Page 58 of Hidden Chaos

21

Patrena

Istared at the rolling darkness outside my window before I glanced down and resumed texting. Lady A had sent a text informing me that the team was gearing up to leave after I had sent her the grid coordinates to Mecca’s location.

Are you sure you don’t need me? I can get rid of my company and link up with you ladies in no time,I texted her back.

The Vallin guards sat silently in the front seat, armed and ready to defend me with their lives although they hardly knew me.

You are a target. Lay low. Once Mecca is safe, we will figure out who had the balls to come after a Lady of Chaos.

The text made me grin despite me knowing that she meant every word and would do whatever it took to figure out who was after me. I positioned my thumbs, preparing to send her a final text when my instincts sent a nonphysical jolt through my psyche, and I glanced up.

You know that moment when shock keeps you from speaking out or moving or even blinking? The intensity of its magnetic hold took my vocal and motor functions. I froze in my seat at the sight of the on-coming dark SUV threatening to T-bone us on the passenger’s side. I was seated behind the driver, so my chances of survival were better, but the sight of the vehicle coming straight at us had images of my life playing out on a big projector in my head.

At five, I’d been in my twin bed hugging my favorite doll I liked to sleep with. Ten, I was wincing in pain and curled up in a tight knot, holding my leg and suffering through the agony of my first broken bone. At sixteen and all grown up, I’d been traveling alone, grieving alone, and facing the world alone with a mountain of secrets riding my back. At eighteen, I’d experienced my first lone encounter with a member of the syndicate and found out quickly that I was nothing more than another meaningless face to them. Twenty, the first time I met Mecca and Desiree.

Boom!

The force of the impact from the oncoming SUV struck so hard that my insides felt like they were being forced out through my pores. I hadn’t even noticed the seatbelt’s forceful snap that kept me pinned to the seat, only that I was in its unyielding grip.

Breaking glass, straining metal, and the screech of tires screamed in a broken harmony that blasted against my eardrums. The passenger’s side lifted before the sensation that we had taken flight registered. The feeling was swallowed by an impacting jerk before we were spun in a half circle.

When we finally came to a stop, it took a moment for my vision to focus and my gaze landed on a detached arm and the slumped and crumpled body of the passenger. His side of the car had been rearranged so badly that parts of the seat had been pushed into the back seat with me. The driver’s face was buried in the airbag and his muffled groans sounded indicating that he was still alive.

Disoriented, I made several attempts to free myself from my seatbelt, but each try was unsuccessful. There was one reason we would purposely end up on the business end of an SUV’s bumper. The guys from the mall were back to finish the job Tywin had interrupted. They were there to take me, and even with help, I hadn’t managed to piece together a reason why.

I fumbled around with my seatbelt until it snapped apart. We were on the outskirts of town at what I believed was the last traffic light before a long stretch of open highway. The area wasn’t well traveled and only a scattering of shabby buildings stood haggardly surrounding us.

A heaving moan escaped before I stretched my arm and reached across the seat for the dead guard’s pistol that was in a death grip in his severed arm. Shake it off, get that pistol, and run. The mystery of why they wanted me could remain a mystery because I damn sure wasn’t going with them to find out.

A hard snatch at the door handle got it to pop open just a crack. I used my foot to kick it open the rest of the way, and staggered out on shaky legs. Although I didn’t see anyone right away, the shuffling of feet sounded and I ducked behind my open door.

A quick peek revealed a few other vehicles that had stopped to avoid being added to our accident. The drivers and passengers remained in their cars with wide frightened eyes, some ducking inside.

Why hadn’t they exited their vehicles to help? I turned, doing my best to focus enough and see through the smashed and broken side of our vehicle. Blurred images of approaching men with semi-automatic weapons were what I believed I saw.

I took off, running in the opposite direction, zigzagging to avoid a bullet and glancing back to shoot if I needed to. When I reached the nearest vehicle, I took up a position at the back end and peeked around it to see that instead of two men, there were now six.

What the fuck! What the hell did they want with me?

I prepared to run again, this time, far enough to get to the buildings that would provide me cover. I took off on a mad dash, staying low to the ground and scurrying around another car.

When I stood tall enough to sprint to my destination, my heart seized in my chest and my chance for escape blew up in a cloud of smoke. I lifted my weapon at the four men moving in formation and making a circle around the car I had ducked behind with their weapons at the ready.

“Don’t be stupid. Drop the weapon and cooperate. Make this easy on yourself!” the one who must have been the leader called out to me. I was surrounded now by men who were prepared to fire at me like I was a terrorist.

The only way to survive this scenario without being pumped full of bullet holes was to drop the damn weapon in my hand. I opened my palm and it dropped to the ground at my feet before I lifted my hands in surrender.

My protection was dead, the LoC, the Vallin clan, and their army were on their way to save Mecca from a cartel. I was sure no one besides Tywin knew that I was on my way to Khane and Desiree’s house for safe keeping. I was so screwed. There wasn’t a tool made yet that could pry me out of the trouble I was about to face.

Fuck me with a hell-lit dick!I was about to be captured and every instinct in me said I was about to come face to face with my hidden past.

Was the training I had under my belt going to be enough to save me?

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