Page 93 of Rescued Faith

Jason rolled his eyes and turned. He climbed the wooden plank staircase.

“Where are you going?”

Instead of answering, Jason pounded on the door. “Let me out.”

Seriously? He thought they would just let him?—

The door opened. A man that looked familiar stuck his head in. “What does he know?”

“Nothing. Clear out and burn the place down.”

“Not until I’m through with him,” another voice said.

The door swung completely open, and the man let Jason pass.

“Hey, wait!” Bryce rushed for the stairs, tripping on the bottom step when a wave of dizziness hit him again. He held the railing.

“Wish I could say nice knowing ya, Crawford, but that would be a lie.” The man at the door laughed.

Bryce remembered that laugh. Conner Reynolds. He’d played football with Woods back in the day. Now, apparently, they had a different kind of team.

The militia. Conner’s had been one of the names on the list Olivia and Bryce had tried tracking down a few days ago.

The door opened wider, and Alonzo Sosa appeared with three different men. Men Bryce didn’t know, hadn’t seen before. But he knew from their glowers this wouldn’t end well. They moved down the steps like an army.

“Why don’t you make this fair, Sosa? You and me.” Bryce fought to clear his vision as he stood tall and balled his hands into fists.

“I’m not interested in fair. I’m interested in information. And if you don’t want to give it to me, then you’ll no longer be useful to me, and I’ll move on to your sister. Maybe your mother next.Your father I’ll kill just for fun though. He won’t know anything useful.”

Bryce lunged at Sosa, but the three bodyguards ganged up on him, wrestled him to the ground. Two men held him down while the other kicked him. Breath whooshed out of him. The hits came, one after the other to the face, the ribs, the side. It was all he could do to hold back screams of pain. He didn’t want to give Sosa the satisfaction.

“That’s enough. Pull him up.” Alonzo watched as the men yanked him off the ground. He stepped closer.

Bryce stared him down. As soon as Alonzo was close enough, Bryce spat in his face. “You think you’re something because you can have your lackeys beat me up? You’re a coward. Do what you want to me, but leave my family alone. I guarantee you will regret it if you mess with them.”

“You don’t like it when someone messes with your family? I know how you feel.” Sosa removed a pure white handkerchief from a jacket pocket and wiped the blood-tinted spittle off his face. “But everyone here will learn. You don’t mess with my family either. You killed my uncle. Stole his money, my birthright. And one by one, I will take you down. The question is, are you going to tell me what I need to know and die quickly, or will you drag this out and make me take my time with the rest of the Brookses and Crawfords?”

“I ain’t telling you squat.”

“I knew you’d pick the hard way.” Sosa came closer, patted Bryce on the cheek. “All the more fun for me.”

With a grunt, Bryce strained against the hold on him, ready to pound the man into the ground and never let him rise. But the men restraining him didn’t break.

“Smile.” Sosa held up a phone and took a picture. “Don’t worry. I have a feeling you won’t be here alone for very long.” He tilted his head toward the pole to the right of them.

The men dragged Bryce to it. They duct-taped his feet together, then his hands behind his back and around the pole. No biggie. As soon as they were gone Bryce could break through—then they pulled out zip ties. Over the duct tape, the heavy-duty plastic restraints were zipped tight.

That was bad. One or the other he could handle. Not both.

Sosa and his men marched back up the stairs and shut the door. Once the sound of it clicking reached his ears, Bryce leaned his head back and sagged against the pole holding him up.

What do I do here, Lord?

The more Sosa focused on him, the more time Jude and the others had to figure out where they were. It kept his family and Penny safe. Gave them time to find the governor’s family.

And Zack must still be out there somewhere. Hopefully he’d sent for the cavalry, because obviously Jason Woods was a low-down sleaze who was in bed with Sosa. There’s no way he’d actually done what he’d said and called the cops.

Bryce strained to listen to the voices above him. He had to figure out what was going on and how to get out of here. They had to have the Nobles nearby, right?

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