“Ella, where did you go?” Erickson ran out of the room with a towel wrapped around his waist. He stopped suddenly when he noticed Miles and Ricky standing several feet away. “Oh…”

“Oh? That’s all you got right now?” Miles said, pointing his hand gun at Erickson.

“Hey, son, we were just talking about you.”

“Wait. That’s the boy? That’s impossible,” Ricky said, sounding confused.

“Is it? You left the force what, fifteen years ago?”

“And the kid was around ten or eleven at the time when you killed him,” Ricky said.

“He was thirteen to be exact,” Giano said, turning to Erickson. “How old are you now?”

Erickson scowled. “Twenty-eight. Why? I don’t understand what’s going on here.”

Ricky stood there motionless. So, fifteen years ago when he left the force, he’d believed Giano Nesta killed all the family members he was assigned to protect. Yet, the boy who screamed for Ricky from another room was now here. He saw the boy’s lifeless body, though.

“This has to be a joke. I saw the boy dead. We put him in a body bag.”

“Did you? Are you sure about that?”

Ricky wasn’t sure about anything at the moment. He let his mind play back to that horrific day. He had just arrived back at the safe house after running to the grocery store to grab the family some items. The front door was ajar, and there was a trail of blood all through the house. In the master bedroom the mother and father were lying face down on the floor in a pool of blood. In the boy’s room, he was lying next to his sister covered in blood.

Then he thought about the people at the house. How the crime scene was scrubbed and who put the bodies in the bags. Then he glanced over at Dego who was walking into the room. Giano had managed to get his hands into every area of the case to ensure he got exactly what he’d wanted.

“I don’t understand what is going on?” Erickson asked. “Miles, why are you pointing your gun at me?”

“You know we have a case that involves Giano, Dego, and Ella, right?” Miles asked. “Or did you experience a head injury?”

Erickson rolled his eyes. “My life with them is separate.”

Ricky was confused now. “Wait, so you’re working as a cop. Well, a dirty cop.”

“No, I love my job.” Erickson demanded.

“Does Cooper know how dumb he was when he hired him?” Ricky asked Miles.

“Well, he will now.”

Giano let out one of his loud laughs. “No one will mention anything because I don’t see you both leaving the house anytime soon.”

Ricky knew how many officers were outside and waiting for the signal. He reached for his phone.

“Put your phone down,” Giano said, stepping forward.

Ricky quickly hit enter and handed the phone to Giano. He had it programed to alert them when they needed help, all he had to do was hit the green enter button. Right as his phone dropped into Giano’s hand, there was a loud crash followed by several explosions.

“Dego, find out what’s going on?” Giano screamed.

Ricky ran forward and grabbed Erickson around the waist, and then he turned and flew down the stairs with Miles close behind.

“Put me down,” Erickson screamed over the loud explosions. Several bullets were raining all around them.

“Fuck no. I want to know who you really are,” Ricky said, throwing him over his shoulder.

“Puppy, baby, come back,” Ella yelled from the top of the stairs. Her body jerked, and she fell forward.

“Ella, no, Ella,” Erickson yelled, reaching out his hands.

When Ricky reached the bottom step, he turned to find Ella’s body lying over several steps, she seemed lifeless. He noticed blood scattered all over the side of her head. He figured she was probably hit by a stray bullet that came in from outside through one of the many windows. He put Erickson down and then watched the guy run back up the steps and kneel beside her body.

“Oh, God, no.” Erickson held her hand close to his face. “Why? Oh, baby.”

Miles looked at Ricky and shrugged his shoulders. “Erickson, It’s time to leave.”

“I don’t want to go anywhere. This is my home,” Erickson cried.

Ricky sighed. “I don’t have the energy to go back up those steps to get the asshole.”

“We’ll have someone grab him. He’s surrounded.” Miles put a new magazine in his hand gun and turned to leave. “I’m not buying the story Giano fed you. I do believe Erickson is dirty, though.”

“It all seems fishy to me. Erickson could’ve been bought out, though.”

“Money does talk.”

There were still several more bullets coming in all directions. Ricky and Miles stayed low and started to make their way down each flight of stairs. As they reached the bottom step, an explosion went off in the location they had just left.

“Do you think they escaped?” Ricky said, putting his gun out in front of his body before he stepped outside.

“They will hope they died or managed to escape,” Miles said. “Because I plan to make sure they rot in prison for the rest of their lives if they survive.”

A cop from the Denver precinct ran up. “Are you both okay?”

“Yeah, Giano and some of his men may still be on the top floor alive.” Ricky dropped his gun to this side as he stepped outside. There were several bodies lying in all areas of the yard. The bombs had destroyed the grass, several statues, and blood was splattered everywhere.

“So, Erickson was bad?”

Ricky burst out laughing. “We can’t make this shit up. Wait till we tell Cooper.”

“Sir,” the cop yelled from behind them. “No one is alive on the top floor.”

Ricky spun around. “Even Giano?”

The guy nodded. “The top floor was hit pretty bad by the explosion. The roof caved in several areas, and many of the walls were destroyed or collapsed.”

He turned to Miles. “I need to see this for myself. You up for climbing the stairs again?”

“Fuck. Okay. Race ya?”

“Yeah, like that’s going to happen.”

Miles reached the fourth-floor landing long before Ricky. When he finally made it to the top, he stopped to catch his breath. “Anything?”

“There are only two bodies up here.”

Ricky walked over to the burned bodies who were clearly two men by their size. “Where are the rest of them?”

“This is it.”

“Did the officer move Ella’s body on the stairs?”

Miles turned his head to the side. “I don’t think so.”

He stood there motionless for a moment. “Did Erickson and Ella just get away? Is that possible?”

“Anything’s possible with this family.”

“Fuck.” Ricky placed his hand on the officer’s shoulder. “Hey, can you get the floor plans for this place? We need to find out where all the secret hiding places are located.”

“Yes, sir,” the young officer said, running back down the steps two at a time.

“There’s no way they escaped unnoticed.” Ricky walked into Giano’s office and looked at all sides of the fireplace. “Maybe there is a latch for a secret compartment.”

“I’m still confused about Ella,” Miles said, helping to look for a special latch. “I saw her body fall.”

“We didn’t see where the bullet came in from. It could’ve been planned to fake her death.”

“We need to make sure those bodies are really Giano and Dego.” Miles stepped away from the fireplace. “I need some good news in all this mess.”

“Hey, what’s that?” Ricky pointed in the corner behind the desk. “Could it be?” He slid his hand along the wood surface and felt a difference in the edges. “I think this could be the secret door.”

Miles ran over to help him look for the latch that would open the hidden door.

“When this is all over, I want to go on a trip to an exotic island,” Ricky teased. “Maybe a deserted island, and there is an endless amount of food for everyone who visits.”

“A deserted island does sound nice. Can we make sure it’s warm enough so we only have to wear swimsuits?”

“Warm, with our ladies, and no Giano bullshit.” Ricky realized that thought was almost in their grasp finally. “Here.” He pushed back a small ceramic statue on the shelf, and the door opened. “We need to find them,” Ricky said, pushing the secret compartment back and walking down the hallway with his gun pointed in front of him. He stopped before rounding the corner.