Page 102 of Gunner

“I have to get that.”

With a sigh, Gunner pulled out of me. His cock was still half-hard. Clenching around the cum inside me, I pulled up my underwear and jeans, digging into the pocket for my phone.

“Hello?”

“Is this the chief of police, Ben Witter?”

Frowning, I zipped up my pants. I didn’t recognize the distorted voice. “Yes, who is this?”

“The one you’ve been looking for.”

“Excuse me.”

“Do you like surprise gifts, Chief Witter?”

“Who the hell are you?”

Gunner rested a hand on my side. I placed a hand against his chest to ward him off so I wasn’t distracted.

“Who I am is not important. I’ve left you a gift in the city. There’s still time to save her. If you hurry.”

“Save who?”

The caller hung up. I opened my call log and returned the call, but it went straight to voicemail.

“What’s that about?” Gunner asked. “Who called you?”

Before I could answer, my phone vibrated. A message popped up from the same number that had called me. I opened the app and tapped on the arrow to download the picture. My stomach roiled at the gruesome sight of a woman with blond hair, lying on what seemed like an operation table with her abdomen cut open, a pool of blood beneath her and on the floor.

“What the fuck,” Gunner whispered. “What’s this?”

“Another victim. Jesus, this can’t be happening.”

“What exactly is happening?”

“If my hunch is right, they’re now sourcing their babies by targeting pregnant women. Remember the escaped convict we found at the casino?”

“Yeah.”

“She was just the beginning. We cut off their source, so they found another way. I have to mobilize a team to find her before she’s dead.”

“Ben.” Gunner grabbed my arm. “There’s no way she could survive that.”

My stomach lurched. He was right. I knew he was, but I still had to try. I’d already wasted precious minutes ignoring the phone call to have sex with Gunner. If she was indeed dead… “I have to go.” But Gunner held on to my arm tight. “Gunner, I have to do my job.”

“I know where you can find her.”

27

BEN

I'm trying to make things work with Ben. I know it bothers him I stay in the closet but I see the way they treat him at work. I don't want to go through that.

The air was thick with tension as I stood outside the decrepit building. I pushed Gunner’s earlier words back to the recesses of my mind so I could focus on what needed to be done. My heart pounded in my ears, a rhythmic drumming that matched the cadence of the officers surrounding the structure.

I didn’t need to be here. I could have given the command and waited for the reports to hit my desk, but there wasn’t a chance of that happening after Gunner had confessed he owned the property. He’d been able to identify the location based on the interior of the basement shown in the photograph the unknown caller had sent me.

The building, an old small grocery store that had been condemned and abandoned for years, loomed ahead, its exterior a weathered gray that had once must have been white. Itswindows, caked in grime and shattered in places, offered a glimpse into the darkness that had consumed it.

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