Page 75 of Reacher
Twenty-Four
TheyfinallyletReacherand Stitch go back in to see Ice. I insisted on staying back in the waiting room, because it was a hospital and safe as houses, right? Even if one of the cartel’s guys had tried to get to Ice right in this same building, and in this same ward.
They told me that Ryder and one of his brothers were minutes away, to take over watch, and that I was to stay right the hell here. That part was Reacher, of course. He really didn’t want to leave me. In fact, he even tried to drag me in there with them, but the nurse stopped him.
It was actually quite cute, but once I was left alone, I was edgy. Bored. Frustrated. I tried calling Tori, but was advised, rather sharply, by the new nurse on duty, that I was not to use my phone in the ward, so I stepped out into the hallway.
Tori didn’t answer, but I figured while I was moving around that I’d use the bathroom, because I hadn’t wanted to go back when I had bikers watching me. What if they’d heard me peeing?
I used the same bathroom that I’d first sucked Reacher’s dick in, and washed my hands, checking my hair before I left. My hair had a tendency to get frizzy if I didn’t use the right products, and I hadn’t had them since I was first picked up by the club.
As I stepped out of the bathroom, all thoughts of my hair were pushed from my mind, as fear froze me to the spot.
“Alicia. Long time no see,bitch.” Raoul had his hands in his pockets, and two other bastards standing a few feet away. A quick look around told me that I had nowhere to go, unless... I backed into the small toilet room.
“Don’t even try it. I don’t want to trash the hospital’s shitter, but I will if I have to.”
I swallowed hard. Reacher was so close. I mean, he was literally just down the hall, but I couldn’t get to him. I couldn’t… I glanced down at my pocket. My phone. I pulled it out of my pocket.
“Seriously? You think we’re that dumb? Toss the phone, and get the fuck over here.” Raoul literally pointed at the floor in front of him, like he thought I’d just obey. Like I didn’t want to run the other way instead. I’d offered to call this asshole, but not because I ever wanted to be in his presence again.
“I’m not coming with you, Raoul.” He was laughing, like it was a done deal, and I had no option but to let him drag me away, to wherever the hell he planned to kill me.
If I could just stall long enough, to give Reacher time to realise that I was missing, he’d come looking for me. He’d come for me, right?
“If that biker of yours interferes right now, I’ll put a fucking bullet in his heart,” Raoul delivered those words with a smug grin, nodding to his bastard boys, who approached me. He knew he’d just taken away my last hope with those words, because I would never let them hurt Reacher.
“Come quietly, bitch.” I elbowed the first one in the side, and punched the other in the throat. Raoul’s response was to pull a gun, and aim it at me.
“While I think being shot in a hospital might give you the best chance of survival, I promise you, if you push me to that, I’ll kill five other fucking people at random. Mothers, children, nurses,I don’t give a fuck.”
Hell. I believed him, so I let them take me. I prayed that Reacher would find me before they could hurt me, but knowing Raoul, he wouldn’t wait to do that. He’d want to cause me as much pain as possible. He’d brutally torture me, but he’d never realise that the worst torture was something he’d already achieved;taking me away from Reacher.
Reacher
Icewasnobetteron our second visit. He was still struggling to speak, and teary-eyed, although they assured me it wasn’t due to him being in pain. We ended up resorting to the old blink once for yes, and twice for no, scenario.
Did he know if it was the cartel?One blink.It was a badly worded question, so onto the next.
Was it the fucking cartel?One blink.
Were they looking for Alicia?Confused look, then two blinks.
Did they mean to kill him?Wide eyed stare.
Did it have anything to do with the lab making the rape drugs?A heavy sigh, and two blinks. Then a muttered curse.
After that, we were kicked out again, and saw Ryder and Rocket striding in.Perfect timing. I turned to tell Ally it was time to go, and that’s when I realised what was wrong with this picture. There was no sign of Ally. Stitch cursed, and turned to harass the nurse, while I raced into the hallway, looking both ways, and heading over to check the bathroom we’d used before.
It was unlocked, but on the floor by the door was her fucking phone. I knew it was hers, because she had a distinctive purple cover on it, with the words ‘fuck you’ on the back. I picked it up, noticed that the screen was cracked, and pressed the button on it. The screen awoke to show me that she’d called up my number, and was probably about to call me for fucking help.
Stitch came running out to find me.
“The fucking nurse kicked her out for trying to use her phone in there.”
I held up her damaged phone.
“She was trying to call me.” Panic was rising inside me. They had my woman. It had to be the cartel, but how the fuck did they find her? What would they do to her? How could so much go wrong at once like this?
