This time, though, he didn’t pass by. He stopped in front my stall and threw a bag through the bars. “Get dressed,” he said. “Fix up your face. I’ll be back for you soon.”
I was forcing myself not to stare at the padlock in horror. I should have gotten out! “What’s going on?” I asked in a strained voice.
“You’re off to Europe,” said the guard as he walked away. “You’ve been bought.”
54
Carrick
The sun was going down and I was ready to kill someone.
We’d been searching all night and all day. We’d checked every ranch in the area but there wasn’t any sign of anything suspicious. Mac had even called in the chapters in the neighboring counties and had them out searching, but no one could find her. Meanwhile, someone had found Sheriff Harris and discovered our escape. An APB had gone out for all of us. There were fewer cops out here in the sticks but we knew it was only a matter of time until we were spotted.
We’d all met up at the final site on the list, a former ranch that was now nothing more than crumbling wood and knee-high grass. We’d hidden the bikes in the old stable block so they were out of sight from any passing patrol cars. But now, standing around in the gloom, no one had any ideas. “Fuck!” I yelled, and kicked at the rotting stable wall. My boot went straight through, fragments of sodden wood flying into the air.
“Could be I was wrong,” Viking offered. He ran his hand over a cage-like device of rusting metal—the standing stock that had brought us here.
I felt the exhaustion sweep over me. The previous morning, waking up happy with Annabelle in the cabin in the woods, felt like a lifetime ago. “You weren’t wrong,” I said stubbornly. I didn’t want him to be wrong. If he was wrong, Annabelle was lost forever.#p#分页标题#e#
“We tried everywhere,” said Hunter. He put a comforting hand on my shoulder but I shook him off. I didn’t want comfort. I didn’t want to hear what they were trying to tell me.
They wanted her back just as much as I did and they wanted revenge on Volos for what he’d done to the club. But it was over.
She’s gone, a little voice inside me said. She’s lost. You had her and you lost her forever because you made the wrong choices. I thought of how scared she must be, right now, and the rage roared through me, making every muscle tense and ache. If I got my hands on Volos, he wasn’t going to jail.
I saw now that we’d been locked in battle from the first moment I’d walked into that bar. Two men, warring over the same woman. Except I wanted Annabelle as a gorgeous, bright, smart woman; he wanted her as a thing, as inventory to sell. A product—
I blinked and jumped to my feet. I grabbed Viking by the front of his cut. “Standing stocks,” I said. “Do they use them anywhere else? What about where they cut up the cows? A slaughterhouse?”
Viking thought about it. “Probably. They’ve still got to control them, examine them. Yeah, I guess.”
Everyone got their phones out and started searching for slaughterhouses. Mine had been wrecked in the lake so all I could do was muscle in and look over shoulders. “There!” I stabbed at one on Hunter’s screen. “Right out in the middle of nowhere. And it’s the right distance from Haywood Falls.”
The mood changed. We had a target again. “Saddle up,” said Mac savagely. “Let’s ride.”
55
Annabelle
I stared at myself in the hand mirror. I was dressed again and I’d put on lipstick, some mascara and a little eye shadow. I’d brushed my hair, too, and dabbed on the perfume that had been in the bag. The whole process made me fell ill: the last thing I wanted to do as to make myself more appealing to these bastards. But they had to think I was following their orders. I needed them to let their guard down.
Just as I finished, I hear footsteps approaching. Not just the guard, this time. Several men. And something about the confident footfalls of the man in front made my chest close up in fear.
Volos turned the corner and walked right up to my stall. Four men were with him, all in suits. I recognized two from the auction and two from when we’d met him by the lake. “We’re taking a trip,” he told me. “Ever wanted to see Europe?”
My stomach knotted. Once I was out of the country, there’d be no hope.
“Give me your hand,” he said, his tone almost friendly.
I hesitantly put one hand through the bars, wanting to keep him happy as long as possible.
He grabbed my wrist and yanked. I was jerked forward and my forehead slammed against the bars, bringing tears to my eyes. The men laughed. I was still reeling when I saw the needle.