Hello again & welcome back!
Here's more, so hope you all enjoy!
Chapter 10- Undercover.
After collecting cotton swabs from the bathroom cabinet Sam swabbed three of the blood stains in his house and dumped them in three different freezer bags and knotted them so he'd remember which one was from where.
He put them in a tupperware bowl in the fridge and felt like a backyard CSI tech, but it would have to do.
He went upstairs and dug his lock box out from its hiding place at the top of his cupboard and unlocked it with a steady hand.
Digging around inside it, he fished out his personal gun as well as three spare magazines. It wasn't much, but it would help if he needed to go in guns blazing.
He dropped his badge into the lock box and it was shortly followed by his phone after he sent Jerry a short text. Just as his hand reached for the lid of the lock box to close it his phone rang, a private number on display.
Great!
This guy sure had the best timing.
"What do you want?" Sam asked into the receiver as soon as he connected the call to his handler.
"This is a bad idea" his handler said without hesitation.
"What's so bad about it?" Sam moved across his room to peer through the curtains. Surely his handler wasn't close enough to watch his every movement. He'd have to be watching him to know what was going on.
The street was empty, and no silhouette's were visible behind any curtains or windows.
"She's not an asset" his handler said and Sam heard the stiff tone of his handler resurface. It sounded like it was hard for him to say those words.
"She's a living person" Sam snarled into the phone. How could his handler really not care if Andy lived or died? She was an innocent pawn in Boyd's sick and twisted game.
"They boy is the asset, the priority here. She is just collateral damage".
"Are you kidding me? She's the asset here, she's the one that knows exactly what's going on. If I find out you're on Boyd's team here, I will find you and I will kill you" Sam said in a low tone before tossing his still connected phone into the lock box and locking it.
Making sure that he had what he needed, Sam left home and headed in the direction of the marina.
It wasn't an ideal place to look for Andy, but Nicoli had a few warehouses along the docks and two smaller ones in an industrial area just off the centre of town.
Parking behind a building in a sheltered side street, Sam left his truck and carried on; on foot as he approached the first of the buildings that he knew was owned by Nicoli.
A quick look around revealed nothing but dust and cobwebs.
Taking a slow drive once he had reclaimed his truck, Sam headed straight for the next warehouse on his list and parked around the corner out of sight.
After finding a ground level window that was frosted over with dirt, Sam quietly wiped the palm of his hand over the glass in a circular motion in order to clear a spot.
Looking through the glass Sam saw movement and was able to make out the figures of two men as they faced away from him. Their attention was captivated before them, small shoes peeking out between their feet as Sam squinted to get a better view of what they were looking at.
As if hearing his own mental thoughts, one of the guys stepped to the side to reveal Andy sitting in a metal chair, arms behind her back.
Great, now he had to go in guns blazing in order to get her out and that really hadn't been on his agenda when he got up this morning.
Letting out a barely audible groan Sam stepped back in stealth before disappearing around the side of the building.
...
"I don't know" Andy's voice sounded hoarse even to her own ears.
"Really?" The thick Russian accent was unmistakable, the R rolling almost in over exaggeration.
"Then why did you shoot me?" The Russian was still pretty pissed off about that, but he needed to get over it seeing as he was going to live with that- unfortunately. She had managed to shoot him, but it was more of a flesh graze than an actual wound. Lucky for him.
"You intrude uninvited, what was I supposed to do? Make you breakfast?" Andy tried to hold her tone level in a bid to hide her fear, she just hoped that they didn't pick up on it. But then again, they didn't know her so they shouldn't really.
"Donny didn't say she had spunk" the quiet one spoke making Andy's eyes flare at him. Donny? Really? Was this like a man-crush? Who in their right mind would call Donovan Boyd, Donny?
"Do I amuse you?" The quiet one stepped closer, his cold eyes flickering over her as he spoke. He however, was different- he was Canadian or American even though he matched the Russian in every way from the tattoo up his neck to the jeans.
"Very" Andy bit back before thinking it over.
Watching the guy closely as he bent down in front of her, Andy stilled her hands to keep up appearances.
The guy tilted his head to the side; just slightly, a nasty gleam in his eyes as he did so.
Andy could feel a trickle of blood run down her wrist, its movement so light that she had to refrain from visibly shivering.
Her hand was already wet, the blood pooling in it a dead giveaway that holding onto the shard of glass for that long had done some damage.
She had picked up the piece of glass before taking off out of Sam's house after hiding Jared in the kitchen cupboard. She had held on to it furiously the entire time even though she could feel its sharp edges ripping into her skin. She had hidden in in her back pocket moments before they had dragged her out of their SUV when they arrived here.
How she had been carelessly shoved into the chair and didn't break it or stab herself in the ass; she'd never know.
By the feel of her hand now, she'd added a few more deep welts while trying to sever the thick rope that they had used to restrain her hands behind her back.
Curious eyes followed hers as she shifted her own between the two men, the metallic smell of blood triggering worry in her.
If mobster in front of her smelled it, there was going to be hell to pay.
"So, you don't know where the bag is?" He repeated the Russian's question, eyeing her suspiciously as he scrutinized her and waited for an answer.
"Do I look like someone that would carry around a what was it again? A handle of un-kept coke?" Andy tried to play dumb and it needed to work if she was going to get out of this in one piece. After all they hadn't seen the bag, all they knew was what Boyd told them- that she had a key of uncut coke in a bag and he wanted it.
The man in front of her stood up following what sounded like a door opening, his hand already weaving its way to his belt where he had tucked his gun into it.
'Dear God, please don't let it be Boyd' her mind silently begged.
If Boyd walked in here now, she was dead and Jared would follow soon.
...
Sam anchored his hand firmly around the butt of his gun as it rested against the back of his right thigh tucked out of view.
He'd spotted an abandoned tin of grease and stopped at it on his way in the door after smearing some across the back of his left hand and jeans. It was just enough to give him the illusion he needed to hover their attention long enough for them to let their guard down.
"Hi" Sam said strolling out of the shadows and avoiding looking in Andy's direction. "I'm stuck, is there a towing company around here?" Sam waved his oiled hand around to reinforce his statement.
Both men visibly relaxed, Nicoli stepping back slightly to block Sam's view of Andy.
Sam heard Nicoli scoff and hurl the insult of 'City Boy' his way in Russian but frowned so that they wouldn't know he understood the intended derogatory name calling.
"T-o-w T-r-u-c-k" Sam repeated really slowly as if under the pretense that he thought they didn't understand him.
Saw watched Nicoli carefully looking for signs of recognition but there were none so far, so he proceeded with another cautious step forward.
Shaking his head Sam looked around the warehouse while making a bad attempt to look lost.
Unexpected movement made his head turn towards the three bodies in front of him just as Andy found her feet, her hand and arms slithering forwards towards the neck of the man that stood directly in front of her.
Man she was fast.
Sam was too slow to call out to her to stop, her reflexes out-weighing his words. She effectively stabbed Peck in the neck as a scream from him pierced the air. A crackle followed and Peck crumbled to his knees, Andy's hands dropping to her side, a piece of glass shimmering in sunlight that reflected off it as it moved.
Rushing forward Sam set his gun down on the cold cement next to Peck as he sought out the gaping wound in Peck's neck and applied pressure.
Nicoli was gone the second that Sam looked up in search of him, not surprising considering that he too had a bloodied shirt and bleeding shoulder.
"Sam" Andy said weakly as she took a hesitant step forwards while he let go of Peck's neck in search of his phone.
"Not now" Sam growled out although he shouldn't be mad, she couldn't have known.
"Sam, we need to go" Andy stammered out. The sound of smashing glass told Sam that she had shock of her own setting in if she dropped her weapon.
"He's a cop okay, a UC" Sam yelled even though they were surrounded by silence.
"What?" Andy sounded really shocked.
"No, he can't be".
"Find his phone" Sam ignored her rambling and barked out the order as she stepped closer and her face began to crumble.
"Andy" Sam said more forcefully when she didn't respond.
That went unheeded too, so he tried again "McNally!". Her last name seemed to jolt her back to reality and her attention snapped back to him with a "Huh?".
"Phone" Sam nodded towards an unconscious Peck while holding down on his gushing wound with both hands.
Andy rummaged around but eventually found a phone and pulled it out.
Just as she was about to dial 911 Sam stopped her and gave her a number to call instead.
Her quizzical look didn't slip passed him.
"Jerry I need medics at 414 Mosaic drive, third warehouse now. Peck's down" Sam said into the receiver when Andy held the phone out; probably for him to take.
Sam focused on Peck and checked his pulse and that he was still breathing. When he looked back up, Andy was gone.
And there was no way that he could go after her right now.
Crap!
...
Andy pushed the door open frantically after picking the lock with a hair clip.
She desperately wanted to find Jared but knew that calling out to him was risky especially if someone was waiting in the house for their return.
She had walked back to Sam's house and guessed that it had taken her close on to an hour and a half between the jogging and brisk strides. She had no cash so a cab wasn't an option and there was no way that she would flag down a ride covered in blood.
She had clenched her slashed hand closed until the bleeding had subsided but there were still traces of it over her hands, shirt and jeans.
Slipping through each room Andy did a quick survey to find the house empty although it was a little neater than how she remembered leaving it.
Moving to the kitchen to see if she could find her bag, Andy bent down and looked inside the cupboard where she had hidden Jared and the bag to find the inside of he wooden box now completely bare.
Standing up and spinning around, a dizzy spell cast it's way through her as flickers of silver stars cross her vision.
Not now!
Not now!
Please not now chanted through her mind as her memory vaguely reminded her that she hadn't eaten since last night and her blood sugar was running low after losing blood and the exertion that she had been through. The adrenaline wearing off wasn't helping either...
Andy shook her head in a bid to clear the stars as a warm feeling spread through her chest and she became lightheaded.
Stopping in the doorway her hand braced itself on the door frame and her eyes pinched themselves closed for just a moment so that she could gain some of herself back.
Opening her eyes only made matters worse, her head turned to weightlessness as a shadow clouded her vision and all colors became grey before turning black...
*****thanks for reading!
Any guesses as to who's the shadow?
JBj.