Page 47 of Serpent King's Revenge

“He’s fucking Triad. Of course he’s fucking Triad, what the hell…”

I tried to compose my thoughts, tried to piece everything together. Right; Diane was dirty. She’d been sent to deliver me to my father, or kill me if that wasn’t possible. She’d put me through hell because he ordered her to do it.

I needed to rally my strength to tell them that.

Maybe then I could get a damn lawyer.

“She…” I started, my voice strangled. “She…”

“Who? Abby?”

I shook my head; it made another wave of nausea wash over me. “Need to throw up,” I hissed.

The guard produced a bag from somewhere and handed it to me just in time for me to vomit. Yeah–I was definitely concussed. My only hope was that I wasn’t bleeding internally like I’d been not days ago at the county jail.

“Didn’t…” I started again, the words halting. “Didn’t get an attorney. Need…lawyer.”

“Your friends almost killed us back there,” the driver said. “Fucking slaughtered eight of our own. Jesus…I’ve never seen anything like that–”

“Not my men,” I wrenched out. “Drive faster.”

Chapter Twenty-One: Abby

We had failed.

And I shot an FBI agent.

I may have killed an FBI agent.

And Nathan wasn’t here.

He was hurt and we hadn’t gotten him out.

Those were the only things on my mind as my eyes snapped open.

I could hear my heartbeat thundering, deafeningly loud. A cold dread spread through me, chasing the warmth from my skin, leaving my face numb. Panic wrapped around me, an unyielding vice that squeezed until the world began to spin, tilting off its axis.

I was still on the ground in that ditch. Covered in pine needles and damp earth, blood now scabbed over on my temple.

I’d been here longer than I planned.

Fuck, fuck…

"Abby, you have to move!"

Someone was screaming.

Maybe me.

Maybe Nathan, maybe our unborn child.

So I moved.

With legs made of lead, I lurched forward, back up to the highway. Each step seemed futile, the distance growing with every passing second. I pushed harder, clawed my way up that hill…

…only to find that the battle was over.

The armored truck was gone.

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