Adam's Pulse

Part 20

Chapter 20

Sloan let the car idle outside of the two-story house.  Minutes ago, she had pulled up to the place, and it had only taken her a second to recognize it.  Why hadn’t she realized where they were when they had told her the address?  She knew why.  She was so worried about her brother, so worried about showing up on time that she hadn’t even thought twice about the address.  She was simply thinking about how to get there in the shortest time possible.   They were toying with her.  There was no other explanation as to why they would be at this house. 

The roof was slightly caved in from the fire damage Sloan knew marred the inside.  Several rooms were unrecognizable, but there were a few rooms downstairs that were livable.  She knew because her and her brother had stayed there for a while until one of their Aunts had finally taken the two of them in.  Them being eighteen at the time, the state couldn’t force them into a foster home.  Sloan could have moved on, could have found a job somewhere else and gotten an apartment like the one she now had, but her brother had wanted to stay.

Her fingers curled around the steering wheel in frustration.  Why hadn’t she looked here to begin with?  Shaking her head at the thought, she turned off the engine of Drew’s car.  Her brother probably hadn’t been here the entire time they had him.  It wouldn’t make sense for them to keep him somewhere like this.  No, she knew what they were doing.  They were trying to make her relive that night, trying to make her become distracted.  Her hand reached towards her purse sitting on the passenger’s seat.  Rifling through it, she pulled out her gun and slipped in the back of her pants before smoothing her shirt over it. 

It wouldn’t do well for them to know that she was carrying it, but to go in without anything at all would be suicide.  Hell, just going in there, finally meeting them face to face, was bad enough, but she would do anything for her brother.  It was the reason why she was prepared to enter the house and never exit again if that was what it took to get her brother out of there alive.  They had always protected one another.  It had always been them against the world, and that wasn’t about to stop now.

She gripped the door handle, but froze when she felt the hair on the back of her neck stick up for the third time since she got into the car.  It felt as if someone was watching her, but she knew that couldn’t be.  She had checked the rearview mirrors the entire trip, waiting for the leopards.  None had come, and for some odd reason, she was disappointed that they hadn’t tried to stop her.  She pulled the handle, but understanding made her pause once more.  If they truly wanted to keep track of her, they wouldn’t need a leopard to follow her, not when one could just hide in her backseat.

Looking into her rear view mirror once more, she almost expected one of the men to be smiling back at her, but when she saw no one, she knew who was really back there.  Unless, of course, Tony wasn’t the only one of them who could turn invisible.  She didn’t let her thoughts show on her face; she didn’t even let Tony know she knew he was back there, if he even was back there.  Sloan simply threw open her door, not shutting it behind her.  How would he exit without drawing attention to himself if she didn’t leave the door open?  A better question would have been how he got into the car to begin with.

It didn’t matter how he got into the car, all that mattered was that he was there now.  Strangely enough, the thought comforted her.  Here was a leopard that was most likely sent to kill her, but she felt comfortable around him?  Was there really logic in her thoughts, or had she finally gone insane?  A small laugh escaped her mouth, making her feel more the latter of the two choices.  Still, she couldn’t help but glance around, hoping to see another sign that they were here with her. 

When eyes flashed at her in the bushes nearby, she almost broke down then.  Here she was, selling them out, and it looked as if they were going to help her.  Why else would they let her get this far without killing her themselves?  It could be that they wanted to kill the kidnappers and her, getting all the factors out of the way, but deep down, she knew that wasn’t true.  Even when Adam had dismissed her, even when he had turned his back on her, she knew the man would help if she needed it.  It was a trait she admired in him, and a trait that she hoped she would soon have herself.