would blow, and Becca would have her cell within arm’s reach.
As I hiked back toward town, I began to get a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. I felt anxious, like something was eating me up inside, but I wasn’t sure what.
Yeah, the mob might still kill me, but it wasn’t that. I was confident about that.
With about two hours to go, it hit me: Becca still hadn’t responded. There was no way she hadn’t seen my text. Even if she were mad at me, I doubt she would ignore a message like that.
What was going on?
I shook my head, forcing the thought out of my mind. There was probably some explanation. Maybe she dropped her phone in the toilet, or the battery exploded, or any number of reasons why she couldn’t shoot me a quick message.
I concentrated on walking, one foot in front of the other, and resisted the urge to start running. That would only exhaust me, and I had a long day coming.
Minutes turned into hours, and I was just outside of town when my phone buzzed. Excited, I pulled it out of my pants pocket.
Come to my place when you get this, Thom said.
I blinked at the message, feeling disappointed.
Why, you hear something? I wrote back.
Just do it.
I frowned at his response but decided to head right over. It was actually closer than my house was, and that suited me just fine. I didn’t need a rest, didn’t want a rest. Becca was perfectly okay. I didn’t need to worry.
It was a few minutes after noon when I walked up through Thom’s backyard, or at least the stretch of woods that led up to his trailer. I stopped outside his door and knocked twice.
“Thom, it’s me,” I called out.
He answered the door, looking haggard. “Hey, man.”
“Did you hear from them?”
He nodded. “But first, I have to show you something.”
“What did they say?”
“Come inside.”
Something felt off. Had the Canadians said no to our deal? I didn’t have time to wonder, because Thom was already back inside his trailer. I followed him in, resolving myself to go with whatever was happening.
He gestured to sit across from him at the table.
“You’re annoying the hell out of me. What’s happening?” I asked.
“I heard from the Canadians, but I got to tell you something first.”
“What’s more important than the mobsters right now?”
“This.” He held out his cell phone. “Take it.”
I reached out and grabbed it.
I was staring at a picture.
For some reason, I was having trouble understanding it.
It was a topless girl, a familiar girl. Her hands were tied up behind her back and she had a length of chain around her throat. The chain was connected to a steel ring set in the wall. It looked like she was standing above a drain in some dingy, disgusting basement.
I stared at it. Slowly it dawned on me who she was.
Becca.
Becca was tied up. Chain around her throat.
“What the fuck is this?” I asked slowly.
Becca was topless, her bra dirty, her hair disheveled. Like she’d been there at least a night.
“I got that from Jay.”
Terror spiked through me. Jay had Becca chained up in his basement like a fucking piece of meat.
And that terror was quickly replaced with rage.
“Motherfucker,” I yelled, standing up.
“Whoa, Climber.”
I reached back, fingering my gun. “I’m going to murder him. Where the fuck is he?”
“Calm down, Climber. We have to talk first.”
I got in Thom’s face, not caring that he had nothing to do with Becca getting kidnapped. I wanted to hit someone, to break something, and Thom was the closest thing. Rage flowed through me, threatening to overwhelm everything.
“Tell me where he is,” I yelled.
“Okay, I’ll tell you. But you got to sit down.”
I grabbed the front of his shirt. “If she’s hurt, I’ll kill every one of them. I’ll rip out their fucking eyes.”
“Climber, man.”
“Where the fuck are they? Tell me where the fuck she is.”
“Climber.”
My grip tightened. “Tell me now, cocksucker.” I pulled the gun from my waistband.
“Climber, dude. Calm down. I didn’t do this.”
I held the gun up. “Tell me now.”
“Climber.” I could see the fear in his eyes but I didn’t care. All I saw was that picture of Becca, and I felt so much anger course through me. “REID. Put the gun away.”
My name snapped me out of it. I looked from my gun to Thom’s face and slowly lowered it, slipping it back into my waistband. I moved back away from him, releasing his shirt. The anger was still