Will stumbled across his kitchen, knocking into a chair on his way to the freezer and toppeling it over as he passed. He cursed his younger brother under his breath as he opened the freezer door, pulling down a bag of frozen peas. He could feel the dried blood on the side of his face, cracked and peeling. At least he wasn’t still bleeding. He didn’t know how long he had been knocked out. Will pressed the frozen vegetables against the side of his face, just over his left eyebrow, right where Zach had punched him. What happened? He thought to himself, fighting to forget about the pain he was feeling and to focus on why Zach had punched him. He was forgetting something very important, something urgent, but what was it? Will moved to pick up the chair that he had knocked over, propping it upright and taking a seat at his kitchen table.
Ryan’s hands were in her pockets, fists balled as she walked, trying not to think about just how badly she was craving a good high. Quitting cold turkey was not easy, but she wanted to do it for Pam. She wanted to get better, to be better. She wanted to get away from Scott Mason and his evil ways. She didn’t want to have anything to do with the man anymore. Leave Scott to me. That’s what Pam had said, leave Scott to me. Ryan was nervous about what that could mean. She didn’t want Pam to start killing again. Not for her. It had been about a week since Ryan had stopped using, about a week since she had gone to Scott Mason for more drugs. He had called her a few times, but each time she had ignored the call. Little did she know that she was just angering the man.
As Ryan walked, she started to feel like she was being followed. She knew that parinora was just one of the many symptoms that came along with withdrawal, but that didn’t stop the feeling from consuming her. Ryan picked up her pace, and the man behind her did too. She broke out into a run, ducking and dodging the other city goers as she moved along the sidewalk. Maybe she would have been fast enough to get away from the man if she wasn’t so weak from withdrawal, but that wasn’t the case. The man caught up with her, and as she turned to face him, ready to start calling out for help, she froze, recognizing him for a brief second. The man standing in front of her was Scott’s right hand man, Ben Samson. The split second it took Ryan to connect the dots was all Ben needed to grab her, and pressed the chloroform soaked clothes against her face.
The Chance household was uncharacteristically quiet on that night. Tessa and the four youngest Chances were away for the weekend, visiting their big brother Max on the other side of the country. The only ones were still home were Will, Zach and . . . Ryan. “Fuck!” Will sprung up from the chair, moving too fast and immediately getting dizzy in his rush to find his cell phone. Ryan was in serious trouble. “Where’s my phone? Where’s my fucking phone?” Will searched his pockets, then stumbled through his apartment toward his room. His phone was on the bedside table, charging.
Ryan’s head throbbed as she came too, her eyes opened, but it took awhile for the blur around her to come into focus. She was sitting, zip tied to a folding chair, her wrists digging into the plastic that bound her. Standing crouched in front of her, his face less than a foot from her own, was Scott Mason. His expression was calm and curious. He watched as she blinked a few times, a cruel smile creeping into his lips as her recognition dawned on her own face. “There’s my girl.” he said, reaching out a hand to gently cup her cheek. “Hey, sweetheart. How are you feeling?” Ryan felt dizzy from the drugs that had knocked her out. She felt like she was going to throw up, but there wasn’t anything in her to throw up in the first place. It had been hours since she had anything to eat. Scott stood up straight, and tilted his head, still looking down at Ryan. “You haven’t been answering my calls.” Ryan noticed that he wasn’t alone. His two top men were standing a few paces back on either side of him. Ben on his right, licked his lips, his amusement clear in his oafish features. Cole on the left, couldn’t make eye contact with Ryan. He was trying his best to seem disinterested, but Ryan knew better. Ryan and Cole were friends. She didn’t blame him for not helping her. That would only put him in Scott’s line of fire too. “Is your phone broken, Sweetheart is that the problem?” Ryan swallowed, there was nothing she could say to defuse the bomb that had already been set to go off. Now it was only a matter of time before Scott hurt her, or worse.
“McCarthy.” Cole stood at attention when his last name was called. “Go untie her,” Scott said as he reached for the cigarette that he always kept behind his ear. Cole did as he was told, walking behind Ryan to cut the zip ties. “She’s not going to try and run, my girl is too smart to pull something like that. Aren’t you, babe.” Ryan could barely hear him, all her focus was on the unlit cigarette in his hand. He only ever took it out from behind his ear for one reason. “I’m sorry,” Cole said softly as he bent down to cut the plastic, then he was up and moving back to Scott’s side. Scott held his hand out to Ben, who handed him a lighter. “Unlock your phone for me, Ryan,” Scott spoke kindly, his eyes on the lighter and not the woman in the chair. Ryan did as she was told, she had no other choice. Scott took the phone and checked the recent calls. “So, it looks like my calls were coming through.” This was for show. He didn’t for one second actually believe that the reason she wasn’t answering his calls had to do with tech issues. Scott Mason could be a bit of a drama queen. “This upsets me, Ryan,” Scott said as he handed the phone away to Cole. “You know what happens when I get upset?”
Will reached the bedside table and grabbed for his phone, pressing the home button over and over again. He phone did not turn on. Panic set in as he tugged on the charger cord only to find that it wasn’t plugged into the wall. “Fuck!” he shouted, throwing his phone away. He stood there for a moment in his room, breathing heavily, head pounding, then it was off toward the front door.
Zach was on his way home from the gym when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He reached for it, and saw his sister Ryan’s face on the screen. He had no idea why Ryan was calling him. He answered with a smile. Maybe she wanted him to pick up a pizza on his way home. Maybe she was calling to tell him that she’d be spending the night with her girlfriend Pam. “Hello,” he said, expecting Ryan on the other end of the call. There was no answer right away, just a shuffling sound. “Ryan?” Still nothing, wait muffled talking. “Is this a butt dial?” He chuckled and tried to listen to what was going on outside of the pocket that Ryan’s phone was in. “You know what happens when I get upset?” It was a man’s voice. “You see, I got curious when you stopped coming round. I got worried for you, sweetheart.” Zach fought the urge to gag. “I sent some of my guys to look into where you’ve been, and I was surprised to find that you’ve been seeing someone. Imagine my pain when I learned that you weren’t being loyal to me, Ryan.” Then Zach heard a small whimper. “Please.” It was his sister’s voice. Zach froze, ears straining so as not to miss anything. “You see, I can’t have you seeing other people, Ryan. You belong to me.” “I’m sorry, please. Just don’t, Scott you don’t have to do this.” “Hold her down.” “Please, no.” “Here’s the thing, Ryan. I need to get something through to you. I need to make sure that this doesn’t ever happen to me again. To make sure that you never stray again. I need you to know, that if I can’t have you, no one can.” Then there was a loud scream of true pain and then the phone hung up. “Ryan? Ryan! Shit!” Zach ran the rest of the way home.
Will plugged his phone into it’s charger, then made his way to the living room. He didn’t often have the one TV in the apartment all to himself, so he was going to capitalize on this opportunity. He was halfway through his show when Zach came bursting through the front door. “Ryan’s in trouble!” Zach shouted before he bent over, hands on his knees. “What?” Will turned off the TV, growing at his brother. “Ryan, she’s, she needs us.” Will stood up quickly and looked toward the door, half expecting Ryan to come in behind his younger brother. His first thought was that Ryan had overdosed once more. “He has her,” Zach went on. “That Scott guy. He has her and he’s hurting her.” Will frowned. “How do you know this?” Zach held up his phone. “She pocket dialed me. Will, come on, we have to go rescue her.” Will shook his head. “We have to call the cops, Zach. We have to let the professionals handle it.” “Are you fucking serious right now? This is Ryan we’re talking about. This is our sister. I’m not leaving her fate in the hands of the G.C.P.D.” “We can’t go ourselves, what good would we be?” “I’ll go in and take them out, and you can do your doctor thing once we get to Ryan. I have a feeling she’s going to need you.” Will simply stood there. Zach seemed to swell with rage. “I’m going.” Will shook his head. “I can’t let you do that, Zach. You’re only going to get yourself hurt too.” Man he wished that Tessa was home. She’d know how to handle this. She’d know how to get Ryan back and keep Zach calm. Zach turned to leave. Will grabbed him by the wrist to stop it. Zach turned and took a swing at his big brother. The hit connected with Will’s left temple, effectively knocking the older man out.
Will sat in the back of the taxi, his mind racing with all the possibilities. He couldn’t get the images of both Zach and Ryan dead on a stretcher, being rushed to the hospital. He had seen too many bodies. Too many people who had been on the wrong side of violence and hadn’t made it out alive. Were his siblings about to be added to that list? No, he had to do this. He had to get help. He was doing the right thing here. . . Right?
Zach sat by in the subway, wrapping his hands with boxing tape from his bag. His knuckles were barley bruised from punching Will, but he could feel the dull ache when he flexed his hand. He wasn’t going to let that get in his way. He wasn’t going to let anything, or anyone get in his way. Zach was going to save his sister. He was going to fight the way he had been trained for the past year, but he wasn’t going to hold back. If he had to kill a thug or two to save Ryan’s life, he would.
Will reached the door, and stopped taking a few deep breaths to brace himself. He swallowed, closed his eyes and knocked. When Thea opened the door, he spoke. “I need your help. I need the Huntress.”
