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“They didn’t go off the embankment at first. They were run off the road onto the shoulder, so the targets opened the door to pull her out. It wasn’t until the ground shifted from the rain that they crashed on the embankment. The SUV rolled and got busted up. The driver said it only made their injuries worse.”

“Holy shit,” Jackson hissed. He pushed up to his feet, thankful the rain had lessened to a steady drizzle. He walked over to his friend and placed a hand on Alex’s shoulder.

“Alex, I’m sorry. This should never have happened.”

Alex’s response was delayed as if he was unaware of what was going on around him outside of sitting by his man’s side. When he did sign, Jackson followed the deliberate movements.

“Find the bastards. Take them down.”

The paramedics crowded around them, and Jackson stepped back to allow them room to work. He looked at the damage left behind by the man he’d been unable to catch. The man took down some tough men and had taken both Traci and Reagan while they were under protection. Jackson still had no idea who the target was, other than a vague reference to TJ that English made earlier. He had no idea what the target’s agenda was other than English believed Traci was the object of his actions.

Had the target hurt Traci and Reagan? Had he killed them already? And why come after English if he wanted Traci?

He had more questions than answers, but that was about to change. He owed it to those he cared about to extract justice from the unknown target, and he vowed to get it.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Music swirled around them, a slow and sensual sensation that lulled them into a world where they were the only two who existed. His arm lightly held her at her waist while his hand held hers. They spun around the dance floor, and she laughed with pure joy. She felt happy and safe.

The tempo changed. The sexy cadence turned sinister. The lightness of their dance turned dark. It started out low and menacing before getting louder and deafening. He spun her around, and then he was gone. A fog rolled in around her, and she could no longer see anything around her. He was gone, and she was alone.

“No!” she cried, tears pouring down her face and fear seizing her heart. “Please don’t leave me. I’m here. I need you. Please don’t go!”

Her body jerked as she woke with a start, but Reagan didn’t immediately open her eyes. The pain in her head was enough to make her yearn for unconsciousness. She wanted to rub her temples with the pads of her fingers, but she couldn’t lift her arms. Her body ached in places she didn’t realize could ache, but she didn’t think that was the reason she was immobile. No, the cut of something rubbing painfully against her wrists and ankles told her she was bound.

She opened her eyelids to slits. She was in a damp and cool room, too long and narrow to be functional. The walls were gray slabs of cement. The floor was packed dirt. On the opposite end of the room was a stone archway and an opening that led…somewhere. The space beyond the opening was shadowed enough where she couldn’t see what lay beyond the room she was in. The only light came from a lantern placed on the floor in the middle of the room. Its flame flickered, casting only enough illumination to add to the room’s creepiness.

The pounding intensified behind her eyes, so she closed them. Breathing deeply, she waited until the pain lessened before opening her lids again, this time to inspect herself. Inky black zip ties secured her ankles to the wooden chair she sat on. Her feet were bare, the pink polish on her nails chipped. Her legs were covered in a light wash denim that was unfamiliar to her. Glancing at her torso, she saw the bright red cotton fabric of a plain tee. With her arms pulled behind her, the shirt pulled tightly against her breasts, her nipples erect.

These weren’t her clothes. Someone changed them, failing to put on the bra she’d worn all day. Fear clogged her throat, and her heart pounded enough to vibrate in her ears. Tears pricked her eyes as she tried not to imagine someone stripping her naked while she was unconscious. Had they done other things too?

The tears flowed freely, leaving tracks down her cheeks and dripping off her chin. Regret reared, reminding her if she’d followed Jackson’s instructions and had never gone to the hospital, she wouldn’t be held captive now with no way for anyone to find her.

She jerked her chin up, her eyes going wide.Jackson!

He was the last person she saw before the elevator doors opened, and she stepped inside with a doctor dressed for surgery. She recalled hearing the swish of the elevator doors close, and then her world had gone dark. He would have known by now that she was missing, but would he realize she’d been abducted and hadn’t run away on her own again?

She closed her lids, the disquiet left behind from her dream intensifying. She felt the blackness creeping in, but she breathed deeply through her nose and released it gradually through her mouth until the dizziness passed. Jackson had been the one in her dream. She didn’t believe dreams could be premonitions, but she did believe her fear had been the likely source of her dream. She was afraid she’d pushed Jackson away enough and he wasn’t coming for her.

She heard a shuffle coming from the open doorway. Stiffening her body, she tried to tap down the fear seizing her as she waited for the noise’s source to appear.

Her breath caught in her throat as the first man appeared. Tall, dark and dangerous didn’t adequately describe his presence which rose to over six feet and was wide enough for him to have to turn slightly to the side to fit through the doorway without hitting his shoulders and biceps against the block frame. He barely spared her a glance, instead turning to watch the man behind him.

This one was shorter and stockier, his breathing labored as he brought someone in a fireman’s carry. He nodded to his taller counterpart, and Tall-dark-and-dangerous moved to a point behind Reagan’s line of sight. He produced a chair which he settled next to Reagan, and Short-and-stocky lowered the person he carried until she sat limply in the chair.

Reagan’s gasp escaped as her heart froze in her chest. “Mom!” she whispered.

“Shut up!” Short-and-stocky yelled at her.

He produced zip ties identical to the ones which bound her, and he secured Traci’s hands and feet to the chair. Traci moaned low in her throat as if she was in pain. Reagan’s hands balled into fists, and she vowed if she made it out of her situation alive, she would kill these men for what they had done to her mother.

“What’s wrong with her?” Reagan demanded, ignoring the menacing glares she received from both men.

“Relax.” Tall-dark-and dangerous spoke with a high-pitched voice that belied his intimidating stature. “We gave her something to knock her out. Same as what we gave you.”

“Shut it!” Short-and-stocky shouted at his buddy, and Reagan secretly hoped Tall-dark-and-dangerous would punch him for speaking to him that way.

Tall-dark-and-dangerous only stared at his partner, and the two left her and her mother alone without uttering another word. Reagan called out to them, asking them what they wanted, who were they working for, where were they, but she received only silence as an answer.