Painless

Chapter Nineteen

After filling Carson in on the news about Dr. Jackson and my theories about where I thought he was holding Benji and the others, I’d somehow convinced him to get back behind the wheel even though he’d fought me on our final destination.

            “I have to call your mom,” he said as we drove. It was weird now that it was just the two of us. Like a bizarre road trip or couple’s retreat. “Benji hasn’t even recovered from the last situation we got him into and now someone’s kidnapped him. He could be seriously hurt, Bliss. You don’t want anything worse to happen to him, do you? I really think it’s time to call your parents.”

            Didn’t he know that I was sick over the fact that some creep who liked to take little kids away from their loving families currently had his hands on my oldest friend? Okay, possibly my only friend. My stomach was so nervous that I was beginning to understand why they’d named it In-N-Out Burger. But I had to hold it together and act fast.

            “Three or four years ago, my mom helped on a kidnapping case,” I said, settling into the passenger seat as Carson maneuvered the car around traffic. “This high-profile celeb’s adopted daughter was taken from her school and the parents were crazy-hysterical over it. A few threats to sue the city of California, and a frantic call to their good friend the mayor, ended in my mom and her colleagues being put on the case to hunt the kid down.

“Thing is, I got a bit of a crash course on what to do in the case of an abduction when that happened. One of those little nuggets of wisdom was that you have a very small window of opportunity to find a person once they’ve gone missing,” I explained. “The next 48 hours are crucial to us finding Benji.”

And I had a feeling that wherever we found him, we’d also find Joanie and Glenn.

At least I hoped that was the case.

Until now, I hadn’t allowed myself to really think about the possibility that they were anything other than alive and well. But the hotel bombing had been a wake-up call that whoever was doing this was serious and that they didn’t seem to care if people were hurt in the process. And then there was Hoodie. I had no idea what the deal was with him, but he hadn’t been playing around when we’d gotten into that sparring match. The kid had been out for blood. And if I hadn’t been trained to defend myself then I’d probably still be lying in that construction hole where he’d left me. Now, whether it was his decision to turn up the heat or someone else’s, he was someone I had to look out for.

I wanted to believe that Joanie and Glenn were okay (physically at least; mentally, there was going to be some backlash from being torn away from family and friends), but I’d already begun to prepare myself for the possibility that they weren’t.

That didn’t mean there wasn’t still a chance for Benji, though.

As I clung to that hope, I turned my attention back to Carson.

“Don’t you see? We don’t have time to call my parents. We need to jump on this. And we’re already a few hours closer to Clarenceville than they are anyway. Besides, do you really want everyone knowing that Benji was kidnapped on your watch?” I asked. Admittedly, it was a low-blow, but my other tactics didn’t seem to be getting through to him.

Carson’s lips were set in a straight line and I could tell he was struggling with how to answer. I had to tread softly now if I wanted him to listen to me, and at this point I desperately needed him to. The time had come to put aside my ego and be honest with him. So I sucked it up and did what I had to do, to get what I wanted.

“Listen, I know I haven’t given you much of a reason to trust me, but I need you to do that now. I’m my mother’s daughter and she raised me to follow my instincts and to take care of the people I love. I know this is the right thing to do. All I’m asking is that you at least wait until we get there to contact my parents. Then, if you think it’s too dangerous or that we need back-up, you have my permission to call them.”