Page 24 of Saving Hanna
Chapter Seventeen
AIDEN
I could have killed my father.What the hell was he thinking?The only option I had was to go after Hanna and explain everything to her and pray that she would listen. There was no way that this was over. As much as I hated her leaving, I knew where she was going.
Even if she refused to listen to me, there was no way I was going to allow her to stay there.
All I could think about was getting to her as quickly as possible. Hopping in my car, I took off down the drive, pressing my foot all the way down on the gas. Trying her one more time, I needed to convince her to tell me where she was. As I waited for her to answer, the only voice I heard was her voicemail. Frustrated, I threw my phone on the passenger seat and watched it bounce onto the floor. In my haste to reach for it, I nearly ran off the road. Correcting the car, I thought it was best to keep my eyes on the road and watch out for Hanna.
As I drove down the only road to the highway from my place, I kept watch for her walking along the side of the road. It was dark, and taking off the way she did was by far the stupidest thing she could have done. Had she even thought about what could happen to her in the dark, walking on a less traveled road? Keeping my mind focused, I concentrated on the road.
Looking down at my odometer, I had traveled four miles. There was no way she could have walked that distance in the short amount of time that I had spent at the house looking for her. I was beginning to get worried and had to at least try her again. Pulling to the side of the road, I brought my phone to life and could see that I had missed a call. Entering my four-digit password, I saw the call I had missed was from Hanna and she had left a voice mail. Remaining on the side of the road, I listened to what she had to say. My chest began to tighten and all I could do was listen.
She was in trouble. Kicking up dirt, my wheels spun as I got back onto the road. The worst scenario kept going through my mind. I told her that the people living across the street were trouble. “Why didn’t she listen?” I shouted, pounding my hand against the steering wheel.
Every thought was going through my mind. Mostly blaming myself for not telling her the truth. Maybe if I told her the situation with my father, she would have agreed to marry me knowing that my feeling for her were true.God, I should have told her how I really felt.
~*~*~*~
When I arrived at her house, the block was swarming with cops. I wasn’t sure what I would find, but this wasn’t what I expected. Knowing that I wouldn’t make it to her house in my car. I pulled it to the curb and decided it would be better if I walked there. The closer I got, I could see that more than the Houston police department was investigating the house across the street. There were men wearing vests that read FBI and DEA across the front. Seeing them made what I thought was bad even worse.
Reaching Hanna’s house, I slipped around the back, knowing that the law enforcement team was more interested in the house across the street. Opening the back door, the house was silent as I turned on the light. Hanna’s house was like a matchbox, and from the back door, I could look into every room and see that she wasn’t in the house. Scanning the house, there was no indication that she had even been here.
Just as I was ready to leave, something shiny caught my eye. Her phone was on the floor near the back door. Even though I knew that she had been here, finding her phone had confirmed it. It also confirmed that she had been taken and I didn’t have a fucking idea where.
Picking up her phone, I brought it to life, hoping that I would be able to access her data. It wasn’t too hard to figure out her password since it was visible on the screen. All I had to do was figure out which direction she swiped the code. Knowing that there were only two options, I did the opposite of what made sense and went right to left instead of left to right.
When her phone displayed her icons, I had to smile to myself, not only because I knew her so well, but also because she had a picture of the home she once lived in as her wallpaper. Looking at the old house, I realized that nothing else mattered but her. I didn’t even care about the deal or the farm. All I cared about was her.
Staring down at her phone there were only three things I cared about; her contacts, messages, and pictures. Checking her contacts first, there were only two numbers. Mine and Dotty’s Diner. It was sad that the only two people that meant something to her were the diner and me. Closing out her contacts, I went to her messages. Even though I knew she was trying to send me a message, I had no idea what it meant. There in the comment were three letters followed by three numbers, ‘GHI496’. I had no idea what they meant, but they must have been important for her to put them in a text; a text she didn’t have the chance to send.
Putting her phone in my suit pocket, I left her house the same way I went in. The cops were still across the street, and needing any information I could get in order to find her, I walked between the cars to the FBI agent that was standing by his car for no other reason than to tell everyone where to go.
Stepping up to him, I tried to make conversation without seeming nosy. “Busy night.”
“Yeah, you could say that,” he answered, probably trying to figure out who I was.
“It’s about time someone stepped in to stop these guys.”
It’s amazing how a few words of praise can get even the best of them to talk. “Yeah, it’s just too bad that we didn’t get here sooner. Would have loved to have caught them in the act. Based on the blood pool on the sidewalk, at least another one is off the streets.”
“I totally get that. I’ve been watching these guys for a while,” I confessed, professionally.
“I only wish we caught Mendez and Ruiz before they took off. We’ll continue to watch the place, but I’m pretty sure they have left the state to pick up where they left off,” the agent admitted.
“Keep up the good work.” I said, before leaving the agent to his job.
As I headed back to my car, I had a bit of information that could give be some sort of idea of where Hanna might have been taken. It shouldn’t be too hard finding out who Mendez and Ruiz were. I was pretty sure that as soon as the dust settled, they would be back at the house. I just hoped that by then it wasn’t too late.
Making a U turn, I headed down the street and back to my house. Because it was Friday night, the traffic was crazy. It seemed that everyone in Houston was getting in on the weekend action. When I finally got to the exit I needed to take, I knew that I had wasted enough time already. Pulling my phone from my suit jacket I decided to call Albert to see what he could find out about Mendez and Ruiz.
Stopped at the top of the exit, there was nowhere for me to go, and the only thing I could do was wait until it reached the stop light. Tapping my steering wheel impatiently, there was something odd about the car in front of me. I had seen this car before. I knew that I had because of the decal in the back window that was an image of rose losing its petals. There are not too many cars that have that plastered on the back window.
It finally hit me where I had recognized the car. It was the same car that was parked at the house across the street from Hanna. Looking down at the plate, I kept my eyes on the car as I opened the glove box to find something to write on. Unable to find anything, I cussed under my breath that I hadn’t had anything to write on or write with. Concentrating on the plate, I began saying it over and over again so that I wouldn’t forget. “GHI-496, GHI-496, GHI-496.” Then I realized there was no reason to memorize the number. It was the same number Hanna had tried to text. Belonging to the same car parked across the street from her house days ago and the same car that might have taken her.
If ever there was a God, he must have been watching over Hanna and he just made me her savior. I wasn’t sure if Hanna was in the car or not, but there was no way I was going to let this car out of my sight. In order not to be seen, I knew that I had to keep a safe distance from them. And even if Hanna wasn’t in the car, there was a chance that they would take me where they were keeping her. My saving prayer was that it was dark, which gave me more of a chance of not being seen.
