Hunter’s teeth started to ache with all the grinding they were doing. “Now what?”
Dennis offered half a smile and turned back to the monitors. The third one fired up. Another set of GPS blips moved on the screen. “Gabi?”
“Nope.” He pointed to the red blip. “Neil.” Pointed to the green blip. “Rick . . . probably.” They were closing in on the neighborhood fast.
It will all go away if I keep my eyes closed.
She tried, but the need to crash into the real world sucker punched her.
With the light came the pain.
With a mouth full of cotton and her body in a cold sweat, Gabi attempted to focus.
A house. Yeah, she remembered a house.
Her captors left her propped up against a wall and an empty bookshelf.
She wasn’t tied up, but her limbs were difficult to move anyway. All the windows were covered with thick drapes that barely let any light in.
“You’re awake.”
Gabi swung her head, quickly regretted it. He was tied up, arms behind his back, legs together with duct tape. Swollen eye and split lip. He’d put up a struggle, but he wasn’t a young man, and from the condition of his clothes and appearance, didn’t seem fit at all.
“Who are you?” she asked.
He attempted to smile, his good eye crinkled in a familiar way. “Sherman Blackwell.”
“Oh.” Hunter’s father.
“And who are you?”
“Gabriella Blackwell.”
“Ahh, the woman turning my son around.”
She disregarded his words and pulled one of her legs close to her chest, then the other. She looked beyond the entry to the room. “Are they still here?”
Sherman nodded. “Other room. Walk in every ten minutes to see if you’re awake.”
“What time is it?”
Sherman rolled his eyes. “Left my Rolex at home.”
“How long do you think I’ve been here?”
“An hour . . . maybe.”
Gabi ran her good hand over her chest to rub out the ache. She looked down to see a nasty bruise from what she guessed was the seat belt of the car. Her fingers fell across the pendent on her neck.
She bit her lip before lifting the GPS device and kissing it.
Heavy footfalls came from the direction of what looked to be a hall. Gabi shoved the pendent under her shirt and tried to relax against the wall.
“Awake at last, señora.”
She blinked several times. “Who are you?” The familiarity of his face scared her.
He lifted his pants before kneeling at her side. “I’m offended you don’t know.”
“We’ve met?”
“Not formally. I’m surprised your husband did not introduce us.”
“You’re a colleague of Hunter’s?”
“Not that husband . . . your poor departed one. He and I were very close.”
Her ears rang, reminding her of an old saying about how when your ears ring it was a sign of someone in the future walking over your grave. “Diaz,” she whispered.
“I’m flattered. Too bad I can’t let you live now that you’ve seen my face and know my name. It’s not personal, Gabriella.”
Her stomach twisted.
Diaz ran a finger under her chin. “Such a shame with one so beautiful. You understand, no?”
She pulled away from his fingers and he laughed.
“Why am I alive now?”
He kept laughing. “Beautiful but a fool, eh, old man?”
“Leave her alone,” Gabi heard Sherman tell Diaz.
“Chivalry . . . how sweet. Unfounded in this circumstance, but a nice gesture.” Diaz reached behind him and removed a gun from the waist of his pants.
Gabi tried not to breathe as Diaz ran it along her jaw. “Here are the rules, Gabriella. Do I have your attention?”
“Yes,” she muttered.
“You scream, and I shoot him. He yells, and I shoot you. Equality is important in this decade, no?”
What a sick man.
“You understand my rules so far?”
She nodded once.
“Good. When I put the phone to your ear, you say exactly what I want you to say, or I shoot him.” Diaz swung the gun toward Hunter’s father.
“You’re going to kill us anyway,” Sherman said.
Diaz tapped the gun onto Gabi’s chest, his finger hovering over the trigger.
“Yes, but slowly, or quickly?” Diaz moved the gun along Gabi’s arm and rested at the crook. “Or maybe I’ll show mercy and let you leave this life on a cloud.” He leaned close, she felt his lips on her ear. “You’d like that . . . wouldn’t you?”
She whimpered.
“Once they have a taste, they always want more.”
With that, Diaz shifted on the balls of his feet and stood. He grabbed Gabi’s good arm and hauled her to her feet. “Time for that phone call.”