Man of Steel(47)

“Hold that for now, just tell me where.” I was moving and motioning Deke, and Styrder over to follow me. I wasn’t sure what I was going to find but I knew I would need them there if only to get my kid out of the way. I took the info and hung up the phone.

“A call came in from the ex wife, we’re headed to Derby.”

“You telling the feds?”

“What you think Deke? Let’s ride out.”

We slipped away under pretense of making the rounds again; the least amount of people who knew what we were up to the better.





Derby is a town about forty minutes away, wasn’t much there but old farms and wide open spaces. It could be a crap shot but at this point anything was better than standing around with my thumb up my ass.

When we were almost there I stopped to have a word with the guys. “I think we should walk in from here. I don’t know the terrain around this place and if he’s there he might be on the lookout. The ex says there’s a back way in with the mountains as a backdrop. There’s only one other way in or out so it might be a hike. Let’s go.”

I checked my glock and saw the others do the same. We headed out in an arc formation after turning off our phones. I didn’t want anything tipping off this guy to our presence.

The place was a rundown old hut that looked deserted. I was beginning to feel the disappointment of another dead end when I saw movement inside. My heart picked up speed and I signaled to the guys that I’d seen something.

Using hand gestures I told each man where I wanted him to go. Just on the off chance that he got by me they knew they had to take him out. No way he was leaving here with my kid. This shit ends here.

Fuck, I wish I had ten men with me, but it was too late for that now.

I made my way up to the place keeping as low as I could. The windows were dirty and visual wasn’t that good but I saw enough to know we were in the right place. And what I saw broke my fucking heart.

He had her tied to a chair. She looked so small and helpless sitting there slumped over that it was all I could do not to storm the door. He wasn’t in my line of sight at first but I could hear movement. When he finally did come into view he was cleaning what looked like a nine inch hunting blade.

I called on all my training and said a quick prayer before crawling on my stomach over to the door. There was no way to get in there without alerting him but I couldn’t leave her in there a minute more. The best I could hope for was the element of surprise.

I saw my boys getting into position as I stood and prepared to kick the door in. Shit, just as I expected he moved towards her at the first sound. I aimed my gun at his head as he stood over her. “Step the fuck away from my kid.”

“Well of it isn’t the great Hayden Blade Masters, welcome to the party. I would offer you something to drink but I wasn’t expecting company.” The fucker grinned and turned my stomach. He wasn’t looking as suave as he had been when he’d been tooling around with my ex, but I guess that was to be expected after a couple days on the run.

I wanted to look at my daughter but schooled myself not to. For now she was out of it which was best. “This is between you and me, she’s just a kid let her go.”

“You don't remember me do you?”

I kept my eyes on his waiting for my chance, just anything.

He had his filthy hand in my baby's hair and a knife at her throat.

She started making waking noises and I almost panicked.

Please Holly baby, please don't wake up, not yet

I was hoping and praying that whatever this sick fuck had given her would work a little while longer. He tugged on her hair and I fought my body not to move.

It was only when he smiled that I realized who he was. All this time I kept thinking there was something vaguely familiar about him and though the name hadn’t rung a bell it seemed like it should’ve. Now I knew why. The fucker had somehow changed his name; either by legal means or other.

He was using his mother’s maiden name now; funny how it all came together right now. I’d put him away a long tine ago when I first started working domestics. He’d raped his daughter for months before she’d got up the nerve to tell her mom.

The fucker had been given hard time by the judge who had no tolerance for that kind of sick shit. I hadn’t thought of him in years, too many assholes in and out of my life since then. But he had my attention now.

I didn’t give away the fact that I recognized him, just kept my eyes trained on him. “Am I supposed to?” He became agitated by my answer, which is just what I wanted. One slip up on his part would mean his undoing.

“You cost me everything, my family, my job, my fucking life. Now I’m going to destroy yours. Your ex-wife was an okay lay by the way. I enjoyed fucking her in the room with your kid asleep next to us. You should ask her about that some time. That’s if you make it out of here.”