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I DIDN’T HAVE A PLAN anymore. But I was playing it like a strategy game, right? I’d disrupted the enemy’s plans, big time. He’d disrupted my plans, too, but I had reinforcements coming, and his base was under active attack.
I considered sneaking around back to the service entrance, but they knew I knew that way. And if they were searching for Cass, they’d be searching there. I had to make a frontal assault.
Halfway to the admin building, the front door opened and four of Hauser’s henchmen came charging out, guns drawn.
I pointed south, to the main street and the sound of sirens. “Cops!”
They raised their weapons, threatening.
I jabbed a finger to the north, away from everything. “Cass!”
“Cass!?” One and all, they flinched at her name. Crouched, eyes darting, they forgot about me and dashed off like a SEAL team to kill a hundred-pound girl.
I entered the admin building.
There should have been boss music playing.
Another henchman stood guard by the door to the backrooms, but it was on the far side of the common room. He looked right at me, and I was pretty sure he was the one who’d opened fire on my car.
He didn’t know me, though. I acted casual. Just a tenant dropping by the manager’s office. I gave the thug a polite nod, then turned up the stairs. Cool. Calm. Under control—
“Hey,” he called, curious.
I rounded on him, screaming in panic, “It’s Cass! She’s got a gun!”
He shouted “—!” and broke and ran.
I went on upstairs.
Hauser’s office door was ajar. He was in there now, sitting at his messy desk and talking on the phone faster than he’d ever talked before. He sounded nervous.
But I wasn’t here to kill a boss. I was here to save a...well, an innocent victim. That was my motivation. So I crept past the office door and tried the handle to Hauser’s private apartments.
It was unlocked.
That gave me pause. I slipped through anyway, quick as I could, and closed it quietly behind me. Then I turned back to his room, and it made more sense.
His whole apartment was maybe twice the size of mine. It was a “studio” layout, and though he had much more expensive furniture and electronics, the setup was pretty similar.
He did have a dresser for his clothes. It was torn open, drawers hanging loose, and the overflowing suitcase on his bed finished the picture. He’d been packing up to run when he took the call with the cops.
Oh, he and Cass were cut from the same cloth.
And Trina was chained to the radiator.
My heart went out to her. Seated in an office chair against the far wall, she looked smaller than I remembered. A gag was tied over her mouth, and zip-ties bound both of her hands to the radiator.
She looked around when the door opened and saw me at the same time I saw her. Her eyes were huge.
“I’m here to rescue you,” I said, as soothing as I could manage.
I wasn’t prepared for this, though. I fumbled in my pockets, thinking maybe I could use my keys to saw through the zip ties, but a pocket knife would’ve served me a lot better.
I crossed toward her, scanning left and right for scissors or a box cutter or anything I could use to set her free. I spotted a phone that had to be hers and grabbed it, but nothing else caught my eye.
As I approached, I kept talking. Reassuring. “I’ve solved it all. The cops are on the way now. And I have the gun.”
She frowned above her gag. Confused.
“The gun. The murder weapon.” I showed her the brown bag, then knelt in front of her to test the zip ties. They were sturdy. “It’s the evidence tying Hauser to the murder of that banker.”
I never heard it open, but the door slammed shut behind me with a boom. Then Hauser said with sinister admiration, “That’s perfect, kid. You really have solved it all.”