Taken - Before her very Eyes (24 page)

The knob turned freely and a
second later it stopped with her hand fully twisted. He’d left this door unlocked.
Probably figured it was safe enough beings it was inside the garage. Pushing
the door open a sliver, she peered inside the back entrance room. It was a huge
mudroom separating the garage from the main living area.

Stepping quietly inside, Summer
tiptoed across the room, standing paralysed at the door, listening for any
sounds from within. There were footfalls in the room to her left. Probably
Percy pacing before the picture window, waiting to shoot her down the second
she arrived.

She opened the closet door
slowly, careful in case the hinges were noisy, then searched inside for anything
that might help. There was little left in the house, only a pair of winter
coats and boots in case the owners decided to come here for a Christmas dinner,
but just behind the coats was something interesting. A cold air return mounted
in the top of the closet. Summer stepped inside the closet and tipped her ear
toward the metal grate. Percy rambled as he continued his pacing in the other
room, but as hard as she tried, she couldn’t make out a single word.

Stepping out of the closet, she
opened the door to the kitchen and almost screamed out at the sight of Sabrina
sitting in the room straight across from where she stood. The urge to run
across the kitchen and scoop her into her arms was almost unbearable. Her heart
ached just seeing her there, knowing she couldn’t touch her.

The sound of Percy pacing in the
other room was louder now, drifting through the swinging door that separated
this end of the kitchen from the front room. His ranting seemed to be getting
louder with each passing moment. He seemed to be losing it. Everything he’d
tried today went wrong and it looked like the pressure was getting the better
of him. She watched as his shadow cast upon the door, blocking the sunlight
from passing under the base.

Summer opened the mudroom door
wide, hoping that Sabrina would see her and come quietly across the kitchen to
where she stood. The waiting was almost unbearable as Sabrina was totally
engrossed in something in the other room. Something that was holding her
attention even during the strenuous circumstances of today.

Waving her hands, Summer stepped
from the mudroom and cautiously walked into the kitchen, between the counter
and the island, making her way slowly across the room toward Sabrina. She gave
up trying to catch Sabrina’s attention and pulled her gun from the holster then
held it trembling, pointed at the ground. She paused, hearing Percy’s voice
growing louder as he neared the end of the wall which separated the kitchen
from the front room. His footsteps ended dangerously close to the corner and
Summer raised the gun, watching it shake before her eyes.

She was all prepared to fire if Percy
stepped around the corner. But instead, he muttered something then turned and
paced back in the other direction. She felt weak with relief and stepped to the
edge of the separation, waiting for a chance to dash into Sabrina’s room. It
took two more times of Percy pacing dangerously close to the kitchen before she
built up enough courage to take the chance.

With her finger tight on the
trigger, she waited for him to reach the turning point at the kitchen wall,
then when he turned, she made her move. Stepping quickly from the kitchen wall,
she raised the gun and quietly tiptoed across the opening and slid into
Sabrina’s room, placing her back to the wall.

Sabrina was glued to the
television, totally engrossed in her favourite show which she watched every day
at home. It was no wonder with everything that had happened today, she was more
than willing to let her mind drift away from the horror, back to the world of
fantasy for an escape.

Sabrina looked fine. Not a single
mark was visible on her little face. Glancing around the room, Summer realized
that Percy had taken good care of her. It was almost as if he was told to treat
her nice.

Once Percy made another pass near
the kitchen, Summer moved quickly behind Sabrina and scooped her up, covering
her mouth in the process. Sabrina fought for a second then let up when she
recognized whose arms she was in. It was almost like magic how fast she relaxed
in Summer’s arms and when she removed her hand from Sabrina’s mouth, there was
a huge smile waiting for her.

“Shh,” Summer whispered into her
ear, feeling the warmth of contentment spreading throughout her entire body.
She smiled and placed a kiss on Sabrina’s forehead as she carried her back
against the wall. Anxiety was growing, replacing the feeling of contentment
with each passing second. Summer wanted to get out of there—and fast. The
sooner she was gone, the better.

Percy continued muttering his
rant as he paced back toward the front room and Summer made her move. She
hurried across the open expanse between the bedroom and the kitchen, chancing a
look into the front room at Percy. His back was turned toward her as he slowly
walked to the front window, gazing out the crack in the curtain. She felt good,
like she was almost assured a quick speedy escape. She knew she’d have to brave
the staircases again, but that was all right. At least now she had Sabrina to
hold onto and that would definitely take her mind off the height.

Moving between the cabinets and
the island, she watched the open mudroom door, anxiously anticipating her
escape, but the moment she and Sabrina passed the swinging door, it burst open
and Percy came rushing through, crashing hard into Summer’s side, sending her
and Sabrina sprawling to the floor.

Percy’s eyes were full of rage
and his fist was clenched into a tight massive rock. He charged at her, landing
on top and knocking the gun from her hand, sending it skidding across the room
toward the patio doors. Summer glanced at Sabrina, who was two feet away,
climbing to her knees. The fear in her beautiful eyes nearly broke Summer’s
heart as she reached out her hands, begging for the man to stop.

Summer grasped toward the gun as
it slid to a stop across the room, then gave up and turned just in time to see
Percy swatting Sabrina away, sending her crashing into the wall. He turned to
face Summer and his eyes were bloodshot and wild as he climbed on top,
positioning himself firmly in control. Percy drew back his fist as his face
twisted into a horrible look of fear and anger. His first punch landed on her
left cheek, sending an explosion of stars through her mind and pain surging
through her jaw.

“Why couldn’t you make this
easy!” He sat up, drawing his arm back again. “Why did you have to get the cops
to follow you?” He slammed another fist into her face and Summer could taste
blood oozing inside her mouth and could hear Sabrina screaming at the top of
her lungs.

“I didn’t want to shoot him. It’s
all your fault for letting him follow.”

Summer wanted to argue. She
wanted to tell him that she had nothing to do with Nate following her, but she
knew better. She knew her best chance of getting out of here alive was to play
possum, so she closed her eyes and laid still on the floor, hoping that he
would underestimate her pain tolerance and leave her be, passed out on the
floor.

Dean spotted Nate’s red Malibu
sitting off the roadway, hidden in the thick of trees. He’d been counting the
house numbers, and Percy’s would be on the other side of this one.

“That one!” He pointed to the
decrepit grey house that looked in complete contrast to the house beside.
“Right there.”

Gavin glanced at the Malibu then
back to the house Dean was pointing at. He didn’t argue and sped toward the
flaking grey clapboard house, sliding the car to a stop in the front yard.
Gavin was the first one out and already running for the front door, leaving
Dean behind, struggling to get out of the car.

“Remember what Nate said!” Dean
screamed as loud as he could. “He’s got a gun.” He realized that it was too
late, Gavin had already kicked down the front door and disappeared inside the
dark mouth of the grey monster. Dean couldn’t believe how determined Gavin was
to get Sabrina back. He seemed willing to risk his life like a madman just to
stop this Percy guy from hurting anybody else.

“God Damn it!” Dean said,
standing and feeling the intense pain ripping through his stomach. With the
medication wearing off, he could feel every muscle movement tugging at the
stitches. Placing a hand over the wound, he could feel the warm, wet trickling
of blood seeping from his body. He took a step toward the broken front door,
sliding his hand down the hood of the car as he went, hopeful not to fall flat
on his face.

The sound of waves crashing below
the cliff brought a warm feeling to his heart. He remembered how excited
Sabrina got every time they brought her to the beach. She loved playing in the
sand and chasing the waves as they broke on the beach. But, today the waves
sounded fierce, angry at the world. Normally they visited Rondeau Park where
the beaches stretched on for miles, but at this location the water had a
definite churning effect, driving the waves hard against the cliff.

Dean let go of the car and
stumbled up the front steps, into the house. It left little to be desired.
Everything was covered with dust and grime and falling apart. The footprints on
the floor gave away Gavin’s path as it appeared he’d ran throughout each room,
searching for any sign of Summer and Sabrina, but it was the smaller set of
prints in the room to his right that attracted Dean’s attention. They were the
perfect size of Summer’s feet. He’d be able to identify them anywhere. He walked
across the room and stopped, standing with his feet planted firmly where hers
had been not long ago.

“She’d stood right here, looking
out this window at something.” He shuffled closer to the window, squinting into
the distance, trying to decide what Summer had found so interesting, but there
wasn’t much to see, only an enormous home perched on the edge of the cliff down
in the valley.

He turned away from the window
and started toward the back door when his foot hit something. He glanced down,
spotting the cylindrical object rolling toward the wall. Realizing what it was
and where Summer had been standing, he quickly picked up the telescope and
rushed back to the window.

“What were you looking at?” Dean
muttered, aiming the telescope over the empty land, stopping when the house
came into view.

Something out there had enticed
her to leave this house and he intended to find out exactly what that might
have been. He followed the roof top of the house, lowering the telescope
carefully until he could see into the side window. Someone was home. There was
definitely some movement going on inside that house, but he had a hard time
keeping the telescope steady enough to make out anything other than dark shapes
and rolling images.

Dean propped the telescope on the
bottom edge of the windowsill then bent over, and ignoring the pain, focused
the dial on the side window of the house. He saw the side room was empty, but
just beyond the entrance to that room was some movement. He watched as a man
came into the opening. His shirt was ripped and stained.

Dean held his breath. It appeared
to be stained with blood. He waited, continuing to hold his breath and ground
his teeth as the man pulled someone into the opening.

It was Summer!

Feeling his stomach lurch, he
watched as the man held Summer by the neck, choking her before his eyes. Her blond
hair was streaked with blood and her eye was swollen and split wide open.

Dropping the telescope to the
ground and shattering the glass lens, Dean hurried back to the front entrance
frantically looking for Gavin, but he was nowhere to be found. He tried to call
out for him, but the pain was too intense, so instead he did the only thing he
could think of. He hurried to the car and climbed behind the wheel. Once the
car was started, he floored the pedal and tore ruts in the front lawn all the
way to the road.

“He’s going to kill her,” Dean muttered.
He never thought it would end like this. He wanted a happy ending like he
deserved—not this. Not to find his wife strangled to death. And… Sabrina? What
would that bastard do to Sabrina?

Dean didn’t know how much longer
Summer could survive before Percy would choke the life right out of her. He had
to get there and stop it, but how, he wasn’t in any shape to put up a fight. He
knew, at best, he’d only be an annoyance to Percy, so Dean opted for a less
conventional means of attack. He pressed the pedal all the way to the floor and
felt the car surge down the decline in the road, awkwardly steering the car
while holding the house in his sights as the speedometer steadily climbed.

He could picture Percy and Summer
fighting just outside that room and turned the car sharply at the last moment,
sending it screaming from the pavement onto the grass, sliding toward the side
window. The car hit the incline of the raised, manicured lawn and became
airborne for a second before crashing into the side of the house, beside the
window.

The impact sent Dean smashing
into the steering wheel, knocking the breath from his lungs. Even with debris
crashing down all around, he could feel the car continuing to move through the
room, finally coming to rest as the inside wall gave way, wedging the car under
the weight of the collapsed structure.

Dust and plaster filled the air,
slowly dissipating as the wind carried it out the gaping hole and off on the
strong winds. Pushing his body away from the dash and clearing the shattered
glass from his body, Dean grunted and groaned, feeling not only like he’d been
stabbed, but beaten and battered by a heavyweight fighter.

All of a sudden Dean remembered
why he was there, stuck inside the crumbling walls of this beach house.
“S—ummer!”