Page 53 of Pretend I’m Yours
The cell towers would ping her phone as being in the area, but that was really as far as the cops would be able to go before having to resort to a guessing game. With the actual dot on the screen in front of me, however, I knew right where her phone sat, and I hoped she was with it.
I crept through the dark, watching my back and crossing every street and alleyway as carefully and silently as I could. I also didn’t know if Brandon was working alone, or if there were other guys out here working for him.
If he was on the police force for any length of time, he would know the importance of backup. But then, psychopaths often overestimated their own abilities when they committed their crimes, and he might think that he was smart enough to outwit anyone who tried to come after him.
And, he might be right when it came to most people.
But not when it came to me.
My training was more than enough to take on a standard cop, no matter how corrupt they were. I didn’t care about any of the shit Brandon might have seen during his days on the force. I knew I’d been through worse, and I was willing to take him down now.
I was pissed off and running on adrenaline. It didn’t matter how angry I was with Hannah, or how heartbroken I was about the situation I was in with her. I’d made her a promise, and I was going to keep my end of that promise even if it cost me my life. I was trained to defend those that couldn’t defend themselves and eliminate the bad guy. It was just another mission.
She’d hired me for a reason, and I wasn’t going to let her feel like she’d made a mistake.
Finally, I could see I was almost on top of the dot on my screen. The house right in front of me had to be Brandon’s. It stood between two other houses that were nearly identical in size, and all had the same beat up, rundown look to them. I had a feeling not many people in this area cared about where they lived.
The house was entirely dark. It was only a single story which I knew was going to make invading it a lot easier, especially considering I was a party of one. The shingles were worn and missing in a few places, and the siding clearly needed to be replaced.
I wished I’d been able to bring Brody with me. Or, at the very least, a gun. There was one packed away at Brad’s house I would get from him one of these days, but I didn’t have the time to go over there now. I didn’t even have the time to call Brody and tell him that I needed him to come with me.
All I had managed to do was call the cops when I was on my way over, and I hoped they’d be able to find my location quickly. I didn’t know where I was going, so I’d only been able to give them an estimate.
Now, staring at the black windows and the silent house, I hoped that I wasn’t too late.
I crept up to the door and tried the knob. I wasn’t surprised it was locked. But I wasn’t going to break it down, either. I peered into the windows as best I could, then tried the door to the garage. I was surprised when that opened, and I slipped inside.
The car parked within the building let me know Brandon had to still be around, and I had to really be on my guard. I expected it when I crept up to the house, but there had been a small part of me that hoped he’d left again. It wasn’t an unusual thing for a kidnapper to do, and he might fall into the realm of a normal abductor.
I tried the door of the garage leading into the house and was once again surprised to find that it wasn’t locked. It put me on even higher alert. There had to be a reason he left the place open.
Perhaps the locked door on the outside was to deter anyone from bothering the house. But the open side doors had to be a trick. I crept through the house, using the light on my phone as best I could. I didn’t open the flashlight, the screen was enough to help me see where I was going.
The place was silent.
I tried room after room, making my way toward the back of the house. All the doors were open until I got down the hall, then the far door on the left was shut. I tried it, relieved to find it unlocked.
As soon as the door was open I saw the outline of Hannah tied to a chair. She looked at me and tried to cry out, but her mouth was gagged, and her hands tied behind her back. I flicked on the light and rushed to her, wrapping my arms around her.
