She zoned in and out, hearing the chaos around her. Some discussion about street surveillance cameras capturing the license plates of two cars and there being another woman involved. Then she felt hands touching her. Someone she didn’t know with
gloved hands.
“It’s the paramedic, Eliza. Let him do his job and then he’ll get you the help you need,” Parker said to her in that deep, sexy tone of his that made her feel like he was reprimanding her or giving her an order. She fought between wanting to accept that order and resist his control. She had issues. Why was she thinking any of that stuff right now?
“Shelby?” she whispered.
“We’ll find her, Eliza. You worry about resting up,” Tazer said and she thought she felt him caress her hair from her cheek as someone pressed her hair apart and looked at the spot where it hurt so badly she cringed. The she felt her body raise up and shake a little. Warm, large, familiar hands held down her shoulders and another on her thigh.
“We’re bringing her to Charlesburgh General. She has a concussion and bleeding going on that isn’t stopping. You can send the family there,” the paramedic told them. Eliza Grace heard it all.
“We’re her guardians. One of us will go along in the ambulance with her,” she thought she heard Tazer say. But that couldn’t be. That guy must have hit her harder than she thought.
“Eliza, I’m going to be right there with you,” Parker whispered and kissed her cheek.
“Shelby. Help save Shelby. She needs all of you,” she said and the next thing she felt were bright lights over her, and people in white talking. Their voices echoed in her head and then darkness.
* * * *
“We need to be smart about this. These guys are good. They ditched those two cars before they were even in North Carolina. We know that they’re taking her to New York. It’s what Eliza Grace said she heard Skip say to Shelby,” Tazer said to Bender, Max, Kenneth, Lynch, Burker, and their other friends who were all gathered around the department ready to assist.
“York has the state police on watch for the description of the two men, and Burker was able to do a bit of digging and get a name and residence address for the woman with them. Her name is Eve Landing. She lives in Queens,” Bender said to them.
“This guy Blade does not have an exact address as a residence. He wouldn’t take her to an obvious place when we have to assume he knows about all of us. They had to have been in town watching her, so we also have to assume they know she’s involved with the three of you,” Lynch added. “So I suggest we focus on finding Skip, Jerry, and Eve. We find them then we have a better chance of locating Blade and where he’s keeping Shelby,” Lynch said to them.
“That won’t be too much of a problem. We’ve got friends in New York on board as we speak,” Burker said as he typed on the laptop and held the phone to his ear.
Kenneth listened to the entire conversation and his heart was pounding inside of his chest and his head throbbed. They’d screwed up. They never, even for a matter of minutes should have let her out of their sights. But it had been eight weeks since she was in Charlesburgh and Mickie Hayworth saw her. He looked up.
“Where is Mickie Hayworth right now? Can we put some pressure on that asshole?” Kenneth asked. “It’s obvious that he was the one who notified Blade about Shelby living out here.”
“If this is about completing that contractual agreement Skip made with them two years ago, then Mickie would be nearby Blade, wouldn’t he?” Max asked, and Kenneth felt sick to his stomach. One look at Bender and Sam, and they had scowls on their faces that matched his emotions right now.
“I know we don’t want to think about that, but it’s obvious this guy Blade never gave up hope of completing that contract and making Shelby his woman. Mickie wants to be involved, too, so he might show up where Blade is,” Tazer said to him.
“Unfortunately there’s a pretty damn good possibility that’s the case. We need to find that piece-of-shit lawyer and demand answers,” Kenneth said.
“Can we get away with that, Kenneth?” Max asked him with a smirk. “You’re the lawyer.”
“I’ll find a way to do it nice and legal,” Kenneth said to him.
“You may not need to be so legit, Kenneth. My brother is at the hospital with Eliza Grace sitting in the waiting room. He has a laptop and he found some shit we could use.”
“Okay then, let’s separate into groups and pool our abilities all together and all the connections we have. Shelby needs us, or this sick fuck might kill her,” Bender said to them.
“Okay first, Burker, did Parker say how Eliza is doing?”
“The bleeding stopped. They’re monitoring her to ensure it stays that way. She has a concussion and a sprained wrist, and he should be able to see her shortly,” Burker said to them and he continued typing on the computer.
“Okay, we need one group to use their abilities to locate Skip, Jerry, and this Eve woman. Kenneth, you and I will take on Mickie. Let’s pack a bag and make arrangements to head to New York as soon as we have a precise location on Shelby. This is how it’s going down,” Tazer said and Kenneth looked at Sam and Bender. They couldn’t fail her again. They needed to do everything in their power to find Shelby. Time was running out. If Jerry, Skip, and Eve were driving Shelby back to New York, and they didn’t stop to rest, then in less than six hours they would be in the city. New York was a huge city and finding them would be like finding a needle in a haystack. But that wasn’t going to stop them from doing their best to find her. They wouldn’t rest until she was in their arms and back in South Carolina safe and sound.
* * * *
“Why are we stopping here? Let’s just get Shelby to Blade and be done with this shit,” Jerry said to Skip as they stopped outside of some sort of building. Skip pulled out an envelope.
“What is that?”
“A little security if Blade screws us over,” Skip said.