Page 70 of Unbearable
“Hopefully she doesn’t suspect us of knowing anything. That would be dangerous for Fox, not to mention Ethan,” Dex answered.
“Jesus, I didn’t even think of Ethan. See if Knox is there yet.”
“I told him to call the second he found out anything. They’ll be fine. We just need to focus on identifying who’s in that video. If she can just lead us to her partner, we can stop them both.”
It felt like it took years to drive to the bar. The place was in the middle of serving the after-work crowd when she pulled up in front of the door.
A large man standing at the door started to wave her away when Dex pulled out his credentials. They moved through the crowd until they found the back office. A manager met them at the door.
“We need to ask if any of your staff recognizes this woman,” Dex said pulling the photo up on his phone.
“Of course,” he answered. They followed him around the room asking servers until they made it to the bartenders.
“Yeah, she was in here the other night,” the man said.
“Can you be more specific?” Dover asked.
“Like I told the other guy. It was two nights ago. She left with some guy she met at the bar. I remember her as quite the looker. Turned down several guys before she settled on the one, she went home with. I didn’t really see them leave though. I just know they were there one moment and gone the next. Anything else?” There were patrons waving their hands for his attention.
“No, thank you. You’ve been very helpful.” They thanked the manager and headed back to the car. “Son-of-a-bitch, we got her!” Dover exclaimed once the car doors were closed.
“I think so, but we might have another problem,” Dex answered. “Knox never called, and his phone goes straight to voicemail now.”
“Shit. Send a patrol car to Fox’s apartment.” She started the car and pulled back out into traffic. They raced back across Boston. There were already several patrol cars parked in the middle of the street when they finally slid to a stop. She was out of the car in a heartbeat racing up the stairs behind Dex.
“Oh, shit!” she cried out when she stepped up to the tape marking off the apartment entrance. Her gaze took in the mayhem. Blood was everywhere. Brooke lay prone on the floor. Knox was sitting to the side with a medic holding a bandage to the back of his head. She flashed her badge and covered her shoes before stepping carefully under the tape.
“What happened?” she heard Dex ask behind her.
“I don’t know. The door was open when I got here. I barely stepped inside before I was hit over the head. Brooke had her throat slit, and Fox is gone. So is Ethan,” Knox answered.
“Call Bailey. Let’s pray she has Ethan. Maybe Fox is there too,” she ordered.
Dex stepped back out of the room with his phone already held to his ear. She knelt next to Knox. The cut on top of his head looked like it needed stitches. What had happened here, and where was her brother?
“She has Ethan,” Dex announced from the door. “But she hasn’t heard from Fox.”
“We have to find him,” she whispered. Looking at Knox, she found him gazing back at her with fire dancing in his eyes.
“We will. Dex, get Memphis on the phone.”
CHAPTER 27
Fox’s worldreturned a little at a time. The first thing he knew was that at least he was still alive. He hadn’t opened his eyes, nor could he hear anything. But he was hot, and if he could feel heat, then he must still be among the living. For how long, he had no idea.
Slowly, he opened his eyes. Everything was blurry at first. Then he saw his legs, then his feet, and finally the concrete floor. Pain shot through his head as he gently lifted it to look around his surroundings. Closing his eyes again, he leaned his head against a wall behind him until the worst of it passed.
He was in a room with concrete walls and floor. In front of him was a wall of glass that looked into some kind of office. Except it wasn’t really an office; it was more of a meeting room with a table in the center. His gaze found a large mural on one side of the meeting room. There was a piece of art in the center with stuff attached to the wall around it. He couldn’t quite make out what any of it was.
His tailbone felt numb from sitting on the floor. That’s when he realized that he no longer had on any clothes. He could see them piled on the table in the other room in a neat stack. He moved to retrieve them, but something stopped him.
Tracing his body with his hands, he realized he was tethered to the wall. He was free to move his arms and legs, but something around his neck held him in place.
His fingers probed the leather strap at his throat. It had a lock on the side that he couldn’t break no matter how hard he pulled on it. He couldn’t even get a finger between the strap and his neck it fit so snuggly. Looking up, he found a series of pulleys across the ceiling with cables running through them.
There was a part of him that wanted to scream for help, but there was another part of him that dreaded what the screams would bring.
As hard as he searched his memory, he couldn’t remember how he got here. The last thing he remembered was walking into his apartment after leaving the townhome later than normal. He had been finishing the flooring in attic after the rest of the crew left.