Page 54 of Protecting Christina

The chief grabbed the address and stared at it. “They’ll be there.”

On my way out, I called Jake and updated him on the situation. We were all meeting in an hour. And I didn’t care if the police arrested me or not. I was getting Donna and those other two women out today.

***

It was only ten o’clock when I turned the car onto Simon’s street. Christina sat in the passenger seat beside me. She wore boots and cargo pants. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought she was coming in with us. I prayed she wasn’t getting any crazy ideas like that. My brothers and I had been through countless hostage rescues and we knew that any distraction could be fatal.

“Christina, I know I promised to bring you with me, but you have to promise to stay back. Do not come within thirty feet of the property. In fact, I preferred if you stayed in the car.”

“I understand.”

“But do you promise? It’s important that you follow this rule.”

She crossed her arms.

“I have to trust that you are going to listen to what I say so that I can focus on my task.”

“I promise to stay thirty feet back.”

I nodded. “All right. I see the police cruiser behind us and my brothers are here too.”

I pulled her hand into mine and interlaced our fingers. “This will all be over soon.”

She stared at our joined hands and nodded. “I know.”

For a second, my chest tightened. I had a bad feeling that she was talking about us and not the rescue. But there was no time to question her now. We would discuss it all later.

I climbed out of the car and walked over to the cruiser parked behind me. “Are you guys ready?” I asked.

“We’re just knocking on the door and asking to speak to Donna Polito, right?”

“That’s right. But we’re looking for any reason to go inside. So, if anything doesn’t look right, we’re going in.”

“You’re coming with us?”

“Absolutely.”

Then they looked over my shoulder at my brothers lined up behind me. “They’re staying here.”

I considered this. “Fine. They’ll be on standby if we need them.”

“All right, let’s go,” said the officer in the driver’s seat. “Best to get this done with.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, unhappy with his attitude.

The three of us walked toward the house and my brothers followed, but I shook my head and waved my hand. They knew the signal from our days out east and stayed put.

The officer who was driving knocked on the door first. “Open up, police.”

He placed his hand on his gun as we waited, and I checked the holster at my side. But there was no answer and no sound from the other side of the door.

“Doesn’t seem like there’s anyone home.”

“There are at least three women inside,” I said.

“Do you have proof of that?” the other officer asked.

I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the burner’s number. It rang and rang, but Donna didn’t answer.

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