Touch Me Not(95)

“Look, now is not the time for this,” Nikoli cut him off. “We can bitch slap each other later. Right now we need to find Lily.”

Adam nodded, but his eyes promised Nikoli a world of pain.

“How many people do we have sober enough to drive?” he asked.

“Not enough,” Mike said grimly, “but we can get more here.”

“We need to all spread out and start looking. I know it’s probably not going to do anything, but at least if we’re out there looking and she’s trying to get away, we might see something, anything that can help us find her.”

“I’m on it.” Mike took off toward the house, Adam hot on his heels. Less than a minute went by before people started to stream out of the fraternity, some climbing into cars, others on foot, to look for Lily.

Kade arrived about the same time the police did. Campus security showed up bursting with indignation the police had been called first. Nikoli repeated his story to countless people before he finally got fed up and stalked over to his brother.

“They have my statement, and they can question me all they want after we find Lily. I’m going to go look for her.”

“Nik, just slow down. You don’t even know where she is…”

They both hushed when news of a bra waving out of the broken taillight of an old sedan was reported on the highway. “With me,” Kade said, and they climbed into his FBI issued SUV. Nikoli gave him directions, and before long they were on the highway, breaking every speed limit they came across, sirens wailing and lights flashing.

It took them twenty minutes, but they caught up with the unmarked car following the sedan. Nikoli spotted Mike and Adam closing in as well. He’d forgotten Mike’s dad had installed a police scanner in his truck. They would have heard the call too.#p#分页标题#e#

The sedan sped up, weaving through traffic, having seen the police lights. Nikoli cursed when the car started to cut in and out of traffic. It was dangerous, too dangerous. He was going to crash. Kade came to the same realization and barked an order for ambulances to start heading their way.

Mike’s truck was even with the SUV, and Nikoli rolled down his window. “They’re gonna crash!”

“We know!” Mike yelled back.

Kade sped up, twisting the SUV in between cars in a way the poor thing had never been meant to. He sideswiped two vehicles to keep the sedan in sight. The old, gold colored Saturn made a sharp turn to the left, and the momentum was too much. It couldn’t stop the force that plowed it into the car in front of it, and then went rolling, landing on the other side of the median where a tractor trailer hit it head on.

They all stared in horror as the car came to a stop against the guardrail, mangled into a mess of metal and plastic.

Kade came to his senses first and drove over the median to get to the other side. Nikoli had the door open and was running before he’d even come to a stop. This reminded him of the day Lily had run to him in Miami, but this was so much worse. His wreck had been minor. This was…she could be dead. God, please don’t let her die.

He skidded to a halt, looking for the trunk. He saw a tiny piece of white material and said a prayer of thanks. His hands roamed until he found the seam of the trunk and pulled. Nothing. It wouldn’t budge. Adam, Mike, and Kade joined him, and together they forced the lid up.

“Nononononono,” Nikoli whispered, looking at Lily’s lifeless body lying as twisted and mangled as the car. He reached for her, and Mike and Adam grabbed him.

“Don’t,” Mike said. “We need to wait for the paramedics. We could hurt her more if we move her.”

“I need to know if she’s alive.” Tears streamed down his face, and he didn’t care. All he saw was Lily, bleeding and so still.

Kade leaned in and put two fingers to the pulse point on her neck. “She’s got a pulse. It’s weak, but it’s there.”

They could see more lights in the distance. Nikoli tuned it all out. All he saw was Lily. He knelt down in front of the trunk and prayed. He hadn’t prayed to God since he was a small boy, but he prayed now. He promised God that if he let Lily live, he’d spend every minute of the rest of their lives making it up to her. He promised so many things if only God would let Lily live. He was barely aware of the tears running down his cheeks or the sobs torn out of him. All he saw was his Lily Bells.

Kade gently pulled him away so the paramedics could go to work.

“What the hell?” Mike muttered. Nikoli’s head whipped around to see Mike staring at the driver. He went over to see what had Mike so startled.