Page 145 of Tapped

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you, Doc. I need you in one piece. See, I’ve made a deal. Your husband was a dumbass and got caught running drugs across the water. He literally had one job. Just one, and he fucked it up. Someone’s got to pay for that.”

I shake my head. “He’s not my husband. I swear. We’re divorced. And I didn’t know what he was doing. I didn’t tell anyone anything.”

His clammy hand wraps around the top of my thigh and slides north. I try to shift and pull away, but his hold tightens. “Here’s the thing, I don’t believe you. But what’s done is done. I’ve got a new deal.”

I squeeze my thighs together and try not to tremble.

“I hate cops. Now that I know you switched teams and you’ve spread your legs for the narc, this will hurt him too. Two birds, one stone. Kiss your cushy life goodbye, Evita. I’ve got bidders who are willing to pay a pretty penny for you. Enough that’ll get me by until I get my business up and running again.”

“No.” I barely hear the word in my own head, but as the moments tick by, the reality sinks in.

Fucking reality.

We should’ve stayed in Montana.

“No!” I scream in his face. I rip my leg from his grasp and kick.

Because he’s balanced on the balls of his feet, he falls back on his ass. I jump up and run. There’s a door on the other side of the trucks. It’s my only chance.

“Get her!” Teddy yells.

Something sharp breaks through the tender skin of my foot.

“Ahhh!” I call out in pain, but keep running.

I’m not fast enough on bare feet. I’m whipped around so hard, I fall. But so does the cell. It slips through my dress and lands on the ground next to me.

“You little bitch!” Teddy yells and launches for the phone at the same time I do.

I bump it with the tips of my fingers, and it slides across the dirty floor.

Desperation takes over even though I know I’m outmanned and muscled. I pull up to my hands and knees, doing everything I can to get to the last form of communication I might ever have.

“Umph.” Someone lands on top of me. I’m face down on the floor, pinned to the ground.

Bang-bang-bang!

I freeze.

I can’t see him, but I can hear him. Teddy is on top of me and yells, “Finally. That’s got to be them. She’s a pain in the ass. I want my money.”

Bang-bang-bang! “Police! Open up”

I scream as loud as I can.

Teddy wraps his hand around my mouth and muffles my cries.

But they’re here.

They found me.

Everything is going to be okay.

Until I feel something hard in the side of my ribs and a hiss in my ear. “I’ll fucking kill you before I let you go free, bitch. If I’m going down, so are you. Forever.”

* * *

Micah

---