Page 119 of Pretty Nightmare

I jump out of the boat and call McKay as Indie and Maggie drag the boat up onto the sand.

“Hey,” I say, when Adam picks up. “We’re out back on the river. Went for a little boat ride.”

“Shit, we’ve been calling you for like two hours. McKay has his gun out. He was about to go hunt you down.”

“Sorry, out of range.”

“Everything OK?”

I pause. Then sigh.

“What happened?”

I look over my shoulder and find Indie staring at me, a nervous look on her face. “Nothing. We can talk about it later. Why don’t you guys come down here? Wear trunks. Let’s beach.”

Indie smiles at this idea.

“Let’s beach?” Adam asks.

“I think I just need a day off, ya know?”

“Dude, I so get it.”

“What happened with you two? Get what you were looking for?”

“Yeah. Let’s beach. We can talk all this shit out later.”

“Fine with me.” I end the call and try to force the day’s events out of my mind. Try and stop them from making sense.

Because there is only one way these puzzle pieces fit together.

Insanity.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE - NATHAN

The truck Nick left me is parked in a garage four blocks away. I head there, because what choice do I have? All that work getting a hold of those passports, gone. I don’t even have the cash that Wendy gave back.

It’s a ten-hour drive to Vicksburg, Mississippi. But Pearl Springs is only three hours south of there.

I could make it to Vicksburg by seven tonight. Do the job. That’s maybe an hour. If it all goes well I could be at Old Home by midnight.

It might be too late. It feels late, anyway. It feels like I’m way behind. I should’ve never counted on anyone else to save Indie.

They all say they want to save her. Even Adam and McKay. And I almost believe them. But they can’t.

Because saving her means they have to walk away.

And they can’t let her go. Just like Nick can’t let Wendy go.

And now that fucker is trying to take my daughter.

McKay told me something that day Indie almost killed me. He said, We’re not all in this together. It’s every man for himself.

And he was right. When it really comes down to it, it’s just every man for himself.

Back then I couldn’t imagine doing all this on my own. I needed the team. I needed Beck and Moore to have my back and I need Nick to keep an eye on everything while we were busy.

But they’re gone. So where the fuck was Nick when this little girl got my friends?