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Katya and I both began to scour the bodies. Nothing.
“I’ll check the cab.” She rounded, then returned holding two. “It’s locked.” She tossed the first one. The second looked simpler; not a smart phone. A burner phone, maybe. It wasn’t locked. “I don’t know Armon’s number.”
Nikki crawled from the van. “I do.” By the way her hand still shook, I doubted her ability to hold it or press the buttons. She looked between us both as she held it to her ear. Her voice heightened. “It’s me. It’s me…they’re dead…on the road somewhere…” She nodded frantically. “Yes, they’re here too…Yes.” She lowered the cheap phone and spoke to me and Katya. “They’re almost here. He said to hide the bodies in the van and wait.”
As one might expect of Nikki, she did nothing to help us with the corpse Katya and I had to lift then struggled to drag into the back of the vehicle. The man must have been wearing heavy armor to weigh so much. The moment we had him inside, the doors slammed shut.
For a moment, all I could do was look at the door with confusion. Why would she shut us in here with the bodies Armon told her to hide?
“You fucking bitch!” Katya yelled as she lunged toward the doors and attempted to open them. She banged on the metal and screamed, “Armon is going to kill you!”
Whatever had her so upset took several seconds to kick in for me. Nikki hadn’t called Armon. But that made no sense. She’d been more terrified than me and Katya.
But I knew Armon would come to save us, and he’d kill Nikki for this. She was as evil as the violent men who captured us.
Chapter Forty-Five
Sasha
The interior lights shut off within seconds after the doors closed. Even in blackness, Katya continued to pound at the metal.
I slumped to the hard bench beside me and pulled my feet from a dead body. What had we blindly allowed Nikki to do? Now it seemed foolish to think we’d ever trusted her. “Nikki helped them,” I muttered into the darkness, still too shocked to believe it had happened. We were so close to getting away. Wewouldhave gotten away if not for that back-stabbing woman.
Katya screamed, “I am going to kill you, bitch!”
Killing Armon’s wife might be easy to do if she hadn’t locked us in a dark van to await whoever had desired to kidnap us. Not to mention if Katya was in a calmer state. Katya had always been strong-willed, but the way she blindly drummed at the metal seemed like an uncontrollable rage that would only injure her. The one person who should be able to get through this seemed to have lost all ability to reason.
“Breathe.” It was all I could say. Maybe I didn’t say it loud enough, because she continued. In a way, my presence in this hopeless situation may have made this worse for her, since my family had made her feel helpless. Touching her in an attempt to calm her seemed dangerous.
“Katya,” I spoke louder.
More furious banging was all that answered.
I recalled hearing noises from her room a few times, and Cade sometimes going to her with a demanding tone. She didn’t seem near this emotional at those times. I had to give Cade’s method a try, though. “Katya! Breathe.”
The frantic pounding in the dark stopped before a shift to panicked breathing. “I’m going to kill her.” She took a heavy breath. “I’m going to kill them all.”
“That might be hard to do if you break your fists pounding metal like you think you’re a hulk.” It was a poor attempt to calm her. I scooted closer to the back of the van where she was. It felt a bit like we were back in the garage, somewhat hopeless, but in a more terrifying vast blackness that hid dead bodies.
“I suppose we could act like cowards,” she muttered low. Luckily, I couldn’t see the scowl I’d seen so many times in my garage.
I knew I deserved to be called a coward for no more than I did for her. Still, I scooted a little closer. Just like before, we had each other.
I knew my family. I knew their pitiful excuses for their behavior, but that was no help with these men. Aside from Armon’s wife, I didn’t know who we would have to face. But maybe knowing something could help prepare us, or at least keep Katya thinking and calm.
“Do you know who Nikki might have called?” I asked.
“Only someone stupid enough to piss my brother off.” There was still grit to her tone, but at least she breathed normally. If that was the case, whoever did this had a plan to move us quick or wanted Armon to come for us.
Voices came from outside. Male, and possibly Nikki’s as well. I couldn’t hear what was said, though. The van rocked, and a front door slammed. Then we were moving. Nikki’s accomplices had arrived. Better that she had people who wanted me alive, otherwise she probably would’ve already killed me.
I pulled my knees to my chest and rested my chin on them while I pondered out loud. “I think Armon was twenty to thirty minutes from home when we were taken.” He’d crossed borders for Katya and shown up at my house within a day of when he located her. Thirty minutes would be easy for him. “At most, Nikki called her criminal friends ten minutes ago, so we must be close to where whoever she is working with is staying. But the man mentioned Armon being outnumbered.”
“That was before we killed their three most competent kidnappers.” A sardonic huff followed her statement. After a brief silence, her voice softened. “Thank you. We would have gotten away if not for Nikki.” This wasn’t the way I wanted to redeem myself with her and Armon, but I was still appreciative that she had genuinely forgiven me. Maybe I’d earned Armon’s forgiveness.
“We don’t have much time. I want to have a pistol aimed at her head the moment that door opens.” Her fit passed, and she seemed more calm than anyone in this situation should be. She grunted from strain before a corpse bumped my bare foot, causing me to jerk it to the side. “Help me search for a gun,” she said.
I lowered to pad at the floor where I’d last seen a gun. “Now I know why Nikki was so eager to have the pistol I used.” The calculating bitch probably had managed to take it when we were preoccupied.
