“Even if it means breaking the law and aiding a serial killer?” Gary froze and Jay pressed his advantage. “I don’t know exactly what is going on yet, but I do know that they are using you.”
Gary tried to shove past again. Jay let the pain and vulnerability show in his voice as he threw his pride to the wind. “I’m not trying to insult you. I’m saying that I need your help. I’m admitting that I cannot do this alone if Stella isn’t to pay the price.”
Gary stepped back as if needing a better look. Jay forced his face to stay open. “I may not be your friend, Gary, but I do know you. You’d never break the law just for a grudge.”
“Even so,” he said after a pause. “What’s to stop me simply leaving and abandoning you to what sounds like a very dark and painful fate?”
“I get abandoning me, but aren’t you contracted to help Stella?”
Gary sneered and snatched the USB. “You actually think anything here will convince me to help you? If this is all to destroy you, then wouldn’t your defeat spare her?”
Jay shook his head. “I don’t know, and I am not willing to risk it.”
Before anymore could be said, Jay’s phone rang. He yanked it out of his pocket, meaning to reject the call, and saw Elliot’s number.
He begged a moment and turned from Gary. “What happened?”
He heard Elliot’s deep chuckle and then a familiar curse. “They’re fine. I got them out in time. I did what you ordered, but I don’t know where you want them sent.”
“Am I on speaker?”
“Yes, you bloody well are, and…” Hector’s tirade was cut off by an electronic beep.
Jay glanced at his phone and saw another call waiting. Keira’s number sent renewed spikes of panic through him. “Give me a second,” he told Elliot before switching calls. “Please don’t tell me you had to stage a rescue too?”
Keira breathed a laugh. “No, but Ruby here wanted you informed.”
Jay felt a wave of relief wash over him and felt an idea take hold. “Put me on speaker.”
“Already done,” Keira said.
“I don’t have time to explain, but would you guys be willing to take on a pair of guests?”
“You mean Hector and Natalie. They’re alive?” Ruby asked.
“Of course. So?”
“We’ll do it. Is, er, Keira going to stay?”
“I'd like her to,” Jay said, hoping she wasn’t going to fight the point.
“Good. Send them our way.”
Jay thanked them and switched back to Elliot’s call, only to hear the man trying to calm a raging Hector who was trying to find out exactly what Jay’s orders had been.
“Enough!” he finally yelled, after a few attempts to break through more politely failed. “Elliot, get in touch with your cousin. She’ll give you the details. And you two, please just trust him and say nothing to anyone. You’ll understand when you get there. Once you are safe, Elliot, you can tell them my orders and my plan.”
Hector muttered an oath, but Natalie’s voice was firm. “We’ll do as you ask, Jay, but if Elliot’s explanation isn’t good enough, I’ll not be stopped from letting my family know that I am safe.”
Jay chuckled. “I understand.”
The call disconnected, and Jay turned back to Gary. He felt his heart fall out through his feet. Gary Peters was nowhere in sight.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Stella forced her body to remain floppy. She had decided to try pretending to faint and then not rousing the next time her captor came to visit. She didn’t know how long had passed or where Miranda might be now, but if it got her out of these chains and this room, it would all be worth it.
“Is she serious?” she heard a male voice chuckle. It sounded vaguely familiar, but she didn’t try to figure it out as she was deposited by the two silent people who had carried her out of the room.
Now she heard the female voice that belonged to the woman who always injected her. “Looks like it. Wouldn’t have bothered, but you said you wanted to talk, so…”
Stella turned her mind from their conversation as the man laughed, seeming entirely at ease. She opened her eyes a tiny fraction. She seemed to be in a living room of sorts, sparsely furnished. The edges of the window were dark, making her think it must be night outside.
Good. The cover of darkness might give me the upper hand.
She felt adrenaline light her blood anew. There was a doorway to the left of the dark window. By the light from this room, it seemed to give into a dark kitchen, hopefully with a back door.
Stella knew she’d only get one chance. She was too weak to outrun or fend off anyone, so her best chance was to wait for their guard to be down and then try and get out.
The man chuckled again then seemed to breathe out a heavy sigh. “You two can wait outside, but stay close, I’ll need you to take her back once her little game is over.”
Stella felt ice flood her veins. A desperate part of her mind hoped his words had not been about her.
Two sets of footsteps retreated in the direction her head was pointing and the distant sound of a door opening and closing met her ears.
“You going to stop faking yet, Ms. Haraby?”
Stella felt her breathing stutter, but didn’t dare move. Her mind raced to come up with a new plan. She was still out of that underground room and no longer in chains. She had to try and make this work.
“Looks like they’re matched in stubbornness,” said the woman.
“Turn her around. It might motivate her to stop wasting my
