Chapter 10

Alex and Ed pulled into the abandoned parking garage that the man had directed them to. Alex had finally formulated her plan, but she kept it from Ed. If he knew what she was planning, he would try and stop her. And that was something that couldn't happen.

"So, what are we going to do?" Ed asked as she turned off the car.

"I'm going to give him the tapes," she replied.

"But, we can't. The Bureau—"

Alex broke in, "The Bureau can kiss my ass. I want Greg back."

Ed only nodded. He admired the love she had for Greg. She was willing to risk her career and jail time for him. It was something he didn't know if he'd be able to do.

She grabbed the case that held the tapes—the real tapes. Ed grabbed her arm. "He wanted me to go."

"He can kiss my ass too," Alex responded, shaking loose Ed's arm.

Ed still didn't let go of her arm. "Alex, I need to be the one to go."

She slipped her free hand into her jacket pocket and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. Before Ed realized what she was doing, she had him cuffed to the steering wheel. "Sorry, but I've gotta do this."

She left the mystified Ed and started to walk towards the staircase as he had instructed. She really didn't know if he'd actually be there for her to hand the tapes to, but she could hope.

She opened the door, which gave a rusty cry. And it revealed the man in the ski mask. Finally, she thought. Something is going the way I want it to.

"That's far enough," the man said after she took a few steps onto the landing. The man was at the next landing down.

Alex was not going to have this. He had to be close for her plan to work. "What? You afraid to take the suitcase directly from me? A girl?"

The man laughed.

"Is that a yes?" Alex responded, raising an eyebrow. "Because I am handing the tapes directly to you or there is no deal."

"You are not in any position to be bargaining," the man replied. "Besides, if you expect me to believe you'd come this far only to turn back now, you're only fooling yourself."

She turned and started to walk back out the door. She knew she was playing a dangerous game but had no other option. She heard his footsteps.

"I'll humor you," the man said as he ascended the steps. He knew she wasn't a threat to him.

When he got to the landing, he reached for the briefcase that held the tapes. Alex didn't let go.

"Don't fuck with me," the man stated, giving a tug to the briefcase.

"I'm the one you don't want to fuck with," Alex replied, swinging around and elbowing the man in the head.

After her elbow made contact, she swung back around the other way and hit the man in the face with her fist. He let go of the briefcase to cover his face and she swung back with the briefcase. It hit him square in the back and knocked him off balance. He stumbled down the half flight of stairs to the landing where he was when Alex had entered the stairwell.

Alex ran down the stairs and straddled him as he lay on the floor. She removed a second pair of handcuffs from her pocket and quickly handcuffed him to the stairwell.

"Now tell me where Greg is," She demanded. "Or you'll be sorry."

The man's face was still obscured by his ski mask, but Alex could see the blood running down next to his eyes, which were filled with confusion. She knew the man hadn't expected a fight from her. She knew he'd undoubtedly heard how easy she was to capture.

But Alex had been working on that. She had been taken self-defense in her spare time, unbeknownst to anyone. She'd also been doing strength training. She was never going down easy again.

"Go ahead," the man replied. "Do your worst."

An evil grin flashed across Alex's face. She had a lot of pent up rage she'd been dying to get out and had been hoping he'd put up a fight. She slammed her fist into the man's chest. Then she hit him a couple times across the face.

"Where. Is. Greg," she repeated given each word special emphasis.

The man's only reply was his laugh.

She hit him in the face a couple more times. And when that didn't seem to faze him, she grabbed his head and slammed it into the hard floor a few times. "Tell me!"

He leered at her. "You'll never find where we dropped him."

Alex was about to hit him again, when she paused in thought. It was weird that he used the phrase "dropped him" and an odd notion passed through her mind. "What did you do? Leave him in the desert?" she asked rhetorically.

There was a slight flicker in the man's eyes. She realized why the man knew so much truth; he had to. He was a horrible bluffer.

"Oh god," she responded. "You did leave him in the desert." She paused to think for a moment. "How long? How long has he been out there?"

The man just laughed again. "Fuck you."

"Where is he?" she demanded again, pushing his head into the floor a few more times.

"You're wasting valuable time on me," he responded.

"Grrrr!" she yelled, frustrated. She balled her hand into a fist and punched him in the face. "Where?"

"There was a lot of sand," the man replied sarcastically.

His response angered her even more. She repeatedly struck his chest. "Where is Greg?" she shouted.

Her shout covered the groan of the stairwell door, which was to her back. She was too lost in her rage to hear the footsteps coming down the stairwell towards her.

"Where is my husband?" she yelled at him, raising her arm to strike him one more time. Only, her arm didn't budge. She looked up to see why and there was a hand around her wrist.

"Stop, Alex," it was Gil's voice she heard.

She turned to look at him. His face was a mixture of bewilderment and sadness. "Gil?"

Gil pulled her up by her wrist. She stood and stared into Gil's eyes. Then she looked down at her hands, which were now down by her side. There was blood splatter on them.

She threw her arms around him and looked back up at him. "We've got to get Greg."

"He told you where Greg is?" Gil questioned, holding her tight.

"He's in the desert," she replied. "We need helicopters."

"I think I can help with that," he told her.