Monsters' Gift (Crude Hill High #2) - Sam Crescent Page 0,43
and he didn’t notice it. He gave them the codes. When Kyle came for his shift, they killed him and busted out our fathers,” River said.
“Gave the codes to who, exactly?” I asked.
They all turned toward me.
“Look,” I said and took a couple of swallows of vodka, “is anyone curious as to how in the past three years no one has sprung our dads out? It has to be an inside job. There’s no way our dads could have gotten word out. Otherwise, this shit would have been a bloodbath a couple of years ago.”
River tossed his cell phone to Caleb.
“The only people who went into that fucking basement are us four, Drake, Kyle, and a nurse, Olivia,” River said. “But Olivia didn’t come for her shift which was today. She was supposed to give them the injections.”
“I’m guessing we’re going with the nurse then,” I said.
“I turn my back for two minutes and you all get injured?” Drake asked. He stood there with a cell phone in his hand.
“You need to get to Emily now!” Caleb said.
Drake turned his cell phone. “I don’t. I heard the commotion, but she’s sleeping. I admit, it took her a long time to fall asleep. She didn’t like me being in her room. I’ve locked up all of her windows, and there are even wires. I’ve got everything covered that if anyone gets near her room, I’ll know about it. What the fuck happened?”
Caleb gave him the run down. My feelings for this man were still all over the place. I wasn’t sure if I completely trusted him, even though he’d proven himself time and again.
He handed his cell phone to Caleb and took River’s phone. I watched as he typed away.
“Son of a bitch! She’s gone. Olivia suddenly had a big payoff and took off yesterday. Fuck!” He passed the phone to Caleb. “This has soon turned into a shit show, hasn’t it?”
“We’ve got to make her pay,” I said. I stood up, but I didn’t know if it was the alcohol, lack of food, or the wound that made me feel a little woozy. I quickly sat down. “I’m just going to keep my ass here for the time being.”
“We need a plan,” River said.
“We brought Emily here and we don’t have control,” Vadik said. “We need to send her back to England.”
“Not happening,” Caleb and I said, as did River.
“I’m with these guys, you send her back to England, you may as well slit her throat,” Drake said.
“I’m not talking to you.”
“I get that none of you like me. I accept it,” Drake said. “But I know what I’m doing. Emily’s life is in danger, but also yours. You’ve got four men on the loose who would gladly see you guys rotting in a basement with nowhere else to go. I’m the person who heads up your security, and I warned you guys of this when you started this plan. I’m not going to allow you to push my worries aside. I’d suspected what would play out.”
I hated that he was right.
When we’d put our fathers into the basement, Drake had been against the idea. He believed keeping loose ends made for a sloppy way of doing business. I couldn’t help but agree with him now.
“Okay, head of security,” River said. “What do you propose we do?”
“Your dads, for the past two years have had close to no movement, right?” Drake asked. “The drugs keep them in a catatonic state. They’re going to need somewhere to keep a low profile until they can be of sound and mind.”
“The drugs don’t damage their muscles,” Caleb said. “It only numbs them.”
“Yeah, but two years of barely using them.”
“They’ve used them at intermittent stages,” River said.
I looked at my friends and for once, I actually felt like the sane one. So much so, I couldn’t contain my laughter. “You guys have been having little secret visits with our dads. What have you been doing? Training them?”
“Taunting them,” Vadik said. “I didn’t. I only fed them the drugs, and occasionally told them what our plans were for their empire.”
“Me too.” I looked at River and Caleb. “Holy shit, you guys have got a cruel streak, and I’m only realizing it now.”
“Don’t start,” Caleb said.
“Come on. They couldn’t fight back.”
“That was the point,” River said. “They needed to know what it was like to experience the kind of pain they put us through.”
“I want Earl’s number,” Caleb said, changing the topic of conversation.