Guilty of Innocence (Chapter -13)

A loud ring made Chad’s eyes shoot open and he frowned with a groan as he shut his eyes again, rolling over to reach for his phone on the nightstand. Rubbing his eyes, he squinted at the bright screen in the dark room, realizing he had a text with an address. He looked to the clock on the nightstand next to him.

6:30 am

Setting his phone down again, he sat up and shoved the shoulder next to him. A groan came from the figure lying next to him, loud and irritable.

“Nicky, wake up,” he grumbled. “You wanted to come with me, right? Get your lazy ass up.”

“Nice good morning, jack ass,” Nicky muttered from under the covers before slowly sitting up as well, rubbing her eyes. “What address did he send you?”

“We’ll find out when we get there,” he replied, swinging his legs over the mattress to reach into his bag and pull out his wallet, looking through it. “I hope I have enough money for a cab.”

“I’ve got some money,” she assured him in a raw voice as she stood to head toward the bathroom.

“I just hope it’s not too far,” Chad muttered as he began to dress. “Meet me in the lobby when you’re done primping, ok? You got ten minutes.”

“How generous of you,” she called before shutting the door and he smirked as he pulled on his pants.

Meanwhile...

Jared frowned in his sleep when he heard beeping coming from his phone. He sighed as he awoke, turning onto his side on the pull-out bed from the couch and rubbing his eyes. He sat up tiredly and glanced around the room before locating his phone and looking at it, not bothering with his glasses. A text message gave him the address Nemo had sent to Chad and the boy felt his heart clench.

Hearing the click of the bedroom door lock, he quickly rolled over to pretend he was still asleep just as Chad stepped out of the room and quietly shut the door behind him. The blonde glanced to the younger boy and smirked before quietly heading toward the elevator. Once Jared heard the doors closed he looked up and around the room before sitting up, throwing on his glasses and hurriedly getting out the bed to get dressed. He’d just pulled on his socks when he heard the knob on the bedroom door again.

He hurriedly climbed under the covers, lying down just in time for the door to open and Nicky peeked out of the door. She glanced around before tiptoeing out into the main room and toward the elevator, lifting her board next to the couch. She stopped just before going into the elevator, chewing on her lower lip as she glanced toward Jared in the bed. She wanted to tell him they were leaving, but Chad had told her not to. She hoped he’d make it up to him later.

Giving up on her thoughts she hurried into the elevator and once Jared heard the doors again he sat up and pulled his shoes on, quickly grabbing his laptop from the stand next to the couch and setting it on the mattress to open it and turn it on. He waited impatiently as it warmed up then opened his internet instant messaging.

Chad and Nicky just left.

Good. Follow them, at a distance. Keep the police off their tail. I’ll text you with your next instructions.

Yes, Sir

Jared shut his laptop and hurriedly gathered his thing to head toward the elevator. Just as he reached it he frowned in wonder, noticing the numbered lights above the door indicated the elevator was heading up, toward him. He stepped back as it reached him and he stared wide eyes at it when the doors slid open.

“Jared,” Parker nodded, stepping into the room, Kat right behind him. He passed the boy, looking around the room before he turned back to Jared. “Where’s Chad?”

“You…just missed him,” Jared replied, hesitantly. “He just left with Nicky.”

“How long ago?” Kat demanded, coming up next to him, making Jared glance between the two detectives before looking back at Kat.

“I dunno,” he shrugged. “Maybe ten minutes ago?”

“Do you know where he went?” Parker asked, stepping closer to the two.

Jared swallowed before shaking his head, lying, “No. I think he got that text from Nemo and took off to find him.”

Parker nodded then waved them toward the elevator as he headed toward it, calling, “Come on you two. We’ve gotta find him.”

Meanwhile...

“You sure this is where you two wanna be?” the cabby asked, his taxi stopped in a seedy part of town in front of an abandoned warehouse.

“Yeah,” Chad replied, staring out the window at the warehouse before he and Nicky rummaged through their pockets for the cab fare so Chad could hand it to him. “Thanks, buddy.”

“Look, this may not be any of my business, but I feel like I should warn you two anyway,” the cabby began, taking the money as he turned to look at the teens through the divider window and they looked up at him in wonder. “I’ve heard that a lot of bad things have happened around here. Especially in that warehouse. I don’t usually do this, but you kids look like you’re not from around here. If you want, I can stay out here and wait for you. If anything goes wrong—”

“Thanks for the offer, but we’ll be alright,” Chad cut in, shooing Nicky to head out of the cab with a wave of his hand. “Thanks for the warning too, bud. We’ll be safe, I promise.”

The man nodded, hesitantly as Chad patted his shoulder and climbed out of the cab to stand with Nicky as the cab drove away and she looked at him with a slight glare.

“You lied to him,” she muttered as Chad pulled his phone from his pocket. “We don’t know if we’re gonna be fine, and we’re not being safe by being here in the first place.”

“You wanted to come,” he retorted, examining the address on his phone and looking around.

“Only because I didn’t want you to do anything stupid, like run after him again,” she ground out, following him as he stepped around the warehouse, looking for the door. “Now I’m realizing this whole mess is stupid!”

“You can always go back to the hotel,” he replied, not looking at her.

“Yeah, right,” she scoffed, looking around to see if anyone was watching as Chad found a door and tried to pull it open. “What if those two detectives find us?”

“I didn’t send anything to Villa,” Chad replied, jiggling the handle on the door before examining it. “He doesn’t know where we are or if we left.”

“He wouldn’t be much of a detective if he couldn’t find us, Chad,” Nicky retorted. “Besides, he found us once, he could find us again.”

Nicky jumped when Chad kicked in the door, making her shoot a wide-eyed stare at him and he held his hand out for her to take. She hesitated before gripping his hand and they stepped through the door and into the dark warehouse, cautiously. Chad glanced around the dark room, not blaming Nicky for the death grip she had on his hand as they stepped deeper into the warehouse.

“Chad,” she breathed, making him look at her, but she only stared ahead. “What’s that?”

He followed her gaze and as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he noticed a chair in the center of the huge deserted room, something on the seat. His grip tightened a bit on her hand as they stepped together toward the chair. It seemed ages when they finally reached it, and they finally got a clear look at the unknown object on the chair. He reached for it, but Nicky tugged on his hand, making him hesitate and glance at her. She shook her head when he looked at her, but when he looked away, he reached for it again, realizing it was a recorder of some kind. Chad swallowed, lifting the recorder and hitting play with a shaky hand.

“Hello, Chad,” Nemo’s eerie voice came from the recorder. “I’m sorry I couldn’t see you in person, but I couldn’t risk you bringing your detective friends with you, despite my instructions. I told you I’d meet you halfway, so here it is: I killed your parents for my own reasons, which I won’t share with you until we meet in person. If we meet in person, that is.”

“W-What does he mean by that?” Nicky shuddered, her eyes wide as she stared at Chad in terror.

Her question went unanswered for the moment when they heard the door they’d entered through slam shut, making them both shoot wide eyes to it, and Chad ran toward the door, dragging Nicky with him. He tried opening the door as Nicky breathed heavily in panic. The door was somehow barred, and though he stepped back to kick the door out, as he’d done before, but it didn’t budge.

“I was going to tell you everything, Chad,” the recorder went on as Chad struggled with the door. “But I thought better of it. You would just go back to your little friends and tell them all about it. I’d like to keep all of this between you and me…brother.”

Nicky gasped and Chad froze just as he was about to try breaking down the door again. He stared at the recorder with wide eyes filled with disbelief and confusion.

“Chad…” Nicky breathed. “Aren’t you an only child?”

“I don’t know,” he replied, honestly. “I was…adopted.”

They both froze when they heard low growls at the far end of the room. Nicky gripped Chad’s arm as they turned slowly toward the sound, and they both froze when they caught sight of two Doberman Pinchers bared their teeth, menacingly, their eyes wild and both teens could tell they hadn’t been fed in who knew how long.

“I hope you can run fast, Chad.”

Chad dropped the recorder, knowing there wouldn’t be anything else on it, and one of the do

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gs barked, but neither they, nor the teens, moved from their spots as Chad gripped Nicky’s hand.

“We’re gonna have to run, Nicky,” he murmured, neither one of them looking away from the dogs. “They’ll attack eventually. When I tell you, run for the door behind you as fast as you can. We’ll find a way out.”

“What about you?” she shuddered, visibly trembling.

“I’m keeping myself between you and the dogs,” he replied. “Don’t argue with me, just do what I tell you.”

He didn’t fail to notice the dogs lowering their upper bodies, pawing lightly at the ground, and he knew they were getting ready to launch at them.

“Go, Nicky! Now!”

Chad let go of her hand to shove her away from him just as she turned to run, and he followed her, hearing the dogs growl and bark before he heard their claws tapping against the cement floor as they ran after the teens.

“Chad, where the hell am I going?!” Nicky shouted, reaching the door and hurriedly opening it.

He didn’t answer her question as she felt herself being shoved past the door and it slammed shut behind her. She stood in the room, hearing only her heavy breathing and the growls and barks of the dogs on the other side of the door. Nicky slowly turned huge, terrified eyes at the door before jumping with a gasp when she heard slams and growls of pain…and they didn’t sound like growls from the dogs.

“Chad!” Nicky screamed and grabbed the handle of the door to open it, but it resisted, and she didn’t have the strength to overpower whatever was keeping it closed. It didn’t stop her from slamming her fists against the door. “Chad! Chad!”

Chad’s back slammed against the door he’d shoved Nicky through, ignoring her cries as he growled in pain from one of the dogs jaws clamping down onto his forearm. The other Doberman was charging toward the two and Chad thought fast, grabbing the collar of the dog biting his arm to spin around, smacking the rump of the Doberman into its partner’s face and swinging it off his arm at the same time.

The dogs slid across the floor, hitting the chair and toppling it to the floor. He braced himself when the dogs carefully stood, shaking the rattling from their heads before growling at Chad. He only growled back defiantly at them before the Dobermans charged at him and he waited until they were nearly on him before moving quickly to dodge them, and they both ran into the wall behind Chad with yelps of pain.

Chad ran to the door that he’d shoved Nicky through and swung it open to reveal Detective Parker with his gun drawn and aimed at him. The teen stumbled back, his eyes wide as his heart leapt into his throat at the sight of the barrel then looked up at Parker.

“Out of the way!” he shouted.

Chad ducked below his gun to run behind him and Nicky threw her arms around him as Kat rounded him, her own gun drawn. He gripped at Nicky when two shots rang out and the dogs yelped each before a pair of thuds sounded and silence followed. The detectives lowered their guns and Parker turned to the teens with a stern expression.

“You could’ve been killed, Chad,” Parker scolded, holstering his gun, as did Kat. “What were you thinking?!”

“Chad?!” Nicky called with a start when he sunk in her arms. She lowered him to the floor when his legs gave way beneath him and she stared at his wide-eyed expression in growing concern. “Chad, say something!”

“What’s the matter with him now?” Kat demanded as Parker hurriedly knelt down next to him.

Chad clutched Nicky’s arm as she wrapped it around his chest, sitting behind him, his eyes staring through everyone and everything, his breaths coming in short, sporadic pants. Parker noticed the wound on Chad’s arm and realized the dogs had gotten to him before he and Kat had and he looked to her.

“Go get the first aid kit in my car,” he ordered and Kat hurried to fulfill her orders as Parker looked back at the two teens to question Nicky. “What happened?”

“When we got here there was only a recorder on a chair,” Nicky explained, Chad unmoving and still clutching her arm. “Chad dropped it by the door over there. It’s got Nemo’s voice on it.” Parker stood and headed into the room again as Nicky lifted her free hand to cradle Chad’s head, lowering her mouth to his ear to whisper to him. “Chad, you have to breathe normally. You’re gonna hyperventilate. Listen to me. Breathe with me, ok?”

She started breathing deeply, soothingly encouraging him to do as she did. A few breaths later, he obeyed and soon calmed enough to loosen his grip on her arm. She bit her lower lip, fighting the tears coming to her eyes as she pressed a kiss to his head, hugging him close. She’d seen him like this before. A month after his parents’ murders, he’d start having flashbacks during the day of finding their bodies. Hallucinations that they were standing in his room, covering in the wounds that had killed them and the blood they had shed. She’d gotten so many calls from his uncle asking her to come over because he couldn’t handle the boy’s chaotic behavior.

Nicky’s attention shot to Parker when he returned…empty handed.

“It’s not there, Nicky,” he explained, making her eyes widen in disbelief. “Are you sure—?”

“I’m positive!” she snapped. “I heard his voice! I saw Chad play the message! Go look again! Maybe one of the dogs ate it!”

“They didn’t have time…while they were chewing on my arm.”

The two looked to Chad as he stared a glazed look up at Parker and asked, “Where’s Jared?”

Meanwhile...

Kat hurried toward the rental car she and Parker were using and leaned into the driver’s side to pop the trunk and tell Jared, who they’d left in the back seat, that Chad was hurt. She looked to the back seat…but Jared was gone. Frowning, she stood from the car after popping the trunk and looking around the street for the boy. She froze when she caught sight of him coming out from around the warehouse and ducked when he turned her way. She watched from the cover of the car frame as he stepped toward the car, not failing to notice that he shoved something into his pocket as he came closer.

He noticed the trunk was up and the driver’s side door on the car was open along with the back door he’d left open. His footsteps faltered, as he approached the car, Kay staying very still, wanting to see what it was he had in his other hand. It was black, and she could have sworn she recognized the shape. Realizing what it was when he stopped next to the car to examine it, she drew her handgun from its holster, keeping it out of view as she stood. Jared jumped when she suddenly appeared and she smiled, leaning on the roof of the car with one arm, hiding her armed hand.

“Hey, kid,” she smirked, noting that he moved his hand to hide the thing he was holding. “Whatcha doin’?”

“Oh…” Jared replied, trailing off for a moment as he leaned on the other side of the car at the open back door. “I was…lookin’ for a place to take a leak. That orange juice I had with breakfast caught up with me.” He glanced over her before nodding, “What are you doing?”

“Gettin’ the first aid kit,” she replied. “Chad got a nasty bite on his arm.”

“That’s why I hate Dobermans,” Jared replied, heading toward the trunk to get the first aid kit.

Kat tried very hard to hide her smirk of triumph as she slammed her door shut and sauntered toward the trunk as he leaned into it.

“How’d you know it was a Doberman that bit him?” she questioned, heading toward him slowly and she noticed him stop. “Or that there was more than one? You were in the car the whole time, right?”

She didn’t wait for an answer before she lifted her gun and aimed it at him as she stood next to the car.

“Drop the tazor, Jared,” she ordered, keeping a good distance away from him as she kept her gun trained on him. “Come with me, and you can explain everything to Detective Villa and Chad.”

“Detective,” he sighed, slowly standing to face her, but kept his tazor in hand. “We’re way past explanation, I’m sorry to say.”

“Come on, Jared,” she urged sternly, not lowering her pistol. “I don’t wanna shoot you. Drop the weapon and my boss might go easy on you if you cooperate.”

“Don’t you get it?” he questioned, his voice cracking. “I’m going to jail for what I’ve done, and my parents are probably dead already because of this guy! If I stop now, he’ll kill me too!”

“Who, Jared?” Kat questioned. “This Nemo character? We can protect you, kid. Just drop the tazor, and come inside, and we’ll explain everything to Detective Villa.”

“No,” Jared shuddered, bowing his head as he shook it. “No one can help me now.”

Everything that had happened since that night Chad and Nicky spent at his house had been eating a little more out of him with every action. Now, he’d gone too far for redemption. It had been to protect his parents, but after everything they’d uncovered about this guy, Jared was sure his parents were already dead, and he was working for Nemo for nothing but his own life now.

“I won’t…” he ground out, tightening his hand on the tazor and making Kat stiffen a bit more at the tone of his voice. “I won’t be…his puppet…anymore.” He looked up at Kat, tears welling in his eyes. “Tell Chad and Nicky I’m sorry, ok?”

“Don’t do it—!”

She cut herself off when she had no choice but to pull the trigger of her pistol as he charged at her.