Capture Me

D- 2: They Want You Bad in a Bad Way

Thalia

I clung to my husband's arm as we went back in to the house.

My body just now realized the biting cold air, eliciting a shiver from me.

The sight of the lifeless intruders made hairs at the back of my neck stand up.

I was still rattled and still trying to piece what had happened all together. One moment I was about to get up and then the next it was raining bullets and I was pressed to Ryder's body as he practically carried me to the stove.

And when I got out of the house and into the garage, I didn't know if I should go back and help my husband because he wasn't with me yet, but what could I do to aid him? So I stayed in the jeep anxiously and waited.

When he found me, the relief I felt was like a fresh breath of air that I nearly cried. And then somebody talked on the phone, Gid, who told us that he was on his way to our house.

Ryder removed the ski mask of the dead person just before the first step of the stairs. The blood was still seeping out somewhere between his head and chest and was creating a big puddle on the floor.

My husband took a step towards the stairs but I pulled his arm. "Why are you going upstairs?"

He turned to me, "To check for evidences, baby, and to make sure they're all dead."

Okay.

One last look at me and he proceeded to climb the stairs, of course with me sticking to him like glue.

Broken things were everywhere, glass, wood, and cement scattered the steps to the second floor. And I think I felt each of them under the plushy, brown footwear that Ryder provided me.

His guns were poised on each hand, fingers rested below the trigger. We stopped at the two unmoving bodies in the hallway. Ryder did the same thing as the first one, removed their masks and checked the neck, arm, and hands. I just stood there and watched as he did so, even when I badly wanted to stick to his side or to any part of him for that matter because the bad guys might come back and I felt safe when I was near him.

A few more steps and we got to our room. The door was open all the way and it was like a tornado were inside it moments ago. Clothes were everywhere and the drawers were ransacked.

"Babe, grab my waist and stay behind me." This was what my husband told me before we step foot in the room.

Gosh, I didn't even knew where to look at, it was just everywhere, and the paranoia that someone might pop out at any moment made me skittish.

After Ryder had thoroughly inspected the master's bedroom, we went and checked all of the seven rooms and thank goodness no stranger lurked in any of them.

"Should we call the police?" I suggested. We went back to the media room because that was the only room left untouched.

Ryder chuckled and stretched his arms on the backrest of the sofa we sat on. "They cannot do anything about it, baby. The case will only be passed to the Federal Investigations and then back to the boss of the crime." He looked so relaxed but the guns on the coffee table within his reach indicated the oposite.

"How?"

The back of his head hit the backrest as well. "You should know, babe, you were in the archives in your last job."

His statement made me frown. Oh, right he had someone check on me. I felt invaded when he told me this and the thought that he didn't fully trust me were like bees buzzing silently in my brain.

But these thoughts and feelings, like startled birds, flew away when bullets started raining on us.

And he was right, now that I think of it, big people usually contacted my past company when they wanted someone to be eliminated slash killed. They thought that their identities were kept not known for the sake of anonymity when in fact we had everything about them and I was the one storing, updating, and arranging them from time to time.