GIRL, FORSAKEN by Blake Pierce

Author:Blake Pierce [Pierce, Blake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-06-14T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Ella approached apartment 39 on the first floor of Jacaranda House and hammered on the door. It was a small, tucked-away building on the outskirts of Cleveland Park, just under her allocated 30-mile radius. It wasn’t an exclusive resettlement complex by the looks of it. In recent years, governments had moved away from the idea of utilizing entire blocks to house multiple ex-offenders because it invited backlash from surrounding communities. Now, resettlement residences were dotted around individually.

She waited a minute. No answer.

Ella cupped her hands around her eyes and peered through the window. Mostly darkness, but she recognized a few familiar sights. A chair, a TV mounted on the wall, a lamp. All the hallmarks of single person living.

Then she spotted movement.

Two eyeballs, widening like expanding moons in the night sky. Humans had a natural ability to spot faces wherever they looked, but after a few seconds, Ella was sure someone was staring back at her. As her eyes adjusted to the interior, a figure manifested. A tall, stocky figure that nearly touched the ceiling with its head.

Darkness returned, consuming the tall man within.

Ella pounded on the door with her fist. “Mr. Harrington, FBI. Please open up.”

Five seconds. That was her usual warning period.

She counted down, fully aware it would have been considered a fast-count in a boxing ring.

Five, three, one.

Then the latch unlocked. The door fell open and a pair of white eyeballs appeared between the crack.

“Mr. Harrington?” Ella asked.

“Just give me a chance,” the man said, keeping the door an inch away from closed.

A promising introduction, Ella thought. She slipped her foot over the threshold.

“A chance for what?” she asked.

Then the door suddenly bounced off her foot. It sprung back open and the man vanished into the shadows.

Even better, Ella thought.

She ran inside to a mini-hallway and turned to the door on the left.

The living room she’d seen through the window. She kept her back to the wall and pointed her Glock towards the darkness, but couldn’t feel the presence of another soul in here.

She held still and listened for any sounds of life. There was someone else in the house, and either she or him would have to move first.

Creaking floorboards. Not in here. Another room.

Ella rushed back out into the hallway and tried the next door. A bathroom, nothing in here but a dirty shower and piles of clothes.

Only one more door to try. Ella assumed the Weaver stance, kicked the door open and leaped inside.

Much lighter in here thanks to the sun-facing window, but a bulky presence blocked out most of it.

The tall man had one leg out hanging out of the window. He glanced at the intruder, wide-eyed, like a deer in the headlights.

Ella jumped across the room, knocking a chair out of her way. She reached out and grabbed the man’s legs just as his wide torso began descending down to the ground. The weight dragged her upper half over the threshold, but Ella dug her knees against the wall for leverage.

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