Exposed: Book 2 MAC Security Series (26 page)

Leaning on my hands and knees, too weak to stand, I shuffled forward with the concrete floor scratching against my knees.

“Where are we?” I asked when I was closer to them.

“Hell,” she answered.

Leaning against the wall next to them, I couldn’t see the one girls face as it was buried in her knees but the other girl’s face, the one who was talking, I recognized.

“Lindsey?” I gasped. She looked just like her, apart from the black eye and dried blood on her lip.

“Y…Yeah,” she stammered. I’d caught her off guard and for the first time, she showed some weakness. It was clear that she was putting on a front and trying to be strong, I suspected for the other girl, who still had her head buried in her knees.

A small smile spread across my face. We knew where she was now and even though we were stuck in here at the moment, I’d be able to get us out. That, I was sure of.

What I couldn’t understand was why Max had brought me here. If Lindsey had been taken by Daley, did that mean that Max was working with him?

“We’ve been looking for you,” I told Lindsey.

“You have?”

“Yeah, your parents-” She snorted, cutting me off and leaned forward.

“My parents put me here,” she gritted out.

“Josh was right then.” I nodded, knowing that she’d want to hear his name. I’d love nothing more than to hear Ty’s name. For someone to talk about him. I knew she’d been here a couple of weeks at least and I hated to think what had been happening to her in that time.

“You spoke to Josh?” she asked, her eyes wide.

“Let’s start this properly,” I said leaning forward and extending my hand. “I’m Kay and I’m part of a team that has been trying to find you.”

“Team?” she asked, shaking my hand. “You’re a cop?”

“No.” I shook my head and pulled my hand back. “Security company.”

“And you met Josh?”

“I sure did.” I smiled, glad that my mind was off whatever was going on here. “He told us all about your parents and how you’ve been living with him. He’s been looking for you.”

“I knew he would.” She nodded, a small smile spreading on her face. “He hasn’t got into any trouble though, has he?”

“No.” I chuckled. “He’s been quite clever actually, watching and waiting. You’ve got a good one there.”

“Yeah.” She sighed wistfully. “I really do.”

I smiled at the look on her face, her eyes glazing over as she was remembering things.

Then we heard the sound of boots on the floor coming closer and the rattle of keys as they were put in the lock. My stomach took a nose dive and the whole atmosphere around us changed.

“Quick,” Lindsey whispered, waving me closer. “Huddle up.”

I scrambled closer and sat next to the girl who still hadn’t looked up. Her hand came out and clutched onto mine and then she brought her head up.

Her blue eyes so light that they were almost see through. They made me think of Luke and that made me even more determined to get out of this place. I needed a plan.

We all listened at the click of the lock being turned, echoing off the walls.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to prepare myself for whatever was about to happen. But truthfully, I didn’t have a clue what would transpire from here. I just hoped that I could find a way out, and quick.

I spotted Kay’s car as soon as I pulled into the lot. Parking a couple of spaces down, I jumped out of my truck and jogged towards her car, looking all around it for any signs of anything to give me an idea of what happened.

“Boss? Anything?” Luke said from behind me.

I didn’t answer him, instead I lowered down on the ground and looked under the car. Stretching my hand out, I felt for anything I couldn’t see, I felt a bunch of keys and dragged them out. My heart pumped faster as I felt the teddy bear keyring that she kept on there, instinctively knowing that they were Kay’s before I even saw them.

“Boss?” Kitty asked. I could feel them all around me now, waiting for me to answer. I clutched the keys tighter and squeezed my eyes closed, not wanting to admit to myself what I already knew.

I counted to three before I lifted up off the ground and opened my eyes, looking down at my hand. “They’re Kay’s,” I said on an exhale. This wasn’t good, this was really, really bad.

“Shit,” Kitty said under her breath.

I stared at them in shock, this had really happened. She’d been taken away from me and there was only one person that would have done this. I felt sick, knowing that he must have been watching her and I had no idea that she was in so much danger. I hadn’t protected her.

“Kitty?” I looked up at her and threw her the keys. “Take Kay’s car home.”

She nodded and jumped straight into the car as I looked away, not being able to see her drive it without Kay being behind the wheel. I’d watched Kay drive off the compound in it this morning and now I hadn’t got a clue where she was.

My mind was swirling with thoughts, where did I go from here? How would I tell Eli?

Putting my hands on my head, I looked off into the distance, needing to get my head together before I went inside the preschool.

“Okay, this is what we’re gonna do,” I turned to Luke. “Call Charlie and then go somewhere so Eli can’t see you. I’ll get him and tell him…fuck! I don’t know.”

“Boss-”

Holding up my hand, not wanting to hear anything from him, I continued. “Come back and get the footage. I’ll meet you back at the warehouse when Eli is in bed.”

“Got it.” Luke nodded but stood there, his mouth opening and closing before thinking better of it and walking away. I didn’t need to know what he thought, all I wanted was for him to do as I’d told him to.

Scrubbing my hands down my face, I walked to the preschool door and took in a deep breath. I needed to make sure Eli didn’t know about any of this, how I was going to do that, I had no idea. I had to try and act normal while on the inside I was falling apart.

Eli was sat in the reception area with Miss Cooper when I opened the door. Putting a smile on my face, I rolled my shoulders back and walked over to him.

“Hey, bud,” I said, crouching down. “Sorry that I’m late.”

“I thought mama was picking me up,” he said, shuffling down off of his seat.

Looking up at Miss Cooper, I could tell that she knew something had happened. I nodded subtly and looked back at Eli, trying to think of something on the spot.

“She was gonna, bud, but she got caught up with Miss Maggie.”

“Oh.” He scanned my face, his green eyes looking for something. I tried my hardest to keep the worry that I was feeling off my face but I hadn’t got a clue if I managed it or not.

“Can we get a burger?”

“Sure.” I smiled and held my hand out to him as I picked up his bag off the chair, his small hand gripping mine while he waved bye to Miss Cooper.

She opened her mouth to say something but I cut her off. “Give it five minutes,” I said, trying to convey with my eyes what I couldn’t say aloud.

I wouldn’t talk about this in front of Eli, as far as he would be aware, Kay was fine. I was determined to make sure he didn’t know because he didn’t need to deal with any of this. He needed to keep being a kid and things like this wouldn’t allow him to do that.

“Okay,” she whispered back.

Nodding, we walked out and back to my truck as I asked Eli what he’d done today.

We made a pit stop for burgers and ate them inside, I didn’t want to take him back to the compound until I had to. It would just be a reminder that she wasn’t there. I was having a hard enough time just keeping it from Eli as it was.

I needed help so on the way home, I decided that I’d call ma and get her to come over. I couldn’t deal with all of this on my own. She’d know what to do, not that I didn’t want to spend time with Eli, I just needed to concentrate on finding Kay.

Once we were back at the compound, I let Monty out into the back yard and he ran around playing with Eli, keeping him occupied. Pulling my cell out, I dialed Ma’s number.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Ma?” I couldn’t stop my voice from cracking.

“Tyson? What’s happened?”

“Kay,” I whispered, watching Eli laugh as Monty tagged him with his paw. “She’s been taken.”

“We’re on our way, son.” I nodded, even though she couldn’t see, and I swallowed past the lump in my throat and pressed the end call button. I had to keep it together, for Eli.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled my shoulders back and walked out into the yard. If I didn’t attempt to keep things as normal as I could, Eli would know for sure that something was up. Although, just with Kay not being here, it made it different. She was always home, baking, cooking or playing with Eli and Monty.

I got so caught up in the memories, that I didn’t notice Eli running to me. “When is mama coming home?” he gasped, out of breath.

“Soon bud. Nana E will be here in a minute though.” He’d taken to calling her that, at ma’s insistence of course. They’d fallen in love with him, just like we all had.

“And Pop?” He grinned, jumping up and down.

“Yeah.” I smiled. “And pop.”

My heart thumped harder as the door squeaked open and I watched as a pair of boots stepped into the room. My eyes ran up his legs, his torso, and up to his face. Max stood there with an evil smirk on his face and I couldn’t stop the gasp that came out of my mouth as I looked into his eyes. I’d never seen them look so dead and so lifeless.