Chapter Eighteen
Claire
At first, I thought the man was going to mug me. He'd followed me from the last pawn shop. As I argued with the pawn broker over the price of my mother's diamond tennis bracelet, I saw him lurking around my car.
I was about to let someone steal the cash I'd raised. Those were precious keepsakes that I had sold off and that money had a purpose.
I carried my crate back out to the car. When I got closer, I wrapped my hand around a rejected antique lamp. The man came at me from the side and I cracked the heavy lamp across his face.
He had a hard head, but it was the drugs that made him feel no pain. The man spat out a tooth with a jittery laugh and came at me again. I fought him hard but no one came to help. He knocked the crate from my hands and then wrapped his jacket around my head and arms.
As I panicked in the suffocating darkness, he managed to shove me into the trunk of a car. By the time I fought myself out of the coat, the trunk was locked and the car had started.
I choked on exhaust fumes as the car sped out of the city. I tried to keep track of the corners and remember what direction we were heading. Even though the fumes made me dizzy, I memorized each turn.
I tried to spring out of the trunk when the car stopped, but the man tossed a heavy wool blanket over me this time. Its roughness scraped my face as he hauled me into a room and slammed the door. I heard his footsteps receding down an echoing hallway as I struggled free of the itchy blanket.
Not a mugging, a kidnapping.
I got to my feet and had to grab the wall. My knees wobbled. I'd been tumbled into a car and kidnapped. The whole world felt upside down.
I forced myself to think rationally. The man had to be an accomplice of Hack's. Who else would kidnap me? My stomach soured as I thought through some of the more desperate cases I had seen in the ER.
"No. I'm fine. This is just about the money," I whispered to myself.
Drugs. That would explain Hack's greed for money. And it would explain how he easily convinced the man outside to be his accomplice. So, it really was just about the money.
Except drug-users could be erratic and prone to violent outbursts.
I paced around the small, bare room. It looked like the utility closet of an abandoned warehouse. I thought through my list of turns and roads and figured I was somewhere on the outskirts of town. An old flour mill had closed down there a decade ago and sat graffitied and rotting.
I jumped when I heard a voice. Maybe I would get lucky and some group of teens would arrive to spray paint obscenities on the walls.
My stomach dropped. I couldn't let those men hurt a bunch of kids. I raced to the door and pounded on it as hard as I could.
"Slow down, lady. Slow down." Hack pried open the door. "I know you want me, but relax. No need to yell. There's nobody around for miles."
His friend snickered down the hall and I realized the voices I had heard belonged to them.
Hack slunk into the room and gave his nose a persistent rub. "So, my friend says you were pawning some stuff. Not a bad stack of cash."
"Good, you got it. Now let me go. That was just a payment. I'll have the rest for you soon," I said.
Hack held out an arm and blocked the door. His sleeve hitched up and I saw track marks.
"Nah. Time's up, honey. Plus I know someone who's real anxious to meet you," he said.
I crossed my arms tight across my chest. "Who?"
"A man. Let's just call him a potential buyer." Hack dropped his arm from the door and rubbed his hands together.
"You're not a criminal. Not yet," I said. "Why don't you let me help you?"
Hack noticed his exposed track marks and yanked his sleeve down. "I don't need your help. Unless you can get the rest of my money right now, I'm making the other deal."
I took a step forward. "I can help you quit. It's taking over your life, isn't it? Look around. Is this really where you want to be right now?"
The concern in my voice made Hack cringe. He didn't trust my kindness and his shoulders stiffened like a kicked dog.
"What, you want to talk regrets? Bet you're regretting helping your loser brother right about now," Hack said.
I thought of Reese's scruffy stuffed dinosaur. "No. I don't regret helping my brother at all. I would do it all over again in an instant."
"What?" Hack scratched his arms.
"He's my brother. I love him and I would do anything for him," I said.
Hack watched me, confused, and scrubbed his chin. Then a spastic guitar sound blasted from his pocket. He looked relieved when he saw who was calling.
I pressed my ear to the door right after Hack shut it. He had only gone a few steps and I could hear him clearly.
"Steele, what's up, man? Sorry I had to jet," Hack said. "Yeah, no problem. Oh, you want to come meet me? Um, now's not really a good time."
I pounded on the door as hard as I could and screamed for Steele. Hack gave the door a sharp kick then I heard his voice quickly receding down the hallway.
"Yeah, sorry. Crazy fender bender right in front of me. I'm fine, don't worry," Hack explained my desperate noises to Steele. "Can you hang on for a second? Shut her the hell up, would you?"
I froze. Hack's friend was coming back down the hallway toward my door. I flattened myself against the wall near the door and looked around in a panic. There was nothing I could hit the man with except my own fists. I looked down and knotted my hands together. Then I raised my hands over my head like a club and waited.
Hack didn't know Steele's true identity. Yet. If Steele found out that Hack had taken me, he'd have to reveal his double-life to the police. Or, worse, Steele would offer to pay my ransom and Hack would realize he was heir to the Channing fortune. Steele would be bled dry by blackmail and it would all be my fault.
The man reached the door and fumbled with the chains. I held my breath and clamped my fingers together tighter. The door open and I cracked my hands down as hard as I could.
Hack's buddy crumpled to the floor at my feet. My hands reverberated with pain, but my plan had worked!
I stepped over him and slipped down the hallway in the direction Hack had gone. The factory was a maze and my best bet was to follow him to an exit. Plus, I wanted to hear the outcome of his conversation with Steele.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Mercy. Please. It's just a business transaction." Hack paced back and forth across a larger factory room. His shuffling footsteps smeared water from a puddle. The roof was broken and open to the sky.
He was still talking to Steele. "I don't have to let it go. He knew the bet when we made it. I'm in the right here!"
I heard a muffled groan from the hallway behind me. I didn't have much time before Hack's friend woke up. I inched forward and glanced around for an exit.
"Yeah, things have gone too far! So, are you going to back me or what?" Hack asked.
I held my breath. Steele was in the same motorcycle club as Hack. Part of being in a club meant having each other's backs. Hack honestly believed that Steele would come and help him.
"She's out! She got out, man!" Hack's friend stumbled into the hallway and shouted.
Hack whipped around and saw me peeking through the door. He hung up his phone and tossed it before dodging across the room toward me.
I ran. Straight at him. Hack, confused by my actions, skidded to a stop. I veered off and sprinted toward the exit I had spotted.
"Get her! She's going out the side door," Hack called to his friend.
"I'm hurt. She cracked my skull," his friend called back.
I grabbed the door handle and shook it, but the door was welded shut. A big, smeared smiley face grinned down at me. I turned from the door and looked around for another exit.
Hack stood in the center of the room, scrawny arms extended to either side. "There's nowhere to go. Why don't you take the easy way out and just walk yourself back to your room."
"You really think your motorcycle club is going to help you with this? You threatened my brother and kidnapped me!"
"Because you owe me money," Hack said.
"You're planning on selling me!" I screamed.
Hack scrubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, they don't need to know about that. I got a guy on the way here and he's agreed to say nothing. He's just my muscle. That what you do for club members, no questions asked."
"I don't believe you," I said. "Your club isn't going to stand by and let you do this."
I smelled wet wool seconds before Hack's buddy tossed the blanket over my head again. They laughed as they hauled me back to the little storage room and slammed the door.
Now all I could do was wait.