Page 100 of Make or Break

“Let her go, Duane. Please. She hasn’t done anything to you.”

His brown eyes were vacant. “No can do, Miss Mickayla. Lark said you were in charge and you’d be opening today.”

Brandy’s fear couldn’t be missed, no matter how much she tried to hide it.

I locked eyes with Duane and nodded once very slowly. “That plan changed a little. Please let her go, Duane. She has nothing to do with this.”

My focus darted between Brandy and Duane. Her eyes were strained with pain from his visibly tight grip.

“You never lied to me - until yesterday. Those men didn’t leave.”

“I’m sorry, Duane. That’s no reason to hurt her.”

Suddenly, Brandy’s body went limp and she fell to the floor.

I swallowed hard. My right hand moved toward my left wrist, and I remembered that while checking on Adam, I’d dropped my wristlet to the floor - which meant calling 911 wasn’t happening right now.

A blinking red light in the corner where the ceiling met the wall caught my eye. I recalled the training we’d had last year. A silent alarm could be triggered and the red flashing light indicated that it’d been tripped.

Thank goodness.

Duane turned his head to follow my gaze, then faced me. “Thanks for the reminder.”

He went to the wall-mounted panel right inside the break room and mashed the button to disable the alarm. The red light stopped flashing.

Fuck.

If I was lucky, Volt or Lark would get notified about the alarm. That wasn’t much solace since they were twenty minutes away at the minimum.

I bent to grab my wristlet.

Duane held up a weapon - it didn’t look like a gun. “Don’t make me tase you, Mickey-Mick.”

I grit my teeth together. “Duane, do you need cash?”

He came to me. “No. Out to the front. Move.”

Crap.

I wanted to fight back, but that would be difficult without a weapon.

Duane closed the distance between us and shoved me toward the bar. As he passed by Adam, he kicked him in the back.

“Don’t stall, Mickayla - or I’ll hurt your friends even more.”

I went into the main barroom. A moment later, Duane put his hand to the small of my back. I fought off a shiver because I didn’t want him to know how freaked out I was.

Leading the way past the bar, I recalled there was another button at the front door that would trigger the alarm. I’d have to hit that, and pray it went to at least the fire department. They were only a mile away. Even if they didn’t stop Duane from abducting me, they could see to Brandy and Adam.

“I need to turn off the Open sign - if you want to make a clean get away. We have lunch customers who get here right on time for weekday specials,” I said.

It was a lie - of sorts - but Duane had never come in for lunch to my knowledge, so he wouldn’t know the difference.

“Be quick about it,” he said.

I went up on my tip toes to touch the top of the sign to disable it. While I did that, I leaned against the wall, and pressed the well-concealed button that would set off the silent alarm. The moment I straightened, Duane waved the taser toward the front doors.

“We’re taking your car, Mickayla,” he said.