***
I pace the living room floor, my gun tucked in the waistband of my jeans at the small of my back. I’m ready to face the fucker head-on, and now he’s pussying out. Feeling aggravated, I check my phone again to make certain that I’m still getting service and the battery is fully charged. He should have contacted me by now, which can only mean one thing.
Three blocks is still too close.
Janke knows.
“Son of a bitch,” I growl. It’s becoming apparent that I need to draw him out on my own—without backup. It’s the only way this is going to go down.
Bryce is going to be pissed, but too damned bad. Quinn’s life is at stake, and I’m done doing things his way. Now, it’s time to do them my way. I stride out of the living room and head downstairs to my bedroom. My laptop is laying discarded on the bed, and I open it and bring up a map of the city. If I’m going to coax Janke out of hiding, I need to find the perfect place. It should be abandoned and somewhat secluded.
There’s a warehouse for sale that’s been on the market for a long time. The other buildings within the area are also for sale, and I know that’s exactly where I need to lead Janke. Once that’s been decided, I shutdown the computer and stride to Sebastian’s room with it, slipping it beneath his mattress. When Bryce figures out I’ve ditched him, he’s going to try to figure out where I went. There’s no way I’m taking a chance of him showing up and ruining this.
I re-enter my room, open the top dresser drawer, and pull out my case of knives, slipping a blade inside each boot. Then, I grab the only lightweight, leather jacket that I own and finally head upstairs.
Now, I just need to find a way to leave the neighborhood without Bryce or the police seeing, while being visibly noticeable to Janke.
Fuck.
I need to take my truck.
An idea forms, and I sigh, knowing I’m going to get an earful from Bryce when this is all over. It’s also a dangerous idea, because I’m giving up the only way for Janke to contact me. I have to try, though. I pull out my phone as I leave the house. Instead of going to my truck, I detour to the side of the garage. After I bring up Bryce’s number, I press send.
“Anything?” Bryce asks, picking up before the first ring is finished.
I slam my elbow into the garage window, shattering it loudly before tossing the phone inside. Then I take off to my truck, flinging myself inside and recklessly backing out of the driveway. This is all based on luck, and I choose to go left, driving down the street until I reach a stop sign. The road I’m on has ended, leaving me only the option of turning left or right. I look both ways and from the left I catch sight of an unmarked dark vehicle coming towards me in the distance. It’s not Bryce’s vehicle, so choose to pull out onto the road, turning right instead, knowing that the unmarked car will turn onto the street that I’d just left behind.
I watch in the rearview mirror as the street gets further away, and sure enough, the unmarked car turns and disappears from my sight.
I’m on my own, and I’m grim as I drive. Quinn’s life is officially in my hands, and I can only hope that I’m doing the right thing. My gut is telling me this is the only way to save her, and I can’t ignore it.
The drive to the warehouse is tense, and I keep checking in the mirror to see if Bryce had somehow managed to follow me after all. I don’t see anything suspicious, and once I park the truck behind the warehouse, I worry that maybe Janke hadn’t been able to follow. If he hadn’t, the fucker should at least realize I am no longer at the house, not with my truck gone. But that’s useless if he can’t figure out where I went. Even so, at least he’ll know I’m trying to lose the police and meet him on my own terms. I could really be screwing this up, but at least I’m doing something to try and help her.
If Janke doesn’t show within a few hours, I’ll have no choice but to go back to the house and listen to Bryce bitch about how he was right and I was wrong. Then, it’s back to waiting for the damn phone to ring.
I climb out of the truck and investigate the outer perimeter of the warehouse. There are two side doors that are chained and padlocked. I just happen to have a bolt cutter in my truck along with other tools that might come in handy in an emergency, and I grab it and cut the chains on the door facing the parking lot. After looking around the vacant, cracked lot, I enter the warehouse. There’s no way I’m meeting Janke out in the open. I know I could take him in a fight, but if he has a gun, there’s no guarantee I can dodge a bullet.
The warehouse is mostly empty with broken windows near the ceiling that allow the early evening sunlight to filter in. I look around and debate where to position myself. It’s too damned open, and there’s nothing to hide behind. I hadn’t been counting on that. The photos on the realtor website had been a bit misleading. Knowing the other door is still chained and padlocked, my best bet will be to stand along the side wall near the door I had come through. Although to be safe, I drag an old, metal filing cabinet which is sitting against the wall, and barricade the already locked door. This way, if Janke doesn’t come through the door I want, I’ll know he’s coming in from the other.
I make my way back to the door I’d chosen. It opens outwards, so I can’t hide behind it. I’ll just have to hope that Janke will be expecting me to be inside hiding somewhere rather than waiting by the door. The second he sees the openness of the room, Janke will know my hiding place, but hopefully I can take him out before he realizes it.
I pull out my gun and make certain it’s ready before I stand against the wall near the door and wait.
The minutes tick by.
And then an hour.
My body is beginning to protest over standing in one place for so long, but I’m not budging. An hour has passed, and that’s a bad sign, but I’m not ready to give up yet.
One more hour to go, and then I’ll begin worrying that I’d fucked up, big time. More minute’s pass, and then I hear music to my ears—tires on old pavement. Whoever’s behind the wheel is driving slowly, cautiously.
If it’s Bryce, I’m going to lose my shit.
I tense and wait.
Come on, fucker. Enter the warehouse and assume you’ve got the advantage.
Footsteps approach the door that I’d left cracked. They pause, and then the door begins to open.
Here we go.
My eyes stay focused on the doorway, and as soon as I see the tip of the deadly looking knife, I know it’s Janke. His knife is held in front of him as he creeps further into the doorway.
This is too easy, but I can’t resist the takedown. Before he even knows what’s happening, I slam the gun down hard on his wrist, and the knife goes flying as I grab him around the neck and throw him face first onto the floor.
Janke launches himself to his feet, his eyes darting to the knives I’d kicked away.
I point my gun at him and grin coldly. “Try it. I won’t hesitate to shoot you.”
His eyes narrow, and then he smiles. “Then you’ll never find Quinn.”
“I never said I was going to kill you. I’ll just inflict enough pain to immobilize you. I’m sure you’re familiar with that tactic.”
“Pain won’t get me to talk,” he says, his eyes fixated on me, and I can practically see the wheels turning inside his head. His plan has gone to shit, and now he’s trying to figure out an alternative. “If you want to know where Quinn is, you need to put down all your weapons.”
“We both know you plan to kill me.”
“Plans change. She pissed me off, so now your death is going to be slow and excruciatingly painful. And it’s not going to be here. Put down your weapons, and I’ll take you to her.”
I’d think he’s bluffing, but knowing Quinn, she probably had pissed him off, and the anger I see in his gaze tells me that he’s serious. I also know that he wouldn’t take me to Quinn unless I’m seriously injured or out cold. He wouldn’t risk taking me in good health—not when he’d just seen me in action. If he did manage to take me down—which I doubt, but shit does go wrong from time to time—I would be absolutely no help to Quinn if I’m tied up or bleeding to death.
No, this needs to end here.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I tell him.
“Then you’ll never find Quinn.”
“You’re going to talk, Janke,” I say as I stare him down, my gaze unwavering. “You just don’t know it yet.”
He looks amused. “Cocky bastard, aren’t you?”
“I’m done talking.” I pull the trigger, and Janke stumbles back as blood blossoms across his right shoulder. I can tell that I’ve taken him by surprise, and he weaves on his feet until he loses his balance and his ass meets the cement.
“You shot me,” he mumbles, putting a hand to his shoulder and wincing from the pain.
I move closer, gun still pointed at him. “It’s the benefit of not having the police here. I can play my own game, and no one’s here to stop me.”
He looks up at me, his expression tightening.
I cock my head, and now I’m the one who’s amused. “You misjudged me. Just like you misjudged Quinn.”
“She’s bleeding, you know,” he says silkily, his eyes filling with maliciousness.
Everything within me goes still.
“I marked up that pretty skin of hers. Even if the police do somehow find her, she’ll never be the same.”
Red flashes behind my eyes, and I drop down and slam my fist into his injured shoulder. He grunts with pain, and I push him onto his back and use my free hand to shove my thumb into the bullet hole. Janke’s throat arches as he clenches his jaw, sweat breaking out across his forehead.
“Where—is—she?” I demand, pushing my thumb in further.
He shudders as the color drains from his face, and then his eyes focus on mine, and he begins to laugh manically.
“Where?” I roar.
His laughter echoes around the room, and it’s beginning to sink in that pain isn’t enough to get him talking. Which means Quinn is on her own until we can find her.
As I stare down at the laughing son of a bitch, I realize that this isn’t the worst that could happen. Taking Janke into custody where he can’t harm Quinn further is the only way to save her. He’d already hurt her last night, and had he gone back to Quinn this evening, I’m certain he would have done something horrific to her in a fit of anger.
No, as much as it pains me, this is the best outcome.
For now.