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“I’d seen her a couple of times. At some of the other parties. It was Lance who pointed her out again last weekend. Said to bring her in, but she and that guy took off before I had the chance. Then she came alone on Wednesday, and I did what I was told.”
“You drugged her, didn’t you?”
“It’s harmless. Just makes it easier for everyone.”
Travis smacked the kid in the head with the gun. “Easier for you, you mean. Not the girls you’re kidnapping. That you’re selling. Did you take her to the same place we’re heading?”
Matt nodded. “Shit,” he whined. “I’m bleeding out here.”
“You would only be so lucky,” she said.
Neither she nor Travis spoke again, each lost in their thoughts as Matt gave the directions. He’d at least confirmed for her that Darcy had been taken. That she was possibly even at the place they were heading to now, alive. Waiting for Meredith to save her.
She wouldn’t disappoint her.
The neighborhood Travis pulled into wasn’t what Meredith had expected. The two-story white-sided house with black shutters and a sign out front that advertised psychic readings didn’t look like the crack house she’d envisioned. It was so…middle-class. In an unassuming neighborhood in the middle of the freaking suburbs.
“How do you make the drop?” Travis asked.
“Pull up into the driveway, flash the headlights. The garage door opens, pull in. Once the door shuts, someone comes out and accepts the pack—girl. Then I leave.”
Travis pulled up to the curb, stopping short of the house’s driveway. They studied the place in silence. “Why don’t we just call the police?” Meredith finally asked. “Tell them what he explained.”
“Not without proof,” Travis said. “Right now we only have his word. And from all appearances, the house looks completely legit. Quiet. For all we know, the house is clean. Cleared days ago of any evidence. Bring the police in right now without proof and we’ve shot any credibility we have. We just need to get inside. See what’s going on.”
Meredith realized the truth of what he said. She could just envision the look on the officer’s face who’d initially taken her police report, certain she was a crazy overprotective mother. If she called them with this story, they’d laugh her off the line.
“So what are we going to do?”
“I’ve got a plan. You up for it, Mer?”
Chapter Eleven
Meredith tried to imagine the vacant look in the eyes of the girls she’d seen at the club. Stoned, almost. Confused. She hoped she could pull this off.
“Don’t forget, Matt, that I’ll have my gun trained on the center of your spinal cord. I’m a very good aim. Don’t try anything funny,” Travis said from behind the driver’s seat, crouched low and flat on the floor with a blanket they found in the back thrown over him. “Go.”
Matt pulled up into the driveway and flashed the beams. As he’d said, a minute later the garage door opened. Meredith tried to still the rapid beat of her heart, the breathing that was becoming more and more shallow in her panic.
Think of your daughter. She’s inside. Waiting for you. You can’t blow this.
When the door was high enough to clear the car, Matt pulled in and put the car in park. They waited as the garage door shut behind. Trapping th
em inside.
Meredith heard a door open and then close again before the car door was thrust open by a guy in jeans and cowboy boots. “Where did you get this pile-of-shit car?” the guy asked.
“Had to borrow it for the night. My car was out of commission.”
Meredith kept her attention on the guy with squinty eyes and dark reddish-brown hair who wasn’t disguising the fact he was checking out every inch of her exposed body. She willed herself to stay slack, to not let her body tighten in disgust or humiliation. “I wasn’t expecting you tonight. What do we have here? She’s a little older than your usual delivery. Not that I wouldn’t pay to tap that ass.”
“Lance selected her. That’s all I know.”
“Fine. I’ll get her upstairs and then we’ll figure out what they want done with her.” His fingers crept under her ass as he settled her weight in his arms, and she forced a lazy smile as she looked up at him. “If she’s rated B class, then I’m going to have to have a little taste of her myself.”
Matt didn’t say anything and allowed her to be swept into the guy’s arms. They entered the house, pausing as he shoved his elbow against the garage door opener to let Matt out. They were in a kitchen with a large eat-in area where three men were sitting¸ playing cards.
The car could be heard practically screeching out of the driveway. Matt was about to make a break for it. And hopefully Travis was already out, hiding somewhere in the dark.
