Full Throttle (28 page)

He staggered inside the room and glanced to the side
to see the white t-shirt she had been wearing at the pub draped across the back
of her chair. Her jeans were folded neatly and Josh nearly threw up. Sammy had been
in bed, maybe asleep and she had been taken.

“Josh, the police will be here in—what the fuck?”
Jason said as he came to a halting stop next to him. His friend’s gaze darted
around the room before he looked at Josh. “Ah, fuck. You don’t think—”

Josh turned on his heel and went back to the living
room where he had seen Sammy’s phone. “I don’t fucking think. I know! She had a
stalker, a nasty bastard threatening her. The bastard has made his move.”

He snatched up the phone just as it began to ring. Rachel’s
name flashed up on the screen and Josh answered and jammed the phone to his
ear.

“Rachel!” he barked.

Silence greeted him at the other end and Josh swore.
“Rachel, is that you? Fuck, I know you hate me, Jesus, right now, I hate
myself! But I need to know if you’ve seen Sammy?”

Josh heard halting breath’s at the other end and he
growled. “Rachel!” He barked and when he heard crying, Josh stilled. “Sammy? Is
that you, baby?” He said, his throat closing as fear threatened to buckle him.

“Oh, God.
Oh, God—”
The voice on the other end—it wasn’t Sammy’s.

Josh ’s
heart
slammed inside his ribs as the woman cried and chanted, hysterically.

“Rachel, is that you?” He pinched his nose and
strived for calm.

“Y—yes, Josh—oh, God, oh, God…”

“Rachel, calm the fuck down.
Talk
to me.
Have you seen Sammy?” There was a long time when Rachel cried on
the other line. Josh forced himself to be calm. “Rachel. I need to know where
she is.”

“I—I don’t—oh, God he’s taken her…He said it, but I
didn’t believe him—oh, God… I just came around after...
Oh,
God.”

“Who?”
Josh
barked and Jason appeared next to him with a deep frown on his face.

Josh looked at his friend and shrugged impatiently.
Sounds of sirens in the background started to fill the air and Josh growled out
his temper.

Time was ticking.

“Rachel!”

Rachel wailed and sniffed.
“M—my
husband, Rob.
He found out—oh God, he took her!” Rachel wailed again and
Josh stilled.

“Where?”
He
didn’t need any details, he wasn’t sure he could take
them,
he only needed to know where. Because when he found this Rob fucker, he was
going to fucking kill him.

“Uh—I don’t know—uh.” Rachel sniffed.

“Fucking Jesus, Rachel.
Have
a fucking breakdown after you tell me!” Josh bellowed and Jason snatched the
phone from Josh’s hand, clearly sensing Josh had hit his limit. Josh swatted
Jason, but his friend turned and said into the speaker.

“Look, Rachel. It is very important we find her,
before anything worse can happen. I am Jason, Josh’s friend—”

Josh swore again and circled as his body shook
violently. His mind couldn’t get past the mess of Sammy’s bedroom, and his
thoughts swam with violence and rage. His hands quaked and Josh could barely
suppress his need to run. He had to find her.
Had to.

“Fuck!”

“
Right,
and where does he
keep that car?”

Josh stopped pacing and glanced to Jason. Jason
lifted the phone off his ear and spoke.

“She says he has a garage where he builds his
kit-car about five miles from here. She says that’s the only place she can
think of.”

Josh turned on his heel, Jason followed. Jason kept
Rachel talking for a moment and when the police car rolled down the drive, Josh
snatched the helmet off the ground by the bike. Jason threw him the keys and
relayed the address of the garage as Josh climbed on the bike.

“Go. I’ll tell the police the details. You get
there.
Fast.”

Josh nodded, started the engine and twisted the
throttle. He peeled past the police and straight onto the main road. He knew
the garages Rachel
described,
he just fucking hoped he
was going to get there in time.

****

Sammy watched Rob pace around the garage. His brow
creased into a deep frown as he seemed to war with himself. He was muttering,
growling, and three times he had smacked his own face as he chanted.
“Why, why why?”

Sammy stayed still, as it seemed Rob had forgotten
she was there. She glanced around the grease-ridden workshop, her eyes passing
over a car chassis. She remembered Rachel moaning about how much time Rob spent
with his car, and Sammy wondered morbidly how many other women he had brought
here and tied up.

Rob paced, he chanted. He spun on his heel and threw
a clump of papers at her and growled savagely when she whimpered against her
tight gag.

“No fucking money!” He spat. “My wife has spent
every goddamn penny!” He stalked closer and Sammy cringed backwards. Sounds of
distress broke free past her gag and Sammy tried to suck breath through her
nose.

Rob swiped his shaking hand over his mouth and eyed
Sammy coldly. “I have busted my right fucking nut to keep that woman happy.
Just about broke my back to make sure she has the comforts she wanted.” He
laughed psychotically. “And how does she repay me?” He opened his eyes wide and
looked at Sammy expectantly.

Sammy panicked. Did he want an answer? How could she
even try to answer him when her mouth was bound by a gag? Sammy shook her head.

Rob bared his teeth.

When a car light illuminated the window and caused a
shadow to sweep across the room, Rob looked up and glared at the small window.
He turned his head slowly, pinning her with his nasty gaze.

“No more waiting.” he muttered.

Sammy breathed deeply through her nose as her fright
clutched her tightly around the throat. The gauze he had shoved into her mouth
was dry, and Sammy had choked on the rag a few times as it tickled the back of
her throat. The duct tape he had wound around her face and hair held the gauze
in place making breathing hard. The ties at her wrists and ankles were far too
tight and ten minutes ago, her hands had gone numb. Her broken leg throbbed
mercilessly and Sammy’s vision was blurred as tears fogged her vision.

When Rob stalked closer to her, she whimpered and
shook her head.
Please, no. Please,
she
tried to say, but all she could manage were muffled sounds of distress.

Rob bent closer, snatched her hair and yanked her
head back. He stared at her with hate in his eyes, and Sammy had no idea why.
The man was Rachel’s husband. He was, as far as Sammy was concerned, a nice,
family-oriented man. Sure, she hadn’t seen him much in the past two years, but
Rachel had always said he was working, or that he was here, building his
kit-car.

What
had she done to warrant this much hate?
Sammy tried to make
sense of his snapped words, but not much was getting past her terror. If only
she could speak, then maybe she could find out.

“He’s not mine.” Rob said, and Sammy stilled. “Did
you know that Charlie is not
mine
?”

Sammy sat stock still, held fast by Rob’s burning
grip of her hair. Her mind whirred. Should she nod? Indicate that she knew? Or
should she pretend not to know?

Sammy began to panic behind the gauze as her chest
tightened. Rob watched her, his gaze taking on a cold, cruel glint as he held
her still by her hair. He turned his head to the side and raised a brow. “You
knew, didn’t you?”

Sammy only half heard his words as the rag touched
the back of her throat. The angle he had tipped her head back meant that the
cloth was sliding into her mouth further. Sammy coughed, and gagged. She tried
to lunge forward, but Rob held her and watched, his expression interested, as
if her choking was mildly entertaining.

After a long moment where Sammy believed she would
pass out, Rob let go of her hair with a violent shove. He turned his back on
Sammy and laid his hands flat on the workbench, his head bowed. Sammy panted
and tried to suck air in thorough her nose. The cloth still irritated her
throat, but she breathed deeply to control her need to gag.

Don’t
panic, don’t panic.

Rob turned around. He lifted his hand and flashed a
long silver blade. He glanced at the metal and back to Sammy. Her breathing
picked up as her gaze fell upon the metal, and a whimper stole its way out her
gauze-stuffed mouth.

“Ahhh, poor Sammy has no idea why I plan to kill her,
does she?” Rob
said,
his tone mocking as he picked up
a stool and placed it in front of her. Sammy watched him sit down, and when he
leaned forward and rested both elbows on his knees, she tried to lean away from
him. Tied to the chair as she was, she moved nowhere.

“Sleeping in just a t-shirt.”
He
tutted, “Haven’t you watched horror movies? It’s always the one in the skimpy
clothes, the sexy one that dies. He skimmed the knife up her thigh and tugged
gently at the hem of her top. “I had no idea you had such a fine body under all
that pomp and heir, Sammy.”

She shook her head.
Please. Oh, God, please…

“Not that I’m interested in the daughter of
Garret-fucking-Briars.” He pushed himself backwards with his foot on her chair.
Her chair jerked and Sammy cried out.

“I’ll tell you why I am going to kill you.” Rob
turned the blade over in his hand and raised a brow. He moved closer and placed
the blade on Sammy’s leg and smiled slowly when he saw her tremble.

Sammy pleaded, even though her words were a muffled
sound. She thrashed, but the ties he had used were so tight, she could barely
move. Rob lifted the blade and pressed it into Sammy’s stomach, the point not
breaking the skin under her t-shirt, but hurting like it was not far off
puncturing her. Sammy whimpered again. She shook her head, tears filled her
vision.

Rob twisted the blade and Sammy cried out.

“You see, your father was the one Rachel was
screwing around with.” Rob lifted his insane looking gaze and Sammy felt her
entire body still at his words.

My
father?

Her shock must have shown, because Rob raised a brow
and laughed. He threw his head back, stood up and whooped as if Sammy’s
reaction had been exciting for him. Sammy cringed away from the waving knife,
but as suddenly as he had jumped up, Rob swooped down and held the knife at her
throat.

Sammy cried out a muffled protest. Rob gripped her
hair again and laughed when she began to heave and gag. He pressed against the duct
tape on her mouth and Sammy tried to shake his hold off. Her eyes watered and
her vision swam. Her ears rang like she had been at a loud concert, blood pounding
in her skull creating a heavy thump inside her mind.

Oh, God,
don’t let me die this way.

Rob was relentless as he pressed against her gag.
Sammy saw stars and her body began to fizz from lack of oxygen. She swayed in
her seat—or was it her head that swayed? And her stomach rolled violently.

If she threw up, Sammy was sure she would choke to
death.

A white light swept over the room and Sammy swore
she heard the roar of an engine. Though her head swam and her vision dipped in
and out, Sammy tried to hold on to consciousness. Rob looked up and let go of
her gag.

“Who the fuck?”
He
spat as he paced to the window. He turned the main light off and Sammy saw him
hold up the blade.

Sammy dragged in a breath through her nose, but it
was as if the oxygen was too much. Her vision swam again and her stomach
lurched heavily, and this time Sammy felt her body slide into unconsciousness.
Darkness claimed her first, then everything went silent a second before Sammy
passed out.

Chapter
Twenty Four

Josh turned off the engine and peeled off his helmet
as he scanned the line of garages where Rachel had sent him. His heart pounded
against his ribs, and his hands still shook with pent-up fury. The night was
dark, the area around silent, except for a barking dog in the distance. Josh checked
his watch and saw it was three
a.m..

He hadn’t seen Sammy for four hours. Dread sat like
a heavy weight on his heart and Josh had to halt the thoughts of Sammy in pain,
Sammy suffering. Because he was so close to losing it, one more image might
just tip him over the edge.

He scanned the garages and wasted no time in heading
for the first one. Rachel had known where the garages were, she just hadn’t
known which one. His gaze fell upon a slight glow of light under garage three
and Josh slowed his footsteps. He controlled his breathing and plastered
himself to the side of the building as he made his way closer. He was a good
three paces away, when the door lifted up and Josh stilled.