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He swallowed hard. “Nobody.”
“You ran your truck straight into the ass-end of mine. You got a reason for that?”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about, man.”
I wasn’t surprised he denied it. I figured he wasn’t going to just admit to what he’d done or who he was, but it still pissed me off.
Grabbing the front of his shirt, I pushed his back against the side of his truck. “You’re pissing me off, kid.”
He tried to look annoyed, but I saw the hesitation and fear in his eyes. Saw something else, but I couldn’t put my finger on what that was just yet.
Ritz leaned in close when a police car rolled by the front of the alley. “Got company.”
We both stayed still until they cleared the alley, which didn’t take long. Losing my patience, I met the eyes of the kid in front of me. “How old are you?”
When he didn’t answer, I continued. “Who are you working for?”
He looked confused. “Don’t work for anyone.”
I lowered my voice even further. “Where is she?”
He glanced back and forth between Ritz and me. “Who?”
“This is bullshit,” Ritz declared.
With my hand still wrapped in his shirt, I turned him from the truck and threw him against the concrete wall of the building. “Who the fuck took her, and where is he holding her?”
Once again, he looked back and forth between Ritz and me. “I don’t know anything about anyone taking a girl.”
“This is not a fucking coincidence.” I gritted my teeth and got closer to his face. “Only gonna ask you one more time.”
“You can ask me a hundred more times. Answer won’t be any different. I don’t know shit about any girl.”
Glancing at Ritz, he nodded, and I grabbed the kid’s bicep. “You’re comin’ with us.”
He pulled at his arm. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Turning around, I got right in his face. “You’re coming with us.”
His shoulders deflated just as Ritz motioned toward the truck. “Let’s go.”
24
JANE
I openedmy eyes slowly and felt pain shoot across my shoulder and down my arm. I wasn’t sure if it was because of how I was sitting or if my shoulder was injured, but either way, I needed to move to relieve some of the pain. Every time I woke, I felt pain somewhere new, but I tried not to concentrate on that.
Once again, it was dark and quiet. I had no idea where I was and hadn’t been awake long enough to figure it out. I’d been sleeping the majority of the time I’d been here, so I wasn’t sure how long it had been, but when I’d wake, without fail, the man holding me would come down those stairs within a few minutes. Each time he gave me water to drink and a pill to take, but the last few times, he untied my hands and let me drink as much as I wanted. He also allowed me to use a bucket when I told him I needed to go to the bathroom, but it hadn’t been easy. My legs were cold and stiff, which was painful when I tried to stand, but the fire I felt along my left side was what slowed me down.
It didn’t take me long to figure out he was drugging me so I would sleep. He was older, or at least I thought he sounded that way, so I wondered if he needed to keep me sleepy to prevent me from escaping or if he just wanted to keep me quiet. Either way, I had to figure out a way to avoid taking that pill so I could make a plan to get myself out of here.
Looking around the darkness, I tried to listen to the noises. It sounded like water was dripping, but it was so dark I couldn’t see any water. I leaned my head against the pole I was tied to and groaned. My head still hurt, but the dizziness was gone, which made it easier to think more clearly. My body was stiff and my muscles ached, but I had no idea if that was from injuries or because it was so cold in this room, not to mention I was sitting on ice-cold concrete.
As if on cue, I heard the sound of a door and listened to his booted feet walk down the old wooden stairs. He seemed to know exactly when I was awake, so it only made sense that he was watching me. Glancing around, I tried to find anything that looked as if it had a light or something on it to prove he had a camera on me, but just like every other time, I couldn’t see anything.
Coming right to me, he squatted down and put his face close to mine. From the moment I opened my eyes and found myself in this place, he’d seemed calm, almost arrogant about all of this, but not this time. Today, he seemed angry and annoyed. Swallowing hard, I pressed my back tight to the pole in an attempt to put distance between us, but he only got closer.
“Seems I made a mistake,” he growled.
