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Torrie sat wordlessly in the passenger's seat while Shane drove. Numb... that was how she was feeling. She was numb and exhausted - over-tired.
She hadn't gotten a wink of sleep that past night - not after seeing that creep Levesque in the arena hallway earlier, and certainly not after learning that the bastard had grabbed Nora. Although she'd remained mostly quiet over her fears for her friend, she was horror-filled and terrified of what Levesque might do to the brunette. Now more than ever in the last four years, what had happened to her at the hands of that monster was more vivid a memory than ever.
She shuddered and closed her eyes at the mental vision, her left hand going up to her face, fingers rubbing at her eyelids.
Stephanie and Kurt were in the backseat of the rental car, the two talking animatedly. They both seemed so determined and so positive that their group would find and rescue Nora. Torrie desperately wished she could feel even half as optimistic, but she didn't know. After all, Paul Levesque had raped the brunette as well as herself those four years ago, and he'd also tried to kill Adam. He'd come damn close to succeeding in that area, and it chilled her to her very marrow. How could they fight this madman and win? How could Nora deal with being his prisoner? How could it be that they were all facing nearly the same exact living nightmare they'd endured in the summer of 2001?
"Poor Jay..." The platinum blonde had uttered the two words so softly, she didn't even realize she'd spoken aloud until Shane turned her way.
"He's strong," the elder McMahon child said, reaching a hand out to her and grasping her own. "And so is Nora. We're all gonna get through this, Tor."
The tall blonde nodded and winced, wishing she could feel stronger - as strong as Shane, and as strong as he declared Jay and Nora to be.
They were following Adam and Amy's rental. The two of them, plus Jay, were leading as they all drove into the next city. The way Kurt figured it, by now, Levesque had taken Nora out of the state in which he'd found her. Naturlaly, as a fugitive, the asshole had been on the run to begin with, but now he had a hostage.
And, Torrie reminded herself, he was probably more dangerous than ever, if such a thing were possible. After all, he had to have vengeance on his mind. Certainly, Paul Levesque's own actions were what had landed him in prison - but Torrie knew the sick bastard hadn't forgotten than her, Nora's and Stephanie's testimony had helped along the way.
Although it wasn't cold, the platinum blonde shivered.
*
"A motel..." Jay said animatedly. "... Yeah, that's it."
"What?" Adam asked, casting his best friend a glance through the rearview mirror.
Amy perked up a little, as she seemed to get exactly what their friend was saying.
"I think he's trying to say that Levesque must have taken Nora to a motel."
"Thank you," the short-haired blond man said. "Yeah, that's exactly what I meant. The bastard must have holed up at some cheap motel overnight somewhere. Let's face it - even lunatics need rest."
"Do you really think he's still in Georgia?" Adam asked. They'd been in Atlanta for RAW the previous night when Nora had gone missing, but he had his doubts the man would have stayed in the same state.
"Probably," came the reply. Jay was all wound up. He was incredibly tired and weary, but after four cups of coffee plus all the worry he held for his wife, he was running on a second wind. "What's the first thing the cops, FBI or anyone else would assume?"
The tall blond man met his wife's gaze, then Jay's blue eyes in the rearview mirror and shrugged, his expression blank.
"Oh, come on, Adam," the other man groaned. "You're not too sharp today at all. Anyway," he went on to finish his thought, "that Levesque would go clear across the country?"
"Oh... True," came the response. The truth was, Adam didn't know how it was physically possible for
him to be driving right now. He was beyond tired in spite of the coffee he'd drank earlier. He just
hoped he wouldn't fall asleep at the wheel. The last thing they - and Nora Reso - needed was to get
themselves killed.