Incomprehensible words rumbled around me as my brain decided to check out.
A shove against my back, forced me into a stumbling shuffle. Just as my vision
started to clear, Iceman slammed me into something solid, the edge cutting into
the back of my knees. My legs folded, and my ass met a hard surface.
He released his hold and pins and needles exploded along every inch of my
arm. A groan escaped without permission. Both arms were yanked back and the
soft shush of a zip tie preceded the bite of plastic into my wrists. It was nothing
compared to the ache blooming in my head like some vicious flower. Fingers dug into my chin, jerking my head up.
“Ow, dammit!”
“At least you’re awake.” Dark, empty eyes stared into mine.
The dim light made it hard to see, but he didn’t look familiar. There was nothing distinctive about his face, it was the kind that could blend with the general population. His short, cropped hair clung close to his scalp, but I couldn’t make out the color. All I could see was the chilling emptiness in his dark eyes, eyes rife with cruel amusement.
I licked my lips and tasted the bite of iron from a cut. “What do you want?”
His mouth ticked up. “Same as you. Ellery.”
“Sorry, not going to be much help with that.”
His smile curdled my blood. “Don’t worry, Arden, you will be.”
Before trepidation could gain a foothold, I was hit by something solid, and everything turned black.
CHAPTER 18
The bleat of a car horn and the squeal of rapidly applied brakes dragged me
to consciousness. Just as fast as I opened my eyes, I closed them.
Extraordinary pain seared everything away, leaving me blind and nauseous. An
unknown fear held me in place as I sat slumped on the ground, as my pulse thudded with a dull beat. It hurt to think.
What happened?
The air was heavy, hard to breath, and the heat oppressive. Sweat plastered
my T-shirt to my spine and a rivulet trickled between my breasts. The rancid odor of things gone bad competed with dust and baked stone. Everything part of
me throbbed with aches and pains. A hollow crack broke through the white noise
crowding my pounding skull and echoed around me.
Where the hell was I?
My fingers flexed against the rough, pitted ground, different from the solid surface at my back. For a sickening moment, I was back in some godforsaken village with an unpronounceable name in Pakistan. The illusion was shattered by
the shrill song of a siren peeled another layer from my eardrums, allowing the rush of passing traffic to rise to the surface. Awareness seeped in with a careful
cautiousness, as if I was one wrong move away from shattering.
Phoenix. I was in Phoenix.
The reminder served to push the foreign desert of my nightmares back where
it belonged, thousands of miles away. I pried my eyes open, and tried to muffle
the whimper as the light ratcheted the mind-numbing ache in my head higher.
Involuntary tears trailed down my chin. I raised a heavy arm to wipe the annoying weakness away, and missed, only then realizing my muscle control
was iffy. The second attempt was more successful. Using the same hand to shield
my burning eyes, I blinked until my vision slowly returned. When I thought it was safe, I lowered my hands and was met with a cement block fence decorated
in urban art made up of intricate curls of white, black, and brown.
Turning my head with care, I took in my surroundings. The grey metal of the
garbage dumpster next to me magnified the heat, but it also worked as a great crutch as I struggled to my feet. I leaned against the uncomfortably warm surface
