Page 71 of Falcon

Footsteps sounded near my head and another voice said, “That’s a sweet ass. I wouldn’t mind having a go with it.”

No. I yelled again and, while muffled, I knew they could hear whatever odd sounds made it through the gag because they all laughed. I tried to twist so that my ass wasn’t in the air and a new wave of shakes took over my muscles.

An argument broke out between them about whether it was alright to rape me or not. All I could do was squirm and be a pain in the ass. The idea of one or any of them touching me made me nauseated.

“They said to bring her back unharmed.”

“They didn’t say shit about unfucked.”

“You’re just mad you’re driving and can’t have a turn.”

“Don’t worry man, when we stop, I’ll drive for you and you can have a go.”

“Our orders were clear. Now fucking quit.”

“Bro, just shut up and drive. Hey, you go up there and wait your fucking turn.”

Hands were at my hips, dragging me around. My ankles were bound so I couldn’t kick; all I could do was squirm and wiggle. I already knew they weren’t supposed to kill me. Not yet anyway. So, I could be a pain in the ass. That’s what I was good at.

I flailed around like a mermaid and yelled as loud as I could, though it sounded more like grunts through the gag. Flopping around the back of a van wasn’t much different than being smacked around, but it was all I could think of to do. There was a clatter followed by loud bangs as I plowed into something when the van halted to a stop. The collision stunned me.

“I said enough. Jesus.”

Footsteps thudded toward me, and I was pulled to my feet. Pressure rushed to my eyes and a whimper escaped my throat. I wasn’t very steady when hands gripped my waist. My body shook again but instead of pulling my pants down further, the man grabbed the belt loops and jerked up until my jeans were back in place over my hips.

But as quickly as he righted my clothes, he dropped me to the hard floor and I winced in pain from the fall. My ass and back probably looked like I’d been paddled at this point. Once the initial pain eased, I felt nothing. It was probably shock, or adrenaline. People could do and endure unexplainable things under duress. I’d say this situation could qualify as one of those times.

Tony had eased me in last time. There hadn’t been anything crazy or obvious about his plans. Just a moment of realization that I had fucked up and there was no way out. Now, it was clear what was happening.

Unlike before, now I had something to lose. After having no real family, no real friends, and nobody who cared about me, it almost seemed right that I’d end up as nothing more than a piece of meat to use and discard. I didn’t really exist before. But now, it felt like I had everything to lose. A man, friends, even family. I needed to stay alive and out of the hands of Tony or whoever he planned to turn me over to. The only reason I could see that any of them would be concerned with me being untouched was that someone was waiting to have me.

For whatever reason, though, the driver was set on getting me wherever we were going unharmed. I just had to hope he could maintain control of the others.

The man who had been driving barked orders. “You, sit up here. You, take over driving.”

“You’re not the boss–”

The unmistakable clicking of a safety sounded in the van and the other man went quiet. “We fuck this up and we’re as good as dead. We deliver the goods, we’re in.”

Finally, the van shook as the two seats had weight dropped into them and the gear was put back into drive. The man sat down near me, but not close enough to feel his heat. The others were quiet as we continued on to wherever we were going. Now it made sense. They didn’t already work for Tony, but they wanted to. And I was their meal ticket. Apparently, I wasn’t all that important, since Tony sent some random assholes to snatch me. Not even his own guys.

All I could do was hope Falcon thought I was important enough to find before we made it to Tony.

Chapter 43

Falcon

“Getting close. You sure you can make it?” Linx asked.

“As long as you can pull on the passenger side and Pitty takes the driver’s side. If not, they have to stop eventually. And you say there’s a river up that way?” I asked, pointing up ahead.

“Mmhmm.”

We were closing in on the dot that updated every few minutes on the map. I wasn’t sure if Keys somehow got a tracker on the van itself, or just kept pinging the traffic cams they drove through, but either way, I owed him big time. They must have slowed quite a bit because we caught up fast. We had been pretty steady behind them for a while.

My heart was beating so fast I heard it in my ears over the wind whipping past. Everything that happened in the last hour or so had my whole being on fire. One misstep and everything was shattered. My windows. My heart. And for a moment, my hope of finding her. But as we moved in on the flashing dot, that at least was coming back.

When I finally saw the black van with my own eyes, hope turned into determination and I stopped thinking at all, springing straight into action. I couldn’t focus on what was actually happening or I’d likely lose my cool. I had already lost my shit earlier and could have cost precious time. This had to be a mission, like one Hawk would send me to handle.

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