“More something rash, harming both you and Raelyn, but it seems like you’re beyond that.”
“I won’t do anything mental,” I promise him. “I don’t want to make anything worse than it is.”
“Right, okay. Well I’m going to give you this information. What you do with it is up to you. Do you know the old industrial estate at the edge of the city, by the unused soccer grounds?”
“Right, yeah, I think I do. Where the factories used to be years ago before they shut down?”
It’s where my business would have been, if I’d opened it twenty-five years before I was born. It would have been the perfect place to conduct what I do, and I would have been surrounded by other similar businesses. But a financial crash at some point put a halt to manufacturing in this area, which we’re only just making a comeback from now. Maybe one day it won’t be full of rusty unused buildings anymore.
“There is one which used to produce car parts. I believe that Raelyn is in there. It’s a giant building in the left hand corner of the lot, and it has a massive red sign outside. It’s impossible to miss.”
“Do you have any reason to believe that? Or is it just, I don’t know a hunch or…?”
I gulp, this is too painful. The thought of beautiful Raelyn trapped in a place like that is purely horrible.
“Have I ever steered you wrong before, Carter? I’m telling you, she’s there.”
I nod, accepting this as final. “Okay, Lee, thank you for your help.”
“Do you need any more help? Like, do you need me to protect you or anything?”
I don’t have time for that. I don’t mean to be rude, but I know that Lee will try to make me do things the sensible way, whereas what I want to do is the quickest way. I want Raelyn safe.
“I’m good, thank you, Lee. I know what I’m going to do. I will go there and calmly tell Connor Blair that I have retracted my statement, and also that I have some cash for him. I won’t give him the money until I have Raelyn out of his clutches. Then, we will get the hell out of there and in to safety.”
“You’ll call me then? Because I have a feeling that you’re going to need me then.”
“I will,” I promise. “Thanks again, Lee. Wish me luck with all of this.”
“I won’t, because I’m hoping that you don’t need it. I want you to just be okay.”
We say our goodbyes and I hang up the phone. What I didn’t tell Lee, because he would have kicked my ass, is that I will even take Raelyn’s place if they need me to. I will be the one who’s kidnapped. I don’t know how useful I will be as their victim, but I will find a way to convince them. I’m a salesman, surely, I can sell myself as a useful person to have under their control. I would rather me be in trouble with them than Raelyn.
I get back into my car and stare at the briefcase. It would be so much easier if that could just solve this. The ideal situation would be for Connor Blair to just take this money and leave us alone. Raelyn and I will find a way to make life work after this, I’m sure of it. I think this will only make us stronger.
God, I want the life that I’m sure we could have together. I want that love, that passion, that desire. I want her cheekiness, her sweetness, her kindness, and her sass. I want to make her see that not every guy is bad. She’s had some bad experiences in the past I’m sure, and she’s had some dreadful times when I’ve been in her life.
I want to be the man to make it all okay again, and I can be, if we just escape this.
I start driving determinedly. I might be ignoring Lee again, but this time I know what I’m doing. This time, it’s all right. I’m going to make this all okay again, I really am. I do consider calling Officer Brady with this information, but in the end, I decide against it. He told me not to get involved, he was very specific about that, so I don’t want to tell him that I’m already breaking that rule. Plus, if the cops find out, they will take over and make it their own operation which might not be the best thing here. I just don’t want to make it worse.
No, it’s me, it has to be me, that’s the only way that this will work.
My heart slows down as I arrive closer to the industrial estate. I expect it to race, to get a whole lot faster with fear, but it doesn’t. It almost halts to a stop as if it’s forgotten how to beat properly.
“It’s going to be okay,” I whisper to myself. “It will. I’m going to make sure of it.”
I slow my driving down as well and peer over the steering wheel to find this building. I’ve been so focused on what it’s going to be like to see Raelyn again, and what I’ll say to these guys to make sure this happens, that I haven’t worked out how I’m going to approach this first of all. I need a plan really. I need to work out how I’m going to start this communication off. There needs to be a starting place which doesn’t end up with me dead.
“What the…?” My eyes narrow, I see more cars than I was expecting. Some of them with lights. “Is that…?”
I think it’s the cops. I think that the police might already be here. A tsunami of relief washes over me. It’s so intense, so powerful, so overwhelming that I could cry. I’m not alone.
“Oh, thank God. I’m not going to die.”
I really did think that I would. Since I don’t have a weapon or anything, I don’t really stand a chance. All I have is a bunch of money that I was hoping would save my damn life. But now I might not have to lose that…
Bang! Bang! Bang!