bring her back up here and kill her?”
Memories tickled her mind. Lying on the sofa. The buzzer going. Seeing Sunny’s petrified face as Thing One held a gun to it. Calling Ink. Thing Two walking out of the elevator.
She’d been shot. Then she remembered falling. Pain had exploded in her head. Then nothing. All right, that explained her pounding headache and loss of time. Thing One and Thing Two had kidnapped her. The two idiots didn’t even have one oar in the water between them. Yet somehow, they’d managed to find her. After she’d been knocked unconscious, they must have brought her here.
And they’d dug her a grave.
A whimper escaped her, but nobody would have heard it over their arguing.
“You idiot! How would we get her back up here?”
“I dunno? A rope?”
“And she’s gonna put a rope around herself and just let us pull her up so we can put a bullet in her brain?”
Nope. She wasn’t doing that.
“Why do you think the boss doesn’t care about that asshole biker’s threats no more?”
“Because he’s planning on leaving the country, remember? Boss ain’t gonna be happy that we didn’t get the biker.”
“Fucking bad luck that we make a move when he’s not around. Maybe the boss won’t ask about him. Why’d we have to take care of Betsy anyway if we’re leaving?”
“Because she’s a loose cannon, asshole.”
“I think you mean thread, dickhead.”
There was a thumping noise but she was too busy thinking through what they’d just told her. Forrest was planning on leaving? No wonder he no longer cared about Ink’s threats to expose him.
Was Sunny all right? Had they hurt her?
“Is Sunny okay?” she asked. “How did you find me?”
There was silence.
“Great. Now she’s talking to us. How are we gonna do this while she’s talking to us?”
“Shut up, man. Who cares if she’s asking questions? We don’t got to tell her about that Jana chick.”
“What a fucked-up bitch she was. Thinking she could jump straight from Myers bed into the boss’s.”
“Like he’d wanted that used-up cunt.” They both laughed.
Jana? Ink’s ex-personal assistant. How did she know Forrest? Maybe she hadn’t. Maybe Forrest had found her. And Jana, wanting revenge for her arrest, had given her up to Forrest.
She felt ill, knowing Ink would blame himself if he found out.
“I’m just glad the boss finally decided to make a move. Watching and waiting was doing my head in.”
“At least you got to watch Betsy. I had to watch that blonde-haired chick. Her life was damn boring. Just fucking lucky she went off on her own today so I could snatch her or we might still be waiting around.”
“I think we did a fucking fine job. Boss is gonna be pleased. We followed his instructions. Use the blonde-haired bitch to get to Betsy. Kill Betsy and dispose of body.”
“Might even give us a raise.”
Something let out a howl in the distance. What was that? A wolf? No. Nope. Not happening.
“What the hell was that? You didn’t say there were fucking wolves out here!”
“How was I meant to know? I’ve never been out here before.”
“Where is it? Is it coming for us? We got to go!”
“We can’t go, idiot. She’s not dead. We’re supposed to be burying her.”
“We could leave her here for the wolves.”
“That’s the first smart thing you’ve ever said.”
“We could shoot her again. Make her nice and bloody.”
Her breath sawed in and out in fast pants.
Don’t faint!
The voice came from inside her. Deep. Sure. Calm. But with a hint of steel.
I will always come for you, Betsy. All you have to do is fight. Fight to stay alive.
She’d promised. She wouldn’t give up now. She forced herself to slow her breathing.
Another wolf howled. Or maybe it was the same one. Who knew? Maybe it was a mating call or maybe they were hungry and coming for her.
“Fuck! Did you see something in the woods?”
“Shit! Let’s get the fuck out of here!”
There was a scream. Oh God! What was going on? She sat there, panic making it hard for her to breathe, to think.
When there was no other sound, no painful flare as a bullet hit her, she managed to raise her head. She couldn’t hear anyone above her.
Did she call out? What? And risk reminding them that you’re down here?
Something shifted above her. A few pebbles fell down the hole. How far down was she? Silence remained. Taunting her. It wasn’t that she wanted Thing One and Two to stick around. After all, they were burying her alive.
But still,