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“He’s not in the van,” Cash says calmly, though his body is tense, as if it’s ready for action. “We haven’t had communications with him in six minutes and Johnny just went to the roof to check to see if he could get a location on him.”
“Did you see him?”
“No, but the security guards have circled around us and it’s looking like they’re waiting for backup.”
“Let’s take them out and go find Eli,” I say with no hesitation. I’m not big on violence. I usually try to charm, scam, or steal my way out of any sort of situation. But they have Eli, and all bets are off now. I’ll bury them, and as long as I walk away with an unharmed Eli, I won’t look back.
“I’m in,” Johnny agrees, and for once I think I could like this guy.
“Hold up,” Cash says.
Johnny and I both turn on him.
“Woah,” he holds his hands up in surrender. “I have no objection to getting Eli and fighting our way out of here.”
“Then what are waiting for?” I bite out.
My former lover reaches out and puts a calming hand on my shoulder. “I can tell how much you care for Eli, Jeb. I get it. I really do. If it were Johnny, I’d be going crazy right now, but before we go on a rampage, let’s try to figure out where Eli is. If we go out there guns blazing without knowing where he’s at, we’re putting him in danger.”
I nod while trying to calm myself down and think logically, as if this were just another job. “Where in the fuck do you think he is?”
“His last communication was that he was having a technical problem, but had found the source of the interruption.”
Johnny snaps his fingers. “The fucking shed. Whenever I was on the north side of the house where the shed is located, the burner phone I used when I was here had crap service.”
Cash pulls his gun. “We’ll take care of the guards. You go get Eli.”
I’m out the back door and heading north when I spot the shed. There’s a heavy chain around it with a lock on it. I jimmy it in seconds and open the steel door.
This is no fucking storage shed.
Pulling my gun, I slowly open the door and the stench hits me at once. It stinks of sweat and fear. It makes me even more desperate to get to Eli.
“Eli,” I call out.
I hear a muffled sound toward the back of the shed. Using a small flashlight I carry in my bag of tricks, I follow the sound.
The first part of the building looks like what it’s supposed to be—a gardener’s shed. It houses a mower and other lawn equipment along with bags of fertilizer and several shelves full of chemicals. That stops midway through the shed, and I realize what I’m walking through. There’s a line of small, empty cells.
A small clanging sounds, and I rush forward to the last cell to find Eli on the ground and tied up and gagged.
Sliding to the cement, I’m on Eli in seconds. Bringing him up to a seated position and undoing his gag and cutting the ropes around his wrists and ankles.
Once the gag is gone, Eli takes a series of deep breaths. “Are you hurt anywhere?” I ask, running my hands over him, searching for any injuries.
He shakes his head no, but I spot a large bruise on his forehead. I kiss it lightly, and sure enough, there’s a large bump underneath it. “Who did this to you?” I demand.
“One of the guards,” he says, his voice dry and raspy. “Something was suddenly interfering with the com and tracking. I was searching for the reason and tracked its source to this shed’s location. Someone must have been monitoring it because two of the guards showed up. One of them hit me and then I woke up in here.”
“We’re gonna get you out of here and to a doctor to check out your head.”
“I’m fine,” he insists, “But I want to get out of here.” He shivers slightly and I hold him closer to me. “This isn’t a good place.”
I gotta agree with him there. I’m not sure what this place is exactly, but I’ll be real happy to leave it behind.
I pick him up. “I can walk,” he complains.
“Let’s get out of here first.” My foot hits something and I lean down and Eli scoops it up. I hand Eli my flashlight, and he shines it on what’s in my hand.
