Spy Games (Tarnished Heroes #1)(81)

Someone grunted behind him.

A wine bottle hit the ground and shattered, splashing them all with liquid. He stood and turned, just in time for Andy to stumble into him.

Rand pushed Andy aside and dropped the now dead C4 onto the floor. Without a detonator, it was little more than Play-Doh. He didn’t dare draw his weapon with the children upstairs, no matter that Matt might have gotten them out just fine.

The would-be bomber stood between the wine rack and the shelves, poised for a fight.

Matt grabbed the junk rack and yanked. The thing had always been a little rickety.

The top boxes spilled down, two hitting the man squarely in the head and shoulders.

Rand charged forward, tackled the man to the ground, and pinned him with his greater weight.

“Where’s Sarah?” He wrapped a hand around the man’s throat and squeezed.

“Easy, not all at once. You want him to suffer a little.” Glass scraped across the floor and Andy sighed. “That was a good bottle of wine, too.”

“Where the fuck is Sarah?” Rand asked again.

“He’s not going to tell you shit, man. Look at that face.” Andy crouched next to Rand. “That’s the face of a guy who don’t give a damn. Here. Get his wrists, then I’ll turn out his pockets.”

Rand used the zip ties to bind the man’s wrists and ankles, leaving him hogtied in the mess they’d made. He sat back on his heels while Andy searched his pockets, finding a phone, keys, and a few other odds and ends.

“Jackpot.” Andy wiggled the phone at Rand.

“You think you can find them using that?”

“I know I can.”

Footsteps thumped on the stairs.

“It’s me,” Matt announced. He rounded the corner, hands on his hips. “Emily, the kids, Mom, and Dad are on the road. What’s next?”

“You follow them,” Rand said.

“Oh, no, I’m not leaving.” Her in your hands…

Matt didn’t say it, and there was even a clear period at the end of the sentence, but Rand still heard the words.

“Just a thought,” Andy said. “We need all the warm bodies we can trust holding guns that won’t be pointed our way, so…” He shrugged.

Rand’s new phone vibrated. He’d dumped the last one first thing after the shock of Sarah’s abduction wore off. He could count on one hand the people who had the number.

He recognized Noah’s number on sight. Rand had called Noah for assistance before he could truly think through what was going on.

Noah could still be reporting back to Hector, and they had no idea if he could be trusted.

“Yeah?” Rand pressed the phone to his ear and stood.

“Tell me you’ve got something, man. I’m turning over a lot of rocks with nothing under them.”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe? Maybe what?”

“We’ve got a lead.”

“Awesome. What can I do?”

“Don’t tell anyone. Hang tight, and wait.”

“Copy that.”

Rand ended the call.

Andy glanced up, his gaze boring into him. “You’ve got to trust someone,” he said.

“Can we trust Noah?”

“I’d pick him over you.”

“Fuck you.” Rand flipped Andy the bird.

“What the hell are we doing?” Matt asked.

“You’re cooling your heels while I figure out where our silent ninja friend here’s been. Someone called the cops yet to come pick him up?” Andy thumbed at the still wordless captive.

“I’ll do it,” Matt said.

“His last address, a commercial port on the east side of D.C.,” Andy announced.

“What?” Rand’s stomach dropped. It’d be a two-plus-hour drive this time of day.

“I’m guessing this guy was waiting pretty close, weren’t you?” Andy patted the bound man’s cheeks.

The way the guy was staring at Andy left no doubt in Rand’s mind that if he were free, Andy would for sure have something to worry about.

“We’ve got to get on the road. Now. Come on. Leave him.” Rand crossed to the stairs.

“Hold up,” Andy said.

“They’re going to know something happened. We’ve got to go.” What would the Chinese do when their cameras were no longer transmitting? When they didn’t get any sort of confirmation from the guy they sent in? Was Sarah dead?

“Noah has a speedboat, dumbass. He’s headed to the marina and will meet us—wherever that place is. Here. You’re local. Where are we going?” Andy thrust the phone at Matt.

“Twenty-minute drive, easy, but we need to go now before the school zones back up.”

“You call the police?”

“Already did.”

“You got more than that little toy gun?” Andy gestured to the Glock holstered at Matt’s hip.

“No, not with the kids around.”

“Well, good thing Noah travels with an arsenal. Only time his neo-Nazi gig has been good for anything.” Andy gestured toward the stairs. “Lead the way.”

Rand hated leaving the guy hogtied on the basement floor, but they had to. He didn’t want to kill someone if he didn’t have to, but letting him live was also a risk. They’d have to send the CIA after him once they had Sarah back. After another quick pat-down to remove anything else from the intruder, they exited the house out the front door.