Page 104 of Every Which Way

“They’re prepared to give them up. If they can have you.”

She wasn’t even going to think about that. “Why would they?”

“Who knows? I made the deal. It’s set.”

“It’s dumb.” How best to explain it to him? “Bruce, it’s obviously a trap. They’re going to have all of us instead because we walked right into it. None of us is going to go free. You’ll probably get killed—or traded to your enemies—and we’re all done. They won. Game over.”

If only someone on the other end of the comms would contact her. She prayed Maizie realized what was going on and turned the system on so she could connect. The comms used the closest Bluetooth, which was Bruce’s phone, unless he turned it off.

If his plan didn’t work, she would be lost to the company. “Do you know what happened to Adrielle and Laney? At least tell me that.”

Bruce shrugged. “I didn’t see them, and I didn’t ask.”

“There’s more going on than just Amara, but you’ve got tunnel vision.” It was a chess game, and he was playing checkers with half the pieces. “You’re not seeing the bigger picture.”

“It’s not that complicated, girl. You want them back, and I’ve agreed to trade you for them. They go free, and Ramon and Stairns get to finding you.”

“You think I’ll last longer than them?” Such a vote of confidence, though probably not a good thing.

“Zeyla, yeah. She was in a bad way. I could tell your mom was worried.”

“She didn’t want my help.” Kenna folded her arms loosely. She needed him to let her borrow his phone. “She wanted to get Zeyla on her own.”

“They’re going to kill her. Maybe both of them. Make an example to the rest of the resistance. You’ll know you could’ve stopped it.”

Kenna said, “And instead, I should trade myself so they can kill me?”

“I might be able to keep that from happening. If everything goes right.”

“You have to understand why I have doubts.” Not just about Bruce but about this entire plan. As soon as she could, Kenna was going to make a run for it. Go as far as fast as she could and try to escape. Then she would resolve thisherway and not Bruce’s. He could do what he wanted, but it wasn’t going to involve trading her to the company.

“Yeah, but you’ll live with it. They don’t want you dead. They want you to be one of their surrogates.”

Her stomach flipped over.

Bruce said, “You think I’m gonna let you stay in a place like that, let them do that to you?”

“It’s exactly what you just said.”

“That’s what they’re going to think. Your mom played it straight. We’re now playing with dirty rules, and things are gonna get messy. I need to know you’re on board.”

“I won’t be unless you tell me everything.”

She was about to strangle him. Just reach over with both hands and make a point of throttling him with her bare hands, even if she didn’t have the strength to do any damage. She could get her point across, regardless.

The earpiece buzzed, crackling a little. If the thing suddenly emitted a high-pitched sound, she was going to have to keep from reacting, no matter how bad it was.

Bruce jerked the wheel toward the right side of the freeway, taking the exit far too late. Another car honked at him. He braked hard and skidded to a stop at the red light, turning left as soon as it went green. Under the overpass for the freeway, he pulled to the side of the road.

“Was all that necessary?” She stared at him, biting her lip. Praying someone connected with the comms channel. Maizie could do it from the website. But she’d have to know there was a reason to log on.

Bruce put the car in park. “Here’s what’s going to happen.”

ChapterTwenty-Seven

Bruce pulled into the entrance of the concrete plant under a full moon. In the white glow, she spotted two vehicles. Both of them were town cars—the kind hired by someone who usually had a driver and probably had a security detail as well. In fact, it had surprised her to find Jax’s dad in the front of the rental Audi from that fact alone. He was definitely the kind of guy who sat in the back and was transported where he was going by someone he paid to do it.

“Guess there’s nothing left to say.”

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