“Seriously?” Curtis twisted around to look at us. “I can just turn around. We’ll toss them out and watch to make sure the scrabs get them.”
Edan edged a little closer to me. I didn’t know what to hope for. Was it better to stay in here with the armed men threatening to blindfold us or to face the scrabs again?
“Just make the call,” Webb snapped. “It’s not their fault they fell for Grayson’s nonsense.”
Grayson’s nonsense? Did he know something that we didn’t?
“Here,” Sanchez said, handing Webb a white T-shirt and a bandana.
“Those’ll work, I guess,” Webb said. He rolled up the shirt and moved closer to Edan. “Lean forward, kid. Help me out here.”
Edan didn’t move. “Our team will miss us. If you just let us go, we—”
“Not happening,” Webb interrupted. “You two can go back to waving around machetes like a bunch of idiots with a death wish tomorrow. But today, you’re going to shut up and let me put this blindfold on. Or I’m going to shoot you. Those are your only two options.”
Edan swallowed hard and leaned forward. Webb secured the shirt around his eyes, tucking in a piece so it didn’t hang over his mouth. He moved on to me next, tying the bandana around my head tightly. I could see my feet through the crack at the bottom, but not out the window.
“I am not the bad guy here,” said the man currently kidnapping and blindfolding us, “but I do have a job to do, and I can’t afford to let you two screw it up.” His shoes shifted away from us. “I’m not cuffing you as long as you don’t touch the blindfolds. But I’m not moving from this spot, so don’t try anything.”
Edan’s arm bumped mine as the van went over a hole. I reached out and slipped my hand into his. He squeezed it tightly.
26
The van came to a stop about an hour later. Or maybe two hours. It was hard to judge the time, given the blindfold and the darkness. My ankle was starting to hurt where the scrab had bit me, now that my panic was wearing off.
“Up,” Webb said. “Don’t take those blindfolds off, I’ll help.” I felt him tap a finger to my wrist. I was still holding Edan’s hand.
I slipped my fingers from his and found the hand that Webb had extended. I got to my feet, keeping my head down so I could see the edge of the van. I jumped out.
Through the crack in the blindfold, I could see light flooding the ground from a source overhead, and two people standing nearby. Curtis and Sanchez, maybe. They wore matching dusty black boots.
It was noisy around me. Murmured voices and running footsteps. In the distance, someone called, “In stall five, please!” A cricket chirped.
“Whoops, sorry,” I heard Edan say from behind me. “I can’t see where I’m going. Could you just . . . thanks.” I heard his feet hit the ground a moment later. His fingers brushed against my arm, like he was checking to make sure I was still there.
“Can we get a restroom?” I asked no one in particular. “We were locked in a closet for hours, and if you don’t let me go soon, you’re going to regret it.”
“There’s a toilet in the room,” Webb replied. “Follow me.”
“You’re going to have to be more specific,” Edan said dryly.
“Oh. Right. Grab your girlfriend’s hand. I’ll lead you in.”
Edan’s hand slipped into mine again. Webb yanked my other one, and I stumbled as he pulled me forward.
We crossed a threshold, and I saw a rug and wooden floors at my feet. A house, maybe?
Webb led us up the wooden stairs to the second floor. A door creaked as he opened it.
“Sit tight,” Webb said. “You can take the blindfolds off, if you want.” The door shut. I heard a lock click.
I yanked the bandana off. We were in a dark, totally empty room. A crack of light sliced across the floor from an ajar door to my left, and Edan pushed it open. The bathroom.
There was a small window on the other side of the room, but it was covered by something black from the outside. I rushed over to it and tried to find a way to push it open. There wasn’t one. I could break it, but they would surely hear that. Not to mention that we’d just gone up stairs. We were on the second floor.
Edan disappeared into the bathroom, leaving me in darkness for a few minutes. When he reemerged, I ducked inside.
The bathroom was almost completely empty too. There was nothing but a toilet, bathtub, toilet paper, and a bar of soap by the sink. Not even a towel to dry my hands. I cleaned the bite mark on my ankle, which didn’t look too bad. Luckily that thing didn’t have many teeth yet.
Edan was standing by the window, examining it, when I stepped out of the bathroom.
“How’s your leg?” I pointed to where blood was crusted to his pants.
“It feels OK. Yours?”
“Nothing serious.”
He swallowed nervously. “I have to confess something.”
I raised my eyebrows expectantly. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a wallet.
I stared at it blankly for a moment before realizing. “That’s not yours, is it?”
“It’s Webb’s.”
“Why would you steal it? How did you steal it?”
“That shirt was a crappy blindfold. I could see if I tilted my head up a bit.”
“I’m still waiting for the why.”
“I thought it would tell us who these guys are. Honestly I was really hoping they were taking us to some high-tech facility and then I’d have his key card or something. And we’d just swipe it and go.”
“That would have been helpful,” I conceded. I glanced back at
