I flinched.
“Where would he be?”
“At the warehouse, mostly likely. That’s where he’s been staying.”
The warehouse. The combination drop-off site and living quarters near the school bus yard where I’d killed Lenny Yates and his companion some months back. It was a good twenty-minute drive from Rinaldo’s office. I turned and started out.
“Hold up,” Rinaldo said.
I turned to glare at him.
“Here you go.” Rinaldo reached down behind his desk and pulled out the bipod and silencer for my Barrett. “Found these in a truck near the rail yard. I figured they were yours.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled as I reached for them.
“Anything you need?”
“Depends on what I find,” I told him. “If she’s gone, I’ll have to call in that favor you once promised me.”
“What favor is that?”
I looked up at him, and all I could think was that he could have been—should have been—my father.
“I’ll need you to put me down, sir.”
*****
During the drive to the northwest side of town where the warehouse was located, I used every relaxation and focusing technique I’d ever learned as a sniper to control myself and focus my energy. The panic in the center of my stomach wasn’t helping me think, and I had to push it down if I had any hope of finding Lia and getting her away from Davies.
I pulled up to the building and slowly drove the car around to the back and parked it right next to the corner of the building. There was a small back door partially hidden by a dumpster several yards away at the far end of the building, but I didn’t want to be too close to it.
A bullet slammed into the windshield. It was stopped by the special glass but still left a mark where it bounced off. The shot hadn’t come from the doorway but down near the fence that separated the warehouse from the school buses. I slipped the shoulder strap of the assault rifle up one arm and around my neck. I looked around the outside of the building as I climbed out of the car and crouched behind the door but didn’t see anyone.
Was this Davies guy shooting at me?
It didn’t have to be him—any of Rinaldo’s guys who hadn’t received the message could be gunning for me. I looked off to my left where the line of trees next to the river darkened the area, which would have been a perfect hiding spot as the ground sloped down to the water’s edge.
There was a grassy area to the left just before the line of trees, and I ran in that direction, dropped down to the ground on my stomach, and aimed the assault rifle at the trees. Several shots rang out as the butt of the weapon pounded against my shoulder.
Another shot rang out and hit the dirt near my boot. Considering where I was, it was too dangerous to stay. My enemy had the advantage of cover, and I had the disadvantage of needing to find Lia immediately. Instead of continuing the firefight I was destined to lose, I moved back behind the edge of the building.
With the shooter at the rear of the building, I decided the back door wasn’t the way to get myself inside. I ran along the edge of the building to the front where there were several windows boarded up. The end of the AR broke through the boards and shattered the glass behind them easily enough, and once I’d made a big enough hole, I pulled myself through it.
I kept the AR at the ready as I moved to the first room’s door and shoved it open. I looked in both directions down the hallway but saw no one. There was a door to the left with music coming from the room behind it, so I moved in front of it and kicked the door in with my boot.
“Holy shit!” The guy inside was in his early twenties with black, curly hair and dark eyes. I recognized his face, but didn’t know his name. Drug trafficking was most likely his occupation, but I didn’t care enough to find out who he was.
I kept my rifle aimed at his face.
“I’m looking for a girl,” I told him. “Davies might have brought her here. You want to live? Tell me where she is.”
“You’ve got a price on your head,” the idiot informed me.
I turned the rifle to the little clock radio that also served as a docking station for his iPhone and blew it to pieces. With the music silenced, I turned the weapon back to his head.
“No shit.” I took closer aim. “You seen her?”
He swallowed and nodded his head.