Survival, стр. 126

My body shivered with anxiety as I held thephone to my ear and prayed like hell he’d answer. It rang fivetimes and I was beginning to grow nervous as I feared I wouldn’teven get to speak to him. But onthe sixth ring, and to my relief, he answered.

“Hello?” came a sad low, sleepy voice. Itwas him. It was his voice and my heart stopped momentarily as I hadalmost forgotten how it sounded. “Hello? Who is this?” came thevoice again, and I shook my head in an attempt to escape the ice that had suddenly consumed mybody.

“Jason?” I practically gasped.

There was a pause. I almost panicked.

“Jaden? Jaden, is that you?” He soundedconfused and scared.

“Yeah, Jason, it’s me, but listen, I don’thave a lot of time-”

“Holy fuck! I knew you were alive! Where areyou? Are you all right? What happened? Where-”

I had to cut him off.

“Jason, stop, I don’t have a lot of time.I’m fine, but I won’t be unless you listen to me very carefullyright now.”

“What’s going on? Where are you?”

“Jason, I was kidnapped and sold into humantrafficking. I was purchased by a very dangerous man who is keepingme hostage.”

“Who has you, Jaden? Who? I will fuckingkill them!”

“Jason, stop and listen to me! You need todisappear. He’s planning to kill my entire family to bring me toheel. You need to warn everyone and tell them to run.”

“I don’t understand, Jaden. What’s thisguy’s name? Who is he?”

“I don’t want to tell you, Jason. If I tellyou, you will get involved, and I can’t have that. You have todisappear, please, for my sake.”

“Jaden, goddamn it, tell me who the miserable fuck is who tookyou so I can kill him and bring you home!”

“Jason, you cannot come looking forme. If he finds you, he will make me watch him kill you just tospite me. And believe me, Jason,if you don’t disappear now, he will find you. He hasconnections everywhere, including the police. Please don’t make mego through that.”

I suddenly heard sirens in the background,and my panic began to rise all over again as I kept my eyes gluedto the windows.

“Listen to me. Take all of our savings andleave the country. Do not go to the police or the FBI, I don’ttrust them. He has informants everywhere. Take my mom and brothersand go to Stuttgart like you’ve always wanted to. I will find youthere. It may take me a few years, but knowing you’re still alivewill give me the motivation I need to keep going. I risked a lot toescape him so I can warn you, but there’s a GPS tracker on me sohe’ll find me soon. Please don’t make this escape to have been in vain. Please, Jason.”

Jason was silent for a few seconds, hisvoice shaking when he finally spoke.

“I don’t know if I can do that. I can’t justabandon you.”

“You’re not abandoning me. You’re removingthe leverage he has over me from the equation. If I have nothingleft to lose, then I’m that much more dangerous. I will bring himdown, Jason, I promise you, but I can’t do that if he can continueto hold you against me. Do you understand?”

He didn’t say anything, and I could tell hewas debating with himself over this.

“Jason! I’m serious!” I yelled at him.

“Yes, all right, fine,” he finally said, andit broke my heart to fucking pieces.

I could hear the sirens getting closer andpanic rose all over again.

“Listen, I’ve got to go. Warn everyone, packup, and leave right this fucking second. Get my family out of thecountry now. Don’t wait. I will find you, I promise. Just don’tgive up on me, okay?”

“I love you, Jaden Wilder. You kill this guyand come home to me, you understand?” he said, soundingstronger.

“I love you, too, and I swear I will. Nowrun.”

I took everything I had to hang up thatphone, but I had no choice.

I placed the phone back on the counter andthanked the girl before heading out of the door and booking it backto the bike. But the moment I reached it, three cop cars withblaring sirens and flashing lights pulled into the alley.

Now that I had completed my mission, I had anew goal in mind. Time to have some fun and make myself famous.

~*~

At 6:35 in the morning, I had completed mymorning 7k run and finished things off with some bench-pressingwith Scott as my spotter. I was staying at my apartment in upstateNew York, working the final agreements for a new contract with ourarms dealer here. As Scott spotted, we discussed potential setbacksif this new contract didn’t pan out the way it needed to. I knewwhat I expected, but I never let my guard down when it came tobusiness.

The door to my weight room opened with oneof my guards rushing in with hiscell phone clutched to his chest. His face was glossy with sweat,and his eyes were lit with obvious anxiety. What the fuck happenednow?

“Sir, there’s been a situation,” hepractically squeaked.

I completed my fifteenth rep of 525 poundsand set the weights back into place, sitting up to wipe the sweatfrom my brow with my arm. I heldmy hand out for the phone, and he quickly handed it to me.

“What,” I said sternly. It was too early forthis shit.

“Sir, there’s been a bit of a situation, butI don’t-”

“I’m aware there’s a situation, asshole.Now, what it is?” I practically spat to Eric. I hated when peopletried to beat around the bush with me.

“Jaden’s escaped, sir.”

My mind instantly went blank as I ponderedwhat he had just said. She what?

As my comprehension of his words connected,rage began to simmer my blood to a boil.

“What,” I said dangerously, slowly risingfrom the bench.

“I’m not sure how she did, but she managedto start a fire outside of the house and took off on the Panigale.Her GPS signal shows she made it into town, so I don’t know how shemade it past the perimeter with her collar activated.”

Son of a bitch …

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Isshe, at least, wearing a helmet?”I asked beyond annoyed and pissed off.

“I don’t believe so, sir,”