Imminent Danger (Adrenaline Highs) (22 page)

“I don’t think I ever told you about what my brothers and I used to do to our big sis. She used to boss us around when our mom was gone or when she was outside in the yard so we’d gang up on Jess and tie her up.” He didn’t expect to hear anything, but he hoped he got a smile out of Abbey. “But Jess was so small and wily, she could get out of just about any knot. I think the girl is double jointed or something, I don’t know. But she never told our mom. Of course, one time, Mom came in before Jess got out of the knot. Man, did we get in trouble that day. I think the four of us were grounded for a month. I don’t think we tied her up after that. At least, not as often,” he amended.

“Punch a key if I made you smile.” He heard the beep of a key and swallowed back emotion of his own. Another call rang in and Blake checked the screen. “Ab, it’s Troy. I should take it. Hold on.” Blake switched over. “What’s up?”

“Tell Abbey to leave the phone and get out. If we can track that number, so can the guys on the property. Do it fast.”

Blake’s palms sweat as he switched back. “Abbey, listen carefully. Leave the phone where you are and get out now. If we can track you so can they. Whatever you do, ditch the phone.” He didn’t have to see her to know she was wide-eyed with panic. “Breathe, Abbey. We know your general vicinity and cops are on the way. You can do this. Go.”

It nearly killed him, but Blake disconnected the call and it hurt as much as any sucker punch.

Chapter Fourteen

Darkness threatened to suffocate her as the call disconnected. “Blake? Blake?” she whispered. God, no. She checked the screen. Nothing. Help was on the way, but maybe not soon enough if she didn’t get out on her own first.

Despair strangled her chest and she fought to keep from shaking. She wanted his voice in her ear. Needed his reassurance that she was going to get out of this. His story made her smile. He was the real deal. A good guy with a tight family that loved him. He deserved way more than she could ever give him.

She stood from her spot in the corner and her leg burned. A wet spot grew on her thigh. Using the phone light, she found a pair of cotton gardening gloves and some rope on a nearby shelf and made a makeshift bandage. After securing it across her thigh, she peeked out the door. A dark moonless night made the stars shine brighter.

She hated that she had no view of anything, no idea where to go for her freedom. But Blake said get out and she trusted him. At least she had the cover of darkness. She needed to get the hell off the property. Maybe the men were still looking for her or maybe they’d extended their search outside the estate walls. Either way, she wouldn’t risk having this phone lead them to her.

“C’mon, Washington,” she told herself quietly. “Suck it up. Get the hell out.” After stuffing the phone under a heavy bag of soil, Abbey cracked the door and peeked out again. All clear. She edged along the building, Her leg burned, but she barely favored it. It sure as hell wasn’t going to keep her from running her ass as far and fast away from this place as possible.

Creeping toward the end of the building, she peeked around the corner and drew back immediately when she spotted a man with a very big gun head down a long pathway toward the front of the property. After another check in that direction and one behind her, she scampered across the open area to the cover of hedges along the walkway. A minute later, she dashed across the remaining ten yards until she reached the edge of the property and hid behind a row of large plastic garbage bins.

Sweat coated her skin and her thigh burned like a fire. Running footsteps disturbed the eerie silence.

At the end of the line and on her own, she had to make a choice. Follow the path along the property or try to scale the giant wall against her back.

A no-brainer. Walls never bothered her before. She’d do just about anything to get out.

The cans reeked of trash and a handful of stacked empty boxes of different sizes leaned against the wall. If she stood on the trash cans, she’d be able to reach the top of the wall. Then it was a matter of heaving herself over and dropping to the next property…

Where guard dogs or a steep drop or any number of things might be waiting for her.

“No choice. Do it, Washington,” Abbey told herself quietly. Staying here wasn’t an option.

Voices got louder and Abbey’s heart rate spiked as she eased farther behind the trash cans and crouched low.

“I haven’t seen her.”

“But we know you winged her. We found blood on the pavement.”

Oh God! What if she’d left a trail of blood to this exact spot? Another shot of fear made her veins icy.

He spoke louder, anger lacing every word. “I don’t give a fuck what you find unless it’s actually her. She can’t get away. I already made the fucking call. A girl who looks like this is going to go for fifty grand. Probably more. Depends on who gets involved in the bidding. I’m not about to lose my take of that.”

Chills prickled Abbey’s skin as the burn in her thigh got worse. More blood seeped through the cotton gloves the longer she stayed crouched.

“Take another pass. When we find her, she’s going to wish she’d never tried to run. And we’d better cover our asses, so have two of the guys move the merchandise to the other location. I’m not going over the border with half a load.”

Abbey bit her bottom lip to keep it from trembling. She couldn’t afford to move anywhere.
Breathe. Breathe.
She kept Blake in her mind’s eye, kept seeing his concerned face as he helped her by breathing with her. In and out. Slow and steady. She concentrated on the sound of his voice, his gentle tone.

New footsteps pounded forward. “I’ve looked everywhere and I can’t find his phone. If she’s called for help, then we’re busted.”

“Move, now!” the first guy ordered. “Take one last pass where we lost her, then meet up front.”

Footsteps faded and Abbey checked through the crack in the trash cans to see the men had moved out of sight. She slowly eased up and bit back a groan as fresh pain streaked through her leg. She tightened the knot again before hopping up to the top of the closed plastic bin. She quickly stood on the lid and jumped for the top of the wall. After hauling herself up, she threw her good leg over the top and edged over the other side. She didn’t have anything to break her fall on this end. It was a good eight feet from the top of the wall to the hard packed earth below.

It was going to hurt.

“Do it, Washington,” she gritted between clenched teeth.

Abbey let go.

She tried to roll as she landed, but her right leg crumpled and the pain ripping through her seemed to come from everywhere. She lay on the ground, her breathing ragged as she tried to get her bearings. “Get up, get up,” she told herself, her jaw clenched tight.
Run.
She wasn’t anywhere close to being in the clear.

Abbey rolled and got to all fours, taking another few deep breaths before she tried getting to her feet. Looking up, she saw a massive hedge that outlined something on the other side. Maybe a road or a building, she couldn’t tell from her angle. If she got on the other side of the hedge she’d at least be hidden from searching eyes from this direction.

Using her good leg and the wall for support, Abbey stood up and held back a groan of agony. She couldn’t risk being seen so she had to go through the hedge.

“Just some branches,” she whispered aloud. “Big deal.” But she soon discovered, it
was
a big deal. The hedges were packed tightly together. She was just too big to get through them without some type of cutter to open a hole. Tears pricked her eyes and she wiped them away furiously.

Limping, she made her way along the hedge until she came to a weak spot. The leaves were dry and brittle and Abbey broke apart the dry branches and forced her way through. Twigs tore at her skin and clothes, but she kept going. It was only a couple of feet. Not even twenty-four inches.

The beam of a flashlight hit the spot next to her and she froze. Her black jeans and green shirt were perfect camouflage, but they’d catch her if they found her now. With her ass nearly hanging out the back of the hedge, she had no clue if they’d seen her or not.

The bushes shook a few feet away and her adrenaline soared.
Something
was next to her in these bushes!

“Hey, I hear something,” one of the men shouted from the behind her.

“Shoot it!”

A bullet slammed into the space a few feet away and the creature living in that part of the hedge scrambled for safety. Abbey did the same. She lurched forward and took the brunt of the branches on her head and shoulders as she powered through. Hair ripped out of her skull as it caught on larger twigs. More shots were fired and the animal near her raced for freedom.

“It was only a fucking possum,” the guy said. “A fucking family of possums.” His voice faded as he moved away from the wall.

Abbey let three silent sobs escape before she wiped her eyes and got to her feet again. Stinging pain arched up her leg. She wanted a phone. Wanted to hear Blake, needed his voice in her ear. Needed it like the air pushing in and out of her lungs.

Looking around the property, she made out an unfinished house and giant palm trees lining the street fifty yards away. With renewed hope, she limped toward the street. The chain link lock on the gate had just enough length for Abbey to slide through. After one more look to the house of horrors next door, Abbey took off in the other direction. Screw the pain. She got about a hundred yards before two police cars came screaming around the corner with their lights flashing. Abbey nearly passed out with the relief burning through her. She slowed and waved both hands flagging them down with the last of her energy.

Blake took the exit leading to Bob Hope Drive and floored the SUV. The fact that a haze of smoke wafted from his engine just added to the list of shit he had on his plate tonight.

Troy had already called with the address of the hospital Abbey had been taken to. Knowing she was safe hadn’t made his foot any lighter on the pedal. Having to hang up on her earlier had just about killed him, but now a whole lot of hope raced through his system.

Blake pulled to the E.R., cut the engine and headed in. Troy had used his considerable weight with the Los Angeles police to clear the red tape on this end, so getting in to see Abbey wasn’t a problem after Blake showed his ID. One of several cops loitering in the waiting area took him back to a treatment room.

He gestured toward the last curtain on the left. “She’s okay,” he said. “Scared and a little beat up, but okay.”

“Abbey?” Blake eased back the curtain and peaked in.

Abbey.

His chest tightened up at the sight of her. God she was a mess. Florescent lights illuminated scratches and welts marring her smooth skin and a particular bruise on her cheekbone came from a hand. A new surge of anger pummeled Blake. A hospital gown and thin white blanket covered most of her with the exception of a bloody bandage over her exposed thigh. Her shredded clothes lay in a heap in the corner of the room.

Her face crinkled up and tears welled in her eyes as he moved closer. She wrapped her arms around his waist, crying into his shirt, her body shaking in his arms. Bits of dried leaves stuck in her wrecked hair.

Blake held her tight. Didn’t give a shit about the residual soreness in his ribs. He’d never been happier in his life to feel a little pain. Kicking a stool closer, he sat down and tucked his head next to hers, breathing in the scent of her. Finally, he leaned back to look at her.

It took a minute but she pulled herself together. “I’m okay. I’m okay.” Her eyes looked anything but okay as she dabbed them with a crumpled tissue. Blake wanted to kill the men responsible for putting that fear there. He brought her close again just to feel her warmth.

“Thank God,” he whispered, stroking her back and willing his pulse to slow down for the first time in hours.

Finally he moved away and gestured to the bandage. “Did the doctor fix you up yet?”

She shook her head. “Not yet. I just asked and the nurse said I’m next on the list. The EMTs thought I need two or three sutures to be safe. It’s really not bad. They thought a few stitches would keep it from being a nasty scar.”

That news just burned Blake up more.

Her gaze softened as she reached up and stroked her thumb under his cheekbone. “What happened here?”

“I was ambushed by a second guy before they took you out of the casting building. I’m okay.” He took Abbey’s hand and linked their fingers, needing to know what happened after the phone call.

“What did you do after we hung up?” he asked.

She told him about scaling the wall and running down the street. “I got a few houses away when the police showed up. I flagged them down. They called the ambulance.” She gestured toward the officer at the door. “They’re still searching the place as far as I know. I think the guys must have cleared out right before I reached the street because they were there when I first got over the wall. They must’ve been worried that I’d called for help with their friend’s phone. I thought it was mine when I ran, because it was next to my purse.”

“They tossed your phone into a van headed in the other direction. The diversion worked for a while. If you hadn’t texted us, we wouldn’t have found you.” Blake swallowed back the lump in his throat.