CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Piper cradled Liam against her as they rode in the back of a black van with no windows. She’d given up counting turns and trying to figure out where Moe and his buddy were taking them.
At first, she thought the guards were transporting them to Barone. Too many people were on the estate, though. Someone would see if they were carried into the house.
Maybe the oversized garage the crime boss had built. Although she couldn’t see her watch, Piper sensed the ride had been longer than a drive to the other side of Hartman should take.
“Liam.” She stroked his hair. “Please wake up.”
How long had he been unconscious? Moe had scooped up Liam as soon as he was out and tossed him over one shoulder while his fellow thug grabbed Piper. Since they threatened to slit Liam’s throat if she made a sound, Piper had kept silent as they walked to the estate’s boundary and through the back entrance to the van parked beyond the gate.
Finally, the van stopped.
She drew in a deep breath. The clowns had taken her cell phone as well as Liam’s and removed his weapons. Even if she found a way to escape, she refused to leave Liam in their hands. Live or die, they’d face it together.
The doors opened. Moe and his buddy peered inside. “Let’s go, Piper.”
“Why are you doing this? You’ve worked for my uncle for years. Hasn’t Gino earned your loyalty?”
The big man shrugged. “Money talks. The boss says you won’t be hurt if you give us Gavin’s information.”
Moe deluded himself if he believed Barone planned to release her and Liam. They knew too much. Didn’t Moe have a sense of self-preservation? She and Liam could turn Moe and his fellow guard in to the cops.
What would Barone do when he learned he was too late to stop them from sending the information to the feds? Her stomach twisted into a knot.
Another thought occurred to her. Bravo or Texas had someone watching the house. Did something happen to Liam’s backup? “Did Barone send you?”
He reached in and wrapped her wrist in a punishing grip. “Let’s go. You don’t want to fight me. I’d feel bad about it, but I’d hurt you if necessary. Can’t say I’d show the same restraint for your boyfriend, though. Yeah, I’ll be happy to take out my anger on your defenseless man.” An ugly smile curved his lips as his grip tightened. “Thinks he’s so much better than the rest of us. I’d love to teach him the meaning of pain and I will if you don’t cooperate.”
“No, please. Don’t hurt him.” She had to stall until Liam woke up. When he did, she wasn’t sure how much time he needed to recover his ability to move. Didn’t it take a while to throw off the aftereffect of an electric shock? No telling how long Liam would need to regain movement after two zaps from the stun gun.
Moe shoved her toward his buddy who wrenched her arm behind her back. Piper yelped.
“Shut up,” he hissed and propelled her into motion.
She glanced back in time to see Moe haul Liam over his shoulder again with a grunt and stride after her and his buddy. Glancing around, Piper looked for clues to where the guards had taken them and frowned. Although there were no lights, she thought they were in a wide-open space because of the utter silence in the area. That couldn’t be right, though. She saw the glow from a nearby city. Probably Hartman.
The second guard shoved Piper against a wall. “Try to escape and your boyfriend is dead.” He rubbed his ribcage with a glare Liam’s direction. “I owe him for that cheap shot to my side.”
“Hurry up, Billy,” Moe muttered. “This guy weighs a ton.”
“Yeah, yeah.” After another warning glare at Piper, Billy tapped a code into a sophisticated key pad. Piper committed the numbers to memory in case she and Liam needed them to escape the building without setting off an alarm.
A moment later, Billy opened a door and shoved Piper inside a building with a concrete floor. Every step they took echoed.
Billy steered her around a maze of wooden crates she could just make out in the dimly lit building. A warehouse. Piper frowned. Were they in Barone’s oversized garage after all?
The guard dragged her toward the far end of the building and a darkened hallway. He opened a door and turned on a light. The interior room was empty except for one metal chair with sturdy-looking arms.
Piper glanced around the room, heart sinking. No windows for an easy escape once Liam regained consciousness. Why couldn’t one problem in this whole situation have an easy solution?
Moe strode into the room. He dragged Liam off his shoulder and dumped him on the metal chair. Billy pushed Piper against the wall and pointed at her. “Stay put.” He turned away and helped his buddy zip-tie Liam’s arms and ankles to the chair. That done, they left the room, locking the door behind them.
Piper hurried toward Liam, glancing around the room and hoping a camera would be obvious. She didn’t see anything but her skin crawled.
“Liam.” Piper knelt beside the chair and cupped Liam’s cheeks. “Sweetheart, please wake up.”
He groaned, then fell silent again. No movement.
She patted his cheek. “Liam.” He had to wake up. Although Liam might not be capable of defending himself, he had knowledge and experience to help her save them both.
He drew in a deep breath and his eyelids lifted to slits. “Piper.”
“I’m right here.”
“You okay?”
She bit her lip at his slurred speech. How bad had Moe hurt him? “I’m fine. Moe zapped you twice with a stun gun. You’ve been unconscious for at least half an hour.”
A grunt. “Where?”
“I’m not sure where we are. Moe and Billy transported us from Uncle Gino’s estate in a black van without windows. I know we’re in a warehouse on the outskirts of a city. We’re near Hartman since we weren’t in the van that long.”
“Push black button on watch.”
“I don’t know if we have a camera in here,” she whispered.
“Hug me. Push button.”
Piper leaned up, her gaze dropping to his wrist before she wrapped her arms around his middle. Laying her head on his shoulder, she used her body to block a camera’s view of her hand.
She reached for his watch, found the right button, and pushed it in. “Got it,” she murmured. “Now what?”
“Wait for help.”
Several pairs of footsteps drew near.
Piper tightened her grip around Liam. “Someone’s coming.”
“Tell nothing.”
“They’ll hurt you.” She knew whoever ordered them to be brought here would use Liam to force Piper to cooperate. She didn’t know if she could watch Moe and Billy hurt him when she had the power to spare Liam pain. “Don’t ask me to do that.”
“If you talk, we’re dead.”
She sucked in a breath. Oh, man. “What should I do?”
“Hold out, no matter what happens. Help coming.”
Yes, but would Bravo be fast enough to spare Liam’s life?