Elliot (Guardian Defenders #10)

Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

“ E lliot, talk to me. Elliot, fucking unmute me, man.”

Elliot hit his earbud. Con had a flair for the dramatic, didn’t he? “What’s up?” He continued to look at the wall of the event center for that damn slug. Asher was talking on the phone to get a forensics team back down to help them.

“Maya. I think her assistant knocked her ass out in the elevator.”

“What?” He froze.

“Dude, an alarm sounded from the front desk at her office building. She left with her assistant and told the guard her assigned Guardian approved it. He got suspicious and double-checked. They’re working on it on their end. I called up the feed. According to my facial rec program, the little blonde bitch in the picture is Jessica Hall. There’s blood in the elevator after she drags Maya into the garage level. Where the hell are you ?”

“I’m at the event center. Contact the Guardians at the building and let them know I’m on my way. How much blood?” Elliot turned to Asher, who was looking at him, no doubt alerted by his attitude and tone.

“Not much, not life-threatening loss or anything, and they know. I’m working on trying to get into the video feed on the garage,” Con said as Elliot told Asher, “I need your keys.”

Asher tossed the keys to Elliot, and Elliot sprinted to the vehicle. “Give me an update,” he said as he hit the ignition and flipped the switches to turn on the emergency lights and siren. Blue lights strobed, the siren wailed, and he pulled into traffic.

“I’m in. I have to access the server to play back the film. Okay, got it. Looks like one of our guys leaves Maya’s office. He’s laughing, and she’s smiling. Maya went to Jessica’s office. Hold on. Yeah, the bitch had a knife. I can see her threaten Maya, and she has it against Maya’s ribs. They talk, and then Maya starts walking, but I have no idea why Maya didn’t ditch her at the elevator. She could have, and the guard would have been in a perfect position to take the bitch down.”

Elliot swore and stomped on the brakes, jerked the wheel, and then slammed his foot down on the accelerator, cussing at the asshole who pulled out in front of him. “Where is she now?”

“I’m working on it. I haven’t seen the blonde in any of the cars coming out. Oh, shit, there was a van. She could be in that.” He could hear Con typing. “The people at the building are sweeping the garage.”

“How much of a head start do they have?”

“Okay, give me a second.”

“I don’t have a fucking second, Con,” Elliot growled as he swerved in and out of traffic, laying on the horn and cussing at clueless, entitled drivers who failed to give way to an emergency vehicle.

“Seven minutes.”

“Con, get me a fix on her.”

“Working it. Cross-referencing vehicles leaving in the last ten minutes with vehicles entering for the last week.

“I have three, no four. Running plates.” Con detailed his actions as Elliot plowed through Saturday afternoon traffic.

“Rental … corporate account. Edison Plastics.”

“They’re on the twelfth floor,” Elliot said as he cornered hard and then accelerated.

“Rental … corporate account. Bingo. Ties to Dillon Ulman. Demeter Pharma. Tell me that isn’t a coincidence.”

“It isn’t a coincidence,” Elliot grunted. “Find that car.”

“Van,” Con corrected.

“What-the-fuck-ever! Find it.” Elliot passed a stopped car on the right, climbing the curb and almost hitting a pedestrian. His eyes snapped to the rearview to make sure the guy was okay. By the vigorous finger flipping and gesturing, Elliot assumed he was fine and accelerated.

“I got it,” Con said. “Man, it didn’t go far.”

“What?”

“The big building west of Maya’s building defaulted during the pandemic and has sat vacant. They have to have pulled in somewhere along this area. I can see it on this camera; there’s no coverage along this back roadway, and the van doesn’t come to this camera at the end of the block. They have to be in that area. It’s locked up tight because it’s vacant and a safety risk.”

Elliot cut through two lanes of traffic and hooked a left. He drove like a maniac but killed the siren about two blocks away. “The corporation that owns the building is in bankruptcy. Working on getting more,” Con said. “Turn right at the next road.” He turned his lights off when Con told him to turn. He rolled to a stop and studied the fence line. Weeds grew up the ten-foot chain-link fence. Graffiti covered the panels on the fence that once advertised a new high-rise.

“Can you get eyes in there?”

“No way, man,” Con said. “Got a drone handy?”

“Not likely,” Elliot said. He got out of Asher’s car; stripped off his suit jacket, shoulder holster, tie, and shirt; and put on his T-shirt. He popped the trunk and smiled. “Thank you, Guardian.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” Elliot said as he slipped on a tactical vest, patting the pockets and figuring out what he had. He pulled his gun out of his shoulder holster and shoved it into a holster he’d clipped to his belt. One hell of a sharp-looking knife in a tactical case was clipped to the other hip. He grabbed a pair of black leather gloves and quietly shut the trunk, securing the rest of the equipment.

Time to go in. Elliot waited for a break in traffic and jogged across the street and down the sidewalk. Not one person did a double take as he passed. He spotted a break in the fence line and slipped through the chain-link. Needles and discarded pipes crunched under his feet. Elliot moved quickly and as quietly as he could through the detritus of an abandoned construction site. Hills of iron rebar rusted under tangles of weeds and debris that had collected against the base. He skirted along the roadway and pulled up short when he heard voices.

“Contact.”

“Understood,” Con acknowledged. At least the guy seemed to understand tactics. He maneuvered closer and made a snap move to catch a glimpse of the scene. Nothing and no one. With no one posted near him, he moved forward and took better cover, inching up.

“She’s a fucking cunt.”

Elliot froze. The voice was close.

“You stay here. Don’t let anyone up. I don’t want to be stopped. I’ve waited too long for this,” a second voice mimicked a female voice.

“If I wasn’t getting paid so damn well, I’d teach that little bitch how to talk to a man,” another voice said, followed by laughter. Elliot reached for a rock and tossed it hard in the opposite direction. The thing clattered and made a hell of a noise.

“What was that?” one of the men asked.

“Fuck if I know. It wasn’t a car, and that’s all I’m watching for. No one followed us here, there aren’t any cameras in this place, and I’m not getting off my ass to chase a rat in a dump.”

Elliot rolled his eyes. The lazy bastards would make him work for it. He tossed another rock closer that time.

“Hell of a big rat.”

“Then go check it out. You think any cops will be mucking around in this place?”

“Yeah, no. But I want to see what’s making that noise.”

“Me, too,” one of the men said. “If it’s a rat, maybe the boss will pay us for it again.”

That got a laugh from everyone. “Sick fucker. I watched him kill that thing. He was smiling, and then he put it in a pretty box.”

“Yeah, well, I had to deliver the damn thing.” A man made a shivering sound. “I can beat the fuck outta someone, hell, even kill someone if the price is right, but I ain’t into killing animals.”

“Oh, that’s where you draw the line?” The two men’s voices receded as they walked away.

Elliot crept closer and carefully lodged each footfall before transferring his weight. He crouched low, crab-walking behind the weeds and debris and listening intently. “I’m getting most of the audio,” Con said, and Elliot’s lip twitched. Good man .

“Boss is fucking the blonde,” one of the men said.

Elliot moved closer. He needed to neutralize them before the other two came back.

“So?” the other returned.

“So, don’t mess with her.”

“Man, mind your own business.”

“Whatever, dude. Your funeral.”

“Like that pansy ass would try to take me out.”

“No, but he might pay one of us to do it,” a third voice said.

Fuck. Three. Well, alright. Change of plans. He knew he was close.

He stood up and said, “Or me.”

He leaped into the middle of the three and sent a crushing kick into the face of one of the men. Down but not out . Elliot twisted and grabbed the gun in another’s hand. He pulled the man into him, opposite the direction the man suspected, causing him to fall forward. He smashed his knee into the man’s face, and the body went limp. Out .

“Guardians outside the fence line,” Con said.

He turned, drawing his knife as he moved. The gun pointed at him fired. He arched backward and pitched the knife with his left hand. The sharp blade found purchase in the man’s chest. Elliot rolled and was up and running toward the building. He drew his weapon, and as the two men who’d left started running in his direction with their weapons drawn, he took aim and fired. He ran full tilt into the service elevator as the door was shutting. Slamming against the back wall, he grunted in pain. “Fuck.”

“You hit?”

“No,” Elliot panted. “I’m in the service elevator. Someone called it back up. Tell the responding personnel three are down, two injured, but unknown.”

There was silence for a moment. “Done. They probably called it up to keep you from coming up.”

“Yeah.” Elliot pulled his clip. Eight round cartridges with one in the chamber and two shots fired. Seven shots left. He slapped it back into the butt of his weapon. In the heat of battle, one didn’t trust one’s memory to tell them how many shots were fired. You verified when you had the time.

“How are you going to get out of a box with one way in and one way out?” Con asked him.

Elliot looked up. “I’m not.”