AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"What?" I asked, stiffening. We really couldn't afford any more bad news.
"My fucking phone is fried..."
"Fried?" I repeated, reaching for it as he tried to fuck around with it and drive at the same time.
"Left it on the fucking charger in the fucking car in this fucking heat," he growled, slamming his palm down on the wheel.
Fuck.
"She can still contact your office though," I said, reaching for my cell. "Call them and tell them to give her this number."
Then, plan in motion, we drove to Philly.
It wasn't a long drive. It took us somewhere around two hours, having to abide traffic laws lest we be pulled over with a bunch of illegal guns on us.
"Where the fuck do we even start?" I asked, looking around as we climbed out of the SUV on the street by the station.
"First, I'm making sure she got her bag. Then... fuck if I know. I know what her alias is here, but hotels won't give out information on guests. She's not familiar with this area so it's not like she'd have known where to go from experience."
Turns out, she had gotten her bag.
And when Janie called with an update later that night, she'd caught sight of Maze leaving the station and getting in a cab. She got the plates then sent us toward the cab company headquarters which was locked for the night. Of fucking course. Without anything else to do, we got food and coffee and waited until fucking nine A.M when they'd reopened. Then we had to wait another hour for the boss to show up, leaving us with a skittish secretary who looked at us like we were constantly on the verge of jumping her. When he eventually arrived we'd tried to bribe the information out of the owner, who refused. Then, well, I got to witness K's considerable boxing skills for the next half hour before we finally got the name of the driver. Then we'd had to wait a-fucking-gain for the driver to be called in from his job. He was much more forthcoming with information, likely due to the punching bag that was his boss' face.
He'd dropped her off, safe and sound, and a little sad-looking (his words) at The Cranford Inn the night before.
A little more hopeful, we made our way there. Bribing worked immediately to the man at the front desk of the inn and, a little after one-thirty the afternoon after she went missing, we made our way down the long hallway to the room she had booked.
K knocked and called her.
I knocked and called her.
Then, stomach churning painfully, I reached for the key the guy at the desk had been all-too happy to hand over. The door beeped and opened and we stepped in.
To an empty fucking room.
But it wasn't just an empty fucking room.
Her shit was still there.
And there had been some kind of fight judging by the mess and broken items thrown around.
"Fuck," I shouted, slamming my fist into the wall beside the bed, feeling all hope drain away.
I looked to K, hoping to see something there, some hope or plan or something.
But all I saw there was devastation and a hint of determination.SeventeenMazeWhen I still hadn't been able to get in touch with K, I felt sick to my stomach. I didn't want to have to make the call to Xander. I didn't want to focus on the realization that something really awful must have happened to him if he was leaving me completely on my own.
I went over to the sink and rinsed my face with cold water, trying to focus, trying to calm myself down. That stinging in my chest hadn't gotten better with sleep. If anything, it felt amplified, like it was trying to overtake my entire chest cavity.
Stomach growling, I grabbed my knife and slipped into my boots and went to the door to see about grabbing lunch. There was a bagel shop next to the hotel. I could sneak in and out and no one would pay me any mind. Then when I got back, I promised myself that I would call Xander and get in touch with Ellie.
When I pulled the handle for the door, I hadn't expected it to be pushed violently forward, catching me off-guard and sending me flying backward, tripping over my bag and sending the contents scattering around the room and sending me flying onto the bed.
"Kotyonok," Ruslan's deep, rough, sexy voice greeted me, sounding almost amused. "I had no idea you wanted me that bad."
And all I could think right then was: no, nope, hell to the fucking no.
I'd been through enough.
There was no way I was going to get assaulted by my former employer on top of it all.
I rolled off the bed onto my feet, reaching for my knife as Ruslan moved inward and closed the door with a quiet click.
