Page 179 of Straight to Me

I turn to Lauren. “Where could they have him? Is there anything you can think of, or something your uncle might have said that would indicate somewhere on that side of town?”

“I don’t know. I overheard them talking about padlocking a large door. My uncle uses a unit over on the industrial estate, that’s why I assumed it was there.” She panics, moving in small circles to help herself think.

I need to calm down if I’m to help her. I’ve frightened her into thinking it’s all her fault. “Hey, look at me.” I hold the tops of her arms, making her stop still. “I know you’re scared, I am too, but we need to be brave right now. Once Mop makes that call, everyone will be racing to the other side of town to comb any possible areas. But that’ll take too long for them to reach him. We’re closer. We can find him. If there’s anything you can think of that might help, however big or small, tell us. Anything you might have seen or heard?”

She shuts her eyes, rubbing them with her hands. “I don’t know,” her voice cracks. “I only saw Alex once outside of school. Some garages off a side road… that’s the only place I can think of that has large doors you could padlock.”

“Where was that?”

“It wasn’t far from the church, maybe ten minutes tops.”

“Do you think he could be there?” I ask.

“Maybe? There are ten or twelve lockups down there. My uncle met Alex outside one with a green door, that’s all I remember, I’m sorry.”

I hug her close under my arm and she sobs, trembling under my arms. We need to act to fast. “Okay, so we go there,” I direct at Mop who walks back to us.

His eyebrows raise.

“You have to stay here. Dean will kill me if anything happens to you—”

“And he might die if we don’t help get him out. Mop, Rocco’s half an hour, if not more away. If Dean is there, we’re closest. You’ll need all the help you can get.”

Mop stares blankly from me to my mum.

He knows I’m right.

Chapter Forty-Five

Ican’t hear anything but the screaming thoughts in my head. They’re like a dagger through my ears and my mind each time I think of VP. Mum drives us to the garages Lauren recalls. As we travel, no one talks, each hoping and silently praying that we're right and he's here.

We pull to a stop at the lip of a narrow road. A thin strip of tarmac leads to a dark, dank plot of garages sheltered by a veil of darkness. We don’t know if VP is being kept here, but we have to check. Why else would Alex have been driving this way?

Mop manged to get hold of Rocco just as we left the clubhouse. They hadn’t made it to the Sodom Saviours yet, but they were still over half an hour away.

Uncertain of which location VP was being kept at, half the Rippers carry on with the original plan, whilst the rest backtrack to us.

I pray to God they arrive in time.

I look up in the rear-view mirror. Mop keeps his head low in the back seat. Next to him, Lauren’s hands tremble on her lap and her body visibly shakes.

The narrow road before us is only just wide enough for one vehicle to drive down. It’s deserted. The terraced houses on one side are coated in a dim orange glow from the streetlamp lighting up the road. The rusty iron fences line their front gardens, full of broken bottles and rubbish. It’s dire looking. On the other side, a thin brick wall runs the entire length of the street. It’s smeared in graffiti, with overgrown ivy trailing over the top.

I lower my hand to unclip my seatbelt, but mum’s hand stops me.

“I’ll go,” she says, unbuckling her own.

“Mum, no.”

“No one knows me or what I look like. I’ll be able to just walk past and if someone is there, I’ll call you.”

Frantic, my eyes lock with hers.

“She’s right,” Mop whispers. He stays low, looking out of place in the back of the car.

Mum smiles at me before stepping out and closing the door behind her quietly. I watch as she walks away, disappearing into the dark. My heart starts drumming in my chest.

Unbuckling my seatbelt to sit forwards in my seat, I hold my phone and anxiously wait for her call. I'm ready to move when the time comes. “When she calls, I go first,” Mop says. “You take these.” He reaches down to grab the bolt cutters he brought from a duffel bag. “You only move when I tell you, Mads.”

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