front of us, and I stand still when the door opens and a short brunette with long wavy hair and gray eyes comes towards me.
“Miss Elms. My name is Stephanie Williams. I’m an agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation and I would like to talk to you about Jeramiah Lane and his brothers.”
I ignore her outstretched hand and look her up and down in disgust.
“You arranged this kidnapping? What, you don’t have opposable thumbs and can’t use a phone?”
They start laughing and I grind my teeth and resist the urge to take a swing at one of them.
“Miss Elms, I saved you from being murdered by a man hired by a Mr. Nicolas Grimes, so if I were you I’d play nice. I called you here because, despite my many attempts to reach your man and his brothers without compromising their mission, I have yet to make contact. I need to speak with Miah, Clari, before he gets himself killed dealing in something he does not understand.”
That throws me and I stop giving her lip long enough to listen.
“Talk.”
“Your fiancé—”
“Boyfriend.”
“Your boyfriend has been led to believe that there is only one cell in this group of homeland extremists, when, in fact, the rot spreads way further than even we realize. If any of the Lane brothers attempt to expose the department he works in, all of you will be in extreme danger. These men do not believe in mercy or splitting hairs, Miss Elms. They will kill any Lane they can find.”
My mouth must be hanging open because she nods once and hands me an A4 envelope and a bottle of water.
“Mr. Lock will see you to safety. Please give this to Miah and ask him to call me as soon as possible. We’re on the same side here, and I’d hate to see anyone hurt because of one bad apple in the black ops unit he used to belong to.”
She turns swiftly and gets back into the car, leaving me alone with Lock and the envelope I can barely hold because my hands are so tightly bound.
“We need to move before that boyfriend of yours comes looking. I really do not feel like dying today.”
He puts me into the front passenger seat and even buckles me up before starting the car and reversing very quickly back onto the main road.
“Now remember, Clara. Give that package to Miah and get him to at least call us. We need to work together on this to weed out all the bad seeds.”
The gas station he leaves me at is kind enough to let me use the phone to call Miah, but I suspect that has something to do with the cable tie still cutting into the skin on my wrists and the slight pallor I’m still sporting.
“Miah?”
“Clari? Jesus, babe, where the hell are you?” he yells, making me wince and pull back the phone.
I give him the name of the gas station and put the phone down with a sigh. Out of all of this madness, the one thought that keeps sticking with me is that now I’ll have to tell Miah about Nick and what that FBI chick said, and I’d so hoped to keep this under wraps a little longer.
If Nick is indeed as dangerous as she says, and willing to hire a killer to come after me in my bed, then he’s not about to give up anytime soon.