The Way My Heart Beats

Chapter 19

Grant

It's seven in the morning. We've had virtually no sleep in three days, and the coffee isn't working any better than water.

Amelia is suppose to be home from work by now. Her car is still in the parking garage. Mitch slams on the breaks, putting the car in park. We race up to her apartment, but stop when we see the cracked door.

Mitch grabs his gun and eases his way in as I follow. "CPD. We know it's you, Jackson." He calls out, but after a thorough search we find nobody. Her keys are still on the counter along with her cellphone. There is no tracing it.

"Damn it!" Mitch yells, pushing her keys off the counter along with some loose mail throwing it into the floor the keys slamming in the wall as the sound reverberates around the room.

He puts his hand on his hip and rubs the back of his head with the other while he paces back and forth. "Let's go!" He growls in frustration.

"Look, Mitch," I say as I chase after him. "I get you're worried, but shouldn't we call backup before we go looking for him?"

He stops dead in his tracks before turning towards me. "Grant. He's got my girlfriend, and he's probably got yours, too! I don't know what the son of a bitch wants, but the scrawny asshole got more than he bargained for taking our women."

Without missing a beat I start walking. "Yep. Let's go get the piece of shit."

We may be in Chicago city limits, but with lights and sirens Mitch speeds up to sixty miles an hour through downtown heading towards the freeway to the outskirts of town. A few blocks from my house we hit ninety. If I didn't trust Mitch with my life I might have shit my pants.

As we enter my street there is no sign of the red truck. He pulls up onto the sidewalk and cuts the sirens leaving the lights on. I grab his arm before he jumps out of the car. "Mitch, are you sure you don't want to call backup?" He gives me a hard look before yanking his arm away slipping from the car.

He skips every step with one hop onto the porch. He bangs as hard as he can on the door without knocking the glass window out. Without a response from his attempt to invite himself in he steps back and kicks the door open. The old wooden door doesn't hold against the weight of his foot.

He's angry, but instead of rummaging through the house he takes it slow trying to listen for anything. He turns to me to ask, "Do you hear that?"

"Yeah. Maybe he's got a cat? I heard it last time I was here, but I got in a fist fight and he fed me a bunch of bullshit before I could ask." I say sarcastically. "But next time I'll be sure to say, "by the way, I was wondering if you had a cat? You know those cute little furry things?""

He rolls his eyes at me before heading down the hall. I notice the door open that wasn't last time. The one on the right before the back bedroom. I'd just assumed it was another bedroom. That's when the noise gets louder. "You were just so sexy with that innocent act. You don't know how many times I wanted to throw you up on the very table we were using to study," he says, with a female whimper to follow. "That's right. I wish you'd whimpered for me before, but having you tied up does make it more fun."

Mitch and I share a look of disgust. He makes the next step when the creak of the first step echoes against the concrete walls of the basement. "It's so nice of you to join us boys. We were just beginning to have some fun."

We rush down the stairs to see both Amelia and Clara tied up by their hands hanging from the ceiling. Jackson's arm wraps around Clara's waist his body flush with hers as he whispers something in her ear. All she can do is make a disgruntled sound with the cloth in her mouth.