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“I’ve called the mayor to give him the good news,” he goes on. “He’s given me another hour to safely retrieve her before he resigns. Discretion and careful planning will be essential to getting her back. Do you understand?”
Bones nods carefully and awaits further instruction from our leader. I can’t deny that I’m impressed with Seer. He knew exactly what Bones needed to calm down, and now he’s going to get the best out of him as we prepare for our fight. He’s come a long way since he first took over the leadership. There’s something more confident about him now, surer of his actions.
“I have to admit, I have a lot of respect for Mayor Prudent,” Seer says, surprising me. “He’s not a bad man. He’s honest and he cares about this city. The power doesn’t seem to have gone to his head. It would be a damn shame to have him retire and let the likes of Davis Thompson take over this city.”
“You really want to talk about politics right now?” Bones snaps, standing up and pacing the floor. Now that he knows that Melissa is within reach, he’s not able to keep still.
“No,” he says. “I’m telling you who has Melissa.”
Bones immediately stops pacing and looks at Seer with shock. It’s mirrored in my own expression as I assess Seer. There isn’t a hint of humor or jest in his face.
“You’re joking,” I say. “You must be. Why would he have Melissa?”
“Because he knows he isn’t going to win the election,” Seer explains, standing up slowly and handing me a piece of paper. “Don’t forget, he tried to bribe me to get me to dig up dirt on Prudent. He was willing to give us full immunity for it.”
I look down at the paper and see a satellite image of a small warehouse. I look back up at Seer, my eyebrow quirked in question.
“This is where he has her,” he tells me confidently. “It took some digging and looking past shell corporations, but he definitely owns this place.”
Bones comes over to hover above me and looks down at the image. Seer points to a small area on the image.
“We think they’re keeping Melissa here,” he explains. “There’s been a lot of increased activity on the satellite camera over the last 24 hours. Nothing that can conclusively show she’s there, but it’s too much of a coincidence. This has to be where he has her.”
“Let’s go, then,” Bones says, taking off for the door.
“We don’t know what we’re walking into,” Seer calls after him. “It’s impossible to tell how many men might be there guarding her. We need to be smart about this so we can keep her safe.”
I get up and run over to the door, blocking Bones from exiting. Seer’s right, if we aren’t smart, they could kill her. They’ve warned us as much. We have to be as stealthy and efficient as we can.
“We’ll plan on the way, let’s go!” Bones growls desperately. “We can’t leave her in that place for one more second.”
I place my hands on his shoulder gently.
“You need to calm down, first,” I say, looking him straight in his eye. “Seer is right, we have to be smart about this, and we can’t let our emotions control us right now. He’s in charge, just wait for his order.”
Seer gives me a small, grateful smile, but Bones is trying hard to push past me.
“What if it were Abigail?” he asks, his voice pitiful. “Or Daisy? Or Benji?”
“If waiting an extra fifteen minutes means the difference between getting them back safely and getting them killed, I would wait every time,” I answer as calmly as I can.
“Besides,” Seer tells us. “I’ve got to wait for our backup to show up. They should be here any moment.”
As if on cue, there’s the sound of motorcycles pulling into the driveway. I let go of Bones and he takes off towards the front door, opening it wide. Outside, there’s half a dozen Houston Kings idling outside, waiting for us to join them.
“I called them this afternoon,” Seer explains from somewhere behind us. “If we’re going to have a fight, we’re sure as hell going to be ready for it.”
CHAPTERTHIRTY
Ican barely keep my eyes open, but I’m too afraid to sleep. I haven’t truly slept at all since I first woke up from the effects of the chloroform. My body and mind feel exhausted, and I have no sense of time at all. Sitting in the dark in silence has messed with my head more than I would ever have thought.
It could have been days since they came into the room, turning the lights on so maddeningly bright that I felt like I’d go blind. After having a bag over my head, it was an unwelcome surprise. They’d handed me a newspaper and forced me to record two videos. The first was for Bones. Any hopes I had that he might rescue me were quickly dashed. Then I had to record one for my dad. It felt like a punch in the stomach. I never wanted him to worry about me, and this is the most worrisome experience I could possibly think up.
I’ve tried to pass the time by thinking about the kids at the youth center. I pretend that I’m still at work, that I’ve passed the time teaching class. It’s helped a little, kept me somewhat sane. But they haven’t given me anything to eat or drink since I arrived. My brain can’t seem to recall how long the human body can last without water, but I know it isn’t long. Maybe they’re just going to let me die of natural causes if my dad doesn’t resign.
It kills me that that’s what they want. After all the damage we did to our relationship, just so I could live a normal life and he could have a career in politics, this is still where it ends up. I’m the reason he’s going to have to resign from a job he loves and is so passionate about. Unless, of course, he just doesn’t resign. I can’t imagine he’d do that, but I’m losing my grip on reality. The longer I’m here, the more terrified I am that I’m never leaving.
I think back to the videos I recorded. They’d made me hold a newspaper to show the date. It was just a day after I’d gone out with Juliana. How could that be possible? How much time has gone by since then? My body is so stiff from being tied in this position, my stomach so empty. The room would probably be spinning if I could actually see the room, but that’s obviously not going to happen.
