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We pull up one house down from a dilapidated clapboard two story house. To say the place has seen better days would be an understatement. The windows all appear to be broken out, there’s so much paint peeling off the exterior that I can only faintly tell it was a white or gray color at one point. The porch has collapsed in on itself and the eaves above it are sagging so low they are almost blocking the door that looks like it’s barely hanging onto its hinges.
I glance at my phone once again and confirm that this is indeed the place that the tracker is sending the signal from.
“You’re sure this is the right place?” Rafe asks.
I don’t even bother looking at him, my eyes transfixed on the house. “As sure as I can be.”
“Don’t you think we should wait for backup?” This time I do tear my gaze away from the collapsing house and train my eyeson him but don’t bother saying a word. He lets out a sigh. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
We both exit the car, guns drawn and held low as we creep up to the building from the side. There’s an old, beat up, white service van tucked into the overgrown driveway on the side of the house and I’m more certain than ever that this is the place we’re looking for. I signal for Rafe to head towards the front of the house while I circle around to the back.
As I approach the blown-out windows on the back porch, I can hear voices coming from inside. One is a male that I don’t recognize and the other is Bianca. My body wants to sag in relief at the fact that she’s alive and talking but I know that she’s not out of danger yet. I slowly inch closer and closer to the back door that’s only being held on by a single set of hinges at the top of the frame, letting me get a better sense of what’s going on inside.
“I don’t know what you’re hoping to accomplish with this anyway,” I hear Bianca’s voice loud and sure. “If you’re expecting Carson to give a fuck that you’ve taken me you’ve made a big miscalculation, asshole. Carson dumped me. You’d have had a better chance of getting him out here if you’d have taken one of his lawn decorations.”
“Oh is that so?” The man asks, his voice has a slight shake to it. He doesn’t sound anywhere as confident as Bianca does. “I’ve been watching you two and that brat of his for a long time. How fucking stupid do you think I am?”
“Pretty fucking stupid actually. Like I said, he broke up with me. He doesn’t want anything to do with me anymore. I don’t know what your plan is but if you think Carson’s going to come running in here to save me, you’ve got another thing coming. He only cares about his kid and you let him go.” She lets out a hysterical laugh and that’s the only indication I have that she’s way more frightened than she’s letting on to this guy.
“Shut the fuck up!” He yells at her before I hear the sound of flesh hitting flesh. I have to take a deep breath to stop myself from running in there halfcocked, getting the both of us killed.
“Did anyone ever tell you, you hit like a fucking girl?” Bianca asks. I almost laugh at that, but remain focused on the job at hand. I creep closer to the window and am able to peek inside.
Bianca is tied to a rickety old kitchen chair and a man I only vaguely recognize from my security camera is pacing back and forth in front of her, one of his hands running agitatedly through his hair while the other holds onto a revolver that’s currently pointed at the floor. If he had any idea Rafe and I were outside he definitely would have the gun up and at the ready because once I get my hands on him I’m going to tear him limb from fucking limb.
I quickly shoot a text to Rafe who’s at the front of the house. Not thirty seconds later I hear a large crash, causing the man to spin towards the front of the house, his gun raised high and pointing in that direction.
Before he can turn back to Bianca, I ram my shoulder into the old rickety door. I’m surprised by how easily it crumbles away and almost end up sprawling onto the floor. I’m able to catch myself right on time and level my gun at the man holding the love of my life hostage.
“Drop the gun and get on the ground,” I shout.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t heed my warning and closes the two feet that are between him and Bianca, grabbing her by the hair, almost causing the chair to topple over, and holds the gun against her head.
Fuck.
“Nice of you to join us, Detective Turner.”
“You have me at a disadvantage, you seem to know me but I don’t know who you are.” I keep my gun steadily on him, hoping that there will be a way for me to get a shot, but he’s croucheddown too closely to Bianca at the moment for there to be no danger to her.
“It’s nice to see you care about this bitch when you didn’t give a fuck about my daughter.” He yanks on Bianca’s hair and I can see her grit her teeth in an effort to not cry out.
I want to pull his attention away from her the best I can. The more erratic he gets the more likely he is to shoot her, either on accident or on purpose. “Why don’t you tell me your name. I don’t think we’ve met.”
“Of course we haven’t met,” he spits out. “My name is Daniel Howard.” The name is like a punch to the gut but I try not to let it show.
“You must be Janet’s father,” I say as calmly as possible. As far as I knew, Janet didn’t have a father. In fact, I asked her outright if she had any family and she told me she didn’t. Whenever I used confidential informants that were as deep in as Janet was, I wanted to make sure there were no family members out there who could have any kind of blow-back on them.
There are tears starting to well up in Daniel’s eyes but his grip hasn’t loosened at all on Bianca. “Of course I’m her father and you got her killed! You used her like some piece of trash and when she couldn’t help you anymore you just tossed her to those fucking wolves. She trusted you!”
“Mr. Howard, I can’t tell you how sorry I am about what happened to Janet—”
“You’re not sorry! Don’t you fucking dare say you’re sorry! You didn’t give a shit about her!”
I can feel him losing control but at least his focus seems to be solely on me now and not Bianca. He’s obviously unstable and if Janet was the last thing he had to live for, he won’t hesitate to go down shooting and there’s no way I can let that happen.
“Janet didn’t tell me she had a dad. I promise you, I asked. In fact, Janet came to me. I didn’t go seeking her out.”
“Why would she say she didn’t have a dad?” The gun is shaking slightly in his hand now and I’m hoping I can get him to set it down.
