by R. T. Wolfe
Squinting, he blinked and dipped his face closer to the monitor. Her gun belt wasn't here. It wasn't in his house. Elation caused him to wipe the sweat that had formed along his forehead and blink again. "What? That's less than a mile away." It wasn't in his house, he repeated somewhere in his head.
"Those are the buildings Greenberg Contractors used to own." It was Andy's voice.
Duncan pulled himself back fully to the present and spun to find Nathan and Andy. "Dave. What did Dave say?"
Nathan and Andy glanced at each other. Oh no, how long had Duncan been in the flashback?
"We couldn't get through to him. We tried the station and Detective Lynx. No one is answering."
Duncan ran for the doors. He went down one flight of stairs before he turned for one of his spare rooms. Opening a wooden wall cabinet, he chose a handful of vials, some smaller containers of C4 and a pocketknife. His Beretta lay under the seat of his SUV, but he needed more. He moved to the next cabinet. Next to the bigger blocks of C4 were his guns.
"What the hell, Duncan?" Andy asked from behind him, Red running in circles. "You've got a freaking arsenal in here."
Ignoring his brother, Duncan stuffed a smaller glock in the back of his belt along with a few replacement magazines in the pocket of his pants. Nathan reached next to him and took a semiautomatic.
"I can't let you do that. It's not registered to you."
"Try and stop me," Nathan said.
* * *
Zip ties dug into Nickie's wrists and locked her knees and feet together. Her gun belt hung from the knob of the door to the room Gloria was in. Zheng stuck her M&P .45 in the front of his pants. The glock lay on the floor by the door to the room. The outside door had been left open letting cold air blow onto the side of Nickie's face. Zheng hadn't gagged her as he had Gloria. That wasn't a good sign. He paced as he listened to someone on the other end of his cell, then smiled wide and clicked off.
"Gentlemen," he yelled and stopped in front of Nickie.
Tanner hadn't lied. She'd tried to shake off the thought. Zheng had people here and others to communicate with on his cell. He wasn't desperate. She hadn't put him on the run when she rescued the group of captive girls.
He stopped in front of her chair and leaned down to her. "You're the only one who ever got away." He crooned in her ear. "Alive, that is."
Slowly, she pulled her face away from the scent of him. Cologne and soap. "You always were special," he said.
Quick as a weasel, she jutted her head toward him, ready for the stars to spin in her head from the blow. He skipped back and roared with laughter. "That's not going to work on me, my savage. I know you far too well."
Three men dressed in matching dark mock-turtlenecks came from down the hall. Zheng kept his eyes on Nickie but pointed his finger into the room where he'd placed Gloria. "Take her and secure the rest of the entrances," he said to the men as he barked in Nickie's face. "Don't take her too far. I might need her if Detective Savage is less than cooperative."
"No!" Nickie screamed. She shook and shook her secured body enough to move the chair three full feet. Glaring in dread, two of them stuck a hand under Gloria's shoulders and dragged her, chair and all, backward down the hall. Gloria's eyes were saucers, red with fear, growing smaller as Nickie watched her taken away.
The third man carried a blowtorch and started sealing the exit door Nickie had entered through.
She blinked away the tears as she strained against the zip ties that began cutting her wrists.
"Look at your face, my Nicole. Panic. Fear. That's an expression I've never been privy to before. How positively wonderful. Come," he said as if she could move. "Let's talk."
He spun her around in her chair enough to make her neck whip and crack. Then, he dragged her chair into the room vacated by Gloria. Clamping her eyes shut, she tuned out Zheng and listened attentively at the sound of the men's footsteps and Gloria's chair as it scraped along the concrete. Another turn, then one more.
* * *
Andy soared down Duncan's drive. It was too fast. He was never going to make the turn. "Andy! Slow the hell down."
Duncan grasped the roll bar and braced, but Andy didn't attempt to turn.
"Short cut, brother," Andy yelled and blew over the highway, bouncing between the trees across the ditch. He shifted into four-wheel drive, then headed into the woods.
Through the noise of crunching snow and aching metal bouncing through the woods, Duncan's phone rang.
"Eddy? What a relief," Duncan yelled in the phone. "Nickie's in trouble. We need backup. No one's answering their phones."
Duncan dipped his head from the wind and covered his other ear. "What? Is anyone hurt? How much damage? Are you sure?"
He rattled off rapid-fire questions as a picture of what was going on came into his head. A diversion.
"Motherfucker," Duncan said as he hung up the phone. "Bombs are planted all over the hospital. They are going off in fifteen minutes increments. Eddy is coming to us regardless. I think he's all we get."
Andy busted through the edge of the trees to a clearing and nearly ran into a smaller warehouse at the end of a row of four. His Audi. Duncan had one focus. Nickie.
Andy slowed down, passed the Audi and crept to the back of the largest building. Tire tracks littered the gravel. Only one set belonged to the Audi.
Nathan told Red to stay as the three of them each took a door. Duncan came in low and against the metal side of the building as he made his way up a few concrete stairs. His heart sped, and his senses were on overdrive as he took his bare hand and wrapped it around the handle to the door, then shook. It was locked as he expected. Glancing to Nathan and Andy, they both shook their heads, signaling theirs were locked, too.
Duncan dug in a pocket and pulled out the first vial of C4. He chipped a piece of the sticky compound and stuck it into the lock. Taking his lighter, he lit the material and ducked, covering his face. A small poof and he was in. Giving a thumbs up to Nathan and Andy, he put on his gloves and gently pulled on the door.
It didn't move.
He pulled harder. Nothing. Not a millimeter of movement. Nathan and Andy had reached him by then. "I think he's welded it fucking shut. Let's try the next one."
And they did. And the next and the next. With each door they tried, Duncan's hope diminished.
"It's no use," Andy said. "I have an idea. We're going to need more explosives."
* * *
"Nicole Monticello of the Maryland Monticellos." Zheng walked in a circle around Nickie. "I cannot tell you how much trouble that name has given me." She recognized the smell of him as if sixteen years ago was sixteen days. "Our clientele like them fresh and clean." This was too familiar. Her eyes followed him, and she dipped her lids to half-closed. Her body changed to autopilot.
He reached like he was going to brush the backs of his fingers down the side of her face. She jerked her mouth to his fingers and tried to bite.
He pulled his hand back but stared at her like she was some drugged freak as he continued. "But I would have never picked you if I had been in charge all those long years ago. Much too high profile. Then, you changed your name. I was like a proud father the day I was told this."
She didn't have time for this. "I didn't do it because of you," she said and waited until his psychotic pacing took him around the back of her chair. In her fit, she'd shaken it to nearly under the window. She heard no gunshots and no cries from Gloria. The feet of Gloria's chair had stopped scraping about three rooms from here.
"Not for me? Ah," he said. "As a tribute, then?" From behind, his voice came close and low. "For the cries from the girls as I punished them for your betrayal? Can you still hear them?"
Her shoulders fell. Yes. Yes, she could hear them. She knew, always knew what would happen if she ran. And she ran anyway.
He laughed the laugh that haunted her dreams and mixed with the cries of young girls.
"I was forced to allow you to carry on due to... your st
atus. I had to keep an eye on you. Babysitters and all that. But the stunt you pulled at Moody's white house, Nicole, was the end of you. Your liability has become a risk larger than the killing of a Maryland Monticello. Than the killing of a cop."
He ran his hand along the top of her hair, making bile rise in her throat. "I need to know how you did it, my Nicole." His hand brushed over her shoulder. "How did you find out about Moody's? The timing? The placement of the guards? The security system was state of the art. Who did you include in your circle of information?"
His hand trailed to her neck, circled and grasped. His other hand slithered low around her waist. "I was sincere, my Nicole. I've never had interest in young girls. You know that." He slid his hand to her breast. "Not that way. But this." He squeezed and her feet and legs reflexively exploded. The chair tumbled backward on top of him. Her head fell on his. She heard the unmistakable sound of skull hitting concrete. The blurred vision from the impact was well worth it. He scooted himself from beneath her, but not before she had the chance to give him another head butt. It probably hurt her more than it did him. Still worth it.
He didn't bother righting her chair, but came around and closed-fist punched her three times in the face as she lay toppled. The sight of blood dripping from his nose thrilled her. Through the pain and taste of blood, she smiled, hoping her teeth were covered in it.
"Yeah," he said as he reached behind his head. When he pulled his hand around, blood covered his fingertips. The sight was pure elation.
"You never did care about pain. I'm going to go get the spic."
"Okay," she said. "I'll tell you. You'd have to be an idiot not to figure out your pimping schedule. Just follow the big games where guys need to grab their cocks after a big win, or have someone else do it for them after they lose."
"The security system?"
She shrugged and readied herself for the next blow.
Chapter 26
Duncan grasped the steering wheel as he bounced in Andy's Jeep with Nathan in the passenger seat and Red in the back. Andy drove an oversized end-loader with a line of C4 bricks stuck along the outside of the bucket. The smaller trees that were in Andy's way became fallen logs as he rolled over them. Too much time had passed. She could be anywhere or in any kind of condition. Or no condition.
He had to get to her. On Nathan's lap rested Duncan's tablet. Duncan had programmed it to do two things: detect Nickie's GPS chip and ignite the C4 bricks. Random blips flashed on the monitor as the device gave off pieces of information locating Nickie's gun belt within the largest warehouse.
It was a gamble, but he decided her belt would no longer be on her. Zheng would have taken it. It was still a gamble. He had no choice. He had to get through. Every damned door had been welded shut. How the fuck did Zheng plan to leave? Probably a similar way to how Andy planned to get in.
Did Zheng think the diversion at the hospital wouldn't last? That the police would be out here in force? Was it all precautionary? It didn't matter, Duncan thought, as Andy made his way through the clearing. He stopped the machine, then turned to get the signal from Duncan.
Duncan studied the blip on the monitor although he didn't need to. It hadn't moved. Looking up, he noticed the spot would be about ten yards behind an entrance door at the top of the short stack of stairs. He'd tried to blow the lock on that door himself. This time, he planned to blow the door and wall that surrounded it. He pointed to the spot for Andy to drive into and slipped out of the Jeep.
Shoving the machine in gear, Andy drove it straight for the spot between the closest garage door and the human door at the top of the stairs. Nathan hovered his fingers over the enter button on his tablet, waiting for the Duncan's signal. Just before Andy made impact, Duncan spotted the face of an unfamiliar man peering through the window.
As Andy's end-loader made contact, Duncan waved his hand to Nathan who remotely ignited the explosives, blowing a hole the size of a small country in the wall. Debris rained from the sky: metal, hunks of concrete and glass. They took cover, waiting for it to clear before they ran in the direction of the hole.
Red beat them to the building, climbing up crumbled walls with his nose to the ground. A man wearing a black mock-turtleneck lay sprawled partially under the debris with blood dripping from his nose and ears. Red growled and dipped his head. They all turned.
Zheng.
He came from a room toward the end, then staggered around the corner. Red sprinted after him, followed by Nathan and Andy. Duncan's fingers longed to choke him until he looked like the man in the black turtleneck, but he needed to find Nickie. He headed for the room Zheng had exited. It was the second time in a few short weeks he'd found her lifeless. She was covered in dust and laid on her side, tied to a chair by her feet and hands. He slid to the ground on his knees and grabbed her bruised face.
She blinked, showing him a glimpse of her steel gray.
"Nickie. Where does it hurt?" He ran his hands along her face, cleaning the dust.
"My wrists."
"Oh shit." Of course. He dug in his pockets and grabbed his knife. As he sliced the freaking zip ties, her feet and hands sprang forward and she rolled on her back and rubbed them.
Her wrists were bleeding, and still she got up on her hands and knees and crawled toward the door.
"What are you doing?" he yelled. "Zheng is hurt. He's not going far. Red is after him."
"Gloria," she croaked, picking up a glock from the rubble and pushing up from her hands.
"Gloria? What are you talking about?"
"There are at least three more, plus Zheng. They have Gloria."
He helped her to her feet and hobbled toward the hallway. "One of the three is buried under concrete." Their feet crunched over broken glass.
"What did you do?" she asked, looking at the gaping hole.
"I wanted my detective."
She sighed heavily and poured her weight on the arm that held her up. "I'm the one who got away."
They found Gloria in a room, eyes wide and sobbing through a rag stuffed in her mouth. The look in her eyes at the sight of Nickie was the serene relief of a mother reunited with her daughter.
"Go," Nickie said. "I'm going to get her out of here."
He wouldn't leave her. "I just got you back. I'm at least getting you to the Audi first."
"I've got this. Don't you let him get away. Go!" she yelled, and he ran. He ran until he caught up to the barking. Red stood baring his teeth with the hair on his back raised. Another man who looked much like the dead one near the hole in the wall stood staring at Red with contempt. Andy had one of Duncan's rifles pointed at his head.
"They went that way." Andy nodded toward the garage area. "I've got this one."
A single siren screamed toward the group of buildings as Duncan followed the hallway Andy suggested. Throwing his body into it, he pushed opened a steel door. Four SUVs were parked in a line inside. He heard three sets of footsteps. His memory helped him recognize that one belonged to Nathan.
"Get down, Nathan," Duncan warned. The sound of his voice gave away his location, but it was necessary. With soft feet, he hurried along the wall of garage doors. Piles of rusty equipment lined the back on the other side of the SUVs. He ducked low, then rolled covering himself in dust, much like he did during his time in the desert.
He spotted Nathan's black shoes and a pair of boots covered in the kind of dirt that meant they'd been near an explosion. Zheng. Drawing his gun, Duncan rose to a squatting position and moved silently to the other side of the only thing that stood between them—one of the SUVs. He heard the unmistakable sound of an unlatching car door.
His mind was suddenly clear. No clutter from years of sights and sounds. No need to throw his mind back to the Middle East.
Catapulting, he leapt into the air and over the hood of the vehicle. He let off round after round, nearly emptying the magazine of his Beretta into the opened door Zheng used as a shield. Zheng may have ducked the bullets but not the car door as Dunca
n kicked it shut on his way to landing on the concrete. An unbridled need to get his hands on Zheng kept his mind clear.
Zheng kicked his legs in the air and landed on his feet. He bounced on the balls of his feet and straightened his fingers like a black belt ready to spar.
Duncan wasn't trained in martial arts. He'd been trained to fight quick and dirty. Fast and precise, Zheng jumped and spun, but Duncan was faster. He dodged the foot that came out of nowhere toward his face. That was the trouble with these cocky karate assholes. They didn't know the first thing to do in street fight. Duncan took advantage of Zheng's exposed nuts and landed his fist square in the center of them.
Zheng howled and dropped to the floor like a newborn giraffe. Duncan bent over him, his fist aching to bloody his face. Zheng writhed on the ground. "No," Duncan yelled. "Get up. Get up and fight."
Duncan nudged him with his shoe probably harder than he needed to. Clutching the side of the vehicle he just tried to enter, Zheng lifted to one knee.
"Get up, motherfucker. Get up."
Still clutching his junk, Zheng dipped his head between his arms, then spun and landed a solid hook to the side of Duncan's head.
Pain erupted somewhere in his vision, his hearing, his head. None of it mattered. Duncan charged, making Zheng's spinning, turning ballet shit useless, and flew a quick jab, stunning him before following up with a punch that came from Duncan's chest, through his arm and out his knuckles. Again and again, Duncan pummeled him, ignoring the pain searing in his knuckles.
The click from a gun taken off safety made Duncan turn his attention away. One of Zheng's men stood with a gun pointed at Duncan's head. Carefully, Duncan lifted from Zheng and held up his hands. He spotted his uncle as Nathan slinked from behind the man. Duncan desperately hoped Zheng wouldn't see him, too.
The car door clicked again. With hands still in the air, Duncan kept his head facing forward but moved his gaze to Zheng just as... Nathan pulled the trigger? The man went down but not before sending off two rounds, making Duncan and Nathan duck for cover. Momentarily stunned, Duncan took in the idea that Nathan shot a man. Relief flooded Duncan as the man rolled on the concrete between cars, clutching his leg. Nathan hadn't killed a man.