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I jumped into my truck and tried to start it, but it wouldn’t start. Fuck. The other group had probably tampered with the truck while I was fighting with the first group.
“God damnit!” I slammed the heel of my palm against the steering wheel, but with the rage came guilt. This was my fault, and I was a damn idiot. I hadn’t been able to control my rage and had lost track of my surroundings. And now, because of me, Kayla was in danger.
I had brought her here in the first place, thinking I was doing good by mending the father-daughter relationship. I thought I could somehow be her hero. What a fucking joke.
They got her because of me.
Come on, Monty. This isn’t the time to wallow. Think you bastard, think.
I whipped out my phone.
“Hey,” Vinny greeted. He answered quickly, thank God. “How did it go?”
“They took Kayla.” My voice was shaky, and I was nearly hyperventilating, but I said it in as clear a tone as I could manage. “The motherfuckers took Kayla.”
There was no sound on the other line for a few seconds, and then, “Who? Her dad?”
“I don’t know!” I shouted, then pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to think. “No. I don’t think it’s her father. But for all I know, this whole shit might have something to do with him. And the leader…he knew my name.” Now that I thought about it, something had been bothering me about him for some time. “I recognized the voice, but I can’t remember where the fuck I even heard it from. Fuck!”
“Okay, calm down,” Vinny’s voice was placating, but it only angered me the more.
“How the fuck do you expect me to calm down, Vinny, when Kayla was just abducted, and I have no idea how to find her? They fucking cut the lines to my car, and now I can’t even move!”
“I’m saying calm down, Marine, because you’re not thinking straight right now, and unless you think straight, you’re not going to be of much help to Kayla.” Vinny’s words were harsh, but they were exactly the bucket of cold water I needed to get me back to reality.
I took a calming breath, then another, before I felt the hysteria recede enough for me to say, “Okay, I’m good. I’m good now.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m not sure. I’m on the highway somewhere between Mississippi and Louisiana.”
“Can you hitchhike home?”
“I’m a big scary motherfucker, and in the mood that I’m in now, I’m not sure anyone on the road is going to take their chances.” I rubbed my hand over my face. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll get home. I need to come up with a plan of how to find Kayla.”
Before that, we need to know who took her.
“I think I remember the car,” I said. “Dark Honda. License plate GRP598. They hit me with a smoke bomb that had been infused with a sleeping agent. These aren’t amateurs we’re talking about.”
“The same kind of people that tried to take her the last time?”
“I think so. They certainly had the attire for it.”
“Okay, well, if they ambushed you on your way back from seeing her dad, then he might be involved somehow. I would go and ask him questions about any enemies he might have. And you might want to start looking into your past as well, see how you remember the asshole. We’ll start looking into the information from here, and I’ll pull in any contacts I have to find her.”
“Alright, alright, sounds good.” Actually, Kayla’s father seemed like a good place to start, considering the story he told me about how his agency had splintered. “Thanks, Vin.”
“Don’t even mention it. You helped me with my woman and sister. It’s the least I can do now. We’ll find her, alright.”
I nodded, my throat tight as I hung up. We had to find her. I didn’t know what I would do if we didn’t.
I’d fight for you,she had said. I had hurt her and pushed her away, yet she still wanted to fight for me.
Me too,I swore, conviction filling my heart. I’d scour this entire earth to find her and burn down any bridge I had to. I would do anything, even offer up my secrets—my dark ugliest parts—to her for her inspection.
As long as I had her back again.
So, as I walked to the nearest town, I willingly let myself retreat into the nightmares, thinking about every single mission I had ever been in.
The images continued to flash through my mind, each more torturous than the next, but I didn’t look away this time, didn’t avoid it. I needed to find out, needed to know how I remembered that voice and what it had to do with me.
And then, all of a sudden, it came to me.
And I knew just who took Kayla.
