Bingo.
Nobody had bothered to check if this window was locked. Or maybe the lock was simply broken. I carefully climbed inside and landed on the wooden floor in my socks. I’d slipped my boots off outside so I wouldn’t make noise.
The sound of voices drifted through the door. A man talking loudly. Then Keira again.
With my gun drawn, I checked the room. A narrow bed with a sagging mattress sat against one wall. But as I inched forward, I saw a pair of legs lying horizontal in cowboy boots and jeans.
Someone was lying on the floor on the far side of the narrow bed. His ankles were bound with zip ties.
His wrists were bound too, and a gag filled his mouth. The guy was maybe twenty years old. A kid.
His eyes went wide and terrified when he saw me.
Holding my finger to my lips, I kneeled and yanked the gag away from the kid’s mouth. He started coughing and shoved his arm against his face to muffle the sound. I pulled out my knife and cut through the zip ties on his wrists, then his ankles.
“Are you Stephie’s guy?” I whispered.
“Yeah. Colby.”
“Did you bring Stephie here?”
He shook his head vigorously. “Never. She snuck out of her house, but just to see me. We never thought somebody could be watching. They grabbed us. Drove us out here. What the hell is going on? Do you know what they want?”
There was no time for a full debrief with the kid. “This is about Stephie’s sister. Keira.”
“Are you Dean? Keira’s boyfriend?”
I nodded. “I’m going to get Stephie and Keira out of there. You should go. Climb out the window and get in the old pickup outside. I’ll meet you there when I’ve got them.”
“No way. I’m not leaving Stephie in there. Let me help.”
A man’s voice rose in the living room. Someone screamed.
I looked at the kid. He was scared but determined. “If you’re willing to help, here’s what you need to do. But you’ll have to movefast.”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Keira
My pulse hammeredin my ears, so loud I could barely hear anything else. Every muscle in my body locked up, braced for the impact.
“Stephie, it’s okay,” I said, fighting to keep my voice steady. “It’s going to be okay.”
But I wasn’t sure it would be.
“What do you want from me, Garrett?” I asked. “You said you wanted to talk, right?”
He took a small step back, the gun dropping, and my lungs worked again.
“I have contacts inside Crosshairs Security. Other people who don’t like the way Harris Medina runs things and who want a bigger piece for themselves, like Woodson did. I know you met with Harris Medina. I want to know what he said to you.”
I scanned the room without moving my head, cataloging positions. One man stood behind Stephie on the couch, his hand still resting on her shoulder. Another was behind me near the door. And Garrett was right in front of me. All of them were armed.
Were there others elsewhere in the house? Outside?
My first priority was getting Stephie away from Garrett and his two friends in this room. I had to distract them somehow.
But I was also thinking about whether Dean was still out there and what he might be planning. I had to believe he was alive.
