Bounty Hunter [REWRITTEN VERSION]

Chapter 12: To The Batcave

MAIZE

The two of them were dead still.

Silence hung in the air between them as Maize froze every part of her body. She didn't make a sound, didn't dare breathe, because she was sure, she was sure she had heard something. The muffled steps were unmistakable now. And they were moving in different directions around the perimeter of the house. Maize managed to send one quick look of warning to Alec, but that was all the time they had to react.

The door exploded open, forcefully kicked in by a pair of heavy boots. Three men, each carrying firearms stood in the entrance. Maize and Alec barely managed to jump over and duck behind the counter before the men opened fire on the spot they had been mere seconds before.

"Shit..." Alec cursed from her side as they both crouched against the counter, "I left my gun in my fucking room."

Maize didn't answer. She rattled her brain, desperately to trying and think of a way out, and quick. Neither of them heard the footsteps come up behind them until the click of a gun was upon them and the detective's body went tense.

Their assaulter smirked as he held the pistol to the side of Alec's head. "Oh don't worry, you won't be needing it."

American accent, Maize recognized. These guys weren't just local house breakers.

"Now, I suggest that we all play nice from here on out, yeah?" The same man with the dark features said. Maize glared blazingly at him but didn't move.

When she shifted her gaze briefly to Alec, she found that his eyes were staring straight up at the man with the gun to his head, cold look in his eyes.

"Took you guys long enough to catch up," he said calmly, though his tone remained hard. "I figured after the first few attempts, you guys would have been quicker to figure us out. But then again, maybe the gang of yours isn't all it's cracked up to be...that's a little disappointing."

He knows too.

The man with the gun's eyes flashed with anger at Alec's provoking, but he didn't respond. To everyone in that room, it was no secret who the men were and who had sent them. Maize knew Alec would have caught onto that as soon as she did. And now he was trying to buy time, buy her time, to think of a way out of this.

"So, how did you find us anyway?" Alec asked, unnervingly relaxed looking, despite the barrel staring him down through the side. He seemed confident that the men wouldn't shoot. At least, not yet.

The man snarled as the other two's footsteps moved around somewhere behind them where they couldn't see. Maize could sense that there were more outside as well, surrounding them, caging them in.

Worry about that later. These three take current priority.

The dark man glowered down at Alec and shoved the gun roughly into his skull to the point where Alec had to grit his teeth. "You don't ask the questions here," he stated threateningly, before taking a slow step back so he stood at his full height, keeping his gun trained on the both of them.

He was a large man, Maize noted. Brute force might not work in this situation, especially not with his two back up behind them.

"Now stand up," he ordered. "Try anything funny and we'll shoot one of you straight through the head. Clear?" he demanded, zeroing a look specifically at Alec, who merely glared back.