I’d wait one hour. After that, nothing was going to stop me.
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Reid
They came in four huge black SUVs.
Forty-five agonizing minutes after Thom tackled me from behind, Rigley and his men pulled up and climbed out. There were twenty of them all together, each man carrying an assault rifle and wearing body armor. Each of them looked like they knew what they were doing.
Rigley laughed and threw his arms open when he saw me. “There’s my favorite thief.”
“Rigley.”
He embraced me and laughed. “This is a glorious day, thief. Why do you look so serious?”
“They have my stepsister.”
He pulled away. “Captive?”
I nodded.
He made a face. “Jay is scum. Real scum. I look forward to breaking him.”
“I’m coming with you guys.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You have training? Know how to kill a man?”
“They have my stepsister,” I said slowly. “I’m coming or we don’t have a deal.”
He frowned. “You’re trying to change the rules now?”
“Jay changed the rules. I have to come.”
Rigley studied me for a minute and I stared back at him. It didn’t matter to me whether he said yes or no, I knew I was going anyway. I’d walk if I had to.
“Okay. You ride with me.”
I nodded. “Fine.”
Rigley looked at a man with a deep scar down his right cheek. “Pierre, get this thief a vest.”
The man shrugged, took a drag of his cigarette, and then rooted around in the trunk of the SUV. He pulled out a black flak vest and tossed it to me.
I’d never worn one before. It was surprisingly heavy as I strapped it on. Rigley watched appraisingly.
“You look like a real badass now, thief,” he said, grinning.
“I always was one.”
He laughed loudly. “Now thief, the rest of the cash.”
I rooted around in my pack and pulled out a trash bag and tossed it to him. He caught it and looked inside and then back at me.
“You had it the whole time?”
I nodded. “Bargaining. Just in case.”
He laughed again and tossed the bag to Pierre, who put it in the car.
“Okay. Let’s go.”
The men immediately put out their cigarettes and began to load back into the cars. I looked back at Thom.
“See you later.”
“Good luck, Climber. Don’t get killed.”
I grinned. “Dying isn’t my style.”
But killing Jay sure is
, I thought as I followed Rigley into the car.
It was a tight squeeze, but it didn’t matter. The driver pulled out, the cars moving in formation, heading farther away from town.
I had no clue where we were going, but evidently Rigley did. I didn’t bother asking questions, and the mood in the car didn’t make me feel talkative.
I kept thinking about that picture. Becca chained to a wall like an animal, her shirt ripped off, her hands behind her back. I didn’t know what they did to her, but I was going to make them pay for it.
I was bringing hellfire and retribution down on their doorstep.
We drove farther and farther, out into the woods and the mountains. Finally, the driver made a left and headed down a dirt path. We were probably a half hour outside of Ridgewood in a pretty sparsely populated area.
The place had huge, high chain link fences with a gate. For a second, I wondered how we were going to get past it.
And then the driver floored the car, answering my question.
“Hold on,” Rigley said, grinning at me.
I grabbed on to the car seat just as the driver rammed into the gate.
We pitched back and forward but slammed through it. The sound of crunching metal and grating plastic tore through the air. If they didn’t know we were coming, they did now.
The other SUVs followed as we barreled up the path, heading right for a house set back away from the road. Bushes and trees circled the place, and it looked like any other suburban home in the world.
Except it was full of violent gangsters. And the woman I loved, chained in the basement.
There was no movement from the house as the SUVs encircled it. Slowly, the men climbed out of the cars. I walked behind Rigley, keeping close, my gun drawn and the safety off.
They were using complex hand signals that I couldn’t follow. People spread out in all directions, one team heading toward the back, the others fanning out.
“Just keep near me, thief,” Rigley said.
He looked happy, like it was the best day of his life. He was absolutely terrifying.
For a second, I felt afraid. I was about to break into a house full of violent and dangerous men. There was a real chance that I was about to die.
But as soon as I remembered Becca and the look on her face, all the fear was gone. I felt as centered and calm as possible, almost like I was climbing a steep wall.