Page 58 of What Doesn't Kill Us

I shake my head. “I was going to grab him once I got outside, but by the time I got out there, they were gone.”

“Gone? What the fuck do you mean they were gone?”

“In the time it took me to walk around my waitress and out the back exit, they were gone. There was a black SUV turning out of the parking lot when I exited the building. When I got to the road, it was gone.”

Matt frowns. “So, someone obviously set her up. Someone must’ve been out there waiting.”

This is really fucking bad. It’s becoming more and more obvious that jackoff set Antoinette up to be taken. He drugged her so she would be incapable of putting up a fight and then had a vehicle waiting for a speedy exit.

My stomach clenches, bile rising my throat at the implication of why they would take her. I choke, hunching over as I attempt to reel myself in, to get control of the panic rising inside me.

Matt’s hand squeezing my shoulder pulls me out of my spiral. I look up, meeting his eyes, and he says, “We’ll find her, man. We’ll find her.”

I nod, walking with him to his wall of monitors. He flips switches and pushing buttons, and I lean against the bench and pull my phone out to text Tony again as Matt says, “Did you tell Tony?”

I hold up my phone. “If he would only fucking respond.”

Matt sighs, pulling out his own phone to send a message, likely telling him it’s not a drill. Not that either of us expects Tony to give a fuck, as he is one of those guys who doesn’t have any fucks left to give beyond his small circle. He certainly doesn’t know enough about my relationship with Antoinette to be too bothered by what happens to her.

Of course, now I must communicate this without telling him about her initial duplicity. My tangled web is growing, and it seems as if I’m stuck right in the middle of it.

Tony finally strolls in, not a care in the world, and I’m glaring daggers at him. I allow Matt to brief him, and he keeps eying me suspiciously. It’s all I can do to hold myself back from pounding the shit out of him for acting like such a fucklicker. He doesn’t understand my attachment to her, but at least has the decency to check in with your band of merry miscreants.

Once we’ve gone over everything and Tony has given me enough guff about my attitude, he takes off on a fuck-around-and-find-out mission. He even grabs his special bag and favorite gloves, which means nothing good for the rats scurrying around the underground, but you reap what you sow.

Matt and I attempt to keep my shit together. There are very few people I have an emotional investment in, and even those few relationships pale compared to this one. It was all so new, and we’ve already been through so much; the thought of having it snuffed out so soon is enough to turn my stomach.

Beyond that, regardless of any relationship we may foster in the future, she has to be okay. She didn’t survive whatever she has survived so far, only to be taken out by some jackoff with an agenda.

Eventually, Tony returns, and he’s a fucking mess. He detours to the showers, returning clean and dressed in record time. As he’s walking in, an alarm blares. Matt confirms it’s her phone that someone turned it on, and we’re getting a location.

It’s a warehouse not too far from us, one owned by someone other than me, which is unusual in this area. We don’t waste any time discussing what needs to be done; we grab our weapons and head toward the exit.

Tony and I head over on foot, and he keeps bitching at me to slow down. He’s not wrong, but I’m not feeling exactly reasonable. Matt should get there a few minutes ahead of us to scout out the perimeter. By the time we hear him on the COMs, we’re closing in on the building, making our way on silently. The updates from Matt are now a constant companion in our ears.

We make our way inside the building, moving cautiously and listening for any signs of life. Then there’s a scream and shouted cursing, so we run down the hallway, stopping at the intersection, and listening. There’s shouting coming from the stairs, then more cursing and yelling, and hurried footsteps, so we stop tiptoeing and rush up the stairs as fast as we can.

We burst out onto the rooftop. It’s raining now, a sudden storm letting loose on us. I see a group of men standing on the other side of the roof and two lone figures standing on the ledge. Tony and I don’t have to say anything to each other. We sneak into the mix and start slashing throats. It takes a few moments for anyone to notice that something is amiss, but once they do, they turn on us in a swarm.

I hear Antoinette’s voice coming from the ledge. She’s screaming, and the other figure is shouting back at her. Then, the next thing I know, I hear laughing, the maniacal sound sending an icy shiver down my spine.

I’m yelling to her, bellowing for her to wait, not to move because I’m here, I’m coming for her.

Tony and I are trying to push forward, but the crush of people makes it all seem futile. I barge ahead with renewed vigor, pulling out my gun, and aiming at the man still standing on the ledge. But then Antoinette stops laughing. She says something incoherent, shouts words lost on the wind, and then lurches forward, grabbing onto the shadow with her arms and legs as she uses her momentum to pull him closer to her.

And then they’re gone.

I hear screaming, and after a few beats, I realize it’s coming from me. Pain slices my side, and I attempt to refocus on the here and now, on the enemy still surrounding us. Tony has done a fair job cutting them down, so I hack my way through the rest, engaging until there’s no one left standing but Tony and me.

I stand there, gasping for breath, lost in a void. The weight hanging over me feels infinite, the darkness so thick I can’t blink it away.

A sudden blinding pain shoots through my face, and I blink to find Tony standing in front of me, yelling at me to move. To keep it fucking together. It’s not over.

I come back to myself and rush to the edge, leaning over and bellowing for her, but all I see is pitch black. I still hear Matt on the COMS, listening to him as he engages with somebody down on the ground.

Tony pulls me from the edge, forcefully pushing me toward the exit and back down the stairs. I’m running on autopilot, barely able to spit out the blood running from my broken nose to my mouth.

We run outside, sprinting around the building to the side where they disappeared. I see the bodies on the pavement, and the sight makes me slow my pace as my heart stops in my chest. Once again, bile rises in my throat, and I swallow it down, continuing forward in a trance.

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