I quickly called Julian again. “Hey, man, did you say it was definitely an abandoned factory and not an abandoned office building?” I asked curiously. I didn’t want to go into the wrong building and scare off this Justin Morrison guy. I needed him alive so I could beat the information out of him as to where Anna might be.

“Yeah, that’s what my friend said,” he confirmed. “Ashton, do you need some help?” he asked, sounding like he was hoping I would say no. I didn’t think he would want to go against Carter Thomas at all, but I knew he would if I asked him to. A favour was classed as a debt to people like Julian; he would repay it to the best of his ability. I’d saved his life once when we were younger; he still owed me for that.

“Not at the moment, but thanks. I gotta go.” I disconnected the call and pushed my cell back into my pocket before checking my ankle holster and pushing my other gun down the back of my jeans, covering it with my T-shirt. Next, I slipped my knife into my belt and pushed four extra clips into my pocket before casually walking over to the building, pretending to walk past.

I stopped to tie my shoe outside the door, sitting on the steps and looked around; no one was there so I slipped in. The fact that the door was unlocked made my heart leap, I was sure I was in the right place. This guy Morrison had to be here somewhere, I just prayed he knew where she was.

As soon as I was off the street, I pulled my gun from the waistband of my jeans and slipped an extra clip there instead in case I needed to reload quickly. I made my way through the building, keeping my back to the wall, checking each room for signs of him.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of a walkie-talkie up ahead, so I froze. My eyes narrowed. Why the hell would someone have a walkie-talkie? Without hesitation, I slipped round the corner and put my gun to the back of the guy’s head.

“What’s your name?” I asked angrily.

He stood there, shocked. “Elliot.”

Elliot? I frowned. So where was this Justin Morrison guy then? Maybe there was more than one of them assigned here to find this ‘something important’. “Turn around,” I ordered, pushing the gun harder into the back of his head as a warning. As he slowly turned to face me, I eyed the rest of the room. He was alone. “Where is Carter Thomas?” I asked, watching his face for signs that would give him away.

“Who the hell are you?” His voice was tight. He knew him.

“Where is Annabelle Spencer?” I asked, pressing the gun to his forehead. He flinched. He definitely knew.

He didn’t answer, but his eyes flicked over my shoulder. I spun around to see a guy with a gun advancing on me from behind. I dropped to my knees and shot the guy coming in behind me just as he shot where my chest was a second ago.

I pulled my knife from the waistband of my jeans and grabbed the guy named Elliot, slamming him against the wall, pressing my knife against his throat. “Where is she?” I growled angrily.

He didn’t answer, but his walkie-talkie started going crazy.

“Elliot? Tannor? What the hell’s going on? Were those gunshots?” the walkie-talkie crackled.

“I don’t know, secure her upstairs, I’ll go check it out,” another guy answered on the line.

Secure her upstairs. Holy shit, she’s here? Anna’s here in this building? Happiness tried to bubble up inside, but I pushed it down. I still had a long way to go and I needed to focus.

“Where is she? Which room?” I asked, grabbing his walkie-talkie from his belt and clipping it on mine instead.

“Fuck you!” he spat.

I pushed the blade of my knife harder against his throat, watching as a thin line of red appeared. “No, f**k you! You’re going to tell me, or you’re going to bleed to death,” I growled angrily.

He sneered at me; he wasn’t going to tell me. I pulled away slightly; I would just knock him out for now, just to take him out of the equation, I didn’t want to waste time tying him up or anything. If Anna was in this building, then I needed to hurry. Obviously they knew I was here because they’d heard the gunshots, so I had no time to waste. When I moved, Elliot went for his gun. Before he could grab it, I reacted instinctively, slashing the blade across his throat, cutting deep. He clutched at his throat as he slumped to the floor, gasping for breath as he bled out. I didn’t bother to wait until he was dead; I turned and made my way out of the room. She was upstairs somewhere, but this freaking place was enormous.

I knew I should call for backup, but I didn’t have time. If they knew I was here then they could move her and then I’d lose her again. I couldn’t take that chance.

I walked up a flight of stairs slowly, keeping my eyes and ears peeled for any signs of life. I saw movement ahead and spotted a guy crouched at the top of the stairs. He hadn’t seen me yet, so I moved across the hall, hiding against a doorway to gain a better angle. I closed one eye and shot him straight in the head, suddenly wishing I had a silencer on my gun so that they wouldn’t hear where I was.

Shifting my bag over my shoulder, I made my way quickly up to the next flight of stairs. If there were guys here then I needed to follow them to lead me to Anna. Another guy turned and leant out of the doorway, firing off a few rounds at me.

I pressed back around the corner, letting him shoot off a couple of shots as I grabbed my extra clip from my pocket. When his shots paused, I leant around the corner, shooting off a couple of rounds before changing my clip quickly but dropping the dead one on the floor on purpose. “Shit,” I mumbled loud enough for him to hear. My plan worked. He stepped out of his little hiding place, obviously thinking I was having trouble reloading and that he could take advantage of it. As soon as he stepped out of this cover, I shot him twice, going for the kill shot. I didn’t care about any of these guys; they were a threat to Anna so they needed to die.