“Thank you.” He was touched deeply. Yes, he’d helped with each of them when it came to their women, but he never expected them to help him.
“Now, let’s go get your girl.”
Mike didn’t have to be told twice. They piled into two vehicles. Aaron’s truck and Mike’s convertible. It was the only vehicle he could find with enough clearance space for his legs and head without buying a custom car that he could never hope to afford.
He drove faster than he should have to make it to her house, hoping he was wrong and that she was snuggled in bed safe and sound. But he couldn’t shake the feeling something was wrong. It was a feeling he knew better than to ignore. Destiny was in trouble.
“Please be safe,” he whispered to himself over and over again until he pulled into her driveway. Ben, who chose to ride with him, sat stoically next to him, which Mike appreciated. He didn’t want to be told everything was going to be okay. Ben knew better. He had been through just as many dangerous situations as he had. He knew the possibilities of something being wrong. Ben didn’t know Destiny like he did, but Ben would trust his instincts.
Mike was out of the car before he fully put it in park and raced up to the front door and started pounding on it. The door rattled from the force, but he didn’t care. No answer. He tried the doorknob. Locked.
“Liam,” he called. Liam was their locksmith. He could open anything.
“Stand back.” Liam pulled out a black case from his back pocket and used two tools to open the door in seconds.
Mike didn’t thank him as he pushed by to check the house. “Des?” he bellowed.
“It doesn’t look like anyone’s here,” Liam pointed out, looking around the living room. “Everything is all locked up.”
Mike still felt the need to double check the house, but he knew Liam was right. She wasn’t there. “She’s got to be at her grandma’s then.” That was the only place left.
“Then let’s go.”
“She’s going to be surprised when she sees all of us show up,” Liam chuckled, “looking like we’re ready for battle.”
“Let’s hope everything is fine,” Ben said with a pointed look, telling Liam without words to shut up.
“Let’s go.” The sooner he checked Carol’s, the better. Please let her be there. He didn’t want to keep chasing her all over town. He called her cell phone again on the way to Carol’s, not at all surprised when it went to voicemail again. He was now more certain than ever that something was wrong. She wouldn’t be ignoring him like this without a reason.
Pulling in front of Carol’s building Mike scanned the parking lot looking for anything out of the ordinary. He’d made it a habit over the months to remember the cars that came and went. A trait the military had taught him when doing surveillance. It was a skill that proved useful yet again when he spotted a car he didn’t recognize. Mike’s gut intuition told him it was most likely the mugger’s. It was another non-descript SUV. “I don’t recognize that car.”
Mike was already unbuckling his seatbelt and starting to open the door when Ben placed a hand on his arm. “Be smart, Tiny. If something is wrong, we need a plan not just run in there half-cocked.”
Mike wanted to shrug him off and run up to the second floor and kick the door in. The fact Ben was using his nickname while not on a mission told him Mike wasn’t thinking rationally. He had to treat this like a mission and not run in, guns blazing. He wouldn’t be any good to Destiny if he got injured while trying to help her. “You’re right.”
“I know your gut is telling you to run in there. I’ve been there myself.” Ben sympathized. “Liam, too, when we got that video of Cora, but we took our time to make a plan and everything worked out.”
“But what if this time it’s different. What if taking time to make a plan is what gets her killed?” He hated voicing his fears, but he wanted Ben to know what he was feeling. His biggest fear was not getting to Destiny in time. To find her cold, lifeless body. To never hear her laugh again. To see her smile. He’d been lucky to get to her in time yesterday. What if he wasn’t so lucky this time?
“Whatifs will tear a person part, Mike. All we can do is our best. Now if that car is the perp then most likely he’s still here, which means she’s alive. He’s not going to hang around after the crime. So we need to make a plan and get in there sooner rather than later.”
Ben was right. Again. It was easy to be the rational one when it wasn’t your loved one at risk or you didn’t know the target. “Let’s get everyone together and make a plan. I know the lay of the building and the condo.”
“That a boy.”
As they got out, Mike noticed someone coming out of the building walking briskly with their head down. They glanced over at him, their eyes widened in shock and fear. That was Milly, the housekeeper.
Milly ran toward her car, but Ben and Mike’s long legs closed the distance between them and stopped her before she could get there.
“Let me go, I know nothing,” she cried, her body shuddering in Mike’s arms. She was scared.
“Is Destiny inside?”
“Please, let me go,” she continued to cry, all but collapsing in his arms.
“Milly, is she in there?” He shook her slightly. She was acting hysterical.
“I didn’t want to do it. He made me.”
