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Most of the concrete that abutted the building was covered by a layer of dust and trash, built up over months of neglect. The exception was the area in front of a single exit door, where the concrete had been swept clean by the door’s recent opening and closing. This had to be the right place.
When Teddy leaned close, he could hear a television inside. The noise was coming from closer to the back door than he would have liked. Better if he could find a more secluded way in.
He crept to the corner and peeked down the side of the building. He’d been hoping to spot something he could use to climb to the roof and sneak in that way. But what he discovered was even better—a set of stairs that descended into an opening in the ground. He hurried over and took them down to a basement door at the bottom.
Again, he listened, but this time he heard nothing on the other side.
After making quick work of the lock, he slipped inside what appeared to be a dark basement hallway. He flipped on his phone’s flashlight. Undisturbed dust covered the entire floor, telling him no one had been here in a long time.
He headed down the hall and checked each door he came to until he found a stairwell.
Two voices drifted down from the ground floor. They were muffled but clear enough that he could tell they weren’t speaking in English.
As Teddy headed up, he detected an undercurrent of anger in one of the voices. He didn’t like that. An agitated kidnapper could quickly turn into a killer.
By the time Teddy reached the first-floor landing, the voices had stopped. He could hear someone moving around and the noise from the TV, but that was it.
He crept out of the stairwell onto the first floor.
???
Pavel snickered at the TV. The criminal in the show he was watching was stupid. He should have left town the moment he knew the police were on to him, but instead, he thought he could hide at the apartment of his girlfriend’s sister.
Like the cops would never figure that out.
If it were him, Pavel would have either stayed out of town until everything cooled down or gathered his friends and killed the cops giving him problems. Probably the second one. It would be simpler. Not to mention more fun.
These American TV shows were so unrealistic.
Behind him, he heard Neno walk out of the room with the woman’s dinner, and he instantly felt more relaxed. Neno was a zero chill, pain in the ass who did not respect Pavel the way he should. Kordo wasn’t much better, but at least Kordo mostly ignored him when he was around.
Pavel could hardly wait until he was back home. Mr. Janic owed him big for doing this job. There was no way he would accept crappy assignments like this anymore. He wanted the good stuff. The stuff he could skim a little off the top from and show people who’s boss.
On the TV, cops in protective gear were gathered in front of the apartment door, ready to burst in.
Pavel chuckled again and turned up the volume.
55
Moments before, Teddy made his way down the short hallway to where it intersected with another and checked around the corner. At the far end, a man was walking in the opposite direction, carrying a soda can and something wrapped in paper.
While there were several doors between him and Teddy, only one was open, and out of it drifted the sound of the TV.
The man in the hallway turned right and disappeared down another corridor. Teddy eased around the corner, his gun leading the way, and crept to the open door.
The only person in the room was a man sitting on awooden chair, facing the television that was the source of all the noise. The guy had his legs stretched out, and every few seconds, he pushed on his heels, raising the front legs of the chair off the floor.
Teddy entered the room and stepped lightly across the space until he was behind the man.
The cop show on the TV was a rerun Teddy had seen. In mere seconds, the cops were going to raid an apartment, and things were going to get very noisy.
The moment the battering ram hit the apartment door and the cops began yelling, Teddy yanked back on the man’s already off-balance chair and sent it crashing to the floor.
Before the kidnapper could do anything more than flail his arms, Teddy stepped on his throat and pointed his gun at the middle of the man’s face.
“Hi there.”
The man grabbed Teddy’s leg. But when Teddy wagged his gun at him, he reluctantly let go.
