Page 69 of Dauntless

“You’re not running things here,” he postured. “I’m in control. You want to find Elliott, you play it my way. Same goes for you, little mouse.” He gestured toward Trish. “You’ll keep this on your recording device, so you don’t fuck it up.”

“What do you want?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “Gia will ask me the way I showed her.”

I sighed heavily and glared at him. He hadn’t exactly shown me much, but I could only assume this was a play on obedience to him. “Would you please tell me how I can find Elliott, Simon?”

He chuckled. “Good enough. Now what I want is a streaming video of Gia’s face when she discovers Elliott’s dead body.”

I tried to be calm. Though I couldn’t stop my body from trembling. “No. No. No. He’s alive.”

“Enough of that or this ends right now,” Trish yelled at him.

“No, it doesn’t end,” Dimitri said. “You need me; I don’t need you. I could die today. This will be your one and only chance.”

“I’m not going to do it,” Trish said. “Stop playing around and tell us the address.”

“I’ll agree to be recorded,” I said thickly. “Now tell us where Elliott is.”

“Good girl,” Dimitri purred, “That’s a start. Now go get what I asked and hurry. Elliott drugged and chained and left without food nor water. He’s probably dead by now.”

His delight at the spectacle and the ways in which he betrayed all the others that trusted him convinced me that he had no intention of hold up his end of his bargain. He wanted us to set the scene so that he could be rewarded with my pain. He had told me he wanted to watch Dane reunite with Angel so he could enjoy seeing him suffer at what he’d done to her. He wasn’t going to share where Elliott was. He would drag it on to get off on my suffering. And although it hurt me so much I could hardly breathe, I turned to Trish and said, “We have to…to find another way.”

She nodded. “We will. Let’s go.”

“Please, help me out of here,” I asked the nurse to help me turn my chair, so I would no longer face Dimitri. There was nothing left to say to him, and I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing my stricken face and gloating suffering. We moved to the door.

“Hey, wait,” Dimitri called out. “What are you doing? You’ll never find him without me. Get back here and listen to me. Right now, I mean it, Gia. I told Elliott that I took you and if he cooperated, we’d bring you to him. He didn’t even put up a struggle. He didn’t even care if it was a trap. He went there for you. I gave that to you. All your crying for him in your sleep, wondering if he loved you. You don’t love him. You’re letting him die. Come back and beg me, and I’ll tell you where he is.”

I stopped the nurse before we left and called back. “You give nothing but misery, and you’re alone. That’s your legacy. Elliott is stronger than you think. You lose. We win. All your games are over.”

“He’s dead!” he yelled again, but I was no longer listening. I vowed then and there never to give up. We would find him. Somehow.

***

Trish didn’t stay long when we went back to my room. She told me she was off to join their team in Los Angeles to interrogate the mole on the SWAT team. She wasn’t giving up, and neither was I. Dane and Astrid respected my need for silence. Elliott wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be gone.

There was no way I would accept it. I was certain in my heart if he had been, I’d feel it. He’d become so rooted in me.

It hurt knowing now that he had given himself up at the slim chance of saving me. That eclipsed both his job and our friendship.

That was love.

I needed to be there when they brought him in so that I could tell him that I felt the same way about him. I loved him.

Hours and hours went by, but no word. All we could do was sit there and wait and hope they find Elliott. I refused anything that would put me to sleep. I stayed there and waited. Every call Astrid and Dane received had me on alert.

It was late in the afternoon the next day when I heard Dane say on the phone, “Trish.”

I cleared my throat and spoke up loud enough for him to hear me. “Dane?”

He held up his hand and went to the corner of the room to take the call. “I’ll tell you everything she tells me once the call ends.”

I started to tremble, and Astrid came over and held my hand. “He can’t be…”

She squeezed my hand. “He’s not.”

Dane paused on the phone. “The SWAT team member broke. He gave them Elliott’s location. They are on their way. She can’t confirm, but she believes he’s alive.”

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