Chapter 41

GABRIEL

^PRESENT DAY…^

“What the fuck?” Gabe asked as he rubbed the tender spot on his jaw, blinking back the stars that flashed in his eyes from the sharp contact of Seth’s fist to his jaw.

“You can be so fucking glad we still need to get Amelia!” Seth roared as he glared at Gabe. “Is that the reason you’re on a suicide mission? That you’re chasing the grim reaper so hard? That you’re breaking my sister’s heart?”

“What suicide mission, Seth? I do my job—”

“With absolute eagerness to get blown up! Fuck, Jiminy!” Seth shook his head. “The four months you’ve been on the job, you’ve spent at least a week of each of them in the hospital—”

He was interrupted by Burnsley knocking on the window. “He’s not here at the moment but there are signs of life in the house. Go check for wires, Von Ashner.”

“Yes, sir,” Gabe said, opening the door and willingly escaping the truck. He knew the conversation with Seth wasn’t finished, but he wasn’t sure what else to say. There was ~nothing~ more to say. He was responsible for the deaths of one hundred and twenty-one innocent lives. None of them with even a hope of surviving. His worst nightmare was the look on Mustifah’s face when Gabe had placed Katiya in his arms. The way the older man had crumbled to his knees as he wailed his heartbreak, the sound competing with the last screams of the innocents as the train exploded.

His team had found an SMS on Khalid’s phone, instructing him to load the ~slaves~ on the same train earlier that morning, saving them from making more arrangements and saving them on extra costs. A last-minute change in logistics from the insurgents had become Gabe’s biggest burden.

He froze on his next step, the thin wire mere millimeters from the tip of his boot. Taking a careful step back after checking that he hadn’t missed any more wires, he crouched and followed the wire to its point away from the house. It was attached to the power pole at the edge of the property. ~Shit~!

He walked back to the row of black vehicles parked at the sidewalk and called the bomb technician over, explaining what he found. Together, they walked around the house, looking for more wires as well as places of entry. They only found the one wire which led to the basement. Looking around the yard, he spotted Seth standing on the back of Gabe’s truck, his rifle primed and directed at the house, waiting for Christiano to make an unworthy move. With a nod at his friend, he carefully entered the house.

It was eerily quiet. The dark halls creaked as he slowly moved down them, looking for the basement door where he knew his little girl was waiting for him. As he moved deeper into the house, he activated his body cam as well as the flashlight attached to one of the pockets. The light exposed the peeling paint of the hardwood walls and warped floors, the mold trailing from the ceiling to the skirting boards, and Gabe was glad that they had figured out where Amelia was so quickly. He shuddered at the thought of her being stuck in this house for more than a few hours. He ~needed~ to get his baby out of there.

What felt like hours later, Gabe eventually reached a door that was in better condition than the rest of the house. It wasn’t warped even if the paint was peeling, and the handle turned easier than the other doors he tried. Using the smaller beam from another flashlight, he checked for wires around the door and breathed a heavy sigh of relief when he didn’t see any.

“Talk to me, Jiminy. What’s happening?” Seth’s voice sounded strained over the radio.

“So far, everything is clean. I think most of the potent stuff is downstairs. Now shut up, I need to concentrate going down these weak-assed stairs.” He kept his voice low as he responded, remembering to switch the radio off until he knew what he was working with. Carefully, he placed his foot on the first tread, and reared back when he heard a small voice.

“Gabe!” The breath left his body at the certainty in Amelia’s voice. There was no question, just a surety that it would be him. He bit his lip as he felt tears stinging his eyes. She never doubted he would come for her. She believed in him being there, coming for her. And he would never betray that trust, he vowed silently.

“Hey…” He cleared his throat as the word came out in a croak. “Hey, Meerkat. I need you to be very quiet for me, okay? I’ll be there as quickly as I can, but I need to make sure things are safe.”

“Okay.” Again, that trust in her voice had his heart in a vice grip.

Fighting the instinct to rush down the rest of the steps, Gabe breathed deeply and took each tread carefully, checking for wires or traps as he went. He stopped as he reached the cement floor and found the wire running to the pack of C-4 under the chair he had seen in the video Christiano had sent Sarah. Stepping over the wire, he inspected the connection and was relieved to see that he could easily unhook it. Christiano probably detached it every time he entered the basement. When he straightened from his crouch, he turned to look at Elli.

Her little face was pale, and fury blazed through Gabe when he saw that her bottom lip was split, and his fingers curled around the edge of his cast. He was going to detach Christiano’s spine while the fucker was still awake for hurting his baby. One of her pigtails had come loose and was hanging low over her ear, the orange ribbon her mom had put in her hair dangled limply at the tip. Her green eyes were swollen and red, and Gabe promised himself that he was going to punch Christiano for every tear Amelia had cried. Her black stockings were ripped and there was a long red cut along her leg. The motherfucker’s pain tally kept climbing.

“What took you so long?”

Gabe had to smile at the little pout she gave him. She hadn’t doubted he would come for her; she just had a problem with his timing. Trust Amelia!

“And where’s Pops?”

“He’s outside, making sure things are safe for me to work in here with you.”

“Okay.”

He shook his head at her innocent acceptance. How would it feel to have the confidence that you weren’t alone?

“I told the crazy man that my pops and my daddy were coming to fetch me. That’s when he hit me.”

Gabe froze, his knees hitting the ground harder than he intended as he replayed her words in his mind… ~my pops and my daddy~… ~Daddy…~ The word echoed in his soul and felt so perfect. So right. He swallowed the lump of emotion clogging his throat and hastily swiped at the tears he felt on his cheeks, blinking the wetness from his eyes.

Clearing his throat, he looked up at her, giving her his most reassuring smile, hoping like hell his fear didn’t show. “Listen to me, Meerkat. I need you to be very still for me, okay?”

She nodded. “The bad man told me that if I move, I’m going to make my mommy very sad.”

Gabe swallowed the bad words riding his tongue as he looked up at Amelia. “As much as I hate to agree with him, kiddo, he was telling the truth. Did he do this himself?”

She started to shake her head, then stopped the movement abruptly. “There was another man when he brought me here.”

Gabe quickly checked the device and was relieved that it wasn’t any more complicated than a pressure plate attached to the chair. “What did this man look like?”

She frowned. “He was almost as tall as you, but not so tall. And he had a picture on his arm.”

“A picture?” ~A tattoo?~ “What kind of picture?”

“Of that bird that is on the wall by your work.”

“An eagle? With a sharp beak?”

“Yes—!”

“Sit still, Meerkat!” he commanded gruffly as she started to bounce on the chair in her excitement. She immediately went still, and he vowed that she would never be in a position where she had to curb her excitement. “What else do you remember about the friend, Elli?”

“He has very red hair.” She scrunched up her face as she tried to remember. “And he had a mark on his cheek. It almost looked like the one on your shoulder.”

“This one?” He shifted his T-shirt’s collar so that she could see the scar of his graze, and she nodded. He wished he could pull her into a hug. He was so glad that his lessons on being aware of identification tags hadn’t been wasted. “Good girl, Meerkat.”

He activated his radio. “Von Ashner, here.” He waited for the chatter to go quiet before he reported the description that Amelia gave him.

“Got him,” Mouse reported from where he was monitoring the cameras in the area. “Three blocks east of your position, Marshall. He’s wearing a light blue or gray T-shirt, heading in your direction…” They could hear some clicking before he spoke again. “He is definitely packing.”

“Thanks, Mouse,” Gabe said as he settled on his back to check the connections of the bomb under the chair. It was deactivated by a keypad. Gabe laid his head back in frustration. Did he really expect that he would be able to disarm the bomb and he and Amelia would walk out of there so easily?

“Um, Gabe?”

“Yes, Amelia?” He frowned at the adhesive holding the C-4 to the metal disk beneath the chair, blinking sweat out of his eyes.

“He’s resisting,” a deputy’s voice came over the radio. Burnsley barked orders to the deputies, and a shot rang out. “Suspect is down. Repeat. Suspect is down.”

More chatter came over the radio as someone spotted Christiano and more orders were given. Gabe barely paid attention to them as he concentrated on freeing Amelia from her prison. He cursed the fact that he only had one hand to do it with, even if it was his dominant hand.

“I need to go—” She moved her legs, and another panel sprang to life in front of Gabe, the numbers counting down rapidly from what seemed fifteen seconds.

“Shit!” Gabe rolled to his knees, pulling his knife out in one motion and cut the ropes holding Amelia in place. Once she was untied, he lifted her over his shoulder and heard the click as the pressure plate shifted. He didn’t look behind him as he ran up the stairs, ducking his head under a low hanging beam he hadn’t noticed earlier. With a deep breath, he jumped over the rickety porch, and landed with a thud on the patchy path, cradling Amelia to him, tucking her head securely into his shoulder as he covered her with his body just as the house exploded behind them.

She cried out as loud bangs reverberated through the shattering house, the electrical outlets adding to the chaos. He looked over his shoulder at the flames flaring out of the windows and devouring the rotten wood, turning it black in seconds. Bits of wood and cement pieces were flying over their heads, making it difficult for the deputies to get to them without getting hurt. He frowned when he heard a high-pitched whistling from deep in the house, and his breath raced from his lungs in a hard gasp.

He turned to Amelia and tried to get to his feet but crumbled back to his knees as pain shot through his right leg. “Meerkat, I need you to put your arms around my neck and your legs around my body and hold on tightly, okay?”

She did as he instructed, and Gabe crawled as fast as he could away from the house. The whistling grew louder, almost drowning out the roar of the fire. He reached the edge of the pathway when he felt someone grab the life handle on his vest. With a practiced move, he flipped onto his back so that Amelia didn’t get hurt when Seth dragged him behind the cover of Burnsley’s SUV just as the gas tank exploded in the house.

Amelia clung to him as the windows in the SUV shattered over them, the vehicle tilting on two of its wheels before rocking back to all fours. He hadn’t realized how tightly he was clinging to Amelia until Seth crouched by his side and tried to take her from him. Gabe only let her go when Seth put a hand on his shoulder, giving her a final kiss to her forehead before handing her over, watching the tears roll down Seth’s face as he held Amelia closely.

“Officer down! Officer down!” Shouts carried over the radio, and Gabe grabbed hold of Seth’s hand to get to his feet, only then realizing that he had a shard of glass stuck just below his knee.

“You need to get that seen to,” Seth said, but Gabe shook his head.

“As long as the glass holds, I won't bleed to death.” He limped to his truck, Seth following closely behind him with Amelia in his arms. “Is your rifle still primed?”

“Yes.” Seth grabbed hold of his arm, pulling him to a stop. “What the hell are you doing?”

“He’s not going to stop until he hurts Sarah again. I won’t let him,” Gabe gritted through his teeth. He jumped onto the tailgate and picked up Seth’s sniper rifle, checked the scope and settled the stock against his shoulder while the barrel rested on the cast of his right arm. He tapped his radio. “Whereabouts of that motherfucker?”

“West of your location, Von Ashner. Five hundred yards out,” came the response.

Gabe saw a man lifting a pistol and pointing it at a deputy behind him through the scope. “Stand down,” Gabe commanded over the radio.

The command was repeated, and every deputy dropped to the ground, giving the snipers free sight to their target. As his heart beat slowed down, Gabe counted the scars left by this scum on Sarah’s body, the nerve he had to steal Amelia from the place she was supposed to be the safest, the cut and bruise he had inflicted on Amelia’s face, and the nerve to think he could hold her captive to get Sarah to bend to his will. ~Who the fuck does he think he is?~

Slowly, he exhaled, blowing all the anger and fear he had been feeling over the last few hours into the cooling evening air, focused on Christiano running away from them. And with a soft grunt, he squeezed the trigger, keeping his eye to the scope and watched in silent satisfaction as Christiano’s head exploded. Gabe flicked the safety lever on the rifle before it clattered to the truck bed just as he allowed the darkness to swallow him.