Page 35 of Rescued Dreams (Last Chance Fire and Rescue #8)

THIRTY-FOUR

“H ow do you know it’s this one?” Ridge asked, leaning forward between the two front seats.

Kane pulled off the highway onto an overgrown lane through the wooded area around Last Chance County. “Power bill is still being paid.”

Maria sat in the front passenger seat on her laptop, using a hotspot from her phone, scrolling through bank records. “This is the only one where utilities are covered. The rest are abandoned.”

“Covered by who?”

“Actually,” Maria said, “the same account that was pegged as being Amelia’s, the one used to pay those men to endanger firefighters.”

“Her brother was in jail. Is he still running his father’s empire—or what’s left of it—even now? Didn’t seem like he was interested in anything but Dad’s money.” Ridge bounced one knee up and down, trying to keep it together.

Maria said, “The account was opened by Elam Hilden. Supposedly. But he was in jail at the time. All of it was put into her name, like a transfer of ownership moving the funds to Amelia—under her birth name.”

“To set them both up?” Kane glanced over. “When was it opened?”

“A year ago.”

Ridge said, “So he’s been in town working on his plan at least that long.”

They’d been to the town house and managed to get the cops to let them look around inside. Olivia had to have been subdued and taken and both the girls loaded into a car as well. But no one had used the front door, so he had nothing on camera but the edge of the driveway.

Nicholas, or so he presumed, had to have come in through the garage and taken the girls, then backed out.

The feed on his doorbell cam had shown a car coming in.

Less than fifteen minutes later, he’d left.

Inside, furniture had been overturned, and someone had clearly dropped a glass, shattering it across the floor.

It didn’t matter that the cops wanted to take evidence and test the blood on the glass for DNA. That wasn’t what would find his sisters. Or Olivia.

Or Amelia.

Everything. His whole world apart from the two in this car. They were captive to a man twisted around with narcissism, who had nothing to lose and everything to gain if his revenge plan came to fruition.

But why take his sisters?

They were innocent. Dragged into this.

Ridge fought to control his breathing.

“Almost there.” Kane pegged the gas and got them down the lane faster.

Branches clacked against the outside of the car, scratching the paint.

The house that came into view was worse than the mansion.

In fact, it made the mansion look small.

He’d never have known it was here, hidden as it was in the woods.

But it made sense that Steven Hilden had multiple residences, places he could keep public while others remained private.

Ridge hadn’t liked the guy as chief when he joined the fire department years ago, but he hadn’t been stationed at Eastside until after the guy had been taken down. God had spared him from having to go up against that man where others hadn’t been so fortunate.

He was going to lean on that favor and the fact he could remain steady.

So long as he got his girls back safe and sound.

He was going to use the temperament that God had given him to hold it together.

With God’s help, he’d be there for Amelia and his sisters so he could take care of them while they recovered.

Kane pulled to the side in front of the house.

Ridge got out, not even knowing what the plan was. Get in. Find them. Get them out. Subdue this Nicholas guy until the police got here. As soon as they knew for sure it was the right place, they would call the cops.

Kane made him stop long enough to put on a bulletproof vest, and Ridge put his jacket on over it.

He ran to the house and spotted something written in huge letters on the front window, to the right of the door.

Huge wood double doors with columns either side, stretching up two stories.

This place was massive. It needed to be converted into a retreat center, or an annex of the local college.

Ridge got close enough to read vibration sensors .

Kane dragged his arm back. “What are you doing? You have no idea what situation you’re walking into.”

Ridge waved at the window. “We know something.” He crept forward, able to see into the brightly lit interior. Across the bare wood floor was a row of…“Are those…they’re cages!” He spotted Ella, then Maddie. Beyond them was another person, but he couldn’t tell who the blonde was.

“Ella!” Ridge waved his hands.

“Don’t knock on the window.” Kane’s tone didn’t invite anything but following that order. “Even yelling could be risky.”

Maria moved closer to the window, looking at the frame on the inside, right by the glass. “Probably the same stuff illegally purchased from the National Guard. We need a window or a door not wired to blow.”

Kane said, “We have to assume they all are.”

Ridge hadn’t taken his attention off the window. Come on, Ella. Look my way. They needed to know where Nicholas had gone. And whether the person in that third occupied cage was Amelia or Olivia. What was happening in there?

And how were they going to get inside?

“I’ll find one.” Maria kissed Kane quickly, then jogged away, around the building.

“She’ll find a drainpipe to climb up. I doubt he wired every window.”

Ridge winced. He didn’t like the risk. He waved his arms as big as he could. If Nicholas came into view suddenly, he’d have to duck down below the window without being seen.

Assuming the guy didn’t already know they were here.

“Call it in.”

Ridge followed the order since Kane was trained in this kind of stuff and Ridge was the local with local contacts. He dialed Aiden’s number and put it on speaker, getting the police sergeant on the line.

As soon as he answered, Ridge said, “We found the girls and your officer.” The cops would care about a fellow cop.

Not that they didn’t care about teens in danger, but having Olivia caught up in it meant an added layer they couldn’t ignore.

“But we can’t get in the house. It’s wired up like the bank. ”

Aiden said, “We just took the National Guard traitor into custody for illegal weapons sales. The ATF is about to show up and take over the investigation, and when that happens, we’ll lose any shot at intel. So tell me what you need to know.”

Kane leaned over. “A frequency that will jam the signal that alerts the detonator to a vibration.”

“Copy that,” Aiden said. “I’m sending units to your location. Wait for them to arrive. We’ll get you a way in.” The police sergeant paused for a second. “I know what it’s like to have loved ones in danger. Keep it tight, Foster.”

He hung up.

Ridge stowed the phone, searching the windows above the door, since Ella hadn’t looked over. He didn’t want to know why she was slumped against the side of the cage. Was she unconscious or simply dejected? Waiting for rescue.

I’m here. He wasn’t going to let anything happen to his sisters if there was something he could do about it. But where was that Nicholas guy?

They were going to have a reckoning.

He glanced back at Kane, who said, “Copy that.” Then he looked over and yelled, “Maria found something!”

Ridge waved him off.

He continued left while Kane ran right, going after Maria.

Ridge scanned the exterior of the building, looking for a drain and a window that might have been missed.

Like a tiny bathroom with frosted glass but big enough for him to crawl through.

He had his multitool, so he could break glass.

Risky, given the noise and how likely it was he’d be injured. But did that matter?

His family was inside this house, trapped with a guy who was prepared to do anything.

Revenge against Amelia.

But why involve the twins? Unless he wanted Ridge to suffer as well.

Olivia had probably been caught up in it, another victim. She might even be dead.

Ridge raced along the west side of the mansion and peered around the back. On the far side, he spotted car headlights, and maybe Kane and Maria, talking to someone else. He didn’t know what was going on over there. It was too dark and too far to see.

Whatever it was, he needed to get inside and get to the twins.

And he knew exactly how he was going to do it—that second-floor balcony. Not the wide doors that led out to the back view. The window beside those.

If he sat on the concrete rail that protected someone on the balcony from falling, he could reach over and smash that window.

Ridge tugged on the drain that ran down the back wall, close enough he could get to the balcony. It didn’t budge, so he started to climb.

When he was high enough to reach for the balcony, he saw that the door was slightly ajar. Abandoning the idea of smashing a window and crawling in, Ridge climbed over the edge. He stayed out of sight, behind the wall, and then peered around.

No one in the room. It looked dark though, so he couldn’t see much but bare floor and shadows. Using his phone flashlight would reveal his presence immediately. But he wasn’t going to go in without Kane knowing, so he went to the edge of the balcony and whistled quietly.

A long tone that got Kane’s attention. Ridge waved from his position, and when Kane saw him, Ridge motioned to the door. I’m going inside. He wasn’t going to stay out here and wait when lives were at stake.

He eased the door open enough to slip through, listening for someone hiding in the shadows. The door put up a fight. Enough that he frowned at how heavy it was. The door wanted to snap back and hit him.

He made sure the rock stayed where it was, wedging the door open so Kane could follow him.

Nothing jumped out at him as he crept through the room, hands outstretched. Feeling for a door in front of him. His fingers hit the rail of wainscoting around the wall, and he traced it until he found the open exit into the hallway.

His boots echoed on the floor, so he switched up how he was walking. Trying to channel a little of Kane’s stealth skills.

When the floor disappeared out from under his next step, he caught himself. Stairs.

Ridge stuck to the wall and made his way down. The staircase angled to the left and then opened up. He could feel the expanse of the room around him.

Like a huge entryway.

He heard an anxious intake of breath that didn’t belong to him, and he couldn’t pinpoint where it came from.

Halfway down to the ground floor, he started to see a glow from the side room where the twins were—a yellow strip across the floor, under the closed door.

Maybe it was his anxious breath.

The lights flipped on, blinding him for a second. Ridge froze, then looked around. Amelia stood at the edge of the balcony, which stretched around in a semicircle that overlooked the chandelier and the lobby below. The two staircases followed the wall down, and he headed down the left side.

On the outside of the rail, Amelia had somehow managed to stay put with her feet wedged back between the bars. She had fear in her eyes and a cloth over her mouth. About to fall to her death.

No…about to be hanged.

She had a rope tied around her neck that stretched up to the chandelier.

Ridge turned to run for her.

A man appeared at the top of the stairs holding a gun. Ridge froze.

The man’s dark gaze narrowed on him. “Surprise.”

“Let her go!”

“I don’t think so.” Nicholas shook his head. “Not if you want your sisters to live. Isn’t that why you’re here. To save them?”

“ All of them.”

He sneered.

Before Ridge could do anything, the gun exploded in a flash, and something heavy slammed into him. He toppled over onto the stairs and rolled.

Down.

Down.

He hit the floor at the bottom of the stairs.

Amelia screamed behind the cloth.