Trouble (B-Squad 2.75)

"All set?" Curtis asked.

"Almost." He took something out of the drawer and spun around, something black and metal in his hand.

She had a second to register the handgun with a silencer attached before the muffled shot boomed in her ears, a million times louder than it was in reality. Curtis went down but left half of his head on the wall behind him.

“I’m not normally a violent man,” Warren said, his voice cold. “But loose ends are meant to be tied”

Leah couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Panic roared in her ears. She yanked at the Duct taped bonds securing her forearms to the chair with all her strength and tugged at the ones holding her calves to the chair legs. By the time the fear and adrenaline had abated enough for her to think any single thought beyond "get out" she realized Warren had disappeared down the hall leading away from the kitchen, leaving her alone with the dead man and her terrified thoughts.

8

Drew

There was no way in hell Drew was waiting until tomorrow to rescue Leah. That little lie had only been to buy some time and make Law feel like he was in control. In reality, Drew and Lexie had kicked it into high gear. He'd pulled rank for the last time in Catfish Creek and the sheriff's office SWAT was on its way. By the time Isaac and Tamara got to his house, it would be go time.

He set down his night scope next to the rest of the weapons he'd gathered. The surface of his kitchen table was invisible under the armory spread out on it. Overkill? Hopefully, but he wasn't going to chance Leah's safety on being short a box of bullets. The thought made bile rise in his throat. Focusing on the job had been the only thing keeping him sane since he'd gotten off the phone with Law. He—scratch that—Leah couldn't afford for him to surrender to the what-ifs and could-happens.

He glanced down at his cell sitting in the middle of the weapons. "Lexie, tell me you've found something."

"I've narrowed it down to two possibilities," the hacker's voice crackled out of his cell phone's crappy speaker.

His gut clenched. "Possibilities? I thought you were good."

"Fuck you very much, I'm amazing but I can't magic people out of thin air."

Shit.

He dialed back the anxiety again. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it. I'm not feeling very polite right now either," she said. "Okay, the first is one of those communal living buildings developers are pushing on the young and dumb."

Communal living? ”I don't even know what that means."

"It's like a dorm but for adults," she explained. "The unit in Catfish Creek has individual studio apartments and a few one-bedroom units with kitchenettes."

"What makes you think they're there?"

"A combination of red-light camera video showing Curtis's government-issued car at different locations nearby and security footage from an ATM across the street that showed a man and a woman fitting Curtis's and Leah's descriptions going inside."

All of that sounded like a lock. The fact that it wasn't had him pacing across his kitchen's tile floor. "I hear a but."

Lexie let out a tortured sigh, obviously as wound up as he was. "The lighting in the video sucked and the angle was worse. It could be Curtis holding up a wobbly Leah or it could be a drunk couple weaving their way home after a long night."

Fuck. Not what he wanted to hear. "Option two?"

"An extended-stay hotel a mile away from the first possibility."

"What makes it look good for this?" he asked as he grabbed the phone and carried it to the darkened living room where he could watch the street for activity without being observed.

"The location and the fact that someone is registered under an alias Law uses."

"Why isn

't that a for sure?" Jesus, the woman liked to draw things out.

"Because John Smith is one of the favorite alias’ of cheating husbands too. If it is him, it's a brilliantly stupid move."

If he'd been in a more charitable mood and not on the verge of killing the asshole, Drew would have agreed.