“We have the element of surprise,” Decker says, glancing toward the house.
“I hope they’re in there,” I say under my breath. “Backup?”
“About ten minutes out.”
“Let’s go, now.” I charge toward the house.
A lot can happen in ten minutes, and I can’t wait that long.
“We need to get in without being detected,” Decker says, chasing up to me. “We don’t know what he will do or how he’s going to act, and we don’t want him to freak out and hurt the women.”
We enter the house through the gate on the side and step onto his lawn. This house is a little creepy, not going to lie. It looks like no one lives here, with overgrown greenery and dusty windows, and there’s only one light on upstairs that we can see from the outside.
I point to the back door, and step up to it with my finger against my lips.
We pick the lock and enter the house slowly. Looking down a set of stairs in the hallway, I realize this place has a basement, and that’s where they must be, so I point downward. Decker nods. We go down into the basement as quietly as we can. There’s one candle lighting the room, and I see Marko sitting there opposite two big, black metal cages.
I see red.
He put my fucking woman in a cage.
I’m going to destroy this man.
I point my gun at him. “Let them out. Now!”
“Atlas,” I hear Natalie whisper. The room is so dim I can’t even fucking see her properly.
Marko stands, hands in the air. “Well, well. I have to admit I thought it would take you longer to find me. How did you?”
“Let them out now, or you fucking die.”
“Cara?” Decker calls out. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay,” she calls out.
“Keep the gun on him; I’ll get them out,” Decker tells me.
I keep the gun pointed at Marko’s head while Decker unlocks Cara’s cage first, and then Natalie’s. I look over her and Cara, and they both seem okay.
Decker keeps his arms around both of them and leads them toward us.
“I’m so sorry, Atlas,” Natalie says, on the verge of tears.
“It’s okay,” I assure her. Now is not the time for that. We just need to get them out of here safely.
Before that can happen, I feel a gun pointed at the back of my head. “Drop your gun, or you will all die,” comes a voice from behind me.
Shit. I knew this was too easy.
So Marko wasn’t here alone.
I lock eyes with Natalie, who looks terrified, and bend down to place my gun on the floor in front of me. Decker does the same.
“Didn’t think I’d make it that easy on you, did you?” Marko smirks, his calm demeanor making me even angrier.
“These women have done nothing to you,” I say. “Let them go—your problem is not with them.”
“No, it’s with Rhett,” he replies, shrugging. “But anyone he loves is also high on my list. My children are dead. The mother of my children is in prison. What do I have left? Why does he get to keep his family while I lose mine?”