I kneed him in the groin and pushed my hand up to his chin, knocking his face back and his body off me. Then I kicked him as hard as I could in his nuts, which had him rolling on the ground.
I ran as fast as I could through the door and after my mother when another henchman I haven’t seen rushed out to tackle me to the ground.
He was big too, and I tried to kick him in the groin, but he blocked me. I tried to blind him, but he blocked my hand. He was able to block every punch and kick I threw at him before he lifted me up from my back and threw me across the room.
I landed with a thud and an intense pain shot through my shoulders. I felt as though I had dislocated my shoulders. I stood up and tried to push my joints back together again.
Luckily it was my left shoulder, and I was right-handed. I grabbed my gun and aimed it at the henchman. “Say your prayers,” I said.
A look of disbelief struck his face before he relaxed and smiled.
I looked behind me and saw two more henchmen running towards me. Wasn’t there only two? They lied to me. The place was crawling with them. Five of them so far.
I needed back up. I pressed a button on my watch phone, calling Max.
“Max! I’m surrounded. 5 henchmen. In the center of warehouse, but Mom is loose.”
Max answered back, “Not too good here.”
“What?” I was running now.
“I planted one but was stopped.”
“No,” I said. “Where are you?”
“Inside,” Max said. “Where I’m supposed to be.”
I could only hope that if I was caught, I would be together with Max.
“Not good,” Max said, “Your mother. They just brought her in. Good news, they have her standing near me.”
“Making my way there,” I said.
“Careful. If all goes well, you get the hell out of here. And your mom and me…pray for us.”
“Max…no, it’s too dangerous.”
“It’s the way it has to be… Plan B.”
“Max!”
“I love you, Haven. I’m where I should be. Now get out of here fast!”
I turned around and began shooting at the henchmen chasing me. When they weren’t stopping, I shot at the wooden crates stacked against the walls, and had them tumbling down in front of the henchmen, stopping them in the chase.
I didn’t have any time left to worry about any henchmen. I had to get out of the building. I ran through the hallways then to any door leading outside.
Right before I left the building, it blew up.
And I was thrown a few feet away from the blast.
Chapter 13
Tristan
As soon as I ran into the abandon warehouse near the falls, I knew it was a set up. It was the wrong location. Haven wasn’t here. Her mother wasn’t here. She was held in another location, but the kidnappers wanted me to come here…the exact location where I was once held by the kidnappers.
All the memories of me as a young 14-year-old blind-folded and tied to a chair hearing nothing but silence as I was held hostage came back to me. I remembered the sound of high heels walking across the concrete floor, echoing loudly as my captor came close. The tap tap tap of her heels sounding like the drums of an army awaiting the prisoners’ turn at the guillotine.
It was horrible, but what was even worst was the sound of sobbing. My mother’s sobs as she begged for my life in exchange for hers. The memory of her pleading, and then the sound of that gunshot. So close to me as though the shot was meant for me.
I shuddered as the memory came back to me as though it was yesterday.
I had to think. Why did the kidnappers of Haven’s mother send me here? They must have known the fine details of my kidnapping years ago. Unless they were the police, my father, my uncle who was there, or the kidnappers themselves; no one would know I was kept here.
Unless they were copycats, they wouldn’t know what happened.
Around the corner behind my back, I heard a click. Then the sounds of sobbing. A nauseous wave swept over me, and I almost lost my balance.
It was the recording of my mother pleading. Her sobs echoed in the ghostly abandoned warehouse.
“You are so fucking sick,” I yelled in disgust. “And a fucking coward. Come out where I can see you.”
I pointed my gun in the direction of the recording and made my way over where it was coming from. I thought I saw a flash of light and a dark shadow that ran pass me. I ran after it for a moment, but realized it was nothing but a shadow, and not a person.
The darkness was getting to me, and I was beginning to see things that I think was there…shadows, ghostly figures, strange lights.
A hard object bumped into me, and I aimed my gun towards it. A sound. Human. “Ouch! Hey!”
Dillon’s voice.
“Dillon?” I called out.
“Tristan?” a relieved voice sighed. “Man this place gives me the creeps.”
“Why are you here?” I asked.
“Drake and I followed you in,” Dillon said, his hand meeting mine. “There you are. It’s pitch black in here.”
“I know,” I said, “I dropped my phone somewhere back there…”
“No wonder why we couldn’t reach you,” Dillon said.
“Why don’t you turn on the lights with yours?” I asked.
“Battery’s completely out. Drained. It was fully charged before entering this place, and then it just gave out. Drake’s did too, at the same exact time. Weird.”
“Drake!” I called out. “Where are you?”
“Back here!” Drake’s voice answered back. “Near the sound of water. Closest wall to the Falls. I’ll make this banging sound.” He began banging a metal object against another metal object. A metal folding chair? Keys against the metal chair.
“Smart!” I shouted. “We’ll make our way towards you.”
Holding my little brother’s hand, I led our way over to the banging sound and
