Harry's walk to the shed seemed like the longest walk ever. All he could think about were the bad outcomes. What if they were on this property and Zayn wasn't here? What if he was never here at all and they had been watching this place for nothing? What if he broke in here and found nothing. Or worse. Found something he had been trying to prevent when he decided not to tell the police in the first place.
Wanting to put those thoughts from this mind, he reached the shed and raised the bolt cutters to the lock. It took a little bit of force, but these bolt cutters were very reliable and easy to use. So he had no problem at all getting the metal to break.
He took the lock and dropped it in the grass near him. Then he took a deep breath and slowly opened the door outward towards him. He wasn't sure what he was expecting to see when he opened the door. But if he ever did use his imagination, it was nothing like what he actually saw.
There in the dimly lit shed was Zayn looking dazed and very weak with an awfully swollen and bruised face. He also looked as if he wanted to say something but the tape was covering his mouth. And since his wrists were cuffed and taped as well as his ankles, he couldn't even reach out for Harry even if that was what he was trying to do.
Harry ran over to him, sat the bolt cutters down on the bed and started to undo the tape from his mouth. It was painful for Zayn, especially now that his beard had grown in quite a bit. So he winced the whole way through. But when it was off, he still said the first thing he could think of.
"He killed her. He killed Kelly. I think he wants to kill me too."
"Not as long as I'm here, he won't. I promise you that. Hold on. Let me get you out of all this."
Taking the tape off Zayn's wrists and ankles was just as painful and Harry was so angry that he had to hurt Zayn first before he could help him when he had already been through enough. Nevertheless he was able to remove all the tape. Then he reached into his pocket and took out the handcuff key.
"Where'd you get a key?"
"I'll tell you later."
He pushed it into the keyhole, then began to toggle with it. It turned out that practice with Amos' cuffs earlier really worked. Because they were unlocked and off Zayn's wrists in no time. Zayn slowly let his arm down and grasped his wrist with his hand. It felt so good to be free. But he'd been in those cuffs so long that he could still feel it.
"I'll carry you out." Harry said as he attempted to grab him.
But Zayn shooed him away. "No. Don't. I've got it."
"No you don't, Zayn. You're weak right now."
"I'm not."
"Are you sure?" He knew Zayn wasn't but clearly in this state Zayn did not want to be touched.
"I'm sure."
"Well at least let me help you then."
"Okay."
He helped Zayn stand up from the bed and tried to get a steady hand on him. But Zayn took a step forward before Harry could grab the bolt cutters and fell forward towards the wall of tools, knocking a few down in the process.
"Are you alright?" Harry asked in a panic. And as he said that, the sound of a gunshot could be heard outside the shed. He gasped and looked down at the man at his feet. That gunshot sounded close. Whoever Amos was talking to probably shot him. Their plan must've been blown.
Fearing he or Zayn was next, he scooped Zayn up and put him back on the bed so he didn't have to lie on the hard floor. As much as he wanted to take Zayn and run, there was no way he was going to be able to get out of there in time. So he knew what he had to do. He was going to have to stand up for himself and his husband. He was going to have to fight for their lives.
"Harry. Don't leave me." Zayn said.
"Shh. It's okay. Stay right there. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."
Amongst the tools that Zayn knocked down was an old short-handle scoop shovel. He grabbed it and then crouched down between the rolling table and partially under one of the floating shelves to hide and wait.
"Harry." Someone called from outside the shed. "I know you're in there. Your friend accidently gave you away. So I killed him. But how about we settle this? You come out, I give you Zayn back. I take my money and we both go. What do you say? Do we have a deal?"
Harry stayed quiet. After seeing the way Zayn looked when he came in, no way would he ever make a deal with him that meant letting him go free. Never.
"Harry. Last chance. Come out with your hands up. If you do that, you both go home alive. But if you don't, I'm going to have to kill you just like I did the friend you sent."
Still Harry was silent. He didn't believe this man for a second. If he claimed he killed Amos, then he would without a doubt take a shot at him and his husband and kill them both if it meant getting away free. Harry would take his chances this way rather than be a coward and give in.
Suddenly he could hear someone coming in and he saw his shoes as he walked across the floor.
"Ah, so I guess he's not in here, huh?" The man asked Zayn. "Where did he go? Outside the shed? Did he run like a bitch and leave you here?"
Zayn didn't answer. Nor did he look Harry's way and give away his position.
The man knew Zayn had been freed from his bindings and he did not want to risk being attacked from behind by him. So he spoke louder in an attempt to get Harry to hear him without turning around. "Well you better hurry back in! I'm alone with your husband! There's no telling what I might do to him! Oh, and don't even think about bringing a weapon or you'll find out exactly what I'll do."
He took a couple more steps forward so he was in the middle of the floor and that allowed Harry to get a very clear view of him. In fact, his view was so good that if the man decided to turn around right now, he would see Harry and kill him right where he was. But Harry was hoping that didn't happen.
"Alright then! That was your one chance to show yourself and you didn't! I hope you've already planned a closed casket funeral for him because I'm about to blow his brains out!"
As soon as he raised the gun up to meet Zayn's face, Harry jumped up from behind him and raised the scoop shovel in the air as high as he could get it. Then with all the force he could muster, he brought it down hard on the back of his head.
He was expecting the man to get up and try to kill him when he realized what happened. But apparently that one hit was good enough. Because he went down to the ground immediately without a fight. And the gun dropped from his hand onto the floor and slid underneath the bed. He never saw it coming.
Just as Harry dropped the shovel and pulled Zayn in his arms to hug him tightly, Amos came running in.
"Is he dead?"
Harry shook his head and exhaled deeply. "No he's not dead. But he's going to have one hell of a headache when he wakes up."
"What about the girl?"
"Kelly?"
"Yeah. Have you seen her?"
He shook his head. "No. Zayn said he killed her."
"Oh. Just like he tried to kill me." He said pointing to a hole in his shirt where the bullet had gone through and penetrated the vest.
"Where's Buddy?"
Amos sighed. "Well..." He was just about to tell Harry the bad news about his cat running away. But Buddy came inside the shed in time and jumped up on the bed with Zayn and Harry.
"Apparently he's right there."
"Just in time to be the comforter for Zayn that he always has been for me. How about that?"
"I'll say."
Amos looked over at Zayn and really wanted to go over to him and comfort him as well. Especially now that he was starting to cry in Harry's arms at the mention of Kelly. But with Zayn in women's lingerie, he felt like his privacy had already been stripped from him without his consent. So he refrained and focused only on Harry and finishing carrying out the rest of the ongoing plan.
"I'm sure Louis called the police as soon as he heard the gunshot. So I'm gonna get going. But don't forget you have to call them too in order to make everything work out as we planned."
"Yeah. I know. My phone is in my pocket. You go ahead."
"Will you be alright with him there?"
"Yes. Looks like he'll be out for a while so we'll be fine. I'll call you when we get to the hospital."
"Sounds great. See you there."
They shared very faint smiles before Amos was quickly out of there. Zayn looked up at Harry with an expression of confusion and fear on his face. He was still crying.
"I know him."
"I know. That's Amos. Our security consultant. Remember?"
"Didn't he say Louis?"
"Um..."
"As in the one we know? Louis Tomlinson?"
But Harry chose not to answer that. Zayn was already worked up enough. So he simply made Zayn lay his head down on him as he took out his phone and dialed the emergency number. When a woman on the other end of the line answered and identified the call as the emergency number, he spoke into the reciever.
"Yes I'd like to report a man with a gun at 819 Georgia street. He's in a t-shirt and jeans and chased me to shoot me because I tried to get my husband back after he kidnapped him. Please send help right away. He might try to kill me."
"The police are on the way. Are you hurt sir?"
"No."
"Is anyone else hurt?"
"My husband. He hasn't been shot. But he's been beaten pretty bad and he's very shaken up."
"Alright. I'm sending an ambulance as well."
"Send two of them. I hit the man who tried to shoot me on the head with a shovel when he pointed the gun at my husband and threatened to kill him. He wasn't bleeding but I'm positive he's hurt too."
"Yes sir. Please stay on the line until help arrives."
"Yes ma'am."
When Harry looked down at the man still knocked out in the middle of the floor, he pulled Zayn closer to him and rubbed his shoulder soothingly. He couldn't believe that for the past week and a half, Zayn had been in the company of him. It almost didn't seem real. But all he had to think about were those eight o'clock phone calls that sent his heart racing every time. And he knew that it was real.
Leaving soft lingering kisses on his husband's forehead, it was the first time he was able to fully exhale and truly feel relief. There was no longer a wait and no need to guess. It was all over. All that was left was to see this very sick and disturbed man get the justice he so surely deserved.