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“Where is it? You didn’t come here for my help. You came here for me. That’s why they took Jen. I’m your ticket to getting them back.” Liam says it so matter-of-factly that I just sit there stunned.
“Hey, you don’t know that,” I say to Liam. I want to hit him for accusing his friend of something so horrible.
“You know I’d do anything for you…except give up my family,” Mike says, confirming Liam’s suspicion.
I gape at Mike. “You gave us up?”
“I had to, Margaret. It’s Jen.” He looks distraught. “It’s my boy…my son.”
My expression softens when I see the look on his face. I nod, understanding why he did what he did. Then I look to Liam, wondering how we’re going to get out of this. “What do we do?”
“We go.” We get up and rush out of the diner. I mourn the food I’m not going to get but try to remember it’s my life or my stomach.
Mike chases after us and into the parking lot. “Wait!”
Liam pauses slightly and turns, holding a gun straight at his friend’s head.
“Liam!” I scold, my brain taking too long to catch up to what’s happening in front of me. I’m worried for myself, but I’m also worried for Jen and her son. “He’s helping his family.”
Liam looks at me, and we challenge each other for a minute.
“Will you help me?” We both look over at Mike. His eyes are serious as he holds the wire in his hands.
We stare at him; Liam lowers his gun and looks at Mike seriously. He throws the wire to the ground and holds his hands out.
“Get in,” Liam replies, and we both follow him to a new truck, our bags over our shoulders as Liam hi-jacks another vehicle.
I’d be annoyed if I wasn’t so damn hungry.
I don’t know where Liam is taking us, but I don’t ask any questions. You can feel the tension pumping through the stolen truck, and I know Mike is losing it over his family. I can’t decide if the anger is all directed at Liam, but I don’t try to decipher it.
We make our way through Salt Lake City, heading south away from where we were initially headed.
“Aren’t we going back?” I ask, my voice the first to break the silence in the few hours we’ve been in the truck.
“No,” Liam answers sharply. I’ve never had him act short with me, and I stare at his profile, trying to decipher if he’s angry or just frustrated at the situation.
I twist in my seat to talk to Mike. Maybe they have an unspoken secret between them, some sort of telepathy that they didn’t feel like sharing with me, but I would like to actually know the plan.
“Hey,” I say softly, encouraging him to give me his attention. He looks up at me, his eyes haunted, and I immediately want to give him some type of reassurance. The vulnerability on his face slays me, and I think about Jen again, how scared she must be. “Did they say where they’re taking them?”
“No,” he rasps. “They said they’d contact me once I had Liam.” Mike runs a hand over his face and looks out the window. “But I might as well have killed them. They know I threw the wire out.”
“You’re doing your best, and it will be fine.” I’m surprised by how sure I sound. This whole time I’ve been worried about my own well-being, but when it comes to worrying about someone else, a new sense of confidence settles over me. “We’re going to get them back. They’ll be okay, Mike.”
“We don’t even know where they are.”
“Yes, we do.” Liam speaks up, and we both turn to look at him. His hand is fisting the steering wheel, and he doesn’t turn to look at us.
“Where?”
“Moab,” he answers, checking a mirror before changing lanes.
“Moab? Why there?”
“There’s a safe house, and they wouldn’t take them any farther than they needed to. They’re using them as leverage.”
“Okay, all right.” Mike rubs his hands on his jeans and licks his lips, this information seeming to have given him some hope. “But how do you plan on getting them back?”
