“Maybe I ought to drain your bladder another way then.”
She gulped. So maybe she could pee. Wasn’t like he could see much in the near-darkness, right?
She reached for her jeans, fumbling. Then she crouched, silent tears tracking down her face as she emptied her bladder.
“Rory! Everything okay?” Horse called back, watching her intently. She couldn’t see much of his face; the streetlamps didn’t reach this far back. “Rory!”
She stood, pulling up her pants. Why wasn’t Rory answering?
“What the fuck?” Horse was reaching for her arm, when he was suddenly pulled backwards. There was no noise, it was almost like he disappeared into the darkness. She let out a small cry. What just happened?
Who cares! Run, Sunny!
She turned, ready to race off when someone grabbed her from behind. She didn’t even have time to scream before she felt a prick in her neck.
Then everything went dark.
* * *
Duke pushed the bike faster, not caring that he was breaking the speed limit or that the last thing he needed was to attract the attention of the cops.
Ink’s guy had managed to track Rory’s phone. Duke was on Ink’s bike since his was at home and the other man had stayed behind to co-ordinate. He sped towards the old, abandoned warehouse, pulling up a block away. Much as he wanted to get there quickly, the bikes weren’t exactly quiet.
He turned the bike off then jumped off and started running towards the warehouse.
“Duke, wait the fuck up,” Reyes called out to him. Duke ignored him. He raced into the parking lot, spotting a van over near the tree line. Fuck. Did they take her into the warehouse or the woods?
He turned and ran towards the van, aware of Reyes telling Jason and Razor to take the warehouse.
Please let her be there. Please let her be okay.
He gave the van a glance then headed towards the trees. Where was she? He tripped over something and nearly fell. Turning, he tensed as he saw it was a goddamn body.
“What the fuck?” He drew out his phone and used the light from the screen to check who the fuck was lying at his feet.
It was Rory.
And his throat was slit.
“I got a body over here,” Spike called out. “Dead. Throat slit.”
“Rory’s here,” Duke called back. No point being quiet if they were both dead. “Throat slit as well.” He switched on the flashlight app on his phone.
There was a piece of paper under Rory’s hand. He pulled it out.
“Fuck,” Spike said appearing beside him. “Please don’t tell me that’s from the Fox.”
“What? Why would you say that?” Duke asked, turning it over. Fuck. There it was on the back, the Fox’s insignia.
“Frankie was tortured before his throat was slit,” Spike told him grimly.
“Fuck. Shit.” Panic filled Duke.
“There was barely any blood. He was cold. Been killed hours before and moved to the location of our meet.”
“Someone knew Spike was meeting with him,” Reyes said, moving up beside him. Duke turned as he heard people run towards him. Jason and Razor appeared.
“Warehouse is clear,” Razor said, stepping up beside them. “Fuck. Is that Rory?”