Page 56 of Duplicity

She heard him knock on the window, a quick rap of his knuckles.

The door to her right opened and someone grabbed her elbow. Cat sucked in a breath. The person dragged her from thecar. The plastic ties on her wrists cut deeper into her skin. She yelped and tried to get her feet under her.

Instead, one foot caught on the door, and she tumbled to the ground, landing on gravel on one knee before she planted her hands.

Doors shut. The car revved, and gravel peppered her as the car sped away.

Each sharp inhale and exhale filled the hood. A second later, she lifted her hands and ripped it off, snagging her hair in the process. Cat blinked at the trees around her, the shadows, the pitch-black parking lot with a hut—a detached structure that had a single yellow light above the door and a male bathroom sign. A moth buzzed at the glow.

She twisted around but saw no other cars. Not a single soul.

She had no idea where she was.

TWENTY-TWO

“Romeo, give me the phone.” Warren Alvarez’s voice sounded to Simon like he was in the background. A second later, there was a rustle, and then he asked, “You found her?”

No.Simon could say,not yet, but neither response came out of his mouth. “We’re closing in.”

That sounded like something Peter would say. Simon’s brother drove the car, weaving through traffic on the freeway like this was Daytona. He hit a straightaway and peeled out ahead of the rest of the cars.

“How’s that?” Cat’s father needed reassurance, not a lengthy rundown of how Simon had hacked the traffic cameras outside the hospital. He’d found the vehicle they’d shoved her into with a hood over her head. She kicked and fought for her freedom. He followed the SUV across town to the exit Peter now took off the freeway.

“Sir, don’t ask questions you don’t want me to answer.”

Her dad simply said, “You find her, son.”

“I will.” He hung up.

No way would Simon stop or even slow down. Cat was out there. She had been taken by these monsters, and he wasdesperate to find her, the need overwhelming him as if he was hanging from the roof of a building by his fingertips, about to fall at any second. He would plummet to the street and lose everything.

That was what she felt like to him.

Everything.

“There.” Peter hit the brakes. Up ahead on an empty highway lined by thirty-foot-tall pines on both sides was a two-lane road with a semitruck pulled over. The driver’s door was open, and the light was on inside the cab. A man stood by the truck, gesturing. The woman looked at him, shaking her head and backing away.

Peter came mostly to a stop. Simon flipped the lock and climbed out, stumbling a little as he discarded all his things on the seat and avoided the door as he ran to her. “Cat!”

The driver spun around.

She looked terrified.

His footsteps ate up the asphalt between them. She was about to go down. He’d never run so hard in his life as he did that night, and a pain in his side sliced into his ribs. Simon blocked it all out—along with questions as to who this truck driver was and his intentions. He probably wanted to help the clearly distraught woman with her hands tied together wandering on the side of the road. The kind of person who would stop and help someone that needed it.

Simon said, “Thanks.” It came out so breathy it almost wasn’t audible. He ran right up to Cat. “Hey, hey.” He touched her shoulders, and she flinched.

Eyes glassy. No blood. Maybe she’d hit her head.

He ran his hands down her arms, and she let out a whimper. Simon twisted around to find his brother right behind him. “Knife.”

Peter dug in his pocket and unfolded a knife. Simon held her hands up to the light from the truck, and Peter cut her free.

She hissed out a breath. Blood had trickled from her wrists to wet her hands. The skin wasn’t split all the way around, but the abrasions were deep, and in places, they were bad.

“Ambulance.”

“Vanguard is quicker.” Peter turned. “I’ll tell her dad we found her. Sir!” He started to speak to the driver of the truck.

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