Page 68 of Keeping Penny

One of the men swung a baseball bat, and Pyro saw it moving toward him as if in slow motion. The pain from the hit to his shin made him see stars, and he immediately went down—falling to the side, thank God, otherwise he might have fallen on Bowie.

The man hit him again on the same leg, this time glancing off his knee, and Pyro roared in anger, pain, and frustration.

Bowie screamed as the second man grabbed her, trying to pull her away. But the little girl had a death grip on Pyro’s shirt and refused to let go.

Witnessing Bowie being manhandled had Pyro seeing red.

His first instinct was to go for the man with the bat. He needed a weapon. But Bowie was shouting, still clutching his shirt with desperate fingers, and any second now her abductor could rip her away and into a vehicle.

Pyro leapt to his feet, lunging for the man holding Bowie, ready to fight to the death.

That’s when the asshole with the bat swung one more time, hitting the same leg yet again—and this time Pyro heard a crack before he hit the pavement.

“Grab him!” the man struggling with Bowie ordered.

“We’re just supposed to take the girl,” Bat Guy argued.

Pyro tried to focus, but the pain from his broken leg had blindsided him. “Put her down!” he roared.

The man ignored him, finally prying Bowie’s fingers off his shirt and hurrying toward one of the cars. “Double the money! If we can get fifty grand for her, we’ll get at least that for him too. There are lots of people who’d want a guy like him at their beck and call. He’s hardly a threat with that broken leg, and we didn’t fuck up his pretty face. Boss doesn’t even have to know. We’ll give him the money we get for the girl and keep whatever we get for that asshole to ourselves.”

“Yeah, cool,” Bat Guy said, before leaning down and grabbing Pyro by the arm. “Stand up and walk or the next thing broken will be your fucking head.”

The initial shock of the pain was fading, but Pyro was still in no shape to effectively fight back. His only thought at the moment was not to let them leave with Bowie. To not allow them to be separated. If they were taking him wherever they were taking her, he still had a chance to protect her.

He hadn’t missed the conversation about human trafficking—and he knew instantly Colvin hadn’t just let go of the debt he felt Penny owed him, as everyone had hoped.

His worst nightmare was coming true.

He had a brief moment of thanks that Penny hadn’t been the one to pick up Bowie today, because if she had, it was likely he never would’ve seen either of them again.

These men had chosen poorly by deciding to take him too.

Getting up made his head spin with pain, and walking was impossible. He had to hop in the direction of the vehicle the other man had carried Bowie. She was silent now, but only because she had a huge, dirty hand covering her mouth. She was kicking and squirming in his grasp, desperately trying to get away.

Pride filled Pyro at her refusal to give up. To fight. But pain was making his head fuzzy.

“Get his phone. Boss said to make sure we didn’t take anything digital so she couldn’t be tracked.”

Pyro felt the man’s hand in his back pocket before he was shoved headfirst into the trunk of the car. He almost had a heart attack, thinking they were going to put Bowie in the other car. But thankfully, the man holding her practically threw her into the trunk with him, then slammed the lid.

Pyro couldn’t see his hand in front of his face, but he immediately wrapped his arms around Bowie, who was shaking like a leaf.

“Shhhhh, Bowie-Bear, I’ve got you.”

“W-W-What’s happening?” she asked between panicky breaths.

“Breathe, sweetheart. Slow down your breathing. You’re okay. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m here, and I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I need you to be brave, okay?”

She didn’t respond, just did her best to burrow into him instead as she sobbed.

Pyro blocked out the pain from his leg as fury filled him. How dare someone scare a child like these men had done. How fucking dare they kidnap them off the street in order to sell them!

They’d gotten the drop on him for sure. His leg hurt like hell, but he wasn’t going to give up. He was a Night Stalker, their motto was literally all about not quitting.

They should’ve left him on the pavement. Their greed would be their downfall. Broken leg or not, he’d bounce back and figure this out. Even though they’d taken him by surprise and his concern for Bowie had worked against him, he wasn’t going to let anything happen to the little girl shaking in his arms.

They’d taken his phone, so he couldn’t call for help. And Bowie’s phone, for emergencies only, was in the backpack that he’d dropped when they were attacked. But Penny would realize something was wrong when he didn’t return to the apartment with Bowie soon. She’d text and call and when she got no response, she’d surely contact Casper, or Zita, or someone.