Chapter 66 – Charlie
CHARLIE
Mitchell got back, I’ve been lying here ever since trying to fall asleep but unable to shut my mind off.
Closing my eyes, I try again, but it’s nearly impossible to push the memory of Adam’s lifeless body from my mind. Then there’s the countless possibilities of what Jace and Bonnie might be enduring right now, not to mention Brayden’s brother and mother.
I’m just starting to drift off when a knock sounds through the apartment and I bolt upright, instantly wide awake.
Tossing the blankets off, I get out of bed and make my way through the apartment to the front door just in time to see Mitchell let my dads in.
“Hey,” I greet them relieved they’re finally here. We called them the second we had a location, and they left almost immediately.
With them here, we’re no longer outnumbered. With them here, I know we will get everyone out safely. Brayden’s family included.
Brayden joins us, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, looking at my dads nervously before they start introducing themselves to him.
Ryan pulls out his tablet, setting it down on the counter and Mitchell brings my laptop over. We all gather around, the floor plan of Johnathan’s house open on Dad’s tablet while Mitchel has the photos and screenshots he took earlier up on the laptop.
“Okay, so which room is your brother in?” Ryan asks, spinning the tablet around so it’s the right way up for Brayden.
“This one.” Brayden taps the screen, accidentally drawing on it and mumbling out a quick apology, pulling his hand back.
“It’s fine,” Dad says, turning the tablet back around and writes Sammy’s name over his room with a stylus pen. “Are you sure he will be in there?”
“Yeah. They lock him in. He’s not allowed out.”
“Of his room? What if he needs to go to the bathroom?” Caleb asks horrified.
A tiny voice in the back of my head is amused that the first thing he thinks of is bathroom access given his precarious history with toilets.
But then I think about Bonnie and Jace, and the feeling quickly disappears.
“What do they expect him to do all day?”
“He mostly colours, plays games stuff like that. One of them comes to check on him every now and then and takes him to the bathroom if he needs to go. At least, that’s what Sammy told me.”
The others look as angry as I feel at that prospect. It’s not healthy for a kid that young to stay isolated and confined to a room.
One look at Brayden and I push that feeling aside. “Hey,” I whisper, placing a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. “We’re getting him out. All of them.” The reminder is as much for him as it is for everyone else, myself included.
Brayden takes a deep breath, nodding his head and squaring his shoulders. “You’re right. After today, he’ll never again be locked away or left by himself.”
“What about the other three rooms?” Elijah asks.
“I don’t know,” Brayden admits. “I always wake up in Sammy’s room. They usually give me a few minutes alone with him before John comes in and makes Sammy put on his headphones while we ‘talk.’ I’ve never seen the outside of his bedroom.”
Elijah hums at Brayden’s answer, studying the tablet.
“There were two men inside when I went over to check the place out. Based off their height and build, I’m pretty sure they were the two that ambushed the car,” Mitchell explains.
“They both went into the first room.” He points to the first bedroom on the left, straight in front of the stairs.
“If they’re living or sleeping there, that’s where at least those two are sleeping. Which means this room-” he points to the one opposite it. “-likely either belongs to Johnathan. That way they have the exit covered.”
Mitchell shakes his head. “I didn’t see the driver.” Looking up, he gives me a grim look and my stomach drops. “Or Johnathan. If they’re inside, they haven’t come out of whatever rooms they were in.”
“And the basement?” Ryan injects, angling the laptop to face him as he flicks through the images from the old sale listing, leaving the staging photo of the basement up.
Mitchell looks at Brayden, not saying a word for several long seconds, before doing the same with me. “The basement camera was focused on a wall.”
“What did you see?” Mitchell doesn't answer, looking intently at the laptop screen.
“There’s a hook on the ceiling,” Brayden answers for him.
Answers. Doesn’t ask. I turn to him in surprise.
He just said he’s never seen the outside of Sammy’s bedroom.
How could he possibly know what the basement looks like?
“It’s how he got me to go through with the…
kidnapping. He showed me a picture on his phone. It was Mum.
“She…she was hanging from the ceiling by her wrists. It was her punishment for my disobedience.”
Elijah frowns, sharing a look with his twin before he breaks the silence that follows after Brayden’s…revelation. “Was there a time and date stamp on the photo?”
“Um, I…I don’t know. I can’t remember. Why? Is that bad?” No one answers his question. I don’t think any of us wants to be the one to tell him there’s a possibility that that photo could have been taken at any point in the last four years. That he could have lied and used it to manipulate Brayden.
We go back and forth, working on a way to get Sammy, Brayden’s mother, Bonnie and Jace out of the house without any of them getting hurt in the process.
When we’ve got as much planned as we can without seeing the interior, or confirming who all is in the house, I speak up. “Brayden stays here.”
“What? Fuck that!” Brayden yells, rearing back as though I just hit him.
Ignoring his outburst, I look intently between Mitchell and Ryan. “He’s still a kid. He doesn’t need to see the shit we could be walking into.”
“I’m not a fucking child! Haven’t been in a long time,” he spits out, closing the distance between us and getting right up in my face. He’s pissed, understandably so, but I’m not backing down. It’s for his own good. “My mother and brother are in there!” He pushes me and I snap.
“And my partners are in there!” I scream, shoving him away from me. “My partners are in that house because of what you did.”
“What was I supposed to do?”
“You could have warned us-”
“How?! How the fuck was I supposed to know you guys were capable of this shit!” He gestures widely around the room. “I was protecting my brother. My mother.”
“And I’m protecting you. And them. And my partners. You need to trust that we will get them out.”
“I don’t even know you. Why the hell should I trust you?”
“You helped kidnap two people, and you’re questioning why you should trust us? We found them. Now we will get them out.”
“Brayden-”
“No!” he cuts Ryan off. “You can’t do this. You can’t expect me to just stay here.”
“Yes. We can,” I say, taking a deep breath when I see him start to panic. “There are at least two men inside that house who are more than likely armed and dangerous.
“Once they realise we are inside, they are going to come at us with everything they have. You are either going to get yourself hurt or someone else.” Some of the colour drains from his face, but I press on.
“Have you ever held a gun? Or had on aimed at you?” He looks at Mitchell and I shake my head. “Mitchell doesn’t count. He wasn’t aiming it at you. He never intended to shoot you. These guys will.
“I am not risking Bonnie and Jace’s life. Risking your brother or mother’s lives. Your life. If I have to knock you out and tie you up, I will. You are staying here. End of discussion.” With that, I refocus on the tablet.
We make a few more adjustments to our plan but once we’re all in agreement, we start gathering our stuff. “Wait! No. Please, don’t leave me here. Take me with you,” Brayden begs, stepping in front of me, blocking my exit.
“I won’t go in the house. I-I’ll stay in the car – I promise.
Just…please, don’t leave me behind.” His eyes focus on me, pleading with me.
“Not again,” he mutters in a voice so small, I’m not even sure I really heard it.
I run a hand through my hair, and he perks up slightly, his eyes lighting with hope.
“Please.” I sigh, trying to put myself in his shoes.
I’d go out of my mind, sitting in this apartment while everyone else left to free the people I love. But…I also don't think I would have the strength to stay in the car, knowing they were so close.
Torn between two terrible outcomes, I look to Mitchell, leaving the decision to him. He eyes me for several long seconds, and I see the moment he decides. “You will remain in the car.”
“I will. I promise.”
“I mean it. You do not get out of that car for anything.”
“I won’t. I won’t let you down.”
“It’s not me you’ll be letting down. If anyone needs medical attention, if your mother needs medical attention, then we will need to leave very quickly. She will need you in the driver’s seat, ready to go at a moment’s notice.”
“I understand.”
“Good. Let’s go.”