Page 53 of Confined Space

When I hear her cry out and she doesn’t answer me, I’m up and out of the bed.

"Oh, sweet Coral, you thought I'd let you get away with trying to ruin my life.” I hear a male voice across the line and my stomach plummets. It’s that fucker. “You were so wrong. Come, my sweet, you are going to sleep with the worms."

Then nothing. All is silent.

I dial the only number I can think of at this moment.

"Pick up. Pick up. Motherfucker, pick up," I chant as the phone rings over and over.

"What the fuck are you doing calling at three in the morning?"

"Logan, he has her. Davis took her. He said she was going to sleep with the worms. Help me, man."

"I'm on it. Where did he take her from?"

"The hospital. She was leaving work. I don't know what he did, but one minute she was talking to me and the next she cried out."

"I'll be there as soon as I find out something." He hangs up and I dial my mom.

"Mom, get over here to watch Archer, Davis has Coral."

"Oh my God! I'm on my way."

I dress quickly, grab one of the many backpacks I have for hiking, and load it with a gun and other things I'll need. When my mother walks in with Blu on her heels, I kiss her on the cheek and promise to bring our girl home. I head out to my bike, then I'm off and on my way down to the town below. There is no way I'm sitting on the sidelines when that asshole has my girl. I'm home to protect her. I'm not letting her be taken away from me like Calysta was taken from Marco.

I make it to the hospital in record time and find it's already roped off with tape. I walk up and push through everyone. I'm not going to let them do this without me.

"Rowdy, stay behind the line. We need to collect evidence and see what we got here," Logan barks at me, but I already have my flashlight out and looking around the ground.

"Here’s her phone." I point it out to the crime scene people.

"We found a cloth with chloroform on it over there.” Logan points to an area a couple of cars away from hers. “The hospital is getting the parking lot footage."

"We know they were here. We don't know where he's taking her. He said she was going to sleep with the worms. He's going to bury her." I know it in my gut like I know I’ll wake up tomorrow. Even if I lose her, I'll wake up every day to raise Archer, just like my mother did for me. I'll raise him and tell him over and over how much his mother loved him. I stop and double over, the pain so intense tears swim in my eyes and my vision blurs. I can't lose her like this. God can't do this to me too.

"Hey, buddy, it's okay." Lance pats my back. "We'll find her. Logan called me as soon as he headed out to let me know what was going on. I knew you’d need me."

"I can't lose her. I can't, Lance. I'll go on without her if I have to for Archer, but I won't ever be the same. You can't let me lose her," I beg him as he pulls me into him for an awkward bro hug. I know he's trying to give me the strength I feel escaping me.

"As soon as we have an idea of where he took her, we'll get choppers up in the air to look for her. Ryker can use thermal cameras. But we need to know where to look," Logan says from beside us. My cousin Ryker works on the search and rescue team.

"What about that other girl you had mentioned? You told me there was another?" I ask Logan.

After Coral's attack at the hospital, Logan and I had a meeting. He wanted me to consider the fact that Davis could be behind the accident Coral was involved in. He said his buddy in LA heard rumors about an incident when Davis was in high school. A girl had come forward and accused Davis of assaulting her. She disappeared and has never been found. I was so scared after Logan told me that. I upped the security system on the houses because I wanted her to be safe. I never thought he'd take her from right in front of the hospital.

"Wait a minute." Logan heads over to his car, and I stand there watching as more crime scene people collect evidence. Her purse. The necklace she always wears. Everything goes into evidence bags. I try to get the necklace, but they won't let me have it. I lean up against a car and watch for what feels like hours.

Finally, Logan makes his way back over toward us. Lance hasn't left my side; he's sure I'm a breath away from freaking out. He could be right because right now all I want to do is tear into the closest person and make this pain go away.

"I need to get back to the station. I have something I want to research. You need to head home and wait for us," Logan says and turns away from me.

I reach out and grab him, twisting him back around.

"If it was your family out there, would you go home?" I say as calmly as I can. I can feel the anger vibrating through me.

"No, I wouldn't. But I'm a cop, you’re not."

"I'm a firefighter. I can conduct searches. I know how. Point me in the direction you want me to go and I'll head that way. Fuck, Ryker could be up in the air looking for her."

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