“I didn’t know!” Galen yells between punches. “And I was also responding to Theo’s text. Retrieving the body.”
I glance at Theo, and his expression conveys it’s not important and he’ll fill me in later.
Caz punches Galen again, and Galen’s head whips back as blood flies everywhere.
I yank Caz back. “I want him conscious.”
For now.
I glare at a bloody Galen. “Where is Knight? Where was he taking her?”
“I don’t know.” He shakes his head, and Caz raises his fist again. Panic flares in his eyes. “I swear! I don’t know where he planned to take her.” His eyes plead with me for understanding, but I’ve got none of that in supply.
“Where did the exchange go down?” I ask.
“Prestwick gas station,” he blurts. “The one on the outskirts of town.”
“Shit,” Theo exclaims without looking up, fingers flying over the keypad. “They don’t have any working cameras.”
“Try the street cams in the area. Check all directions,” I instruct. I stab Galen with a venomous look. “What car was Knight driving?”
“A silver BMW six series.”
“I’m on it,” Theo says.
“If anything has happened to her,” I say, grabbing Galen up and shoving him against the wall, “I will kill you.”
“She still betrayed us,” he protests, but his voice lacks punch.
I kick him in the leg, and his knee buckles. He falls to the hard floor with a grimace. “She wasn’t the one who told The Arrows about the location of the fake warehouse. Lo only caved on Thursday after she overheard a conversation between me and Sinner, but she regretted it almost straightaway. She came to me Friday after school and fessed up to everything.”
“You fucked up, asshole.” Caz delivers a swift kick to Galen’s ribs, and he cries out. I’m sure at least a couple are broken, and he’s in obvious pain. “And I’ll be helping Saint with the killing if Lo isn’t okay.”
“You should’ve told me,” he shouts, clutching his stomach and rolling around in agony.
“You should’ve obeyed orders,” I snap.
“I’m sorry!” His worried eyes dart among us, and I see the fear simmering under the surface. He knows he’s fucked up.
“I’ve got them,” Theo yells, and Caz and I race to his side, eyes glued to the screen.
“She’s not in the car,” Caz says.
“She must be in the trunk,” Theo supplies, and I want to hit Galen all over again.
Caz darts for him, but I hold him back. “Enough.” As much as I want to pummel my cousin until every bone in his body aches, I don’t want to kill him.
At least not yet. However, I won’t account for my actions if Darrow Knight has killed Lo.
“Can we trace his cell?” I ask, because trailing him via street and traffic cams will take too long. Also, we have no way of knowing if he ditched that car for another one.
“I’d need his number to trace it.” Frustration oozes from his tone. “If you hadn’t destroyed Lo’s cell, I could’ve tracked them that way.”
“You think I don’t know that!” I roar, throwing my hands up.
Theo’s gaze is cold as he glares at me. “This all could’ve been avoided if you’d just updated Galen.”
I push my face into Theo’s, and my knuckles blanch white with the effort involved in not hitting him. He knows Galen was with Lo today while I was running errands for my psycho dad and there hadn’t been time to fill him in. I planned to, but I didn’t think it was urgent because Galen usually obeys my commands. I had no clue he’d gone rogue, or I would’ve made it a priority. And Galen disappeared after the fight at the warehouse. If he’d stuck around, he would’ve been with us in the basement when Sinner revealed all. “This could’ve been avoided if Galen had done what he was fucking told to do!” I shout, adding, “I don’t have to explain myself to you or anyone!”
Theo’s gaze bounces between me and my cousin. Galen is sitting, propped against the wall, clutching his ribs, his face contorted in pain.
Good.
He deserves to suffer.
“If anything has happened to her, I’m blaming both of you.” He points his finger between us, like we’re naughty children, and I see red.
I grab his tablet, thrusting it at Caz before I ram my fist into Theo’s face. He ducks at the last second, so it grazes the side of his jaw. He springs up, grabs the nape of my neck, and slams his head into mine.
I stumble back as splintering pain rattles around my skull. “Fuck.”
“This isn’t helping find Lo,” Caz says, stepping between us. “And that bastard could be out there killing her right this very second, so focus, assholes!”
“I have his number,” Galen rasps between long breaths. He holds out his hand. “Here.”
I swipe his cell, growling at him. I show the number to Theo, and he gets to work while I press the call button. It rings out, so I try again, over and over, slamming my fist into the wall when it continues to go unanswered. “Keep looking!” I scream at Theo when he lifts his head from his tablet.
He scowls at me, but says nothing as he refocuses on his task. I keep my finger pressed to the button as I pace the room, growing more and more agitated as the call goes unanswered.
Pick up, you asshole!
“Saint, I—”
I level my cousin with a lethal look, and he instantly clams up. “Do not even attempt to speak to me right now.”
“I’ve got them!” Theo calls out, and I rush to his side.
“Where?”
He scratches the back of his head, frowning. “At the hospital.”
“That makes no sense,” Caz says.
“I know,” I agree, “but it’s the best lead we’ve got. Let’s go.” I move toward the door.
“Hold up a sec,” Theo says. “Let me pull up the cam outside the hospital.”
“We don’t have time to waste,” I shout, hustling toward the door.
“There!” Theo shouts. Caz leans over his shoulder, his gaze darkening.
“What?” I race back to their side.
“That’s Bryant Eccleston with Darrow,” Theo says, pointing to where Knight’s number two is helping him out of a car and into the hospital.
“But no Lo,” I add, kicking the wall in frustration.
“He’s injured,” Theo says, glancing up at me with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. “Maybe, she got away.”
“Lo has proven she’s resourceful, so it’s possible,” I agree, hope blossoming in my chest.
“Or she fought back,” Caz says, more quietly, not completing the end of the sentence.
“She’s not dead,” I blurt, feeling it in my bones.
“Then where is she?” Caz asks. “If she’s still alive, why hasn’t she contacted us?”
“Because she doesn’t trust us anymore,” Theo says, pinning me with a troubled expression.
The three of us look at Galen, and panic skates across his face. The reality of what he’s done is fully sinking in.