Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Dylan burst into the chapel, but it was empty. Where the hell had Raleigh gone? Skirting all the pews, he ran to the side fire door. His palms slapped hard on the heavy steel door, and he tumbled outside. The parking lot while filled with cars, was empty of people.
He’d only been a minute or so behind her. Could Josh really have gotten away so fast? If he hadn’t have gotten caught up with the old ladies in the stairs, Dylan would have had her. He couldn’t believe he fucked up so badly. He pulled out his phone and called Gabe.
“I lost her.” Dylan hurried back into the chapel. “I was following her in the church and there was a group of old ladies on the stairs. One of them started to fall and I grabbed her and then they wouldn’t let me go. Josh has her. I know it.”
“It happens, brother. Call her cell and see if she picks up. I’ll have Jaxon run a trace on it.”
“Will do.” Dylan hung up and dialed Raleigh’s number.
He heard it ring on his phone and then a beat later in the chapel.
His heart sank. He followed the sound and found it under a pew.
Now how was he going to find her? Would Josh keep his cell?
He called Gabe back. “Can you have your guy trace Josh’s cell?
“Yes. We have his number. We’re tracing it now. Stand by.”
Dylan sank onto a pew, his heart so high in his throat that breathing was difficult. He forced himself to calm the fuck down. He put his head in his hand, the phone still pressed to one ear while he waited for Gabe to get back on. It only took seconds, but Dylan aged ten years while in limbo.
Gabe came back on the line. “Josh’s cell is showing he’s in the hills just at the edge of the resort’s property. I’ll send you a screen shot.”
Dylan’s phone dinged. He looked at the picture and went out the fire door and ran across the parking lot.
“I’m calling the local PD and asking them to send backup. Call me when you find them. I’m on my way and I’m bringing reinforcements.”
Dylan didn’t respond. He just hung up the phone started his pick-up. He was risking everything just like he’d done with Georgie.
Georgie. The look of horror on the little boy’s face as he was falling was seared into Dylan’s mind. Georgie’s screams haunted his dreams.
Dylan kept driving. One bad decision on his part had nearly cost that little boy his life. His fingers tightened on the wheel as he sped around a corner. He wasn’t going to lose Raleigh.
He and his unit had been stalled outside the large white house.
The emergency call had come in almost an hour earlier.
Carol, Georgie’s mother, had called. Richard, Georgie’s father, had gone crazy.
He was high and threatening her and Georgie.
She had tried to get her son out, but Richard had taken Georgie from her arms and shoved her outside.
She was terrified that Richard was going to hurt Georgie.
Carol’s white face, streaked with mascara from her hysterical sobs, flashed in his mind. The smell of her perfume as she hung on to the front of his shirt, begging him to go in and save her son.
This was not the first 911 from this address. Bad things happened in wealthy neighborhoods, too. Richard was a CEO of a pharmaceutical company, and he’d been known to sample some of what his company made.
Dylan tried speaking to Richard because he knew him from his days in uniform.
Richard’s voice cracked, and his words slurred.
He wasn’t making any sense. What did he want?
He was ranting and raving about aliens trying to take his son.
Aliens? He kept saying he wouldn’t let Georgie be tortured by them.
Dylan had tried to work with him, but Richard hung up and refused to pick up the phone again. The negotiator was on the way but caught behind some traffic accident on the freeway.
Just like last time, Dylan was on his own. His breathing was ragged and harsh as he flew down the road. His heart thrummed a wild cadence: Get to Raleigh. Get there on time.
His chest ached at the thought of Josh hurting Raleigh. Would he though? Was he angry enough with her to cause her pain?
Dylan checked the map on his phone; he was almost there. “Raleigh, hold on.”
The scene in his head played on repeat.
Richard yelling inside the house, and Georgie’s screams. Georgie was going to die.
If Dylan didn’t get in there, the kid wouldn’t make it.
He knew it with every fiber of his being.
He hit the door with everything he had. Just as it flew open, Georgie plummeted through the air.
Richard had dropped him from the second-floor landing into the foyer.
Time stood still. He lunged to catch Georgie, but he was moving as if he was underwater. He stretched out his hands and managed to grab Georgie around the arm. He pulled up sharply and felt the bones pop under his grip, but he stopped the boy’s fall. Georgie screamed.
The gunshot startled them both. He looked up and saw Richard’s body coming down over the railing.
He’d pulled Georgie to him and whirled around at the same time.
Clutching the child to his chest so he wouldn’t see, he rushed him outside.
He passed his teammates as they poured through the doorway.
They were too late. Richard had ended whatever trip he’d been on all on his own.
Now, Dylan hauled in a long breath as he drove and replayed the scene again in his head.
Georgie had already been falling when Dylan had rushed into the house.
He hadn’t caused the boy to be dropped. Georgie was already in the air.
He’d been told that by his superiors who had cleared him, but he hadn’t believed them. Now, he knew. It wasn’t his fault.
The relief was profound He hadn’t let himself remember what happened. It was too raw. Too painful. His job was to protect people, not hurt them. Georgie had triggered so many things about his mother, about his childhood that he hadn’t let himself remember what happened.
Now, he could see exactly what he’d done. He’d done the right thing. But the relief was short lived. Now that he knew that he could, he needed to save Raleigh.