Chapter Twenty
There were very few times in Nancy's life where she truly felt like killing someone—and right now was one of those times. She wanted to kill Randy Wolfe for stabbing her and leaving her at a serious disadvantage. It wasn't enough that he and Krieger had decided to make a twisted little hunting game starring yours truly.
No, he had to come back and stab her in the leg just to up the stakes. And the real kicker—the one thing that really bothered her—it was all just to help her, or so he said. Yes, she knew what Krieger had planned for her, but was she really naïve enough to think that Randy was truly looking out for her in his own sick, twisted way.
The simple answer was no.
There was no way in hell she was about to believe anything that came out of Randy Wolfe's mouth.
And while the rational part of her brain told her that Randy could have left her with a much more serious injury, the whiny five-year-old part of her was screaming that it wasn't just fair that he'd stabbed her in the leg. Why couldn't he just stab her in the arm—she could fight with one arm. But having a wounded leg was going to hinder her movement in a serious way.
Stop thinking like that, Drew. If you're going to insist on throwing yourself a pity party, then you might as well just give up right now. Otherwise, get your ass up and start moving!
Allowing herself one last helpless sigh, Nancy looked around for the knife that Randy had made her drop. At least he hadn't taken that away from her. She needed to find some way to stem the flow of blood on her leg and her only option at the moment was to cut the bottom of her shirt and make a tourniquet. It wouldn't stop the bleeding completely, but it would help.
Spotting it a few feet away, Nancy set about cutting her shirt until she had a long enough strip to wrap around her thigh. Letting out a grunt of pain, she tied it off around her leg until it was nice and tight, but where it wouldn't cut off her circulation. Taking a deep breath, she slowly made her way up, bracing herself against the side of the van as she slowly put pressure on her injured leg, testing its limits.
For a split second, white-hot pain shot through her leg, nearly making her faceplant into the ground once again. She gritted her teeth and breathed through the pain until it became nothing more than a dull throb. Turning back to the passenger side of the van, she found that the door was now locked.
"Randy must have managed to do that while I was cursing him with everything I had in me," Nancy said bitterly, her voice unnaturally loud in the quite forest, though it had been nothing more than a whisper in actuality.
Yet one more reason for her to want to kill Randy. The list just kept getting longer.
"Well, you can't just stand around here and wait for them to come get you," Nancy said, pushing away from the van. "You need to move."
And with that, Nancy trudged further into the forest, heading in the opposite direction of where Randy went.
"It looks like I'm in."
Max jerked in his seat at Daniel's sudden announcement, having been nodding off and on for the last couple of hours while Daniel found a way into Wolfe's program. Cursing under his breath, he rubbed a hand over his face and sat up in his seat so he could see what his partner was looking at on the computer screen.
"Where's the camera feed?" Max asked, frowning slightly when he didn't see anything.
"It will take a few minutes to come up," Daniel said, patiently. "I just now got the confirmation about the money being deposited into their account."
"This can't be traced back to us, can it?"
"Give me a little credit, Max. I wouldn't be careless enough to do something like that." Daniel shot him an annoyed glance. "I rerouted the money through several locations under a false name so when the police do get wind of this little scheme, we will be nowhere near it."
Max sighed, hating that he'd insulted Daniel. "I'm sorry, Daniel. I didn't mean it to sound like I was questioning your capabilities. I know you're the best at what you do. It's just—"
"You're stressed and worried about Nancy and you're taking it out on me."
"Yes."
"It's a good thing I don't take you seriously the majority of the time, Max." A teasing smile tugged at Daniel's lips. "We'd never get along, otherwise."
Shooting his friend a reluctant smile, Max really wondered for what to be the millionth time what he would do without Daniel by his side. Max knew without a doubt he could be an ass sometimes—okay, most of the time. Most people would have turned their back on him, but not Daniel. For some reason, he still managed to stick around.
Max couldn't figure out how he'd gotten so lucky when it came to a friend like Daniel.
Shaking the thoughts away, Max focused his attention on the task at hand. "Have there been any rumblings from the police so far? You would think they would have caught onto something as barbaric as this by now."
Daniel shook his head. "No, but it's not surprising. Wolfe has managed to pull together some serious security measures for his Pay-Per-View special. He's got it going through so many false channels, it would take the police weeks for months to figure it out."
"What about you?"
"What about me?"
"How long will it take for you to work your way through it?"
"At least a few hours."
Max shook his head. "That's not good enough, Daniel."
"It's going to have to be good enough, Max. I have limited resources, sitting here in the middle of a public park." Daniel frowned as he continued to stare at the computer screen. "I would have much better luck if we were back home."
"Well, that can't happen."
"I know it can't happen." Daniel turned his head to glare at Max. "All I'm asking is that you have some patience."
Max opened his mouth to argue further, but thought better of it when he saw Daniel's expression. In the back of his mind, he knew that his partner was doing everything he could to try to pinpoint Nancy's location. But the irrational part of him was telling him that it simply wasn't enough. Maybe it had to do with the fact that Max could do nothing, but sit and twiddle his thumbs.
Two things that he was never really good at.
They sat in silence for a few moments, neither of them wanting to say anything to anger the other person. Which was okay with Max—he could take silence. In fact, he preferred it
"Looks like we're live," Daniel said after about five minutes.
Max leaned over in his seat to see what Daniel was looking at. There were so many camera angles, it almost made him dizzy. But they all seemed to have one focal point—Nancy. The camera followed her every move, making Max feel as if she was completely open and exposed. She was practically every voyeur's dream as she darted in between the trees, focused on all of her surroundings.
"It's looks like she may be hurt," Daniel murmured.
"What are you talking about?"
Daniel hit a few keys until one of the screens paused so Max could get a clearer shot of Nancy. There was no mistaking the crimson stain on her jeans and the slight grimace of pain on her dirtied face. Daniel tapped a few more keys and the feed jumped forward, following Nancy as she continued to trek further into the forest. It was then that Max noticed the awkward way she was jogging, the wound on her leg proving to be a hindrance.
There was no doubt in his mind that what happened to Nancy wasn't an accident. It had been done deliberately to debilitate her even further. Max felt the anger wash over him, taking everything he had not to drive his fist through the window.
"Is there a way to trace the cameras?" Max asked through clinched teeth.
"I'm already working on it, Max," Daniel said softly, not even glancing up from the screen as his fingers flew across the keyboard in furious strokes. "According to the message boards they have on here, it's only been about an hour since she got the wound. And if you're wondering who to aim your rage at, it would be Wolfe."
"Good to know."
"But you may be even angrier at Krieger."
"Why's that?"
"Apparently, he's mentioned what he would like to do to Nancy if they manage to capture her before the twenty-four hours is up. And it has everyone in here doing a little happy dance."
"What is it?"
"If he manages to get a hold of her, instead of outright killing her, he plans to torture her for the duration of the twenty-four hour period. Of course, allowing everyone to watch."
"Son of a bitch!"
"And the pieces of shit on this message board have offered plenty of suggestions on how to do that." Daniel swallowed hard as he glanced over at Max. "Let's just hope Krieger and Wolfe isn't able to see any of these messages. Nancy would be better off getting taken out by one of the animals in the forest."
Max's blood ran cold at that. His hands were clenched so tightly that his nails cut into his palms, leaving bloody indentations in the skin. "Daniel, you have to—"
"I'm on it, Max. I'll find her before those bastards have a chance to capture her."
Max prayed that Daniel was right.
A shorter chapter this time around, but I had to stop it there or it would have gone on a lot longer than I wanted. Besides, it's not such a bad cliffhanger here, right? Right?
I would love to thank the following for the love I got for the last chapter: Randompersonality, Angelvie S, Michelle Gallichio, SC15, Lady Emily, Cupcake, and raven678. As always, you guys rock!
I have to say that SC15 cracked me up with her review, saying how evil I was to Nancy as she pointed out what I've done to Nancy lately. Looking back, I think I have to agree with her. Yeah, I'm harsh on Nancy, but the way I justify it is this: humanity is dark and evil. And I'm not saying that it's the majority of the people out there, because I really believe the good people outweigh the bad. I just don't think I could do my stories any justice by having the bad guy gloat, threaten our characters and then they get arrested—the end. I like action and plenty of suspense in my stories—I want you all to be on the edge of your seats, screaming at me because, let's be honest, I enjoy it.
So, thank you again for supporting me and the crazy journeys I bring you on!
I also noticed that some of you have been asking me questions in your reviews, but it's just so hard for me to reply to them since I would have to go through the entire Private Message feature and that just takes too much work, especially from my phone. So, I was thinking if any of you had questions you would like me to address, you could follow me on Twitter and ask away there. My screen name is supernaturalsam.
I apologize for any mistakes on my part and I hope you enjoy.