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He hesitates, then nods, eyes serious. “It’s loaded and the safety’s off, so don’t touch the trigger unless you mean it. Keep your finger outside the trigger guard, not on the trigger, until you’re ready to use it.”

I nod. Finally, we open the car doors and step out.

We move slowly and cautiously toward the building. I wouldn’t put it past Kyle to have this place rigged with cameras, but I don’t see anything. We creep around the first corner of the building, doing our best not to draw attention to ourselves.

An unmistakable scream comes from somewhere inside, and my entire body stops dead for a second before I lunge forward without thinking, but Dad’s arm shoots out, stopping me before I can rush in.

“Wait,” he demands. “We don’t know what’s inside. Weneed to call Santos first and tell him to meet us here. We need all the help we can get because we don’t know what we’re walking into.”

I fumble my phone out of my pocket, my fingers shaking so badly I nearly drop it as I hit his name.

Pick up, pick up, pick up,I chant to myself.

“We’re still looking, Logan.”

“Well, stop. We found him. I’m texting you the address. Get here now. Bring backup. We heard screaming.”

“Copy that,” he says without hesitation.

I hang up and immediately text the location. Seconds later, his reply comes through:Ten minutes out. Wait for us. Don’t do anything stupid.

Ten minutes.

Fuck, that’s too long.

“What do we do?” I ask, turning to my dad.

He contemplates for only a second before saying, “Let’s keep going. Maybe we’ll be able to locate them if we keep moving.”

We continue circling the perimeter of the building, my entire body humming with adrenaline. Everything looks empty and lifeless, but we don’t stop moving. This must be where he is, based on the scream we heard.

When we first came around the other side, it was hard to see inside. The windows were too high, and what we could see was just scrap wood, busted concrete, and old office walls collapsing in on themselves. There was no clean line of sight across the whole building. But now, as we move around the back side, we can see in and when I notice it, I suck in a breath.

Dead center in the otherwise empty space is a single, jarring structure. A room that looks like it’s under construction—the only part of the entire building that’s new. It’s made of plywood, with no windows, but it does have a door.

But that has to be it.

That’s where he is.

Dad and I both look at each other now, and then back to the makeshift structure where we hear muffled noises reach us from inside.

Please let that be Ryder.

Please let him still be alive.

I yank out my phone and fire off a text to Santos, giving him our exact location. They should be about three minutes out now.

That’s when I hear Ryder’s voice yell, “Fuck you!”

Three more minutes isn’t something I can wait for, so I quickly text Santos again:Going in. Ryder’s hurt.

Dad meets my eyes again, and I’m so grateful he isn’t trying to hold me back; he just gives me a nod. I nod back, gripping the gun in my hand tightly as we move up to the plywood door. There’s no time for being quiet, we’re going in and we’re going in now.

Dad raises his gun and fires at the handle. The sound shatters the air. I don’t hesitate for another second before I slam my shoulder into the door, and it swings open?—

And what I see makes me stare, wide-eyed in horror.

Kyle is standing inches from Ryder with a knife pressed to Ryder’s throat. He’s got his disgusting fingers in Ryder’s wet hair, and there are cuts all over his torso, arms, and legs. He’s naked, except for his boxer briefs, covered in goosebumps, and he’s bound to a chair. I want to shoot Kyle right then and there.