Page 85 of Whiskey Run Heroes

I push the gas pedal to the floor. “What? Would she go to save some girl she doesn’t know from Nick? Yeah, she would. She felt guilty having us involved. So yeah, she’ll go to save the girl.”

I’m quiet the rest of the way as I haul ass across town and into Jasper. Dylan is calling it in to the others, and we’re going in blind without a plan, but there’s no way I’m stopping now. I’mdevastated that she didn’t trust me to help her, but more than that, I’ve never been so scared in my life for another person. This is not like any other job I’ve done. This isn’t just personal... it’s everything.

As soon as I pull into the parking lot of the address, I park next to my truck, pull my gun from my waistband, and run inside the building. It’s an abandoned warehouse on the west side of town. The area is known for prostitution, drugs, and shootings. As soon as I clear the door, I see a young woman sitting in a chair with her back to me. She has long hair just like Kali, and I sprint across the room to her. I’m holding my breath, gun drawn, but the closer I get, I realize it’s not my Kali. It’s one of the girls from the picture, and she looks petrified. She’s still in her cheerleading uniform, and there’s a bomb strapped to her chest. I watch as the digits on it are counting down.

Her eyes are big as saucers, and they’re pleading for help.

If Bear, Nash, or one of the others were here, I’d leave them to unarm the bomb. Dylan is a pro with computers and tech stuff, but I can’t chance his skills with the bomb.

I pull a tool from my pants pocket and get to work.

“It’s clear. No one is here,” Dylan says as he squats beside me.

“Call Nico. He’s in my contacts,” I tell Dylan and toss him my phone.

I stare at the bomb on the girl’s chest. I know she’s scared, and I try to calm her. I pull the tape from her mouth. “Look, I’m going to have you out of here in just a minute, but you have to stay calm.”

“He took her. He took some woman,” the girl says just as Nico’s voice fills the air.

“Knox, what’s up? Carter picked me up at the airport in Knoxville, I couldn’t get into Jasper’s airfield. I’m an hour out.”

As calmly as I can, I speak loudly enough for him to hear while still analyzing the bomb. I cut one wire and stare at theothers. “Look, listen to me. I’m in the middle of disarming a bomb. Your sister-in-law snuck off, and Nick has her. I need you to track her phone and tell me where she’s heading.”

“What the—?”

“We don’t have time for this. You can cuss me out later, whatever. Find your sister and tell me where she’s at.”

I cut another wire and hold my breath. This is definitely a homemade bomb, and it’s hard to tell exactly how he put it together.

I wipe the back of my hand across my forehead.Hold on, Kali, I’m coming for you.

Kali

Nick is sopleased with himself that he slowed down Knox and the others with the bomb. “You can learn a lot when you’re sitting around rotting in prison.”

I’m furious with him and myself. My elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles are bound together, rendering me helpless in the back seat of his car.

I only arrived a few minutes before Knox, but that was all the time it took for Nick to threaten the young girl with the bomb strapped to her chest and force me to consent to being tied up. I screamed through my gag at Knox as I saw him through the window running into the room where the girl was tied to the bomb, but he wasn’t looking out the window to see me.

Nick had tossed me into the car and driven away.

I’m angry at myself for playing into Nick’s hands, but I’m not going to believe that Nick won. I won’t let him.

Knox is smart and fast. He isn’t going to be taken out by Nick’s homemade bomb just like I’m not going to be taken out by Nick. I have too much to live for, and I know if anything happens to me, Knox is going to blame himself.

“What was Miles’s plan? He was going to sell you, right? Not me. I’m going to keep you to myself. At least until we get to Arizona.”

I don’t give him the satisfaction of answering him or even making a sound in my gag. I stare at him in the rearview mirror. I’m not going to let him get to me. And there’s no way I’m going to let him make it to Arizona where my family is. I’ll stop him if it’s the last thing I do.

13

KNOX

It seems like forever, but it actually only takes me six minutes to disarm the bomb. The young girl is freaking out, and I leave her to Dylan to deal with just as Bear and his team storm the room. All their guns are drawn, and I know they are ready since they came in without knowing what they’re walking into.

“He had a bomb strapped to the girl’s chest. He has Kali,” I tell Bear and watch as the man’s face transforms in front of me. He’s mad. I know he is, and it’s easy to see that already my team is going to treat her as if she’s family. In such a short amount of time, she’s already in my heart, and I can’t lose her. I just can’t.

Guilt, rage, all the emotions are fighting inside me, but I have to tamp them down. I have to keep it together because the most important thing right now is to find Kali and then never let her leave my side again.

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