Page 40 of Protector Unmatched

Enya shrugged. “I just knocked on a few doors, said I lived in one of the apartments, and asked if I could borrow some tape to hang up a poster.”

The explanation sounded believable. Pearce was glad that Enya had thought of something good to maintain their cover. Daphne couldn’t find out that he and Enya had skills that defied nature.

“And you saw him? Is he all right? Is he hurt?” Daphne glanced up toward the top of the stairs.

“He seemed fine.” Enya turned to Pearce. “Didn’t you say that he was tied up in the video that the kidnapper sent?”

“That’s right.”

“Well, he’s not tied up right now.”

“Are they watching him with guns?” Daphne asked.

“They?” Enya shook her head. “There’s only one other guy in the apartment from what I could see.”

“And did he have a gun?”

“I couldn’t see any. I think it’ll be easy to sweep in and grab the kidnapper. Let’s go.”

Enya walked ahead. Pearce took Daphne’s hand and squeezed it reassuringly. Whatever they were confronted with, he would handle it for her. As they followed Enya up two flights of stairs, he turned to Daphne. “Remember to stay behind me. Just in case the kidnapper is armed after all.” Not that he believed that Enya had made a mistake.

They reached the third floor. Enya pointed to the right. There was a sign for apartments 3A to 3E. A similar sign indicating apartments 3F to 3J pointed to the left. Enya continued walking. Pearce was close behind her. She stopped in front of apartment 3C and motioned to it.

“Door’s unlocked,” she said in a low voice.

Daphne put her hand on Enya’s arm. “Why would they leave it unlocked?”

“I made sure of it. Before the guy closed it, I put tape over the bolt, so it can’t lock. He didn’t notice.”

Enya had thought of everything. Knowing that they couldn’t just walk through the door in Daphne’s presence, or their secret would be out, she’d made sure there was another way to access the apartment without alerting the people inside.

“Enya and I will go in,” Pearce said, looking at Daphne. “You’ll stay here until I give you the all-clear. Should the kidnapper manage to get past us and run out, I want you to get out of his way. Don’t try to stop him. Understood?”

Daphne tipped her chin up. “I have to go in with you. He’s my brother. I can’t have you and Enya take all the risk.”

“We know what we’re doing,” Pearce insisted.

“But how? You’re computer programmers, just like I am.”

Pearce sighed and quickly searched his brain for a plausible explanation. “But we work for a defense contractor, and they provide all their employees with extra training in case of hostage situations and such.” It was total bullshit, but Daphne didn’t know that. “We know what to do in situations like this. Please trust me.”

Slowly, Daphne nodded. “Okay, fine. But be careful. Both of you.”

Pearce nodded and exchanged a look with Enya. They’d done this kind of thing plenty of times before. Pearce tested the doorknob. It turned. He pushed the door in slowly and, without making a noise, peered inside. When he saw nobody in the short hallway, he slid inside and waved Enya to follow him.

The television was on in the living room. Pearce listened.

“…call her to set up the handover,” a man said. The voice didn’t come from the TV, but from a person in the living room.

Pearce inched forward, getting closer to the door, which was half open, and picked up a scent. He sniffed. Fresh pizza. He moved closer and could see a man on the couch bending forward to take a slice of pizza from the oversized box.

“Yeah, after we finish the pizza,” a different man answered, his voice coming from the right.

Pearce looked at Enya, who was now next to him, and made a sign for the number two. Were there two kidnappers and not just one, as Enya had assumed? She shrugged, then made a motion that she would take whoever was to the right, while Pearce would overwhelm the one on the left.

With a nod to her, Pearce pushed the door open and charged in, barreling toward the man on the couch who was about to bite into his pizza. He dropped it on his lap, where it landed upside down. Before he could even get up, Pearce was already on him, yanking him off the couch and slamming him onto the coffee table, his face landing in the pizza. The jerk yelled out, but his words were swallowed up by pizza sauce and extra cheese.

“What the fuck!” the other guy yelled, and Pearce whipped his head to see how Enya was doing.