Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 34122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 171(@200wpm)___ 136(@250wpm)___ 114(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 171(@200wpm)___ 136(@250wpm)___ 114(@300wpm)
“Her phone’s at her grandma’s address. I called, but they said she wasn’t there. They thought she was with me. Bro, they’re worried.”
“Where’s Ellie?”
“She went inside because GG wasn’t in the bathroom. Ellie thought maybe she went to use the restrooms in the school.”
“This place is too damned big.” I grip the fencing harder, not caring the metal is biting into my fingers. “Call the police.”
“What?”
“Call the police and tell them that a teenager has been abducted. Send out—” My mind goes blank.
“An Amber alert,” Mick supplies quietly. I turn to see the catcher at my shoulder. Behind him, the other players are standing looking concerned.
“Guys, I—”
Booker slaps his fist into his palm. “Let’s fucking go.”
The fog in my head dissipates. Yeah. I can’t stay here. I’ve got to find GG. The cult has taken her. They want her money. I know it. My throat’s dry, my heart’s racing, but my mind is clear. I have one thought: Get GG.
“Stay here and play the game. Logan can relieve me.”
“Hell, no. We’re a team. You go, we go,” declares Booker. “Dean will drive. Tommy, you’ve got the police scanner on your phone, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then you’re our intel.” Booker grabs my shoulder. “You ride shotgun and try not to lose your cool until we find her.”
A calm has settled over me. “Yeah, no problem.” When I find her, I’m going to take this baseball bat and cave someone’s head in, but I’m going to do it with a cool head.
We take off, leaving our coaches yelling, “What the hell are you all doing?” and, “Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
“We’re forfeiting,” Tommy screams.
We pile into Dean’s SUV, which he starts before all the doors are even closed. “Where to?”
“The cult she came from is about four hours northwest.”
“Cult?” Dean’s eyebrows shoot up.
“It’s a long story.”
“We’ve got time.” Dean guns the engine. While he drives, I give a brief rundown of GG’s past, including the insurance money. Shocked silence descends in the SUV until Tommy shouts, “I got something on the police scanner!” He leans forward and shoves the tablet in my face. “Listen. Someone spotted a van swerving erratically on highway 65 heading west toward Hemmingway. The citizen thought they saw a girl at the window yelling for help.”
“Highway 65? That’s parallel to us. Take a left here.” Booker taps Dean’s shoulder. Dean takes a hard left. Tires squeal and bodies crash into each other as the SUV careens around the corner.
I don’t say a word, just grip the bat between my legs tighter.
“Why’d that car not stop them?”
“They said the van was going too fast and they didn’t want to get a ticket.” Tommy makes a face. “We’ll find them, don’t worry.”
I don’t know if he says it to console me or himself. I don’t need his words, though. I know we’ll find her. I know it because I won’t stop looking until I do—no matter how long it takes me, no matter how many things I have to sacrifice. I love baseball, but I love GG more. I’ll find her, and I’ll make everyone who hurt her pay. I grip the neck of the bat even tighter.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Georgia
Tears slide down my face as I try and work the tape off of my hands, but I’m not getting anywhere. I remember seeing a trick on how to break out, but I need to be able to stand in order to do it. I keep trying anyway, hoping I’ll catch a break. I will not stop fighting.
“You’re just hurting yourself for no reason. All you have to do is cooperate,” my mom hisses from the front seat. There isn’t an ounce of sympathy in her voice. The kind you would expect a mom to have for their child. I know better than to expect anything from her, but still I always hold out hope that she’ll change. But she’s too far gone at this point. “And stop with the crying. It’s pathetic.”
From the glare she is shooting my way, I know she wants to come back here and slap me again. When they first grabbed me and tossed me in the back of the van I tried to signal someone to help me. That hadn’t worked out too well for me.
Jerima had pulled over and held me down while my mom duct-taped my hands and feet together. I stopped fighting them when I felt Jerima’s erection press into me as he held me down for my mom. I’d almost vomited.
The fear of what was really happening started to settle in. Each mile that we get farther away from my grandparents and Colt only means it will be harder for them to find me. I wonder if anyone even knows I’m missing yet. The thought of never seeing the people I love again threatens to crush me, but I push it to the back of my mind.