Over The Fence

twenty eight

Travis

"Travis calm down."

"Calm down?" I snapped. "It's been three fucking days! I'm not going to calm down!"

"We'll find her." Darrel reassured me as I paced the hotel room, rubbing my hands through my hair. Three days we'd been in Chicago, and our leads on Ali had gone cold. We were searching as hard as we could, but nothing had gone anywhere.

"You've been saying that this whole time." I grumbled. Darrel sighed, opening his mouth to say something before he was cut off by his ringtone. 

"Yeah." He answered, and I stopped by the window, glaring out at the city. "You're sure?" Darrel's voice had an edge to it that made me turn around. "Okay. Downstairs in two minutes." He hung up and got to his feet. "Thompson got a match for the bodyguard that took her. He's in a car heading out of town right now."

"Well let's go!" I snapped into action, grabbing my bulletproof vest where I'd left it and tugging it on before grabbing the pistol that had been resting underneath. Darrel just nodded, grabbing his vest and gun as we rushed for the door.

Everyone was geared up and downstairs within a minute and a half, and the van was skidding away less than twenty seconds later. My heart pounded as Thompson stared down at the computer in his lap, shouting directions at Darrel - who was driving - as he tracked the car. I tried to remember to breathe as we wove through the city and started driving out of town, praying that this lead would come through. Surely he'd be going wherever Ali was.

"Farmhouse." Darrel said just over an hour later, and I looked out of the window to see the car pulling into a farmhouse in the distance. "I'm going to drive past so he doesn't think we're following, but we'll double back in a minute."

"She could die in a minute!" I disagreed.

"She could die in less than that if they know we followed them." Darrel told me. I bit my tongue as we drove past the farmhouse, my gaze lingering as the man got out of his car and went inside. Two minutes later, we doubled back and parked on the side of the road at the end of the long driveway. "Alright." Darrel said before we got out. "Travis, Myers, McWilliams, and myself, we're first through the door. Everyone else get that place surrounded."

We all nodded jumping out of the van. The evening light made it easy for us to move down the driveway, ducking between all of the trees. All of the curtains in the house were drawn, so I hoped no one would be able to see us. My heart was in my throat. God, if she wasn't okay I didn't know how I'd live with myself.

Myers and McWilliams headed for the door, me and Darrel close behind as everyone else spread out around the house. McWilliams motioned to Myers, who motioned back before slowly turning the handle. It didn't budge, so he motioned again. Then he pointed his gun at the lock, blowing it open with a sharp bang.

The four of us rushed into the house and were immediately met with two men dressed all in black, reaching for their guns. Shots sounded, but all I could think about was where Ali could be. Rushing past Darrel, I sprinted down a hallway to the one door that was closed. Grabbing the handle, I shoved the door open.

Inside were three men, one of which I recognized as the man who had carried Ali out of our house kicking and screaming. The other two I didn't recognize, but I didn't linger on them. My gaze slipped past them, to the blonde cuffed with her arms above her head, blood stained all over her shirt and splattered on the ground. At the sight of me, the man I recognized immediately moved to shift in front of the man standing in the corner, who was covered in tattoos. Reaching for my gun, I pointed it at them.

"Uncuff her." I ordered. "Now."

"I underestimated you Mr Gray." The man with all the tattoos said from behind the taller man in front of him.