Already Gone (A Laura Frost FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 1) by Blake Pierce (e book reader TXT) 📕

too, andLaura hadn’t allowed him to get close enough to potentially trigger anothervision. She had been too focused on the case. She hadn’t wanted to see hisdeath coming. She just wanted to save as many lives as possible, and then worryabout him afterward. She had assumed that his death was a long way off.

But maybe that wasn’t the case. She hadseen the shadow over her father not long before the cancer first appeared.Death had been on the way for him even then. It had been many years coming, butit had started when she saw the shadow.

So, what if the events of this eveningwould set Nate’s death in motion? What if he was about to get shot, or receivesome other kind of injury, that would limit his life? What if it wouldeventually become infected, or he would need some kind of transplant thatfailed, or a hundred other million possibilities that she could think of thatcould lead to his death further down the line?

He should not even have been there. Itwas too dangerous. But Laura could not say that to him now—could not expect himto go back to the precinct meekly just because she told him to.

So, instead, she took control.

Laura walked right up to the intercom,first testing the door to see if it was broken, and then hit all of the numbersshe could see except for the one she actually wanted. She didn’t want to alertEd that she was coming, and that included telling someone out loud why theywere there. She waited, and sure enough someone was lazy; they unlocked thedoor without bothering to see who it was that was down there, no doubt assumingshe was delivering something.

Without waiting to check that Nate wasfollowing her, because she really didn’t want him to, Laura turned and pushedthe door open, running inside. She took the stairs two at a time, racing up asfast as she could, her gun drawn. She held it in front of her as she hit thethird floor, only a little out of breath, and surged down the hall.

She counted off the doors as she passed.Apartment thirty-one, apartment thirty-two, apartment thirty-three. And there!Thirty-four, his address. This was where Ed Bronston lived. This was where theywere going to find him.

Laura paused only for a moment by thedoor, leaning her head against it and listening. There was no back way outhere. If Ed wanted to run from them, he was going to have to jump out of thewindow. She didn’t much rate his chances of survival if he tried that. Still,there was a chance that he could destroy evidence if he knew they were coming.She only had a short time to make this work.

She hammered on the door, shoutingloudly, announcing that the FBI was present and Ed needed to open up. Shewaited for just a few moments, then hammered again, repeating the same routine.Nate had caught up to her, much to her chagrin; he slammed his forearm againstthe door as well, joining her voice with his before nodding to her andgesturing for her to step back.

“Nate, no,” she began, afraid that thiswas the thing that would get him into trouble—but before she could say or doanything else, he had stepped back and launched a powerful kick right at thedoor lock. On the second try, it splintered away, exploding backward in ashower of broken shards of wood, and Laura was ready.

She stepped right in front of Nate whilehe was still recovering his balance, before he had the chance to go in first.

“FBI! Come out with your hands aboveyour head!” Laura shouted one last time, before moving rapidly into the crampedhallway. Shoes littered the space near the door, and she had to step over them,all the while keeping her eyes on three spots: a door up ahead, a door to theright, and a bend around the corridor to the left.

“Show yourself!” Nate bellowed frombehind her, making Laura wince. He was too close. Why couldn’t he just wait?Why did he have to come in right behind her?

Because he always has your back, a traitorous voicein the back of her head reminded her. And it was true. She was always able tocount on him.

She just wished that wasn’t the caseright now.

She nervously drew level with the firstdoor on her right, then in one swift motion reached out with one hand to pushit open while the other pointed the gun right inside. It turned out to be abathroom, stained and with a chipped and discolored toilet and basin, bututterly empty otherwise. A quick glance told her everything she needed to know,and Laura continued onward.

She swung around the corner, putting herback against the wall and pointing the gun straight ahead. The view opened up,and she could see that ahead was a combination living room and kitchen, all ofthe kitchen cupboards visible from here and all filthy. She hedged alonghesitantly, knowing that Ed Bronston could be behind any door, could be waitingfor her just around the corner where the room opened out. But there was nothingelse she could do. She had to press on—had to be the first in line. She couldn’tlet Nate take her position.

Laura steadied her gun with both hands,then rushed forward. She slammed her back against the wall again as she sweptthe kitchen and living room area, seeing that it was empty. As soon as she wassure that there were no other doors from this part of the apartment and thatthere was no one in sight, she reached for the door handle of the final roomand wrenched it open. Inside was a bedroom, equipped with only a mattressdirectly on the floor, but again it was empty.

Laura felt her whole body sag withrelief as she realized the truth. Ed Bronston was not there. He was not goingto be shooting Nate today.

But it was followed by a renewed wave offear, hot on its heels. He wasn’t here. Which meant that he could be out thereright now, already stalking his next victim. And they had no idea who thatmight be.

“Christ,” Laura gasped, holstering hergun and glancing back at Nate.