Town of Chance: Fight for Freedom (The Dare 6)

“We’ll kill her if you don’t come with us,” Jerry said.

“Shelby?” Eliza cried. One look in her friend’s eyes and she knew she was terrified.

“I’ll go. I’ll do whatever you want just don’t hurt her,” Shelby said. She wouldn’t let anything happen to her friend. She made that promise to protect those she loved no matter what.

Skip walked over to Shelby. He stared at her. “Don’t try to fight it. It’s no use. We’ll do what we have to do. You know that.” She sure did know he was a man of his word. He promised her to Blade and he came through on that promise despite everything. She thought about Blade as Skip reached for her. She prayed he wasn’t involved or anywhere nearby. She shivered with fear of that man.

He grabbed her arms and pulled them behind her back. She felt the ties go around her wrists and she cried out in pain.

“Don’t take her. Please don’t take her,” Eliza cried out. Jerry struck her.

“Jerry, don’t. I’ll go. I said I would go, please leave her alone. She won’t do anything or try to stop us. Please,” she said to him.

Eliza was on the floor, her lips bleeding.

“Tie her up or give her the stuff,” Skip said and Jerry looked around for something. Eliza got up and tackled him, surprising Jerry and even Shelby. They fell against the TV and it tumbled to the floor. Jerry struck her. Shelby screamed, and Skip stuck her with something. She felt the pinch to her neck, saw the room begin to spin, and as she looked at Eliza and called out her name, she watched Jerry hit her in the back of the head with the butt of a gun. She went down hard and then Shelby began to lose focus. Skip grabbed her and pulled her along.

“Come on, Shelby. I didn’t give you much. Just enough to make it back to New York and to not fight us. Blade wants you alive and unharmed,” he told her, and Skip escorted her out of the building, his arm around her waist, guiding her so she wouldn’t fall. When they got to the back door, there were two cars waiting. Her head felt funny and she couldn’t focus clearly and she wondered what he gave her. Was that a woman behind the wheel of the second car?

She blinked her eyes but then Jerry turned her toward the first car and quickly opened the door and got her inside.

He laid her on the backseat and she couldn’t move. Her whole body went numb. No matter how hard she tried to sit up she couldn’t.

He glanced back at her. “You’ll be fine.”

“Eliza?” she whispered.

“She’ll be fine, too. We didn’t kill her like you asked us to. If you cooperate, your boyfriends and your sister will live, too,” he said and the tears rolled down her cheeks and all she could do was lie there and wait. She was going to die. They’d come back to get her. Blade wanted her alive and to finish off what he started two years ago. Help me. Oh God please, help me.

* * * *

Eliza Grace could barely move but she knew she needed to. The pain in her head was terrible and her vision was bad. Her lips were bleeding and even her head, too. She had to do something. She fought to remain conscious, knowing that she was Shelby’s only chance at getting help to her before those men took her to New York. She crawled along the floor to the couch and coffee table. Her cell phone was there. She felt herself losing focus. She didn’t have much time. She reached up and felt around for it. When her fingers brushed the edge of the phone, she closed her eyes and mustered the strength to reach a little further and bring the phone to her.

She didn’t even know what buttons she hit, but then heard Caroline’s voice. She had spoken to her before Shelby arrived.

“Abduction, Shelby Ann. Help, my apartment.”

“Eliza? Where are you, honey? Who took her?” she heard Caroline ask but then the phone fell from her hands and she moaned from the pain. She forced herself to stay awake so she could help them find Shelby Ann. It felt like forever, and when hands touched her head and her body she jerked and moaned.

“Stay still, sweetie. It’s Tazer and Bender. What the hell happened?” he asked her. She blinked her eyes opened and saw the scowl on Tazer’s face. He checked her head and she heard Bender calling for an ambulance. Then he was calling for his brothers.

“Skip and Jerry took her. Back to New York,” she whispered.

“Oh Jesus,” Bender said and she heard the commotion going on around her as more people arrived. They were calling for assistance. Tazer was caressing her cheek and staying with her. She repeated that it was Skip and Jerry.

“Easy, baby. Easy now and slow it down. Where else are you hurt?” he asked.

Tears spilled from her eyes. “They’re going to kill her. Go, Tazer. Get my cousins and find her. Blade wants her back.”

“What did she say?” Bender asked.

“We have to find out what they’re driving, Bender. They’re taking her to Blade,” Tazer said aloud and she heard Bender and Max curse and then Parker was by her side.

“Paramedics are coming up,” he said and caressed her shoulder and fixed her blouse.

She blinked her eyes open. “Go. Help them find her,” she said and her voice cracked.

“Shhh, they have it covered for now. We’re not leaving you,” Parker said to her and she couldn’t understand why. They didn’t like her. They were thinking of her like a sister again. The paramedics arrived and they moved out of the way. She closed her eyes and moaned in pain as her head throbbed and she felt like vomiting.