41. Forty-one

forty-one

I blinked my eyes open and stared, trying to figure out where I was and what had happened. They kidnapped me. Again. The memory of being shoved into the van came back in a rush and I sat up in a panic.

I regretted it immediately. My head swam like I'd spent all night doing my best to drink a distillery. I whimpered and dropped back on the couch.

I heard a door open and close, then the creak of a chair as someone sat nearby.

"I've set some water in front of you. Move slowly. They gave you a sedative for easier transport, but they overdid the dosing a bit."

"Where? Who?" My brain had taken a vacation and my mouth felt like I'd tried to eat a package of cotton balls.

The chair squeaked again and I drew my five-hundred-pound eyelids up. Mr. Blue, aka Robert Willis, sat in a cheap folding chair like it was a throne. His legs were stretched in front of him, his arms crossed over his chest, a signature blue tie revealing his identity.

He cocked his head at me. "We've met." A small smile spread across his thin lips, making him look like a cartoon.

I snorted. "Of course. The man who enjoys hunting women in the woods."

He shrugged. "One of many pastimes." He looked around the small room. "As for where, that doesn't matter. I suspect we won't be here long."

I inched my way to an upright position and grabbed the bottle of water off the floor. I drank half of it while I scanned my surroundings. The room looked like it was once an office. A long window looked out over an expanse of concrete a story below. At one point, this must have been a manufacturing facility of some sort, but now it was an empty shell.

I sat on a couch that was ripped in multiple places, with its stuffing poking through and its useful life as furniture clearly over long ago. There was nothing else in the room.

My arms were too heavy to support the water bottle for long and I let them drop into my lap. "So, Robert, what now?" I emphasized his name. I wanted him to know I knew who he was. I was probably signing my own death warrant, but at that point I was so mad I didn't care.

If he was surprised, he didn't show it. Drym was right. This man didn't flinch.

"Now we wait for my wayward squad to come rescue you."

He chuckled at my confusion.

"Imagine my surprise when my staff informed me that the key to getting back an extravagant investment was the same woman who escaped my hunt. It makes sense now, how you disappeared that night. When the dogs lost your trail we assumed you'd fallen into an old well or another such hazard. Then you showed up at your apartment.

"We had to send men after you, of course. It wouldn't do for our little side hobby to be spoken about. But you eluded them, too. I should have known when they disappeared without a trace."

He shook his head and tsked as though he admonished himself for not seeing it sooner.

"A-546 never said a word while we had him. Did you know that?"

I kept silent.

"I knew he wouldn't give up the location of the others, and one subject isn't enough to command the price I need to make this project worthwhile. I need the entire squad."

He glanced at his watch. It was one of those high-tech ones, the square face displaying much more than the time.

My brain finally processed what he was saying. I was bait. This was a trap. And knowing Drym, it would work.

I had to figure out a way to stop him from coming.

Robert checked his watch again. "It was simple enough to insert a tracker while he was down. Harder to make it seem like the shifter's escape plan wasn't too easy." He sighed. "We didn't expect their hiding place to be so secure."

I kept quiet. I didn't want to interrupt him when he was engrossed in his villain speech.

"After you slipped through our fingers a second time, I decided to let you go."

I snorted.

"I promise you, Kendal. We explored every avenue to retrieving the wyrfangs without involving you, but this was our best course."

"They will kill you all."

His thin lips spread into that evil grin again.

"Not with you as an incentive to ensure their cooperation."

He glanced at his watch and stood. "Drink your water. They will be here soon and I need to show them that behaving results in your good care."

The insinuation that misbehaving resulted in bad treatment of me hung in the air.

"I see you understand. Good." The door clicked shut behind him.

Think Kendal, think. There has to be a way to warn them.

I dropped my head into my hands and my eyes snagged on the bloody scrape slashed across my leg. I laid my forearm across my thighs and took a deep breath. Then I scratched a word into my skin, over and over, and hoped like hell he figured it out.