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“Can you get us a chopper?” he asked. That would be quicker than driving, but if Cass couldn’t, then driving it would be. Very fast.
“Yep. Already made a booking. Leaves from downtown in forty minutes. There will be a car waiting for you so you can all travel to the location at the Palm Springs Airport.” Cass smiled. “In the picture I pulled up of the property, it’s got cameras. I’ll be able to get into the feed and see what’s going on. The second I get a visual on Eveline, I’ll let you know.”
Ox reached squeezed her forearm. “We’d be lost without you. Thank you.”
“Always.” She rubbed her brow.
He worried she had another migraine. “You okay?” Ox didn’t want her pushing herself.
“Yeah, just tired. No headache I promise.” The last bit was directed at Irish who was brooding on the opposite side of the table from where Cass sat.
Satisfied that she had things under control, he turned his attention to his team. “Let’s roll.” Ox pushed away from the desk and headed down toward the room where they had all their equipment. He pushed his anxiety and fear down deep within his soul and turned into the former Delta.
The only thing he kept close to the surface was his love for Eveline, ready to shower her with it when he held her in his arms again.
Exhaustion wrapped around Eveline like a blanket. She’d had to endure hours in the makeup room, while Stella, the hair and makeup woman, transformed her into the movie star Gerald wanted.
He’d come in so often and told Stella she was doing it wrong and to start over.
Eveline had lost count of how many times her hair had been teased and pulled into different hairstyles. Now it was in a sleek ponytail—the way it had been the first time Gerald had walked in all those hours ago.
The dress she wore was one she would’ve squeezed into at sixteen in an attempt to get the attention of the football team’s quarterback. It just covered her ass and was so tight her boobs were pushed up and together.
The worst thing was, she had no idea what was going to happen when she got in front of the camera. She hadn’t seen a script. Did Gerald expect her to improvise and come up with something on the fly?
Her head felt like it was full of cotton wool instead of a brain. So any sort of adlib or improv was going to make that impossible.
“There you are. All done.” Stella wiped the brush down her nose and then stepped back. The woman was far too perky for the middle of the night.
In the mirror, Stella’s watch indicated it was the early hours of the morning.
What had the rest of the crew been doing in the hours she’d been locked away in this room? Even Paul had given up and had left them alone. Before he disappeared, he’d come up to her and whispered in her ear for her to behave.
With the way Gerald was lurking, escape was going to be almost impossible.
Eveline was dressed like a corner street hooker about to go goodness knew where to do goodness knew what.
As if thinking about him had conjured him up, Paul appeared in the doorway. He didn’t look tired at all, and Eveline’s hatred for the man grew.
“Gerald’s waiting,” he said before indicating that she should precede him out of the room.
“I don’t know where I’m going,” she countered and stopped in the middle of the hallway.
If she delayed it long enough, maybe Kyle would come crashing through the front door and save her from whatever fate Gerald had in mind.
Yeah, that only happened in the movies, and while it seemed she was on a movie set, this was real life. There was no script and no rescue imminent.
Kyle probably had no idea where she was.
Had Cass been able to locate her?
Didn’t Kyle say she could find the proverbial needle in a haystack? If that was the case, then she was the needle, and this massive house was the haystack. Eveline suspected they were still in California, although she didn’t know where.
Paul grabbed her arm again, and she winced as his fingers dug into her already bruised flesh—by his previous handling of her arm. “I’ll tell you. Now move.” He released her with a shove forward, and she stumbled before regaining her balance.
God, she wanted this over with. Wanted this nightmare to end. Most of all, Eveline didn’t want to walk into the room where Gerald was waiting.
She had no choice. The odds were against her, but she’d do whatever she had to do, and while she was doing it—look for a way to escape this nightmare.
