Page 171 of Stand: Part One

“I don’t know what else to tell you!”

Placing his index finger between the wrench, I squeezed it just as I had before.

“Preferably something that will spare you this finger. Otherwise I’ll just skip the questioning and move on to the fun part.”

I squeezed the clamps harder, drawing blood from the torn skin as it dripped into a puddle on the floor. It took another thirty minutes and all four digits to be torn from his hand before he finally went in the right direction of what I was looking for.

“There’s an extraction point!” he suddenly shouted just as I was about to start on the other hand.

I rolled my eyes. This was the best he could do? “What good is an extraction point when I can easily trace that helicopter you brought back to its original base?”

“M-Miguel will be there,” he sputtered.

“Max! You dirty piece of shit!” one of the other captives shouted out.

“F-fuck you, Mick!” he shouted back.

I narrowed my eyes at what sounded like complete bullshit. “Why the fuck would Miguel be at an extraction point?” I would have expected his cowardly ass to remain hidden in his little fortress behind the safety of the Mexican border.

“Because we were s-supposed to bring you in alive. He wanted to be there f-for that himself.”

I released the clamp around his finger and stepped away, the laughter bouncing up from my chest impossible to contain. The audacity of these assholes. They thought they were going to take me alive? Hilarious.

“When and where?” I asked, holding the wrench up for emphasis.

“Twenty klicks south of here. Three hours from now.”

I grinned at the sudden turn of events. It looked like Miguel would have his final wish come true after all.

“Seems you get to live another three hours.”

Grinning, I stepped away to answer an incoming call. I placed the phone to my ear just as another scream ripped out from one of the captives.

“What.”

“Sir,” Eric said on the other line, practically panting. “There was another attack. You weren’t the only one.”

For fuck’s sake.

I sighed in aggravation, pinching the bridge of my nose to relieve the pressure growing behind my eyes. This day was never going to end.

“Where?” I asked, anger rising in my blood for the thirtieth time today. But I didn’t expect to be hit with an odd sense of dread at his answer.

“Daniel’s home, sir.”

I woke with a stir, bolting upright from my position and clutching my heart to keep it from leaping out of my chest. The room immediately spun, my vision blurring while my head pounded something fierce. I quickly lay back down, flopping onto my side only to experience some serious soreness in my cheek. Wincing, I rubbed it gently, feeling some slight swelling as I slowly rolled onto my back.

What the fuck happened?

I closed my eyes, focusing on my deep breathing until the dizziness faded away, working to ignore the flaring pain in my hip that shot down my leg.

And then reality struck me.

Darren had drugged me. During the fight. During my one possible chance of getting out.

I felt the panic quickly sink in, fear and anguish running down my cheeks in heavy streams at the thought of what Darren might have discovered while I was unconscious. I could barely catch my breath as my blood pulsed with dread.

Breathe, Jaden. Just breathe. You don’t know anything yet.