Page 17 of Dusty and Dented
“Hurt her?”the first voice asked.“I didn’t sign up to hurt a woman.I just agreed to take her.We aren’t being paid to hurt her, just to take her.”
“I’m not saying hurt her.I’m saying be ready to.Make them think you will.It’s called leverage.”
There was silence for a moment then she heard movement.She relaxed her muscles and closed her eyes, hoping they would think she was still unconscious and hadn’t heard their plans.But she had, and if they didn’t know that, it was her advantage.She knew the guy headed back here didn’t want to hurt her and she’d take advantage of that.As soon as she found an opportunity to try to get free.
She couldn’t help but wonder who had gotten them to pull over.They hadn’t said, but hope thrilled through her at the thought that it could be the Fallen Angels.Was Dagger out there?Or was he taking advantage of the chance to not babysit her to find someone else to take the duty no one wanted?
No.Thinking like that would do no good.It would get her nowhere and distract her from what she was trying to do.She needed to get away without getting hurt more.
She had to remind herself of that when she heard someone slip between seats and the muttered cursing when a thump followed by more cursing told her he’d likely fallen.There were several more thumps, then someone was nearby—she could hear them breathing.She had to remind herself that she needed to stay limp and relaxed.She had to keep her eyes closed or getting away would be much harder.Not that it would be easy with her hands tied together but at least her feet weren’t tied and they’d tied her hands in front of her instead of behind.
“Are you sure this is going to work?”the first voice asked.He was much closer than before.He sounded worried, and she wished she could just speak up.Maybe she could talk him into letting her go.
“It had better work.You had better sell it like your life depends on it.Because if we fail, you’ll have to deal with all of the Royal Crows.First, you’ll have to explain what went wrong, where you failed, then you’ll have to take the punishment for failure.If you survive that, then you’ll have to come up with and execute a plan to do it all over again, only that time it had better work or you won’t survive the fall out,” the second man, and obviously more senior member of the club said.
Did that mean if she got away, that sometime down the line, someone would be coming for her again?How could she stop that?Would it do any good to go to the police?
She’d tried that when she’d been mixed up with Tony and he’d become violent.The police had been less than useless, because Tony had been friends with someone higher up in the office and they covered for him.Made her out to look crazy for making ‘outrageous and impossible accusations.’He had enough friends, not to mention the people his family had pull with who swore that Tony would never do something like that.
In the end, it was just easier and best to get entirely away from Denver.Had she been sad to see that chapter of her life come to a close?Sure.But in the end, she knew it was better that she went back to Craven’s Creek.Especially with what had happened to Travis.
At least she’d gotten to spend much of the last year with him, and if she’d still been in Denver, she may or may not have seen him again before he’d been killed.
Thinking of Travis made her wonder if maybe these were the men who killed him?Every time she’d asked who did it, who had killed her brother, all they would tell her was that they didn’t know.Was this possibly her chance to find out?If she ‘woke’ and asked, would they tell her?Would they be honest if they did give her an answer?
Just knowing that no one in their right mind would admit to something like that kept her eyes closed and her body limp.These men, whoever they were, had already proven themselves untrustworthy.She wasn’t going to risk them lying to her on top of everything else.
A hand clamped around her upper arm and dragged her across the floor before attempting to lift her into a sitting position.She forced her muscles to stay limp, to let her head loll to one side as he pulled her upright then tried to hold her there while he got into position.
He cursed under his breath and Andy had to fight the urge to smile at how frustrated he was getting that she didn’t move the way he wanted or stay the way he put her.He was still trying to move her where he wanted her when she heard shouting from outside the van.
The guy trying to move her around became more frantic, and the way he moved her more erratic.
Several things seemed to happen at once.She didn’t know if it was because they did happen at the same time or because her headache made it feel that way.
But several doors were jerked open.She felt the warmth on her face and saw the brighter light through her eyelids.
“Let the girl go and we’ll see about letting you live.”She knew that voice.She couldn’t place it at the moment, but she knew it.
“Don’t come any closer, I’ll shoot her,” voice number one said.
From where voices were coming from, she could tell that the guy threatening her was behind her, while the man with the voice she knew but couldn’t place was in front of her.She opened her eyes.The man in front of her was Raven, President of the Fallen Angels and Travis’s best friend since high school.He held a rifle snugged up against his shoulder and aimed at the man behind her.He barely glanced at her then looked back to the man behind her.He looked at her again then his gaze flicked toward the rear of the fan.
Andy was careful not to move anything but her eyes as she looked in that direction and saw another of the Fallen Angels standing in the open doorway, a pistol in his hand, raised and aimed in her direction.Her heart sped at the sight, even though her brain knew he wasn’t aiming at her but rather at the asshole behind her.She didn’t know why the man with the pistol set her heart racing when Raven’s rifle hadn’t, but she wasn’t in a place to ask questions right now.
She looked back to Raven who crooked one finger on his left hand, the one holding the fore stock.She blinked, wondering for a moment if he meant that for her.But when he did it again, she knew it was meant for her.
Before she could overthink it or second guess herself or Raven, Andy tensed her body and dove forward toward him.A shot echoed through the confined space, leaving her disoriented and blinking as hands seized her arms and pulled her out the side door.
They were talking to her, but her ears were ringing so loud, she had a hard time hearing more than a garbledwah wah wahthat reminded her of one of the cartoons she’d watched as a kid.
Someone cut her hands free, and she stood blinking and trying to get her bearings when she saw her car pull off the road behind the van and the motorcycles that surrounded it, at least that’s what it looked like from where she stood.When her car came to a stop, she saw the driver’s door flung open and someone get out, but the cloud of dust the car had kicked up distorted things too badly for her to be able to tell who it was.
Most of the Angels were busy dealing with the men from the van.She didn’t know if the shot that still had her ears ringing had killed the man behind her and she didn’t want to know.
She stood on the right of way and faced the trees that skirted the road.She wished for a moment she had someone to turn to, someone to hold on to, to tell her everything would be okay, even if they both knew it was a lie.She wrapped her arms around her stomach and did her best to pretend they were the arms of someone who cared about her while she waited for everyone to finish dealing with the men who took her and tell her what was going on.
“Andy?”Dagger’s soft voice registered a moment before he stepped into her line of sight.Was the ringing starting to fade?“Are you okay?”He held his hands up like he wanted to grab her upper arms and pull her into a hug but didn’t want to surprise her.
