The land immediately surrounding the rundown building was barren. Closed off from the long dirt road leading up to it by a concrete wall that ran the property’s perimeter. A big, wooden gate was the only way in, but off to the south, west, and north was a forest that spanned miles.
If he could find a way for them to escape, he and Avery could head for the trees and lose themselves in their cover.
Then he’d find someone willing to help him contact his boss and the others. And Colt.
Garrett’s heart sank as he thought of his brother and how all this would affect both him and their dad.
They’d suffered through the loss of their mom. He hated knowing the news of his capture would cause them even more pain.
With another reason to hate these sonsofbitches, Garrett held onto his renewed rage, locking it away for safe keeping. Because the second he saw an opportunity, he was damn sure going to use it.
“You.” The man who’d hit him earlier walked over to Avery and grabbed her arm. “Come with me.”
“What?” Avery’s eyes flew to his. “Garrett?”
His fists became two balls of tight, white knuckles. “Let her go.”
“You want me to hit you again, tough guy?” The asshole mocked him with his heavy accent and humorous glare. Then the bastard tightened his grip on Avery’s arm and ripped her from Garrett’s grasp.
“No!” she screamed, the sound shredding him. Struggling against the man’s strong hold, she did everything she could to get herself free. “Let me go!”
At the same time, another scream filled the hot, humid air. This one from a teenage girl who’d been at the front of the line.
“Daddy!” The blonde who couldn’t be more than sixteen reached in vain for her father as one of the HTs pulled her from the distraught man’s arms.
Others around him began crying or yelling at the men to stop, but Garrett was focused on the fact that both the girl and Avery were being led away from the group. Toward the north end of the building.
Fuck this.
“Get your hands off her!” He went after the prick manhandling Avery. Giving the bastard a hard shove, Garrett wrapped his hands around her tiny wrists and pulled her back toward him.
He almost had her free when…
“Look out!”
Avery’s eyes grew wide as saucers as she stared at something over his shoulder. Spinning toward the source of her terror, Garrett saw the butt of a gun half a second before it slammed against his temple.
He dropped to the ground, and no matter how hard he fought against it, the darkness pulled him under. The trickle of warm blood—his blood—followed a path from his hairline to just beneath his eye, dripping down to the dirt below.
The last thing he heard before losing consciousness was Avery screaming his name.
Chapter 12
There’s something I need to tell you.
Avery had been replaying Garrett’s words ever since she and Jessica—the young girl who’d also been separated from the others—had been left in this tiny room like a couple of caged animals. With nothing else to do but sit, she had all the time in the world to just…think.
About Garrett. Alex. Her deceased parents. Even Colt.
She tried so hard to focus on their faces and memories she’d made with them along the way. Because if she allowed other things to seep in, if she stopped to think about how indescribablyterrifiedshe was, Avery feared she’d go mad.
So instead, she passed the time by thinking of anythingbutthe fear slowly eating away at her from the inside out.
As thoughts and memories filtered in and out of her cluttered brain, her mind also began formulating questions. So, so many, each unwinding endlessly through her mind like an endless ball of yarn.
Questions like, was Garrett okay? Her heart ached as she pictured him lying so still on the ground, his head bleeding from where that man had hit him.
In the truck, he’d been so adamant about her promising not to put herself at risk for him. But he’d done that exact same thing for her…and because of that, he’d been hurt. Again.