Page 109 of Holiday Hostage
I understood what he meant about wanting to cause pain and punishment.
I would wish him to the darkest depths of the fieriest hell if given the chance.
Better yet, life without parole in the harshest prison available.
Let him see how small a man he was in this great big world.
I stopped worrying the gag and resumed trying to free my hands.
I hadn’t mastered the ability to dislocate my thumbs, and I doubted that would even work with the zip ties, but I was willing to try anything.
Jack was right. Reed, Tarron, and Mav were not going to save me this time.
They were dead, and it was up to me to save myself.
Dad knew I was leaving on a trip.
He wouldn’t think anything about my lack of communication until I failed to check in next week.
Unless Jack had figured it out and sent the ransom note to the right man, I was one hundred percent on my own.
Me and my baby.
Fine. I’d handle it.
I lifted my chin and stared Jack down.
When he snickered and tapped his pocket where he held the knife, I rolled my eyes again, then lowered my cheek to my shoulder and started scrubbing at the gag.
“Leave that alone. I’m not about to hear your yammering for the rest of the night.” Jack stalked forward, knife once more in his hand.
I tried to mime not being able to breathe, but it didn’t translate well without my hands. I shook the chair side to side and widened my eyes in the universal gesture of pleading.
Jack snorted and returned to his post at the wall.
I took advantage of his turned back to look around the room again. Where was the fucking door?
31
MAVERICK
There was no physical pain capable of stopping me from ending the emotional upheaval of Payton’s absence.
She was the only thing that had kept me sane during my recovery.
A couple of weeks were not enough to heal me, but it would have to.
I tightened my bulletproof vest so it covered all my vital organs and checked to ensure Reed and Tarron had done the same.
It was our own damned fault we’d gotten shot at the cabin. We never should have let our guard down, even with the storm keeping us safe.
“That’s all I needed. Thanks, Sam.” Reed ended his call and shoved the phone into a pocket before checking his vest and weapons. He nodded at me. “It’s confirmed. Sam used his drone to fly over the area.”
We’d put all of our considerable skills to the test for this.
Tracking down Payton became our number one priority.
Jack had her. We all knew it.
