Page 93 of Switch
Everyone’s too focused on Brennan and his guys (who are following the guys who are following Ravi), so it’s an easy enough thing to smack the one in last place with my baseball bat as he passes me.
With a sickening crunch, I connect with the back of his head.The vibration shakes my arms more than I expected.It’s painful, but the guy is on the ground.
The one right ahead of him spins and trains his gun on me, but I’m already mid-swing again when he does.I miss his face and get his arm.His gun clatters to the pavement beneath his feet, and when he goes to grab it, I hit him in the head too.
I don’t know if either of them is still alive, but at least they’re out.With the entrance to the factory now unguarded, someone needs to go in.
Once I’m in, it’s all I can do not to lose my lunch.
The smell is overwhelming.Old oil.Stale urine.Fear.
Long-defunct factory equipment climbs up through the center of the building, reaching as high as the second floor in some places.I can almost see a time in the past when the belts and machines were manned by people.
The real disturbing part is all the open spaces on the main floor, which are filled with dirty and disheveled human beings, fearfully clustered together and bound with zip ties.
There’s movement out of the corner of my eye.I spin with my bat raised and ready to swing, but this guy’s not the enemy.
No, this guy’s not the enemy at all.
I stare into the eyes of my best friend, my brother, barely able to believe what I’m seeing.There’s blood on his face.He’s too thin.His clothes are torn, and those are also covered in blood.There are marks around his wrists, as if he’d been tied up too.
In spite of it all he’s got the same cocky stance.The same “I’m pretty and I know it” glimmer in his eye.
“Evans?”
“Fuck, PJ, what the fuck are you doing here?”
My relief is cut off like a record scratch.He doesn’t seem at all happy to see me.
“I’ve been looking for you for months, man.”
He whips his head around as the crackles and pops of gunfire sound in the distance.
“We have to get out of here,” I tell him.“My boss is trying to light this place up.”
I grab for his hand, but his skin is slick with blood, and he pulls away just as fast.
“Not yet.”Evans turns and runs toward the back of the building.
Behind a towering conveyor belt-type thing, there’s another freaking group of people huddled.Jesus, and I thought Evans looked bad.They’re all young, like, teenager young, or maybe around Ravi’s age.It’s a horrific mix of dead eyes and terrified stares.
“We have to get them out of here,” Evans murmurs and grabs the first one’s hands, working at the zip ties.“Not sure what’s going on out there, but I’ll take the distraction.”
“Wait.”I pull out my knife and hand it over to make the job easier.“What the hell is going on here?Have you been here this entire time?”
“Notherehere, but yeah.Sort of.Remember when I was looking to make a bunch of cash so we could get started on our shop?”
“You think I don’t fucking remember when you announced that you wanted to fuck rich dudes for money, walked out the door, and never came home?Jolene and I haven’t gotten a good night’s sleep since.”
At the mention of his bird’s name, a slight smile passes across his face.“Jojo’s okay?”
“I mean, she calls me a fuckface or tells me to fuck off at least seven times a day, so I assume so.”
“Right.Good.”He sobers.“Well, that guy who propositioned me when I was waiting tables, Eric?I ran into him again a couple of days later.I think actually he might have been following me, but I never figured it out for sure.”
“You don’t mean Eric Leslie?”
Evan’s head snaps up.“Yeah.He told me he’d make me richer than Brennan Doyle ever could, and then I wound up here.How do you know him?”
