Payton crossed the road, pressed her back against the brick wall of the warehouse. Colin followed right on her tail. She listened for any sounds of someone inside, but all was silent. She peeked through windows, but everything was covered in years of dust and decay.
Payton slipped around back and found a small door, but it was barred with chains and a lock. She could shoot it or hit it with something, but she feared the noise would alert those around. She moved on, testing windows, and found one unlocked.
Colin held the window up while Payton checked inside to see the coast was clear before easing her way into the room. It smelled old and musky like it hadn’t had air inside of it in years.
“This place is too big; we should split up,” Colin suggested, keeping his voice at a whisper.
“I agree. Take the top floor, I’ll take the first, and we’ll finish in the basement.”
She walked on silent feet as she cleared each room. Payton expected to hear voices or see some sign of life by now, but it appeared abandoned. She cleared the first floor then started working her way back down. Her steps faltered as she was completing her search, fearing she was too late, or she was wrong and her father wasn’t here at all.
Colin rejoined her in the middle of the basement, shaking his head. She feared as much. There was only one place left to check.
She came to the end of a corridor and found a door. Peeking inside, she saw there was a landing and a few stairs before leading to an empty room.
Payton stepped inside; the room smelled different. There was body odor and sweat, and she could just make out her father’s aftershave. Her father had been here.
She walked down the stairs to the center of the room where a chain lay coiled on the concrete floor. The floor was stained in red. Blood. Her father’s blood.
Payton finally lowered her weapon and stood. She looked around the room feeling defeated. “He should have been here. He was here, but I was too late,” she whispered. Payton had hoped that everyone had it wrong, that her father was alive. That the body that had been found had been someone else.
Payton heard Colin approach her then wrap his arms around her, but his scent was wrong. Cloves and mint. Alex.
Payton turned and buried her head in his chest. “He was supposed to be here.”
Alex’s arms wrapped tightly around her as if trying to shield her from the outside world. A tear slid down her cheek then another. She finally gave into her grief. Her father was dead.
Alex just held her as she wept for her father. She had been too late to save him. Finally, when the tears dried up, she looked up at Alex and his stoic expression. He reached up and swiped his thumbs across her cheeks.
“I’m sorry,” she croaked. “I’m sorry I left the way I did. I’m—” Alex kissed her softly, silencing her protest.
“You have nothing to be sorry for, I would have done the same thing, no doubt. Though I wish you would have told me so I could have been here to help.”
“Thank you for calling Colin.” She glanced over Alex’s shoulder to see Colin standing on the landing looking anywhere but at them to give them some privacy. “He was a tremendous help.”
“It was nice getting back out there and clearing rooms.” Colin chuckled. “I forgot how much I missed it.”
“Let’s get out of here.” Alex wrapped his arm around her shoulders and guided her back outside into clean fresh air. Payton was happy to leave the place, though not happy with the end result.
“Don’t forget, Payton, we still have the flash drive to open and find out who…hurt your father. Our mission isn’t done yet.”
In her grief, she hadn’t thought about the boss or the flash drive. She looked up at Alex. “Will you be staying longer? Now that—” She couldn’t finish that sentence. She was still struggling with comprehending her father was dead.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Alex said. It almost sounded like a vow. Payton’s stomach fluttered the way he said it and accompanied it with his intense look.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m headed home. I’ve been staring at a computer screen for two days now; I’m starting to go cross-eyed,” Colin said, leaving the invitation out there in the open.
Alex looked down at Payton. “Do you want to stay at Colin’s, a hotel, or Nick’s?”
Payton thought about it a moment. Colin’s house was too small for all of them. She didn’t want to stay at a hotel. She’d never been a fan of sleeping in a bed hundreds of other people had before her. “We’ll go to Dad’s.” Donaldson and Bradshaw could still be after her.
Chapter 27
Alex didn’t want to let Payton out of his sight. Not that he feared her ditching him again, but because of how broken and lost she seemed. A part of him had hoped the report was wrong and Nick had survived, and they would have found him in the warehouse. He wasn’t surprised though when they didn’t. He just wished he could have saved Payton from that crushed and defeated look.
They left Nick’s car and took Colin’s back to Nick’s house while Colin drove the rental car. No one wanted to leave it abandoned near the warehouse.
Payton was silent on the drive to the house. Alex struggled to think of things to say but was drawing a blank. He wasn’t good at consoling.