by Beth Abbott
As they reached the edge of the tree line, Matt unclipped his holster and removed his side-arm, making sure the safety was off. He heard Danny do the same, and they crept forward.
“Abbey, I’ve just spotted the reason Hannah couldn’t find the van.” Danny murmured into his mic. “It’s parked under a metal shelter opposite the middle building.”
“Thanks, Danny.” Abbey replied. “That’s good to know.”
“I’ll take care of it on the way past.” Drew confirmed. “It’ll make it harder for them to get away if they’ve got four slashed tyres.”
Matt reached the edge of the building and headed for the front door.
He gave it a push, but it was clearly locked, and despite its age, didn’t look like it was going to give way anytime soon.
“Megan said she climbed out of a window at the back.” Danny murmured. “She wouldn’t have been able to close it properly behind her, so we should be able to climb in the same way.”
Matt didn’t waste any time checking the other windows, as he jogged towards the back of the building. He paused and checked for signs of life before darting around the corner, looking for the window Megan had used.
It didn’t take him long to find it, and in less than half a minute both men were inside, the window pulled shut behind them, and they were making their way to the stairs.
Matt descended the first flight of stairs quickly, but as they lost what moonlight had lit the upper level, he pulled on his night vision goggles.
By the time they were creeping down the second flight of stairs, there was absolutely no light visible from above.
His throat closed up as he realised the panic Suzy must be feeling, at being alone in such creepy surroundings.
They checked out the few rooms at the bottom level, and finally found the door that led them to the corridor Megan had mentioned.
“She should be in a room on our right.” He murmured to Danny.
“You go ahead and look for her.” Danny nodded. “I’ll clear the other rooms to make sure the assholes aren’t hiding out in any of them.”
Matt opened the first door and peered in. Apart from a few tables in one corner, it was obvious that the room was empty, so he carried on down the corridor.
The next door was locked, and as tempting as it would have been to bust it down, he decided to leave it for later, doubting that Suzy would have been able to lock it from the inside when it appeared to have a mortice lock fitted. What were the chances someone had left the key in the door after almost seventy years?
Besides which, the door didn’t have a window like the others, so he guessed at some point it must have been a storage cupboard.
He opened the next door and stepped inside.
Tables, cupboards and chairs were strewn around the place, some of them tidily, others tipped over.
He took a few paces inside and stared around the room. No signs of life, and no sound or movement anywhere.
Matt stepped back into the corridor, and as he turned towards the next door, he saw the beam of a light in front of him coming from somewhere on the right.
“Guardians in the house!” He heard Kellen’s deep voice rumble.
“On your left.” He responded, letting them know where to find him.
He watched as the three men walked around the corner, and Logan immediately took up a position with his weapon raised, watching for anyone coming from the other end of the corridor.
Hollywood and Kellen started opening doors, checking inside, making their way towards where Matt and Danny were doing the same.
When the four men met in the middle of the corridor, Matt turned to Danny with a growl.
“They’ve got Suzy.” His heart was literally cracking in two. “They must have found her before we got here.”
“Umm, guys?” Logan beckoned Matt and Danny over. “Check this out.”
Matt didn’t waste any time getting to where Logan was standing.
“What’ve you found?” He demanded.
“Look at the floor.” Logan shone his torch at the floor in the direction of the building the kidnappers had held Suzy and Megan in.
“What am I looking at?” Matt frowned, pushing his NVG’s up on top of his head, unable to gauge what he should be seeing in all the dirt on the floor.
“Look.” Logan pointed his torch at two lines of footprints, one of which looked to contain drag marks. “Those are Suzy and Megan’s footprints heading this way. There aren’t any others, so it doesn’t look like they’ve been followed.”
Matt glanced back at the rooms they’d just checked.
“We’ve missed her.” He didn’t know how, but it was the only conclusion. “Check again, two people per room, and sweep every inch.”
Kellen and Hollywood took the rooms to the right, while he and Danny went back to check the rooms he’d already been in.
The first two were obviously empty, and while they both walked around shining their torches into dark corners, Matt knew they weren’t going to find anything in them.
When he made his way back to the room with all the furniture, he signalled Danny to start on the left while he turned to his right.
He walked around the room twice, finding nothing, and was just about to give up when something in the light from Danny’s torch caught his eye.
“Shine your torch back down again.” He instructed his friend, and Danny obediently shone his torch back down at his feet.
Matt pulled a second torch from his pocket as he stepped forward, and the beams from his torches joined Danny’s, lighting the area up much more clearly.
“That’s a drag mark.” He whispered, and both men turned the beams to follow the marks left in the dirt on the floor.
The path was quite clear, and it headed around the side of a cupboard Matt had assumed to be attached to the wall.
As he rounded the end of the cupboard, he noticed an opening behind it, and realised that whatever had caused the marks, was still going to be back there.
“Give me a hand to pull this out.” He murmured to Danny, and between them they took hold of the old kitchen type unit and pulled.
When it gave way easily, they moved it back about six feet before turning their torches back on the gap.
It was an old fireplace, hollowed out and empty. Well, empty save for a dusty lump of something in a heap on the floor.
Matt moved towards it slowly, not sure whether he should be worried that it was Suzy, or that it wasn’t.
The lump was covered in dirt and dust and hadn’t moved since they’d shone a light on it.
Matt knelt down, putting his hand on the object and realised it was soft.
Soft like a sleeping bag.
He found an edge and lifted it, tugging gently when it seemed to be snagged beneath something.
As the bag gave way and he was able to pull it off, the first thing he saw was a clump of blonde hair.
“Suzy!” He pulled the rest of the sleeping bag from her head as his hands smoothed the hair back from her face.
Her eyes were closed, and her skin was almost blue from the cold.
“Get her out of there.” Danny hissed. “She needs to be warmed up.”
Matt pulled the sleeping bag clear, and Danny took it from him, moving to the other side of the room to shake off the dust.
“Suzy, sweetheart?” Matt said quietly as he lifted her shoulders from the floor. “Can you hear me, honey? It’s Matt, Suzy.”
He slid an arm around her back and another behind her knees, and slowly got to his feet, carefully cradling her in his arms. Her eyes were still closed, and she hadn’t so much as murmured.
Danny held a finger to her throat and nodded his approval.
“She’s alive, and her pulse is strong, if a bit slow.” He grinned at Matt. “Here, wrap her back up in this.”
Matt held Suzy away from his body for the few seconds it took for Danny to wrap her in the sleeping bag, and when she was wrapped up from head to toe, he held her tightly
to him.
As they made their way back out into the corridor, Hollywood and Kellen were just coming out of another room.
“Well, it looks like Matt hit the jackpot!” Kellen grinned. “Is she Ok?”
“She’s freezing.” Matt glanced down at his wife. “She was hiding in an open fireplace behind a cupboard, so I’ve no doubt it was as cold as it is outside.”
“Then you’d better get her to hospital as quick as you can.” Hollywood nodded. “We’ll head towards JT and the others, as per the plan.”
Danny opened the door at the end of the corridor and Matt manoeuvred Suzy through the opening.
“Hannah can you hear me?” He murmured into the mic.
“I hear you, Matt.” She sniffed. “Is she gonna be Ok?”
“I think so, but she really needs the hospital.” He said quietly. “Can you have Vicky on standby to take us straight there.”
“Will do, Matt.” Hannah promised. “Evan found Megan in the woods, and although she’s Ok, she could probably do with being checked over as well.”
“It’s good to know we got them both.” Matt murmured, not taking his eyes off Suzy.
“It sure is.” Yep, Hannah was definitely sniffing. “You just get Suzy to the chopper, Matt. I’m sure Megan can help you look after her while Vicky gets you where you need to go.”
Matt seriously doubted he’d actually let go of Suzy long enough for her to get checked over by anyone, but the thought was appreciated, at least.
Chapter 64 – JT
Hearing that both women had been rescued and would soon be on their way to the hospital, was like music to JT’s ears.
It was one thing for one of the Alpha men to be in harm’s way… hell, half of their lives had been spent on the front line.
But their women were an entirely different thing, and whether it made him a chauvinist or not, in JT’s mind, their women and children were to be protected and kept out of harm’s way at all costs.
Knowing that Suzy and Megan, a woman he hadn’t even met, were in danger, had gnawed at his stomach like an ulcer.
Suzy had been part of his life almost as long as Matt, and she was as close to a sister to him as he’d ever get. She was the original Alpha wife, and the woman responsible for helping all the females who followed her assimilate into the macho world that Alpha Company had been. Hell, she was the founder member of the Alpha Sisterhood, and the one person many of the women looked up to.
JT closed his eyes and said a silent prayer that she would be Ok.
“Ready to go and get those assholes?” Luke’s voice was right behind him.
“Oh, yeah!” JT murmured and started to move forward.
They’d taken up a position just outside the right-hand building and had already identified a room where some of the kidnappers were waiting.
Until they could be sure that all the men were in the same place, JT had been reluctant to move in for fear of driving them towards where Matt and Danny were rescuing Suzy.
Now he knew Suzy was safe, it was their turn to make a move.
He pointed at Drew and signalled that he should move around the top of the staircase, to come at the door from the other side. Luke knelt behind a pillar, with his gun pointed in the direction his friends were moving.
JT raised his weapon and stepped quietly towards the door.
He could hear several men talking, so before he moved into the light emanating from the doorway, he stepped out into the darkness to try and see who was inside.
Three men sat on ancient sofas, in what looked like it might once have been a waiting room, or even a staff lounge.
He glanced over at Drew and held up three fingers.
Drew immediately changed his body angle, so he could more easily check behind him. If there were three men in the room, that meant there were two other men somewhere else.
Staying back out of sight, JT edged towards the door until the men’s voices started to become clearer.
“What’s the point in waiting here if they’ve already made a run for it?” One of the men was complaining. “If we can’t find them, then we’re not going to get a ransom, so we might as well get the hell out of here.”
“Reggie said to wait here while they figure out what to do. Jay had to let the woman who’s bankrolling this know what’s going on. I’m guessing she’s more than a little pissed off with him.” Another man insisted. “Anyway, they’ll figure out how we’re gonna get them bitches back. I mean, let’s face it, they can’t have gotten far, can they?”
“They’ve been gone an hour or more.” The first voice argued. “We’ve searched all the rooms and found nuthin’, so the only answer is that they must have gotten past us somehow.”
“The blonde had a broken foot.” A third voice joined in. “No fucking way was she running anywhere. They’ve got to be downstairs still.”
“We’ve already searched downstairs.” The first voice argued. “It’s empty. They’re gone.”
“They might have gone down the corridor in the basement.” The second voice argued.
“What corridor?” The other two chimed in.
“There was a corridor in the basement.” The second man sounded blasé about it. “I found it when we came out here a couple of days ago to check the place out.”
“So, why didn’t you say something earlier when we were checking the rooms downstairs?” The first man was pissed now.
“Have you seen how dark it is down there?” The second man hissed. “No fucking way I’m going walking around down there. If those women are stupid enough to go wandering around in the dark, good fucking luck to them! There could be ghosts or anything down there!”
“Ghosts?” The third man snorted a laugh. “What sort of fucking pussy are you?”
“The sort that’s going nowhere near those basement rooms without a five hundred watt fucking torch!” The second man hissed. “If you’re so keen to find them, you go down and take a look. It’s creepy as fuck down there.”
“Maybe Jay and Reggie have found the corridor?” The first man guessed. “That could explain why they’re not back yet.”
JT was standing right outside the door now, with Drew at the opposite side. He glanced at Drew and grinned. The three men sounded like a bunch of halfwits.
As he stepped into the light, he felt Drew at his shoulder, and between the two of them they completely filled the doorway.
“Alright, boys?” He grinned, keeping his gun visible in front of him as he moved forward. “Bit of a strange place to pick for a boys’ night out, isn’t it?”
“What the fuck?” One of the men took a step towards him, his hand going to the knife-pouch attached to his belt until he noticed that Drew was also armed.
“Who the fuck are you?” The man demanded.
“Strangely enough, that was what we were about to ask you.” Drew chuckled. “But I think I’d like to see you on your knees before we start to chat.”
The three men turned to look at each other, as though trying to decide whether to make a run for it.
Drew stepped further into the room and waved his gun in front of him.
“In case there’s any doubt, you should know that these are real.” He smiled again in what JT thought was quite a sinister, un-Drew like fashion. “But more importantly, you should understand how happy we’d be if you forced us to use them, especially after you kidnapped our sisters.”
JT watched the colour drain from the men’s faces.
“We didn’t know who they were.” The man closest to Drew put his hands up in a defensive pose. “We was just following orders.”
“Who gave the orders?” JT asked, his gaze focussed on the man in front.
“Reggie!” The man didn’t hesitate to give up the name.
“Shut the fuck up.” The man at the back growled. “You don’t give them nuthin’!”
The guy closest to Drew turned to his friend and shrugged.
“Are you gonna go down for something that wasn’t y
our plan?” He scowled. “We didn’t mastermind this shit!”
“Watcha talkin’ about?” The other guy scoffed. “They ain’t no cops! And they sure as fuck ain’t here to arrest us.”
JT deliberately pulled a suppressor out of his pocket and started to screw it onto the end of his gun.
“You get brownie points for observation.” He smirked. “But you should really rethink your strategy. Cops would’ve just arrested you already. We don’t have to worry about procedure or reading you your rights. We can just give you the punishment you deserve for grabbing two defenceless women off the street and causing them pain.”
Out of the corner of his eye, JT saw Luke move to stand in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe. He kept one eye on the hallway, and another on the three men in the room.
“Look, man!” The first guy wasn’t above begging. “Reggie and Jay are the ones you’re looking for. They got the idea for this from some woman. Said we was gonna make a killing.”
“Really?” JT smirked. “A killing?”
“No!” The guy realised what he’d said. “I don’t mean a killing like we was gonna kill someone! Just that we was gonna make a load of money off this.”
“Shut the fuck up, asshole!” His companion still wasn’t feeling the love. “If they ain’t cops, then we ain’t gotta tell them fuck all, so stop flapping your lips. There ain’t shit they can do about it!”
“You think so?” Luke chuckled.
“Yeah, I think so.” The arrogant fuckwit had the audacity to fold his arms across his chest. “I bet those guns ain’t even real.”
JT raised his now silenced gun and pointed it at a spot just to the left of the man’s head.
“How sure are you about that?” JT wasn’t smiling any more. “Tell me where we can find Jay and Reggie, and I won’t have to prove how wrong you are.”
“Fuck you, asshole!” The man sneered. “You can shove your plastic g…”
JT fired once, close enough that the guy was probably gonna have a ringing in his ear for weeks.
The bullet hit the wall, sending dust and cement chippings everywhere.
“They’re downstairs!” The first guy fell to his knees, obviously not prepared to test JT’s patience any longer. “One floor down, in the room the women was in.”