“I totally agree with you, man.”
“That car we saw was pretty sweet, would be a shame if someone took it for a ride and just so happened to crash it; or I’m sure we could find a chop-shop around here, earn ourselves some cash.”
Nodding in agreement while I tip my head back and take a sip of my beer, I’m thinking over his ideas when my phone goes off with yet another notification, this time telling me Sophie is more than ten miles outside of Crescentwood. There is no way she could have gone that far that quickly.
“What’s wrong?” Ty asks seriously, leaning forward on the edge of his seat, ready to jump into action if needed, clearly seeing the confused look on my face as I stare at the little blue dot on my maps, moving further and further away from us.
I turn my phone around so he can see the screen. “It’s Sophie, it looks like she’s driving somewhere but I haven’t heard anything from Oliver. You don’t think those assholes have done something?”
“Like what?”
Shrugging, “I dunno. They could have convinced her to leave her house somehow and…”
“And what?”
“I don’t fucking know. I just know I don’t trust them and why else would she leave the house without Oliver knowing. It’s not like she has any other friends here.”
“What if it’s Kirk? What if he found out she knows about him and he’s done something to her?”
Shit, I hadn’t even thought of that, but fuck that would be way worse than dealing with dumb and dumber.
Jumping out of my seat, Ty right behind me, I quickly grab the car keys and the two of us practically fly out the door in our haste to get to her as quickly as possible.
Once I’m behind the wheel of the car, I hand my phone over to Ty so he can keep an eye on where she’s going and give me directions. Gunning the engine, causing the wheels to spin and kicking up dust and dirt, we speed out of the parking lot of the motel and head down the road, doing double the speed limit in our angst to get to her in time.
So many thoughts are going through my head, of what could be happening to her. It’s one thing to think those assholes from yesterday are up to something, – and if it is one or both of them, I am going to murder them, regardless of what Sophie has to say about it – but if it’s her father, we are totally screwed. We wouldn’t be able to help her without giving ourselves away. We would be putting our lives on the line to save her. Yet, that thought only makes me push down harder on the accelerator, wanting to get to her faster.
Careening around the tight corners of the mountain roads, I’m pushing the car to its limit while Ty fires out directions.
“How far away are we now?” I demand after we have been driving for ten minutes and there is still no sign of any other cars on the road.
“We are a few miles away; nearly there though. Just keep on this road, they should be just up ahead.” Ty replies, leaning forward to open the glove box and removing the gun I keep there, checking it’s loaded.
We keep on the road for another few miles, slowly closing the distance between ourselves and Sophie. Not long now, Sophie, we’re almost there. Just hold on. Finally, we spot a van up ahead. As we come up behind it though, I can make out a logo on the back of it indicating it’s a parcel delivery van.
Looking to Ty, I see he is equally as confused as I am. “Man, the tracker says she’s in there,” he says, totally bewildered.
“Let's find out what’s going on,” I say as I once again gun the engine and overtake the van to get in front of it.
Looking in the rearview mirror, I can see someone dressed in a uniform sitting behind the wheel, singing along to the radio like he doesn’t have a care in the world.
What the fuck is going on here?
Speeding up the road a bit further, I suddenly turn the wheel, causing the car to swing to the left and spin out, blocking off the whole road. Then the two of us just sit and watch as the van gets closer, the driver’s eyes wide as he tries to stop the van in time.
Reaching over to the glovebox, I pull out two black, full head-covering masks and give one to Ty who pulls it on over his head without question. I don’t know what’s going on here but it's best we keep our identities a secret as long as we can.
The van screeches to a halt as we climb out of the car and Ty walks round to my side as I withdraw my own weapon from the back of my jeans and unlock the safety.
We stalk towards the van, emanating danger and violence with every step. We may not want to be part of the club, but we were raised in it, it’s still a part of us, and we can be as brutal as the rest of them when threatened.
By the time I pull the door of the van open, keeping my gun pointed at the driver, he looks like he’s about to piss himself, sitting there shaking from head to toe, with his hands in the air.
“P…P…Please don’t k…k…kill me.” He stammers out, practically crying.
Ignoring him, I give Ty a chin lift, indicating for him to check the back of the van while I stay with the driver.
Ty takes off out of sight round the back of the van and I hear him opening the back doors before getting in and raking around.
“T…Take whatever you want. Please. Just don’t h…hurt me.” The driver continues to splutter out.
“Anything?” I ask Ty, continuing to ignore the man on the other end of my gun.
“She’s not here, man,” he shouts back.
“Did you pick up a package from the Montgomery residence in Crescentwood?” I demand, finally addressing the driver as I turn my attention to him.
“Y...Yes. An envelope.”
An envelope?
Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I pull up the app that contains the map for the tracking device. An added feature of these devices, which I thought I’d never actually use, is that you can ping its location and the device will emit a loud beeping noise.
Doing just that, I get Ty to follow the noise, hearing him shuffling around amongst the packages in the back of the van.
After several long minutes of searching, while I still keep my gun pointed at the driver, repeatedly pinging the tracking device so Ty can follow the sound, he shouts out, “Got it!”
Climbing out of the van and closing it up behind himself, Ty walks over to me, handing me an envelope addressed to some PO Box in South Dakota.
This keeps getting weirder and weirder.
Since Sophie isn’t here, there is no need for us to hang around. Backing away from the driver, I lower my gun, keeping it in my hand along with the envelope, until we are safely back in the car.
Starting the engine, I turn the car around in the road and head back towards Crescentwood.
“What do you think this is?” Ty asks, looking over the envelope I handed to him when we got into the car.
“I dunno man, open it and find out,” I say, not wanting to wait until we get back to the motel before reading it.
Tearing it open, Ty lifts out a folded piece of paper along with the flat disc of the tracking device. Unfolding the page, he reads it for a second before bursting out laughing.
“That conniving little minx,” He chuckles, shaking his head at whatever the letter says.
“What the hell does it say?” I’m on edge, the adrenaline from the panic I felt is starting to fade, but I’m pissed that I have no idea what’s going on. Handing it over to me, the letter only has one word written on it, Suckers, with a heart symbol beside it.