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December 24th
12:04 A.M.
“Why don’t you go home, get some rest? I’ll call you if we get something.”
Brian just stared at Brady like he couldn’t believe the man had just said that. Which he couldn’t. He wasn't going home until he was taking Hayley with him.
“He’s had Hayley for almost seven hours now,” he said, picking at the edges of the bandage taped over a gash on his arm that had been deep enough to need stitches. “What do you think he’s done to her already?”
“I don’t think that’s productive thinking,” Brady replied.
“Well then tell me what I should be thinking about? I was Hayley’s bodyguard. I knew that taking her out of the safehouse was a bad idea, but I let myself be talked into doing it anyway. I didn't notice the truck waiting to ambush us, I didn't stop them from taking her. We know what he wants to do to her, he wants to kill her, slowly, so that she suffers. That’s not us guessing, or profiling, or anything like that, it’s what we know he wants to do. He has her, alone, just him and his wife. He's hurting her. So what do you think he’s doing to her?”
“I think obsessing over this isn’t going to help,” Brady said adamantly.
Not to be dissuaded from this conversation, Brian continued, “How long do you think until he kills her? I know he wants to drag it out, make her suffer, but he also knows we’re onto him. I think he’ll kill her quicker than he initially intended to.”
“I agree with that assessment.”
Brian nodded. He didn't really care if Brady agreed with him or not, he was just talking through what he was thinking because it was keeping him marginally sane.
Seven hours.
That was a long time to know that the woman you loved was in the hands of someone who hated her and wanted to punish and murder her.
After Brady had pulled him from the wreck of his car before it exploded, he’d been taken to the hospital, despite his insistence that he didn't need a doctor. His injuries weren't particularly serious, cuts, bruises, and a broken nose, nothing that had required a stay in the hospital.
Brady had followed the ambulance to the hospital, and as soon as he was finished being examined in the ER, he’d asked to be brought to the station where Adam and Jessica were working. His family had rallied—as they always did when one of their own was in trouble—but he hadn't wanted to sit around one of their houses as they waited for news.
Being around his family and Hayley’s only added to his guilt.
How would he ever face them if they didn't get her back alive?
That was a very real possibility.
One that he had to start accepting and finding a way to come to terms with.
Jay Turner wanted Hayley.
Jay Turner had Hayley.
Jay Turner wasn't going to let this opportunity go to waste.
The cops hadn't been able to find Jay Turner.
The cops had no idea where Jay Turner had hidden himself away.
The cops had no way of finding Jay Turner.
Thus, the logical conclusion was that Jay Turner would kill Hayley before they could find him.
The sooner he learned to accept that the easier it would be. Only Brian knew that he would never be able to accept losing Hayley. She was a part of him now, she had been for a long time, he just hadn't seen it. The last twenty-four hours they’d spent together had been amazing. She had left a permanent mark on his soul that would never fade.
He loved Hayley.
After years of seeing her as just another little cousin, and then just an attractive friend, he now loved her so much that his heart was physically aching not having her here with him.
He didn't think he could live a lifetime with this pain.
