AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The door stood open beyond Benjamin and Ramon.
If anyone was coming here, maybe she could get out before they showed up.
Kenna pushed off the wall, past the tangle of the two men fighting. She stumbled toward the door and slammed against the frame.
One of them grunted behind her.
Ramon knew where she stood, and she could say the same about him. He would do what he could. Meanwhile, there was nothing else she could do but make a break for it. This could be the answer she had been asking for since she got here.
Her way out.
Kenna looked out into the hallway but couldn’t see anyone. There were stairs at both ends, and it was a gamble choosing between them when she had no idea who might be coming down.
She raced for the door to her right. Her legs dragged, her feet nearly tripping her with each sluggish movement. Did she even have the energy to get to a vehicle and try to blow through the gate out of here? Maybe she should try for a phone.
A gunshot exploded behind her.
Ramon’s cry rang out over the eruption of ringing in her ears.
Tears rolled down Kenna’s cheeks. She couldn’t turn back, no matter what. She had to get out of here. Once she did that, she could put things right for both of them.
She saw no one all the way to Kart’s office and couldn’t resist the temptation to check inside. It was far less likely that he would still be in here than that she would actually manage to get all the way outside the compound without being discovered.
His phone lay on the desk.
Kenna dialed the number while she slumped onto the surface of the desk, hopefully out of sight for long enough to…
“Hello? Kenna, is that you?”
Her head pounded. Tears rolled down her face. “Maizie, I need help.”
ChapterFourteen
Kenna fell awkwardly and let out a yelp. Her arm gave out and she landed on her side, her butt on the floor. Then her head.
“Kenna?” Maizie sounded far away. “Kenna, are you there?”
She grasped the phone and held it to her ear, her temple against flooring that didn’t smell good. She tried not to sniff. “I’m here.”
“We’re in town. I’m at the hotel if anything happens and you end up on your own. I’m in Cielo Ardiente at the little motel on the north side of town.” Maizie rattled off a couple of cross streets, and some landmarks.
“I can’t get out, Maze.”
The teen whimpered. “We know. That’s why Stairns is getting you out. He’s coming tonight, so just hang on.”
Kenna wanted to hang up right then so Maizie wouldn’t have to hear the pain in her tone. So the girl could get some relief. God knew Kenna needed some as well. This situation seemed determined to be never ending, despite anyone’s attempts to resolve it.
She wanted to argue that it wouldn’t work. That Stairns would need an army if he wanted to get her out. Or did he think that coming in as one guy, under cover of night, meant he’d be able to sneak in and out easier?
The words wouldn’t form.
And even if they did, she wasn’t about to put that worry on a seventeen-year-old with her own trauma, which had lasted far longer than Kenna’s few days. And been a whole lot more torturous, both physically and mentally. She didn’t know how Maizie managed to stay standing after living that life. Or how she was even sane.
Kenna had lost Jax to rescue, and she was just about feral over the whole thing.
“You just have to hang on, Kenna. It won’t be long.” Maizie sniffed.
“I’m sorry.”
