He left the lights on.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Neil knew his way around base better than any marine there. As day turned to night, traversing known passages into the base became easier. Not much had changed since he was a kid there with his father. Teenagers always wanted to know a way off base. Who knew he’d be sneaking back in so many years later.

One singular thought kept his feet moving.

Gwen.

Getting to her, keeping her safe. The sick thought that maybe something had already happened tried to inch into his brain, but he refused to hear it.

She’s fine, he told himself.

Perfectly fine.

It took twenty minutes to cross the base and meet the bottom of the hill where Blayney’s house perched. He paused for a moment and looked up at the dark windows.

Was he even there? Was Gwen?

Neil banked on the chance that without word from Mickey, Chuck would think the worst of his grunt. Logic told Neil that Chuck would use Gwen as a hostage at that point. Unless he gave up.

Neil had yet to meet a marine who gave up.

Chuck wouldn’t be the first.

A light flickered inside the house, evidence that someone was inside.

Neil circled around the back, hopped the fence, and ducked under the dark kitchen window. He took a small mirror from his field jacket and angled it on the floor to see inside the house from the back door.

The kitchen was empty. A light from the hall was on.

Neil held his breath and waited for the phone to ring. He told Blake to give him forty minutes to get into position. He had five minutes to wait.

Five minutes of absolute terror that he was waiting five minutes too long to help his wife.

The image of Chuck harming her made his fist clutch and his back teeth grind together. Sitting immobile for five lousy minutes left him shaking. When the phone finally rang, Neil nearly missed the sound.

The second ring grabbed his attention and sprang him into action.

The back lock to the sliding glass door was easily breached. The major wasn’t hypervigilant about his safety.

Stupid man.

Neil eased the door open enough to hear the one-sided conversation.

“Mr. Harrison? Yes…I was told you were here.” Chuck’s voice was on edge. Something Neil recognized but Blake wouldn’t. Neil closed the back door quietly behind him and locked it. He ducked behind the island before he made it to the back hall.

“No,” Neil heard Chuck say.

Neil moved up the stairs every time Chuck spoke.

“How did you get my number?”

Neil hesitated.

“Oh, I see. Yes…they were here.”

Neil moved up the stairs and to the room he and Gwen shared. Inside the room was dark. A part of him expected to see her there.

She wasn’t.

He moved quietly about the space, looking for evidence that she had been there.

Nothing…the room was bare of anything personal.

Gwen was gone.

The house had gone quiet. He didn’t hear the major…didn’t hear any other person in the home. Neil tiptoed from the guest room and glanced into the master bedroom. It too was dark. From what Neil could tell Ruth was gone, too.

Downstairs a door shut, and then quiet resumed. Neil lent his ear to the hall desperate to hear anything.

A loud thump brought him to a stand and soon after he heard a door slam.

Halfway down the stairs, he heard Chuck’s voice. “Yes. I’m expecting a guest.”

Neil waited, dropped down three more stairs. “Mr. Harrison. Right. In twenty minutes. No. He won’t be here long.”

Neil froze. Blake was on his way?

Neil retreated down the back stairwell to regroup. Blake needed to stay away. The last thing Neil needed was a civilian f**king things up. Not when Neil had no idea where Gwen was.

Neil removed his M9 and positioned it in front of his chest before he inched his way into the room with Chuck.

Chuck stood in front of his desk in his office. A cigarette smoked in a nearby ashtray. Neil didn’t remember the major smoking before.

Could this man…the one who’d been there early in his military career, be responsible for so much pain? For Mickey’s death? For Billy’s?

With his back to him, Chuck stared out the window. “You going to use that weapon, soldier?”

Neil kept his gun steady. His jaw stiffened, his mind remembered better times.

He shook his head.

“Where’s Gwen?”

Chuck picked up his cigarette, sucked it down, blew it through his teeth. “Not sure why I quit. There’s nothing quite like balancing life and death through such a simple device.” He stared at the tip of his cigarette and sucked in another lungful of nicotine.

Neil’s trigger twitched. “Where is she?”

Chuck glanced to the floor over his shoulder. “Drop the gun, Mac.”

“Where’s my wife?”

Chuck laughed. The sound grated on Neil’s raw nerves.

The major turned, removed the cigarette from his lips, and blew the smoke over his head as if he had nothing to care for in the world.

It pissed Neil off.

“Where is she?”

“Drop the weapon.”

Neil glared. “Why should I?’

“You want to see her again? Drop the gun.” The arrogant bastard sucked on his cigarette again. He knew damn well Neil wouldn’t squeeze the trigger without knowing where Gwen was. His enemy knew his weakness and was using it against him.

Neil purposely took two strides closer before uncocking his weapon and tossing it to the floor well out of Chuck’s reach.

Chuck witnessed the weapon skitter across the floor with a smile.

“And the others?”

Neil swallowed. No use pretending not to know what the man in front of him taught him. Neil lifted his right leg, removed the smaller revolver, and tossed it to the floor.

Chuck witnessed the disarming as if bored. He made a small rolling motion with his fingers and Neil removed a third gun from the small of his back. Other than his cell phone and a knife, he didn’t have anything left.

Major Blayney moved slowly to his desk.

Neil was too far away to rush the man, so he waited until his next move.

From behind the major’s back the man produced a service weapon.

No surprise.

Instinctively, Neil moved to the side. No need to give the man a broad target.

“Step back, Mac.”

Two steps later Neil held his ground. “Where is she?”

Chuck’s eyes lingered beyond Neil for a moment, in the direction of the kitchen.

He waved his gun. “In the back.”

“I’ve been in the kitchen. She’s not there.”