Page 44 of Watch Over Me

"We're coming," James said, already on his feet and grabbing the headset Jasmine had prepared. "Send us the location," he told her and then spoke louder, hoping Eddie would hear. "We're coming for you, Eddie. Hang tight."

"Roger that."

There was something in his voice James didn't know how to interpret, but soon, he'd be able to ask. And to see with his own eyes that Eddie was indeed safe and sound.

"I'm rerouting Jeremy and Martinez there," Jasmine said into their headsets when James and Ryan were in the garage already, "but you're probably going to get there first."

"Alert the cops we're coming, too, so they know we're the good guys," Ryan told her. "If we get there first, we'll wait on them, assuming Eddie's situation doesn't get worse. We want the men who did this arrested on site. This will make it much harder for them to talk their way out of."

James headed for the driver's side, but Ryan grabbed his shoulder.

"No. I'm driving."

"I—"

"Let's not waste time," Ryan cut him off. "You're not fit for driving, so I'm doing it."

There was a protest on the tip of his tongue, but James relented quickly. Ryan was right, even if it was a hard pill to swallow.

Once Jasmine connected Eddie to their headsets and they could hear him again, James's shoulders dropped a fraction. She put Jeremy and Martinez through, as well.

"Yes, I'm sure I'm fine," Eddie said when Jasmine asked again if he was okay. "They didn't hit me or anything. I have some scratches on my wrists, but I've done it to myself, getting out of the zip ties. That's it."

"Praise be to Allah," she murmured quietly. "And to Kalei for his training," she added a bit louder.

"Oh yeah, I'm buying him a beer for sure," Eddie tried for a joke, but James could hear his voice wasn't too steady. While he wasn't freaking out, per se, the circumstances were probably catching up with him.

And he wasn't completely safe yet. The kidnappers were locked out for now, but it might not last forever, if they managed to power through locked doors on either side or call in reinforcements.

And Eddie was stuck there in the middle.

James closed his eyes and counted to a hundred as his heart was pounding in his chest.

Eddie needed him calm and collected now, not freaking out.

They arrived at the place at the same time as the police cruiser pulled in. The officers were already briefed on the situation and took over, but thankfully didn't order James and Ryan to stay back, recognizing that Eddie would trust the two of them much more willingly than a stranger, uniform or not.

The man at the door went running at the sight of two police officers, but he was way out of luck—Jeremy and Martinez pulled out of the alley right then and boxed him in. He tried to scale the fence along the parking lot, but Jeremy got to him before he made it onto the other side. He pushed the guy onto the ground and kept him there until one of the cops cuffed him and put him in the back of their cruiser.

"We should wait for—" the other started saying when Eddie spoke up in a tense voice.

"Guys, you need to hurry up. It seems Lavon has figured out a way to override the system, and I'm not sure I can keep them locked in there for much longer."

Ryan repeated Eddie's words to the officers while James ran back to the apartment door.

"We're right outside," he shouted, when the others joined him.

The officers motioned for him to step to the side.

"We've got this," one of them said, pulling out his gun. His partner did the same. "You have to stay behind us the wholetime. We can't have you in the line of fire. Tell your friend to hide somewhere, just in case the guys from the bedroom come out first."

Then, they gave Eddie a go-ahead to disarm the locks.

"I'm in the closet," he whispered, "on the left from the entrance."

James bit his lip hard as he stared at the door.

Finally, they heard the click of locks disengaging, and the officers went in, identifying themselves right away. James and Ryan were a few steps behind.

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