Page 79 of Trick or Treat

“Can you get him to send me a copy of the video he found?”

“Sure.” Jackson stepped out of the room to call Jason and get Kylie the information she needed.

“Okay. I need a description of the van. Make, model, approximate year, color?” Her fingers flew over the keys so fast, Trick could barely follow. It looked and sounded like she was just hitting random keys at lightning speed.

Jackson slipped back inside. “Here. He needs your email information.” He handed the phone to Kylie so she could talk to Jason. She laughed at something he said and handed the phone back.

“Do you need anything else?” Trick asked.

“Just a roast beef and swiss sandwich, mustard, not mayo, lettuce, tomato, Doritos and an endless supply of Pepsi.” She issued the order without looking up from what she was doing.

“You heard the woman. Tuck, go get what she needs.”

Tuck grumbled something aboutspoiled brat, but did it walking out the door to get what Kylie wanted.

Trick was agitated. He hated feeling helpless. He wanted to find Lindsey and bring her home. Now. His patience had been completely blown after his drama with Michelle the night before. He’d just gotten his kids settled down and feeling more at ease about what was going on with their lives and they’d made plans for Lindsey to come have dinner with them, then some jackass stepped in and took his woman from him.

Tuck came back with a sandwich piled high with meat, cheese and all the fixins, a big bag of Doritos under one arm and a large glass of Pepsi. He placed them all next to Kylie’s computer, stepped back and set his hands on his hips. “Is that all, Your Highness?”

“Yes. That’ll do for now. You may go.” She shooed him away with a wave of her hand.

If Trick wasn’t so freaked the fuck out, he would have laughed at how red Tuck’s face got. The man’s mouth actually fell open like he was going to say something, then decided against it. He turned on his booted heel and left the office to the sound of Jackson and Race chuckling at his dismissal.

“How long do you think it will take?” Trick asked the computer whiz.

“As long as it takes,” Kylie replied without looking up or breaking her rhythm at the keyboard. “You guys want to get him out of here? He’s harshing my vibe.”

Trick’s brows shot to his hairline. Harshing her vibe? How old was this woman? It sounded like something someone forty years older would’ve said.

“Come on, brother. Let’s take it out to the bar.” Jackson clasped him on the shoulder and turned him toward the door. Race followed them out, giving Kylie time and space to work. Breathing down her neck wasn’t going to make her work any faster.

“Did she say harshing her vibe?” Trick asked as he accepted the beer Jed set before him.

“Yeah. She did.”

Tuck took a seat on the other side of Trick and ordered a shot. “She run you guys out, too?” he grumbled.

“Yeah. We were harshing her vibe.” Race chuckled.

Tuck choked on his shot. “For fuck’s sake. Where does she come up with some of this shit?”

For the first time since Lindsey was taken, Trick actually smiled. Tuck had it bad and didn’t even know it.

17

Lindsey came awake a little at a time. She was lying on her side on what felt like a cold concrete floor. She rolled to her back, holding her head and clenching her eyes tight against the throbbing pain in the left side of her face, from her jaw to the top of her head. She sent out a silent prayer that her head didn’t actually explode. Although, if it did burst into a million pieces, she had to feel better than this, right?

She cracked her eyes open in small increments until things came into focus. One by one, things began to clear, such as the ceiling with its industrial lighting soaring high above her. Closer to her in her field of vision she frowned at what looked like metal bars. Where was she? How did she get here? She turned her head slowly to the right and to her horror she realized she was in a cage. What the hell?

She slowly pushed herself into a sitting position, hoping to keep the pounding in her head at bay. With her back against the bars of her cage, she took a moment to look down her body and check for injuries. She didn’t immediately find any and counted that as a blessing. Where were her shoes? Her purse? Her coat? Whoever took them ensured that if by some miracle she was able to get out of this cage, she wouldn’t get far what with the snow and low temperatures.

From what she could see, she concluded she was in some kind of warehouse. Her eyes skimmed over a white van and she was hit with a sudden memory. She remembered buying Reagan a booster seat at Walmart and tossing her purse in her seat while she returned her cart. She then remembered a van parking behind her car and someone calling her name. She struggled to remember what happened next. It took her a moment, but it came to her. Kurtis was in the van. He said he needed her help because he’d hit a woman with his van. He’d been drinking. She got closer and he’d tried to get her in the van. When she refused, he pulled a gun out. Did he shoot someone? She couldn’t remember. Why the hell had Kurtis taken her?

As she watched, she saw men taking women out of other cages and carrying them to a delivery truck. Her heart sped up. What was going on here?

Like a dam bursting, her other senses started coming back online. A man dressed in all black carrying a clipboard walked from cage to cage, pointing at women. Their cages were quickly opened, the women roughly pulled out and herded toward a couple of waiting delivery trucks. Some of the women went meekly, heads down, all hope taken from them. Others tried to fight or escape and were quickly subdued with a punch to the stomach or a backhand to the face.

Lindsey was so startled by their unnecessary roughness, her eyes flew wide and her hand shot to her mouth to cover her gasp of surprise. The last thing she wanted to do was draw attention to herself. From what little she could surmise, all these women had been kidnapped just like her. Who was doing this and why? Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm herself down. Unfortunately, the smell of motor oil, gas fumes and sweat assaulted her nose, causing her to gag.

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