Free Sanctuary by Joshua Ingle Page A

had a conversation with her ten minutes ago, in this very room. She’d just gone downstairs to get her car. Cole must be playing some kind of coward’s trick to get me to back down.
    “She drowned in the fountain out front. Go look for yourself.”
    What? Brandon shuffled over to the window, keeping his eyes on Crystal in case she tried anything. Then he peeked outside. Indeed, far out front, beside the gates to the main road, Heather’s body drifted in the fountain pool.
    Brandon heard a latch click behind him, and turned to find the door to the service hallway opening. Tattered and bleeding, Virgil entered. Small cuts adorned his face, and his clothes were torn in odd places. Brandon hadn’t done that to him—had Heather? Virgil looked like he’d just been in some kind of intense physical confrontation. And he was soaking wet…
    Brandon stalked toward him. “What the fuck did you do to Heather?” He landed a punch on Virgil’s forehead. The guard fell, and Brandon kicked him in the gut as hard as he could. “Hey, help me with him!” Brandon called to Cole.
    “Calm down. He didn’t do it.”
    Yeah, right. Brandon continued to batter the murderous guard relentlessly until Virgil caught his foot and pulled it out from under him. Brandon landed on his back with a thud, and Virgil stood easily, as if the beating had never occurred—just like he had downstairs.
    Does this guy feel pain? He had to be tweaked on something heavy. Of all the nights for the dude to wig out, couldn’t he have picked a night less inconvenient for Brandon?
    Virgil hurried around the room, examining the walls, the ceiling, and especially the windows. Yep, he was definitely wired up. He talked as fast as a jackhammer. “If we’re done with that, I need you to seal all entrances. I cleared out the downstairs area and managed to close that door to the pool, but they’ll be looking for other ways in. Are there any entrances up here besides the elevator and the service hallway?” Virgil squinted as if trying to remember the condo’s layout, then answered his own question. “Right, the stairwell, but I closed its lobby door earlier. Good. Any windows that open?”
    “Just the balcony doors,” Cole answered.
    Behind Cole, his whore locked eyes with Brandon. Brandon returned Crystal’s gaze with malice, then wiped off some more blood and struggled to his feet.
    Virgil finished his inspection and turned back to Cole. “Okay, we’re safe in here. For now. You can’t go outside, okay?”
    Brandon shook his head in disbelief. “The fuck are you doing, man?”
    Virgil ignored him and spoke to Cole. “Do you have a gun?”
    Cole kept his mouth shut, so Virgil turned to Brandon.
    “Do any of you have a gun?”
    “None of your business, asswipe.”
    “Disassemble it. I’m serious about that. You need to do it immediately. A gun won’t hurt them at all, but they could use it to hurt you. Throw it away.”
    “We called the police and they’re on their way,” Cole said. Brandon couldn’t tell if the threat was aimed at Virgil or at himself.
    Shit. Crystal was still hunkered behind Cole like he was a human shield. Brandon couldn’t harm her now, not when the police were on their way, but he couldn’t let her rat him out either.
    Nothing matters , his inner voice repeated to comfort him. I am indifferent.
    Virgil appeared to be even more distraught than Brandon at the news that the police were coming. “You did what? Oh, no. No, now even if we call back and tell them we’re okay, they’ll still send a patrol to check it out.” He rubbed his temples. “Uh, okay, I think—I think I’ll have to leave you, and go save them when they get here.”
    Brandon had half a mind to ask him where he got his drugs. On a better night, he would have indulged himself.
    “Save them?” Crystal asked.
    Virgil raised his head at the question, and a thin smile formed on his lips. He reached out his hand and addressed Crystal as if meeting a