Hunter pushed away and started yelling toward the horde of lookie-loos. “Who saw what happened? Someone saw something.” The crowd parted around him, fearful of the crazy man yelling at strangers.
Finally one of the police officers was able to corral him long enough to tell him what they knew.
Gabi . . . or a woman with a broken arm and dark hair, had stumbled out of the car on the arm of a well-dressed Hispanic man. Goatee, dark hair, tall. Looked like she was really messed up but able to walk . . . kind of. Four-door car, maybe gray, maybe silver. Honda, Acura, maybe an older Lexus. Hard to say.
They sped off toward Sunset.
No one followed.
Connor was pulled from the car, heavily concussed with an unknown amount of internal damage. As the paramedics pushed him into the back of the ambulance, Hunter motioned Solomon toward the emergency vehicle. “You should go.”
“My priority is keeping you safe.”
Hunter glared. “I could only hope the man would come after me and not the people I care about.”
Solomon didn’t budge.
Officer Delgado and his partner showed up as the police on scene were finishing their questions. “Ready to talk to us now, Blackwell?”
Solomon and Hunter exchanged looks.
“Connor might have recorded something on the dashboard camera.”
Hunter looked at the cops, knew he didn’t have any choices left.
“Follow us.”
Her arm no longer hurt, her foggy head was full of color and muffled noise. Gabi was vaguely aware of the two men holding her up and leading her into a house. They could be taking her to a ditch on the side of the road and she wouldn’t care.
She remembered this. How could she have ever forgotten?
The rush, the heat . . . then the next to nothing. How much of this would she remember? She attempted to keep her eyes open and take in what was going on around her. A nagging voice in her head told her to stay aware, keep alert.
Another part told her to just feel. The floating and the power to forget everything would only last so long. Then the pain would return.
Unlike the crash she’d experienced at the hands of Alonzo, she knew this one would be harder.
Gabi wasn’t sure how she’d managed to be slumped on the floor of a nearly empty living room, but the men who took her were kneeling beside her talking. “How much did you give her?”
“We have at least an hour.”
The handsome one placed a hand on her cheek and slapped it. Where’s the pain?
“You’ve caused me so much trouble, Mrs. Picano. If you’d left my money alone, none of this would have had to happen.”
She closed her eyes, opened them when his palm slapped her again. “Not my money,” she mumbled.
“No. It’s mine.”
His hand hadn’t left her face as he stared at her.
“You can have it. I don’t, don’t . . . don’t want it.” Sleepy. She closed her eyes and heard the man switch languages.
She recognized the words but didn’t process them.
Sleep was a much better option.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Andrew handed Hunter the phone as he walked in the door. “It’s Neil.”
“Gabi’s missing,” he told his friend.
“I know.”
Hunter lifted the receiver to his ear. “Is my father alive?” he asked Neil without saying hello.
“He’s not here. Your friend is banged up. Probably be able to sleep off most of it. Sounds like a couple of men ambushed him, knocked him around, and then jacked him on something that got him talking. He directed his attackers here, they slapped him with more drugs, then left. He remembers it being light when they jumped him.”
“Last night?”
“Must be.”
“So the men who have my dad could be the same ones that have Gabi.”
Neil was silent for a moment. “Yes. We do have Gabi on GPS, Blackwell.”
“What?” For the first time in an hour, hope flared. “You have what?”
“GPS . . . inside her necklace. It must have took a hit, because it’s spotty, but Dennis is working with the data coming in.”
He heard the police walking into the house and Solomon talking to them.
“The police are here.”
Another long pause. “Tell them what they need to know. I have a couple of friends I’m calling within the department. Time is critical right now.”
Hunter hated the thought of cooperating with the criminals, but Gabi’s kidnapper had made it clear he didn’t want the police involved. “He said no cops.”
“That was before he publically kidnapped Gabi. He changed the rules, Blackwell.”
Hunter’s voice broke with his next words. “He has my wife, Neil.”
“He needs her for the money, needs her to assure his own freedom. He won’t kill her.”