Page 42 of Stryker

He went to the door, and as he’dsuspected, it was locked. So, not going out that way. Heconcentrated on the wall separating him from the storage room.Standard two-by-fours and drywall construction separated him fromthe next room. If he could somehow get through the drywall, he wassmall enough to fit between the gap of the two-by-fours and getinto the other room where, hopefully, the door was unlocked. It wasworth a try. He couldn’t just sit here and wait for shit to happento him. It was time to make a stand.

He did a quick check, finding hisinhaler still in his pocket in case he needed it from the physicalexertion it would take to get through the wall. He laid down on hisback and braced his feet against the drywall before pulling backand driving the soles of his shoes into the exact spot between twoof the two-by-fours.

The drywall cracked, sending a jolt ofpain up his legs. Thankfully, it wasn’t very thick—it seemedsomeone had been stingy with the building work and subpardrywalling, likely to cut costs. Lucky for him.

He looked over at the locked door,concentrated, and scanned past it to see if anyone was coming downthe hallway on the other side. He waited a minute, and when nobodyappeared, he kicked the wall with the soles of his shoes again,wishing he was wearing his steel-toe work boots instead ofrunners.

After a few minutes, John managed tobreak a sizable piece of drywall off his side of the wall, and wasnow working on the backside of the drywall of the storage room.With his ability, he knew he at least wasn’t hitting anything solidor electrical. His eyes glued on the doorway, keeping watch, hecontinued smashing at the drywall until he’d made a big enough holefor him to crawl through.

With one final look out into thehallway, John squeezed himself through the gap he’d created andinto the storage room. He had to stop for a moment and use hisinhaler. He was having difficulty breathing between the exertionand the drywall dust he’d created. His legs and feet were on fire.With a quick prayer to all the gods he could think of, he tried thestorage room door. Eureka! It unlocked and he gave a sigh ofrelief. Perhaps his luck had changed.

He limped out into the hallway,relieved he didn’t have to worry someone was hiding around the nextcorner because his gift helped him. Nobody was around, which wasstrange. As he passed the cubicles, filled with generic desks andtelephones, there were no personal items, pictures, coffee cups, orfiles to indicate office workers used them.

Maybe he was in an abandoned officebuilding, but why would phones still be here? John picked up one ofthe receivers but the line was dead. He decided not to stickaround, hoping to find one that worked. He was better off finding away out.

There were elevators atthe far end of the cavernous room, but he knew better than to usethem. The noise from the elevator might alert somebody of hisescape. John scanned the area and saw an exit sign on the otherside of the floor leading to a staircase.Thatwould be his wayout.

He checked the door leading out intothe stairwell; finding it empty, he limped over, opened it, andstarted his trek down the stairs. At least with his gift, nobodycould sneak up on him from behind things. Maybe his unique abilitywasn’t bad after all, though he would have preferred extra strengthor speed. Or even invisibility. That might have beencool.

John noted he was on thetenth floor by the number painted on the wall in thestairwell.I’malong way up. He was convinced though thatif he managed to get out of the building, he could try to find helpand somehow reach Stryker.

I won’t failyou.

***

Stryker

Stryker’s phone rang, and he answeredit quickly. “Stryker.”

“We found a guy drivingdown one of Marshall’s back roads coming in from the county over,”Brick reported.

“Who is he?” Strykerasked.

“We don’t know, but he’sasking for you.”

“Asking for me? What thehell.”

“We’ll meet you at thestation. We’re on our way.”

Stryker looked over at Spencer. “Weneed to go.”

When they got to the station, Strykerbarely waited for the car to stop before he exited the passengerdoor and headed into the police station.

Brick and Roman were waiting for him,along with Elias and two of his deputies.

“Where is he?” Strykerasked.

“He’s locked up in a cellthis way,” Elias said as he headed for the back of thebuilding.

Stryker and the rest of the teamfollowed behind. The moment he walked through the locked door andsaw the man, he lost it.

“You fucker. What the hellare you doing here? Do you have anything to do with John’skidnapping?” Stryker demanded as he charged the bars.

The man inside the cell stepped backout of reach and smiled wide. “Hello, brother. It’s good to see youagain.”

“You have a brother?”Brick asked, eyes wide.

“This piece of shit isn’tmy brother.” Stryker sneered. “He should be locked up somewherewith padded rooms.”

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