Beyond Revenge (The Ransom Series) (4 page)

We have the option
to go
left or right down the hallway with nothing to guide us except a
lit red exit sign.  They would have taken Morgan out a more discre
et
way than we came in, of that I’m sure.

We follow the exit signs to a side door
leading out of the building into an alleyway.  For a moment I feel blinded by
the sunlight radiating from above and by the realization that we have so little
to go on to find Morgan.  I turn around and walk in circles,
frustrated
and losing patience by the second.

“Calm down, Leo,” I hear Robert call
from
just outside the
door.

He’s bent down inspecting the pavement,
taking
in a
faint but
fresh
set of tire tracks there.  He pulls out his phone and takes picture
s
of them from multiple angles and distances above the ground.

He stands up and looks at me, slightly
hopeful.  “It’s not much, but it’s something.  We might be able to trace the
tires to a vehicle type, and then trace the vehicle to an owner.”

I try to remain positive, but a set of
tire tracks is not what I was hoping to walk away with from this place.

Her Resilience

∞

In what she faced,

others would have
fallen.

She should have
been destroyed.

Remained silent.

All hope lost.

But she stared
into the eyes of evil

and held their
gaze

with fire,

with voracity.

Her beautiful
resilience.

∞

After leaving Russo’s fake headquarters, about
a million different ideas
flowed
through
my
head
for what to do next, but none of them involved
sitting idly in a nearby diner while Robert did his detective thing.

I’ve been antsy since the moment we sat
down.  Robert ordered sandwiches for both of us even though I told him I wasn’t
hungry.  He’s
been
using his laptop and the free Wi-Fi
in the restaurant to research the tire tracks he found, fully immersed in
what
he’s doing
while I sip anxiously at a cup of coffee.

We’re both about halfway through our
sandwiches before he finally speaks to me.  “I think this is it, and it’s even
better than I could have hoped.”  He flips the laptop toward me.  There’s a
blocky-looking
pickup
truck on the screen.  “The tread
marks match some really old tires.  They
stopped making them years ago
.  They were designed for Chevy trucks from the early eighties.”

I let some of Robert’s optimism seep
into me.  “Can you search registration records for this kind of truck?”

“Already on it.  We’ll still have a lot
of results to sort through, but the pool of potentials will be less than if
the
tracks belonged to tires for
a more
modern
vehicle.”

My mind lingers
on
how long it will take to get through such a list of vehicles and
locations when the waitress shows up with our check. 
The wisdom of an
older woman hides within her eyes, but she maintains
a
youthful look behind her long blond waves of hair and the vibrant smile on her
face.

While Robert fishes cash out of his
wallet
,
I decide to do a little research of my own.  I
turn the laptop toward the waitress.
 
“Have you seen
this truck model around the diner before?”

The smile on her face fades slightly. 
She remains composed, but I can tell I’ve made her uncomfortable with my
question.  “Sorry, haven’t seen one of those around here.”

She grabs the cash from Robert
’s
hand
before he has even offered it to her and turns on her
heel to walk away from us.

“Wait
!
 
Please,” I
call out desperately
,
standing up to
reach for her arm and grabbing hold of her in two long
strides.  She’
s terrified as she
looks at me, and I
quickly
realize I’m holding on
to her more tightly than I intended.  “Sorry,” I whisper as I let
go of her arm
, and by some miracle she
doesn’t run
from me
or call for help
.  “My girlfriend was
taken
by someone in a truck like that two days ago. 
The guy’s
name is Tony Russo.  If you know anything that could help me find
her…”

The waitress looks around uneasily, as
if she’s watching her back for who might be listening to this conversation. 
The diner is mostly empty, the lunchtime rush having already passed.

“I know of
Mr.
Russo
,” she says quietly.
 
“
He stops by here occasionally with his guys when he’s conducting
business in the building down the street.”

My heart just about leaps out of my
chest at her admission.  I don’t dare say a word, allowing her all the space
she needs to keep talking to me.

“I sometimes listen to their
conversations,”
she continues.
 
“
His men sure know how to complain.  They always talk about the
noise of the trains.”  She looks around her again, a new wave of fright evident
in her eyes.  “That’s all I can tell you.  I’m sorry.”

I nod at her
vigorously
, taking her hands, money and all, between mine.  “That’s plenty. 
Thank you.”

She barely manages a smile before turning
away from me.  When I sit back
down
at the table
,
I lean forward to Robert
excitedly
.  “Train
tracks.  We’re looking for a place very close to a train route.”

“Well done,” Robert praises as he turns
the laptop to face him.

I devour the rest of my sandwich, using
it as a distraction to keep me from swiping the laptop
to
do my own research about this new piece of information.  Remaining
idle in this diner for a moment longer is going to kill me.

“I’ve narrowed it down to one area with
buildings near the train tracks on the outskirts of town.”

Before
Robert even
finishes speaking
,
I’m already to standing
beside the table.  “I’m ready.”

He
hands me his keys before closing the
laptop and collecting it under his arm.  “You drive.  I’ll navigate.”

With a quick nod
,
I lead the way out of the diner and back to the car.

It takes less than ten minutes to get to
the more industrial area of town.  I can see the train tracks far in the
distance running parallel to the line of large brick buildings.  The
tracks
quickly come closer to the buildings the
further
we drive.

When
I see someone standing outside one
of the buildings in the distance, I slam on the brakes.

Robert looks at me questioningly. 
“What is it?”

I nod ahead.  “We can’t just invite
ourselves in.”  My options play out quickly in my mind.  I turn to Robert. 
“Can you trust me to do this part on my own?  I can sneak in, but it’ll be too
difficult to have you with me.  No offense.”

An annoyed look crosses Robert’s face. 
“I’ve been a cop for over twenty years.  I’m more than capable of coming with
you.”

I hate the thought of bringing Robert
with me and something bad happening to him, but there seems to be no room for
negotiation in his eyes.
 
“Okay. 
We’ll
go together.”

I pull the car off the road down a parking
lot a few buildings away from our destination.  We quickly get out of the
vehicle and arm up from the trunk.  As we
sneak
our
way from building to building
,
I feel myself starting
to get used to this little partnership I have going on with Robert.

We catch sight of someone guarding
the
back door
of the target building
and
immediately stop, taking cover behind a dumpster. 
It’s too open of a
space to attempt to take him down to enter through the back of the building,
and we can’t risk blowing our element of surprise by shooting our way in.  The
front entrance is still our best shot, but it’s
about a twenty-foot
run in full view of th
is
guard to get around the
corner
where we need to go
.

“We just need him to look the other
way,” I say to myself, looking all around for an answer to our problem.  A
decent-sized rock next
to my foot
catches my eye.  I
grab it and look to Robert.  “You ready to run, old man?”

Robert’s eyes narrow at me.  I can’t
help smil
ing
.

I launch the rock as far as I can throw
it past the guard.  The sound of it hitting the pavement echoes between the
buildings, and the guard instantly pulls his gun and turns toward it.

We don’t waste a second.  Robert and I
run silently around the corner until we’re safely against the wall of our
target building and out of the guard’s line of sight.  It wasn’t a long run,
but we’re both breathing hard from the sheer adrenaline of it.  I take just a
moment with my back against the wall to calm my breathing before slinking
toward the front of the building.

When we reach the corner
,
I peek around it, gauging the distance to the front guard.  He’s
less than fifteen feet away from us,
in some ways
much
closer than I would have hoped, though it may play to our advantage.

I pull the switchblade from my pocket
and reduce my voice to a whisper.  “I’m going to rush him.  Just watch my
back.”

With a quick nod
,
Robert readies his gun in front of him.

I take two deep breaths and glance
around the corner one more time before bolting out from behind it, running
quietly in long strides directly at the guard.  He sees me within a second of
my emergence from hiding and goes for the gun tucked in his pants, but I
grab him from behind and hold
my knife
to
his throat before he can get a grip on the weapon.

“Not a word,” I warn
, nudging
the blade of the knife closer to his skin
.

“Fuck you,” the man growls as Robert
removes the firearm from
the guy’s
waistband.

“You’re going to lead us in to Russo,”
I instruct.  “No yelling.  No talking.  You’ll just take us to Russo and that’s
it.  Got it?”

He doesn’t move or otherwise
acknowledge what I’ve said.  I tighten my grip on him and touch the blade of
the knife to his neck, drawing blood.

He lets out a groan.  “Okay.  Fuck, I
got it.”

“Good.  Now lead the way.”

We enter into
a wide-open space
that appears to be
an old laundry facility.  It looks to have
been closed down for a
while
but still reeks of chemicals and fresh linens.

I keep the knife at the man’s
neck
as he leads us into the building.  I make careful note of the
turns and staircases we take, memorizing our exit route as we go along.

We finally arrive at a large wooden
door
,
and the man in my grasp stops
and looks
at me
.
 
“Russo’s in there. 
Satisfied?”

“How many men?” I demand.

“A whole fucking army.
”  He
stares at me blankly, and I stare right back.
 
“
I was outside.  How the hell should I know?”

I put the switchblade away and grab my
gun instead, pointing it directly at the man’s temple.
 
“How many men?” I say, emphasizing each word.

He rolls his eyes at me.  “Probably no
more than three
guards
.”

I give him a quick smile before smacking
him over the back of the head
with the gun
, rendering
him unconscious.  I help ease his
limp
body silently
to the floor.

Three guys
and
Russo.  Not ideal, but not impossible.

I turn to Robert to discuss tactics
,
but he’s already working on fishing something out of his pocket. 
He pulls out a stun grenade.

“You really did pack an arsenal, didn’t
you?”

He grins at me.  “I always come
prepared.”

With a quick laugh
,
I
return my focus
to the situation at
hand.  “I’ll open the door and you throw.  Let me go in first.  I’ll grab Russo. 
You stay close to the door.”

Robert nods
.  With
a quick, silent countdown
,
I swing the
door open as Robert pulls the pin and throws the flashbang into the room.  I
close the door
,
and we both look away as it explodes.

Within seconds I’m in the room, quickly
orienting myself with my surroundings of the office and scanning the two men
recovering from the flashbang on the floor.  My eyes settle on a third man
doubled over in a large leather chair.  It’s Russo, his dark skin and black
hair perfectly complementing his casual but business-like attire just
like
they did
the last time I saw him.

I
rush
behind
the chair and yank Russo’s head up by the
roots of his
hair until his temple meets the tip of the gun in my other hand. 
He struggles against me for only a moment before realizing his situation.

“Russo,” I growl in his ear.  “Remember
me?”  I bring my head around just enough for the man to see me.

“Leo.  You little shit.”

I dig the barrel of the gun further
into Russo’s skin.  “Nice to see you again, too, asshole.”

The other two men are just about fully
recovered, but Robert has a gun
in both
hand
s
with a bullet ready for each one of them.  They return to standing
but don’t otherwise move.

“Guns over here,” I call out to them. 
“Now!”

They both carefully reach for their
weapons and toss them on the floor toward me.