“No,” I whisper, tears flooding my eyes.
Ava thinks I’m answering her, but I’m crying for my little brother. I can’t save him. I can’t help him. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to find him again.
Despair rolls over me like a tidal wave. More tears are on my cheeks.
“Kass, you’ve got to be strong,” she whispers, wiping my tears with her hands. “Stay with me. Think of your brother. Think of Logan.”
“Logan,” I whimper, but I’m unable to find hope in even that warm memory.
“Yes, Logan!” She’s whispering, but her voice is faster. “I know he’s searching for us. Last night when he returned from watching you, he said he would only sleep for a few hours before he went back. When he sees we’re gone, he’ll search… He’ll find us. They all will.”
This information digs its way through the numb surrounding my brain. “What are you… What?” It doesn’t make sense.
“Logan’s been watching you every night since you left Occitan. He stays all night, but Rowan made him come in last night and rest.”
Every night… I remember the certainty he was there. I remember smelling his scent. I remember falling asleep secure.
“He was there?” I whisper.
Blix shouts from the front. “Stop whispering or I’ll gag you both!”
“She needs help,” Ava’s voice is less defiant this time. “Can you give me bandages, please?”
“No.”
We’re moving slower, stopping and starting, and the noises from outside tells me we’re in a city. People are all around us, people who could help us, but they don’t even know we’re here.
“She’s bleeding all over the floor,” Ava argues. “If you’re planning to hide us, whoever finds this van will know we’ve been here by the blood.”
“This van can be washed out with bleach and a garden hose,” Taz says, as if washing away blood is a regular occurrence.
It probably is.
Ava falls silent, and we continue on. She strokes my hair, and I vaguely wonder if I’m bleeding all over her. I wish I could see her face. I know she’s thinking about our plan and wondering how it’s possibly going to work now. All I feel is hopeless.
Blix takes an abrupt turn off the road and stops. His window lowers and he speaks to what I can only assume is Dev, the hairy gorilla who usually does his heavy lifting. I hear gates opening and we start to move again, slower this time. We go a bit further and stop for good. He kills the engine, and they’re both out. The metal door slides open, and I’m roughly dragged out of the bed.
“Walk,” Taz orders, and I do my best to limp.
My hip throbs, and I feel fresh blood oozing from the open wound. My head aches from where I slammed it against the stone doorjamb, but none of it matters. All the life drained out of me when they shot Cam.
“Take them both to the back,” Blix says, sounding less like an animal now. I suppose his blood lust has momentarily been assuaged. His tone turns disgusted, and he’s at my side. “Clean her up.”
“What?” Taz is equally disgusted.
“I’ll do it,” Ava says, then quickly changes her tone. “Please let me do it. I’ll be gentle with her.”
“Gentle?” Blix’s lip curls over the word. “Who the fuck said to do that? This bitch tried to kill me. She’s only alive because of you.”
“Please,” Ava says again, even more demure.
A beat of silence passes. “Five minutes,” he says to Taz. “Watch them.”
“Right.”
We’re shoved into what I can only assume is a massive cargo hold. The noises and the echoes remind me of where I worked in Miami counting boxes and making sure the drugs passed through as they were intended.
Taz stands in the doorway of a small bathroom while Ava touches my forehead gently with a wet washcloth. She’s so close to my face, I can see her clutched brow. I can see her full lips pressed together, the fine line at the corner of her mouth.