Page 38 of One Cry Too Loud
“They’re your eyes. I’m just hijacking them,” Tag said. “Well, hijackingandimproving.”
“Be careful, Jack. We still don’t know if this is a trap,” Charlie said. His voice, however, wasn’t in my head. It was at my back. Startled, I turned around to find the man standing behind me. There weren’t many people in the world who could sneak up on me, but I suppose I couldn’t be too upset if it turns out the person who can is former special ops.
“I guess the suggestion to wait in the car fell on deaf ears,” I said.
“I told you I would come if I sensed things starting to go sideways,” Charlie explained. “The door was open. We weren’t expecting that, and as far as I’m concerned, being met with what you’re not expecting is the first sign of going sideways.”
“Happy to have you.” I nodded. “Now get your gun.”
Charlie did as I asked, pulling his firearm from its holster. Once he had it, I pushed the door open slowly.
I wasn’t sure what I was going to find on the other side. I had been a part of the CCU for a while now and I had been a cop for a lot longer before that. I knew to prepare myself for anything. There could be dead bodies on the other side of that door. There could be people who are tied up or held captive. There could be… a quaint looking home complete with a living room full of toys and a pool table at the right end.
“This looks normal,” I said. “It looks very lived in, and the air conditioner is on.”
“Either people are here or they were here very recently,” Charlie said, echoing my thoughts.
“The toys,” tag said directly into my eardrum. “They’re Smurfs.”
In my vision, a biography of the Smurfs appeared before me, complete with history and images of the little blue cartoon creatures. I blinked it away.
“Yeah, Sarah Jane used to love them when she was a kid,” I said.
“Me too,” Tag replied.
“Was that about fifteen minutes ago?” I muttered.
“That’s my point. The Smurfs have been around for decades, but these toys aren't new. They’re the old ones, like from the nineties or something,” he replied.
“God, is the nineties old now?’ Charlie asked.
“Usually, children like new toys,” Tag said.
“So why would someone have thirty year old toys scattered across a living room?” I asked.
“I’m not quite sure,” he muttered.
“That’s not the only weird thing about this place,” Charlie said. “Look over there.” I looked in the direction he motionedtoward and saw an elevator against the back wall. “When’s the last time you saw an elevator in someone’s house?”
“Maybe this side of never,” I answered. “I wonder if it’s running.”
As if to answer my question,” the elevator dinged and the doors pulled open. Inside, a person sat on the floor of the thing. His hand was raised slightly above him, cuffed to the bar in the middle of the elevator. He was bleeding. As he looked up, I saw that the person was none other than Eli, and above him, scrawled in what looked to be his own blood, read the words ‘Get in or he dies’.
“So,” I said, looking over at Charlie. “If it wasn’t a trap before, it certainly is now.”
Charlie nodded. “Yep. It definitely looks that way.”
CHAPTER 25
While we both kept our wits about us and our guns at the read, Charlie and I both moved toward Eli. That was how it worked. When someone was hurt, especially hurt as bad as Eli seemed to be, you needed to move quickly.
Of course, Charlie and I weren’t the only ones who were moving quickly. “I’m getting an EMT to this address now,” tag said into my ear, having seen what I was seeing through the irritating contact lens.
“Good,” I muttered. Letting Charlie take charge in covering me from anyone who might remain unseen in this house, I rushed into the elevator. Siding into my knees, I settled in front of Eli. He looked to be in shock. He didn’t meet me with his eyes. Instead, he looked forward, his mouth agape and his body shaking a bit.
“You’re going to be okay,” I said, searching his body for the source of this blood. God, there was so much blood. His clothes were practically caked in it. I could see his face, his neck, his forearms, and-given the fact that he was wearing short, his lower legs as well. Though there was blood all over him, I could tellthat the flow wasn’t active from any of those places. It had to be coming from either his chest, his abdomen, or his groin area.
“I don’t know,” Eli said in a shaky voice that sounded stronger than I expected. Maybe Eli was stronger than he looked. Maybe he had the capacity to fight this as hard as he needed to in order to survive.
