Rachel felt the pain before she opened her eyes. The heat pressed from the back of her skull through her eyes and pulsed with every breath. She tried to shake it away, but that only made the sensation worse, and she let out a hiss of pain. Her lids felt heavy as she tried to force them open. The image was blurry at first, just glowing lights and shadows. But she pushed a bit harder, and it all began to come into focus—the light that hung from the low dark ceiling on a single strand, the wooden ceiling that looked like it was a basement, and the crowded shelves around her that were stacked with tools, trinkets, trash, and other unrecognizable items.
She went to lift her hand to her face, and that’s when she realized she was tied up. The ropes dug tightly into her flesh, and she felt the tingling numbness begin to gnaw at her fingers. She shifted, but her mind was still groggy, and she felt like she was waking up from a hangover or a concussion.
“Oh, try not to move too much; it will only make things more painful.” The voice vibrated in her ears and made her cringe. She felt her heart tighten and begin to race at that sound.
That man—she knew that man. Her feet kicked out, and her eyes shot open now. Mickey, the man who was stalking her and Riley, stared at her mere inches from her face.
“Oh! Good morning, sunshine!”
Rachel sneered and tried to press herself away from him, but her back was pressed to a support beam. She looked over and saw that Tom was tied to another on her right. His head still hung on his chest; the effects of the chloroform still hadn’t worn off.
“I know, so rude to sleep in so late.” Mickey tsked, stood up and turned on a dime, then walked over to the table where he had a variety of tools laid out. Rachel couldn’t seem them clearly from where she sat, but the shiny, grey metal reflected the light onto the ceiling, and she knew that bad things laid there.
Her eyes slowly studied the room. It was clearly a basement; only a small window opened up near the ceiling. The place was dark, this light and only two others lit it in a gloomy, tinged light. The shelves were high and went on for the entire spread of the room; it gave her the sense of claustrophobia. The entire wall where Mickey stood was lined with a work table. It ended at the door which must open up to the stairs. Rachel tried to think of a way she could get to that door or window. She pressed at her ropes, but she was no expert at escaping these types of situations.
Riley and Titan, she recalled, were already looking for a search warrant for his mom’s house. This could be the place. Rachel felt her gut twist at the thought that it may not be, but she had to cross her fingers that it was, and that they would be here soon.
Time—she needed to buy time, and as much as she could. How? She looked to Mickey. He clearly liked to talk, to hear the sound of his own voice. Maybe she could get him going and keep him talking until they arrived.
“Mickey, why did Melissa leave you?” Rachel interjected, her throat dry and her voice hoarse.
He stiffened at Melissa’s name, then he turned around and looked at her with sad eyes.
“She said she didn’t love me anymore, and that unless I had the money to support her, she couldn’t be with me. And that’s what I’m doing now; I’m killing you for love and Riley for the money.”
Rachel watched him as he began to pace in front of her.
“How can that be love? I mean, she was only in it for the money?” Rachel asked. She was cautious, not wanting to piss him off, and wondered if she may have just been crossed that line.
But Mickey only shook his head, “No, no. She’s not just like that, that’s only one side of her. Unfortunately, it tends to be the dominant one. No, Melissa at her best is so funny you’ll laugh all day. She’s so smart—smart as a whip that one—that you’ll wonder how she got to where she is. And she’s beautiful, oh my, that beauty.” He smiled as he looked up.
Rachel sighed. These two really were meant for one another.
“Okay, but she didn’t support you when you lost your business, that doesn’t seem very fair.” Rachel kept him going. Now he walked back to the table and leaned on it casually as he thought.
“I mean, she wanted stability, and I couldn’t give it to her. I understand that. She thought Riley could and that he would love her, but he didn’t. I know she thinks her destiny is with him, but she has to realize it’s with me.”
Rachel nodded. “I see, but what about Riley? How are you going to get that money once you’ve killed him?”
She hated even feeding into this man’s delusions, but he was loving it. He grew more relaxed and seemed to want to do nothing but talk, and she had to buy those minutes.
“Well, you see, I’m going to sneak into his work with his card and empty the vaults. Simple!”
“What about security? Won’t they recognize you?” Rachel asked as she stared at him curiously.
He thought for a moment, went to speak but then closed his mouth as he seemed to ponder the issue. He suddenly looked excited, turned to her, and pointed at his hair.
“I’ll cut it all off! They’ll never recognize me without it.” He smacked his hands together and then rubbed them as he came to a conclusion for his plan.
“That's a good plan, but how will you smuggle all that money out?”
Mickey began to pace again as he mused, and Rachel looked toward the window in desperation. She could only hope they would be here soon.
…
Riley was driving the van with the task force in it. Titan was driving the other.
He had asked Titan if the police would be joining them, and Titan shook his head, “I’m the police force here. They’d have to get another warrant, and we don’t have time for that shit.”
Riley knew it would look terrible for a case, knew it was dumb not to have more trained backup, but damn it, he needed to get to Rachel and he needed to get to her now.
The address was on one of the outer suburbs, and the skyscrapers disappeared and turned to small, poverty stricken houses. They passed drive after drive until they rolled up to the address, but the house looked dark and empty.
Riley surveyed the surroundings. A small light seemed to glow from the bottom of the house. They must be in the basement, but that meant only one door in and a couple of yu76tu`hyj``windows. Quietly he opened the door, the team following suit as Titan's own team unloaded. They stayed behind the vans and out of sight as they whispered.
“Titan, looks like they’re in the basement. It’s going to be too loud and obvious if we all go in.”
Titan agreed. “Look, you and I will head in, team—”
The men all circled them and listened intently.
“You four, take the perimeter, you three, cover any doors, you two, you follow us in after a few minutes, and you stop whoever comes up those stairs. Is that understood?”
All the men nodded and Titan looked back at Riley. “Alright, bub. You’re up, lead the way.”
Riley nodded and began to stalk toward the house, his pistol in hand, knives strapped to his ankles, and another pistol behind his back. Riley had been a sharpshooter in his early twenties; he had taken a liking to the sport and trained for hours. It had been a little while since he had held his pistol, but it felt right and comfortable in his hand.
He moved past the front door, knowing the likely layout from years renovating houses like this. The basement entrance was by the backdoor at the end of the kitchen. He swung wide to avoid being seen through the basement window, Titan following him and the team quietly breaking off into their positions. He swung around the back. The white paint was flaking and turned to dust as he touched it. It smeared his shirt as he pressed himself against the building and surveyed the area.
He carefully reached out and grabbed the door handle, and his heart sank as it held its place, locked from the inside. Titan pushed him aside and wordlessly pulled out a tiny device; and with skilled hands the man picked the lock and the handle clicked open. The two of them paused and waited for a reaction, but nothing came. He slowly opened the door in an effort to silence the creak. The inside of the house was exposed and dimly lit in the soft streetlights that poured out from the neighbor’s yard.
Riley slunk past Titan and silently set his boots on the floor. He knew that everything could be heard in the basement and a loud creak would blow their cover. He took another cautious step, and now he could hear a voice echoing from the basement. He saw the door just ahead. The kitchen was small and the faux tile was peeling. It reeked of rotting food, and the counters were covered in trash. Had he just walked in, he’d have assumed squatters were living here.
He inched closer to the basement door. His hand reached out and made contact with the cold knob; he gently turned it and breathed a sigh of relief as it remained silent in his hands. With patience he pulled open the door, testing its hinges for creaks. It made a sound, but the voice below seemed to hide it.
Riley looked down at the stairs. While there were only a dozen steps, it may as well have been a hundred miles. One wrong step, and Rachel could end up dead. He had to take this agonizingly slow. He took a deep breath and softly set his boot on the first step, taking his time to allow his weight to rest on it. He repeated this process, every muscle in his body aching with the desire to spring forward, tear that door off its hinges, leap in, and beat the shit out of that man, then pick Rachel up and haul her home.
But instead, he took each step slowly, one at a time as he held his breath and cautiously planned his every move. He held his hands close so as to not brush anything and checked each inch of the step before a foot landed. The groans were slight and the creaks still moaned, but the chatterbox below just kept talking over him.
He knew Rachel must be distracting Mickey. He was a loon and if she saw a weakness, she would have exploited it. That was a side she never saw in herself, but Riley saw the methodical way she observed her surroundings, found the weakness, and targeted it.
After this, so long as they both made it out alive, he would marry that girl. He didn’t know that he could have survived the last month of chaos with anyone else. But he had with her, and they had known they had to stay close, trust each other, and work as one to overcome it. He sure as hell hoped that son of a bitch hadn't laid a hand on her; if he had, Riley was going to kill him right there. Rachel was the love of his life. No one was going to hurt her—ever.
At that, Riley suddenly heard a drill spring to life and a scream rip through the air. Without hesitation, he plunged through the door.