Bad Traffick: A Leine Basso Thriller
Page 20
“See? I made you smile. I know you love me.” Josh grinned, hugging Elise with one arm as he turned them around and headed in the opposite direction.
“Wait.” Elise stopped. “Brittany’s supposed to pick me up.”
“So text her and tell her not to come. The guy told me about a sick party near Rosarita. Some movie star rented a house outside of town and is having an all-weekend bash. There’s a band.”
“Like who?” Elise wasn’t impressed by most celebrities. Her mother did a lot of business with A-Listers in the film world, too. She couldn’t think of many she’d go out of her way to meet.
“He didn’t say who the actor was, but he told me Swarm of Nihilists is going to be there all weekend!” Josh did the Nihilist Salute fist pump. Elise almost rolled her eyes again. Josh was heavy into S.O.N.
“Fine. But can we leave if it’s bullshit? I mean, how do you know this guy?”
Josh’s earnest expression almost made her laugh. “He’s a roadie for the Nihilists. He totally knows his shit.”
Elise shook her head but after a few minutes of cajoling finally relented to Josh’s pleas. They walked to where he had parked the Porsche his dad had given him as an early graduation present and were soon headed out of the city center toward the beach town of Rosarito. Elise texted Brittany, telling her to cancel her plans to come and get her.
r u sure? i can b there in 2 hrs, Brittany answered. Josh is hot, but how well do u really know him?
i’m sure. ty 4 worrying, she replied. Elise slipped the phone back in her purse. She knew all she needed to about Josh. He came from a wealthy family, was gorgeous, and drove an awesome car. Plus, he hadn’t really abandoned her at the club. So what if she had to go to some party where she didn’t know anybody? If Swarm of Nihilists actually turned out to be there she’d have a great story to tell her friends Monday morning during first period.
Josh wove through the back streets as though he knew where he was going. Elise relaxed and watched as they passed darkened dentists’ offices and brightly lit neighborhood groceries. Locals had gathered near a popular taqueria with banda music blaring from a loudspeaker. Drunk high school and college kids crawled the alleys for forbidden excitement, all against a backdrop of colorful billboards that screamed cheap pharmaceuticals and even cheaper attorneys. The neighborhood thinned as they drove past the turnoff to the main freeway.
“Where are you going? Isn’t that the way to the toll road?” Elise asked, looking behind them.
He reached inside his pocket and pulled out a book of matches. “The guy wrote down how to get there on the back of this.” He handed her the directions. Elise turned on the overhead light to read them.
“He called it the library or something.”
“You mean libre? The free road?” Elise shook her head. “You’re not seriously trying to get out of paying the toll. What is it, like two bucks?”
“No, of course not.” Josh frowned in irritation. “It’s just that he said it’d be easier to find the house if we went this way.”
“Who was this guy again?”
Earlier in the evening, the man with the Russian accent had started a conversation with Josh while they were at the bar waiting for drinks and had offered to get both Elise and him high. Elise had declined.
“A friend.”
“A friend. And you’ve known him how long?”
Josh gave her a look. “You sound like my mom. Don’t worry. It’ll be fine. We’re gonna see Swarm of Nihilists!”
With a resigned sigh, Elise leaned her head back and closed her eyes. The warm night air drifting through the window felt so much better than being inside the hot, stuffy bar. Thoughts of what she was going to wear to her friend Nicole’s big party the next weekend filled her mind. She wasn’t sure she wanted to invite Josh. She’d have to see who else was available. They’d look good together though, she’d give him that.
A few miles later, Josh had Elise read the directions out loud. He found the street and turned right, heading west along a gravel road. The car began to climb and they left the lights of the city below them.
“You’re sure you know where you’re going, right?” Elise asked, wondering why there weren’t any streetlights.
“Yeah. He said it would look like we were heading nowhere but to just keep going to the top of the hill.”
The road grew steeper and Josh shifted into second gear to get traction. Just as Elise was going to ask him to take her back, a dramatic white arch with black lettering loomed in the darkness before them.
“What does it say?” Josh asked.
Elise glanced at the lettering on the stucco façade as they passed underneath.
“Vista del Mar.”
“That’s it. He said it would be a little ways past that, and we’d see the house in front of us.”
They continued along the gravel road. Hulking concrete skeletons of unfinished homes stood as brooding sentries on each side.
“Must be a really new development,” Josh said, by way of explanation. Elise wasn’t so sure. There were no building materials lying next to the houses, and she didn’t see any heavy equipment.
“Where are the streetlights? You’d think there’d be something, right?”
Josh shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe that’s the reason they decided to have the party here—less people, less hassle. Look—” Josh pointed through the windshield. “You can see the lights of Rosarito.”
Elise’s gaze followed his outstretched arm as he pointed at the bright lights of the seaside town far below them. She rummaged inside her purse for her phone as they drove further along the darkened street. She brought up the GPS and squinted at the lit LED screen, trying to figure out where they had ended up.
They turned a corner and Josh stopped the car. “What the fuck.”
Elise looked up. The Porsche’s headlights spilled across the road and onto an oversized, black SUV parked in front of them, blocking the way. Two flares burned bright orange in the expanse between the two vehicles. A muscular man with blond hair leaned against the truck, arms crossed, smoking a cigarette.
Confused, she turned to Josh. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know.”
“That isn’t the guy from the bar, is it?”
Josh shook his head. “Uh-uh.” He made to get out of the car, but she grabbed his arm.
“Don’t. What if he wants to rob us?” Elise had heard stories about carjackings and highway robbery near the border. From what her friends had told her, those kinds of things weren’t supposed to happen between Tijuana and Rosarito.
“He won’t get much. I blew most of my money at the bar.”
“Yeah, but you’re driving an expensive car. He could steal it, and then we’d have to wait out here until someone comes to get us or walk all the way back.” Elise glanced out her window at the deserted buildings nearby and shivered.
“Shit. I never thought of that.” With a quick look behind them, Josh seized the gearshift and slammed the car into reverse. Elise braced her feet against the floor and gripped the armrest as Josh backed away, the tires spitting rocks.
Elise twisted in her seat to watch through the rear window. A second SUV came out of nowhere, bounced onto the road behind them, and blocked their escape. Elise screamed. Josh braked hard and the Porsche skidded to a stop.
“What should we do?” Elise’s panicked voice sounded overly loud in the small space. She raised her window and locked her door. Josh did the same.
“Shit. I can’t give them the car. My dad just gave it to me. He’s gonna be so pissed.” The whites of his eyes glistened in the glow from the dash. “What should I do?”
He’s scared to death, she thought. Cold dread crept its way up her spine as she recalled the horror stories she’d read online. What if they figured out they both were from wealthy families? It wouldn’t be hard, not with the kind of car they were in, or with what they were wearing. She glanced at Josh’s expensive wristwatch, worth enough to feed a de
veloping nation, and then at her shoes. The diamond chips on the heels twinkled in the darkness. What if they kidnapped them both and held them for ransom?
Jesus, Elise thought, her heart racing. My parents don’t even answer their phones unless it’s business. They won’t know what happened to me until it’s too late.
“Did you take a wrong turn?”
Josh shook his head. “I’m sure it was the right one. Maybe they just want us to turn around.”
“I don’t think so, Josh.” A chilling thought flitted through Elise’s mind. “The guy at the bar. He did this, didn’t he? He saw your watch, or maybe he even knew what you were driving and decided to make some easy money.”
Josh shook his head. “No. It’s not like that, Lise. He was totally cool.” His voice didn’t sound as confident as it had just a short time ago. A sheen of sweat formed on his forehead.
The man with the cigarette leaned down and picked something up off the ground. He flicked the butt away before he ambled over to the driver’s side and tapped on the window. Josh stared straight ahead, his fingers clamped to the steering wheel.
“Get out,” the man said, motioning at the door.
“Th-this isn’t my car.”
Josh’s pleading tone grated on Elise’s nerves. So not the guy she thought he was.
The man smiled benignly and stepped back. He raised his arms and something hard came crashing down across the windshield, buckling the glass. Josh jumped at the same time Elise screamed.
The man slammed the tire iron against the window again and again, methodically smashing through the safety glass. Then he moved near the front of the car and smashed the left headlight.
“Stop—!” Josh shouted, his voice a double octave higher than normal. “Not the car.”
The man stopped and walked back to Josh’s window. He leaned against the fender and stared at him through the glass.
“Open the door.” His muffled voice and bemused smile didn’t lessen the impact of his demand. Josh was shaking, and his hands looked like they were going to choke the life out of the steering wheel. When he didn’t respond, the man went to work on the side mirror.
At that moment, a second man appeared at Elise’s window and she screamed. She closed her eyes and turned away, hunching her shoulders, afraid to look directly at the man standing next to her and wincing at each blow of the tire iron.
The man outside her window tapped again, more insistently this time. Her breath now coming in short bursts, Elise opened her eyes to slits and slowly turned her head, hoping that the scene before her could be controlled by what she did or didn’t allow herself to see.
Her stomach lurched at the sight of a gun against the window. She closed her eyes again and shook her head.
Tap, tap, tap. Hot tears spilled down her cheeks as Elise gripped her knees to control her shaking hands.
“Get out of the car. Now.” The man’s menacing tone made it clear it wasn’t a request.
“We’d better do as they say, Lise.” Near tears and trembling, Josh reached for the door.
“No, Josh. Don’t.”
But it was too late. He opened the door and climbed out. The first man seized him by the arm and shoved him away from the car and onto his knees, aiming a gun at his head. With the weapon still trained on Josh, he reached inside the car and unlocked Elise’s door.
“No!” Elise screamed as the second man wrenched the door open, grabbed her by the hair, and yanked her out of the car. She landed hard on the gravel beside the Porsche. A sharp pain lanced down her leg, followed by the warm, sticky-wetness of blood.
Elise didn’t have time to gain her feet before the man grabbed her around the waist and lifted her off the ground. She kicked and squirmed and tried to rake his face with her nails as he dragged her away from the car, losing one of her shoes in the process, but the man never faltered. The moment before he shoved her into the back of the open SUV, Elise managed to twist around and look back at Josh.
Shoulders shaking and head bowed, his wristwatch glinted in the moonlight. A light breeze ruffled his hair.
“Take my car. I promise I won’t report it if you let me go,” he pleaded with the man in front of him.
“I thought you said it wasn’t your car,” the man replied with a smile as he moved behind him.
“I lied. I’m scared. Please don’t kill me. I—I’m only eighteen.” Sobbing now, Josh put his hands up as though they were playing a game and it was time to quit. Elise held her breath. Overwhelming fear tightened her chest and spread to her throat, the nausea in her stomach gaining momentum.
Before she could utter a sound, the man aimed the gun at the back of Josh’s head.
And fired.
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight