Blood was everywhere. Her heartbeat thudded in her…face. Alexis touched her top lip and nearly screamed. Even that close to her nose, which was apparently broken, was too close. She sucked in a breath through her mouth. It was like suffocating, but she was still able to get air even as her sinuses and throat filled with blood.
She shoved at the airbag which had come out of the seat in front of her, the one she’d just slammed into, then looked around. Rotating her head made her bite back a scream. She twisted her whole body and saw Bradley, slumped against the door. Blood dripped from his face onto the shoulder of his shirt. Unconscious.
The agents in front were moaning. Alexis tried to think what to do. They’d been hit by a truck. Literally.
Her phone. She needed to call for help.
It was in her purse, by her feet. Alexis got her arms to respond and braced one hand against the airbag to feel around on the floor. God, help me get someone here. She wanted to believe a bystander had seen the accident and called the police. That they would show up any minute to help.
Her door swung open. What on earth? She glanced around, trying to figure out what was happening. Her brain was moving so slowly. A man grabbed her arm. She felt her butt slide across the seat, and he dragged her from the car.
“Take care of that.”
Cold night air bit into her thin sweater. Who was he talking to? Her head swam and she tried to look around, see what he was talking about, but her eyes couldn’t focus on anything.
Bang. Bang. Alexis’s whole body jerked. The sound was like standing beside a firework right as it went off. “Wha…” He dragged her away.
She looked up and saw a mask.
Bang. Bang.
“Get the other guy, and let’s go.”
Bradley. Where was he? Was he awake yet? Maybe they’d killed him.
Had they killed the agents? Why couldn’t she hear sirens? Surely the FBI knew they’d been hit. Now they were being kidnapped, just like Rachel.
“Brad…” She couldn’t say more.
The man stopped, but momentum sent her careening into him. He let go and she slumped to the ground beside a van. The pavement gravel bit into her hands, and her head throbbed all the more.
She turned to the SUV. It looked like a great beast had stepped on it. The FBI agents were dead. Bradley…
A masked man hauled him over, his feet dragging on the ground. Was he dead, too? No. They wouldn’t bring him if he was. They needed him alive.
Which meant they could kill her.
She scrambled away on all fours, got two feet maybe, and the man who’d dropped her slammed his boot into her stomach. Alexis crumpled to the ground. Her head slammed into the concrete, and she choked again on a mouthful of blood.
“Nice try.”
He pulled her arm up, yanking her shoulder almost out of place. Alexis got her feet under her enough so she wasn’t dragged like Bradley. She stumbled, and he tossed her in the direction of the inside of a black-paneled van. She landed face-first on Bradley, depositing some of her blood on his shirt. She liked that shirt.
Her arms were hauled up behind her, and plastic ties secured her hands behind her back. Stars pricked through her vision. The van door slid shut, and everything went dark. Except those blinking lights. She tried to breathe. Tried not to barf on her own blood.
Bradley moaned.
She shifted, tried to roll off him. “Brad…”
Where were they taking them? She’d wanted to go to Rachel, but not like this.
The van turned a corner, going way too fast. Alexis’s body slid across the van and into something hard. With sharp edges. Bradley slammed into her and pushed her against it more. Breath expelled from her lungs in a whoosh.
“Bradley.” He needed to wake up. Get off her, and out of the way.
The van turned another corner, going the other way. Her shoulders burned, pulled so tight behind her, but she scrambled with the momentum of the turn. She managed to get them farther across the van floor. If they turned again, she didn’t want to be shoved against whatever that was.
Within minutes, they slowed. She heard a garage door roll up. Then a few more minutes, and they stopped altogether.
They hadn’t gone far. Where, though? She didn’t have to wait long to find out. The van door slid open to the inside of an empty garage. Not full of the organized—or completely disorganized—things that belonged to the garage of a house where people actually lived.
One of the masked men took a look at her, then waved a gun from her to the garage.
Alexis scooted to the edge and stood. She didn’t have to pretend she didn’t feel good, but she also wasn’t going to go for belligerence. She would only end up with more bruises than she already had.
The man took a look at her nose and winced, like she was the grossest thing he’d ever seen.
She looked away, but lifted her chin. As if she even cared what he thought. Bradley was unconscious. “Where’s Rachel?” It sounded like her nose was plugged. She wanted to demand they take her to her friend, but didn’t think ordering them around was going to do much good. Especially not in this condition.
She was ready to see Rachel. Alexis could count on both hands and one foot the number of days they hadn’t spoken to each other on the phone, if not in person, in the last…decade probably. Even with what had happened after the video. These men likely didn’t understand that level of friendship—the kind that created a family she’d chosen for herself.
Or, maybe they did know.
And if they did, then she was likely here to have her life threatened to make Rachel, and probably Bradley as well, do what they said.
“Move.” He shoved her forward, and she almost stumbled.
The floors were bare, the walls nothing but drywall with that mud stuff that builders used to cover the joins before they did that texture thing and then painted. So this house was still being built. Didn’t that mean someone would be coming over to work on it? She glanced around, but saw only the one kidnapper behind her.
Where was the other one?
Were they both construction workers and this was one of their jobs? She didn’t know if it was possible to hide kidnapping victims like that. But evidently it was possible, because they’d had Rachel here and no one had found her yet. Or they’d killed the person for being nosy and like…buried them under the patio. That was a construction thing to do, right? At least it seemed that way in mystery stories.
He prodded her in the back with the gun. “Right here.”
She stopped by a closed door.
The gunman unlocked a padlock and slipped it free. “Inside.”
Alexis looked over his shoulder, but the other man wasn’t there. Nor was Bradley. Was he okay? Would they bring him here as well?
“Now.”
She turned the handle to find a room that looked like the rest of the house. Bare floor, bare walls. “Rachel.”
He shoved her in, then slammed the door shut. She heard the padlock snap shut and moved across the room away from it. Rachel was curled on the floor in the corner, hands and feet both secured in the same ties she had on her wrists.
“Rachel.” Alexis crouched, but couldn’t touch her friend. Not with her hands behind her back like this. She tugged at the bonds. That only made them dig more into her skin. She lost her balance and her bottom slammed onto the floor. “Rach.”
Alexis wanted to cry. Her friend was filthy, battered. Had she eaten? There were a couple of empty water bottles. The wrapper for a protein bar she’d liked before today, but would probably never be able to enjoy again, lay within arm’s reach. Was there a toilet here?
Rachel flinched. Her eyes flickered open. She stared up at Alexis and dread washed over her face. “No.” She took a breath. “No, no, no.”
“Rachel.” The word came out louder than she wanted, and her friend flinched. “It’s okay. Bradley is here too. We’re gonna get out of here.”
How, she had no idea, but Rachel needed to believe it. She needed to have renewed hope and not descend into the lonely despair she’d probably been living in so far.
“They told me they were bringing you here.” Rachel shook her head, shut her eyes. “I didn’t want you to come.”
“When there’s nowhere else I’d rather be?” She looked around. “It’s nicer than our first apartment.” She tried to add levity. Probably wouldn’t work, but now that she knew Rachel was alive, hope had swelled. For her. Yeah, they were tied up. And, what were those men doing to Bradley right now?
She had to believe God had done this. He hadn’t left them all alone, He had brought them together.
Rachel exhaled, which might have been laughter, but that was probably only wishful thinking on Alexis’s part. She pushed her bound hands against the floor and sat up. “You’re here.”
Alexis leaned in and set her cheek on Rachel’s shoulder. Her friend laid her head on top of Alexis’s for a second. It was as much of a hug as they could manage, but it worked. “Are you okay? I’ve been having nightmares of what they were doing to you.”
Rachel’s face was non-committal. “I’m alive, aren’t I?”
Alexis told her that the FBI had linked this to the video, and that it was a larger investigation. “But that doesn’t help us get out of here.”
“They want the money, but I can’t figure out how that’s going to satisfy them.”
Alexis shrugged. “Whoever they are, it can’t be about just getting what they thought you owed them because we played off the video as me.”
Rachel nodded. “That’s what I’ve been thinking. I mean, kidnapping I get, but how did we go from blackmail to this? When they get what they want, won’t I still be under their thumb? If we’re all here now, they’ll want to get the money. After that…”
“They’ll kill us.” Alexis didn’t like this at all. “And whether they make it look like an accident or not won’t matter, because we’ll be dead.”
“Or they’ll kill me and Bradley, and you’ll end up having to take the fall for it somehow.”
Alexis said, “So, death or prison? That isn’t much of a choice.”
“It sucks as a five-year plan.”
She wanted to smile, but couldn’t. It was good that Rachel was finding reasons to be amused. Hope had flickered, and it hadn’t gone out. She knew what miracles God could do. Would he rescue them even from this? Whether He did or not, she would still praise Him for what He’d done in her life. Fact was fact, and she’d been freed from her sin. If that freedom was in order that Alexis could start a ministry behind bars, incarcerated for something she hadn’t done, so be it.
The FBI knew she wasn’t involved, but even they weren’t all powerful. Evil won every day. That was the world they lived in.
“We need to get out of here,” Alexis said. “Find Bradley before they hurt him even more than he’s already hurt.”
“Says the woman bleeding all down her face.” Rachel handed her a dusty fast food napkin.
Alexis wiped her nose.
“That needs looking at, or it’ll be crooked forever.” Rachel frowned. “Bradley could probably reset it.”
Alexis ran her finger down her nose. Yep, it’s bad. She winced. “Guess I won’t win any beauty prizes.”
“Yeah, cause it’s all about your face.” The corner of Rachel’s mouth curled up. “Idiot.”
Alexis chuckled. “If I’m so dumb, why did you copy from me on every economics test?”
“Just don’t tell my constituents I did that, okay?”
“Pretty sure that’s not the worst thing a politician’s ever done. Besides, I’m saving it all for my memoirs. Seems like at this point I might have a bestseller on my hands.”
Rachel leaned in. “Only because suspense sells. Then they’ll read it and realize you’re the best friend a woman could ever have. After that I’ll never be able to get ahold of you, you’ll be so popular.”
“I’m getting dogs. Rottweilers. They can patrol my compound in the mountains so no one comes near me. I want to drink my tea and read my Bible in peace.”
“That’s fine,” Rachel said. “Bradley can get around dogs. He’ll probably do some ninja mind trick and make them harmless to only him so he can invade your compound whenever he wants.”
“That actually sounds kind of gross.” Alexis laughed.
“Don’t worry. I’ll make him put a ring on it.”
“Did you seriously just quote Beyoncé to me?”
“She had a point.”
“Yeah,” Alexis said. “She really did.”
Especially considering they’d already been there. Done that. Now that she knew what God had done, Alexis did want the whole ‘marriage thing’ if she was going to have a relationship again. Sure, she’d dated some. Nothing had stuck though. At the end of the day, Bradley was the one who’d always been there for her.
“I hope he’s okay.”
“Why don’t you pray?” Rachel said. “That’s what you do, right?”
Alexis frowned. She didn’t want to get into that whole speech and everything Rachel was missing out on. Instead, she closed her eyes and prayed a simple prayer out loud that they would get out of there. That Bradley would be okay. That the FBI would find them.
The lock clanked against the door and it flung open.
Both of them turned to face it.
A gunman strode in. There were grazes on his knuckles and a gun in his hand. “Time to go for a drive.”
Alexis moved in front of Rachel, blocking her with her body. It might not stop a bullet, but she wasn’t going to let Rachel get shot.
“I’d love to get out of here.” Rachel’s voice rang with defiance. Because Alexis was there now? She wanted to be pleased at that, but couldn’t help thinking this might not bode good things.
The gunman shook his head. “Not you.”
Alexis looked at her friend, then at the gunman. “Me?” What was he going to do with her? She’d assumed she was nothing but leverage to get the brother and sister to do what the gunmen wanted.
“You fooled everyone into thinking you were her once. Now you can do it again,” he said. “You’re going to get dressed, and then we’re going to the bank. Get ready to give the performance of your life. Because you’re going to get me that money.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then all of you are dead.”