Remington stepped forward, but I quickly reached over and stopped her. “Hold up, babe. You’re not going in there.”
“We’ve gotta see if he’s alive, Noah,” she argued as she slipped by me and entered the room. When she got closer to him, she knelt down and whispered, “Hey, can you hear me?”
The man moaned, then let his head fall back loosely as he opened his swollen eyes. He stared at Remington for several moments, then said, “It’s you.”
“You know me?” Remington asked, shocked. “How do you know me?”
“Madeline.”
“Madeline?” Remington stepped closer to him, trying to get a better look at the guy. She brushed his hair out of his face, but he was so busted up, there was no way she could tell who the guy was. Remington wasn’t one to give up, so she kept studying him, looking for something that might help her identify him, and then it hit her. “The watch. Look at his watch!”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“I’ve seen it before. It was Thomas’s.” She glanced back at me. “Do you think it could actually be him?”
“Don’t know why Mathews would’ve kept him alive all this time.”
“I really think it is.” She turned her attention back to the guy and asked him, “Thomas, is that you?”
“Mmmm...yeah...It’s me.”
“Mathews has had you down here all this time?”
“He wanted...the password...to my files...wanted to wipe my computer, but...I wouldn’t give it to him.” There was no missing the desperation in his voice as he mumbled, “Please get me out of here.”
“We will, but we’re gonna need your help.”
“I’ll do anything you need me to.”
Our attention had been so focused on Long that neither Menace nor I had noticed that Remington was fading fast. Her face had grown pale and her eyes heavy, and I could barely hear her when she whispered, “I don’t feel so good.”
“Damn it. With all that adrenaline she’s got going on, the drugs Doc gave her are kicking in fast,” Menace replied. “We need to find her a spot to lie down before she passes out.”
“You go get her settled, and I’ll give Long the rundown.”
“You got it.”
While Menace took Remington and found her a place to hole up, I explained our entire plan to Long. I wasn’t sure if he was coherent enough to keep up with everything I’d said, but when I was done, he looked up at me and said, “You just get me outta here…I’ll handle the rest.”
“We’ll do our best. Just hold on and we’ll have the cops here as soon as we can.”
I hated to leave the guy cuffed to that fucking beam, especially when he was in such bad shape, but I didn’t have a choice. They’d need to find him like that in order to make the kidnapping charges stick. I just prayed that he’d be able to hold on long enough to handover the intel he had on Mathews to the right hands. If so, the kidnapping charges would be the final nail in Mathews’ coffin. By the time I was done with Long, Menace had Remington set up in the small room next to Long’s. He’d laid down a few old worn-out blankets on the floor, and Remington was sitting on them with her back against the wall. While she was still somewhat awake, she looked white as a ghost, and with her dingy attire and grungy hair, she definitely looked like someone who’d been held captive for the past few weeks. I knelt down in front of her as I explained, “We’ve gotta get going, baby. As soon as we’re out of the house, we’ll make the call and help will be on the way.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. Just go so we can get this over with.”
I leaned forward and gently kissed her before replying, “I’ll see you soon.”
It nearly killed me to walk out of that room. I didn’t want to leave her there alone, but I knew it wouldn’t be for long. Once Menace and I made it outside, we messaged Viper and told him to call Officer Morgan, who was on standby. Then he and several officers he trusted would come rushing to the scene. Knowing it wouldn’t be long before they showed, Menace and I rushed back down the alley to join the others. When we jumped into the SUV, Viper got out, and the second I saw the expression on his face, I knew something was wrong—very wrong. “What is it?”
“Just got word from Widow. Mathews is on the move.”
“What the fuck?” I barked. “Where the hell is he going?”
“Not sure.” Viper remained cool, calm, and collected. “Looks like he might be headed this way.”
“You gotta be fucking kidding me!” I roared. “I knew this was a bad fucking idea. I said it from the very beginning, but no one would fucking listen. Damn it! We gotta get her the hell out of there!”
“Hold on, Shotgun. Take a damn breath and let’s think this through.”
“There’s no fucking time!”
“There’s time.” Remaining perfectly at ease, Viper replied, “Morgan is on his way. We just have to trust that he’ll get here before Mathews.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“Then, we’ll figure it out.” He placed his hand on my shoulder as he looked me in the eye. “That’s what we do.”
“Nothing can happen to her, Prez. I couldn’t take it if anything did.”
“I’ll kill him before I let anything happen. You have my word on that.”
“Thanks, Prez. I appreciate that.” I looked back over at Mathews’ house. “But if he gets anywhere close to her, I’ll kill him myself.”
The words had barely left my mouth when Mathews’ unmarked car pulled into the driveway. As I stood there waiting for him to get out of the car, my heart started pounding in my chest so hard I thought it would break my fucking ribs. My entire body tensed as I thought about Remington down in that basement, helpless and so far out of reach, and it was all I could do to keep from charging over to him and killing him on the spot. With my jaw clenched tight, I watched as Mathews opened his car door and stepped outside. I felt my world start to crumble around me when he headed up the walkway to his front porch. I knew killing a cop would mean spending the rest of my days behind bars, but if it meant saving Remington’s life, I’d do it in a second.
As he started to unlock his front door, I reached into my holster, and just as I was about to pull out my piece, I heard the sirens. I wasn’t the only one who’d heard them. Mathews turned to watch as the cops surrounded his place, and if his dumbfounded expression was any indication, he had no idea they were coming for him. He charged towards them, demanding answers, but he got none. Instead, Mathews found himself cuffed and thrown in the back of a squad car. As much as I would’ve liked to have taken him to one of my rooms and spent hours showing him the kind of pain I could dish out, I got a small sense of satisfaction knowing what he had coming to him. Hell, he was one drop-of-the-soap away from being some dude’s fucking girlfriend.
Remington
I couldn’t believe it. My plan had genuinely worked, although I couldn’t deny my doubts were running wild after Noah and Menace had left me in that basement. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something would go terribly wrong, especially after seeing the state Thomas was in. I’d never seen a more dreadful sight. That poor man looked like he’d been put through a damn meat grinder, and that smell … My God, only a monster could’ve done such a thing to another human being, which made me wonder if I’d made a terrible mistake by coming here.