Chapter 59 Faux
“Miss Mandy, you're under arrest!"
Mandy was shaking as the officer grabbed her, hurling her to the door.
“Where are you taking her?!" Elena struggled, trying to stop them.
The lead officer, the one who had mentioned Julian, grabbed Elena by the arm and yanked her to her feet.
“You're also under arrest for theft and assault."
“Assault?! When?"
“Come with us to the station and find out."
Before Elena could ask questions, he impatiently dragged her out the door.
"Move it," he barked. "We don't have all day. The transport is waiting."
Elena looked down at the floor. The Project Angel files were still scattered there, but one of the other men was already scooping them up into a black gym bag.
They weren't leaving any evidence behind.
They pushed the two women out of the apartment and down the back stairs, avoiding the main elevator.
They reached the alleyway behind the building where a white van with a blue light bar on top was idling there. It looked like a police transport, but as Elena was shoved toward the back doors, she noticed something.
The "police" logo on the side was a slightly different shade of blue than the ones she had seen on Silas’s cruiser. The men weren't wearing name tags.
"Get in," the driver said. He wasn't in uniform. He was wearing a leather jacket and had a thick scar running through his eyebrow.
Elena and Mandy were thrown into the back of the van.
The doors slammed shut, plunging them into near-total darkness. The only light came from a small, barred window in the partition separating them from the front seats. The van lurched forward, tires screeching as it sped away from the curb.
"Mandy," Elena whispered, leaning close to her friend. "Something is wrong. These aren't cops."
“How do you know? What if it's David's family?"
“Look?! They don't have badges and they lied about some assault case that doesn't exist."
Mandy was staring at the floor, her face as white as a sheet. "It’s him. It’s Holland. I told you he was dangerous. He didn't call the real police. He sent his own people to get us. He’s going to kill us, Elena."
"We have to get out," Elena said. She looked at her handcuffs. They were real, but the men had been in such a hurry they hadn't checked her pockets. She still had the small pen she had grabbed from the hotel in Savannah tucked into the inner lining of her hoodie.
"How?" Mandy sobbed. "There are four of them. They have guns."
"We need a distraction," Elena said. "When the van slows down, I’m going to pretend to have a seizure. I’m going to scream and kick the walls. When they open that little window or the back door to check on us, you have to hit them with whatever you can find."
Mandy looked around the empty van. There was nothing but a heavy metal lug wrench sitting in the corner, likely left behind from a tire change. She grabbed it, her fingers trembling as she gripped the cold iron.
The van continued to speed through the city. Elena watched the streetlights pass through the small window. She waited for the moment the vehicle slowed down.
After about twenty minutes, the van began to bounce over rougher roads. The sound of traffic faded. They were heading out of the city, toward the forest reserves that lined the outskirts of the suburbs.
The van slowed down to take a sharp turn. Elena didn't hesitate. She threw herself onto the floor of the van and began to scream at the top of her lungs. She thrashed her legs against the metal sides, creating a deafening, rhythmic banging.
"Help! She’s dying! She can't breathe!" Mandy screamed, playing her part. She hammered on the partition window with her fist. "Open the door! She’s choking! Help her!"
The van slammed to a halt.
Elena kept thrashing, her body hitting the hard floor over and over. She heard the front doors open and the sound of heavy boots hitting the gravel.
"What the hell is going on back there?" a voice yelled.
The back doors swung open. The lead man, the one who had pretended to be the officer, climbed in. He looked annoyed and stressed. "Shut her up! Shut her—"
He didn't finish the sentence. Mandy swung the lug wrench with every bit of strength she had. The metal hit the man squarely in the side of the head.
He let out a choked groan and slumped over, falling out of the van and onto the dirt road.
"Run!" Elena screamed.
She scrambled up, her hands still cuffed in front of her. Mandy jumped out after her, still clutching the wrench. The other three men were already getting out of the front seats, pulling their weapons.
"Hey! Get back here!"
A gunshot rang out and a bullet hit the metal frame of the van with a loud ping. Elena and Mandy didn't look back.
They dove into the thick brush at the side of the road, the branches tearing at their clothes and scratching their faces.
The forest was dense and dark, the tall oaks and maples blocking out whatever moonlight was left.
They ran blindly, their feet tripping over fallen logs and tangled roots. Behind them, they could hear the men shouting and the sound of crashing through the undergrowth.
"This way!" Elena gasped, pointing toward a steeper incline.
As they ran, the freezing rain began to pour down heavily, turning the forest floor into a slick mess of mud and wet leaves.
Within minutes, they were soaked to the bone. The temperature dropped rapidly, and Elena was shivering.
"I can't... I can't go any further," Mandy panted, her voice weak. She was shivering so hard she could barely hold the wrench.
"We have to," Elena urged, grabbing Mandy’s arm. "If they catch us, they’ll kill us right here. Just a little further. I know this reserve leads to a train station."
The rain turned into a downpour, making it impossible to see more than a few feet ahead.
The sound of the wind through the trees masked the noise of their pursuers, but it also made them feel completely isolated.
Elena’s hands were numb from the cold, the metal of the handcuffs feeling like ice against her skin.
They reached a clearing where the ground seemed to level off. Elena turned her head to check behind them, listening for the sound of the men.
She saw a flash of a flashlight beam about fifty yards back.
"They're still coming," Elena whispered. "We have to hide."
She turned to run toward a cluster of thick pine trees, but she didn't see the slope in the ground.
The heavy rain had washed away the soil near the edge of an old, hidden limestone pit.
Elena moved and her foot hit empty air.
"Elena!" Mandy screamed.
Elena felt a sickening moment of weightlessness before she plummeted downward.
She hit the side of the pit, her shoulder slamming into jagged rock, and then tumbled into the darkness.
She landed hard at the bottom, the air driven from her lungs.
She lay there in the mud and the dark, her head spinning.
The pit was deep, at least fifteen feet, and the walls were slick with rainwater. Above her, she could see the gray circle of the opening, the rain falling straight into her face.
"Elena! Are you okay? Speak to me!" Mandy’s voice drifted down, sounding terrified.
Elena tried to sit up, but a sharp, stabbing pain shot through her ankle. She let out a cry of agony and fell back into the muck.
"I’m here! I think I broke my leg! Mandy, stay back! Don't fall in!"
"I'm going to get you out," Mandy said, her face appearing at the edge of the pit. "I'll find a branch, a rope or anything!"
"No time," Elena groaned. She could hear the voices of the men getting closer.
They were calling out to each other, their flashlights flashing around the forest that was now darker. "Mandy, you have to go. If they find you here, we're both dead. Run!"
"I'm not leaving you!" Mandy cried.
"Go! Get help! Find Silas! Go now!" Elena yelled, her voice breaking.
Mandy hesitated for a second, her face covered in mud and tears. Then, she let out a sob, turned, and vanished from the edge of the pit.