Page 71 of Abducted

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Stamos?”

“I”—his breath rasped through his scrunched-up face—“had no choice.” Anger surged through him. He put more weight on his foot. Stamos’s arms flailed in panic. Something popped beneath his foot. Stamos squinted in pain, and sweat rolled over his brows. He had a lot of balls coming here to Cal’s hideaway, especially with an already bum shoulder.

“Why are you here?” Cal pointed the gun at his head, his hand unwavering. Stamos’s throat convulsed against his foot. His face flooded with purple, and each breath he fought to suck in stayed trapped at his lips. “C’mon, Stamos, I don’t have all night.”

“P–please,” he gasped between useless breaths.

Cal eased his foot off, but kept it placed against Stamos’s windpipe. “Who sent you? Hurry up,” he barked when Stamos sucked in another greedy breath of air.

“It was the old lady, man. She told me I would end up like Will if I didn’t do what she said.”

Cal’s fingers flexed. His brain worked at rapid speed. “What ‘old lady’? What’s her name?”

“I don’t know. I swear. She never told me.” He pressed his lips together. Tears wet his lashes.

“How’d you find this place?” He’d kept his cabin discreet for three years, and he liked that he always had a backup plan. He’d been careful not to bring Lana here when he’d first taken her, but there hadn’t been any help for it this time. And now it was fucking useless.

Stamos’s eyes hardened in defiance. Stamos was pissed that Cal had fucked the job up for him, but he didn’t give a shit. Cal aimed the gun at his injured shoulder.

“All right. We hid a couple of guys along the road near where my other men crashed and followed you.”

Anger rippled through him. No one had been on the road when he and Lana had returned from Tanner’s. He was always careful about tails. But it had never crossed his mind that people could be waiting in the bushes to see what drive he pulled into. He reached down to grab Stamos’s jacket and hauled him to his feet. He shoved him against the wall.

“Rufus, come.” Rufus charged from the doorway. Stamos let out a squeal and cowered against the wall. Cal smiled. Had he known Stamos was afraid of dogs, he would have started with that first. Rufus paused, teeth bared, spit flying through his murderous snarl.

“You better think fast, before I let Rufus tear your balls off.”

Stamos whined. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. Just keep that mutt away from me.”

“How did she contact you?”

Stamos licked his lips. His eyes never left Rufus. “Shawn called me and I met them somewhere.”

“Give me your phone.”

Stamos dug into his front pocket and handed it to him. Cal slipped the device into his back pocket. He would search through it later and find the source that way. Sirens screamed from the distance. The cops were on their way.

“You gotta let me go, man. There’s a warrant out for me.”

Cal snorted. “Why the hell would you think I’d give you a break?” He stashed his Glock at the small of his back and propelled Stamos out the door and down the hallway. He wound him through the dark halls and toward the front door.

Stamos was a dumb, snitchy sonofabitch. He wouldn’t survive a week in prison. He paused in the foyer to enter the alarm password in the keypad. The blaring silenced. Stamos twisted in his hold, his efforts futile. Red and blue bubble lights flashed outside the cabin.

Bang, bang, bang!

“Police, open up!”

“Oh, look, someone’s here for you,” Cal said in a singsong voice.

Stamos groaned. “Fuck, man.”

Cal shook his head. He unlocked the door, yanked it open, and welcomed the armed officers inside. One of the large officers took Stamos, cuffed him, and put him in the back of the patrol car. Cal gave a quick briefing of what had happened.

“There’s another man restrained in my kitchen. If you’ll excuse me for a moment, my girlfriend is in the garage.”

The officers disappeared through the house. Cal opened the garage door, flicked on the light, and stepped in.

“Lan—” His breath sucked in. The force of it burned his lungs. His truck was gone. The garage was empty. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He turned in a circle.

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