Page 74 of The Sentinels

"Okay."

"But—"

Ace pulled my head back by my hair, but it was a gentle tug. "Go with her, baby girl. I'll come for you when we're done."

When he was done killing my father. I didn't want to think about what he was going to do for me. It was illegal, but it needed to be done. I hated my father. I had hated him since he'd stolen my innocence with drunken indifference. I'd had nightmares for years, and had never truly stopped being afraid of him. Now that he was free, I would never find peace, but more importantly, he needed to pay for killing Sophie and Gracie.

So I went with Ruby.

To wait for the man that I loved to come back to me.

Chapter 35

Ace

Ten minutes later we pulled into the parking lot of the rundown Sandcastle Motel. There were only two vehicles parked directly in front of the doors to their rooms. Since the room key had the number on it, we headed straight to room ten. There was no vehicle parked there, but it didn't stop us from busting the door in and entering the room.

Hook wasn't there, but his shit was.

"Pete, hit the lobby and find out what you can about this scum." Tanner moved around the room, kicking the scattered clothes out of his way.

"Doesn't have much," Sid commented from the vanity.

"Just got out of prison," Tanner reminded him.

"What the fuck?" Sid reached for something in the trash can. "This fuck on birth control or something?" He held up a thin, rectangular box with Androcur 50mg etched onto the front.

Tanner and I went over to investigate. I took the box from Sid, which hadn't even been opened. "Chemical castration," I explained, dropping the box back into the trash. "They must have started him on this before his release."

"Appears he's stopped taking it," Sid sneered.

I began looking through the shit on the nightstand between the beds. Nothing but the usual crap you would expect to find--an array of receipts, gum wrappers, loose change, an empty food container, and a dirty ashtray filled with cheap cigarette butts.

Pete re-entered the room. "Checked in about a week ago, but the attendant says he's gone a lot. Hasn't seen him in a couple of days."

"Yeah, and we know what the fucker's been busy at," I growled, thinking back to the part of the video that Emerson had been luckynotto see.

Since she hadn't mentioned seeing Gracie on the video I could only assume that, for whatever reason, Hook hadn't shown it to her. Maybe he’d been saving it for later. Who the fuck knew how a psycho thought? Her killing had been done at the beginning of the video, and he'd slaughtered Gracie in a frenzied rage that could only be described as demonic. It had truly looked as if the bastard had been possessed by the worst sort of evil you could imagine. It had been clear that he hadn't killed both women at the same time or in the same place.

"Did you find out what he drives?"

Pete nodded in response to Tanner. "Chevy S10, old one. Attendant said the body was rusted, but you could still make out that it was blue.”

With the motel room door opened it was easy to hear the sound of traffic passing by on the road just out front. So when the loud, rattling sound of a vehicle with a bad muffler could be heard, we all exchanged a knowing look before rushing toward the doorway. Were we about to get lucky? We got to the door in time to see a small truck come into view, slow down as if the driver were about to turn into the motel, and then suddenly speed off again. It had to be Hook!

Nothing was said. My brothers and I rushed to our bikes and took off after him. It didn't take long to catch up to him, he was smart not to speed through town, and we were content to just follow him until we could make our move. We were on A1A and heading in the direction of Ormond Beach. This early in the morning, the coastal road along the Atlantic was quiet, and once we’d reached that quiet stretch, Hook picked up his speed.

Tanner signaled and we immediately moved in closer. Tanner and I picked up speed and passed him, pulling in front and then lowering our speed again in an attempt to slow him down. Pete and Sid pulled up along the driver’s side of the truck, ready to force him off the road, and Sully stayed at the rear. Even though he was driving a rusty heap, Hook had an advantage over our bikes, but we didn't let that sway our determination to get our hands on him. As the sun began to rise over the ocean, I knew that we needed to move fast.

I rolled off the gas, and slowed down, but instead of slowing down to keep from hitting me, Hook's bumper clipped my back tire and I lost control for a second. Fuck! If I went down he'd run right over me. I managed to gain control and pulled over so he could pass me, and that's when I pulled my weapon and showed it to him.

"Pull over!"

He spared me a quick glance, but kept on going.

I shot out his window. "Pull over, or the next one will be your fucking head!" I wanted to kill him, but not on the highway where anyone could happen upon the scene.

The bastard continued to ignore me, flooring it and nearly running Tanner over. Tanner veered off onto the shoulder. I rolled on the gas to remain next to the truck. I aimed my gun toward his head and shot off a round so fucking close that it clipped the point of his chin. He screamed out and swerved as he grabbed the lower half of his face, losing control of the truck. Pete and Sid rode close to the side of his truck to make sure that he didn’t veer back onto the road.

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