Out Bad (22 page)

Gwen took advantage of their distraction and slowly moved
her hand around the floorboard, carefully shifting empty soda bottles and fast
food bags as she tried to find something, anything to give her a leg up.

Almost all the way under the driver’s seat something caught
her eye. 
Please, please, please.
  She shifted a couple
of napkins and glanced up to be sure no one noticed what she’d found. 

Both men were discussing their near certain rise in rank,
caught up in what this was going to mean for them, oblivious to what she was
doing.  Stupid.

Her stomach flipped as what she was hoping for came into
view.  It wasn’t much, but she could do some damage with it if she was
smart.

She hooked her finger over the lip of the small plastic tray
and drug it closer.  She just had to find a way to get it somewhere they
wouldn’t know she had it.

The car stopped suddenly.  Shit.  She pulled her
hand away as she prayed they didn’t see what she did. 

“Come on girl.  It’s time to get moving.”  Cooter
climbed out of the car, before reaching back in to grab at her. 

She rolled off the seat, wedging her body between the seats
making sure her right arm was behind her. 

“Stupid bitch.  You
ain’t
gonna
win.” 

He tried to grab her feet as she kicked at him feeling
around desperately for the plastic tray.  Finally her hand hit the rim and
she felt inside praying the force of her fall hadn’t knocked out what she was
looking for.

The big man managed to grab one foot just as her fingers
slid across the mirror.  She used the heel of her other foot to dig in to
the back of his hand.  He yelped and let go.  She felt around, the
empty pen casing against one side.  Oh God, it was gone.

Scabby appeared in the open door.  “Stop
fuckin
’ around.  Just get the bitch out.”

Cooter reached in and grabbed both ankles and gave her a
hard yank.  She scooted across the floor of the car, the tray moving with
her.  Suddenly a sharp pain shot through her finger. 

It was still there. 

Quickly, she stuck her nail under the sharp edge, biting her
lip at the pain.  Pinching it between her fingers, she put her other hand
out to grab the front passenger seat, stopping her movement across the car.

Wrenching her arm further behind her she fumbled for her
back pocket, finally finding the top edge and sliding the razor blade as far in
as she could get it. 

She had something.  Now she just needed to figure out
what to do with it.  As the two men bumped against each other, fighting as
they struggled to get her out of the car, she figured she’d have more than a
few options.

“Fucking pick up!”  It went to voicemail.  He
ended the call and immediately called back.  That one went straight to
voicemail.  He was ready to throw the phone against the wall.

Joe paced the room, counting as he went.  When he got
to ten, he called again. 

“What’s wrong?”  Heath's words were muddled from
sleep. 

“Gwen’s gone.”

“What the hell do you mean she’s gone?”  Heath’s voice
went from groggy to panic in three seconds flat.

“Who’s gone?”  He heard Gabbi’s sleepy voice in the
background.

“I’ll be back in just a minute.”  Heath’s voice was
muffled, his shirt scratching against the microphone as he held the phone
against his chest.

Joe tried to stay as calm as he could, but he was about to
reach through the line if Heath wasn’t back in two seconds.

“Where the hell did she go?” Heath's voice was now clear but
still a low whisper. 

“I don’t know.  I woke up and she was gone.  I went
downstairs and the panty waste at the front desk said he thought he remembered
her coming down to get something out of the store, but she never came
back.” 

He felt dizzy.  He sat down on the edge of the bed and
put his head between his knees as he sucked in
lungfulls
of air.

“You’ve
gotta
come get me. 
We have to go find her.” 

Why didn’t she listen?  What was so freaking important
that she had to leave without telling him?

“Maybe she’s at home.  She could have called a cab to
come get her.  Did you guys have a fight or anything?” 

“No we didn’t have a fucking fight!”  It had been the
best couple days of his life.  He thought maybe it was for her too. 
But then she left. 

He shook his head.  No.  She was happy.  More
than happy with him.  She wouldn’t have left to get away from him.

“Calm down.  You’ve got to get it together if we’re
going to find her in
ti
-"

“Don’t you fucking say ‘in time’.”  Joe felt
sick.  He knew what could be happening to her right now.  He’d stayed
far away from the ugly things that could happen in the club, but that didn’t
mean he was oblivious to what went on.  “We’ve got to find her.  Send
someone to get me now.”

“I’ll have a marked come get you, but you have to calm
down.  A lot.”

“I don’t think you understand what could happen to
her.”  What could be happening to her right now.  His heart was
pounding in his chest.  His whole body felt like it was pulsating as
adrenaline pumped through his veins. 

“I'm just as familiar with what could happen as you
are."  He heard another phone ring on Heath’s end of the line. 
“Hang on.”

Joe shoved his wallet in his pocket and pulled his shoes
on.  He’d been in such a panic when he woke up and found Gwen gone that
he’d run downstairs barefoot probably looking like a lunatic.  It would
have been a fair assumption considering he felt like he was about to go crazy.

He heard Heath in the background talking to someone on his
work phone.  “Go get him, just make sure he doesn’t do anything
stupid.  I’ll meet you there.  Give me a half hour.”

Joe sat down at the table were he’d been sharing his meals
with Gwen.  Their time together this weekend had been everything he
wanted, hoped it would be. 

At this point he’d spent more consecutive hours with Gwen
than any woman he’d ever been with.  It was wonderful and he let himself
imagine it would be like this forever.  The two of them, then maybe a few
more, sitting across from each other at dinner every night.  Now there was
a real possibility that would never happen and he felt like his life was
ending.

Heath was right.  He had to get his mind right or he
would start being stupid.  He needed to try to get it together so he could
figure out where she would be if someone did have her.

Deep down he knew that was it.  Heath could hope she
had gone off on her own, but he knew.  They had her and it was only a
matter of time before they hurt her.  His only hope was they would want
him to know they were hurting her, so as long as they didn’t find him, she
might be okay.  For a while.

But eventually they wouldn’t care.  They would do what
they wanted and let him figure it out after the fact.  Either way was
unbearable for him to think about.  She was going to get hurt, if it
hadn’t already happened.  All because of him.

“Joe!”  Heath’s voice in his ear jolted him away from
his thoughts.

“I’m here.”

“You sure?  I’ve been talking to you for a while now.”

“Sorry.  I’m just worried.”  Worried didn’t even
begin to describe the fear gripping him.

“I am too, but we have to be smart about this or she will
get hurt.  Okay?” 

“I know.” 

“Your ride will be there in ten minutes.  I’ll meet you
guys at the station and we will figure out what to do next.”

Joe was already out of the room and in the elevator when he
hung up with Heath.  He couldn’t sit there any longer staring at the bed
were he’d made love to Gwen. 

He wasn’t going to kid himself, he loved her.  He was
tired of worrying it was too soon and he needed to give her more time. 
Fuck time.  He was going to find her and she would just have to deal with
how he felt.  She could catch up when she was ready, but he wasn’t going
to hold back anymore.  Not for her, not for anybody.

He was grilling the front desk guy again when a uniformed
officer came in. 

“How do you not know where she went?”

“I’m not a babysitter.”

He wanted to punch the guy in his fat bald face.  The
condescending prick deserved it.  He was at the point of weighing his
options when he noticed the cop standing beside him.  It was
babyface
. 

Randy shook his head at Joe.  “It’s not worth it.”

The man behind the desk looked back and forth between
them.  “What’s not?”

Officer
Quiad
leaned against the
desk and nodded at Joe.  “He was seriously considering punching you.”

The stubby little man’s eyes grew wide as he looked from Joe
to the cop and back to Joe again. 

“He’s right.”  Joe nodded, feeling a little satisfied
as the man’s face lost color.  Good.

“I might have even looked the other way.”  Randy leaned
farther across the desk. “Look, this woman could be in extreme danger right
now.  Did you see anything?”

The man behind the desk swallowed hard and looked back at
Joe.

Randy elbowed him and nodded to the front doors.  “How
bout
you go wait out front for me.”

Joe glared at the man behind the desk.  The fucker knew
something.  Joe immediately regretted not punching him. 

As much as he hated to, he walked away from the desk and out
the doors.  That little prick better hope Gwen was okay.  If he held
out on something that could have already made a difference, there would be hell
to pay.  He would be back to get the rest of his shit upstairs, and when
he did, that bastard better pray he had the day off.

Five minutes later Randy was out the front door and he and
Joe were loading into the cruiser. 

“What did he say?” 

The cruiser pulled away from the curb and almost immediately
hung a left into the parking lot of a drug store across the street.  “He
said he thought she went here.”

Joe grabbed the door handle and was halfway to the door when
Randy caught up to him.  “Keep your mouth shut or you have to stay in the
car from here on out.  Got it?”

Joe nodded.  He wanted to hear everything straight from
the source.  No chance for someone to sugar coat it or leave out
information in an attempt to keep him calm.

The older lady at the front desk greeted them as they came
in, a smile on her face.  The police officer pulled a photo out of the
small leather cover for his field notes.  “Did this woman come in here a
little bit ago?” 

She took the picture from his hand and held it close. 
It was a picture of Gwen and her nieces.  Heath probably sent it over so
the guys could print it out.  He didn’t have any pictures of Gwen. 
His throat tightened.  He cleared it trying to push the emotion away.

“Yup.  She came in a couple hours ago.”  She held
the photo out for the officer to grab, but Joe plucked it from her fingers and
tucked it in his pocket.  He wanted it.  He needed to see her face,
have her with him in some way.

“Do you remember what she bought?”  The cop flipped
open his notebook and clicked the end of his pen.

“Yes.”  The woman’s cheeks took on a pinkish hue as she
wrung her hands in front of her.

Randy waited a minute until it became clear she wasn’t going
to continue without prodding.  “Can you tell me what it was?”

“I don’t know if she’d want me to tell.  It’s kind of
embarrassing.”  The woman was clearly uncomfortable with the topic, but
there was no way around it.

“Ma’am, she’s missing.  We need to know anything that
might help us find her.”  Officer
Quiad's
voice
took on a more stern tone, clearly conveying the severity of the situation.

“Did you call the hospitals or the urgent care
clinics?  She might be at one of those.” 

“Why would you think that?”  The cop’s voice was slow
and calm. 

Joe held his breath as he waited for the woman’s answer.

The woman looked around then leaned forward.  “I think
she was having a medical issue.”

Joe wanted to scream.  He wanted to shake this
woman.  It wasn’t that fucking hard to just spit out what she knew. 

“What kind of issue do you think she was having?”  Kurt
was scribbling in his pad as he waited for her answer.

“She bought some juice and some pain pills and those pills
that help your pee.”  The woman looked guilty, clearly not happy about
having to disclose Gwen’s secret shopping trip to the two men.

“I don’t think I know what pills you’re referring to.” 
Kurt had stopped writing and was looking up at the cashier.

She held up one finger and walked around her counter. 
“Hang on, I’ll go get them.”  She came back and handed him a small box
with the letters A Z O across the top.

Kurt flipped the box over and read from the
information.  “Relief from urinary pain, burning, urgency and frequency
associated with urinary tract infections.”  He looked at Joe. 
“Eventful weekend?”

“What are you talking about?” 

The little lady behind the counter leaned forward and
whispered at him.  “Too much sex can make a woman have those
problems.”  She nodded as she stood back straight, giving him a judgmental
once over.

She had to be kidding.  Joe looked at Randy.  He
nodded along with the woman. 

He wanted to die.  All of this was his fault. 
Literally every single bit.  The only thing keeping him moving forward was
the chance that Gwen decided to go to the doctor.

“Did you see where she went when she left?”  Both men
watched expectantly, waiting, hoping she had seen something else.

“I had to use the ladies.  I went straight there after
I checked her out.”

Damn.  Randy nodded and thanked the woman for her time
and they left.  As soon as they got in the car, Joe was scrolling through
his phone looking for any clinics in the area that were open on Sundays. 
“I’m going to start calling.”

“No you’re not.  We are going to go to the station and
wait for Heath.  Then we’ll go from there.  We have to be
methodical.”  A light turned red and the car came to a stop.  The
officer looked at him.  “We will find her.”

“I know.  I just want to find her before something bad
happens.” 

Randy nodded silently and turned back to the road. 

‘Bad’ didn’t need to be explained.  Both men had enough
experience with the kind of people they were dealing with to know what it
meant.

The closer they got to the station, the more Joe knew she
wasn’t at the doctor.  For a minute, he’d let himself hope that maybe it
was true.  Maybe she did call a cab and go to the hospital.  Deep
down he knew it wasn’t the case, but at least for a minute or two, he let
himself hope that maybe she was safe.

But she wasn’t safe.  She was who knows where with the
worst kind of men he’d ever met.  He hoped she was as strong as she seemed
and smarter than she acted this morning.  She should have told him what
was going on.  They could have made a simple call and been safely at the
doctors getting whatever she needed to feel better.  Instead, she was
suffering and alone and probably scared.

And he was terrified.

Heath beat them to the station and was already set up in a
room, writing on a white board surrounded by uniformed and plainclothes
cops.  He looked just as bad as Joe felt.  “You tell Gabbi?”

“Let’s just say you’d better watch your back the next time
you see her.”  Heath scribbled across the board as Officer
Quaid
filled him in on what they found out from the
cashier.  When he was done Heath turned to stare at him. 

“Since we’re friends, I won’t tell her that part.”

Joe threw his hands in the air.  “I didn’t know that
could happen!”  He slumped down in a chair at the front.  “Just find
her.  If you don't Gabs will kill you second.”

Joe half listened as the group decided to call all area
clinics open today, knowing they wouldn’t find her.  He was right. 
They didn’t.

Next came the decision to map out places someone from the
club might take her.  He gave addresses and anything he could remember
about their contacts and friendly clubs in this area. A few of the cops in the
room were familiar with the group and had some informants they thought they
could pressure for information.

It was after lunch when the group split up to start checking
out their list.  Joe went straight to Heath.  “Who am I going with?”

Heath looked up from the notes he was scanning. 
“Nobody.  You’re staying here.”