Page 86 of Striker
Viper accelerated through the parking lot. “All right. Rogue’s already questioned Rex. So far, he hasn’t admitted to being involved.”
“That’s ridiculous,” he said with a scoff. “Who else would fucking take her?”
Take. He didn’t even know if that was the case. For all he knew, Rex had sent someone to grab her and put a bullet in her head. Her body could be lifeless somewhere while he sat here.
Helplessness washed over him. Goddammit, he’d never been helpless in his life. Not like this.
“Who did she know here?”
Atlas massaged his temple. He couldn’t waste time going down a dead-end street. Molly hadn’t been here long enough to make enemies. Hell, Rex had just tried to kill her last night. What were the odds someone else had swooped in now that he was out of the picture?
Nil.
“It was Rex. Had to be.”
Viper steered onto a busy street. The evening hour bustling with traffic. Dark windows stared down at them from skyscrapers and empty shops.
Molly should be in the hotel waiting for him. Snuggled warmly between the sheets without a worry in the damn world. Instead, she could be in pain. Scared. Cold.
Dead.
He closed his eyes as emotion strangled his next breath.
Viper talked quietly, his voice droning along with the whir of the tires and not even penetrating Atlas’s mind.
He shouldn’t have left her alone. If he’d stayed with her, none of this would’ve happened. He also couldn’t blame Viper for leaving her, or Wraith for getting injured.
But hindsight was twenty-twenty.
“Dude. You don’t look so good.”
Atlas stared out of the windshield, his elbow on the console between them and his back rigid. “If I hadn’t left her, she’d be safe right now.”
“Technically, I was the last person to leave her. So if the blame’s on anyone, it’s me.”
“No, I should’ve been the one to stay with her. Not you.”
“And Wraith still would’ve gotten hurt. How could we have done anything differently, man? He’d lost a lot of blood. If we hadn’t airlifted him, he might not have made it—still might not.”
The statement was like a punch to the gut. He couldn’t lose Wraith, too.
“I don’t know the answer. All’s I know is I should’ve been here.”
“Dwelling on that ain’t gonna do shit to get her back. We need to focus on who would’ve wanted to hurt her?—”
“Rex,” he bellowed with irritation, smashing his palm against the dash. The windows rattled.
“Yeah, Rex. We know that. But if you don’t expand your mind and try to think of at least one other perp, then we might as well throw in the towel. Rex is in custody now.”
“Then we should interrogate him again about what he did with her.” God, he was using past tense.
A sickening feeling pulled at the bottom of his stomach. He pressed his lips together to stem the nausea.
“Sure. And how fast do you think that’s gonna happen?”
“How about you give some solid suggestions, ya twat.”
Viper chortled. “Least you still have your sense of humor. Look, we’re going back to the hotel?—”
