Page 98 of Erik's Redemption
“Where?” Erik asked through gritted teeth.
“Waiting in an alley at the back of an apartment building. Twelve Brentwoode Drive.”
Erik actually flinched, which caused Rachel to look up from her task of reloading a gun. “What? You know the place?”
“Are you certain he’s there?” Erik growled.
“Yes, why?”
“That’s behind where Hannah’s best friend lives—and she mentioned possibly visiting her tonight.”
He pressed his foot harder on the gas. It might be nothing. But something in his gut told him to get there fast.
“I’ll call her,” Rachel said, pulling her phone out and putting it on speaker.
It went to voice mail.Fuck.
“I need to try her number, Chandler.” He ended that call and tried dialing Hannah on his own cell. When she didn’t answer, he cursed and tried her again. Then he tried Brigid’s number. Same fucking thing.
He slammed a fist against the wheel, ignoring every fucking traffic law as he sped toward the location, praying that his gut was wrong and Hannah had nothing to do with this.
Claustrophobia crawledover Hannah’s body, making her brain foggy and her limbs shake. Darkness. It surrounded her. There was no space to move, barely any air to breathe. And the tape around her mouth just made everything worse.
James had shoved her into a gym bag, then swung her over his shoulder. She closed her eyes and breathed through her nose, forcing herself to stay calm. She’d been in bad situations before, and she’d gotten out of them. She could do it again.
Opening her eyes, she tugged at her wrists. The tape was a tiny bit loose, thanks to her making her wrists as big as possible when James had bound her. And she still had the bobby pin in her palm.
First, she attempted to use the bobby pin to prick the tape, but it was too awkward. Then she started to tug at her wrists. She twisted them back and forth, feeling the burn of her skin, the pulling and yanking on her arms.
Almost…there…
When one hand finally pulled out, the relief was so swift, her heart thumped hard in her chest. Quickly, she reached up and tore the tape from her mouth, finally sucking in a deep breath.
The ankles were the hardest part. She had to separate her thighs as much as possible and reach between them for her ankles.
Suddenly, she slammed into something hard. Her head rebounded off some kind of surface, shooting pain through her skull.
“Stop fucking moving,” James growled. “Or I’ll slam you against the wall so hard next time, I’ll knock you out.”
Her body bounced as James moved down the stairs, aggravating the pain in her skull. She took one deep breath to ward off the dizziness, then tore off the last of the tape.
If the asshole thought she was going to go down without a fight, he was dead wrong.
The second her feet were free, she pulled the rubber off the pin and shoved one end through the bottom of the bag, piercing the material.
She did it again and again, all in the same area, until she could push a finger through. She tugged at the hole, making it a bit bigger. The larger the hole grew, the easier it was to tug apart.
She forced herself to go as slow as possible, not wanting the sounds to alert James to what she was doing. The hole was just big enough for her hand to fit through when she saw the ground beneath the bag shift from stairs to flat flooring.
She’d lost track of the stories. Was there another set of stairs or—
The creak of a door sounded, then cool air came up through the hole in the bag.
Shit.They were outside.
She didn’t try to silence herself anymore. She pulled at the bag with one huge, frantic tug, tearing the hole until it was large enough to fall right through. She hit the ground at James’s feet.
“What the fuck?” His words were loud and angry.
