Chapter 41
SAWYER
I stare at the clock on the wall. I’ve barely been here an hour. The time is passing real slow and I can’t get rid of the niggle in my gut that tells me I should be with her. Our baby is due tomorrow. Riley’s restless and undoubtedly getting herself into some kind of trouble at home. I need to get out of here.
“Drink up, we’re closing,” I call out to the three customers I’ve got. I’ll message Len and tell him to be here to open up at five. I’d much rather be at home with my girl, holding my tongue, while she reels off baby names.
Once everyone’s drunk up and gone, I lock the door and head for the grocery store.
I pull up at Riley’s fifteen minutes later, lifting the bag of her required items from the seat before I climb out the truck.
It’s crazy to think that if Riley gets her way, today could be my little girl's birthday, and with that in mind, I whistle my way up the path and let myself inside.
“Honey, I’m home.” I dump the bag on the table and look around for her.
“Riley?” I call out again when she doesn’t answer. I swear, if she’s taken that walk to old man Harris's place I’ll somehow put her over my knee and spank her ass.
“Riley!” I call out again, seeing the bathroom door open. There's steam on the mirror, and I’ve told her so many times about running the bath too hot. I push the door all the way open and find the room empty. Then, just as I make my way down the hall, I hear a faint, little whimper and a familiar click that forces me into panic mode. There’s someone in the bedroom, they’ve got a gun, and I’m pretty sure they’ve got Riley too. I can’t let my anger take over. I have to think smart. I’m not armed, I don't even know where Riley keeps her gun. So it’s looking like I'm gonna have to rely on my fighting skills.
Taking a breath, I duck low and crash my way through the bedroom door. A fire goes off, and I’m pretty sure it misses as I spear forward and take the shooter off his feet with a low tackle. I don’t have time to look around and see where Riley is, my first priority has to be getting the gun from this person's hand. Another shot goes off. That one doesn’t miss, it slices through my bicep, and when I see the guy on the floor beneath me, pointing the barrel at my face, I quickly grip his wrist and palm strike his elbow, forcing it out of joint and making the gun fall from his hands.
The fucker cries out in pain as I grapple for the gun, taking it in my hand and pointing it right between his eyes.
“ Sawyer. ” I look over to the corner of the room, where Riley is tied by her ankles with her hands behind her back. The robe she’s wearing is open at the front exposing her naked flesh to whoever this fucker is.
“It’s Jack. Don’t you dare kill him!” she calls out, looking scared, and when he looks up at me and starts to laugh, I slam my fist into his face to silence him.
“What the fuck happened here?” I look back at Riley.
“Don’t lose your temper, you can’t kill him.” She’s crying and frightened. It ain’t doing nothing to calm my rage.
“Baby, I know me and you work on different sides of the law, but there are certain things I ain’t gonna let slide.” I push the gun deeper into the fucker’s head, not giving a shit if he’s her ex-fiancé, or if a little part of her still cares for him. I need to see what the inside of his skull looks like.
“ No! ” she screams. “You can’t kill him. He’ll know where the other girls are, he works for the Gendrys.”
“You work for them?” I look down at him, and he grins proudly through his blood-stained teeth.
“You're gonna tell me where we can find those girls.” I grip him by the throat and force him to his feet, and when he shakes his head, I hold the gun against his temple.
“Sawyer,” Riley calls out to me, with a tremble in her voice.
“Relax, I'm not gonna kill him. Not until he’s talked.”
I look around for something to detain him with and when I see the holdall on the bed, my anger fuckin’ multiplies.
“What the fuck is that?” I eyeball him.
“Me and her were gonna have a little fun for old times' sake.” The cunt sniggers at me, and I show our difference in strength when I lift the scrawny-assed bastard off his feet one-handed.
“I’m not feelin’ your sense of humor,” I warn, pressing the gun tighter into the side of his head.
“Okay,” he chokes, and I rest him back on his feet, relaxing my grip so he can talk. “I was sent here to find out where the girl is. I know Riley, and I know she wouldn’t have given up that information without a little force.” His confession makes me shudder. I know the kinda items that’ll be in that holdall, I know because I got one just like it at home.
“Riley, I need ya to close your eyes. You're not gonna open ‘em till I say, okay?” I keep staring at this man who came here to hurt her in the eyes. I want him to know what he’s got coming to him.
“What are you gonna do?” She shakes her head like I’m the one she’s scared of.
“We need to know where those girls are.” I look at the holdall, then back to her. “I can make him talk, but I don’t want you to see how.”
“What you gonna do, Anderson, stick one of your toothpicks under my fingernails?” Jack tries to be smart, and I laugh right in his face before I drag him over to the bed.
“Let’s see what this mother fucker brought to the party.” I press him face down into the mattress, holding him down by the back of the neck while I place the gun in my back pocket and rifle through his things.
“Bolt cutters. Were you gonna take one of my pretty girl's fingers?” I lean over him and whisper. Having no idea how I’m keeping my cool when my girl is tied up behind me, and this fucker was gonna use these tools to hurt her. “Knife, cable ties, blowtorch, all these things are pretty basic, Jack. I’d expect a little more imagination from an ex-agent.” I feel him struggle under my hand when his breath starts to run out.
“Where are the Gendrys keeping the girls?” I ask him, taking the knife in my hand and waiting for an answer.
“Can’t say,” he muffles, then his body goes rigid when I jab the knife deep into his shoulder.
“Close your eyes, Riley,” I call out, twisting the knife just enough to get another scream out of him.
“You wanna tell me where they are, now?” I ask, taking the gun from my back pocket and pressing it into the back of his kneecap.
“Sawyer,” Riley says my name.
“Not now, sweetheart, just keep your eyes closed, it’s gonna get much worse.” I press my other hand deeper into the back of Jack's neck. “Give me a location. Or I’m shooting out your fuckin’ knee.
“ Sawyer, ” Riley says my name again.
“Baby, I know what I’m doing.” I turn my head to assure her and see her face all scrunched up like she’s in pain.
“Are you shitting me?” I ask when I figure out what's happening.
“No, that was definitely a contraction.” She looks up at me terrified and I pull the trigger, blowing the fucker’s knee out. His head shoots back, and he wails in agony.
“Okay, just breathe!” I yell out to her over his cries of pain. “Is that the first one you’ve had?”
“Don’t stop till he talks,” she tells me, sounding out of breath. “I’m over it now, I’ll let you know if I get another.”
“Riley, we have to get you to the hospital.”
“Then hurry up and make him fucking talk.” She laughs back at me like Mary fuckin’ Sunshine. But she doesn’t fool me, I can see how scared she is.
“Jack, you're kinda becoming an inconvenience. Usually, I like to work my way up to a grand finale, but I got a pressing situation goin’ on. Tell my girl where she’s gonna find those women.” I press the gun into the back of his other knee.
“You won’t find them,” he tells me, screaming out again when I take out his second knee.
“Now I can guarantee you ain’t goin’ nowhere. I place the gun back in my pocket and reach into the holdall for those cable ties.
“What are you doing?” he asks as I fix ‘em tight around his wrists.
“My girl’s havin’ my baby, and I gotta get her to a hospital. I figured I’ll just leave ya here in the closet, then come back when I can really take my time.”
“Gable Park!” I’m shocked when the words blurt from his mouth. “There's an old abandoned timber yard out there,” he manages, as more blood pours onto the wood floor. “You’ll find the girls there. Kill me, but don’t put me in a fucking closet.” I look down at his face and see the panic in his eyes.
“What’s the matter, Jack, scared of the fuckin’ dark?” I laugh at him as I turn him round to face me.
“You had no bother keeping those girls locked away, knowing what was happenin’ to them,” I remind him
“I’m not gonna kill your ass until I know you're telling the truth.” Lifting up his limp body by the front of his shirt, I leave a trail of blood on the floor as I drag him across it to Riley’s walk-in closet. “Enjoy some reflection time.” I toss him inside, slam the door shut, and turn the key.
“You okay?” I immediately turn my attention to Riley, placing the key to the door on her dresser and grabbing the knife from the bed.
“I’m fucking great,” she answers me back as I slice the blade through the ropes on her ankles.
“You had any more contractions?” I check.
“No, but I can feel one coming,” she warns, and I quickly cut through the ropes behind her back before it gets here. Her hands move straight to her stomach, and she tenses up.
“Oh… this one hurts,” she tells me, and I stroke my hand over her tummy, surprised at how tight it’s got.
“Riley, you're not breathing, you have to do the breathe-y thing,” I remind her.
“Oh shit!” Her eyes stretch open in shock.
“What… what’s wrong?” I ask, following her eyes and seeing the huge puddle between her legs.
“My waters broke, didn’t they?” She closes her eyes
“It did, darlin’.” I take hold of her hand and smile when she opens her eyes because, despite this not being the way we planned it, and the fact we got an ex-fiancé bleeding out in the closet, it looks like today really is gonna be my little girl’s birthday.