Missing (The Brannock Siblings Book 3) (31 page)

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.