The Broken Road (The Broken Series) (34 page)

“I’m
taking you to see your fiancé,” he responded through clenched teeth.

“My
fiancé? What do you mean
my fiancé?
Habib, I don’t have a fiancé.” My
voice was three octaves higher than normal. My heart was beating erratically, which
made it difficult to speak. “Habib, who are you taking me to see?”

Habib
refused to look at me. “He has my sister.”

“What?”
I exclaimed, thoroughly alarmed. “Someone has Diwa?” I reached for Habib’s arm.
“Please, Habib. Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on.”

“Stop!
Do not touch him,” Abdul demanded from the back seat.

I
gritted my teeth as I turned to face him. “Then why don’t
you
tell me
what’s going on?”

“Shut
up,” Abdul responded, glaring at me.

I
turned back around and studied the road in front of me. Nothing looked
familiar. We were driving on a four lane highway. Habib was driving fast, too
fast for me to jump out of the car.

I
narrowed my eyes as I peered out the windshield.
Is that a toll booth?
If that was a toll booth, then Habib would have to slow down. Every fiber in my
body was screaming for me to get out of that car. I could jump.
I could jump
from a moving car,
c
ouldn’t I?
The toll booth loomed up ahead. I
glanced nervously at Habib.

He
was still refusing to look at me.

I
reached for the door handle as Habib merged into the express lane. Just then,
an ominous metallic click sounded from the back seat. I froze.

“Do
not touch that door,” Abdul growled. “Habib may consider you a friend, but I do
not.”

I
slowly turned to look at Abdul. He did, in fact, have a handgun; and it was
pointed directly at me. I turned back around and slumped down in my seat. I was
determined to make myself as small as possible as I resigned myself to my fate.
There would be no talking my way out of this. No jumping from the car. I hugged
myself tightly.
Take a deep breath
,
”
Charlie’s voice echoed
through my mind. “
You are not alone. You are never alone.”
A single tear
slid slowly down my cheek. I closed my eyes and silently began to pray.

I
tried to make sense of the large green signs that dotted the side of the road.
None of the street names looked familiar. I sat upright as we passed a sign for
the Leesburg Airport.

Habib
eased his car onto the exit ramp.

“Oh
God, please, not the airport,”
I pleaded silently. If
I was forced onto a plane, I would never be found.

Habib
drove past the small executive airport. He turned into an entrance at the far
end. This part of the airport was poorly lit, and it was pitch black outside.
Tiny drops of rain dotted the windshield. I could just barely make out a row of
hangars on our left. Habib drove his car to the far end of the hangars before
turning the car around. He parked in front of an open hangar.

My
eyes flitted between the hangar and Habib.

He
just sat there with the car idling, staring grimly over my shoulder at the
hangar.

I
watched in horror as Diwa appeared in the entrance of the hangar. A tall man,
who was wearing a full ski mask and dressed entirely in black, was roughly
shoving her forward while keeping a firm grasp on her arm. Diwa struggled
against him, but she stilled as he pressed a gun to her temple.

I
tore my eyes away from her to look at Habib. An apologetic look flashed across
his face. Then his eyes hardened. Habib and his brother got out of the car as
one, both on the driver’s side, which was angled opposite the hangar.

Abdul
trained his gun on the man who held Diwa. “We did everything you said. She’s in
the car. Now hand Diwa over!” he shouted over the top of the car.

“Get
her out of the car first. If she runs, your sister dies.”

My
heart clenched.
He’s going to kill Diwa if I try to get away.

Abdul
walked to my side of the car with his gun still trained on the man holding Diwa.
He opened the front passenger door and grabbed me by the arm. “You heard him.
Get out,” he snarled at me.

My
heart slammed against my chest. I didn’t want anyone getting shot, but I didn’t
want to leave the car. I didn’t want to end up with the man holding Diwa. I opened
my mouth to speak, but Abdul cut me off. He yanked me from the car, then shoved
me forward…
hard
.

I
stumbled forward, then fell to my knees. I felt Diwa running past me as I was
jerked back up to my feet. Within seconds, my back was pulled firmly against
the man who had been holding Diwa. He now had his gun trained on Abdul.

Abdul
was standing on the other side of the car. His gun was pointed directly at me.

I
was so terrified, I couldn’t breathe.

Diwa
was sitting crumpled on the ground in front of the car. She was sobbing in
Habib’s arms. The two of them were illuminated by the headlights in the misty
rain. Habib stared, completely horrified, at me.

The
man jerked me back against his chest. He tucked the gun into the back of his
pants, then shoved a small vial toward my lips.

“Drink
this or your friends die,” he gritted out. His lips were pressed against my ear.
His warm breath sent an insidious chill through my trembling body.

Convinced
they would die either way, I sealed my lips closed and tried to resist the vial
that was cutting into my mouth. My eyes sought Abdul’s. I bit back tears as I willed
him to shoot the man.
Why won’t he shoot him?

The
man wrenched my head back. His fingers ripped through my hair. The bitter
liquid slid past my lips as I opened my mouth to scream. A gloved hand slammed
my jaw shut, forcing the liquid down my throat.

“
Why?
”
I choked through tears. I could already feel the poison racing through my
blood. It felt almost pleasurable
until everything went numb. Within
seconds my body fell slack against the man who was still holding me in his arms.

With
an odd sense of detachment, I wondered when the rain had turned to snow. Habib,
Diwa, and the car blurred. Then everything faded to black.

Kadyn
was sitting perfectly still on the couch, jaw clenched, silently watching the
clock approach three-thirty a.m. He looked down and briefly patted Cade, who
was lying curled up next to him on the couch. “Hey, little buddy,” he whispered
softly. “Where is she?”

Cade
whimpered softly. He nudged Kadyn’s leg with his head.

“Yeah,
I agree,” he replied worriedly. Kadyn rose from the couch and crossed the
living room in three long strides. He reached for the house phone, pulled up
the Caller ID, and hit send.

“
What?
”
Patrick growled sleepily.

That
one word alone told Kadyn everything he needed to know. It was politeness more
than anything that drove him to respond. “Patrick. Kadyn. Is Kri with you?”

“Kadyn?
What’s going on? How did you get my number?” Patrick asked, thoroughly
confused.

“Caller
ID. Where’s Kri?” Kadyn deliberately articulated the last two words, since
Patrick still hadn’t answered the question.

“Wait.
What? She’s not with you?”

“If
she were with
me
, I wouldn’t be calling
you
,” Kadyn gritted through
his teeth.

“Dude,
I don’t know. She left the office before I did… sometime around midnight.”

Kadyn’s
voice was low and bordering on deadly. “Did she park her jeep under the
Thurgood Marshall Building?”

“I
don’t know. I think so,” Patrick responded anxiously.

Kadyn
hung up the phone.

Fifteen
minutes later, Kadyn eased his bike into the parking garage under the Thurgood
Marshall Building.
He lowered his boot to the ground, allowing his bike to
idle as he sat staring at the jeep. The vehicle wasn’t drivable. All four tires
were slashed and resting on their rims. He nudged the bike closer and turned it
off.

He
slid his helmet off and slowly walked around the jeep. He tried each of the
doors.
Locked
. He peered inside the window.
No Kri, no keys, no purse,
and no cell phone.
Kadyn looked under the jeep.

He
walked around the jeep once more as he studied the ground. He strode to the few
cars that were parked on the same level of the parking garage and examined them.
He scoured the parking garage for a security guard but didn’t see anyone.

Kadyn
entered the stairwell and took the stairs to the lobby two at a time. He
quickly located the security desk tucked just inside the main entrance to the
building. He strode purposefully toward the guard.

The
security guard stood. “Can I help you?”

Kadyn
closed the distance between them. “Yes. Do you know anything about the black jeep
in the parking garage… the one with the tires slashed?”

The
security guard silently studied Kadyn. He was obviously weighing his response.

Kadyn
quickly filled the silence, understanding the scrutiny but annoyed with the
delay. “The jeep belongs to my girlfriend. She’s missing.”

A
look of understanding passed over the guard’s face, then quickly disappeared.
He wasn’t necessarily buying what Kadyn was selling. “You got a picture?” he
asked.

Gritting
his teeth irritably, Kadyn pulled up a picture from his cell phone. He handed
it to the security guard, who was now living on borrowed time. He wanted
answers and he wanted them
now
.

Kadyn’s
eyes were trained on the guard’s face as he examined the picture on the cell
phone. He saw recognition flash in the guard’s eyes before he spoke. “Yes. This
young woman approached me shortly after midnight. She told me her tires had
been slashed and said she’d have the vehicle towed in the morning. She left me
her business card. Then she went out there to catch a cab.” He nodded his head
toward the glass doors which faced the roundabout in front of Union Station.

“I
don’t suppose you saw which cab she got into,” Kadyn responded drily.

The
guard shook his head. “No. I’m sorry. I didn’t see which cab she chose, but
maybe the sax player did. I saw her approach him when she left.” He paused for
a minute, then added, “I haven’t heard him play for a while. He may have left
for the night.”

Kadyn
glanced toward the glass doors. “Know where I can find him?”

The
guard shrugged. “He could be anywhere. I think he’s homeless. He gets kicked
out of Union Station a lot. You might find him sleeping in there somewhere.”

Kadyn
nodded once. “Thanks.” He strode out the door, determined to track down the sax
player or a cab driver who remembered seeing Kri. He glanced down at his watch.
It was four-thirty in the morning… too early for rush hour, the metro, the
train, and pedestrians.

Kadyn
looked around. The place was like a friggin’ ghost town. For the first time
that morning, he noticed the ground was dusted with a thin layer of snow. Kadyn
walked around looking for someone…
anyone…
to talk to. The few homeless
people lingering around looked at Kri’s picture, but they all said the same
thing. Not a single one of them had seen her.

He
leaned against the base of the statue of Columbus and tried to call Kri’s cell
for the sixth time that morning.
Nothing.
He called her house phone.
Nothing.
His eyebrows furrowed as he weighed his options. It wouldn’t be long before the
sax player and the cabs began showing up. He was familiar with the sax player
the guard had mentioned. He’d been with Kri when she gave him money and knew he
regularly performed around Union Station. Surely, he’d be back for the morning
rush hour. A high traffic time like that had to bring in some good tips.

Kadyn
played absently with his cell phone. He watched a yellow cab drive by, then looked
back down at the phone. Slowly, a plan started to form. He scrolled through his
list of contacts. His thumb hovered over Phil’s name. Then he made the call.

“This
had better be good,” Phil grumbled.

Kadyn
rubbed his hand over his smoothly shaven head. “It’s not good. That’s why I’m calling.”

“What’s
wrong?” Phil asked, suddenly alert.

“Kri’s
missing. I need you to help me find her.”

“What
do you mean she’s missing?” Phil responded sharply.

“She
had to go into work late last night. The tires on her jeep were slashed. She left
the parking garage around midnight to catch a cab, but she never made it home.
I haven’t heard from her. I've tried calling multiple times, but her cell phone
is going directly to voice mail,” Kadyn explained.

“Where
are you now?”

“I'm
down at Union Station, where Kri was last seen. I’m trying to track down the
cab driver. That’s my only lead… well, that and the sax player. A security
guard from the Thurgood Marshall Building saw her talk to the sax player before
she caught a cab.”