I raised my gun again. “Then that’s where we’ve got to go. Together.”
Chapter 26
I quickly glanced at my watch.
Two and a half hours until drop time.
Chase would be getting nervous. He’d be getting worried. The fear would be building, the dread would be consuming his whole body. With time getting short, he would be playing out all the possible scenarios in his head. He’d be looking for an out. An excuse to avoid handing over the money. Any reason he could come up with to hang on to his beloved million dollars and not follow through as we’d agreed. If one thing had been clear from the very start it was this: Chase Martin was not a man who could be trusted, especially when it came to money.
And now it was my turn to consider the options. Was it a greater risk leaving Chase to drop the money, than it would be to charge into the warehouse all guns blazing?
If this went wrong, and it easily could, all would be lost.
It was decision time.
I looked at the looming warehouse, with its single light shining like a beacon to those who were adrift. In truth, I felt lost. Torn about which way to turn and what course of action to follow. But life is full of difficult decisions and sometimes you just have to flip a coin.
It was dark enough to cover the run to the door, so long as there were no security lights. My eyes strained in the dark, and then I saw it, the pinpoint flash of red above the door. I nudged Casey and gestured towards it.
I could see her studying the light sensor and our possible approach to the door, before she whispered her response.
“If we stay wide until we hit the wall over there,” she pointed to the nearest corner of the building, “and then shadow the wall, we should avoid the sensor. I hope,” she added.
I nodded as I weighed out the situation. I trusted Casey. No question. I trusted myself. I even trusted Ben, if not for his personal decisions, I trusted his police skills. He was a good cop, and I knew it.
And finally, I trusted my gut.
What I didn’t know was, could I trust Chase?
If the kidnapper didn’t know who Chase was, I would’ve been the one placing the drop, but clearly they knew him. They would have known if I tried to replace him.
If I backed out of raiding the warehouse now, we would have to go back to the original plan. The only other plan we had. And that meant I would have to trust Chase with the drop.
And as much as I tried, I couldn’t place my faith in Chase.
Not even with his own daughter’s life on the line. There was an arrogance to him, a feeling that he deserved every cent of that money. Not to mention that he ripped people off for the money in the first place, but he felt it was rightfully his. And sometimes people fight even harder to keep hold of what they’ve stolen than what they’ve earned through sweat and toil.
It was the game he played.
Money was everything to men like him. It was the validation that he sought, making him feel worthy, powerful and successful. In my eyes, he wasn’t successful. He was immoral. A fraudster. A cheat. A loser. No matter how much money he had in the bank. I couldn’t do what he did. I couldn’t live the life that he leads.
And so, the decision was made.
From right now, Chase was not my concern.
It was the warehouse, who was in it, and how long we had until they left. The warehouse was a half hour drive to the drop, and that meant the kidnapper would be leaving soon. I had no doubt that the kidnapper would scope the drop first, looking for any unmarked cop cars, or for anything unusual.
We had minutes, not hours, until the kidnapper made a move.
Under my lead, Ben, Casey and I continued in the shadows until we reached the edge of the warehouse. Our guns were drawn, our heart rates high, and our determination unquestionable. Apart from the tall garage doors, there was one entrance, a metal door that led into the office, and one small window. With Ben and Casey behind me, we moved to our positions under the window. Easing out of my crouched position, I looked inside.
There, on a couch, was Millie Martin.
Relief flooded through me, but we certainly weren’t done yet.
She was sleeping, wrapped up nicely in a blanket, her head resting on a pillow. She had been laid down with care—there wasn’t a scratch on her, not a mark. She was resting like the little angel she was.
“She’s in there.” I leaned back down against the wall. “Millie is sleeping on a couch, only a few feet from the door. She looks unharmed, and peaceful.”
We took a moment for this information to process.
“Anyone else?” Ben checked his weapon. “No other activity?”
I shook my head, “Not that I could see.”
Ben slowly stood and looked in the window. “To the back of the room is another door.” He leaned back down. “There’s light coming from it. The kidnapper must be in the other room.”
I nodded as Ben crouched back down next to Casey.
“This is the plan.” I indicated to Casey and Ben. “I’m going to pick the lock, enter the room first, and keep my gun on that other door. The two of you are going to follow me inside, and carry Millie out of there. And I don’t
