by Mike Ryan
“They’re not here,” Recker said with a sigh.
“David, room’s empty,” Haley said. “Completely empty.”
“I’ve looked at the footage and I did not see her leave the hotel. I’ll check again.”
As they waited on further word from Jones, Recker and Haley double checked the room to see if they could find any clues as to where they’d gone. A few minutes later, Jones got back on the line.
“She’s gone.”
“What do you mean she’s gone?” Recker asked.
“There’s a side door. They took her out through there.”
“When?”
“Roughly forty-five minutes ago. Sadko and two other men.”
Recker sighed. “We’ll never find her now.”
“There’s a camera on the outside of the building, not the inside. So I got a good look at the vehicle, including the plates. I’m running it through the other cameras located throughout the city. If another camera picks it up, I can see if I can figure out where they’re heading.”
Haley tapped Recker on the arm. “Let’s keep looking and see if we can find something.”
“There’s nothing here.”
“Let’s check again.”
Recker took the living room, while Haley checked the bedroom. Once they were finished, Recker took the second bedroom, while Haley checked the bathroom. He initially overlooked it, but upon a second glance, he saw it. A small piece of a necklace was hanging out of the corner of the cabinet underneath the sink. Haley got down on one knee and pulled the necklace out to look at it. It was the one that Recker had just given to Mia.
“Mike!”
Recker immediately came running in. “What?”
Haley held the necklace up. “It’s hers.”
“Where’d you find it?”
“Hanging out of this cabinet.” Haley then opened the cabinet. He looked inside and then saw a wad of toilet paper off to the side.
“What’s that?”
“I don’t know. Weird spot to have a bunch of toilet paper sitting, though.”
He started to unravel it out of curiosity, then saw something that piqued his interest. Somewhere in the middle of it, it looked like some words written. They were a little faded and hard to read, but he could make it out.
“You got something?” Recker asked.
“Looks like an address.”
“Let me see.” Haley handed the toilet paper to Recker. “This is Mia’s handwriting.”
“She left us a clue.”
A small smile came over Recker’s face. He still had hope. “She left the necklace hoping we’d figure out she was here, then find the necklace, then see this.”
“You taught her well.”
“David, I think we know where she’s going.” Recker gave him the address. It was an area he was familiar with, though he didn’t know the exact address.
“It’s in the Upper Darby area.”
“Jeremiah’s old stomping grounds.”
“A quick search turns up a single-family house. Could be vacant. Not sure.”
“We’re on the way.”
Recker and Haley flew out of the room and scurried down the steps to get out of the hotel as quickly as possible. They jumped into their car and started toward the address that Mia left them.
“Let’s bring backup,” Recker said.
“Malloy?”
“They’re after Sadko too. No reason we should have to do this alone.”
Haley nodded. “I agree. The more the merrier.”
Recker immediately called Malloy. “Hey, I think we know where Sadko is. You want in?”
Malloy snickered. “Are you kidding? Just name the place.”
“Upper Darby. We’re on our way there now. They’ve got Mia so I don’t know how long I can wait for you.”
“I can be there in twenty.”
“That’s probably when we’ll get there. I’ll text you the address.”
“I’m leaving now.”
By the time Recker and Haley got to the address, they saw several cars out in front of the house. They confirmed with Jones that the one car was the one that was used to take Mia.
“I’ve been here before,” Recker said.
“You have?”
“A long time ago. I met Jeremiah here once. I knew that address sounded familiar. I just couldn’t place it. But I remember it now.”
“What’s the inside look like?”
“Back then it was bare. A couple tables and chairs, not much more. Never saw the upstairs. Just the main floor. Jeremiah only used it as a meeting place.”
“Looks like the disciple’s picked up old habits.”
“Yeah.”
“How long we gonna wait for Malloy?”
“I think we can wait a few minutes. With Mia in there, I’m not waiting much longer than that.”
“What if they moved her again somewhere else? Or maybe this wasn’t where they were taking her. Maybe she overheard just an address.”
Recker took a deep breath. “I’m trying to think positively. She’s in there.”
Not even a minute later, Recker noticed a few figures moving out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head and saw the familiar face of Malloy coming closer. He was crouching down as he moved to avoid being spotted by anyone in the house, though they were all further down the street anyway and unlikely to be seen from it.
“How’s it looking?” Malloy asked.
“No movement yet,” Recker answered.
“Sure they’re in there?”
“Not sure of anything yet.”
“Well let’s hope that they are.”
“That’s about all I’m running on at the moment.”
“I got ten men with me. I got six on the back. They’ll go in when we give the word.”
“That should work.”
“Any idea how many they got in there?”
Recker shook his head. “Nope.”
“Don’t matter. We’ll give them hell no matter how many they got.”
“How you wanna play this?” Haley asked. “Without knowing where Mia is, if we go charging in and shooting wildly, she might get caught in the crossfire. Or they might just target her first.”
“But if we wait too long, something equally horrible might happen,” Malloy said.
“It’s a gamble either way,” Recker said. He thought for a few seconds to figure out how he wanted to play it. The only thing that mattered to him at that moment was just getting Mia out. He didn’t care about revenge. He didn’t care about getting even. Sadko didn’t even enter his mind. It was only about what was best for Mia. “The longer she’s in there, the worse off she’ll be. We go in and take her.”
“How?” Haley asked.
Recker looked to Malloy. “Can you have your men in the back break in first?”
Malloy nodded, knowing what he was thinking. “They’ll scurry to the back thinking the action’s back there and then we’ll come through the front.”
“We’ll give them a few seconds of a head start so if they don’t see anyone out here, they’ll think everyone’s coming through the back and bring everyone back there.”
“Lighten our load.”
“You good with that?”
“Let’s do it.” Malloy immediately contacted his men in back of the house and instructed them to go forward. “Let’s see what shakes out.”
Within a few seconds, they started to hear gunfire. They resisted the urge to join for a good solid minute.
“Let’s go!” Recker said.
The three of them, along with the other four men that Malloy brought along, all raced to the front of the house, cutting through the lawns of the neighbor’s property.
“Two of you stay and cover through the front window,” Malloy told his men.
With the gunfire still plainly heard, the others broke toward the front door, charging at it with all their might, breaking right through it. Almost immediately they were under a barrage of gunfire.
Several men showed up from other rooms and started shooting at them, with Recker and the team firing back. It seemed like it took forever to dispatch the men, but in reality it was under a minute. With everyone out of their way, Recker led the team through the house as the gunfire suddenly fell silent.
“We’re good back here,” one of Malloy’s men said.
“Good here too,” Malloy replied.
“Maybe that’s it,” Haley said.
“But where’s Mia?” Recker asked.
Malloy directed several of his men to check the upstairs while they continued downstairs. They went through a couple of rooms downstairs before finally coming to what used to be a bedroom. The door was closed. Recker took a step back, then kicked at the knob, the door flying wide open. With Haley and Malloy behind him, Recker stepped foot into the bedroom. His eyes were immediately drawn to Mia, sitting in a wooden chair in the middle of the room. Her hands and feet were tied, her mouth had a handkerchief stuffed in it, but he didn’t notice any cuts or bruises on her. Standing behind her was Justin Sadko. He had a gun pointed at the back of her head.
“Let me out of here or I’ll blow a hole through her head.”
“You’re not leaving unless you let her go,” Recker said.
“Oh no. She’s my insurance policy.”
“OK. You’ve used it. Let her go and I give you my word I won’t kill you.” Recker tossed his gun on the ground. “All I want is her. You can go.”
Recker noticed Sadko’s finger was on the trigger of his gun. One wrong move, one twitch from him and Mia’s life was over. They could’ve easily shot him now if they wanted to. But Recker couldn’t take the chance of his finger pulling the trigger on his way down, ending Mia’s life.
“I put my gun down. All I want is her. You can go.”
Sadko shook his head. “I don’t trust you. I let her go and I’m done.”
“You’re not leaving her with her. You’re not. So the only option you have is to trust me. You can either let her go and live. Or you can stay here and you can die. Those are your two options. I’m not letting you leave here with her.”
Sadko looked at Haley and Malloy, both of whom still had their guns pointed at him. “I let her go, I know I’m dead.”
Recker looked at his friends. “Put your guns down.”
They both looked at him, and though neither particularly liked the request, they both did as they were asked. They both lowered their weapons, though neither got rid of them.
“Untie her,” Recker said. “Let her go. Once she’s with me, then I’m done with you and you can go. It’s your only option.”
“Or I could just blow her head off first.”
Haley and Malloy both instantly raised their weapons again, ready to fire. Recker stuck his hand out to stop them.
“If you do that, you’re dead,” Recker said. “If you want to live, your only chance is giving her back to me. That’s it.” He motioned to his partners to lower their weapons again. They complied.
Sadko licked his lips as he considered his options. After a minute, he finally decided to take the chance. He took out his pocket knife and cut the straps holding Mia’s legs and wrists together. He gave her a slight push on her back to get her moving. Mia ran over to Recker and hugged him tight.
“As soon as she’s gone you can go,” Recker said.
Recker looked at Haley, who nodded at him to take Mia out. Recker put his arm around her and escorted her out of the room. They gave them a few seconds for Recker to get Mia out of the house. Haley and Malloy continued to stand there, staring down Sadko. Malloy looked at him with such contempt. A former colleague who sold them out.
“You lousy traitor,” Malloy said.
“Nothing personal, Jimmy,” Sadko said. “I just found a better offer.”
“You no good low-life.”
“Well, it’s been real. But I think I’ll go now.”
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“You heard what he said. A deal’s a deal. He gave me his word.”
Almost in unison, Haley and Malloy raised their weapons and opened fire, killing Sadko immediately. Once Mia heard the sound of the shots outside, she flinched. Recker looked at her and smiled.
“It’s over,” Recker said.
“What took you so long?” Mia joked.
“I must be slowing down in my old age.”
After it was over, Haley and Malloy walked over to Sadko’s body and stood over it.
“I didn’t give you my word,” Haley said.
“Me neither,” Malloy said, spitting on the body. “Trash.”
“Let’s get out of here before the cops come.”
Once they were outside, they stood there for a few moments before going their separate ways.
“Gotta admit,” Malloy said. “Didn’t think you had that in you.”
“Mia’s like a sister to me. I wasn’t letting him get away with that. Or maybe you’re just rubbing off on me.”
Malloy laughed. “Maybe there’s hope for you yet.”
Once Malloy and his men walked off, Haley met back up with Recker and Mia, giving her a hug.
“Thanks for coming for me,” Mia said.
“I’m just glad you’re OK,” Haley replied.
“He’s dead, isn’t he?”
“It’s over. There’s nothing else to worry about.”
“This time. What about the next time? I’m sure there’ll be one.”
“Next time we’ll be ready.”
“For some of us, there’s always a next time,” Recker said. “But for you, this is over. For the rest of us, we’ll worry about the next time when it gets here. And we will be ready.”
About the Author
Mike Ryan is a USA Today Bestselling Author. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife, and four children. He’s the author of the bestselling Silencer Series, as well as many others. Visit his website at www.mikeryanbooks.com to find out more about his books, and sign up for his newsletter. You can also interact with Mike via Facebook, and Instagram.
Also by Mike Ryan
Keep reading with the next book in The Silencer Series - Recoil.
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The Extractor Series
The Eliminator Series
The Cain Series
The Ghost Series
The Brandon Hall Series
The Last Job
A Dangerous Man
The Crew