Tiny Dancer(Divine Creek Ranch 13)(122)

She flinched when he poked her in the ribs and she gripped the seat but managed to stay on her feet. He must’ve given her only a light dose of the sedative because she could feel her legs again, only she couldn’t lift them. “Can’t climb in.”

“Fine. I’ll climb in and pull you in. Stay there. I was kinda hopin’ that you and I could give it another try since I’m out of prison. I see that’s impossible now. If you don’t cooperate, I’m gonna have to shoot you. Stay there.” He climbed past her on the passenger side and grabbed her under her arms. “Climb up, Cami. We’re driving to your bank and you’re withdrawing me some traveling money. Whether you live depends on how cooperative you are.”

He kept talking as he hauled her into the cab of the truck, and Camilla wondered if he’d always been this much of a dumb, boring asshole. How had he been smart enough to get himself into so many illegal money-making situations and yet couldn’t figure out what to do with one sedated ex-girlfriend?

When she was finally in the passenger seat, he sat back with a thud and started the engine. Camilla’s eyelids slid closed, and she moaned as the nausea returned with a vengeance. He’d yanked so hard on her corset strings it must’ve made it worse. Surely her men had missed her by now. She struggled with the laces, trying to loosen the section he’d pulled tight, but couldn’t manage to do much more than bat at them with her numb fingertips.

Tyler jumped when a shadow appeared outside the driver’s door, and she heard a metallic click. “Freeze, asshole. Put the gun down.”

Hank.

Camilla collapsed in the seat and relief coursed through her so fast she felt the nausea take control. She was certain this time it was going to win. She reached out for the truck door handle and realized the door was still wide open. She tried to turn to climb out of the truck, saw how far down the ground was as it wavered in her vision, and thought better of it. She might survive a near abduction only to break her neck falling from the vehicle. She hated feeling so weak and helpless.

Tyler cursed as he reached for her, preparing to put the gun to her head. She slapped his hands away and struggled, until Hank jerked open the truck’s driver side door and pulled him away from her, slamming him back against the driver’s seat.

Tyler released the trigger on the weapon in his hand and held it up.

“Put the weapon on the dashboard, then put both hands up where I can see them, asshole,” Hank ground out, his gun still aimed at Tyler.

Tyler complied and began talking a mile a minute as he lifted both hands in the air. His voice rose in pitch with each passing second. “I’ll tell you everything, but you gotta take me into protective custody. My life is in danger. I’ll tell you everything—”

Camilla pitched forward dizzily and finally lost control, vomiting all over her would-be kidnapper. She felt instantly better as she sat up and her world went a little topsy-turvy. Then everything went black.





Chapter Twenty-Six




Ben ignored the sound of Tyler’s pansy-ass gagging as he followed Quinten around to the other side of the big rental truck.

Ben looked past Quinten’s shoulder and nearly knocked him over as he ran. “Catch her! Catch her! Catch her!” He softly cursed, barely making it in time as she toppled from the passenger seat. She landed in his arms looking very pale, and her eyes rolled back in her head. “Sugar?” She smiled wanly at him then went limp. “He must’ve drugged her.”

Spencer growled when he saw her. “EMS is on their way.”

Ben was relieved to have Hank with them. They’d seen everything that had occurred in the back hallway on the security monitors and had also seen that her attacker had been armed. It had taken every reserve of patience he’d had to listen to Hank’s plan and do as he was told. He’d wanted to rush right out the back door after them. Hank had ordered them to all stay back in the driver’s side blind spot as he’d snuck up on Camilla’s abductor. Ben had nearly panicked when he’d heard her whimper and fall to the ground as Anderson had dragged her to the truck. When it was all over, he was doing exactly as Hank had suggested. Wrap her up and carry her in his pocket where she was safe. Damn it! She looked so frail and tiny in his arms as he crouched by the open truck door.

Quinten jerked his suit coat off and spread it on the ground for him to lay her on and kneeled next to him. He brushed a dark smudge from her cheekbone and felt her pulse. “Good, steady beat. She kept talking that whole time. He must’ve underdosed her.”

Sylvan came running across the parking lot with Camilla’s coat, which they wrapped around her. “Is she all right? My gosh, did he drag her across the asphalt?”