Protect Her

Chapter Twenty Four

Derek

The flat end of my hammer slammed into Jason's jaw, sending blood and tooth fragments flying. He spit more blood out, chuckling as his head slumped forward. We'd always been at this for hours and the bastard wasn't saying a damn word. I'd tried all of my best strategies and had finally resorted to the worst physical pain I could think of. It still wasn't having much effect on him, though. This guy was like a steel trap.

This was almost more than I could take today. This type of thing never used to phase me, but today, all I could think about was how Robby had beaten Cam like this time and time again. I thought he was the scum of the earth and wanted him to suffer with every last breath he had, but if I could inflict the same type of pain on another human, was I any better?

I tried to remind myself that the situations were vastly different, but I spent most of the day handling the reins over to Will and stepping back. Feeling my frustration, Will took the hammer and landed a few more hits, knocking the rest of his teeth out. All the guy did was glance up and grin as if he hadn't felt a single thing.

Will wiped his brow. "Why don't we call it a day? Camryn and Riley will be home soon and we both need showers. He's obviously not taking anymore today."

I nodded in agreement. All this was doing was making me angrier and angrier. Why wouldn't the little roach just tell us who he was working for? We already knew he didn't have any loyalty. Why was he suddenly clammed up?

All of a sudden, a blaring alarm sounded from my phone. It was the alarm that the outer perimeter had been breached. I knew it wasn't the girls coming home; they had access codes. I quickly glanced at my phone, checking to see where the issue was. It was towards the back of the property by a small service road. Will and I both grabbed our guns and headed that way. We got there right about the time Mark and his security team did, and we saw a dark-colored car was speeding down the service road. They must have heard us coming.

"Who the fuck was that?" Will hunched over, out of breath. We'd sprinted here as fast as humanly possible.

"I don't know." I clenched my jaw. There was no public access to this road, and it wasn't on any kind of map. It wasn't something you just happened on either. Someone knew where they were headed.

"All available to the south entrance. Be advised a dark-colored car is fleeing the scene. We need eyes on it immediately." Mark barked into his radio. He bent down, checking the tire tracks and taking pictures.

It wasn't until I turned around that I noticed a few photographs nailed to a nearby tree. I ripped them off and my heart jumped into my throat. The first picture was of Riley skipping down the street in front of the library, Cam holding on up one hand and Mrs. Leonard the other. Another was of Cam sipping on a coffee in the corner of the library, lost in a book that was on her lap. The last one was of Mrs. Leonard and Riley sitting at a table reading a book about volcanos. I felt like throwing up.

"Get me Tyler on the phone." I hissed, shoving the pictures towards Will. I had to be sure they were okay, but I didn't want to alarm them if they didn't know.

He answered on the first ring, more chipper than usual. "Hey Derek, what's up?"

"Are Camryn and Riley okay?" I didn't mince any words.

"Are that okay? Of course they are. We just got back actually and are up at the house. What's going on?"

I let out a heavy breath of relief. "I'll explain later. Do me a favor and don't mention anything to Camryn, okay? I'll be up in a few minutes."

"Got it. See you soon."

"Everything okay?" Will put his hand on my shoulder.

"Fuck!" I bellowed, tuning my fingers through my hair. "They're fine, but something is clearly going on here."