Chapter Thirty-Four
Breanna’s eyes flutteredopen. Her head felt like she had a freight train running through it. She tugged at her arms and realized that they were handcuffed behind her. She sat on a straight-backed wooden chair in a windowless room. She looked around, her foggy mind slowly clearing.I’m in the storage room at work. Fuck, that’s right. Special Agent Raley’s Candyman. How the hell is that possible?She heard the click of the doorknob and she held her breath. Heavy footsteps approached.
“I see you’ve come to.” Agent Raley stood in front of her.
She scowled at him. “You’re Candyman?”
“I’m disappointed in you. You should’ve kept your nose out of this. You’ve caused a lot of problems. I’m going to have to kill youandyour brother. Why the fuck did you get involved in this?”
“Me? What about you? You’re a cop and you’re selling this shit to people? And all the meetings we had, you seemed so concerned. You fucking asshole!”
Her head flung back when he hit her hard across the face.
“Watch it, Breanna. I’m still your superior.” He chuckled. “I had to bring you to the office to buy some time. I couldn’t very well take you to my hotel room.”
“Is Agent Powers involved in this too?”
“Jim? Christ, no. He’s as straightlaced as they come.”
“What the hell do the food stamps have to do with this?”
“It’s my side business. You know food stamp trafficking is a multimillion-dollar business. I just wanted a piece of the pie. The fuckin’ government wastes taxpayers’ money left and right. Do you realize that there are only about four investigators to handle all of Colorado and Kansas? Fuckin’ insane. A definite loophole, and one that’s quite lucrative.”
“So you sell the EBT cards?”
“Yeah. I had a business going with Roy at Roy’s Market. You were right to suspect him. After Jim finds all the paperwork on him, he’ll make the arrest. I bought the cards real cheap and sold them to Roy for a 30 percent markup. He used them to buy cheap-quality shit, then sold that to the poor. See how the cycle works?”
“Was Roy involved in selling the drugs?”
“Nah. That was all me. Dustin, Shack, and I go way back to when they had a clubhouse in Nebraska. They used to be part of the Insurgents MC but got their asses kicked out. When I was stationed in Nebraska, I ran across them when we did a raid at one of their strip clubs. They had underage women stripping and giving favors to the men. When I went to their clubhouse, I found a lot of underage women, so they offered me a shitload of cash if I’d look the other way. Fuckin’ easy money. I’ve been on their payroll ever since. I can retire with full benefits from Uncle Sam in two years. I already have the beach picked out in the Caribbean where I plan to spend my time.”
Bile rose in her throat and she fought to push it down. Her head was reeling from his confession. And she also knew that it meant the end of her.I have to get out of this. I hope Nicholas at least called the sheriff and told him what happened.But she seriously doubted it. Addiction did that; the drug took priority over everything in life. Heroin was a potent elixir, and she could never compete with it.
“So when I was sent to investigate the food stamp fraud, I let Dustin know, and we set up shop here. I didn’t know he and Shack were such dumbasses. They didn’t tell me your boyfriend’s club held this whole territory and had a tacit agreement with the sheriff about hard drugs in the county. Their mistake cost them big.” He wiped his hands on his pants. “Don’t look so surprised. We all knew you were fuckin’ biker trash.”
“Do you really think you’re going to get away with this? You can’t think Roy will roll over when he’s faced with felony fraud charges.”
He shrugged. “Who are they gonna believe? Me, an agent for eighteen years with an exemplary record, or some lowlife who’s too cheap to pay for his own housing? Think, Breanna.” He smiled.
“Steel will make sure you pay for what you did to his daughter.”
“Steel? Oh yeah, your biker. I was pissed they sold to his daughter. I didn’t need an outlaw on my ass, but by the time he finds out, I’ll be gone. I’m planning to leave Colorado soon for another state. I got it all figured out. Except for you. You fuckin’ threw a kink in my plans. And the bad thing is I liked you. You were always smiling and friendly to me. You gave me respect at work. I want you to know I appreciated it. I just wish you would’ve kept your fuckin’ nose out of this.” He rose to his feet. “I have some business I have to attend to. I’ll be back for you.” He tugged on her handcuffs. “Nice and secure.”
The click of the door behind her made her body stiffen.I have to get out of here.She pulled on the cuffs, but they wouldn’t budge. Looking around the room, she spotted an air vent. She sized it up and thought she may just fit. All she needed to do was crawl to the office next door, and then she could go out the window or the front door.
She tried to stand, but it was too hard. The pounding in her head was driving her crazy.Okay, Breanna. Calm down. Just calm the fuck down. Take deep breaths. Focus. You can do this.She closed her eyes and relaxed her body from her toes to the top of her head. She visualized herself slipping out of the handcuffs and kept breathing. When she felt ready, she took a deep breath.
Being double-jointed, she was able to collapse her thumb joint into her palm and make her hand smaller. She then folded her hand so that the ball of it touched just below the base of her small finger, her thumb tucked inside. This made her hand slightly smaller than her wrist, and the thumb bone was resting in her palm. She slid her hand out of the cuff and repeated the process with her other wrist, freeing it of the restraint.
She leapt up and searched around for her purse or phone. Nothing. Frantic, she looked up at the air vent and down at her body; she had no choice but to try it. Since she was familiar with the room, she knew there was a ladder in the closet, so she dragged it out and placed it under the vent, then pulled out a screwdriver from the toolbox in the closet. She was glad Raley had locked her in here rather than the conference room, where there was nothing but a table and chairs.
She undid the grill and pulled herself into the vent, thanking God that she only had to go a short way to the next offices where there was a window. She could escape from there.
She crawled through, her heart in her throat. “Fuck!” she yelled as a sharp edge from the sheet metal lacerated her forearm. The blood was warm as it gushed down her elbow. “Shit. Fuck you, Raley!” She drew in a breath and pushed on.
Some of the lights in the offices were on, but it wasn’t enough for her to see clearly inside the vent; she had to feel her way through, and the dangerously sharp edges created a challenging obstacle course. As she crawled, the noise reverberated against the metal walls, making a lot of racket.This definitely isn’t a piece of cake like they show in the movies.
Another sharp edge nicked her leg, stopping her in her tracks. She lowered her head and cried. Her arm was killing her; there was so much blood she was positive she’d have to get stiches. Black spots floated before her eyes and dizziness assaulted her like she was on a whirling ride at an amusement park.Please don’t let me pass out.She took a deep breath and inched along, concentrating on getting out and having Steel’s arms wrapped around her.
I should’ve just waited for Steel to come back. What the fuck was I thinking?
