Hearts and Aces (Kelsey's Burden Series Book 7) by Kaylie Hunter (great books for teens txt) 📗

backs. “You’re American,” I said, to the man holding the gun. “None of you have accents. You’re either American, or you’ve been in the country a long time.”

“What’s your point?” the man with the gun asked.

“Why are you working for the cartel?”

“Pays well,” one of the other men said as he dragged Katie out by her hair.

She landed on her ass on the asphalt. I went to move toward her but she gave me a quick jerk of her head to stay back. Frustrated, I stepped away and scanned the area as two other men helped Katie to her feet. We were parked next to what I believed was the old bread factory. I scanned the outer perimeter before I swept my eyes to the building. Down the lot, at the furthest end, I saw a head peek out from behind a loading dock ramp.

I shook my head slightly, and the head disappeared. The man hiding appeared to be homeless. Hopefully he wasn’t one of the mentally ill individuals who graced the streets, but statistics weren’t in our favor. Almost half the homeless were plagued with anxiety disorders, depression, bipolar disease, or schizophrenia. It was a complexity that the city faced every day.

“Move,” my escort said, jerking my arm as he turned me toward the building.

“You know these places are filled with rats,” I said, yanking my arm away.

“Good. Maybe I’ll get to watch them chew off your toes.” He shoved me hard in the back and through the doorway.

It took a minute for my eyes to adjust. It wasn’t pitch black inside, but the lights were off and the windows were closer to the ceiling than they were to the floor and caked with years of dirt and grime. The floor was cement and cluttered with trash.

I chose my steps carefully as I was led across the factory to a corner room. The space had served as an office at some point. An old desk, covered in layers of dust, sat facing forward with a chair leaning to one side between the desk and a row of file cabinets along the back wall. I looked up at the windows, but they were too high to see through. The wall that held the office door had an observation window that started about waist high and ran the length of the wall from the corner to the door. I watched the others as they were dragged one at a time into the room.

Katie’s disgust for the lack of cleanliness was apparent when she walked inside. “Can we at least get clean chairs to sit on?”

Her silent answer was to be thrown face first to the floor.

“How’s that for comfort, bitch?” the man asked as he leaned over the top of her, hissing in her ear.

“You need to brush your teeth, dude,” Katie said. “Your breath reeks. Did you have sauerkraut? Ugh. Gross.”

“Mouthy bitch,” he said as he slapped her across the back of the head and stood. He turned toward me, but I sat willingly before he did anything. Bridget and Tweedle followed my lead and sat as well.

A minute later the door slammed shut, but two of the men stayed outside the window.

“Now what?” Katie asked, shifting to the side with one leg extended to counterbalance her weight so she could to sit up.

I glanced over at Bridget. “How’d you do?”

“I got a pen,” she shrugged.

“I got a small knife,” I said. “I win.”

“Not so fast,” Katie said. “You think I was letting them throw me around for the fun of it?” She turned her back to us and dropped a small set of keys.

“You win,” Bridget said as she scooted closer to Katie to snag the keys.

“Do I get a prize?” Katie asked.

“If there’s a handcuff key on that ring, I’ll buy you a hot fudge sundae,” I said.

“Oh, there’s a handcuff key all right,” Bridget said, unlocking her cuffs.

I watched and alerted Bridget when the guards turned to glance in the window. She uncuffed Katie next. They kept their hands mostly behind their backs, securing both ends of the bracelets to one wrist so the cuff wouldn’t make noise. There was a long wait while a guard moved to stand facing us until he finally turned his back again. Bridget unlocked Tweedle’s cuffs.

“Why do you still have the jump rope?” Bridget asked Tweedle, tossing the rope next to me.

“Everything happened so quick, I never thought to drop it.”

I was sitting furthest from the door, my back to the desk. Bridget slid the keys toward me right before one of the guards turned around to check on us. I shifted my leg on top of the keys to hide them.

“What’s the plan?” Katie asked.

“You’ll use the desk to climb on top of the filing cabinet and slip out the window. You and Bridget escort Tweedle out. We’re four blocks northwest of a McDonalds. That’s the safest location to stop and call for help.”

“Where will you be?”

“Right here. Causing a distraction.”

“Bad plan,” Bridget said. “You can’t take on seven guys alone.”

“I don’t have to. I only need to distract them long enough for the three of you to get away, then I’ll surrender.” I twisted my body, lifted my leg, and snagged the keys, before turning back into my original position. “They’ll split into two teams, half staying to guard me and the others will leave to search for you guys.”

“What if they just shoot you?” Tweedle asked.

“Doubtful. If they wanted us dead, they’d have shot us already.”

Katie snorted. “That’s what your inner profiler instincts are telling you? That it’s doubtful they’ll shoot you?”

“I’m thinking Kelsey’s odds are better than ours,” Bridget said as she studied the windows. “Even if we manage to get Tweedle out the window without getting caught,