Missing (The Brannock Siblings Book 3), page 23
"She sees Aidy!" Con shouted.
"What?"
"Yeah, baby. Grab her and get back in the car. We're almost there. I can see the hangars."
"There!" Luke pointed out the windshield where Emily was currently lifting Aidy into her arms and running back to the car. "Stop the car, Gus. We don't want him to know we're here and risk Aiden."
The relief of seeing my Little Red safe was short lived. Where the hell was Aiden?
Con was out of the car before it stopped and running to Emily who was cradling a sobbing Aidy in her arms. I sprinted toward them while Luke called Linc to let him know what was happening. Aidy reached for me, falling into my arms when I was close enough. It was like an explosion in my chest, finally having her there, knowing she was alive.
"Hey, Little Red. It's okay. I've got you."
She buried her little face in my shoulder and her tears seemed to fall harder, soaking into my shirt.
"Aidy, where is your Aunty Aiden."
"S-she's in there?" she stuttered through her tears and pointed to the hangar that was farthest down the line. It was one out of only three that were shut up tight. "She told me to run, so I ran. I always listen to my Aunty Aiden because she told me she will always do what's best for me. I ran like she said. I knew you would come, Gus Gus."
Tears threatened my eyes. This little freckled angel… the world would be a darker place without her in it. I knew that from the moment I first laid eyes on her with that wand in her hand.
After inspecting Aidy and making sure she wasn't injured, I looked up at my brothers. Con had a frantic Emily in his arms, asking about Aiden and what we were going to do. Luke was staring at Aidy with awe. He must have been realizing what was coming for him in a few months and the emotion that spread over his face proved me right.
I knelt down and pulled Aidy's arms from around my neck. She looked up at me with those eyes that had stolen a piece of my heart only a couple of months ago. "I'll be back with Aiden. You stay with my brother and this pretty lady who found you, okay? She's going to be my sister one day and she loves you and your Aunty Aiden so you can trust her."
She nodded and I gently moved her into Emily's waiting arms again.
I looked toward the hangar and felt Luke's hand on my shoulder. "Con will call Lily and Evan is on his way with back up."
I drew my gun and flipped the safety before I stalked toward the hangar. "I'm not waiting."
I heard Luke drawing his gun behind me. "Didn't think so."
***
Aiden
Aiden had experienced more violent thoughts in the last thirty minutes than she had her entire life combined. She wanted to kill Donny Marks and she wouldn't feel a moment of regret if she did.
The cab ride to the aviation field was excruciating. She'd left the very second she got off the freaky phone call with Donny. After begging him to make a trade, to take her and let Aidy go, he hadn't hesitated to agree.
"The detective will learn his lesson more effectively with you anyway. You all will. So it's a deal."
She hadn't asked him to elaborate, she only wanted to get her niece back to her sister. Of course, she had to agree not to contact anyone. It was just like the God damn movies and she was anxious to get off the phone and call Gus immediately, but what he said next changed her mind. The creep had done more than just take Aidy. He'd invaded their lives.
"There's a tracker on your phone so you better take it with you so I can see where you are at all times. There's no way for you to make calls out so don't even try. Just get here and don't test me. Little Aiden's life is in the balance."
She left the apartment without looking back. Emily would soon discover she was missing and call someone, but she needed to get a head start. If she could get Aidy out of there, it didn't matter what happened to her.
When the aviation field came into view, surprise filled her when she saw how close to the station she was. It was almost comical. Only minutes away from the man she loved.
The cab driver sped off the second she exited the vehicle. Her frantic behavior had surely freaked him out, but she didn't care. She ran to the hangar at top speed and burst through the metal door.
He was waiting for her on the other side with a sobbing Aidy in his clutches.
To think that she had spent time with this man in a friendly setting. To think she had actually found him attractive and nice enough to risk going out with him. It made her want to be sick. She didn't know how the connection was made, but she would find out soon.
He released Aidy and that sweet little light immediately ran to her open arms. The feel of that precious girl holding onto her was debilitating, she didn't deny that there was a part of her that didn't think they would ever get her back. Lily would have her little girl back and she would have peace of mind, regardless of what happened next.
"Baby girl, I need you to run out of here okay?"
She shook her head in protest. When Aiden gave her a loving smile, she stopped and knew it was time to listen .
"You run out of here as fast as you can until you see someone and I'll be right behind you. I just need to talk to this meanie head over there first."
Donny had chuckled irritatingly, but she didn't take her eyes off of Aidy. The brave girl nodded and with one last hug and kiss, Aiden gently pushed her out the door. The little beauty moved at light speed, her bright red hair bouncing on her shoulders.
It felt like hours before Aiden stood to face Donny. His once slick hair was a complete mess and the ragged clothes he was wearing were a surprise. He wore a triumphant smile, but Aiden knew better. He wasn't going to get out of this alive. Gus would find him because Aidy had seen him.
The only question was, what would happen to her first?
"Welcome, Aiden," he said with a smirk, but it was madness and anger that filled his eyes. "You did the right thing."
"What do you want?"
"Ah," he looked down at the ground scratched the back of his neck casually. "That's a long story."
"Well, apparently I've got plenty of time," she snapped.
"No, I'm sure your cop will be here eventually so we need to move. I've got plans for him."
"What do you have against Gus?"
He blew out an irritated sigh and squeezed his eyes shut as if trying to control himself. "It's not just him. It's all of them."
"So, you just hate cops? Is that it?"
"No."
"Then-"
He squeezed his eyes shut again and started humming strangely. It occurred to Aiden that she wasn't dealing with someone normal. His attempts at control, the weird gestures and movements he had started to make, warned her of something much darker.
"He's just like all the others. Ahhh…" The sound came out shaky and his lips started to tremble. "The ones that don't care. Don't see. They don't see."
Donny's eye started twitching while he spoke and his shoulder rolled back like he was shaking something off. Her chest was gripped with the first fingers of true fear. The roll of his shoulder gradually became more aggressive the longer she stared.
"You think your detective is good at his job? Hmmm? That he can have a life outside of it? You think he knows what he is capable of if he looks away for one second?"
"I don't under-"
"They don't find them all!" he roared.
Every muscle in her body went rigid. "Find who?" she asked slowly.
He was getting more and more agitated and she was afraid he would do something irrational if he didn't calm down. His arm bent behind his back only to reappear with the very familiar shape of a gun in his hand. He held it at his side, the barrel pointing down, as if he was relaxed. Gaze focused so acutely on that weapon, she didn't miss the shaky flick of his finger against the hard metal.
"Me."
Without warning, he lunged forward and wrapped his fingers around her upper arm painfully. Dragging her behind him, he led her into a darkened room in the back corner of the hangar. There was a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling, illuminating the small space enough for her to see the stacks lining the walls. Crates and boxes, some empty and some filled with packing peanuts, surrounded a single metal chair in the center of the room. He slammed the door shut behind them and roughly shoved her into the chair. He crossed the small room, gun still hanging at his side, and started rolling a table out of the corner.
Her heart jumped in panic when she saw the items on the table. Tools that you would only see in a surgical room shined in the light, but they obviously weren't sterile. Dried stains of red covered the blades and dirt smudged the handles.
She was going to die.
"The children. They don't find all of them and they don't give a damn about it. They roll it off like it was a lost key. Replace it with something else. They don't think about what happens in those dark rooms. What happens in the basements of shitty houses that are ready to collapse."
Okay, this guy was officially crazy. Psycho crazy. The eye twitches and shoulder rolling weren't just nerves.
"They looked for me for a week. A week! They gave up the search, had the funeral, and left me there to die for real. I was 7 fucking years old and they gave up."
He paced the room between her and the door, the gun hanging from his fingers as he tap tap tapped it with his finger. She swallowed hard, forcing herself to keep quiet and wait him out.
"The police just pushed it aside. They didn't work hard enough to find me, didn't care enough to find me. I was gone for three years before I - argh!" He threw his head back and stared up at the ceiling, raising the top edge of the barrel of the gun to his face, tapping his forehead. It reminded her of the way Gus tugged on his hair when he was frustrated or really agitated. Only there was a gun in this man's hand.
"I fought my way out of there. Lived on the street for a month before a cop caught me stealing food."
She listened intently, but her eyes moved around the room, trying to find an escape when his words turned angrier. Her sweating hands shook and she struggled to hold herself on the hard metal chair. She moved her foot toward the rolling table and gently pushed it away from her to give her room to move if she needed to run. Where? She had no idea.
"That cop took me to an orphanage instead of trying to find out who I was. Twenty years! Do you know who I am, Aiden? Do you see who I am? Who I've become? All of them need to learn a lesson."
She stared up at him, understanding flared in her mind as she saw the agony on his face. She was listening, but she hadn't been hearing. This man had been through hell as a child. Taken from his family only to be given up on. Left for dead.
Shit like that would mess with anyone's head.
"I've taught plenty of them lessons, but Brannock needs to know that he's not as dedicated to his job as he thinks he is. He's not going to be able to save them all unless he pays attention."
He had visibly calmed, but he was breathing heavily and standing directly in front of the door. Her only exit. She needed to get him to move away from that door, somehow distract him enough to make a run for it. The couple seconds it would take her to pull it open were crucial. She needed to buy some time.
"Donny," she croaked.
His head snapped up to look at her, the gun once again hanging at his side.
"Come here and talk to me, Donny. Tell me what happened." She tried to keep her voice steady, but the tremble forced its way out and he noticed.
"I'm sorry, I'm scaring you aren't I? I do that. I've been able to keep myself in control with the children, but seeing you with him… knowing you've been his distraction. It's just too much."
Her blood froze. If that wasn't placing the blame on her, it certainly wasn't helping her.
"Why did you take the children? Why Aidy?"
He stepped forward, the scrape of his feet across the ground deafening in the small space. He smiled down at her, the anger and frustration gone completely to be replaced with another triumphant smile.
"The first child was the granddaughter of the detective who assisted in the search for me. He's been long retired, but I think he learned his lesson. Has a bad heart only made worse by the concern for little Sarah. He had wanted to follow other leads back then, but with no power or position, he was disregarded. I'm the one that put in the anonymous tip that led them to her. Now Johnny was different. His parents have struggled to make a living since the day they married. His father is the one who should have been in my place all those years ago. He should have been taken, but his mother came and picked him up early from school that day."
"How do you know he should have been taken?"
He scowled. "Because that's what I was told. 'You're a lucky boy, Donald. I was planning to take Jonathan, but you'll do just fine.' Jonathan should have been in that shit hole. Not me. So I took Johnny. Made his father think there was hope, only to have it stripped away. I had thought there was hope. I had thought they would find me."
He was getting agitated again, so she quickly asked, "And why Aidy? Did Gus hurt you?"
He shook his head. "No. He was good at his job. Dedicated. If he had been the one looking for me back then, he would have found me, but he proved to be just like them. The detective that had led the case all those years ago is already dead. Gus served as a proper replacement."
"What did he do to become just like the others?"
"He disappeared for weeks. Left his job to worthless men who cared more about their position than doing their actual job."
He had to be talking about the time Gus took to go home and help with Ash all those months ago. He had taken it as a personal jab.
"When he returned, I watched him, but he was gradually losing his touch. Don't choose a job you can't handle."
A part of her could understand the anger this man felt. Being that young and kidnapped only to have your family give up so soon… it was devastating. She couldn't imagine Aidy going through something like that or even herself, but that was the difference here, wasn't it? Her family would never stop looking.
"I gave him the opportunity to redeem himself, but it was pointless. All of them are worthless."
"Why me?"
"I saw the way you interacted and when I looked closer, I saw what both of you didn't know. He was so desperate for love and you…" he chuckled dryly. "You were so desperate for him. His distraction was very typical, but it gave me the chance to show him what it feels like to be helpless."
"You're crazy."
She had meant to think the words, not say them out loud. It was the wrong thing to say. He glared at her, his eye twitching violently once more and his rolling shoulder now on a steady rhythm. He came closer and closer, making her feel like a trapped animal and when he was inches away, she could see in his eyes that he had lost it. "I'm not crazy!" he screamed. "I just want some justice! And if killing you is the way to get it, so be it."
He lifted the gun to her head and the fear she had been holding in suddenly burst out in the form of tears.
A crash at the door made her stumble out of her chair. Splintered wood flew across the room. Before she could right herself, stiff arms wrapped around her and jerked her to stand. Donny held her painfully around the shoulders in front of him and the barrel of the gun was pressed hard against her temple. Her injured hand had been forgotten until now, the pain shooting up her arm as she tried to tear his arm away from her.
Oh God. This is it.
"Let her go!"
She knew that voice. Her eyes snapped open and Gus stood before her, gun forward, body taut with tension, and eyes on the gun pressed to her head. She tried to still her shaking body, but it was no use. She was terrified and when his eyes shifted to hers, she saw the fear in them.
"Let her go, Donny. It's me you have the fight with. You want justice? You take it from me, right now, because you aren't getting out of here a free man."
Gus moved carefully across the room in front of them. The table with the surgical tools, stood between them. As Donny moved her closer to the door, she started to panic. What was Gus doing? He was giving him an exit.
"Isn't this the sweetest justice, though, Brannock," Donny spit out. "Taking the one you love most to show you what a failure you actually are."
Gus flinched and pain crossed his features as he slowly started to lower his gun.
"No," she screamed. "Don't listen to him, Gus. He's crazy!"
"Put the gun down, Donny."
"Okay."
The gun dropped away from her temple and flew across the room at Gus. He ducked out of the way, but quickly righted himself. The look in his eyes hadn't changed, however. If anything, it had become more panicked.
The sting of a blade pressed into her pulse point and she realized that Donny was even crazier than she originally thought. He was going to toy with Gus until there was nothing left to take from him.
"Why are you doing this?"
"You think you are so dedicated to your job, that you're good at it. I gave you those two children. I did that. Not you. You're pathetic and it's time you people realized that you aren't doing your jobs. You do the bare minimum and then go home to your pathetic families and forget that you've destroyed lives!"
The knife pressed harder and cut into her skin. The small trickle of blood running down her neck was the only thing she could actually feel other than the pain. The hot tears stopped falling, her trembling body stilled, the nausea faded. Her mind numbed itself, fear of the unknown just too powerful.
"I'm sorry for what happened to you, Donny. It shouldn't have ended that way. They shouldn't have given up, but it's not me or Aiden you should be punishing and you know that."
As if he hadn't heard Gus speak, Donny continued casually. "I must give you credit though, your family and friends are dedicated. I should have had that."
"Yes. You should have and I'm sorry you didn't." The words were sincere. Gus focused on her, his eyes reflecting so much love, she couldn't help but mouth I love you right back. "You should have had what we have. A family that will never give up on you."
Donny shifted closer to the door until it was almost directly behind him with Gus standing in the far corner now. She expected him to say something hateful, but instead, his grip on the blade loosened.
