Chapter Twenty-Three
Adrien
It wasn’t easy, getting away. When the oil tanks exploded, he’d been just out of the blast zone. He’d stayed low, made it to the field and just kept going. He collapsed at some point, and hallucinated for a while after that. He came too sometime later in the hospital in Canada of all places. He was by himself, in a foreign country, with no id, no money and no passport. Not to mention not in the best of shape. However, Adrien was determined to make his way back to New York.
Back home.
He was in a better condition now than when he first took Camila too, which was a plus. He’d heard that he’d apparently caught an infection in his shoulder, and remembered Camila’s words about infecting him. The bitch! It was enough to make him grit his teeth and think of when he would have his hands on her again, and all the things he would do to her.
He recalled one particular hallucination… well, he’d thought he was hallucinating, but apparently, he had been strangling a nurse and not Camila, but still, the feeling of his hands around her neck… Oh yeah… that had felt good.
Even if she was sick, all he had to do was cover her mouth, lay her face down and do what he wanted with her instead of waiting on that bitch to get better.
There were so many things he planned on doing once they were reunited, and they all played around in his mind as he moved. He thought of his brother as well, of course. He would pay him back for beating him and leaving him to get caught or shot by the cops. But hurting Camila was the best way to hurt his brother, so it still circled back to her.
He should have given her hell while he still had her, but right then, he was like a rat, running around dark, dirty places trying not to get caught, and expending a lot of effort in the process. It wouldn’t be much different once he was back in the city, but he knew he needed to be in New York.
If he wanted to make any progress, and not get caught, he knew it was the place to be, even if it was also where there was a manhunt going on for him. He wasn’t stupid, though. In a big place like New York City, it would be easier to slip through the cracks. And he had stashes around the city with things he’d need. All he had to do was find them and then he’d be on his way to making Camila pay for her mistakes.
It was simple enough. The shock collar he’d put around Camila’s neck while she was passed out on the day he captured her, hadn’t been the only thing he’d done to her to assure his success. He had also inserted a small, bird-style subcutaneous CPS tracker under her skin at the base of her skull where it wouldn’t be noticed, and he would soon know where they were.
The GPS he’d used was pretty advanced, also hard to find. Even if they put her in a hospital, no one would be looking for it, so they wouldn’t have found it. And all he needed to find their location was a computer.
First, he needed a little cash and some supplies from his stash. Then, he was going to go hunting.
It was all pretty easy, almost so easy that he got bored. He’d actually got around a lot more than his brother had known before their parents ‘accident’, so he had friends everywhere. Well, he called them friends, but they were really just people who did things for him, either for money or for their own amusement. This time, since he didn’t have cash on him, he went to get what he’d left with one of those latter friends.
Everything else was ready in no time at all, and finding a computer was as easy as walking into an internet café and making the least payment allowed, since he wouldn’t be sticking around. He didn’t know how close they were monitoring the streets for him, so he had on a hoodie to cover himself up without making it too obvious. His hair had grown out, and he had a bit of a beard after not shaving for so long, so unless someone really looked, they shouldn’t be able to figure out who he was too quickly.
Once he tracked down the GPS location, it was time to go on the hunt.
He didn’t need to take a lot of stuff with him. Just some nice, dark clothes to blend into the night, and a nice weapon to help him out. He had the location noted down, so once he had those, he was on his way.
Moving around in such a large city was pretty easy. Finding a car to steal was even easier. He’d only take it until he was close enough, but he knew he’d have to move some distance on foot. After all, if he approached so obviously, they’d find out too soon, and it just wouldn’t be any fun for him. He felt a grin curve his lips as he drove off.
It was still pretty early in the day. He found an out of the way place on the route and parked the car, then waited for it to get a bit dark. Once the sun set, he only waited a little bit before getting out of the car and starting on his way. He whistled as he walked, hands tucked into the pockets of his hoodie.
The walk was really long. Longer than he’d expected. But he didn’t mind. He was close to getting everything he wanted. He had a borrowed phone that he was using to keep track, and he would pull it out to check every so often to make sure he was heading the right direction.
He was.
He checked the phone again, looking at the time, it wasn’t too late, he should get there after they’d all gone to bed, which would be a good time for what he had planned. He even felt a little joyful, knowing everything he wanted would be right at the end of his path. Once he got there, it would all be worth it; he would have his fun.
Finally, after what felt like a long time, he made it. It was in a remote area where there weren’t any other buildings in the vicinity, so when his tracking led him right to a private house that he could see off in the distance, he knew he had the place.
Must be one of the family’s safe-houses. Father always good about keeping things from me.
It didn’t look like anything the cops would offer, after all. Too big and flashy while trying to be discreet, and only good if it’s existence wasn’t known before-hand. Lucky for him, though, he didn’t need to know, he had the trusty GPS to send him right where he needed to go, so their little trick to try and hide from him meant nothing. He knew that Samuel would try to hide her away from him. And there were plenty of these places set up in all sorts of random locations by their parents. Shaking his head, he grinned. Not that it mattered in the end. He’d found them.
Getting in shouldn’t be trouble for him.
First though, he had to deal with the guard detail.
As expected, there were cops standing around outside, just inside the concrete barrier beyond the gate. He was still some ways off, but there was lights on around the house, so he could clearly see a cop walking around, just at the edge of the shadows. So the guy wouldn’t see him, he held himself still when he looked his way.
When the cop looked away, he made his move. He moved silently forward, pulling out the knife he’d brought along. A gun would have been better, but guns always made unnecessary noise, and it would just call more of them.
He slipped agilely over the concrete barrier and dropped down to the grass. Sneaking up on the cop was pretty simple. He was just a bit out of the light, too, and because he was under the brightness, seeing things in the shadows wasn’t easy for him. Adrien was practically right on him before he realized there was someone there, but it was too late.