Chase jogged ahead of him. “I called her boss. Garnet left an hour ago. Said she was headed to her apartment.”
“Let’s go there,” Link said as he pulled open the door to the van that was waiting for them.
Bean punched in directions to Garnet’s apartment, hoping they got to her in time. If that bastard hurt her, he would make sure the man regretted living.
Traffic in DC was terrible. The time to get to her place kept switching from twelve minutes to fifteen back to twelve, then ten, then to fifteen. It felt like they were never going to get there.
When they were two blocks from Garnet’s place, a car raced a stoplight and lost the battle. Traffic snarled like a parachute packed wrong.
Bean opened the van door and hopped out. Everyone followed except Link, who was stuck behind the driver’s wheel. They raced past the traffic, and he even had to jump over the hood of a low yellow sports car.
He saw Garnet’s apartment building and picked up his pace. He prayed they could get in the front door.
“I’ll go around back,” Mick said.
“I’m with Mick,” Keel said.
The other guys ran to the front door with him. Bean was about to start pushing buttons to be buzzed in when a guy came out the front door and held it open for them. It was ridiculous that guys did that. For all he knew, they could be killers. They weren’t, but this jerk didn’t know that.
There were two elevators, and he pressed the button while Stanley took off up the stairs. “Third floor. Three eighteen,” he called out after Stanley.
“I’m going with him,” Chase said.
“I’ll stay down here, make sure they don’t come down the other elevator,” Link said as Bean stepped into the elevator.
“Thank you,” Bean said as the door slid closed.
The elevator moved quickly, but he felt like it was taking forever. He needed to have his eyes on Garnet, making sure she was okay. For all he knew, she could already be dead.
Chapter 37
Bean steppedout of the elevator as Stanley exited the stairwell, followed by Chase. Stanley pointed at the door to her apartment, and he nodded.
They weren’t going to knock. This wasn’t a social call. If she were okay and just hanging out in her apartment, he would apologize. But she hadn’t answered her phone or called him back. That was concerning in itself.
Chase mouthed the countdown from three, and Stanley kicked the door. They practiced breaching all sorts of doors. He hoped Garnet hadn’t set the deadbolts as Stanley’s foot came in contact with the door.
The door flexed and then gave way under the force from Stanley. They were in. Bean followed Stanley, who had momentum, and Chase came in behind. He heard the elevator ding, which meant Link was with them.
He took in the room, seeing Garnet at her desk, a man behind her. He’d been pointing a gun at her, but he turned, shock filling his face.
Garnet picked up her laptop with both hands and smashed it into the guy’s side. Stanley rushed forward. The gun wentoff, but the man shot wide, missing all of them. Then Stanley grabbed the guy’s forearm of his gun hand, wrestling him for control. Bean saw Stanley disarm the man as he rushed forward and punched the guy, knocking him out. The man dropped to the floor next to Garnet.
It had all happened so fast, he was amazed that they’d actually disarmed the guy and no one had been shot. It could have gone so much worse.
Garnet flung herself at him, her feet getting tangled up on the guy’s arms, so he pulled her against him and moved them to the other side of the small room.
His muscles shook from all the excitement as he clung to her. She held onto him so tightly that it almost hurt. He relished the pressure, glad to have her in his arms again.
“Good lord, woman, I’m never letting you out of my sight.”
Her laughter sounded choked as tears spilled down her cheeks. “I’m okay with that.”
His lips found hers as he assured himself she really was okay. Hopefully, this was the end of this nonsense, and they could live in peace. He hated that she’d gone through so much, but he was glad she had survived.
Garnet spent almost an hour stalling,and the guy had seemed to be at the end of his rope. She’d been thinking about bashing him over the head with the computer, so when Brady and his friends had busted into her place, she’d already had the thought formed and had been preparing for the action of knocking the guy for a loop.
She was thankful Bean and his team had come looking for her. After the police had cleared out and they were on their way back to North Carolina, she thanked each of them and promised she wouldn’t be so dramatic going forward.
