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Then there was movement. I realized then the car was moving.

Wake up, you idiot.

I forced myself to sit up. I was in the backseat of the Ford, my upper body tipped over, head in the middle seat. I managed to get myself into a seated position and saw Hansen seated next to me, hands behind his back. So were mine. Held together with a plastic strip. Right in front of me, I saw the back of Agent Larkin’s head. He drove fast, with no regard for us. There was a reason for that, of course. I sat right behind him and considered an attack. I couldn’t use my hands, but I could do enough with a leg to stop the man. Hansen must have realized what I was thinking. I saw him give a slight shake of his head. We were going too fast. This wasn’t the rust bucket Thomás had driven. If we crashed at this speed, we were likely not going to make it out alive. That was probably Larkin’s plan.

A sharp right turn made me slam into the door and sent Hansen sliding into my other side. The car skidded as Larkin forced it onto a narrow gravel road. It would take us back to town faster, though this shortcut wreaked havoc on any car at this speed. I knew now how the agent had managed to stop us on our way to Steep Rock. He could not have known in advance where we were going. That thought worried me a great deal. Did the man memorize maps? He’d used a shortcut to intercept us when he attacked on Highfield Ridge as well. Anticipation had to be his specialty.

“Where are you taking us?” I asked the Agent as Hansen moved back to the other side. The car kept bouncing on the uneven road and made it hard to sit still. Larkin didn’t answer me, but I met his eyes in the rearview mirror. A completely bland expression. I sat back a little. I knew this guy wasn’t messing around. It was one thing that he had managed to get me, but he’d also kidnapped a cop. The other ones wouldn’t take kindly to that.

I sat as still as I could in the car as it leaped over the bumps in the road. At least that was what it felt like. Around us was nothing but darkness and the looming shadows of trees. Only in front of the car was there any light and it revealed nothing but the uneven dirt road and at one point, a fleeing fox. It didn’t take long before we saw the lights from Ashport. He wasn’t taking us there. I knew that for certain.

I looked at Hansen again. He sat still, eyes on the agent the whole time, but he didn’t say anything. He looked angry, though. I knew that look. Was used to being on the other side of it, though usually he would speak his mind to me. The fact that he was so quiet and patient now, meant he was on another level than usual. And anyway, I didn’t judge the situation the same way. I needed to see if there was some sense in the agent.

“Come on, Larkin. We’ve been doing your job. We found out—”

A sharp turn to the left had me sliding along the fake synthetic leather seats. I tried stopping myself with my legs, but ended up sideways, my knees hitting Hansen’s thigh. He’d been the one to be slammed into the door this time. It took me a moment to realize that we’d left the dirt road. The ride became less bumpy instantly. I turned around in the middle seat and leaned forward.

“You don’t understand where we were going,” I tried again. I was rewarded with a hand to my chest, shoving me back into the seat.

“Stay back there, Ms. Evans, and don’t try anything.”

Seldom have I wanted to kill someone so badly. Instead, all I could do was sit up properly. I felt the warmth of Hansen’s arm against mine but moved over to sit behind the agent. Any murderous thoughts evaporated fast as I thought about Andrea. I’d promised her we’d come. That we would find her. Hell, we knew where they were likely holding her. We didn’t have time for this.

And that was when she decided to show up. Her mental projection that was.

For a while, there was nothing but the steady sound of the car engine, as Larkin drove quickly along the almost deserted roads outside Ashport. The next moment, she was sitting there, next to him in the passenger seat. She gave him a confused look, as he in return yelped and the car lurched to the left. It took him several tries to maneuver the car back on track. At the same time, Hansen and I were sent back and forth along the backseat, crashing into each other and the doors. I wished terribly for the seatbelt. At least it would have kept us in place. I glanced ahead at Andrea, and though she sat in the seat, following its movements forward, she didn’t seem to be shaken as Larkin got back control. He hit the brakes hard, sending me and Hansen forward. If not for the fact that we had been expecting everything by this point, we would have crashed into the car seats faces first. As it was, we both braced ourselves with our legs.

“Andrea,” I gasped, not waiting for Larkin to catch his bearings.

“What’s going on?” she said, looking as worn down as she had in Tegan’s kitchen.

“Listen.” I eased myself forward again. This time the suit didn’t push me back. He was in too much of a shock, I guessed. “We think we know where you are,” I continued. Andrea looked back at me and Hansen, and as our hands were tied behind our backs it was clear something was wrong. Her eyes went to Agent Larkin, and they were fearful and wearisome. She didn’t trust anyone but me.

She disappeared again. Even I had to blink hard at that.

“You see?” I yelled at Larkin, straining to get my hands free from the damn strips. The plastic gnawed into my wrists.

“Evans,” Hansen uttered beside me, his voice calm, probably trying to get me to be the same way.

Larkin gave us both a look of anger. Now that he was not seeing someone who was not supposed to be there, he seemed more himself again.

“Come on.” I glared at him. “You just saw her. You need to he—”

A gun appeared in his hand, but it was not pointed at me.

“Sit back and shut up, Ms. Evans…or I shoot him.” A clear and simple threat. The detective himself stared down the barrel with no apparent surprise. He was assessing and waiting.

I inhaled air so quickly it stung, and only now did I realize my head still hurt. I slowly sat back as Larkin drove on in the opposite direction of Steep Rock, away from Ashport.

Nine

“Got any painkillers?”Evans asked Larkin as he tightened the plastic strip around her ankles. We sat with our hands tied behind us around cold metal pipes. He had made her fasten the zip cords on me first before doing it to her himself. He straightened up and holstered his gun now that he was certain we weren’t a threat.

“Come on,” Evans pressed. “I’ve got a blinding headache and I’m sure your boss wants my brain working.”

The agent looked at her a moment before vanishing into the neighboring room. I figured it would be an office space since the top half of the walls were windows. We heard him rummaging through drawers in there before he came back, a couple of pills in his hand and a bottle of water. Evans didn’t seem to care what they were. She swallowed them with the water as he held the bottle for her. She downed the whole thing and then sat back looking a little better simply from the water.

Larkin threw the bottle into the nearest corner before retreating to the office, calling someone on his cell. My guess was his boss.

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