Page 73 of Durango

“Fine. I’ll wait till morning.” He removes the phone from his ear and stares at me for a second.

I continue to hold my head. Finally, he spins and retreats down the hallway. About twenty feet away, he opens a door. Light streams in, followed by voices, the clanging of silverware, and the scent of pizza.

I’m in the back of a restaurant? Likely a pizza place. I pull on the door. Of course, it’s locked. Checking the hinges, I’m not getting out without tools.

How does he know Damien told me about the weapons? I can’t think straight, but I need to if I’m going to figure this out.

My head really does hurt, and I suddenly don’t feel so good. I slide down the wall to the floor and lie on the cool cement. Maybe I’ll just rest for a few minutes and then continue to search for a way out.

Car horns wake me up with a jolt. I sit up and grab my head because it still hurts. I need water to flush whatever they gave me out of my system. The room is no longer dark. More light is coming in from the hallway. I stand and go to the door. The side wall of the hallway has a window. I turn and take in the room I’m in. There is a sliver of light coming in through a hole in the wall.

A door slams shut, and there are footsteps. I spin around and spot a different man walking my way. Without even looking up at me through the window, he opens the metal slat in the door and pushes through a small bottle of water and a package of crackers.

“Hey! Why am I here?” I ask.

After the questions last night, there’s no doubt why I’m here, but if I can get any more information, it might help.

“The man is coming to question you soon. The more forthcoming you are, the less painful it will be for you.”

“Who is the man?” I ask.

No response. I glance through the window. He’s walking away.

Great, so his job was to tell me to answer the questions or be tortured. I grab the bottle of water. The seal is broken, so I toss it aside.

My eyes move back to the hole in the wall. If daylight is coming through, there might be a window behind this drywall. I don’t know how much time I have, so I get to work right away.

CHAPTER 23

Willow

“Axel,Durango texted he’d was leaving over thirty minutes ago. It doesn’t take that long to get here. I called him, but it just rings and rings. Eventually, it goes to voicemail.”

“Yeah, I’m worried, too. I’m going to walk the route and see if I can find him. Keep the door locked, and don’t let anyone in, no matter what. Understand?”

I nod. If Axel is willing to leave now, even he thinks something is wrong.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Samantha says. “Maybe he stopped to grab us dinner.”

I would love that to be true, but it’s not. He ordered groceries yesterday, and there’s plenty of food here.

I keep trying Durango’s phone. Finally, someone answers.

“Hello?” It sounds like a child.

“Hello? Is Durango there?”

“Who’s that?”

I bite back the sob that tries to come out. This isn’t good. “Where did you find this phone?”

“It was on the ground,” he says.

“Honey, where did you get that phone? Let me see it?” a woman’s voice says. “Hello?”

“Hello, I’m looking for the man who owns this phone. Do you see a tall, muscular guy nearby?”

“Uh,” the woman says. “No, I’m sorry. I don’t.”

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