Page 50 of Hell Bent

“Yes.” Hanging up, Razor told Lottie to stay inside while he and Vicious went to knock on doors. The entire time they spoke with his neighbours, Vicious was unsettled as he worried about Sway.

Sway lay on the thin foam pad on the floor. The small room she’d been thrown into was barely lit by a low-voltage light bulb hanging from theceiling.

Her tailbone hurt like hell from being on the floor of the van. When Jerome grabbed her from the other guy, he slapped her and slammed her against the side of the damn thing. She had hit the car so hard, she fell and landed on her tailbone. Twisting her hands, she tried to loosen the ropes that had her bound to a large eyehook in the wall. Multiple raised voices told her she wasn’t alone.

Sway couldn’t wrap her head around Jerome kidnapping her. What could she possibly have that he wanted? The only thing that made sense to her was that she was getting close to finding out what had happened to her brother the night he died. Did her kidnapping mean Jerome had a hand in Tesh’s death? If he killed her brother, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her.

Closing her eyes, Sway prayed Vicious would find her. Even if she didn’t survive, she hoped someone would find her body and bury her with Tesh. Footsteps alerted her to someone approaching the room. She refused to show fear. There was no way she would cower to them.

Jerome opened the door, glaring at Sway. “You’ve caused me more trouble than you’re worth.

“Then let me go, Jerome.”

“Nah, the boys wanna have some fun with you. They’re gonna see how much pain you can handle before they fuck you to death.” Sway’s chest tightened hearing his words. Then, he hit the light switch and closed the door, leaving her in total darkness.

Chapter Thirty

A half-hour later, Vicious and Razor walked back into the house. Grabbing his keys and wallet, Vicious told Lottie they were leaving. All he could find was Sway getting in her truck and pulling away from the marina. “Let’s go.”

As they headed out the door, Vicious was already on the phone with Sherlock. “Sway left my place and got into her truck without any issue.”

“Has anyone checked her place for her truck?” Sherlock dug into the city’s security cameras, continuing to track Sway’s truck as he listened to Vicious.

“Lottie said it’s there.”

“That helps narrow down my search. I’ve been checking traffic cameras for her truck. I’ve spotted it a few times, and I did notice a couple times a car on the road. I’m not sure, but I think they were following her. It doesn’t appear Sway felt in distress by the way she was driving.”

“Scour the cameras around the apartment. Maybe whoever was in the car saw something or caused a problem farther on her drive.”

“Already on it.”

“We’re on our way.” Hanging up, Vicious locked up the house and headed to his truck with Lottie and Razor in tow. All kinds of things ran through his mind. He was uneasy, his thoughts running rampant. He’d seen a lot of sick shit done to women and to men. If anyone harmed a hair on Sway’s head, he’d gut the one responsible.

If Vicious was right, they could catch the car on one or more traffic cams. Maybe that would lead them in a general direction of what happened to Sway.

The entire ride to the auto shop and Sway’s apartment, the trio kept their eyes peeled. They hoped they’d see something, anything that would tell them it was a misunderstanding. That Sway simply had decided to take a day for herself and they’d find her walking around town shopping. It was all wishful thinking.

Pulling up to Sway’s apartment, her truck was right where it was always parked. Slamming his truck into park, Vicious didn’t bother turning it off as he jumped out. When he went straight over to Sway’s truck and walked around the vehicle, he found it locked and showing no signs that anything happened around it.

Moving quickly, he ran up the stairs leading to the apartment. The door was locked, forcing him to use the key code Sway had given him. When the lock clicked, he pulled his holstered gun out and shoved the door open. He half expected to see her sleeping on the sofa. Moving through the house, he found the place empty. Nothing wasout of place. Her clothes she had on the night before weren’t anywhere in the apartment. That told him it wasn’t likely she had come inside.

Walking back outside, he shook his head at Lottie, who was kicking the latest layer of snow from around the truck. Pulling out his phone, he called Sway’s number. He listened as it rang twice then disconnected. Redialling, he listened again as it went straight to voicemail.

Vicious made one more call to Sherlock. Someone had answered Sway’s phone and hung up. Maybe they hadn’t turned the thing off and they could track the phone. He didn’t know how they’d do it, but he was sure if anyone could, it would be Sherlock.

Sherlock clicked on his phone as his fingers moved across the keyboard. “Vicious, I found a camera that shows the area alongside and in front of the auto shop.”

“Does it show anything?”

“I’m cueing it up now.” Sherlock watched Sway pull into the driveway leading to the apartment. When her taillights went out, he saw three hooded figures wearing dark clothing, and he froze as he watched them rush up the driveway. “You need to get over here ASAP.”

Vicious heard the stress coming off the brother. “Fucking tell me.”

“It looks like she was kidnapped.”

Everything in him rippled with anger. He wanted to scream, but his throat felt constricted. Vicious hadn’t felt this kind of anger in a long time. Then, a scary calm washed over him. “I’m on my way. Keep that footagepulled up.” Snapping at Razor, he signalled they needed to leave.

“I’m combing through everything I can find to help us get her back” was the last thing he heard Sherlock say before hanging up.

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