Chapter 26

chapter

twenty-six

Lucy came awake slowly, and pain swamped her. God. Where was she? Where was Sawyer? She strained to think, but the last thing she remembered was watching Sawyer get loaded onto a helicopter. And then…

Nothing.

Just a black hole.

She struggled to sit up.

And that's when she felt the cuffs on her wrists, cool metal biting into her skin. She was bound to something hard and unyielding. She tugged and pulled, but the cuffs held firm.

She listened for anything that might give her an idea of where she was. All she could hear was a soft humming noise, like an air conditioning unit, and the distant murmur of voices. She had no idea if they were friend or foe.

Panic ripped through her. She yanked on the cuffs, making them clatter against whatever she was bound to. A pipe of some kind.

"Lucy," a soft voice said. A woman, and she was close. She sounded familiar, but Lucy couldn't place her. "It's okay."

It was definitely not okay. She was cuffed to a fucking pipe! "Where's Sawyer?"

"He's safe."

"What happened?"

"You were in the hospital. I told Sawyer I'd stay with you so he could get some sleep. He didn't want to leave you, but I convinced him. When he left… God." Her voice broke. "A nurse came in. I didn't suspect a thing. She injected me with something, and I woke up here. I'm so sorry."

Some of the panicked disorientation faded as she focused on the other woman's voice. "Who are you?"

"Anna."

Zak Hendricks' wife. She'd never met Anna before, but she knew off her. "You offered to sit with me when we've never met?"

"Yeah, of course," Anna said. "Sawyer loves you. That makes you family."

Sawyer loves you.

Her heart flipped. The statement, so matter-of-fact and sincere, was both terrifying and comforting. She remembered he'd told her he loved her on the mountain, but it had been in the middle of a life-or-death situation. She'd convinced herself it was just the adrenaline talking and he'd come to his senses.

But, instead, he'd told other people.

Like Anna, a stranger to her.

She didn't know what to do with that information, so she tucked it away for later consideration. "Why are we here?" she asked, fear gripping her throat so tight it made it hard to breathe.

"I'm not sure," Anna said, her voice shaking slightly. "But they want Pierce."

"God. Not this again. We don't know where he is!"

"None of us do." She sounded sad. "Wherever he is, I hope he's okay."

A door opened, spilling a square of light into their darkened cell, momentarily blinding Lucy. She blinked as two figures stepped into the room. One was a small man, the other a big woman with a military bearing.

Theodore and Bea.

"I'm sorry for all of this, ladies," Theodore said, taking off his glasses to clean the lens. "But it should all be over soon. Your men won't keep protecting Pierce now that we have you. We're making an exchange in a few hours, so just sit tight. You'll be home by dawn."

Lucy stared at him in disbelief, then her gaze shifted to Bea. She had thought the woman was kind and warm, if a little rough around the edges, but she saw none of that on Bea's hard face now. Those were the eyes of a stone-cold killer.

She shifted her attention back to Theodore. "What's so important about Pierce?"

"He has information I need." His gaze flicked over to Bea in disgust. "I originally hired help to track him down, but they proved unreliable. And then the earthquake threw a wrench in the works. Hence, the… change in tactics. I needed to speed this whole affair up."

"What happens to us once you have him?" Anna asked.

Theodore smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I told you already. You'll be free to go," he said, his voice smooth as oil.

He was lying.

A glance over at Anna showed Lucy that she knew it, too. Theodore had no intention of letting anyone walk away from this alive.

Theodore's gaze turned cold as he took in their disbelieving expressions. His smile tightened, an almost cruel bent to his lips. "You don't look convinced," he said, a faux innocence lacing his words. "You really needn't worry, ladies."

Bea stood there silent, arms folded across her chest, her facial expression almost bored. But Lucy could see the tension in her stance, the way her gaze followed Theodore's every move.

"Bea and I are not monsters," Theodore continued, setting his clean glasses back on his face. "We simply require something that your friends are being unreasonably stubborn about surrendering."

"Pierce is a human being, not a thing to be tossed around for your convenience," Anna said icily.

Abruptly, Theodore turned away and Bea followed, the door closing behind them with finality. The space fell into an oppressive silence again—the humming of the air conditioning unit even more deafening now.

Lucy pulled her chains again. It was more for the sake of doing something than anything else.

Anna groaned softly. "Zak's gotta be losing his mind. We can't wait around for them to come back. We need a plan."

"This is stupid and dangerous," Ash said darkly.

"Have you ever known me to be smart and careful?" Zak said, voice tight as he and Sawyer pulled on bulletproof vests and slid into lightweight jackets.

"We know where they are," Ash reasoned. "My deputies can surround them and?—"

"And they'll kill the girls," Sawyer interrupted. "Then themselves, just like Grant or Walker or whatever his name was. Whatever Pierce is twisted up in, it's big enough that people are not only willing to kill for it but die for it. We don't have a choice, Ash."

Ash growled. "Then use Donovan as the decoy. At least he can see!"

Sawyer chose to ignore that last bit and pulled on the hood Zak handed him. "We have to assume they know what Pierce looks like. Donovan's too big to pass as him. We're the same height and roughly the same weight. They won't know I'm not him until it's too late."

"Ash," Zak said, and there was a rare note of seriousness in his tone. "When I married Anna, I promised you I'd always protect her, and I don't plan on breaking that promise. I'll bring your sister home."

Ash groaned softly. Then, "Fuck it." Something clattered to the floor. Through the gap at the bottom of his hood, Sawyer saw Ash's badge spin across the floor, coming to rest by his boot. "I'm coming, too. Give me a gun that's not police issue."

Zak chuckled, but there was no humor in it. "Careful, Ash. Your inner bad boy is peeking out."

"Fuck off, Zak. Let's move."