Page 101 of Callum
Concern skittered over his face. “Are you okay?”
No, asshole, you drugged me.Oh, how she wished she could say exactly that.
“Yes,” she said quietly. “I’m a little dizzy. I think I just need to lie down.”
“You can sleep in the car. We’ll only be driving about forty-five minutes tonight, just far enough to be safe. Then we’ll do the rest of the drive tomorrow.”
He lowered the knife to the table beside her, then looked around the room. When he stepped away from her to lift a backpack, she quietly shuffled in front of the knife and grabbed it, attempting to hide it between her hands. It was small, so it wasn’t hard. Thankfully, he didn’t look for the weapon again, just grabbed her elbow and tugged her up the stairs.
Every step was an effort and had her head throbbing more. God, what had he given her?
When they stepped into the office, Freddie released her arm to close and lock the basement door. The second he turned his back, she used the knife to saw at the rope on her wrist. It was slow, but the blade was sharp. Twice, she nicked her skin, feeling a slice of pain.
“How long were you waiting in there before we came down?” she asked, keeping her front toward him, trying to distract him in case he noticed the movement of her hands behind her back.
He moved to Rick’s desk to deposit the key. “Olivia let me in an hour before the library opened, and we went through everything.”
Her chest tightened at the use of Jenny’s real name. He’d used it in the basement, but with every passing minute, the reality of the situation sank just a little deeper.
Jenny was Fiona’s twin sister. She’d been “friends” with her twin for months and hadn’t even known it.
She hadn’t fully cut through the rope before Freddie once again grabbed her arm and tugged her forward. The movement jolted her and caused another slip of the blade. She cringed but was careful to hide her pain as they exited the office and crossed the library to the back door. Everything was dark, and every so often, her head swam again, and she blinked her vision back to clarity.
He stopped and unlocked the back door, pulling it open. They shuffled through, then he tugged it closed and locked it. At every stop, she used the knife to slice at the rope. She was so close. She could feel the rope hanging on by a thread.
Instead of pulling her to the parking lot, he tugged her toward a side street. When he finally stopped beside a dark Ford, she vigorously used the knife to slice a few more times. The car door opened, and she gave her hands a violent tug.
The rope came apart just as Freddie turned.
In a desperate move, she swung her hand forward and dug the knife into his side.
At the sight of the blood, her belly coiled, but she ignored it, turning and running down the street of closed businesses. She made it half a block before thick arms wrapped around her and tugged her off her feet.
“No!”
She opened her mouth and screamed, putting as much volume behind it as possible.
Freddie’s curse was a rumble against her back, then something cracked against her skull.
CHAPTER32
Every muscle in Callum’s body was tight as Flynn drove. He couldn’t believe he’d driven home with Olivia and not known she wasn’t Fiona. Yeah, he’d been distracted, but that goddamn distraction could cost Fiona her life.
His insides rebelled against the thought.
His entire team had gotten to his place within minutes of him calling. Now, Jason, Liam, Aidan, and Logan drove in cars behind him and Flynn, while Tyler waited for the police at the house so they could arrest Olivia. She’d be driven to Fiona and Freddie’s first stop by the police, just in case they weren’t there.
Blake had gone to the library to make sure Fiona wasn’t there. Olivia had told them Freddie had already taken her, but he needed all bases covered. It hadn’t taken him long to get the information he needed. A few bullets to the floor beside her head and hand and she’d cracked.
The entire team was working on this. Eight former soldiers. Eight men who were the equivalent of an army. But their skills would all be for nothing if they were too late. If the loan sharks who were after Olivia got to Fiona first.
His cell rang and Blake’s number came up on the screen. He answered on the first ring. “Is she still there?”
“No.”
Callum cursed. He’d known the chance was low, exactly why he was going to the house Freddie had rented for the night, but there’d been that dim hope.
“I checked the basement and found drops of blood by the door in the office,” Blake continued. “Then more by the back door.”
