AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Rick must sense what I’m thinking and waves me off. He turns back to Trent, completely ignoring the other officer as if he hadn’t spoken.
“You missed someone in your search, Trent.” His words leave no room for argument. I’ve always admired just how well Rick can command those around him, it’s gotten us out of more than one sticky situation over the years, and somehow, it still makes me envious every time.
Trent raises his hand to cut off the old man when he opens his mouth again. I have no doubt he would have had some colorful words for Rick. The dumbass would have been in for a rude awakening.
I catch Zanders' pout out of the corner of my eye and know he’s come to the same conclusion. The idea of Rick laying him out probably had Zan ready to girly squeal, but Trent just ensured that won’t be happening.
Trent turns to the old man, “Prepare the team to do another search.”
This time I can’t hold back the chuckle as the old man's face morphs into a look of outrage. “Sir, we swept it three times, and I’m telling you, nobody’s in that building.”
Before Trent gets a chance to respond, Rick is on him.
He grips him up by the front of his shirt, easily hauling him up in the air until the tips of his toes just barely touch the ground. Rick is a big ass mother fucker, always has been, but still, it surprises people just how easily he can throw grown men around. It still shocks me sometimes, and I’ve been on the receiving end of his throwing around more times than I can count.
The old man’s eyes go wide before they dart to Trent as if he believes he will help him. Spoiler alert he won’t be. Trent may hate us, but he knows how this works, and I get the sinking suspicion he wants to stay alive more than he wants to stand up to us tonight.
He also seems to realize this and turns his attention back to Rick.
“Listen and listen well because I will only be saying this once. You and your team missed someone, and nobody leaves until they’re found.” Then, in one swift motion, Rick pulls his gun from his side holster and pushes the barrel up under his chin. I didn’t think the guy's eyes could get any bigger, but man, was I wrong.
“So there are two ways this can be handled. The first is you open your fucking mouth instead of preparing your team, and I shoot you right here. Then we go find the girl you morons seemed to have missed multiple times.” He presses his gun further into the fat under his chin, causing him to let out a pathetic whimper.
“Or you can do as you’re told and ready your team to go back in with us. Then, we can find the girl, and you can go home. Be a hero to your wife and two daughters. So I can go home and sleep without needing to dry clean my clothes to get your brain matter off.” His voice gives nothing away. Steady as always. Honestly, I think it’s one of the things that make Rick even more intimidating. His lack of emotion. He doesn’t actually lack them; he’s just great at hiding them, which makes him unpredictable.
“What will it be, officer Darnell?”
One of the many perks of Rick’s dad being the chief of police is he knows everyone, and anyone he doesn’t know I can get to through his dad's police database.
Rick releases him without waiting on a response because there’s only one option, and the old man knows it as well as we do. He’s able to stay on his feet instead of falling to the ground like I thought he would. After a second, he opens his mouth and starts barking orders for his team to get ready to head back in before walking away without so much as a glance at any of us.
“Was that necessary?” Trent asks the moment he’s gone.
“Keep your men in line, and I won't have to, Trent.” Rick spits the words at him before he turns back to us.
“Let's see if the little girl has any idea where this Jade could be. If they swept the building three times, I have a feeling she isn’t just hiding in a corner.” We nod and turn away from Trent without another word, heading back to the van.
As we approach the van, Rick calls Zander and nods toward it.
“Sure thing, boss man.” Zander says as he skips past us to talk to the girl. Zander is like a ball of energy, psychotic energy, but energy nonetheless, and because of that, he usually does pretty good with kids. So if she’s going to talk to any of us, he has the highest odds.
We stay off to the side of the van while he talks to her, not wanting to be a distraction or possibly keep her from talking at all. We may be the things that go bump in the night for most men, but they deserve it. These kids didn’t deserve this. Nobody does.
It only takes a few minutes before Zan is back with us, but I swear it felt like hours. All I want to do is go in and get this girl out of what must be her own living hell.
“So apparently, this building goes farther in the ground than it goes up. There are a lot of levels below it, and while they aren’t sure how many, they let me know the lowest possible level has an office. The office belonged to the guy who the cops picked up. I guess he was the head honcho around here.” His words are clipped, and gone is the smile he had for the sake of the girls. Zander is usually the happiest of us, he’s bright and bubbly like a freaking golden retriever, and not a lot gets to him, but I’m happy to see he’s taking this seriously.
“There should be a large desk in the office. Under the desk is a trap door that leads to what they called the pit.” He cringes as he says it. I’m not sure if the girls gave him details about said pit or if he’s just uncomfortable at the idea of someone being in a hole in the ground called the pit. Just thinking about it myself makes my stomach roll and my temper flair at the same time.
Zander and I both look at Rick. His jaw is clenched so hard I worry he might crack a tooth, but other than that, he gives nothing away about how he’s feeling.
He turns and walks away, back towards the building, passing cop after cop as they putz around in a half-assed effort to get ready to go back in the building. We don’t stop to talk to them or wait for them to be ready.
As if rehearsed, we all unholster our guns and enter the building. After years of working together, living together, and damn near sharing everything, we often operate without the need for direction in high-stress situations.
Rick effortlessly leads us to the stairwell, letting me know he did his homework before this stakeout. Usually, I would give him shit for something like that. Why do you need to know the layout of a building you were assigned to watch only from the outside? But tonight, I get to eat that thought. This is an excellent example of why, and by him being ready, we’re able to be more efficient.
We go fourteen floors down before we hit the bottom of this fucking cesspool. My skin is crawling. The top three levels seemed to be the best kept of the building, but even those weren’t great. The lower you get, the more disgusting it is.
