Page 55 of Dark Memories
“Ah, poor baby. Replaced by a dog.”
“I can think of ways you could console me.” He bumped her shoulder and grinned.
“Uh-huh. I just bet you can.”
He chuckled as he opened the door. He’d expected to see Robbie waiting for them in the living room, but it was empty.
“Robbie? Mom?” he called out.
“Down here,” Robbie answered.
Harry frowned. “What’s down there?”
“A media room. He’s probably playing video games.” His favorite thing to do instead of looking for a job. “My mother must be out running errands.”
The stairway was narrow, and he headed down with Delaney following behind. At the bottom, when the room came into view, he stilled. Delaney bumped into his back when he came to a sudden stop, and he shifted to block her from coming into the room. Garth Davidson didn’t know there was a police detective with him, and he wanted to keep it that way.
“Mr. Davidson, you want to tell me why you have my brother tied to a chair and a gun to his head?” he said to clue Delaney in on what was happening.
“I’m sorry,” Robbie said. “Even if he’d beat me up, I wouldn’t have called and told you to come here if he didn’t have Kali.”
“Kali’s in Italy with her mother.”
Robbie squeezed his eyes shut. “He said Kali was with a friend of his and if I didn’t call you, his friend would kill her. Oh, God. I’m such a fuckup.”
“Don’t just stand there, Mr. Jamison. Come on in and join the party,” Davidson said, his voice raspy, one of a heavy smoker.
“I think I’ll just stand here, thank you, Mr. Davidson. What do you want? Money? Name the amount and it’s yours. Just untie my brother and let him go.”
He studied the man. His head was shaved and crude black-ink prison tattoos decorated his face, neck, and hands. Although the sweatshirt he wore hid his arms and torso, Zach was sure those places were covered in ink, too. His face was sallow, his skin a sickly, yellowish color, and the hand holding the gun to Robbie’s head had a slight tremor. But it was Davidson’s pale blue eyes that turned his blood cold. They were lifeless orbs, not a hint of humanity in them.
Zach shifted slightly, enough to see Delaney out of the corner of his eye. She had her phone in her hand and was texting someone. Probably dispatch or her partner, asking for backup. They would arrive too late, and even if they did get here before Davidson pulled the trigger of that gun in his shaking hand, their arrival would only spur him on. Zach sensed the man was fully prepared to die, taking him and his brother with him. He had to do something to stop that from happening.
He caught movement in his peripheral vision and slightly shifted his head. Delaney dropped her phone back into her pocket and then pulled her gun out of her holster. His heart stuttered at the thought of her showing herself to Davidson. He didn’t want his brother to die. Hell, he didn’t want to die. But watching Delaney die was asking too much of him.
“Move,” she hissed. He didn’t so much as move an inch, not even when she put her foot on his ass and tried to push him.
“I’ll put a bullet through his brain right now if you don’t come here,” Davidson said.
“Don’t,” Robbie said. “He’s going to kill you, too.” His brother lifted tear-filled eyes to his. “I love you, Zach, and you need to do something for me.” He straightened his shoulders, held Zach’s gaze, and said, “Run!”
Zach had learned over time to think fast when faced with having to make spur-of-the-moment decisions. Choices analyzed in seconds, pick one, barge forward, and come out the winner on the other side. His protective instincts were out in force, and he took a nanosecond to consider grabbing Delaney’s hand and dragging her up the stairs and out of danger. But he would never forgive himself if he left Robbie to die.
She’s trained for situations like this. Let her do her job.He didn’t like that voice in his head, wished it would shut up. It was a voice he couldn’t argue with, though. He was tough in business, knew his way around that world, had what it took to win. But faced with a man who had nothing to lose holding a gun… That was not his expertise. It was Delaney’s, and he trusted her with his life and that of his brother.
Davidson pressed the barrel of his gun hard against Robbie’s head. “You run and he gets a bullet through the brain.”
“Please don’t. How much money do you want?” Zach reached back and touched Delaney—praying it wouldn’t be for the last time—and then stepped into the room, moving away from the stairway, drawing Davidson’s gaze away from where Delaney stood.
“I’m a dead man walking. Your money’s no good to me,” Davidson said.
“Then what was the point of all this?”
“It was for my sister. She deserved it for raising me. But because of you she’s gone, so you owe me a life.”
Warped logic there, but Zach didn’t bother to point out that Davidson had started this by kidnapping a little girl. He needed to keep the man talking, though. Give Delaney a chance to do her thing… Whatever that was. It was damn difficult, but he managed not to look over to where she was standing. What was impossible to control was his heartbeat. It thundered so loudly in his ears that he was sure everyone in the room could hear it.
“I can get you the best doctors in the world. You put that gun down, and I’ll get on the phone right now and make that happen.” Was that hope he saw in those dead eyes?
