SWNOVELS Runner: Chapter 35
I slowly drove around the block for a third time, making sure I didn’t miss anything. I was wearing all black, and I tugged my hood over my hair before pulling up to the gate. Reaching out the window, I scanned the security card I’d stolen a couple of days ago. I pulled around the building and parked before stepping out of the small sedan I’d brought for the job. Dread coiled in my stomach, and it only got worse as I walked away from the car. I was back in California, only hours from Ridgewood. Caleb had practically begged me not to take the job, but I decided it wouldn’t hurt. By the time anyone found out I was in California, I’d be in Florida with him, sipping martinis on the beach.
The car I was taking tonight was one I’d never driven before, and excitement slowly pushed out my nerves as I crept closer to the building. Inside was a cherry red 1969 Chevy Camaro ZL1. The job would be one of my easier ones. The owner was on vacation and had brought all his vehicles here to be stored safely. Whoever wanted this car was aware and gave us that information, which meant it was most likely someone the owner knew. A friend or family member was stabbing him in the back. Yet another reason I’d only trust Caleb in the future. People were assholes.
I picked the lock in record time and quickly punched in the security code that Caleb had gotten. The alarm stopped beeping, and I shined my light around, seeing only a couple of cars in this massive building. After making sure I was alone and cutting the camera feed, I grinned, catching sight of the car. She was beautiful. I bet she drove like a fucking dream. I checked my phone, almost wishing I could take it for a drive. But I wouldn’t risk getting caught by playing around. Rare cars like this were targets for cops.
Like I expected, the car was unlocked, and I slid into the seat, studying the pristine interior. The keys were in the center console, and I picked them up, pausing for a moment. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and my senses tingled. Something was off. Keeping the keys in my hand, I pretended to inspect the car more while I scanned the room again. A flash of movement caught my eye, and my stomach tightened. Moving slowly, I pushed the lock down on the door and moved to reach down to grab the gun strapped to my ankle.
Until I heard shuffling from behind me. Inside the fucking car.
Before I could reach for a weapon, something tight was cutting off my air, pressing me to the seat. My fingers wrapped around the rope that was strangling me but pulling it did nothing. Panic swarmed me, knowing I only had seconds before I passed out. Sliding my other hand under my shirt, I grabbed my knife from its holder and blindly swung behind my head. A grunt alerted me that I hit him somewhere, but it wasn’t enough. Angling the blade sideways, I swung again, and this time the rope loosened, and I sucked in a lungful of air. The guy let out a pained yell when I stabbed his arm again.
I ducked away from the rope, but before I could move, the driver’s window suddenly shattered. I flinched, shielding my face from the glass shards. Someone grabbed me under the arms, hauling me through the broken window. My spine hit the ledge of the window frame, and pain shot up my back. I overplayed my pain, screaming and sagging like I couldn’t move.
“You made this easy,” someone said gruffly. He was still pulling me backward, and the second my ass hit the cement, he let go of me. I reached forward, freeing my gun from my ankle, then fell onto my back, aiming at the man who’d dragged me out of the car. His eyes widened, and I pulled the trigger, not giving him a chance to say anything. A bloody hole appeared on his forehead, and he slumped forward, dead before he hit the ground.
I scrambled to my feet while the other man fleeing the car from the passenger side. My heart lurched at the sight of a walkie-talkie in his hand. He wasn’t alone. I shot at him, but he ducked behind another car. I cursed, debating whether to go after him or leave. Since I didn’t know how many others were here, I spun around, racing back toward the entrance. I slammed open the door, only to be taken to the ground. My head cracked on the pavement, and I groaned, my head swimming in pain. A heavy body was on top of me, and he was going for my arms. Flailing around, I ripped out of his grip and blindly jammed the gun into his gut. I pulled the trigger, and warmth covered me as his blood gushed out. His strength left him, and I shoved him off, crawling away. Climbing shakily to my feet, I tried ignoring the pounding in my head as I started running to my car again.
“Stop,” someone bellowed from behind me.
“Yeah, right,” I muttered about fifty feet from my car. My steps faltered when something was tossed from behind me. I watched it roll under my car, and I skidded to a halt, hoping that wasn’t what I thought it was. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw a guy backing up, his eyes on the sedan instead of me. Panic tightened my chest, and I stumbled away, running back toward the building.
A loud explosion shook the ground a split second before I was knocked down by the blast. I landed on my stomach, the air rushing from my lungs. I choked out a breath, rolling onto my back, seeing black smoke billowing from my wrecked car. My ears were ringing, making it impossible to hear anything, and I screamed when someone yanked me up, throwing me over a shoulder. I’d lost my gun when the explosion went off, and I couldn’t reach my other knife at this angle.
He carried me back inside the building as I pounded on his back. My ribs were searing with pain, but I fought through it, arching my body to wrap an arm around his neck. Grabbing my other wrist once my arm was around his throat, I pulled, cutting off his air. He dropped to his knees, his hold on my thighs disappearing as he tried to displace my arm. When that didn’t work, he grasped my hips and flipped me off him backward. I lost my grip and fell to the ground in a heap.
Before I could get back up, he picked me up and threw me into the side of a car. I gritted my teeth, hot pain shooting through my ankle when I landed on it sideways.
“Don’t fucking move,” he growled, standing in front of me with a pistol aimed at me.
I glared at him, scooting back until I was resting against the car. He had brown hair that fell past his ears, and with his hoodie on, I could only see his hands, which were covered in tattoos. I didn’t recognize him at all, and as his hazel eyes bored into me, I wondered who he was with. Joel? The crew? Somehow, I doubted he was from Ridgewood. If they wanted me, Kade and Gray would have come themselves.
“You killed my friends,” he grated out.
“You blew up my car,” I stated, acting bored. “What now? We wait until the cops come after hearing that explosion?”
He grinned cruelly. “We have some time before that happens.”
I swallowed thickly, not showing my panic. He wasn’t acting alone if he had connections to pay off the police. I blinked quickly, my mind going hazy. Now that I was sitting still, my battered body was screaming from pain. Looking away from him, I glanced down, seeing a slow growing red stain covering my shirt. Brushing my fingers over it, I cringed, realizing it was my blood. And from the feeling of it, the gash on my stomach was large enough to be concerned about.
“You have any weapons on you?” he asked, not lowering his gun.
I swiped my tongue over my lips. “Why don’t you come over here and find out?”
All I had left was a knife, but I wasn’t about to pull that out until I had the opportunity to use it on him. He studied me, taking a step closer. I braced myself, seeing the hit coming. Pain exploded across my jaw when he whipped me with the gun, and blood filled my mouth. By the time I was able to focus again, he was already a few feet away from me. Pulling out a burner phone, he tapped a button and put it to his ear.
“Yeah, I have her,” he said, his stare not leaving me. “I should have brought more men. Three almost wasn’t enough.”
Dumbass. He just told me he was the only one left. Good for me; horrible for him. Because I knew he’d fuck up and give me the chance to use my blade. By the way his eyes widened, I was guessing whoever he was talking to was telling him the same thing.
“She’s hurt. But alive.” He clenched his jaw while listening to whoever was talking. Or yelling, by the sound of it. “It’s Milina. I’m sure of it.”
My mouth went dry, and my pain disappeared for a moment when I realized he was with Joel’s men. That had been my first guess, but now, I was sure. I needed to get the fuck out of here.
“I don’t think—fine,” he said nervously. He came closer until he was in front of me and crouched down. “He wants to talk to you. Don’t fucking try anything.”
I’d already slipped my pocketknife from my pocket, and when he reached forward to put the phone to my ear, I lashed out, stabbing him in the neck. His eyes bulged, and he dropped the phone, both hands going to his throat. His breaths were gurgled as the life slowly left him. Grabbing the gun from his hand, I shot him in the head. I attempted to stand but cried out when my ankle gave out.
I sagged against the car, my heart hammering as I heard a voice through the phone. Staring at it for a moment, I grabbed it and put it to my ear.
“Tony? You okay?”
My face paled when I recognized the voice. It wasn’t fucking possible. He stopped talking for a moment before he spoke my name.
“Mili?”
“Who knew ghosts could talk?” I hissed, keeping the shock out of my voice.
Liam paused for a moment. “You should have taken longer than a second to check my pulse. Or put a bullet in my head.”
My chest heaved as he spoke. I’d thought he died that day at Andy’s garage. He’d been alive this whole time. Ice spilled into my veins. Which meant Joel’s people knew I’d been in California. That I was alive.
“I’m surprised you didn’t come here yourself,” I said, feigning hurt. “You thought I wouldn’t be able to handle your men?”
“More will be there soon.”
I couldn’t tell if he was lying or not, but his answer told me one thing. He’d been hurt when his motorcycle crashed. He probably almost did die. And I bet he wasn’t fully healed yet, because if he was, he would have come to chase me down himself.
“This whole job was a setup,” I muttered.
“We knew someone new had taken on the Sapphire name. After seeing you, I had a feeling. You should have disappeared.”
“How’d you know I’d take the job?” I asked, stalling as I tried to figure out what to do.
“I didn’t. Actually, this is the third job we sent out over the dark web. You refused the other two.” He was calm—too calm. I needed to leave. I tried again to stand but gritted my teeth in pain when my ankle refused to hold my weight.
“You’ve been working with others,” he stated. “That was a dumb move. It made knowing what you’ve been up to easier.”
I froze. Did they know about the crew? Was the crew working with him? Kade and Gray wouldn’t give me up, would they? At this point, I had no fucking idea.
“See you soon, Mili,” he said quietly before disconnecting the call.
“Fuck,” I screamed, throwing the phone to the floor. I dug into my jacket pocket and pulled out my own phone, seeing the screen was shattered. But it was still working. I took a deep breath, finding Caleb’s number. “Come on, Caleb. Answer the fucking phone.”
It rang and rang before going to voice mail. I ran a hand through my hair, flinching when I felt blood. Hitting my head on the pavement was worse than I thought. And I was losing too much blood. Clenching my jaw, I pressed my free hand against the wound on my stomach. I called Caleb again, snarling in frustration when it went to voice mail again after ringing. I had no one else to call. I had men who worked for me, but they all went through Caleb. I’d never met any of them or had their contact information.
I glanced around, looking at which vehicle would be best to take until I noticed there was something wrong with the tires closest to me. They were fucking slashed.
“No,” I whispered, snapping my gaze to the next car. Those tires were cut too. The guys who’d come after me were smart enough to ruin my chance of escape. Even though I knew it was useless, I scanned the last two cars, seeing the same thing.
Giving myself a minute to work up to it, I began scooting away from the car. For a third time, I tried standing, only to collapse again. Tucking the gun into my leggings, I started crawling on the floor, moving toward the back door. Every move I made caused the pain to become nearly overwhelming, but I kept going. I had no doubt that Liam was sending more men, and I didn’t stand a fucking chance if I was still here when they showed up.
After what felt like an eternity, I got to the back parking lot. My knees and hands ached from crawling, but I didn’t stop until I got to the back fence. I moved slowly, my fear growing when I couldn’t find a place wide enough to slip through. Spying a dumpster in the corner of the lot, I made my way there, slipping behind it. I was wedged between the fence and the dumpster uncomfortably but breathed a sigh of relief once I was out of sight. It would be easy enough to hear footsteps before anyone reached me.
I pulled my phone back out and called Caleb again. No answer. I stared at the screen before calling another number. I shouldn’t be doing this. I had promised myself I wouldn’t fucking involve him.
“Hello?” Rylan’s voice came over the speaker, and I bit my lip.
“Hi, Rylan,” I said softly.
“Mili?”
“Yeah,” I breathed out. “How are you?”
“Uh, I’m good. Are you okay? You sound…different.” Concern was in his voice, and I shook my head, wincing from the pain. I must be in bad shape for him to notice something was off over the phone.
“I kinda got myself into a situation.” I paused, wishing Caleb would call me back so I didn’t have to do this. “I hate to ask, but I need your help.”
“Where are you?” he asked instantly.
“A couple of hours from Ridgewood.” I hesitated and then rattled off the address of this building. “I need to get out of here before they get here—”
I stopped talking, realizing this was a mistake. If Rylan came when Liam’s men did, it would end badly.
“You know what? I’ll figure it out,” I muttered. “I never should have called.”
“Wait,” he nearly shouted, knowing I was about to hang up. “Is someone after you? Call the police. They can help.”
I laughed hoarsely. “No, they can’t. They’re either working with the men I’m running from, or they’ll arrest me once they see what I did.”
“I’ll help you,” he said quickly. “Stay there, okay?”
“Believe me, if I could leave, I would have,” I mumbled, shifting slightly as a sharp piece of fence stabbed me in the back.
“Just stay alive until I get there,” he said firmly.
“Don’t come alone,” I whispered. “You have police you trust? Bring them with you.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I need to make a call. Keep your phone close.”
I muttered a goodbye and hung up, my stomach knotting. Calling him felt wrong. I had sworn I wouldn’t get him killed. I hoped I could keep that promise. I called Caleb again and again, only stopping because my phone battery was getting dangerously close to dead.
Jolts of pain ran through my entire body, and I tried to take note of all my injuries. My ribs were bruised, possibly fractured. The wound on my head wasn’t too bad, but I was almost certain I had a slight concussion. My ankle was twisted at best. Maybe broken. My stomach was worrying me most because it was still bleeding. I bit my tongue, slowly lifting my shirt. I couldn’t tell where the wound was because there was so much blood. If I didn’t get something to stop the bleeding soon, I’d be in trouble. Tugging my shirt back down, I kept my hand pressed against it as I stared at my phone.
Why wasn’t Caleb answering? He always had his phone on, especially when I was running jobs. Fear washed through me when the thought of Liam finding him popped into my head. Not possible. They had to create a fake job to find me—no way they found Caleb. At least that’s what I’d keep believing.
I stayed still, listening for any movements coming from outside my hiding spot, but the night was silent. I blinked, willing myself to stay awake. But my brain was foggy, and keeping my eyes open was a losing battle. I sank into unconsciousness before jolting awake from the pain. It was a never-ending circle of drifting off and waking back up until I lost track of time. I gripped the gun tightly, hoping I’d be awake if Liam’s men found me.
A tear ran down my cheek, and I angrily wiped it away. I would not fucking cry. I would survive this like I did everything else. Or I’d die trying. Death would be better than those men getting a hold of me. Either way, I refused to cry about it. I wouldn’t live my possible last moments giving them my tears.
According to the clock on my phone, it had been an hour and a half, and my body was beginning to go numb. Calling Caleb again, I swallowed past the lump in my throat as I prayed that he was okay.
A sudden loud bang had my heart stuttering. If it was Rylan, he would have called first. Craning my neck, I leaned forward until I could see the parking lot. A man with a shaved head and neck tattoos was scanning the area with a gun raised. Goose bumps skated across my skin, and I lifted my handgun, keeping it on him as he crept closer. If he was with Liam, there was no way the guy was alone. I willed him to go the other way, but instead, he came closer, the dumpster catching his attention. I pressed myself back as far as I could go, but it did nothing when the guy poked his head around the corner, meeting my gaze. His eyes widened, and I bared my teeth, aiming my gun at him.
“She’s here—”
His yell was cut off when I shot him. I lurched forward, the pain stealing my breath as I climbed over his body as fast as I could. I had seconds before his partners came. My heart thudded as I tried getting to my feet. But my ankle still couldn’t hold me, and I tumbled back to the ground. Another bang alerted me to the back door opening again.
“Don’t fucking move,” a voice shouted. Ignoring it, I went to my knees and raised my gun, but he kicked it out of my hand before grabbing my hair. I couldn’t bite back my yelp when he yanked on my hair, throwing me back on the ground.
Another shot rang out, and the guy fell on top of me with half his face gone. His weight kept me plastered to the ground as a hail of bullets flew across the parking lot. I stayed under the dead weight, using his body as a shield. I didn’t know how many people were here, but panic clung to me as I wondered whether Rylan was there. I moved my arm across the rough pavement, trying to find a gun or any weapon, but nothing was in reach.
Shots seemed to be coming from everywhere around me, and I could only see one man from where I was lying. He got shot in the chest and fell to the ground. Soon after, the shooting ceased, and I trembled, not knowing who’d won. Or who the fuck was even fighting. The body was pulled off me, and I scrambled away, only to freeze when I saw who was in front of me.
“Kade?” I sputtered out.
“Come on.” He reached for me. “We need to get out of here before the cops come.”
“Don’t fucking touch me,” I screeched, stumbling away from him. “How did you know I was here? Are you working with them? Did you give me up?”
Confusion crossed his face, but I was so out of it, I couldn’t tell if it was real or not. “Working with who? We’ll talk about it later. We need to fucking leave.”
“No,” I screamed, losing it. “They knew I was here. There’s no way you could have known unless you’re working with them.”
My breath hitched when someone came up behind me and carefully picked me up, sweeping me into their arms. I flailed, slapping him across the face.
“Rebel, calm down,” Gray muttered as he started walking across the parking lot, his hold on me tightening when I struggled. Not that it was doing anything. I was so weak, my hits were nothing anymore.
“Put me down,” I cried. “I won’t fucking go back. Kill me. Please.”
Gray stared at me, pity in his eyes. “We’re not working with whoever you’re talking about.”
Kade appeared next to us. “You can thank the mayor for us showing up.”
“Rylan?” Shock coursed through me. “He called you for help?”
“He’s out of town. Down south for a business conference. He wouldn’t have been able to get here for hours,” Kade answered, inspecting me as Gray carried me to their car.
“Bullshit,” I hissed out. “He doesn’t trust either of you.”
“True,” Gray mused. “But he seemed to believe that we’d help you.”
“I want to talk to him.”
Kade opened the back door of the SUV, and Gray set me down on the soft leather. I clamored across the seat, fully intent on leaving the car. Maybe Rylan did call them. But what if he didn’t? What if they were really working with Liam and taking me back? I couldn’t chance it. I pulled on the door handle, going rigid when it didn’t open.
“Unlock the fucking door,” I snarled.
“Jesus, how much blood have you lost?” Gray mumbled, sliding into the car next to me. “You’re white as a ghost. We need to get you to a doctor.”
I pulled my phone out, my nerves smothering me when I saw it was dead. Kade started driving, and I curled away from Gray, my body shaking. I was trapped in this car with men I hoped were here to help me. But if they weren’t, it was too late anyway. My vision started going blurry, and I fought to stay focused, but as we got on the highway, I lost myself to darkness.