Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Ciarán
I don’t know how many traffic laws the guys broke getting to us. But I know it was a lot because they’re already here. Our plan is in place, Kali is meeting John at the bakery when it opens in a few hours. Carmelo and Lorenzo are staying with her. The rest of us will be searching John’s house. I pray that we find my Emilia and that she hasn’t been hurt. I don’t know where else to look if she’s not there.
The waiting is the hardest part for me. I watch everyone get ready, I have a kevlar vest on already. Salvatore said it’s just in case. He’s a Chicago police officer and was recently elected Sheriff of Lake Renegade. He’s the one coordinating what each of us will be doing. Because we don’t know the layout of John’s house, we’re relying on what Kali told us. There’s three bedrooms and two bathrooms. All upstairs. Then there’s the kitchen, living room and another half bathroom on the main floor. The basement has three rooms, the laundry room and another bathroom.
Salvatore has assigned two of us to each floor. Because John won’t be there, we shouldn’t run into any trouble. But we’re planning like there will be. Just in case. I just pray we find Emilia.
“Okay, everyone knows what the plan is right?” Celestino asks. “I just got the text that John’s with Kali.”
We all say yes. My partner is Salvatore, I like that since I have no idea what I’m doing and he’s trained for these types of situations. All I know is that I need to find my girl.
“We need to be quiet, he has neighbors and we don’t want them to be alerted. And try not to damage anything. If we don’t find her, we don’t want him to know we were here.”
“We’ll be careful.” Keegan nods.
I’m so nervous. What if Emilia isn’t in there? What if we’re wrong?
“Okay, let’s go.”
John leaves lights on in his house, which makes it easier. We don’t have to turn lights on that would attract unwanted attention. We make our way around the house, Salvatore and I have the basement. We carefully check each room and knock on the walls to make sure there’s no hidden door or hollow area that could be a hidden room.
When we come up empty, my heart sinks a little.
“Anyone have anything?” Salvatore whispers over the intercoms.
“Nothing,” each person says.
And my heart sinks even further. If John didn’t take her, who did? And where is she?
“Let’s get out of here and regroup at Emilia’s house. Enzo just texted me and said John just left.”
It takes us fifteen minutes to get to Emilia’s house. We wait for the others to get back. I don’t know what to say or think.
Emilia
I open my eyes and figure out I’m tied to a bed. What the fuck is going on? The last thing I remember is John hitting Frank from behind and grabbing me before I could get out the door. And now I’m tied to a bed. But this doesn’t look like John’s house. I’m confused and my head hurts. Why would John do this to me? I can’t hear any noises around me, but I can see that this room is big. Like a basement maybe? I can’t really focus on anything with my head spinning the way it is.
Finally I hear some noises, and I see John’s face come into focus in front of me.
“Oh goodie. You’re awake,” he says.
He looks like John. But he doesn’t sound like him…