13. Knox

13

KNOX

It seems like forever, but it actually only takes me six minutes to disarm the bomb. The young girl is freaking out, and I leave her to Dylan to deal with just as Bear and his team storm the room. All their guns are drawn, and I know they are ready since they came in without knowing what they’re walking into.

“He had a bomb strapped to the girl’s chest. He has Kali,” I tell Bear and watch as the man’s face transforms in front of me. He’s mad. I know he is, and it’s easy to see that already my team is going to treat her as if she’s family. In such a short amount of time, she’s already in my heart, and I can’t lose her. I just can’t.

Guilt, rage, all the emotions are fighting inside me, but I have to tamp them down. I have to keep it together because the most important thing right now is to find Kali and then never let her leave my side again.

We’re all standing outside waiting for intel, but the longer I wait, the more pissed off I become. “I’m calling Nash.”

I step away from the group of men and call our commander. I know he’s being kept in the loop and knows what’s going on, but I’m calling him for some support.

“Knox.”

“Hey Nash, I need a favor.”

“Anything,” he answers immediately.

“I need every resource you can give me. Nick has Kali. I need access to satellite footage.”

“Give me five minutes. I’ll make it happen.”

“Thanks,” I tell him and hang up.

In very little time at all, I’ll have Kali’s exact location, and then God help Nick, because nothing is going to stop me from ending him now. Nothing.

I’m coming, Kali. Just hold on.

Kali

Nick pulls the car into an abandoned junkyard. I try to find anything that is going to tell me where I’m at, but there’s not a sign, billboard, or anything in sight.

He stops next to another car and pulls me from the back seat. I fight him, jerking and weaving, causing him to lose his grip on me, and he drops me on the ground. I kick my tethered legs out, striking him. There is broken debris on the ground, and my hands are getting all cut up under me as I inch backwards, trying to get as far away from him as possible.

My fingers wrap around a piece of metal with a sharp edge, and I keep a hold of it, hoping I can use it.

Nick is grunting, breathless, but he picks me up and hefts me into the trunk of the car and slams the lid shut. I nearly drop the tool but manage to hang on to it.

With limited mobility, I have to use just the range of my fingers moving back and forth with the sharp edge against my bindings. Luckily, he tied me with duct tape and not rope. If I keep trying, I might be able to free my wrists.

The car jerks, and the metal cuts into my skin. I ignore the hot, sticky rush of liquid over my fingers and keep working.

I don’t know how much time goes by. It feels like hours but it could merely be minutes. It was dark in the trunk, but somehow it became even darker. Then it feels like we’re moving, but it doesn’t feel like the engine in the car is running anymore. Is that a train I hear? I don’t have time to figure it out. I have to get free.

Any second, Nick is going to come back and open the trunk, and I need to be ready.

I keep carving at the tape, ignoring every slice into my fingers I take.

“Don’t worry, Kali. I’ve got it all figured out,” I hear Nick saying. He’s talking loudly, almost screaming, and clearly, he isn’t worried about being overheard. This isn’t a good sign. “We’re going to be alone. Just you and me. I’m going to let you make all this up to me. Do you hear me, Kali? I’m going to enjoy making you scream and beg.”

The tape at my wrists finally gives, and I struggle to get into a position where I can reach the binding at my elbows. With my hands free, I open my arms up, tearing the tape in half. I quickly cut through the binding on my knees. All I have left is the tape at my ankles when the trunk lid is opened.

He doesn’t notice that I freed myself, so I get ready to stab him with the tool.

He shines a flashlight in my eyes, and I realize I’m out of time. I lunge at him and start stabbing blindly.

My ankles are still bound together, and he has a gun, but I’m not going down without a fight.