Chapter Four – Lee
I watched from the other side of the street; the gun pressed against my hip. I knew she was in there. I was sure of it. And I wasn’t going to leave until I got her out.
It was the middle of the night, nearly three in the morning, and I was hoping that my choice to stake out the Lombardi compound now would make the guards a little less attentive – at this time of night, the city was quiet, and they wouldn’t be expecting any kind of attention coming their way.
Of course, they didn’t know who they were dealing with. And just how far I would go to bring them down.
There were only two guards on the door right now, as I lingered in the shadows of the apartment block opposite them – I had been lifting lit cigarettes to my lips and tossing them aside, anything to give me the cover I needed to keep watching. I had never been a smoker, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to start that filthy habit now, but they didn’t seem to be paying any attention to me. Which was the goal.
I couldn’t see much from the outside, and I knew that Chuck would have told me to walk away and leave it for the night – give up on this stakeout and leave. But I had this feeling, this nagging feeling at the back of my mind, that warned me I didn’t have time to play it like that. That, if I walked away now, I was going to be condemning Liana to something I wasn’t ready to let happen. I had to get in there. I had to search for her. This was their main hub, and, if they had been the ones to take her, this was where they would be holding her.
I tossed the cig I was holding, stamping it beneath my heel, and wandered as casually as I could across the street. I put a little sway in my walk, even though I was stone-cold sober. It would throw them off their game and make them think I wasn’t a threat if they thought I had been drinking.
”Hey,” I greeted the two guards loudly, as I approached. They both glanced up. I could see how tired they looked – good. Tired meant they weren’t going to be on their game.
”Either of you guys got a light?” I asked as I drew in close, holding up the packet of cigs in one hand. I had found, over the years, that smoking, or at least the idea of it, seemed to be a good way to close the distance between people – smokers seemed to look out for each other.
”Uh, I don’t know,” One of the guards remarked, and he turned to push a hand into his pocket, feeling around for a lighter – and, in a split second, I reached for the gun and drew it, firing off a shot into the other man’s side. His eyes widened as he felt the bullet enter him, and he slumped back against the doorway, dead.
The man who had been searching for the lighter flashed around to face me and got the same treatment – I fired a shot off, muffling it against his gut, and caught him before he fell to the ground, propping him up against the doorway. To anyone walking past, they might have looked like they were still on duty, and I needed all the time I could get in there before someone figured that they had been taken out.
I pushed past them and through the door to the compound – it was a large building, with corridors leading off the main entrance. I needed to move as quickly and quietly as I could before I got noticed. But where the hell was Liana? Where did I even start looking for her...?
Top, and work your way down, that was always the best approach. That way, when I was done, I could hit the door and get out in an instant. I took to the stairs, holding the gun tight, eyes darting back and forth as I scanned for any threats that might have been coming my way.
I reached the top of the building, where there was a row of doors – I started at the far end, trying each handle, but they were locked. I banged on them, calling loudly, trying to get a response to see if there was anyone inside – but there was nothing. Shit!
I rushed along the corridor, trying each of the doors in turn, but there was no answer. I was about to head for the stairs again when, all at once, I heard something that made me stop dead in my tracks.
”Hello?”
It was Liana’s voice. I was sure of it. I spun around on my heel, freezing for a moment.
”Liana?”
”It’s me!” she called back, her voice desperate. ”Who is that? Where are you?”
”It’s Lee,” I replied, moving along the doors to try and figure out which one she was behind. ”Where are you?”
She banged on the inside of the door closest to me.
”I’m here,” she replied. The metal clang filled the air – if there was anyone else in the compound, they must have been able to hear that.
I moved to the door and tried it again – locked. I lifted my foot.
”Step back from the door!” I called to her, and a moment later, I slammed my foot into the metal. It groaned but didn’t break. I gritted my teeth, the pain radiating up my leg, and then, lifted my foot to try again. This time, the door bulged on the hinges, and, after one more strike, it flew open.
”Oh, my God, Lee,” Liana gasped, as soon as she laid eyes on me – but, to my complete and utter shock, she wasn’t alone.
”Who the hell is that?” I asked, staring down at the little girl clinging on to her legs.
”She – she”s the daughter of another woman who is being kept in here,” she explained quickly, as she thrust the girl into my arms. ”You need to get her out.”
”I’m not leaving without you,” I replied, as I picked up the little girl, almost on instinct. She wrapped her arms around me, hanging on to me for dear life. I didn’t understand what she was doing here, but there was no way I was going to let her stay in this fucked-up place.
”Thank God,” Liana breathed, as she slipped out of the room. She glanced back towards the cell for a moment, hesitating.
”What is it?” I asked urgently.
”Her mother,” she explained, biting her lip. ”She’s going to come back and find that her girl isn’t there...”
”Here, use this,” I told her, tossing her a coin. ”Scratch a message into the floor. Tell her we got her kid out of here. And then we need to leave.”
Liana did as she was told, moving as quickly as she could. Her hands were shaking as the girl nestled against me comfortably. Fuck, this all felt too familiar. How many times had I held Dina just like this, cradling her in my arms? I couldn’t let it get to me, not now. I needed to move. I needed to run.
As soon as Liana was done, I bolted for the stairs, leading the way outside. Before we could reach the bottom, though, I heard voices echoing up towards us.
”Both of them are dead?” Someone yelled. I froze. They had found the guards. They knew they were dead. And that meant they knew someone was loose inside this place. We couldn’t use the front entrance; it was too dangerous – we had to find another way out of there.
I glanced around, wrapping my arms around the little girl protectively. I didn’t know what we were going to do. But I knew we had to move fast.
And then, all at once, Liana let out a cry of horror.
”Hadley!” she screamed. And, before I could stop her, she darted down the corridor, towards the slumped-over body of a woman just a few feet away from us.