Why are you ...?

Chapter 72 - Why are you ...?

Mike threw the empty bucket hard against the wall. The metal struck the concrete with a violent clang before bouncing onto the floor and rolling away. He immediately looked down at the small remote in his hand and pressed the cancel button. The blue glow surrounding the clone flickered once and disappeared, leaving nothing behind. Mike did not wait to see what was happening inside the warehouse. Whatever distraction the clone had created was no longer important. He had seen enough through the window, and every second he spent standing outside was another second the woman remained alone with Danny.

He ran toward the building, his boots pounding against the concrete as he followed the narrow hallway leading toward the room. His breathing grew heavier with every step, but he refused to slow down. He nearly slammed into the corner when he turned, caught himself against the wall, and kept going without stopping. The image he had seen through the window kept replaying in his head, pushing him forward faster than fear could hold him back. When he reached the door, he drove his shoulder into it with all his weight. The old door burst open and slammed against the wall.

Inside, Danny had the woman pinned on the bed. Her clothes were disordered, and she was struggling desperately to push him away while tears ran down her face. Danny seemed completely certain that she had nowhere to go. There was an ugly confidence in his expression as he leaned over her, ignoring her attempts to fight him off. Then the door crashed open and Danny turned his head. His eyes widened when he saw Mike standing there.

Mike crossed the room before Danny had time to react. He grabbed a fistful of Danny's hair from behind and yanked him backward with enough force to tear him away from the woman. Danny lost his balance and crashed onto the floor, but Mike kept hold of him long enough to spin him around before throwing him across the room. Danny struck the far wall hard, his shoulder hitting first and his head following a moment later. He dropped to the floor in a daze, blinking rapidly as he tried to understand what had just happened.

"What the fuck?" Danny managed to say as he lifted his head.

Mike was already standing over him.

Danny barely had time to raise his arms before Mike's shoe slammed into his face. His head snapped backward and his body twisted against the floor. Mike kicked him again, this time catching him in the ribs, and Danny let out a sharp gasp as the air was forced from his lungs. Mike did not stop. The anger that had been building inside him since he first looked through the window had finally broken loose, and every movement came from the same place.

"You piece of shit!" Mike shouted as another kick landed. "You think you can do this to someone and just walk away? You're finished! Just wait. I'll hand you over to the police. Just you wait, fucker!"

Danny tried to roll away, using his arms to protect his head, but Mike grabbed him by the hair and pulled him back. Danny's nose was already bleeding, and blood had begun running down his mouth as he struggled to focus. His earlier confidence was gone. He tried to lift one arm, perhaps to protect himself or push Mike away, but his body was too slow to respond.

Mike hauled him upright and stared directly into his face. "Look at me," he said through clenched teeth. Danny's eyes flickered toward him, and for a moment the two men simply stared at each other. Danny looked frightened now, his breathing uneven and his face swollen from the blows. Mike shoved him sideways with both hands, sending him crashing into the old wooden chair beside the wall. The chair could not take the impact. Its legs snapped beneath Danny's weight, and the broken pieces scattered across the floor as Danny collapsed among them.

Mike stood there for a moment, breathing heavily, his hands still clenched. Danny did not move. Mike looked at him to make sure he was no longer getting up, then finally turned toward the woman.

She had already climbed off the bed.

She stood with her back toward Mike, trying to pull her clothes back into place with shaking hands. Her breathing was uneven, and every few seconds her shoulders jerked as she tried to stop herself from crying. She looked completely different from the woman Mike had seen earlier through the window. From outside, he had only seen a silhouette and a few movements. Now that he was standing in the same room, he could see how badly frightened she was.

She reached for the old landline phone on the bedside table and almost dropped the receiver because her hands were shaking so badly. She caught it against her chest, pressed it to her ear, and began speaking rapidly through her tears. "Please come quickly. He's still here. The address is..." She stopped for a moment, looking around as though she needed to remember exactly where she was, then continued giving the information to whoever had answered.

Mike barely heard her.

His attention had shifted to something sitting beside the phone.

A small black box rested on the bedside table. Several tiny lights blinked across its surface in a steady pattern. Mike stepped closer and stared at it, his breathing gradually slowing as he recognized what he was looking at.

"A network jammer," he muttered.

Everything suddenly made sense.

The lack of signal outside had not been bad luck. Someone had deliberately blocked communication in the area. That was why his phone had shown nothing and why he had been unable to contact the police. Whoever had brought the woman here had made sure she could not simply call for help from a mobile phone. The discovery made Mike's stomach tighten. He looked at Danny lying unconscious among the broken pieces of the chair and then back at the jammer.

This had not been some random act.

They had prepared for it.

The woman finally put the phone down with a hard clank and turned around.

Mike looked at her properly for the first time.

His chest seemed to lock.

For several seconds, he could not say anything.

He knew her.

The face he had spent so long trying to remember, the person whose disappearance had left him with more questions than answers, was standing only a few feet away from him.

"Eve?"

Her eyes widened when she heard his voice.

She stared at him as though she could not believe he was real. Then whatever she had been holding inside finally broke. She ran toward him, and Mike barely had enough time to open his arms before she threw herself against him and wrapped both arms around his neck.

She began crying against his shoulder.

Mike held her carefully, one hand moving slowly across her back while the other rested around her shoulders. He could feel her entire body shaking. She gripped the back of his shirt so tightly that her fingers dug into the fabric, as if she was afraid that if she let go, he would disappear again.

"How?" Mike whispered, his voice rough with disbelief. "How are you here, Eve?"

She did not answer.

Her crying only became harder.

Mike closed his eyes and held her tighter. He had imagined this moment so many times, but never like this. He had imagined finding her somewhere safe, hearing her complain about how long he had taken, maybe even getting angry at him for disappearing from her life. He had never imagined finding her in a place like this.

"I tried calling you," he said quietly. "I tried every number I had. Over and over. I didn't know where you were. I didn't know what happened to you."

Eve's fingers tightened around his shirt, but she still could not speak.

Mike lowered his head slightly, trying to see her face. "How did you end up in this place, Eve?"

Eve only pressed her face harder against his shoulder.

Mike looked over her head toward Danny. The man was still unconscious on the floor, blood visible across his face. The broken chair lay scattered around him, and the black jammer continued blinking beside the phone as though nothing had happened.

Mike looked back at Eve and slowly rested his hand against the back of her head.

Whatever had happened to her, she was not going to explain it while she was still in shock. There would be time for questions later. Right now, she needed to get out of the room.

Mike held her close and kept his voice low. "We're getting out of here."

Eve said nothing, but her arms tightened around him again.

Mike looked toward the door.

He had come here expecting to stop Danny.

He had not expected to find Eve.

And now that he had found her, he knew that getting her out of the warehouse was only the first step. There were still questions about the jammer, about Danny, about Sam, and about why Eve had been brought here in the first place. More importantly, there were people outside this room who might still be looking for them.

Mike kept one arm around Eve and looked toward the hallway.

He was not leaving her behind again.

Vol. 2, chapters 90- 94, are live. Read them on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/KDaddy935?vanity=user