Page 7 of Unbroken

Her head tipped slightly to one side. “Depends who’s asking.”

Aiden pulled his wallet from his back pocket, then dug out a twenty and passed it to her. Without even glancing at it, she tucked it away and nodded for him to continue his line of questioning.

“A man came through here last night in a light-colored van. Would you happen to remember anything about the driver?”

A little smirk tipped her lips. “Honey, I see a lot of cars come through here on any given night.”

Kennedy held up the grainy black-and-white photograph they’d pulled from the ballet studio.

“A young woman was abducted from the coffee shop down the street last night. We’re trying to find the person responsible.”

Aiden pointed toward the corner.

“I have a feeling he may have been parked down this way somewhere. I want to make sure we find this guy and keep you ladies safe.”

A battle brewed in her eyes for a moment before she glanced over her shoulder.

“Raquel.”

At the sound of her name, a young brunette ambled forward. “Yeah?”

The first girl pointed at the picture Kennedy held. “You remember this guy last night?”

Raquel nodded. “Parked right up there.” She pointed about a block over. “Thought he might be looking for some fun for the night, so I spoke to him. He was rude. Told me to leave him the hell alone.”

“Do you remember what he looked like?”

Raquel shook her head. “He was the forgettable type. Couldn’t really see all of his features anyway with the hat on.”

Aiden tamped down his disappointment. “Well, thank you anyway.”

Kennedy and Aiden turned to leave but were brought up short by the woman’s voice.

“Hey.”

Aiden threw a quick look at her. She pulled out her phone and took a second to flip through it before holding it out to him. “I took a picture of the van.”

His heart rate kicked up as he took the phone.

“He kind of creeped me out,” she said. “You never can tell with people.”

“No, you can’t,” he agreed.

Aiden enlarged the photo on the screen, and a surge of satisfaction welled up inside him.

There he was.

“We’ve got you now.”

CHAPTER

SIX

Maya stared down at the twin-sized mattress that God only knew how many women had slept on before her. Sliding her fingers underneath, she awkwardly maneuvered it until it was upside down. The bottom was just as disgusting as the top, and she grimaced. She picked up the sliver of mortar and moved to the top right corner of the mattress.

Digging the sharp end into the fabric, she wiggled it back and forth until it cut a tiny hole in the material. Excitement surged through her veins, and she dragged the mortar downward, using sawing motions to cut away at it. Once she had a tear about a foot long, she turned at a right angle and continued to cut until she had a large rectangular piece of cloth. She tore a smaller strip off, about an inch wide, then tied it around the base of the mortar sliver.

She kept adding layers until the cloth handle was easier to grip and wield. When she was done, she flipped the mattress over to conceal the missing fabric, then stood and grabbed up the mortar. It would serve as a makeshift shank in case the man came back, but she had other plans for it at the moment.