Part 9 (1/2)

She nodded her head against my chest as I squeezed her and kissed her hair. ”I love you baby, now be my big girl and go clean up while I get moving.” She held onto me for a minute longer and I could feel the wild beating of her heart. I knew her fear was twofold; she was afraid that Holly or myself might be hurt. But she was also afraid of what I would do once I caught up to this f.u.c.k. The jury was still out on that one.

I heard the roar of engines outside as what sounded like the rest of my boys pulling into the driveway, horns blasting. I went from lover and concerned dad to terminator in a hot second. There was only one way to go into battle and this might just be the most important battle of my f.u.c.king life. With one last kiss on her lips I walked out the door. I didn't look back; her soft sobs would only make this s.h.i.+t harder than it already was. I know she was trying to be brave but the fear was plain in her eyes and I couldn't handle that right now.

The guys hadn't even got off their bikes but sat in full gear as they waited for me to join them. I nodded in acknowledgement before climbing onto my ride and heading out with them forming in line behind me.

We had already coordinated the night before so we all knew where we were going. Nate as the one most proficient with technology was staying back at the club to keep digging while the rest of us went hunting. Someone had brought in the dogs, we had helicopters scheduled to hit the air in a few hours and we'd organized our own search party separate from the cops.

Only my men knew that my focus was on this Paul person, I never let on to the cops that I had a suspect in mind. Why? Because I didn't want them to catch him. If I believed for one minute that their resources were better I would've spilled in a New York minute. But I had no doubt that I could get to him first.

I saw a call from Deanna but ignored that s.h.i.+t. I was sure she wasn't calling to tell me that she had my kid because the eyes in Holly's room would've shown me if she were there. Anything else she had to say to me right now was of no interest. f.u.c.k her.

We headed back to the school to pick up the scent which I knew cold be a c.r.a.p shoot since I was pretty sure he'd left in a car and most trackers couldn't pick up scents that easily in such cases. But supposedly this pair was trained specifically for that, so we'll see.

No one was saying anything as we got to work which is the way we usually did this, only this time there was a sense of something in the air. This was one of ours, she wasn't an unknown, not that we cared any less when we were trying to save a stranger. But the fact that this was Holly added a whole other element to what we were doing here.

Deke I knew was having a hard time and the set look on his face did not bode well. I knew if he caught up with this hump before any of us did things might get messy and I wanted to avoid that at all cost. Besides this was my kill plain and simple.

A call came in from Jake about an hour into it. ”I've put out a BOLO on the car he's driving.”

”How the f.u.c.k did you find that? My guy's been looking all night with no luck.” That was good news, the first break we've had since this s.h.i.+t started. Last night the cops said they had nothing, the footage of the car that they suspected was too grainy to make out much of anything and besides they weren't sure that that had been the correct car.

”I went into the database and saw what they have so far, which is s.h.i.+t, and worked backwards from there. There was only one unknown in the area at the time school was letting out. He had to move really fast to get to her before your ex showed up. That little strip mall before the turn off for the school has great camera coverage.”

”Wonder why the a.s.shole cops didn't think of that?”

”They don't have the resources I do. You want the make and model? We didn't get a shot of the plate but in a town this size it shouldn't be too hard to find. Unless...”

Yeah, unless.

I took the information from him and pa.s.sed it on to my guys before calling Nate and telling him to look for that car in the system. There was probably a good bet that the car had been stolen and somebody might've reported it by now. There were too many variables there so I didn't put too much stock in it. Criminals were a sophisticated bunch these days.

I was going through the motions, but the reality was that I didn't expect to find him this way. I had a strong hunch that he would contact me when he was ready. This was about me in some way; Me and what I do. Deanna had been sure that if Paul was the one behind it, he'd done it because I'd made her get rid of him. I wasn't so sure about that. I had the feeling there was a s.h.i.+t load more going on here than met the eye.

Another day was almost at an end and still there was no word and no sightings. I'd made up a thousand flyers of Holly and had them plastered all over the place. Someone was working on a billboard and we had a call center set up, still it wasn't enough. With each hour that went by I grew more and more frustrated. I also came up with a million and one ways to end this f.u.c.ker on sight.

In the end it was Paul's ex who came through. On a hunch I'd put out a sketch of the man and his many disguises as my men had captured during the weeks they'd snapped him going back and forth with Deanna.

She'd seen one that looked familiar and called into the center.

”What's she saying Ca.s.sie?” Ca.s.s was one of the sisters working the phone lined who'd taken the call.

”She says that it looks like her ex, when I asked her where she thought he might be hiding out she gave me the location of an old hunting cabin in the woods in Derby. Says it belongs to his family but no one has used it in years as far as she knows. Blade, he has a history.”

”Hold that for now, just tell me where.” I was moving and motioning Deke, and Styrder over to follow me. I wasn't sure what I was going to find but I knew I would need them there if only to get my kid out of the way. I took the info and hung up the phone.

”A call came in from the ex wife, we're headed to Derby.”

”You telling the feds?”

”What you think Deke? Let's ride out.”

We slipped away under pretense of making the rounds again; the least amount of people who knew what we were up to the better.

Derby is a town about forty minutes away, wasn't much there but old farms and wide open s.p.a.ces. It could be a c.r.a.p shot but at this point anything was better than standing around with my thumb up my a.s.s.

When we were almost there I stopped to have a word with the guys. ”I think we should walk in from here. I don't know the terrain around this place and if he's there he might be on the lookout. The ex says there's a back way in with the mountains as a backdrop. There's only one other way in or out so it might be a hike. Let's go.”

I checked my glock and saw the others do the same. We headed out in an arc formation after turning off our phones. I didn't want anything tipping off this guy to our presence.

The place was a rundown old hut that looked deserted. I was beginning to feel the disappointment of another dead end when I saw movement inside. My heart picked up speed and I signaled to the guys that I'd seen something.

Using hand gestures I told each man where I wanted him to go. Just on the off chance that he got by me they knew they had to take him out. No way he was leaving here with my kid. This s.h.i.+t ends here.

f.u.c.k, I wish I had ten men with me, but it was too late for that now.

I made my way up to the place keeping as low as I could. The windows were dirty and visual wasn't that good but I saw enough to know we were in the right place. And what I saw broke my f.u.c.king heart.

He had her tied to a chair. She looked so small and helpless sitting there slumped over that it was all I could do not to storm the door. He wasn't in my line of sight at first but I could hear movement. When he finally did come into view he was cleaning what looked like a nine inch hunting blade.

I called on all my training and said a quick prayer before crawling on my stomach over to the door. There was no way to get in there without alerting him but I couldn't leave her in there a minute more. The best I could hope for was the element of surprise.

I saw my boys getting into position as I stood and prepared to kick the door in. s.h.i.+t, just as I expected he moved towards her at the first sound. I aimed my gun at his head as he stood over her. ”Step the f.u.c.k away from my kid.”

”Well of it isn't the great Hayden Blade Masters, welcome to the party. I would offer you something to drink but I wasn't expecting company.” The f.u.c.ker grinned and turned my stomach. He wasn't looking as suave as he had been when he'd been tooling around with my ex, but I guess that was to be expected after a couple days on the run.

I wanted to look at my daughter but schooled myself not to. For now she was out of it which was best. ”This is between you and me, she's just a kid let her go.”

”You don't remember me do you?”

I kept my eyes on his waiting for my chance, just anything.

He had his filthy hand in my baby's hair and a knife at her throat.

She started making waking noises and I almost panicked.

Please Holly baby, please don't wake up, not yet I was hoping and praying that whatever this sick f.u.c.k had given her would work a little while longer. He tugged on her hair and I fought my body not to move.

It was only when he smiled that I realized who he was. All this time I kept thinking there was something vaguely familiar about him and though the name hadn't rung a bell it seemed like it should've. Now I knew why. The f.u.c.ker had somehow changed his name; either by legal means or other.

He was using his mother's maiden name now; funny how it all came together right now. I'd put him away a long tine ago when I first started working domestics. He'd raped his daughter for months before she'd got up the nerve to tell her mom.

The f.u.c.ker had been given hard time by the judge who had no tolerance for that kind of sick s.h.i.+t. I hadn't thought of him in years, too many a.s.sholes in and out of my life since then. But he had my attention now.

I didn't give away the fact that I recognized him, just kept my eyes trained on him. ”Am I supposed to?” He became agitated by my answer, which is just what I wanted. One slip up on his part would mean his undoing.