My Cruel Salvation (Fallen Saint # 3) - J. Kenner Page 0,92

up.”

He did as he was told, and from the shuffle of movement he could hear through the sack, he was certain that Brandy was complying as well. Good. The situation was fucked, but the more cooperative she was, the longer she would last, and the better their odds.

Who was he fooling? Their odds were shit. No one would know for a while that they’d even been taken, much less the destination. He hoped that there were security cameras around the strip mall that would help the police and his own team identify the van and then track it.

He knew that ultimately, once they realized that Brandy and Devlin had disappeared, Ellie and Lamar would be able to find Shelby. He’d had a tracking device put in her after the accident, and the app was on El’s phone. That would be the first thing she’d do.

But that was cold comfort, since Devlin and Brandy would be gone. Their only hope was that his friends found the van in time and were able to follow it. And that, he knew, was a damn thin hope.

The thought wrecked him.

The memory of that morning swept over him, along with the fear that the quick brush of a kiss across Ellie’s lips would be their last kiss. No. He couldn’t let himself think like that. He had to stay clear, and he had to keep her at the forefront of his mind.

He and Brandy would come through this somehow. No other outcome was acceptable.

Across the van, he heard Brandy breathing. He wanted to console her, but was afraid that if he did, they’d both get punished.

Instead, he concentrated on Ellie. On visualizing being back in her arms. Of getting out of this. He had skills, after all. Training. But this wasn’t a movie, and he could hardly fight off a half-dozen men with guns. Especially not with Brandy in the crossfire.

Instead, he focused on gathering intel. He paid attention to the turns, to the texture of the road. To when they switched from the van to a regular car.

He could tell when the pavement shifted, when the car accelerated, when they were on a highway, and when they merged with another.

Inland, he thought. They were heading inland, and he tried to count so that he could estimate how far they’d traveled. It might do no good at all, but it was information, and right then, information was the only asset he could acquire.

The other benefit of concentrating on the road was that it kept his mind off the nagging fear that Ellie was in danger, too. For all he knew, there’d been a second raid at the house, and she’d been taken as well.

He didn’t know. He couldn’t know.

And no matter what they did to him once they reached their destination, Devlin knew that horrible gap of information would be the worst punishment of all.

Chapter Thirty-Five

“Dammit, Lamar, I don’t know!”

I’m sorry to yell at my friend, but I am completely freaking out. “All I know is that I got this bizarre text from Brandy telling me not to worry, and that they were on their way back home.”

As soon as the text had landed on my phone, I’d called Ronan, only to get his voicemail. I’d called Lamar right after, not feeling the least bit guilty about trying Ronan first. Devlin and Brandy are in trouble, and Ronan isn’t fettered by rules.

I want his help desperately, but I’m also so grateful to have Lamar on my side.

“Deep breaths.” His voice is calm and level, but I know him well enough to know that he’s worried, too. “I’m on my way. Tell me where I’m meeting you.”

“That abandoned strip shopping center at the intersection of Hancock and Grace Street.” I’m in Brandy’s car, and I have my phone on speaker since I’m not tied into her system. I’m so thankful that Devlin installed a tracker on Shelby, but at the same time I’m terrified as to what I’ll find when I get to the shopping center, and whatever mojo I had as a cop has completely fizzled away in this crisis. I’m numb and I’m scared. But I force myself to think. To talk. “I’m about a mile away.”

“I’ll be be right behind you. Stay on the phone with me, and if there is anything at all going down, you drive on past. Do you understand me?”

I swallow, not certain I’ll have the strength to keep driving, but understanding why I have to. “Yes. Anything. Just