Dark Secret - Avelyn Paige Page 0,43
forms in my belly as I watch Lindsey take a deep breath. If she feels any fear at all about what she’s about to do, she doesn’t show it on the outside. She walks out that door with her head held high.
Two identical dark blue vans sit outside the clubhouse with their sliding doors propped open. Every member of the club has shown up for this. Wyatt had said the Black Hoods were his family, and for the first time, I see it. They’re here for Wyatt. They’re here to save our daughter, and they don’t even know her.
“All right,” Wyatt calls out, walking into an open space in the center of the group. “This is how tonight’s gonna play out. We’re gonna drop Kevin and Lindsey off at the park where his uncle said to meet him. We’re gonna stay in our vehicles and be discreet.”
Karma shuffles from foot to foot, his jaw ticking like crazy as Wyatt talks, looking as antsy as I feel.
“When the uncle shows, we follow them home. Kevin will go inside, and if the girls are there, he’s gonna hang a shirt or towel, or something, out the bedroom or bathroom window. That’ll be our signal. Until we get that signal, we don’t step in.”
“What if that bastard does something to Lindsey?” Karma snarls.
“He won’t have time,” Wyatt replies. “We aren’t going to be waiting around for hours. And Lindsey’s smart. She can talk to him.”
Karma curses and walks to the back of the group. Wyatt answers a couple more questions, and then they’re all piling into the vans. Just before they slide the door shut on the closest one, I jump inside.
“I don’t fucking think so,” Wyatt snaps, reaching over my shoulder to open the door.
Fucking men. “If you think I’m sitting here while all of you go off trying to save my daughter, you’re delusional. I’m coming.”
“It’s not safe,” he insists.
“I’m coming.”
Our noses are practically touching as we glare at each other, neither of us willing to budge. Finally, Judge has to step in.
“Move aside, Hash. Let the lady come along.”
Wyatt shakes his head, but finally moves, allowing me to crawl the rest of the way into the open van.
It’s an odd experience driving to the park. There are no seats in the van, and there are six of us back here, but none of us say a word, the air heavy with anticipation. My feelings are confusing. I’m worried about Lindsey, and about what could go wrong. I’m excited at the chance to get Hayden back tonight, and can only pray that she’s still untouched.
“Okay, kid.” Wyatt pulls into a space amongst the trees. Handing Kevin a burner phone, he taps it. “My number is one on speed dial. It’s the only one you should be calling.”
Kevin tucks it into his pocket, sounding terrified when he asks, “What do I say to him?”
Judge leans over and grasps his face in his hands, looking him straight in the eyes. “You tell him you didn’t say shit about him. You don’t tell him about the club. You present Lindsey like a fucking prized pig, and you signal us as fast as you fucking can so we can get all your asses out of there. You got that?”
Kevin gulps before jumping out of the van, with Lindsey following behind him.
Together, they walk through the park and over to the bench to the left. I can barely see them from back here, but GP’s in the front, and he can see everything.
“They’re sitting on the bench,” he says, peering through a pair of binoculars. “They’re chatting. They look like a pair of teenagers off on a date.”
Karma shifts next to me, but he doesn’t speak.
GP leans forward in his seat. “And there he is. He’s talking to the kid. The kid just handed over the phone we gave him. Uncle Pedophile threw it on the ground, and now he’s stomping on it.”
The play-by-play GreenPeace is giving sounds totally ridiculous, but I listen intently nonetheless.
“Now they’re walking.”
I think of poor Kevin and the ocean of tears he’d cried last night, and my heart hurts for him. He had come to us for help, and we’d sent him right back into the lion’s den.
“He just shoved Lindsey into his van. I can’t tell from here, but I think he hit her, maybe knocked her out. She’s not moving.”
A few more minutes pass, and then GP throws the van in drive, turning around to follow Kevin and his