CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
After going through the security prompts, Hannah opened the front door.
She had gotten tired of the retinal and fingerprint scans and would be glad when they were no longer needed. If they were lucky and SWAT did its job, this might be the last time they’d be needed.
“Remember to keep it down,” she whispered as Kat entered the house after her. “In my experience a sleepy Ryan is often a grumpy Ryan.”
“Understood,” Kat whispered back.
They walked quietly as they passed through the foyer into the living room.
This was the first time that Hannah had been back in this house in over a month.
The experience was both strange and reassuring.
After her adoptive parents were murdered, this is where she came to live with Jessie, the half-sister she hadn’t even known existed.
It held a special place in her heart. It was her security blanket in a brutal world.
From where she stood, she could see that the door to Jessie and Ryan’s bedroom was open. That was odd. Wouldn’t he close the door if he was going to nap? And if he wasn’t sleeping, why hadn’t he answered the calls or texts?
“Maybe he’s not napping after all,” she said in a still-hushed tone. She suddenly felt weirdly unsettled as she tiptoed over to get a closer look. But as she got deeper into the living room, she glanced over to the adjacent kitchen. For a second, she had trouble comprehending what she saw.
Ryan was sitting in a chair at the breakfast table, but he wasn’t eating. He was tied to the thing with bungee cords wrapped around his arms and legs. Worse, he was completely bloodied. His face was covered in it and his clothes were stained red. His head lolled limply to the side.
She opened her mouth to shout out a warning to Kat, who was just steps behind her, when she saw something out of the corner of her eye.
Somone had stepped out from behind the divider separating the kitchen from the living room.
Hannah saw the baton coming at her face and a fraction of a second before it made contact, her brain comprehended who was holding it: Ash Pierce.