Page 98 of Final Approach
He wasn’t completely wrong. Andrew had ignored him and all the others shouting for release. But something in the man’s voice had finally registered. A tone. The terror. Something. And he’d started to go to him when the other gang member had grabbed him. “I tried to get to him. I didn’t have a key. I couldn’t get in.”
“You were there. Standing at the door. Just watching.”
“I was yelling at the guy to let your brother go.”
“Liar. You were egging him on.”
“No, I wasn’t. I tried to save him.”
“All your protests amount for nothing. You testified to the same thing. And while no one else could see your lies, I can.”
“So that’s why you singled me out? Picked me out of all the agents involved in that sting that day?”
“You were the one who put him in that cell. I saw that footage too. When you put someone in a cell where they can’t protect themselves, it’s your job to do so.”
Again, he wasn’t wrong.
And Andrew needed to figure out a way to escape. Fast. “How doyou plan to get that noose around my neck? Or me up swinging from the tree?” A glimmer of an idea for escape was forming.
“Easy,” Ty said. “I shoot you somewhere that doesn’t kill you, then hang you.”
He lifted the weapon and Andrew dove. The bullet whistled past his ear and Ty yelled when he realized he’d missed. Using both hands, Andrew picked up a handful of gravel and whipped it toward Ty. The man screamed again when the little missiles pelted his face. Using his hands as one unit, Andrew slammed them against the man’s arm and the gun tumbled to the ground. The injured Ty recovered faster than Andrew had calculated, and a hard fist slammed into Andrew’s gut, knocking the wind out of him. He stumbled back, gasped for air, and dodged Ty’s attempt to grab him.
“You’re not getting out of this alive,” the man said.
“We’ll see about that,” Andrew finally managed to croak out and swung his leg in a roundhouse kick that caught Ty in the knee. He howled and went down.
Andrew scanned the ground for the gun but couldn’t spot it. Ty pulled a knife and Andrew decided it was time to run.
TWENTY-ONE
It hadn’t taken Kristine long to alert the others to Andrew’s disappearing act. At first, they weren’t too worried, but after numerous attempts to get in touch with him with no luck, Cole, James, and Nathan agreed to look for him while others stayed with Hank.
They were all now back at Andrew’s parents’ bookstore getting the security footage to see if they could tell which way he went when he left the store.
“Here it is,” Mr. Ross said.
He clicked a few keys and they watched Andrew drive away. West.
Mrs. Ross stood, arms crossed, watching everything, blinking back tears. “You think he’s really in trouble, don’t you?”
Kristine went to the woman. “We’re not sure, but the fact that he’s not answering his phone and it’s going straight to voicemail is worrisome.”
“Agreed. He always gets back to us as soon as he can.” She paced to the back of the store, then returned to where they were gathered around the computer. “He was angry about the break-in and would have gone to see Corey, I feel sure. I think you need to check with him.”
Cole and James exchanged a glance.
“Corey?” Nathan asked.
“My nephew. I think...” She looked at her husband. “Wethink that Andrew suspects that Corey is the one who broke into the store.”
“Did he?”
She shook her head. “I don’t believe he would do it, but Andrew’s never thought much of Corey or trusted him. With good reason. It’s possible he went to confront him.”
“Do you know where to find him?” Nathan asked.
She nodded, wrote something on a pad of paper, ripped off the top piece, and handed it to Kristine. “We put him up at this hotel. He was going to start staying with us on Friday, but I didn’t have the room ready yet.”
