Melissa
Outside, toward the back of the hotel, I spot a sweet motorcycle I’d love to get my hands on and headed toward it. I pulled out the phone and quickly dialed Mack, going through the appropriate codes, before I reached him.
“Tools and More. You break it, we fix it,” an aged voice answered.
“My tool broke, and I have the Mack warranty.”
“What’s your UPC Code?” the man asked.
I tensed. “Sweet Firecracker.”
“Hold on.” The phone clicked.
A second later, a voice as smooth as honey came on. “Hello there, Firecracker.”
I ignored his seductive voice and dove right into the issue. “We have a hella of a breach.”
“Explain.” His teasing voice became hard as steel. All business, now.
“Myter. You can’t trust him. He murdered Agent Craig and possibly has Agent Frank Macintosh for ransom.”
“That’s a hefty claim, Firecracker. Any proof?”
I grabbed the flash drive that hung around my neck as I tensed, remembering. “A witness.”
“Who?”
“Me, Mack. I saw the whole thing. Agent Macintosh came in at the end. If Myter has him, any ransom he demands is worthless. He won’t ever let him live past what he needs him for.”
“And what’s that?”
“I’m not sure, but I’m going to find out.”
“No. You need to come in. Your father—”
“Is an ass.” I growled out, glancing around the area to make sure no one stood nearby.
I grew up believing both of my parents died after our house was attacked. Later on in life, I found out the truth about my mother’s murder. My father and his team were supposed to go on a mission that night, but the mission came to him. My father was given a heads up just minutes before the enemy hit, and that little piece of information enabled him to live. Those same people killed my mother.
I was rushed to the secure room but never made it. I heard shots and was passed off to someone else.
My guardian, Mr. Hanson.
At the time, I didn’t know why I was left with him for so long, but now, I do. With all the traveling we did wasn’t to avoid the killers, it was to evade my rescuers.
I was kidnapped that night. Not saved. The man I grew to love like the father, whose death I’d mourned as much as my own parents’, was a sick and twisted person. He was my enemy. One of my father’s team members killed him when I was eventually rescued, but dear dad didn’t bring me home.
Instead, he left me to believe I’d lost yet another person I loved. Let me go into foster care, where I stayed for three months until someone new came for me. My mother was dead, and I, now, hated my father as much as I hated the person who took me.
Mack’s voice breaks through my thoughts. “It takes an ass to make an ass.”
“Now, you’re being one,” I told him as I walked to the motorcycle and started tinkering with it.
“Come in, Firecracker, or we’ll do this the hard way. I’ve taken your word and started the process of bringing him in. Now, you need to do the same.”
“Can’t,” I told him, straddling the bike and putting the phone against my ear and shoulder. I ripped out the wires and sparked them together as I held the clutch down with my foot and listened to it roar.
“I’m not asking,” he growled.
I dropped the wires and grabbed the phone once again. “And I’m not listening. Goodbye, Mack.” I hung up and threw the phone across the black asphalt where it landed in a shallow puddle. Twisting up my red hair, I shoved it into the collar of my shirt so it wouldn’t flap in the wind while I drove. I revved up the engine and took off toward the state line.
Trisha needed me. Especially if she thought her father was dead.
***
Hours later, I raced down the highway, trying to keep my speed limit only ten over. I purposely stopped to fill up the tank before I reached the town that held those summer memories so I could go the rest of the way without pause. That way, I could avoid any run-ins.
Not that anyone would remember me from all those years ago.
I needed to be smart. To remember the rules. The rules kept me safe, and right now, I was going against them. Rule number three, save yourself. I never liked that one. It was too selfish not to think of others when they needed saving.
Leaving my hair tucked, I used a stolen card I found in the saddle compartment and filled up my gas tank while studying everyone around me. The wind blew across my face, and tickles of loose hair teased at the nape of my neck. I pulled my collar up higher to hide the escaped strands.
People always stared when they saw my mass of fiery red curls, and right now, that was not the type of attention I wanted. Maybe if I was clubbing, trying to gain the eye of a potential target, sure, but not here. Not today.
Nervous about where I was, I finished filling my tank and did a mental check to make sure I wasn’t missing that sensation. That the low buzz or connection I had with, whoever it was, wasn’t there.
I swung my leg back over my sweet ride and sped off, merging back onto the highway.
For a brief moment, I lost focus, and a huge, black pickup swerved off into the second lane, missing me by mere inches. It honked as they sped at a high speed past me.
Asshole, I thought as my heart raced. Even I knew better than to go that fast.
I may be badass, but I was still human. The driver was lucky I didn’t have time to track them down and give them a piece of my mind. But, I had more important things to worry about. It had only been a few hours since I found Trisha’s hackers signal, and I was too close to stop now.
The cold seeped into my body as I drove, almost keeping up with the black truck ahead. Then I felt it again. The low buzzing sensation that signaled they found me.
I revved my engine to go faster just as another pickup came up on my tail. This one was black, too. My gut told me to find out what in the hell was going on, but my mind told me to run.
My mind won as I wove in and out of traffic. I couldn’t go to Trisha. If I did, I would lead them right to her. So I drove fast and dangerous until the town came into view. I took the second off ramp when what I really needed was the one five ramps ahead.
When I checked in my rear view mirror, I didn’t see them, but the buzzing still filled my body. I took a sharp left, racing under the bridge and toward a gas station up ahead.
Some guy was opening the door to his car after gassing up when I pulled along side him. He jumped back against the hood of his car as if he thought I was going to run over his feet, and I smirked. Parking beside him, I shook my hair out, going for the shock factor, then let my kickstand down so I could climb off the bike.
The man in question stared in awe and possibly shock as I tugged on my saddle bag before turning to him, grabbing his keys from his raised hand.
“I’m going to need this,” I told him with a blinding smile as I pushed him out of the way and climbed into his car. I sped off, leaving him in open-mouthed shock, standing next to my abandoned bike.
Before I even made it back onto the road, a black truck barreled past, not realizing I was in the car, now.
I glanced through its window as it passed and saw an enraged man. It could have been Garret, but I wasn’t sure. Hopefully, a different vehicle would confuse them long enough for me to put distance between us. For all they knew, I was in the store. Until they realized they couldn’t sense me any longer…
Frowning, I looked at the speedometer. I better keep up my speed. The horrible car only went up to a hundred and twenty mph. Not nearly fast enough.
“Well, it won’t matter,” I whispered to the car. “Because you and I won’t be together for very long.”
I kept up my fast pace until the crazy connection faded away, then kept going. If the driver of the first black truck that tried to run me off the road earlier was anything like the second one I just lost, then Trisha might already be screwed. I needed to go faster.
I reached the most recent location of Trisha’s signature. A library. I parked in the back of the building and walked around the side toward the front, hoping to get to her in time. When I turned the corner, I quickly pulled back, pressing my front against the side of the building. My heart thudded in my ears as I breathed out, trying to calm down.
They already had her.
I turned against the side of the building and peeked out once more. I had to do something. Trisha looked so lost between the two men, but she had a spine of steel spine. She wasn’t giving up. And I wasn’t, either.
Intent on saving her, I reached for the gun behind my back, but I didn’t get that far.
A hand slammed between my shoulder blades, pressing me to the brick wall, then grabbed my arm, twisting it behind me while another hand pressed the artery in my neck. Struggling to get free with only a few moments before I passed out, I used my free hand to reach back to find that sensitive package all guys worship. Grabbing it, I yanked.
“Shit,” the harsh whisper came out from the guy behind me as I struck gold.
I moved my head, trying to get the pressure off my neck when another guy turned my head. Focusing on him, I froze as I recognized the face of another person I never expected to see again.
“Sleep,” Seth commanded gruffly as his eyes stared into mine, stone cold.
My jaw slackened. Were they all together? Then dots filled my vision as I blacked out.