The thug across from me leered at me. “Jenkins will be happy to see you. I heard he has plans for you.”
I ignored him, scanning the landscape. The road twisted away from the heart of Brislow, where Jenkins ruled like a king. At first, I thought they would take me to Jenkins’s mansion, but that was the first place Raven would come looking. My pulse quickened. If I could get loose, if I could—
The wagon hit a deep rut, sending me lurching forward. A sharp pain shot through my side, but I barely noticed. My mind was already working through every escape scenario I could think of.
I didn’t want to sit back and wait for Raven to save me.
I had to watch and wait for the chance to try to save myself. I kept working at the ropes,trying to get them off my wrists.
Raven
I knew something was wrong the second I set my sky-cycle down in front of the house. Zach came jogging toward me from the barn.
“I can’t find Hannah. I’ve checked everywhere,” he huffed, out of breath in his depleted state. “She never said anything to me about going anywhere.”
“I’m sure she didn’t because she didn’t leave of her own accord. They took her. The question is where.” I said half to myself. “There can’t be many of them left because the ranchers have accounted for all the ones we captured in town.”
“What are we going to do?” asked Zach.”
“You are going to stay here and take care of your family, and I’m going to find my mate. Once I do, then I will think about whether or not to let Jenkins live.”
“But she’s my sister,” Zach objected.
“And I love her,” I said without hesitation. “You have not recovered yet from your ordeal at the work camp. You’ll either slow me down or get yourself hurt. Hannah wouldn’t want that. Besides, someone has to stay here and take care of Grace and your baby.”
I went out to check the barn before I left. The scent of Hannah’s fear clung to the air, sharp and undeniable. My gut twisted. I scanned between the stalls and saw no sign ofstruggle, but I knew better. Jenkins had taken her. I saw the marks where they had dragged her from the barn.
A cold fury settled over me.
He thought he could use her to control me and that he could bargain with her life. I would make him beg for his if he or his thugs had hurt her in any way.
He had no idea who he was dealing with.
I tapped into my CPU, and my mind was already working through the possibilities. Then it hit me—Hannah carried my nanites now. They now bonded me to her. And if I focused, I could track them.
I closed my eyes and accessed my internal systems, pushing my mind outward.
There. A faint signal. Weak, but steady.
Hannah.
She was alive. And I was going to get her back.
No matter what it took. I didn’t waste any more time investigating. Sprinting from the barn, I jumped on my sky-cycle and flew off at top speed in the direction that I sensed Hannah’s nanites most strongly.
Chapter Seventeen
Hannah
The room smelled of stale cigar smoke and sweat, a choking combination that made my stomach churn. Callum Jenkins sat behind his massive oak desk; his boots propped up as if he didn’t have a care in the world. The lamplight cast long shadows across the walls, but even in the dim glow, his smirk was sharp as a knife.
“Well, well,” he drawled, flicking ashes from his cigar onto the floor. “Aren’t you a pretty little bargaining chip?”
I clenched my jaw, refusing to let him see even a sliver of fear. My wrists throbbed where they were tied behind my back, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of showing pain either.
“I’m no one’s bargaining chip,” I spat.
Jenkins chuckled, the deep, gravelly sound of a man who thought he’d already won. “That’s where you’re wrong, sweetheart.” He leaned forward, his beady eyes locking onto mine. “See, that cyborg of yours has been really bad for business.Coming in here like some kind of knight in shining armor, turning folks against me. You’re going to fix that.”
