Breaking the Lock

Seven

"Maxie?" She snapped her head up at the familiar voice. "Is that you?"

"Britt?" Maxie returned in shock. "It's me. Are you okay?"

They were alone but could hear his footsteps as he moved around the room above them. He had turned the light off and the room was submersed in darkness with only a tiny line of light shining under the door. Maxie shifted feeling her way toward the sound of Britt's voice. She followed the bars of the cage as far as the chain would allow. On the other side of the cage, she could hear Britt edging towards her. Their hands brushed against each other and Britt gripped Maxie's tightly.

"I'm okay, I think. I don't know, I feel so tired all the time," Britt whispered. "I'm sure he's been giving me a sedative."

All of her wanted to panic and scream, but Maxie took a deep breath trying to remain calm. If either of them were going to get out of there, they needed to work together. "How long have you been here?" Maxie asked.

"I don't know, a week, I think."

"Do you know where we are?"

Britt took a deep breath. "No. I've been so out of it."

She didn't want to ask the next question but she had to. She had to know what had happened to Britt and what could happen to her.

"Has he..." She swallowed hard forcing the question out. "Has he hurt you in any way at all?"

"No, not like that. I don't think that's what he's after."

Maxie found that comforting at least. Whatever this guy wanted, it wasn't that. Still, they had to know what he was planning to do with them. And the only way to do that was to learn as much as they could about their captor.

"Britt, we need to get out of here. Tell me what happened to you."

Britt squeezed Maxie's fingers and told her in broken sentences how she had been taken. When she finished, Britt sobbed for a moment before pulling herself together. Maxie gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and told Britt her story.

"You and Nathan are together?" Britt asked when she finished.

"Yes, since Christmas."

"That means Nathan will be looking for you. Maxie, he found you before. He's going to find you again. Nathan is going to get us out of here."

Maxie desperately wanted to believe that. She had no reason not to believe that he would but the last time she'd had a stroke of luck and the Unmentionable had dropped his phone. This time, she doubted she would be as lucky. This man was far more violent and unpredictable than Levi. Worse than that, with Levi she knew why he had taken her. He took great pleasure in telling them why but this man's motives remained a mystery. Nathan would do whatever he could to find her but she had to help him somehow. She didn't know how she would do it, but somehow Maxie would get out of this and back to Nathan no matter what.

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Nathan looked up from his phone and stared at Dante. "What the hell Dante? Now he's got Maxie."

"We don't know that yet." Dante held out his hand for Nathan's phone. He reread the text before handing it back. "This could still be about Britt. It is from her phone. Stay cool. I'll call Spinelli."

Nathan looked around the destroyed apartment. He knew Dante was trying to keep him calm but every instinct Nathan had told him that this was more than just a breaking and entering. This was far more than that. This was a personal attack. He turned over the day's events in his head. First there had been the pictures of Britt from her phone. Someone wanted his attention. The fact that Liesl had not been contacted first only added to his theory that this was aimed at him. Someone was playing a game with him and the people he loved. As much as he didn't want to think it, his instincts told him whoever had Britt had broken in here and taken Maxie too.

Nathan turned his attention back to Dante. "Okay, thanks Spinelli," Dante said ending his call to the hacker. He shook his head at Nathan. "Spinelli couldn't pinpoint the origin of the last text."

"Dammit. Whoever has Britt has Maxie too."

"Come on, Nathan. You don't know that."

"I don't? Dante, first I get disturbing pictures of my sister chained and beaten and now someone trashed my apartment and Maxie is nowhere to be found? I know you're trying to keep me cool but I'm not going to sit back and assume Maxie is safe when I know she isn't. You wouldn't do that if it were Lulu."

"But there's no proof that Maxie is even missing," Dante insisted.

"I don't need proof. I know it. Whoever has Britt, broke in here and grabbed Maxie too. Think about it Dante. It's too much of a coincidence. I know someone has her and she's in danger. I'm not going to stop until Maxie and Britt are safe." He would have continued his rant but a uniform approached them from the hall.

"Detective West? I think we found a witness." Nathan followed the cop to the hallway where a middle aged man dressed in a nice suit was speaking in low tones to another policeman. Nathan recognized him as another tenant and nodded to him in greeting. His name was Brett McGraw and worked at ELQ. Nathan had only spoken to him in passing but they were familiar with each other.

"Detective West, I'm sorry about your apartment. I understand the place is a mess. Did they take anything of value?"

"Possibly," Nathan replied thinking of Maxie. "Brett, Officer Corcoran says you may have seen something?"

He shrugged. "Maybe. I was leaving this morning for work and there was a guy waiting to get in the building. I was in a hurry and I didn't pay that much attention to him. But when I came home for lunch I saw him again. He was outside getting in a car. I got a better look at him then."

"Can you tell me what this man looked like?"

"Sure, this guy was about six foot, short gray hair. Looked like he worked out a little."

"Was there anything unique about him? A tattoo or something like that?"

"No, sorry. When I thought to look at him I was in my apartment looking out the window. It was too far to get details like that." He paused and looked thoughtfully at Nathan. "If it helps though, I can tell you the license plate of the car he was driving."

Nathan nodded grimly. This was the break he needed to find Maxie and Britt. He would run the plate and a background check on the owner. There was always the chance the car was stolen but he would cross that bridge when he got to it. Right now, he had a break. For the first time since arriving at the apartment he felt like he had a course of action. He was going to find Maxie.