“When I was digging through his closet, I saw something that stood out to me. An outfit of sorts. He’s keeping Patel someplace private and quiet… someplace he thinks we won’t ever think to go to. But he should never mix his personal life with something like this. I need to be careful, though. I have to make sure he’s not expecting me. We need to switch cars and get resources.”
“You think Patel will be safe that long?”
“Yes. He wants to use her against me. She’ll be safe while he toys with me.”
I take the car to trade out with my spare car that sits in storage for times like this. It’s the car I use when I don’t want anyone tracking me or identifying me. We leave the other car on a side road and then swap vehicles before I grab everything I need from storage.
“How do you have so many guns?” Jackson asks, eyeing my collection. “You have plenty, do you not? Yet you still have more in here!”
“These are my emergency babies,” I say, flipping open a few cases while I decide who I want to come with me. I grab my favorite of the group, load it and then hand it to Jackson. “She’s a wild one but she will obliterate whatever you point her at, alright?”
“You really want to give me your favorite?” he asks as he takes a holster to stick her in. Why he wasn’t already wearing a holster, no one knows.
“Of course I do. My favorite person gets my favorite gun.”
“You’re very sweet.”
“Leland the Sweet… that’s a new one.”
I also pick up a bulletproof vest which I force him to put on. I didn’t plan on putting one on myself until he gives me a look that quickly makes me slip it on. He’s really quite vicious when he wants to be.
When we’re all set, I head out to the car and start to drive.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going or is it a surprise?” Jackson asks.
“Well, let’s just say that it’s someone who had to have seen me. But not only did he see me, he had to have known that I interacted with Sophia. My guess is he started watching me and saw Sophia and me do our tango in her kitchen. I’m also aware that he had to have been active in the past to have recognized Sophia and then set this whole thing up with Barlow to draw me back into the world of the Sandman.”
But the joke’s on him. I never left “the Sandman” behind. It’s aways been a huge part of me, a part that I’m not sure I could ever just walk away from. The main difference is that I don’t have Lucas forcing me to kill at his every whim. I finally have control over my own life.
And this man thinks he’s going to punish me for it?
He wants to see the Sandman, so I’ll let him see the Sandman one last time.
TWENTY-SEVEN
LELAND
I park the car and Jackson looks at me in surprise when he realizes where we are. “Him?”
“Yep.”
“You have to be shitting me.”
“I could be wrong. If I am, I’m going to be really embarrassed.”
“Are you ever wrong?” Jackson asks.
“You’re right, I’m not. I’m definitely right about adding The Fence to the front yard.”
“Never mind, you’re very wrong.”
I grin at him. “I need you to stay in here. What I’m going to do is send Patel out through that exit. You’re going to grab her and get her out of here.”
“You think she’s in there?” Jackson asks.
“I know she is. I looked at reviews of this place online and the pictures people put up. The brick wall that was behind him in the video call is the same as their pictures. Are you good?”
Jackson stares at the building for a long moment then looks over at me. “I’ll be waiting for Patel.”
