by Izzy Sweet
I slam on the breaks, and a car narrowly missing my nose as I take a fast left.
“You need to hurry up, she just turned into a shopping center.”
“Shit, I bet it’s a meet up. Probably called Ivan.”
“That would be my first guess since she has made only one call since taking Johnathan’s phone.”
“Can you track the phone?” I ask as I try pushing through another intersection but the traffic has me dead in my tracks.
I’m completely unable to find a lane to slip in.
“I already have, it’s in a car waiting in the shopping center.”
Fuck, that’s good.
“Okay, where’s my turn off?”
“Andrew, hear me out on something.”
“Simon…” I growl in warning. I have no time or desire to play a single fucking game right now.
“Follow them, Andrew. It’s a safer bet on getting Abigail back without as much trouble than if you go in right now, guns blazing. They might be able to get away, and then we’re at square one again.”
Sweat breaks out on my forehead as I move the car to the left and squeeze past an old lady who rightly gives me the middle finger.
Pushing the pedal back down, the large motor roars as I move through the intersection.
“Andrew, think about…”
“Shut the fuck up!” I yell. “I’ll do it, just fucking shut up.”
The line goes silent as I slow the car down. It takes all my control not to push the pedal down. To not race after Amy.
“You want me to do this for the intel don’t you?” I ask between clenched teeth.
“Of course, but it’s also the best strategy we currently have. I don’t have a team in your area of town. The closest right now is thirty minutes out.”
“I’m not going to back off of them, Simon.”
“I know. Pull up into the parking lot directly across from the shopping center, it should have a pizza place. Park there to get a good view of who exits and leaves.”
Taking a right into the parking lot, I back into a slot next to a minivan.
I don’t have to wait long though before Simon urgently says, “Move now, the car’s taking a right out of the shopping center.”
Shit. There are three cars pulling out but only one has the look that I’m willing to bet my life on. Tinted windows on a new Lincoln. From what I can see, there are two men in the front but I’m not sure about the back.
Following them in my car isn’t too hard. They aren’t fleeing the area and the traffic is heavy enough that I can be easily confused as just another motorist.
Questions and questions float through my mind as I try to figure out what the fuck happened with Ivan. How the fuck did he get past our noses? How the fuck did he get back into the country?
He shouldn’t have been able to with the no-fly Simon had slapped on him.
Fuck. None of this makes any fucking sense. Especially when I think of how he figured out where Abigail would be at. That’s worrying me.
How the fuck do we do anything right now? Was he watching the school after the first strike team was taken out? What the hell does he know? Motherfucker is going to fucking die, I swear.
I’m going to beat him with my own fucking hands.
“Simon,” I say as I fall even further back. We’re getting out of the busy areas and slowly moving through the less crowded areas of town.
“Fall back a mile or so. I’ve got them so far, he’s on a phone call. As long as he doesn’t shut his phone off completely, we’ll be good.”
Easing my foot off the pedal, I try to tell myself that charging in isn’t the way to handle things. I know in my head it isn’t.
But my Amy is in that fucking car, and my Abigail is fucking… somewhere.
The dark sky is as clear as I’ve ever seen it in the last two shitty months. The moon nowhere to be seen. It’s going to get cold tonight, no cloud cover for us.
“They’ve pulled into a house on your left-hand side. Two miles ahead of current position. I would suggest you do not proceed until we have a team there. We’re twenty minutes out.”
“Fuck you, Simon,” I say with a smile. “Tell the boys I’ll leave the lights on for ‘em.”
Pushing disconnect on the phone, I toss it to the passenger seat.
I drive past the house for half a mile before finding a side road. Dumping my car into a culvert, I quickly grab the weapons I have in the car. Two .45’s with silencers, full clips.
It’s not much but from the lack of presence at the house I passed, I don’t really see needing more than what I got.
It’s a quick jog from where I left the car to the house, and during that time I’ve got a plan slowly formulating in my head. It’s one of two choices—I go in guns blazing or I try to be stealthy about the whole thing.
Finding no sentries in the field around the house surprises me somewhat, but not really. They’re cocky that they got Abigail and Amy without being caught.
The first guy I come across is lazily leaning against the black Lincoln I saw earlier. It’s one of two cars in the long curved driveway.
Moving up to his side quickly, I slap a hand over his mouth as I put the barrel of my gun to the side of his head.
We both stand still as statues before my lips finally get close to his ear.
I murmur quietly, “How many in the house if you want to live…”
He shakes his head and I can tell he doesn’t want to talk, stupid fuck. Pulling the trigger slightly, I say, “Okay, I’ll ask the next guy.”
Just like I thought, he starts talking behind my hand.
Pulling the hand slowly away, I say, “Be quiet. How many in the house?”
“Three. Two guys and the boss.”
“Where are they in the house?”
“Two in the front room, boss in the back room with the girl. Upstairs is the little one.”
“Thanks.”
Pulling the trigger, I hear blood explode loudly out the side of his head.
I lied. Fuck him.
Going to the front of the house, I try to walk as casually as I can. Very gently, I test the front door handle.
It’s unlocked.
I have to shake my head at the whole situation now. It’s damn typical of how things are in real life. People just don’t prepare themselves like they do in the movies.
Opening the door, I poke my head in.
In the living room I see the back of two guy’s heads lounging on the couch. They’ve got their eyes focused on some shitty action movie. If I didn’t have to kill them I would have suggested they take notes on how bad guys protect themselves.
Walking around the couch, I would say something witty but… fuck that. The last thing they see is me stepping in front of them, lifting both pistols in the air.
Firing with both hands, I put holes through their chests then their heads.
Three men down, one to go.
A loud scream floats down the halls from the back of the house and rips my heart from my chest.
It’s Amy.
I can hear her pain. I can hear the bellows of a man I can only assume is Ivan as I slowly make my way past the staircase.
Heading down the long hall, towards the back of the house, I try to make sure every room is clear. It won’t do to finally get my hands on the bastard only to have some Russian cock-smoker shoot me in the back.
When I finally get to the door, I hear a gurgling sound coming through it.
Leaning back, I lift my leg and kick the door right next to the handle as hard as I can.
Watching the door fly inward, I get my first view of Ivan. He’s looming over Amy, his hands wrapped tightly in the chain that is choking her throat.
He’s going to kill her and my unborn child.
Throwing myself across the room, I slam into his arms with all I have in me. It’s good that I surprised the asshole because his hands come flying free of Amy as we go tumbling over a bed and into a nightstand.
> There’s a loud crack of wood and we drop to the floor like a sack of fucked up potatoes.
I roar in rage as he throws me off of him.
Rolling to a crouch, I back away from him. Straightening back up to my full height, I look to Amy. She’s there, kneeling on the floor, gasping for air. Her hands are at her neck, tearing at the necklace that dug into her throat.
Looking back to Ivan, I grin when he fumbles standing up. He tries to go for the door of the room only to have me catch him, my foot sticking between his legs.
Falling to the floor, I push him to his back. He looks up at me with fear as I grin at him.
“You touched my wife, Ivan… You tried to hurt my wife and unborn child,” I say quietly.
“How dare you touch her!” he yells up at me, but from my position he looks like a little bitch.
He tries to stand but I kick out his legs again.
Plopping down on his back, he isn’t too far from Amy. His voice is almost soft as he looks to her. “How could you let him?”
She doesn’t talk to him. Her eyes are weeping as she continues to cough, trying to catch her breath.
The breath he could have stolen from her forever.
“How’d you find Abigail, asshole?” I ask as I land a kick to his ribs.
Coughing out loud, he says, “Fuck you!”
“Not the answer I’m looking for, asshole.”
A second kick to his ribs has him wheezing. “We saw her when... you put her in there… you think we quit watching his kids?”
“So this was another sanctioned hit then?”
He actually starts laughing. The crazy fuck is laughing at me. “No, asshole. This was my thing.”
“So why the fuck are you laughing, dickless?”
He’s quiet as he stares deep into my eyes. Then he says, “I’ll wait until your boss comes to question me again.”
“Not going to happen, Ivan. You’ll be dead long before they get here.”
“Bullshit! I’m too valuable, you fucking peasant!”
“Why the laughter then?”
“Because something’s happening and they won’t even tell me, their biggest backer, about it! You fools. I’ll be your only chance of living… Give me the bitch and I will find out all that I can.”
Dropping down on top of him, my first punch lands in the middle of his nose. The loud crunch breaks through Amy’s sobs and his loud scream.
Straddling his chest, I swing down with a second punch. This one lands on the side of his flapping mouth.
There’s another loud crack and I feel his jaw breaking.
“She’s mine,” I shout into his face.
From there, my fists are the only thing I think of, the only things connecting me to this world.
One after the other they punch his face.
Somewhere after the fifth or six punch, I feel my knuckle break. It snaps almost as loud as his nose did.
Screaming out in anger, I hit him with the opposite hand before leaning back.
He’s not moving or making any noise now.
I guess he passed out.
Pushing the thumb of my good hand into his eye socket, I hear his eyeball pop right before he wakes up, screaming through a mangled face. He’s a blubbering mess now.
I highly doubt he even knows why he’s hurting.
Looking to my left, I see Amy staring at me. She isn’t sobbing anymore, only watching me with wide, unjudging eyes.
My throat must be pretty raw because as I speak I realize I have been roaring at the pile of shit the whole time.
“Are you okay, baby?” I ask softly.
Her head bobs up and down briefly before she says, “Yes.”
“You want to get in on this before he dies?”
A quick shake of her head is the only answer I get.
“He’s going to die now. I can’t allow anyone to ever come between us.”
“I… I know,” she says as she nods to me.
Staring into her eyes, I feel my hands wrapping tightly around Ivan’s throat.
Squeezing, my broken knuckle aches with misery.
It’s okay though, I only have to kill him now. I can live through this pain.
Amy doesn’t look away from me as I kill Ivan. She watches as I strangle the very life from him, staring into my eyes.
Still, I see no judgment.
And I feel this strange spark inside of me.
When Ivan’s body no longer moves, I slowly stand up from him.
Walking over to Amy, I reach down and take her hand in mine then pull her up to me.
Somewhere along the way to this house, I realized how much she means to me. She’s more than just a possession. She’s not property to me… she’s my other half. She’s my soul completed.
Will words be enough to get her to understand how much I care for her? I have no clue. I don’t think she has ever understood the lengths I would go to keep her by my side.
Love.
Fuck me. It’s fucking love.
Walking out of the bedroom, I pull Amy behind me. Her small, delicate hand is so warm inside my own. Shit, it still hurts to move the fucking knuckle though.
Pulling her with the broken hand and leading with the other holding a gun, we walk up the stairs carefully.
Poking our heads in each room, we don’t find Abigail until we get to the master bathroom. She’s quietly hiding in the bathtub, her little hands over her ears.
“Abigail, my heart!” Amy all but wails as she pulls the frightened girl into her arms.
Wrapping my arms around both of my girls, I squeeze them as hard as I can.
The loves of my life both safe and in my protection once again.
I swear though I will never let them go again.
Simon is pacing in front of Lucifer and I as he goes through a litany of curse words. They range from how much of a Neanderthal I am, to the doubting of my parents being more than female dogs.
He’s as pissed as I have ever seen him.
He’s so mad right now he’s actually sweating. His tie is pulled off and the suit jacket he was wearing has been thrown in a corner of the office.
“How could you possibly kill him, Andrew!” he spits out as he stares me down.
“He hurt Amy, and I questioned him before he died. No reason not to.”
“Ivan could have been a bargaining chip for us!”
Looking to Lucifer, I shrug my shoulders. “I didn’t see a reason in letting him have a chance to get loose again.”
“That’s not your decision!” Simon yells.
Lucifer shrugs. “He was…onsite, Simon, we were not.”
Knowing I have Lucifer’s backing in this, I turn back to Simon. “He said something big was happening, but even he didn’t know what. Don’t you think you should be figuring that out?”
Turning away from them both, I carefully put my raincoat on over my suit.
It’s cold and rainy as fuck yet again.
My hand throbbing, I look back to them both. “I’m going home to my girls, Simon. Ivan said this was his own job. I think he was telling the truth; just like I think there’s something bigger in the works.”
Walking out of the fucker’s office, I leave the door open, debating if I should go back in there and throttle the bastard.
Ivan was dead as soon as he took Abigail. What the fuck did he expect me to do? Sit back? Fuck that shit.
No one touches what’s mine.
Epilogue
Amy
Two months later
Standing in front of Andrew, holding his hand as I state my vows, I feel every word I say in the very depths of my soul.
“I, Amy Johnson, take thee Andrew Baxter for my lawful husband…”
I stare deep into his dark eyes and I feel so much love. So much hope.
He’s everything I want. Everything I’ll ever need.
“To have and to hold, from this day forward…”
After all we’ve been through the future looks so brig
ht.
“For better, for worse…”
I remember that day, not too long ago, when he killed a man for me…
“For richer, for poorer…”
When he strangled Ivan’s life out of him with his bare hands while staring me in the eyes. There was so much love there, so much love…
“In sickness and in health…”
He’s killed for me. He’s killed for Abigail. He did for me what I couldn’t do for myself.
If that isn’t love, I don’t know what is.
“Until death do us part,” I finish and Andrew smirks like he’s in on some secret joke.
I blink up at him, not understanding his amusement. He squeezes my hand and glances towards the priest.
The priest acknowledges our consent and then declares, “What God joins together, let no one put asunder.”
Our rings are blessed and then we exchange them. As I repeat after the priest and slide my ring over his finger, I marvel at all the scars on his knuckles.
He’s lead such a violent, brutal life…
He slides his ring over my finger and I look back up at him.
I know who he is and I know what he is. And I accept him. I know without a doubt he will always protect us, his family.
There’s another blessing and a prayer but staring up at Andrew, it’s hard to pay attention to anything but him.
Finally, the priest announces, “You may kiss your bride!”
Andrew sweeps me up into his arms and gives me a very deep, very sinful kiss in front of the congregation.
Cheers erupt around us. I hear Abigail and Evie squealing with joy.
The music starts up and I feel like I’m in daze.
Andrew leads me down the aisle and we step outside the church to shake hands and receive our congratulations.
The sun beams down on us as we stand on top of the steps and the day is so wonderful, so glorious, I foolishly feel like nothing could possibly ruin it.
This is the happiest day of my life.
Lily, my maid of honor, and my other bridesmaids gather around me as Andrew and Lucifer thank the last of the guests for attending. Andrew is shaking hands with the mayor of Garden City and inviting him to the reception when a child suddenly cries out.
Everyone turns to see what happened.
