Chapter Fifteen Brad #4
I looked desperately around for the exit. I hoped I could get her out so I could focus on Hank. I didn’t want him to catch us both together—it was too dangerous. I knew we needed to split up, but the thought of letting her out of my sight didn’t sit well with me.
Whoosh. A knife sliced through the top lining of my jacket, just missing the skin of my arm. Before I could react, he was gone again. My heart pounded. It could have been my neck.
I held my hand up to Bree as if to say, Stand still, then bent down to remove my Hellcat backup gun. I took her hand and pressed her fingers around the handle. She shook her head and tried to push it back into my hand.
“No,” she hissed. “No way.”
I silently cursed but knew I couldn’t force her to take it. I realized it might be more dangerous if she had it but refused to use it. “Stay close,” I warned, then tuned back into the room.
“People who can’t find their way out will face the clowns.” The speaker cackled out a warning. Bree put her hand in mine. I knew she wasn’t a fan of clowns. Most adults hated them, and I was no exception. I hated masks of any kind.
“Boo!” Hank appeared and threw a punch, but I blocked it easily as I shoved Bree away onto a different track.
Her mouth opened as she disappeared from view.
I turned, grabbed Hank’s arm, and twisted it behind him, then pushed him forward.
He used that moment to jerk sideways and jump onto a different part of the moving floor.
He was slippery but clearly not a fighter.
I changed my mindset and played his game. I’d outsmart the son of a bitch.
“Unlike you, Bradley, I wasn’t an athletic kid.
” I knew he knew a lot about me. I never questioned his UPS route before, but now I questioned everything.
Memories of him showing up with his UPS boxes at the rink or the office flooded my head.
I remembered the talks we’d had when I’d pick up skates he’d sharpened for me before a game.
I couldn’t believe I’d never once seen this side of him.
I spotted the exit then and closed my eyes to try to memorize its position.
“I rather enjoyed the math club at school and, on some occasions, science camp.” He laughed.
“Just wasn’t the sporty type. I did have some interesting friends, though.
” He lunged forward with the knife, and at the last second I jerked sideways and sent him into the wall.
He stopped moving and disappeared as my shot missed him completely.
I realized that meant there was a border along the wall that I could use.
Once close enough, I jumped off and was able to take in the layout of the room.
His shadow bounced around the ceiling, and I ripped off my coat and wrapped it around my hand just as he appeared in front of me again.
I deflected the next thrust that came at me and knocked the knife from his grip.
I grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and pulled him into me. I’ve had enough of this fucking room!
“I knew you were quick.” He grinned. I had a quick glimpse inside the window of his soulless body and was shocked at his lack of feeling.
I felt his hand leave my arm as he removed something from his coat pocket.
He held up something that looked like a tiny plunger and aimed it toward my face.
No! As his fingers flexed to release what I could only imagine was the drug that had killed the girls, I held my breath and sent him backward into the mirrors.
As he stumbled, I was able to grab his wrist and bend it to the side.
I prayed he hadn’t been able to release the toxic substance.
“Ahh!” he yelled, and I jammed my foot into the side of his knee.
I felt a crunch, and he twisted as he hit a turning mirror hard.
He was knocked out for a second. I saw the tiny plunger on the floor and saw a little puff of green powder get released from the plunger.
I desperately wanted to gasp for a breath, but I held it as I kicked the plunger away and quickly secured his wrists in zip ties.
“Oh my god, I hate this place!” Bree lunged onto my platform and steadied herself against me as I slapped a hand over her mouth and madly made a motion to not inhale.
Eyes wide, she nodded her understanding and smacked her own hand over her mouth to replace mine.
Hank started to come to, so I grabbed him, and with Bree hard on my heels, we made it to the exit.
As we crashed through the door together, we almost collided with Cap and Kennedy, who waited with their weapons drawn. They both went for Hank together as Bree and I gasped for air. Once they realized I already had him secured, they pulled him to his feet.
“Aww, fellas, you missed all the fun.” Hank laughed like a crazy person at Cap and Kennedy. “Stone was pretty amazing.”
I started to run at him, but Kennedy grabbed my shoulders. “You think this is a game?” I yelled at him.
“No.” He smirked with bright eyes. “I know this is a game.” I brushed off Kennedy’s hold on me and nodded at him to show I wasn’t going to do anything.
“Get ’im out of here!” Cap growled. He handed him over to Stanley, who pushed him into the back of a squad car. I tried to catch my breath as I studied Bree. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” She nodded with her hands on her knees. Hayne appeared then and hugged her and asked if she was all right. I looked away.
“You good?” Kennedy checked me over, but I held up a hand. I needed a moment. I was terrified we might have inhaled some of the drug.
“Plunger. Drug.” I pointed behind me, and Kennedy ordered Ellis to get someone in to look after it. She took off, and I saw her pull gloves on as she ran.
“Shit!” He immediately called for medical assistance. “We need to get you two checked out fast.”
“Where’s Hank’s wife?” I choked out.
“We got her, though she seems totally in the dark on what’s going on,” Cap answered as he inspected me.
“Let Kelly look you over,” he ordered. I figured by the time the ambulance arrived, we’d have expired anyway, but I still gave a sigh of relief once Bree and I had been cleared.
As I stepped away from the ambulance and raised my thumb at Cap, I heard a shriek.
“Bradley!” Sherry’s voice came from high up on the Ferris wheel. She must have spotted me. “I’m up here! I think this thing’s broken. Get me down!”
“And then there’s Sherry,” Kennedy muttered.
“I forgot you trapped her up there.” He chuckled darkly, and I smirked for a moment along with him.
The two of them had been close once. Sherry could be a lot at times, but before our divorce, he’d stopped talking to her completely.
I’d never asked, because I’d figured he’d had words with her over something I probably didn’t want to know.
I spat on the ground and considered myself damn lucky I’d clued in before we breathed that stuff in. “Adam, tell the workers they can let ’em down now.”
“Sure thing, Stone.” He raced off as Bree came forward.
I reached out and grazed my fingers along her cheek, and for a tiny moment she leaned into me.
Then she stepped back, and the moment was gone.
I ached to hold her in my arms and bury myself in her.
Her eyes were wide and glossy as she looked at me.
I could see the pain in her eyes, and I knew she wanted it too.
“I guess you didn’t need my help, after all.” She tucked her hands into her pockets. “Thanks, though, for helping me back there. I hope you know I was keeping my distance.”
“Of course, and I know that.” I drew in a deep breath.
“I’m glad you’re okay. That was a little dicey.
” I pursed my lips and blew out some air.
“Actually, Bree. I was dead wrong to shut you out of this, and I’m very sorry.
” I snagged my hat from the ground and dusted it off, needing something to do with my hands.
“Why don’t you come down to the station and help me question him? ”
Her eyes lit up. “Yeah, I’d like that. I’ll let Hayne know.”
“Yeah.” I looked at Cap, who grinned at me.
“Good job, Stone.”
“Thanks, Cap.”
“And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry it was Hank.” Cap rubbed his neck as he spoke. “It’s not sitting right with me either. The man’s been around since we were in high school.”
“Yeah, it’s a mind bender for sure.” I felt the weight of it. I was just glad it was finally over, and I hoped we’d get a few more answers for the victims’ families.
“Ready?” Cap asked, and I saw Sherry and her friend Anna watching me from the popcorn stand.
I righted my head and focused on what I needed to do next. “Let’s go.”
Bree went with Kennedy to the station, and we met later outside the interrogation room.
“Don’t worry.” She tucked her hair behind one ear. “Kennedy gave me the rundown. I take my lead from you, and I don’t offer any information that doesn’t need to be mentioned.”
“Good.” I left my hand on the doorknob for a moment as I looked at her.
“Wait, Brad, I have to ask. How did you know for sure it was Hank? I mean, it had to be more than the picture as a child. You said something about Gumbo.”
I rubbed my jaw, still bothered by the fact I’d never suspected the man who was in my face almost daily. “Remember how I told you Gumbo texted someone, but the text never went through?”
“Yeah.”
“He was texting someone named Zach Savage.”
She shook her head like she didn’t follow.
“There’s this elite hockey-tape brand from Finland—great stuff—and the brand is called Savage.”
“Oh right, I remember it’s the type you always used.” She nodded.
I was impressed she remembered that. “Yeah, but it’s expensive, and guess which store in town was the only place you could buy it?
Hank’s hardware store. And later, because of the demand, he sold it to the rink where I play, and he started sharpening skates.
Some of the guys called him Savage.” I couldn’t shake the feeling inside.
“This sounds crazy, but I swore he used that name on purpose.”