Casey wedged himself in, and after adjusting the seat, I slid in and slammed the door.
“Easy on the car,” Jared growled irritably.
“You’ll have to get rid of it soon,” I pointed out.
“No way.” Jared’s mouth tightened as he accelerated in to city traffic. “Mum’s been harping on at me to get rid of it ever since Evie and I got engaged,” he told Casey.
Casey’s brows flew up. “You only got engaged last night.”
“I know,” he snapped and rolled his eyes. “It’s not a good car for babies she says.”
I chuckled. “She’ll take you shopping for an SUV soon.”
Jared took his hand off the steering wheel to punch me in the arm. “Take that back, a**hole.”
My phone rang and ignoring Jared, I put it to my ear. “Yeah?”
“Trav, thank God,” came Mac’s tense voice. Considering Mac always sounded tense, it didn’t ring alarm bells. “Quinn said you’d been arrested.”
I chuckled. “Christ, she isn’t worried is she? It’s all been sorted out. I’m on my way to the hospital now. Are you there?”
“I am, but there’s a problem. A really big, horrible problem.”
My stomach sank. “What?” I barked.
“Quinn’s gone.”
I gripped the phone tight to my ear. “What the fuck, Mac!”
“Don’t shout at me,” she shouted. “I already know I f**ked up. Oh God,” she moaned.
I twisted in my seat and eyed Casey and Jared. “Quinn’s gone.”
Waves of tension rolled through the car, and Jared planted his foot, just catching an orange light.
I put the phone down and hit a button. “You’re on speaker. Talk.”
“We were out the front of the hospital. Evie went to get the car and bring it around and—”
“Why the hell was Quinn leaving the hospital?”
“I…she…you were locked up, and it was all a mistake. She said they were releasing her anyway and that we were going to bust you out. Well, not bust you out but clear everything up and get you released.”
“Christ, Mac,” Casey snapped from the back. “The doctor said she’d be in at least overnight if not two nights.”
“Well obviously she’s a big, fat liar.”
“Never mind,” I growled. “Just tell us what happened.”
“Evie went to get the car and then Quinn told me she left her phone on the counter inside where we signed the release paperwork, so I said I’d duck in and grab it and to wait right there. The uniform at the door was dismissed because we were leaving. When I came back out, she wasn’t there.”
I banged the back of my head hard on the headrest, twice. “Okay. How long were you gone?”
“Five minutes maybe.”
Casey shoved his phone towards me. “I’ve got a trace on her phone. It’s tracked her to the M4 heading west.”
Without hesitating, Jared checked his mirrors and swung the steering wheel hard left. The back end fishtailed wildly as we started for the most direct route to the M4.
I gripped the dash as I spoke to Mac. “So obviously you didn’t find her phone. Did you see her speak to anyone or see anyone that was suspicious?”
Jared accelerated, screaming down the road nowhere near fast enough for my liking, as he fought through thick afternoon traffic.
“No! I wasn’t paying attention to anyone else because Quinn’s body was pumped full of painkillers. She wasn’t steady on her feet.”
“Where are you and Evie now?” Jared asked, changing gears and checking his mirror as he shifted lanes.
“We’re still at the hospital.”
“Both of you back to the duplex now,” he ordered. “Whatever you’ve got on tonight, cancel it.”
“But we can—”
“No.” I cut her off. “You can’t. Just do it and ring us when you’re there.”
She replied with a muffled okay, and I disconnected the call.
“Jared, give your phone to Casey. Casey, get Coby on the line. Tell him what’s going on and to get over to the duplex and stick with the girls.”
I dialled Quinn’s number. It rang out. I dialled again.
“Mr. Valentine,” answered the male voice.
“Who is this?”
“You’re speaking with Luka Zampetti.”
“Fuck!” I yelled as my stomach rolled in fear. Sonofaf**kingbitch. “The Zampetti’s have her,” I muttered to Jared as Casey spoke to Coby from the back seat.
“Such language you people have. Yes we have Quinn if that’s what you were trying to ask me. We’re absolutely delighted with her. She’s so very pretty.”
“You better not harm a hair on her head, Zampetti. You’re about to have every police officer in the damn state on your ass. Put her on the phone.”
“You want to talk to her? Why not.”
There was a muffled fumble and then the sweet sound of her voice answered the phone. I closed my eyes for a brief second.
“Quinn! Are you okay?” My voice cracked. I leaned over and held my head in my hand.
“Oh, Travis,” she murmured. “You wasted your phone call.”
“What?”
“Your one phone call,” she repeated.
“Quinn, Jesus. It was a misunderstanding. They let me go when they realised it wasn’t me who shot David. Have they—”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Motherf**king Zampetti’s,” Casey yelled from behind me and kicked the back of the centre console in frustration. I held up a hand, indicating for him to shut the hell up. “Have they hurt you?”
“No. I’m fine too.”
I didn’t believe her. Her voice was shaky and she sounded so damn scared.
“Hold tight. I’m coming for you. I promise.” I swallowed hard. God. If anything happened to her I don’t… I pushed the thought away. “Just…I need to know we’re okay—you and me,” I pleaded. “I need to hear you say it.”
There was a pause.
“I’m sorry I didn’t trust in us. That I didn’t give you a chance to explain before I ran. Nothing we have is a lie,” she told me with a voice thick with tears. “I love you.”
“Oh, God, sweetheart,” I whispered hoarsely, my heart swelling as I stared blindly out the window. “I love you so much.”
“I… Travis—” she cried out and then she was gone.
“Mr. Valentine,” Luka said into the phone. “Quinn is going to prove very valuable to us, but we’re going to be busy from here on in. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t bother us again.”
The line went dead and hot tears filled my eyes. After a deep breath I handed Casey back his phone and picked up Quinn’s signal on my own.
“Casey.” I cleared my throat. “Ring Mitch. Fill him in and tell him where we’re headed.”
The scenery flew by as we hit the M4 Freeway, and Casey spoke in the background on his phone. I blanked his words and tried to clear my mind and stay calm, but when Quinn’s location stopped moving passed the M7 Westlink, my heart stuttered.
“Hell,” I muttered.
Jared glanced across at me as he drove. “What?”
There was nowhere to turn off and stop along that freeway. It could only mean one thing. “He’s dumped her phone.” And I lost the only link to tracking her. “I promised her we were coming for her,” I whispered.
Rage built up like a force inside of me.
“Trav,” Casey said from behind me.
“Fuck!” I roared and slammed my fist on the dash. The brief burst of pain was a welcome relief. I threw my phone on the floor, my body shaking from the effort to contain the desperate fury. “Sonofabitch!”
“We’re going to find her,” Jared said. “We need to work out where Zampetti would be heading.”
“Mitch said the AFP isn’t talking.”
“Maybe once they know they’ve got Quinn they might start,” Casey muttered.
I bent over and grabbed for my phone. We’d reached the signal for Quinn but as my eyes took in everything ahead, all I could see was empty road. Rubbing my forehead wearily, I started to dial Mitch when he rang me at the same time.
I answered. “Yeah?”
“Here’s the deal,” he began. “The AFP have a nark high up. He’s sent a signal to get the police ready to close in. His last location was at a safe house in Penrith. If your heading west on the M4 it sounds likely that Zampetti could possibly be heading to that safe house right now.”
I twisted in my seat and indicated for Casey to give me his phone. He handed it over, and Mitch spelled out the address as I typed it in the phone and called up the map.
“Thanks, Mitch. We’re heading there right now.”
“Travis, wait,” he said quickly before I could hang up. “I’m right behind you, but…be safe. This shit is a big deal. They’re calling in choppers left and right. No matter what, we’ll find her, okay?”
Even though he couldn’t see me, I nodded anyway. “Okay.”
After hanging up I ran the coordinates of the safe house with Jared and sat back in my seat, fighting the urge to tell Jared how to drive. My legs were cramped from the tiny matchbox car, and I needed a cigarette. Quinn first, but a cigarette straight after to calm the itchy nerves would be really f**king good right now.
After what seemed an eternity, we arrived at the address in time to see two unmarked sedans and agents busting down the door.
I glanced across at Jared as he squealed to a halt, parking sideways across the driveway. “Guns?” I yelled.
“Boot,” he replied.
We both bailed out and I slid the front seat forward for Casey to get out before running for the boot. I grabbed one of the two handguns Jared held out and engaged the slide with a quick, efficient movement.
The three of us approached the house at a jog, and stepping through the open door, heard the agents yell ‘clear’ even as my eyes took in the empty room.
“Back here!” one yelled and I followed the sound, leaving Jared to pass on our identification.
“Oh God,” I moaned when we stepped through to the dining area. I swallowed the nausea from the sight that greeted me, the effort causing a sweat to break out on my brow. A window had been shot out, shards of glass scattered across the floor. The room was empty apart from two chairs, one was kicked over, but both were covered in blood. I spun around. Blood spatter trailed up the wall. It smeared across the floor and pooled on the timber flooring. The metallic tang of it filtered the air. My body dropped to a crouch, and I hung my head in my hands, the gun still clasped tight in my fingers as I fought to breathe past the waves of fear that rolled through me faster than I could repress them.
A hand landed on my shoulder. I shook my head, my body starting to shake with the sobs I couldn’t contain.
“Travis,” Casey croaked, the heartbreak in his voice staggering, dragging me further into despair. “This doesn’t mean anything.”