We followed and the car slowed significantly, and then it started to turn left and right at certain intervals and then finally, Kyle’s car pulled over and stopped. Avery and I watched as Kyle got out of the front seat of the truck and opened Brayden’s door.
“They’re getting out,” Avery said.
I opened my door to get out and Avery followed suit, just as Kyle was pulling Brayden out.
“We would walk straight for a while,” Brayden said. “And we’d cross the street. I know because sometimes we’d stop at the light, then we’d immediately turn right.”
“Okay. Let’s go,” Kyle said. He looked over his shoulder at Avery and I, and we both nodded and followed behind him.
We moved exactly as Brayden had expressed, and he was more confident, likely because he was on foot as opposed to in the car. We crossed the street and then turned right, and Brayden stopped. “Is there a door near here that is glass with a metal frame?”
Kyle, Avery and I looked around, and two doors up in a row of buildings from where we were, was a door matching what Brayden described. “Yeah,” Kyle said.
“Don’t tell me where. I’m gonna walk straight and then stop, and you tell me if I’m in front of it.” Without confirmation, Brayden walked forward and then came to a stop directly in front of the glass door we’d seen. He turned to his left so he was facing it and said, “Is this it?”
“Yeah, Brayden,” Kyle said with a smile. “Is this the place.”
“This is definitely one of the entrances I took,” Brayden said. Avery and I walked up and looked at the building, but the door was grated shut, and the building itself had boarded windows and seemed totally abandoned. Kyle took the initiative and took the blindfold and wrist tie off of Brayden, and when he saw the door locked up, he deflated. “Shit.”
“How did you know about the glass door with a metal frame without seeing it?” Avery asked.
“The sound,” Brayden said. “It’s that very distinct sound of the door jam chain rattling against it. That kind you hear when you walk into any of those high end stores in South Postings.”
“Being rich strikes again,” Kyle said.
“Well, I think we found where they’d bring you, but it doesn’t seem like Connor’s here anymore,” I said.
“But maybe there are clues if we can get in,” Avery said.
“We can’t break in,” Kyle said.
“No, but there’s another option,” Brayden said. “This is where they brought me in, but it’s not where they brought me out. I have a feeling that when I was dragged out and dumped after Connor kept me, that they brought me out the back way, so maybe there’s more hope that way of getting in. The only thing is, I was totally out of it when Nikita and Jaxon found me. That’s going to be harder.”
“So, we’ll just take it one step at a time,” I said. “The next step is to bring Nikita and Jaxon here and see if they can help us work backwards to somewhere that could still be connected to this building. It’s like Nikita said, if we work together, we’ll be able to find our way forward.”
“Sorry,” Brayden said.
I looked at him and then turned him to face me. “What are you sorry for? Look at what you did? I don’t think I’d be able to do this.” I pulled him into a hug. “We’re one step closer to Connor because of you. Brayden…” I pulled back. “Thank you.”
12
Deon
To say that I got slightly irresponsible in driving around town in Felicity’s car would be an understatement. It was so refreshing to be out in the world temporarily without the fear of being snatched, or killed, or having a body drop from the sky in front of me. I did go to a fast food restaurant, drive along the coast, and take in the fresh summer air.
The last of my stops was a pier that hung out over the ocean. The sun was cresting over the sky and starting to set, and for some reason Cherri came into my brain. Maybe just because the sunset was beautiful and so was she, but I couldn’t get her out of my mind. I wished beyond anything that she could be there next to me, looking at the amazing colors against the waves. Maybe I’d get lucky enough and one day I’d be able to bring her and we could just sit for hours.
Us having sex in her car blossomed into my mind then. I hadn’t thought once about how starved for her skin I was until that moment. Finding and taking down Connor was more important than ever because I wanted to get back to the love of my life. I wanted to hold her and make love to her again, and I wanted to be the one who could protect her from anything trying to hurt her.
The sound of a car pulling up near where I was sitting on the pier made me jump, but when I turned around, Felicity was pulling up in her other car. She got out and walked down the pier and sat down next to me.
“You scared me,” she said. “I thought something happened. Thank god I have the locator activated on my car.”
“Sorry,” I replied. “I got out of prison last July, and then I went on the run again in October. I was bouncing from place to place until Connor’s guys snatched me in like March or April. I don’t even fucking remember. I haven’t been able to just…” I took a breath in and then let one out. “Sit. When I came to stay with you, I finally was eating good food, sleeping in a comfortable bed but—”
“It still feels like prison?” Felicity finished.
“I love living with you,” I said. “But I don’t remember the last time I was able to just sit and not feel like I was running. Even after I got out of prison, I saw Nathan and Connor almost right away, and then it felt like I was dodging them again. I haven’t had a normal life since the 8th grade.”
“I hate that,” Felicity said. “We’re gonna get you back to a normal life, but when you just disappear…”
“I know,” I cut her off. “I’m sorry for scaring you.”
Felicity put her hand on my back and started to rub it. “You’re safest at home. I know it sucks, but all it takes is for one wrong person to see you. I just need you to hang on a little bit longer. We’re gonna get you back home, back to your family, back to your woman. We’re close, probably closer than it feels like. Just be a little more patient.”
I nodded, knowing she was right. “Yeah.”
“How did the meeting go?” she asked.
“Good. I told Nico everything I knew. Nathan probably would have been more helpful, but I’m glad he’s not this deeply mixed up in all this shit. Nico was pleased with the information I was able to provide. He seemed confident that he’d be able to dig something up.”
Felicity let out a sigh of relief. “Excellent. I’ll be sure to brief Garrett when I see him next week.”
“You’re seeing Venom next week?” I asked.
“Yeah, to go over his appeal,” Felicity said. “It’s been filed, but I keep filing extensions on the court date because I want to make sure we have everything we need to be successful in the case. We only get one shot locally, then we’d have to take it federal, and that’s gonna be much harder with judges who don’t understand the influence Connor has. I think I’m going to set the court date for later this month. If we can file while Connor isn’t around to testify, then the main thing that caused the violation of Garrett’s parole won’t be there. We stand a good chance.”