Page 77 of Zeke

“I don’t like the idea of you going without me,” Savage says. “Especially not after what happened in Miami.”

“I’ll be fine, and so will you,” she says with unwavering confidence. “Take Brawler and Pony Boy for backup. We don’t know what the hell this guy may do, and I don’t want anyone going in alone.”

She’s talking to Savage, but when she says the end, she looks directly at me. It’s her warning to not go in guns blazing without her and Eli being ready. It’s her way of telling me I have an order to not do anything stupid.

As if she’d listen if the situation was reversed.

For now, until we get there, I nod and agree.

“Okay,” Eden says, turning to Kira’s dad. “When we find her, we’ll call you.”

He swallows hard. “Okay. Please find her fast.”

I’m out the door and halfway to my bike the second Eden’s voice indicates she’s done with the talking part of the plan. I throw my leg over my bike and wait for Eden and Eli to catch up, since I don’t have the address. When they get to their bikes and get seated, Eden pulls out her phone and mounts it between her handlebars, pulling up the address.

“I can lead,” I say, glancing at Eli to tell me the address.

“No way,” Eden says, looking at me with a stern expression. “You’re not going off on a suicide mission because you’re not in the right state of mind. You’re going to follow me. I’ll get us there fast, Zeke. I promise. I can’t have you going rogue because you’re scared.”

I scowl at her and then Eli, who just shrugs. “You’d do the same if it was one of us,” he says.

“Fine,” I say, turning on my engine. “Let’s go. I’m not wasting a second of the time we need to save her.”

We’re just about to pull away when Justice shows up. “Country said there was an SOS,” he says to Eden.

“Kira got takenby whoever was stalking her,” Eli says.

Justice gives a low whistle. “Shit,” he hisses. “You guys need some backup?”

I start to say, “No, we’re good—” but Eden cuts me off.

“Yes,” she says. “Never hurts to have one more person to back us up.”

Justice nods, and he, Eden, and Eli fire up their bikes, and immediately, we all pull out onto the road. At first, Eden drives infuriatingly slow through town, and I want to zoom past her to show her how dire the situation is. But when we pass a police cruiser at the edge of town, I’m glad we don’t have to deal with one or all of us stopping to get a ticket when time is so precious.

After an hour, out of nowhere, Eden pulls off to the side of the road in the middle of the woods and kills her engine.

“Where’s the cabin?” I ask frantically, looking around and not seeing anything.

Eden leans against her bike and stares me down. “It’s still a mile away,” she says.

I swing my leg back over my bike. “Let’s go then. Why are we stopping?”

“Because we’re not taking our bikes the rest of the way there,” Eli says, standing in front of my bike.

“Why the hell not?” I ask. “We don’t have time to play around.”

“We also don’t want to tip him off that we’re coming before we get there because he hears us coming and puts a bullet in your girlfriend,” Eden says.

As much as I want to argue, she has a point.

“We walk from here, and we coordinate before we go in.”

Justice also stands facing me, in line with Eden and Eli. I frown at my siblings, but they’re unified in this, and there’s no chance of me winning this argument.

“Fine.” I dismount again and motion for Eden to lead the way. “Let’s quit wasting time.”

We walk through the woods along the side of the road, keeping to the tree line as we go to avoid anyone who might drive by seeing us. For all we know, he could be about to move Kira somewhere else, and we’d never find her.

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