Outlaw's Promise(86)

I crawled until my jeans were soaked with slime and my knees were bruised. And just as I was about to give up hope, I found the only other drain cover big enough to climb through.

I crawled right under it and looked up. And saw a pair of legs in tailored suit pants.

Volos was standing directly above me, so close that I could have reached up and touched his shoes. He was shouting orders to the guards: that was the only reason he hadn’t heard me approach. But just at that second, he went quiet.

I froze. I was in an awkward crouch, head craned back to look up through the grate, but I didn’t dare move a muscle.

If I moved, he’d hear me. If I stayed there, sooner or later he’d glance down and see me.

I still had the necklace clutched in one fist. I silently slung it around my neck and fingered the shamrock.

I needed a miracle.





57





Carrick





“This is it,” I said. “This is the place.” I could see Volos’s red SUV parked at the bottom of the hill. Up at the top, the hulking shape of the slaughterhouse was silhouetted against the moon. I cocked Caorthannach and stormed up the track that led to the main door.

Mac caught me when I was halfway there and slammed me up against a cattle shed. “Wait!”

I snarled and lunged at him, getting right up in his face. After a whole night and day without her, I was going crazy. She was in there: I was sure of it. I had to get her back. That was all I knew.

But Mac didn’t flinch. He just stared at me with those sad, understanding eyes and I eased back a little. There’s a reason he’s our president. “Do you even have a plan?” he asked gently.

“I’m going to boot in the fuckin’ door and start hitting people,” I muttered.

The others caught up to us. Mac squeezed my shoulder. “Let Hunter go take a look.” And he nodded at Hunter, who disappeared into the darkness like a wraith.

Minutes passed. I kept glancing between Mac and the slaughterhouse. It killed me to wait but he was right: the way to do this was as a club.

“We’ll get her back, brother,” Mac said quietly.

I looked at him, then at the rest of the club. Even if we rescued Annabelle, we were all still wanted by the cops. Most likely, we’d be in jail by the morning. But instead of skipping town, they were helping me. I couldn’t find any words so I just nodded.

“Four—” said a voice an inch from my left ear.

I jumped about a foot in the air. “Jesus!” I hissed. Hunter had reappeared out of the darkness right next to me. The guy was uncanny.

“Sorry,” he said, sounding not sorry at all. “Four guards plus four of that psycho’s guys in suits, plus Volos himself. So nine. Volos and his guys look like they’re carrying. The guards….” He glanced at me and then looked away.

“What?” I asked.

This time, he did sound apologetic. “They have cattle prods.”#p#分页标题#e#

My hands balled into fists. Oh, you son of a bitch, Volos….

“Can we get in the back?” asked Mac. He was talking quickly because he could see I wouldn’t hold back much longer.

Hunter shook his head. “Fire doors are all heavy steel. Only way in is the front.”

“How many women are in there?” asked Mac.

“Seven that I could see,” said Hunter. He looked at me. “I couldn’t see Annabelle. Sorry.”

My chest tightened. What if we’d missed her? What if she was already on a plane? “Let’s go,” I said. And we started up the hill.





58





Annabelle





I crouched there silently in the pipe, the slime seeping through the knees of my jeans to chill my skin. Volos was still standing directly above me and it was too quiet to risk moving. But my legs were cramping up and I could feel the drug draining the strength from me. Soon, I’d just slump to the floor of the pipe and he’d sure as hell hear that.

But then fate or chance or whoever was looking down on me granted me one tiny, golden shred of luck. A shrill bleating came from Volos’s pants pocket. He sighed and pulled out a cell phone.

I crawled backward, away from the grate, lifting each knee with painstaking care.

“Everything’s fine,” said Volos into the phone. “We might be a little delayed getting to Vienna.”

I took another careful step backward.

Volos started to pace, stepping off the grate and taking a few steps away. He ran a hand through his hair: it was the first time I’d seen him looking anything but confident and assured. The idea of someone who could make Volos nervous sent a chill down my spine.

I drew back a little more. I was nearly out of sight. Another step would do it.