Chapter Twenty-three #2
Freihof looked down at the phone in his hand and Ren quickly took another step forward.
“She’s not dead yet. Although right about now I’d say she’s probably wishing she was.”
Ren swallowed the fear and fury Freihof’s words ignited. “Tell me where she is and I’ll let you go.”
The other man laughed heartily. “See, this is the problem with newbies. You think you have control of the situation, but you don’t.
You don’t get to tell me when I go or don’t go, because I’m the one holding the pressure trigger.
” Freihof put the phone down on a chair next to a wall and picked up one of the guns Ren had kicked away.
“And now I’m holding your gun. So I’m afraid I’m going to walk out of here right after I shoot you. ”
“Ren?” Ashton’s voice was in his ear. “I’ve still got the shot.”
Ren gave a slight shake of his head.
“Ren says no.” This time it was Lillian’s voice in his ear. Ashton would only have his sights trained on Freihof, and wouldn’t be able to see Ren.
It wasn’t time yet. Now that Freihof had weapons, he was feeling more secure. Ren was able to take another step closer under the guise of dejection. He was almost close enough. Would almost be able to take the leap and catch the pressure trigger once Ashton took his shot.
“Holding until the go phrase is given,” Ashton muttered. “But hurry up or he’s going to shoot you, Ren.”
“My name isn’t Warren Thompson.” Another step.
Freihof’s eyes narrowed. “So? I don’t really care what your name is. Soon you’ll be dead.”
“My name is Ren McClement.”
“I’ve still never heard of you.”
Ren shook his head. “No, you wouldn’t have. I’m not part of the Critical Response unit. I’m not part of any official Omega unit. Look at me, Freihof. Do I look like I’m a newbie?”
There. The last step he needed. Freihof actually took it for him.
For the first time Freihof didn’t look totally in control. “Wh-what?”
“You’re trying to finish Omega Sector? Then it’s probably fitting that you meet me as you go down. I created Omega Sector, and it will not be destroyed by the likes of you. Your reign of terror is over.”
Ren didn’t wait to see if Ashton would shoot at the agreed upon words, just knew he would. Ren dove toward Freihof’s arm that held the detonator, his hands closing over it as the force of Ashton’s bullet ripped through Freihof’s torso. They both ended up lying on the ground.
Blood was pouring out of Freihof’s chest but he still brought the gun in his other hand up and pointed it at Ren, smiling. Ren couldn’t let go of the trigger device to save himself.
But then another bullet hit Freihof’s hand and knocked the gun out of it, at the same time yet another bullet came from a different direction. Freihof screamed, his arm falling to the side, useless.
Lillian lowered herself from the air-conditioning vent. “Nobody ever expects the ass-kicking midget dropping out of the ceiling.”
“Or the really pissed-off SWAT member waiting outside the door,” Roman Weber, whose shot had hit Freihof’s shoulder, said. “I was in a coma for over a week because of you, you bastard, and you sent my pregnant woman to what would’ve been sure death.”
The blood flowing from Freihof’s wounds left him with just a few more seconds left to live. The rest of the Omega team filed in, but Ren ignored them.
“Where is she, Damien? This is over. Tell me where Natalie is.”
Ren could hear the pleading in his voice, but he didn’t care. He would beg, threaten, grovel...whatever would get him Natalie back.
“My perfect wife. She wouldn’t have wanted to live without me.” His breaths wheezed in and out of his chest as more blood pooled on the floor. “I had nobody to bury last time. But this time I did. You may have saved your precious Omega, but you won’t save—”
Freihof’s eyes closed and his body went slack.
“No!” Ren screamed the word. Steve’s hands closed over his and took the pressure trigger from him as Ren grabbed Freihof by his shirt. “Tell me where she is, damn it! Tell me.”
But Freihof would never be telling anyone anything ever again.
And Natalie, his first victim, would also be his last.
As the team began preparing the canisters for containment, Steve put his hand on Ren’s shoulder.
“She could be anywhere,” Ren whispered. “If she’s still alive at all. He could’ve buried her in the snow, like he used to do to torture her.”
Although this time there wouldn’t be anyone to let her out when she begged for mercy.
“She could be at his house. The house they lived at.”
Steve nodded. “We’re sending locals over there right now. They’ll search every inch of that property.”
Brandon Han burst through the door. “Andrea figured it out. It’s Freihof’s last words about not having a body to bury the first time, but now he did. We had the grave site exhumed two weeks ago when we found out Natalie was alive.”
“Where?”
Brandon gave the address.
Ren didn’t even respond, just sprinted out of the hallway and to his car. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Brandon and Andrea were correct.
Damien had buried Natalie in her own coffin.