Page 14 of Dusty and Dented
“There,” Hawkeye said.“you’re right on top of it.”
Dagger pulled off onto the shoulder as disappointment filled him.She wasn’t here.There was nothing here but dirt and weeds.
“Can you make it ring or anything?”
“Give me a second, let me see if I can call it.It won’t work if she’d got it on silent, but we can at least try.”
A moment later he heard a sound.He froze, listening, then followed the sound.It took him a moment for it to register but he couldn’t help but smile as he recognized her ringtone as the music that had played at the beginning of the movie they’d just watched.He tracked the song until he found the phone, face down in the dirt several feet from the edge of the road.Picking it up, he flipped it over and found no damage, at least none that he could see.
“I found the phone,” he said to Hawkeye.“But she’s not here.Any luck on Pike’s lead?”
“Let me check.”The line went quiet for a moment.Dagger didn’t know what was happening on the other end of the line and he didn’t care, as long as he got the information he needed and they were able to get Andy back, unhurt.
“He says he’s in and he’s tracking the van.It’s on the highway headed south.I got into the camera at the check cashing place across from the trailer park and I’ve been trying to see if I can enhance the image enough to identify the driver.Give me a minute.”He went quiet again.Dagger didn’t wait for him to do his magic but got back in the car and headed south.Maybe he could catch up with them.He didn’t know but he had to get Andy back.
She’d been taken right under his nose.How had he failed her so badly?
Chapter Eleven
Andy’s head throbbed.Worse than after crying herself to sleep and that was saying something.She blinked her eyes open then slammed them shut again as the light sent daggers of pain stabbing through her head.
Where was she?The hard, cold metal beneath her told her she wasn’t in her bed or anywhere she remembered laying down.But how had she gotten here?She took a deep breath and tried to calm down.What was the last thing she remembered?
Watching a movie with Dagger.The movie had gotten over, he went to the bathroom and someone had knocked on the door.She’d answered it.The stranger, who she’d thought was part of the Fallen Angels, had snatched her.He dumped her on a hard surface then the world had gone black.She remembered the pain in the back of her head.The rocking motion of wherever she was laying told her she was likely still in whatever vehicle he’d dumped her in.
Andy tried to lift her hand to check the back of her head where it still hurt but couldn’t.Her hands were tied together in front of her.She slit her eyes open, trying to figure out where she was.It appeared to be a panel van.She took in what little she could see without moving, but it was limited.There were no windows, no carpet.No wonder she was cold.Near her feet she could see the sliding door on the side of the van, but she didn’t see anyone back here with her.But maybe they were just behind her.She tried not to move too much, for fear of letting whoever had taken her know she was awake.She didn’t want them to knock her out again.
Closing her eyes again, darkness swept over her once more.
