“Austin,” I say with a smile. “None of these girls here are worth your time. They’re not good enough for you.”
“Well, you’re here. So, does that mean you’re not good enough for any guy here?” Austin asks.
“No, actually it means no guy here is good enough for me either, squirt.” I explain. “We have to keep our standards high, make them work for our attention.”
“Keep our standards high, make them work for it.” Austin repeats my words back to me. “Got it. What are you guys doing back here?”
“Just talking,” Rush answers. His black eyes find mine and gives a small shake of his head. He’s still in a lot of pain from the other night, but he’s trying to hide it. We don’t need to tell Austin about the information I found out today, who hurt him so badly, but it’s like Austin has a sixth sense for what goes on in our heads.
“Did you find anything out yet?” he asks.
“No, not yet squirt. Why don’t you go back to mom and watch dad race? I’ll be back here with Rush.” I answer. I hate lying to him, but this is for his own good.
“Ok, but if you find anything out, I want to know. No one deserves to get away with what they did.” The seriousness of Austin’s voice, causes my blood to run cold. He’s seen just as much as I have in this world, even when I try to shelter him from it.
“I will,” I respond.
Satisfied with my answer, Austin walks back over to my mom. He puts his arms around her waist and gives her a tight hug. We both can tell something’s wrong, but our parents won’t tell us anything. They think we’re too young to understand the dangers of this business. My mom’s long blonde hair is blowing in the breeze and she pushes it out of her face. She’s wearing a light blue summer dress and a matching sweater over her shoulders. She’s so beautiful and strong, I hope someday I can be just like her. She smiles at my dad and he gives her a wink. They share such a tight bond with each other, you can see it when they're together. They don’t need to say anything to each other, just a look and one knows what the other is thinking.
My dad gets into his Ford Mustang and straps his harness on. Rush and I walk up to his door before he pulls away. I lean in the window and give him a hug.
“Good luck out there, daddy,” I tell him.
“Thanks, kiddo. I’ll see you when it’s over. We need to talk to you.” He hugs me back tightly and kisses my hair.
“Good luck Anthony,” Rush says, holding out his hand.
“Thanks, Rush. I need you to stick around too, Liz and I need to talk to both of you.” My dad replies, shaking Rush’s hand.
“Ok. I will.” Rush answers. He looks at me and I shrug my shoulder. I have no idea what they want to talk to us about.
My dad puts his car in first and takes off to the faux starting line. The three other racers are already there. One I recognize as Marcus Dual. He’s glaring at my dad with a menacing look. I watch what he’s doing, carefully. I’ve never liked Marcus, but his son Ian isn’t so bad.
This race is different from the street races we normally go to. We’re in an abandoned community near the airport and they have to race around an oval makeshift track. Instead of pavement to grip the corners, there’s dirt. This will be challenging for all of them since it isn’t the fastest in a quarter mile. They must pass around three times and there are no rules. Danger is at every turn.
The girl starting off the race stands between the two cars in the middle. She has on booty jean shorts, a tight white tank top and a bright green bandana tied around her neck She points to each driver, making sure they’re ready. Once she reaches my dad, she begins a countdown.
“All right gentlemen,” she announces with a smile. “On the count of three, you’ll race around three times. The driver with the fastest overall time wins the pot of eleven thousand dollars. Ready?” The crowd surrounding us is throbbing with excitement, their cheers and whistles are ear piercing. The flagger raises her voice louder as she continues. “One!" She removes the bandana. "Two!" She raises the bandana above her head. "Three!" She drops the bandana and all four drivers take off, spitting dirt up behind them.
Marcus instantly takes the lead in his blue Nissan Altima. He comes into the first turn wide and my dad takes the inside and the lead. He pulls away from the other cars once he moves out of turn two. Marcus is right on his ass when they arrive at turn three. He bumps my dad, forcing him to take the turn wide and takes the lead again. My dad doesn’t let up though, he stays right behind Marcus, waiting for a spot to pass. They go back and forth a few times until they get to the final lap.
I grab Rush’s hand and pull him away from the crowd, so I can talk to him, leaving my mom and Austin standing next to turn four. He comes with me, but he’s moving slow. Once we’re in the back away from listening ears, I turn towards him and cross my arms over my chest. I give him my best glare, but he isn’t budging.
“Rush, we need to talk about what happened.” I whisper-shout over the roar of the crowd.
“No, we don’t Ash, I’ll take care of it when I’m healed.” he states with aggravation in his voice.
“You’re not doing this alone." I yell at him, throwing my hands up in frustration.
“You’re not getting involved." Rush yells back, pacing back and forth. He runs his hands through his black hair. “Ash, I don’t want you involved. This is my mess, not yours.” He’s standing in front of me now, his hands resting on my shoulders.
“Rush, you don’t understand. They need to be dealt with. I’m not some innocent, naïve little girl. I can handle my own and can dish out punishment. I’ll be their worst nightmare.” I tell him with impatience.
“I know you can, but Ash, I don’t want you involved."
“Too late, I already am and you either include me in your plan or I’ll go about it my own way.” Determination in my voice. Rush lets out a long sigh.
“Fine, but we can talk about it later…” his voice trails off when he glances at the track. “Fuck."
I spin around to face the track and my heart drops to my toes. My dad is battling Marcus for the lead. I watch as Marcus slams the rear end of my dad’s car, but he pulls out of the spin before he loses control. My dad keeps the lead in the second turn, but there’s something wrong. His car is shaking badly. When he comes into turn three at top speed, he can’t slow down, and he’s headed right for the six-foot-tall, brick wall.
“NO." I scream just as my dad’s car strikes the wall, sending debris straight into the crowd in turn four.
I run towards the accident before anyone can stop me. I’m next to the wall when his car explodes, killing him immediately. I’m thrown back from the powerful blast; my ears are ringing as I attempt to stand up. There are people all around me as I struggle to get up on shaky legs and find my mom. Tears and blood are streaming down my face as I spot a group of people just standing in a circle, their heads are bowed, and no one’s moving. I can hear screaming through the roar in my ears as I push my way through the crowd. A set of strong arms wrap around my waist spinning me around toward them. Rush is blocking me from seeing what I know is on the other side.
“NO. NO. NO." I scream into Rush’s chest, punching and hitting him until all my strength leaves my body and I crumble to the ground.
I sway back and forth, numb to everything and everyone around me. Before I black out, the only thing I hear is the screams from my mom and suddenly silence. The silence is the worst.
Chapter 38
Ashley-present
I’m still lost in the memory of that fateful night when I finally hear Rush yelling at me. He’s trying to yank me towards the fence, but my body won’t move.
“Ashley. Come on." Rush tries again.
I finally snap out of it and search around. There’s a guy running towards us, a rifle strapped across his chest, pointing right at us. I recognize him as one thug that was with Shaun when they tried to kidnap me.
“Oh fuck." I yell. My body unfreezes and I'm running with Rush.
&
nbsp; We arrive at the fence when I realize we’re too late. Shaun’s waiting on the other side, a hateful expression in his brown eyes. He aims the barrel of a gun, pointing it right at Rush’s head.
“Look,” Shaun sneers to the man behind us. “Two for one, my lucky day.”
“I got them, Reiser. We’ll meet you at the gates.” The guy says behind us. He digs the rifle into Rush’s back, forcing us to walk.
“Thanks, Benson. I’ll stay with you, keeping an eye on this hot little body. Make sure she doesn’t try anything.” Shaun says. There’s an edge to his voice, and it makes me shudder.
The sun is burning bright, causing me to squint as we walk silently. The only noises are the crunching of gravel under our feet and the harsh breathing of our captors. No one says a word as we make our way to the gates. Shaun takes a key out of his jeans pocket and unlocks the gates, pushing them open with a heavy clank. He points his pistol at me while he steps closer.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment.” Shaun says with lust in his voice. I need a shower from the way he’s looking at me.
Rush’s shoulders tense at Shaun’s remarks. I shake my head at Rush, silently ordering him to not do anything. If he decides to fight them, they will shoot him dead. I can’t let that happen. Shaun watches our little exchange, and a smirk appears on his twisted face.
“Good to see you’re still Ashley’s little lap dog. Tell me Rush, is she just as good as I remember?” Shaun asks.
“Rush, don’t he’s trying to bait you...” My sentence is cut off when Shaun slaps me across the face, sending me into the dirt.
I compose myself and spit blood out at Shaun’s feet. I glare at him with revenge and hate flowing through my body. I wipe the blood from my split lip with the back of my hand. I peek at Rush and Benson has him on his knees, the barrel of his rifle flush against Rush’s head.
“Is that all you got?” I cut my eyes back to Shaun.
“Oh, there’s more where that came from babe. Keep running your mouth and I’ll make you use it for something else.” Shaun replies grabbing his crotch. “Now get the fuck up and start walking.”
I get up on unsteady feet, a wave of dizziness passes across my vision. I shake my head, clearing it. I spot my car still idling off to the side of the gate. What was I thinking not telling Nolan where we were going? I’m such an idiot, he could have prevented this, but I didn’t think, I just acted.
Once we’re outside the gate, Shaun closes it and locks it back up. There’s a white van heading straight for us, kicking up dirt behind it. Once it reaches us, the driver slams on the brakes, creating dust to swirl up around us, making Rush and I choke.
When the dust settles, Shaun is standing next to me. His hand is wrapped around my bicep tightly, creating a bruise under his fingers. He leans in so his breath is fanning across my face.
“Behave and I won’t have to kill him.” Shaun whispers in my ear.
The driver of the van has the back door open and rope in his hands. Fuck me, this isn’t good. He strolls over to us and ties Rush’s hands behind his back first and leads him to the back of the van. Rush hesitates to get in and Benson hits him in the back of the head with the butt of his rifle. Rush stumbles before climbing into the back of the van. The driver ties Rush’s feet together, making it so he can’t move.
Shaun yanks on my arm once Rush is secure and drags me toward the van. His fingers biting into my skin. The driver ties my hands behind my back then Shaun pushes me into the van. I stumble but get my footing back. I twist my body and kick the driver as hard as I can in the groin. He drops like a pile of bricks in pain.
“Fucking bitch." The driver shouts, holding his groin.
Benson whacks me in the head with his rifle, stunning me for a minute. Long enough for them to regain control. Shaun has me on my stomach and Benson takes the rope from the driver still on the ground. He ties my feet together and picks me up. Shaun approaches me and places his pistol at my head.
“One more move like that babe and Rush is dead.” He states, fury in his voice.
“Fuck you.” I growl. Shaun points his pistol at Rush and fear paralyzes me.
“Ok, Ok.” I concede. “I’ll stop fighting.”
“Good, now get the fuck in the van.” Shaun sneers.
I carefully make my way into the van with my feet tied. Benson takes two black hoods and places them over our heads, plunging us into darkness. I can feel Rush’s body heat next to mine and I scoot closer to him.
“Awe, how cute.” Shaun’s voice penetrates my ears. “Too, bad you won’t be awake for this ride.”
I feel the rear of the van sink down as someone makes their way over to us. There's a big hand on my arm, followed by a sharp pinch in my skin. Whatever they injected me with starts flowing in my system. My eyes become heavy along with my body.
I hear Shaun’s voice in my ear. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. The world fades away as I plunge into a black void.
Chapter 39
Nolan
I stand at the edge of the road stunned as I watch Ashley drive away like her ass was on fire. What the fuck just happened? I turn around and Ashton is looking over the file both Ashley and Rush were reading. I’ve studied that file over several times, inside and out. I didn’t expect she’d react like this. I should have known better. A light breeze picks up producing a shiver to wrack through my body. I pull out my cell phone from my jeans pocket and dial Ashley’s number, it goes right to voicemail.
“Fuck," I yell into the wind.
I dial Rush’s number. It rings several times and then goes to voicemail. I dial it again, and the same thing happens. Fuck. I run back to Ashton.
“Does it suggest where they might go?” I ask.
“No, nothing.” Ashton answers.
“Run a trace on Rush’s phone. Ashley’s is off but his isn’t.” I order.
Harris is the first to move to the laptop. He pulls up the tracing app and sets up the search. The service is hit or miss up in these mountains, so the program takes a few minutes to start scanning. I pace back and forth, running my hands through my hair.
“What about Quickshift and Redline?” Noah asks. I forgot Natalia and Noah were here.
“I have a suspicion it’s a setup to throw us off the trail. Wherever Rush and Ashley are going, I think Quickshift and Redline might be there too. If not, I don't think they're in danger.” I stop pacing and glance at Noah. “I realize you didn’t know them before the accident, but did you discover anything when Ashley met with the other bosses?”
“No,” Noah responds, shaking his head. “I wasn’t allowed in the room. I had to wait outside with the other men they would bring and none of them would make eye contact with me, let alone talk to me. What’s going on Nolan?” I take the file from Ashton and hand it to Noah. He opens it and begins reading aloud.
“At zero one forty-five on August sixteenth, two thousand and seven, Officer Thomas Hill received an anonymous phone call about illegal street racing at the Palisades Del Rey. The officer arrived at the area with his partner, Officer Kiara Knowles, thirty minutes later. They discovered the gates leading into the scene closed and locked. Smoke in the air alerted him that something was on fire. His partner cut the lock, and they cautiously drove towards the smoke.
“When they arrived on the scene, there was no one around. The officers discovered a single car that had exploded, and the fire was almost out. The officer stated that he recognized several tire marks and footprints around the area. He further described the smell of burnt flesh was heavy in the air. Officer Hill slowly approached the car while Officer Knowles radioed back to dispatch asking for an ambulance and fire trucks. Officer Hill stated that the person inside the car was burnt beyond recognition. Dead on arrival. He surveyed the area and spotted a figure lying in the dirt around two hundred yards away, behind the barrier on the makeshift track. Officer Hill ordered his partner to radio in that they needed more first aid responders as he ran over to the figure.
&nb
sp; “When Officer Hill reached the figure, he noticed it was a woman with long blonde hair. Her body was face down in the dirt. Officer Hill also noticed all the blood surrounding the body, soaking into the ground. Officer Hill, along with Officer Knowles, cautiously approached the figure. Officer Knowles reached down to check the pulse of the woman and reported there wasn’t one, she too was dead on arrival. Officer Hill turned the woman onto her back. He then went to his police car and took a white sheet out of the trunk. He covered the woman’s body with it. Both officers fanned out, searching for clues on who else was there. They secured the area and waited for the emergency responders to arrive.
Noah stops reading for a moment and looks up at me. I nod my head at him, urging him to continue.
“Forty minutes later the rescue trucks and the ambulances arrived. The firemen put the smoke out in the car and removed the man inside. The first aid responders confirmed the woman was dead and loaded her up into the waiting ambulance. The first aid responders confirmed the man inside the car was dead and loaded him up into the other waiting ambulance.”
“After the coroner ran DNA analysis, he confirmed the two deceased bodies belonged to Anthony and Elizabeth Force. Their surviving child, named Ashley Force was contacted by the police. Miss Force, along with her grandfather, Mr. Jonathan Force, confirmed the deceased was indeed Anthony and Elizabeth Force. After several days of investigation and many interviews later, Ashley’s younger brother, Austin Force was nowhere to be found. Miss Force stated in her interview that Austin was at the scene and was involved in the accident. Every time the officers would attempt to get her alone to talk, the grandfather would stop the officers and detectives from informing her the brother was not at the scene. Two weeks later, Miss Force disappeared, and the case was marked as an accident. No further investigation was followed.”
Racing Dirty, L.A. Page 25
