Rock Star: The Deal (Book 3 of a Bad Boy Romance) (12 page)

“Quiet down.”

“No.”

He punched me twice in the face and that was it. That was all I remembered. When I came to, I was back in the shelter under the ground. I groaned and reached for my leg. It was covered in a white bandage. My face ached as though I had been hit with a two by four plank. It was swollen and bloodied.

Later, after I lay there thinking about what had occurred, the wood was removed from the opening and I heard them shouting.

“Get down there.”

I watched as Chase appeared, followed by Duke who was holding a handgun on him.

“Seems you two can’t behave. So I’m going to put both of you in here. This way I can keep a good eye on you. No more trying to escape. The next time I won’t be pulling any bullet. I will put one in you.”

I
crouched down over Chase
, who had a welt on the top of his head.

After he attached a chain to Chase’s leg, Duke turned and disappeared up the steps.

“Meghan? Are you OK?”

“Am I OK? Yeah. You?”

He rubbed his forehead that was red.

“Just dandy.”

He glanced around the room. I moved in close and kissed hm. I felt his arms wrap around me.

“I have to tell you it’s a relief to see you. I thought I was never going to see anyone again. What happened? How did you end up here?”

He brought me up to speed on what had taken place with the ransom.

“So you think someone tipped them off about the FBI?”

“How else would they know?”

“Do they know you’re here?”

He shook his head.

“You are joking?”

“Nope.”

“You let them willingly take you?”

“They were going to kill you. I just offered myself up as a bargaining chip. Anything to stall things.”

“That’s nuts.”

“It bought us some time. They are after money. They aren’t going to kill us.”

“They might kill me. Now you’re here.”

“That isn’t going to happen. We need to get out of here now.”

He continued looking around.

“I’ve already thought it over. There are only three ways out of here. The steps and the vents are sealed off, but there is a door, Edwin told me.”

“Where?”

“It’s through that doorway.” I gestured towards it. “Apparently it’s located behind a cupboard. I don’t know where it comes out, but it’s worth a shot.”

For a short while we sat there. It was a comfort to have him there even though now both of our lives were in jeopardy. Minutes turned into hours and eventually I heard the sound of footsteps coming from the room. Again it was Edwin. He looked at both of us.

“Chase Bryan? They brought you in here?”

“In the flesh.”

He shook his head. “No. No, this is no good.”

I frowned.

“You aren’t meant to be here,” Edwin said to Chase.

“Edwin. Please. Let us out of these chains,” I said.

“I can’t do that. He will hurt my mother and me.”

Chase moved closer to him. “Do you like country music?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you play guitar?”

“I had one for a while until Duke smashed it up.”

“Listen. You help us get out of here, I will give you my own guitar. I’ll even have you come backstage with us.”

“You would do that?”

“Sure, I would.”

Edwin cast a nervous glace over his shoulder.

“They told me to not come in here.”

“What are they planning? Do you know?”

“Something about tomorrow being a big payday. Duke has been bouncing off the walls.”

“Where are they?”

“He’s out of it. They just injected.”

“Drugs?”

He nodded.

“Do you think you can get the key to these chains?” I asked.

I could see the fear in his eyes. Whatever Duke had done to them, he was pretty sure he would do it again, and much worse.

“You must promise my mother doesn’t get charged.”

“I can’t promise that, kid.”

“Then I can’t get the key.”

I looked at Chase then him. He was right. There was no way we could promise that his mother would be able to walk from this. The police would throw her in as an accomplice. Then again if we didn’t convince this kid soon, they would be up and we wouldn’t have a chance.

“Promise him.”

Chase looked at me with a frown, he shook his head slightly.

“He doesn’t want to end up in the system.”

Chase hesitated, then said, “I promise. No charges will be placed against her.”

“I’ll be back soon.”

He disappeared up the stairs.

“What the hell were you thinking telling him that you couldn’t promise? We need to get out of here.”

“Don’t you think I know that? But she was the woman who called into the police. She has made it clear of her involvement in this. They aren’t going to let her off.”

“OK. OK. I’m just a little wired from being down here. It’s been days.”

“Have they fed you?”

“Scraps. But Edwin has got me food. He’s a good kid. Unfortunate situation.”

Several nervous minutes later Edwin returned. He was on edge. He didn’t speak. He gave us the key. Chase unlocked my chains first, then he did his own. Once we were out Edwin led us back up the stairs. He stopped near the top to cast a quick glance. It was dark outside, there wasn’t a star in sight. As I came up I was careful to look around before I got out of the hole. My body ached and to breathe in fresh air was a relief.

“Remember, you don’t say anything about my mother.”

“You have my word.”

He then handed us a set of keys to a truck. We scurried over to it, got in and started it up. We pulled out of there so fast. I looked back in my mirror at Edwin standing there, the truck’s taillights illuminating his face.

I touched Chase on the arm.

“We can’t leave him.”

“What?”

We were already halfway down the driveway.

“Duke will kill him. He will.”

Chase slammed the brakes on.

“You want us to go back there? Risk our lives for some kid?”

“We wouldn’t be in this truck right now if it wasn’t for that kid.”

Chase ran a hand over his face. “This is so fucked up.”

He jammed the truck in reverse, spun around and tore back there. I jumped out and ran over to Edwin.

“Come with us.”

He shook his head.

“You know Duke is going to hurt you.”

“I can’t leave my mother.”

I hesitated for a moment. But a light came on inside the house. The moment I saw that fear took over. Self-preservation. I wasn’t going back in the ground.

“Go. Hide. We will send help.”

I ran back to the truck and as we tore out, we heard a gunshot. The back window smashed and we knew Duke was up. Everything that happened from there on in, seemed like it was happening in slow motion. Chase drove at such a speed, I started to think we were going to die from a crash. He raced towards the nearest town.

“Search around for a cell phone. There has to be something.”

I pulled out the glove compartment and threw all the paperwork on the floor.

“Nothing.”

“Great. Where the hell are we?”

“Mississippi.”

He must have taken us deep into the country as the road just went on and on. For a short while we thought we were safe. Then as if from out of nowhere, we saw a light. At first it was a speck in the distance behind us. Eventually it got closer. Then we felt a jolt. Duke was behind us. He’d collided right into the back of us. Chase gripped the wheel and tried to maintain control. Again he slammed into us. Twice, three times. Then he fired a gun at the vehicle. We were swerving all over the road trying to avoid him. One more hit and Chase lost control of the vehicle. It swerved off the road onto the hard shoulder. It toppled, I hit my head and passed out.

* * *

I
had only once been
in a car accident. Back when I was a kid. My parents had been driving my brother and me towards Cape Cod. It was meant to be a final vacation together before my brother went out West. It was also nighttime. Another driver had been drinking that night. We had been talking in the car, with the radio on, when he came out of nowhere and collided with our car. The car immediately flipped and when I came to, I was being carried out of the car by someone. I could never tell who it was. Just that I was away from the flames. We were lucky to survive it. It had always stuck with me. That feeling of being flipped inside. It was what I imagined being in a tumble dryer was like.

In that moment when I came to, I thought it was Duke trying to grab me, but it was Chase. His face was bloodied but he must have crawled out of the overturned truck.

“Meghan, wake up. We need to get out here. He’s coming.”

I felt my body being pulled. I didn’t feel any pain. I was caught between being conscious and unconscious. It was a strange state. Images fluttered in my mind of my past. My mother, father, brother and experiences I had growing up. Then it snapped back into place and I could hear the sound of the truck’s horn going off. I saw the flames and felt the heat.

Then I saw him. Behind Chase.

Chase dropped me and spun around. I kept going in and out of consciousness. I was crawling. Trying to get away from the truck that was going to explode. I could hear the popping of leather inside, and see the way the fire was licking up the side of the engine. It had engulfed it.

* * *

I
had been
in few fights as a kid growing up. I had seen my fair share of them but never been the one who had locked heads with anyone. I had tried my best to avoid that. For the most part it worked. The only type of fight training I got was small things taught to me by Ernie. It was all military stuff. Security moves that he had to practice to stay sharp.

Now I was in the thick of it. With this guy who was taller than me. He didn’t look strong. He couldn’t have been more than a buck forty wet. But that didn’t matter. I had a hold of his wrist and was using the technique that Ernie taught me about getting a gun off someone. This guy had a firm grip on his. We were pushing between our bodies. I head butted him and he fell back. The gun dropped. It was dark. I couldn’t see where it went. The upside was, that neither could the kidnapper. However, it didn’t stop me from trying to search for it. I fumbled around in the dark on my hands and knees. I didn’t get much of a chance before he was back on me. Fists were flying and he was pounding into my back. I flipped over and kicked him back. He stumbled and fell over. I knew there was no chance I was going to find that weapon so I gave up. I looked over to the truck. Meghan was still close to it. I rushed over and grabbed her and kept pulling backward. Finally I managed to get her to a safe distance from the truck.

I turned and the guy was gone. A minute later I heard a truck take off at a high rate of speed. He was fleeing. He’d tried one last attempt to take us and failed. Both of us lay there on the ground watching the flames lick up into the sky.

I’m not sure how long we stayed there before we heard the sound of sirens. But it was a welcome relief. An ambulance arrived, a fire engine and police. They tended to both of our wounds and gave us oxygen just in case we had inhaled any of the fumes from the truck. We gave the police as much as we could in regards to where the farm was. Two cruisers sped off in that direction. Thirty minutes later as we were still being treated, a helicopter landed. Agent Wakefield jumped out. He rushed over with several other FBI agents.

“How are they doing?” I heard him ask a police officer.

“Shaken up, and a little worse for wear, but alive.”

He came over. “That was a stupid stunt you pulled. But well done.”

He gripped my shoulder and then fixed his eyes on Meghan.

“Good to see you are OK, ma’am.”

Blue and red lights lit up the sky. We watched the firemen put out the truck fire. Agent Wakefield stuck around and another twenty minutes later he received word that they had nabbed Duke and the woman and discovered the two brothers.

I tried to explain that we didn’t want to press charges against the woman, but it went right over their heads. In their mind she was as guilty as he was. She would get the same amount of time for her involvement in the kidnapping and murders. I felt bad for the kid. But then again, the system couldn’t be much worse than living with those two.

Once the medics felt we were OK to leave, they let us head back with Agent Wakefield. We returned to Alabama in a chopper. Our arrival back at the tour bus was met with people clapping and several pats on the back. I didn’t think that I had done anything that was heroic. If it hadn’t been for that kid, we would have still been inside that underground bunker. I made a point to follow up on the kid. We owed our lives to him. I might not have been able to keep my promise of making sure his mother didn’t get charged, but I could see that the charges were reduced, and arrange to get the kid and his brother into the best adoption or care program that was available.