Page 75 of Parker

Refusing to give in to the irrational fear the warden’s upsetting news had created—along with the fact that he couldn’t get ahold of Quinn or the man he’d charged with her protection—Parker tried a third and final number.

Answer your phone, Syd. I really,reallyneed to talk to Quinn.

Parker reached his car. Once inside, he shut the door, fired up the ignition, and had his seatbelt buckled in record time. Switching to Bluetooth, he sat his phone onto the console on his right and peeled out of the secured lot.

Secured, my ass. Can’t be too damn secured if an inmate managed to walk right out the front fucking gate.

Sydnee’s sweet voice filled his car’s interior, but when he opened his mouth to let her know what had happened, he realized it wasn’t really her.

It was her previously recorded greeting.

“Fuck!” Parker smacked a palm against his leather steering wheel. With a rough tap of the screen on his dash, he brought yet another failed attempt to an end and hung up.

Think, damn it! Think!

Working to tamper his rising fear, he was in the middle of a deep, calming breath when his phone rang to life. Seeing Asher’s number on his screen, he blew out a breath of relief and answered the call.

“About time. I’ve been trying to reach you guys, but no one would answer their damn phones.”

“I’ve been trying to call you, too.”

Parker blinked at Asher’s taut, gravelly tone. Remembering the numerous notifications he’d dismissed after leaving the prison, it was clear his friend had been one of them.

“Sorry, brother. I just left the prison, and they wouldn’t let me take my phone past the entrance. Anyway…get this shit. I just found out Justin Reynolds escaped.”

“Park—”

“Now I don’t know how or even when.” He didn’t let the man speak. “The warden kept saying something about their new intake system or some bullshit. Feds are looking into it, but I wanted to give you a heads up. I’m sure the bastard’s halfway to Mexico by now, but—”

“He’s not in Mexico.” Asher finally broke through.

The confidence in that statement had Parker frowning. “What?”

“Reynolds. He isn’t in Mexico.”

Parker’s body tensed, his posture becoming rigid against the seat’s expensive leather. “How do you know that?”

“Because I’m pretty sure he was here. Or at least someone working with him.”

“Reynolds was at my house?”What the actual fuck?“Let me talk to Quinn.”

A slight pause. “Like I said. I don’t know for sure it was him. But—”

“Where’s Quinn, Asher?” He wanted to talk to her. Needed to hear with his own ears that she was okay.

But Asher didn’t put her on the line. Instead the man he saw as a brother brought his entire world crashing down around him.

“I’m sorry, man.” Regret poured from Asher’s words. “I tried to stop them, but…it all happened so fast. There was this explosion, and Syd…” His voice cracked, but he cleared it. “Syd went down. She’s okay, thank God, but by the time I got to where I’d last seen Quinn, she was already…”

No. No, no, no…

“What?” Parker barked, demanding his friend finish the fucking sentence. “Quinn was what?”

“Gone.” A rough exhale. “I’m so fucking sorry, Parker. They got her, man. She’s gone.”

14

Quinn paced the cold,musty room as she tried like hell to figure a way out. It had been hours since the explosion, and she wasn’t any closer to getting answers than when she first got here.

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