Page 2 of Caged

“I think so. Hold on.” There’s a garbled sound like he set his cell down. “Can you hear me?” The tinny reverberation of being on speaker makes him a little harder to understand.

“Yes. What can you find?” Blood rushing through my ears doesn’t help.

Whoever put together an attack on Daniil is aiming it at us. Of that, I have zero doubt.

I feel sick, and for the first time, the frigid Russian air seeps into a deep chill in my bones.

Fuck. I’m torn between running for my car, and hanging on Tyler’s every word.

“They threw him into an old van. The plates are hard to read, but I’ve found them on three different intersections so far…” He trails off to click more on his keyboard.

My legs twitch and my heart races like I should be doing something. Well, the least I can do is make it back to my car.

With the sound of him tapping in my earbud, I work my way quickly back to where I parked my white Lada near a snowbank to blend in.

Climbing into the frosty interior, Tyler still hasn’t updated me by the time the defrost begins to thaw the windshield.

I know better than to hound him. He’s in his own world when he works.

It doesn’t help get rid of this feeling like ants are crawling over my body. There’s something else I could be doing, I don’t know what, though.

Whoever those assholes are that took him, I’ll make them beg for death before I’m through with them.

If someone took him, there may be eyes on me. It’s too dangerous to try and make contact with my contractor.

But, I know the perfect place to hide this sim card until it’s safe enough to deliver it. There’s a loose brick on the back of my parent’s gravestone.

No one will look there.

With the heat now blasting in my car, I pull out into the road before I hear his voice again.

“Okay, I think I have him,” Ty sighs. “But, I don’t think you’re going to like this.”

“Just tell me.” I have no patience for games, not when my brother is on the line.

“I traced back to?—”

I’m propelled forward by a violent slam from behind, bouncing my forehead off of the steering wheel and rocketing the earbud off onto the floor panel.

Stars burst behind my eyes. What the fuck was that?

Just as explosively, the driver’s side door caves in, pinching me against the console in a wave of grinding pain before it’s ripped open.

Heavy hands grab me, jerking me free of the twisted frame.

I try to fight back, but my limbs are sluggish as my ears ring loud enough to dull any sound.

A dark hood gets draped over my head.

Shit, I know that smell.

Don’t breathe. Don’t breathe.

I can’t hold out any longer and take a ragged inhale.

The world goes fuzzy, sounds get muffled and harder to understand.

Fuck.

---