this. The fence was solid brick, no obvious way of climbing it. She hid behind a tree, and watched as one of the mounted surveillance cameras started moving back and forth.
Shit! She figured that meant they were back on. She had to get out of here!
What to use to climb over? She wanted to give in. Wanted to climb a tree and hide…
Climb a tree. She looked around. There were some trees on this side that were close enough to the fence that if she climbed up and moved out on one of the branches, maybe she could jump over the other side.
And break something in the process.
She had no other options. They could have discovered she was gone by now. Have found an unconscious Thing One. Even though she was trembling with fear, weak from exhaustion.
She had to do this. She moved along the tree line, careful to keep herself hidden until she spotted a large tree. One of its branches reached out towards the fence. There would still be a bit of a jump. But if the branch would hold her, she thought she could make it.
She moved the pen drive and phone to her zip-up pocket on her pants.
Now, if only she had some experience at climbing a tree.
Little ladies don’t climb trees, Elizabeth Victoria.
Well, it seemed this Little was going to have to learn. Fast.
“Where the fuck is she?” Ink roared as he paced Brody’s office. It was basically a room with desks loaded down with computer screens. His office was off the main security room, where screens were monitored by his guys remotely for several security contracts they had.
Brody was tapping on his keyboard, looking at different screens. He’d called Ink in just as he was leaving to go home and get changed for his date.
The date that would change his life. Betsy was gonna be his.
“Tonight was meant to go smoothly. How the hell did it go so fucking wrong?” he demanded.
The main room was quiet, which was unusual. But everyone knew he was walking a tightrope on his temper.
Betsy was missing.
“I don’t know,” Brody muttered. “When I put the cameras back on, she was missing. I can’t find her anywhere. I’ve tried calling her but it goes straight to voicemail. Either it’s off or dead. We never gave her a charger.”
Fuck.
“Is there any way of finding out what the hell happened while the cameras were down?”
Brody shook his head, looking worried.
Shit. Mother-fucking bastards. He knew he should never have allowed her to go back there.
He drew his phone out and brought up Seth Blue’s number.
“She’s not here boss,” Blue said immediately. He was stationed at the restaurant in case by some miracle she turned up.
“Fuck. Just stay the fuck there and call me if that changes.”
“Got it.”
“I’m going out there,” he said to Brody and Stone who stood in the doorway, watching him like he was a ticking time bomb.
Which is exactly how he felt.
“You can’t go out there,” Stone pointed out. “Their security is back up. It would be suicide.”
“How long has she been missing?” he demanded
“Around thirty minutes,” Brody said. “There’s something else. One of their guys was injured. They found him in the office. There are no cameras in there, but I saw them open the door then drag him out.”
Jesus. He fucking hated this.
“Could she be in the office?” Stone asked.
“Guess it’s a possibility,” Brody said.
“Are there any other parts of the house where you don’t have eyes?” Ink asked.
“Yeah,” Brody looked ill as he said this part. “The basement.”
Ink let out a pained roar. “Fuck! I’m going. I don’t care about their fucking security.” He moved towards the door.
“Ink,” Stone said.
“She’s my woman. Right now, she could be injured, frightened, fuck knows! If they found her snooping around who knows what the hell they would do to her. I have to find her!”
“Fine. But not alone!”
Ink shoved past him. “Whatever! But if you’re coming hurry the fuck up!”
She was so scared that her teeth were chattering. She knew they were searching for her. The dogs were howling. That sound sent chills up her spine.
What was she going to do? She was running out of time.
And she was out of steam.
Sore. Scared. Exhausted.
She might have given up already if it wasn’t for Ink. He’d be furious if anything happened to her. He’d blame himself for letting her go back there.
Right now, she wished she’d listened to him.
At least the boys would be safe. He’d promised her that.
Before Ink, that