Dino by Jaime Lewis
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Dino’s eyes popped open. His training told him that something didn’t feel right. His eyes focused, and he looked around the room. It was dark still, but the house seemed quiet—too quiet. He glanced over next to him and found Arianna sound asleep. He laid there for a minute. All of his senses were in overdrive. He turned to look at the clock on the table next to the bed and saw it wasn’t lit up. He lifted up so he could see the shelf that held all of the TV electronics. None of the normal green lights signaling that there was power were lit either. Something caused the power to go out. But there was something else. He sensed it in his gut.
He listened, trying to pick up on any sounds. Then suddenly, there was a clicking noise. It wasn’t loud, but he’d heard it. It stopped, and he waited to see if he heard it again. Seconds later, there was a different sound, like a doorknob jiggling.
Somebody was in the house. He quietly reached over to the table beside him and pulled his Glock out of the top drawer. He needed to wake up Arianna and get her into the bathroom. It wasn’t ideal, but at least she’d have a locked door between her and the imminent danger they were facing.
Just as he reached over to nudge her, the sound of glass breaking downstairs echoed in the quiet house. His heart rate increase as the adrenaline began to flow.
“Arianna?” He whispered close to her ear as she gave her a little shake.
Thankfully she wasn’t that heavy of a sleeper and woke right up. She went to say something, but he covered her mouth with his hand. He raised his finger to his lips as if telling her to be quiet. When she saw the gun in his other hand, he knew she understood what was going on and nodded.
He pushed the blanket off of them. They were both still naked from last night. He found his t-shirt next to the bed and threw it at her, and she quickly pulled it over her head. He slipped into a pair of shorts then quickly pulled her towards the bathroom. He handed her his phone.
“Lock yourself in the bathroom and call the police. And stay away from the door. If it comes to it, you go out the window. You won’t be able to climb down, but there is a small ledge where you can go up further on the roof. Do you understand?”
“Yes, go.” She told him, and he gave her a quick kiss before closing her in. He didn’t move away from the door until he heard her engage the lock.
When he heard the click, he then slowly and silently walked towards the door leading to the hallway. He had his weapon armed and ready to fire. As he reached for the doorknob, he heard the floor creak from the other side of the door. Before he could move out of the way, the door was shoved open with a lot of force behind it. He tried to jump out of the way, but the edge of it slammed into his hand, causing him to lose the grip on his gun. It fell to the floor somewhere near his feet. He didn’t have time to look for it because a large person dressed all in black appeared in front of him and took a swing at him. Dino ducked under the guy’s arm, then came back up and delivered a blow to the guy’s upper back. As the guy was bent over, Dino grabbed him from behind and put him in a chokehold, but the guy fought back and rammed his elbow into Dino’s rib cage. Dino let go but not before he shoved the guy to the floor.
The guy got to his feet. Dino could only see his eyes and mouth as everything else was concealed by the mask he wore. The wild look in his eyes told Dino a lot. This guy wasn’t your everyday burglar. This guy was here to harm. But Dino wasn’t going to let that happen—not on his watch.
Dino was in the position where he blocked the only way out. So, if this person wanted to leave; he’d have to go through him. They were too high up off the ground for him to jump out the window. He’d break his legs. There was no escape.
Dino was known as one of the best hand-to-hand combat fighters in the teams. He was trained in several forms of martial arts and had earned numerous awards for his skills.
The guy grabbed the lamp off the nightstand and threw it at Dino. Dino ducked out of the way, and it smashed into the wall behind him. Dino went to engage when the guy pulled out a knife, and it was a pretty decent size. It was large enough to do severe damage if you knew where to hit.
“Where are you hiding the little bitch at? I know she’s here.” he snarled in a raspy smoker's voice, and Dino could hear how labored his breathing was.
Dino didn’t respond, though it made him wonder who this guy was and how it connected to Arianna. Suddenly, a loud crashing sound came from the bathroom, and the guy’s head whipped around toward the door. That tiny split second was all the time that Dino needed to make his move. He leaped into the air, and his leg extended out, delivering a crushing blow to the side of the guys’ head. The guy instantly dropped to the floor and didn’t move. Dino kicked the knife away from the intruder’s body and then pulled the wire from the demolished lamp and used it to tie the guy’s hands behind his back. He used a rope he found on the floor to tie his ankles together. He patted him down and found he was carrying a small pistol in a holster strapped to his ankle.
He heard the sirens of the approaching police vehicles. He went to the bathroom door and knocked.
“Arianna. Open up.” He didn’t mean for his tone to sound so rough and abrupt, but he was still jacked up from the altercation. He looked around the bedroom that was in disarray and closed his eyes. If it weren’t for his trained instincts, this situation may have had a completely different outcome.
He heard the lock disengage, and then the door flew open. Before he could utter a word, Arianna slammed into him and buried herself in his arms. Her body trembled, and he squeezed her tight.
“It’s over.” He whispered above her head.
She sniffled a few times before she leaned back and tilted her head back to look up at him. She placed her shaky hand against his cheek. He closed his eyes and leaned into her comforting palm. “Are you okay?” she asked, and he couldn’t find the words he wanted to say, so he just nodded instead. He was alive, and she was safe. That was all that mattered. He turned his head and kissed her palm.
“We need to go downstairs because the police are here.”
“Do we know who he is?” She asked as he led her around the guy who was unconscious and tied up at the moment. Dino did check to make sure he was still breathing.
“I don’t know. Let’s see.” He bent down and pulled the mask off and Arianna gasped.
Dino looked at her. “Do you know him?”
“Yes. That’s Travis Gabbert, the guy that I told you about. He was the one the FBI was looking for. They thought he was going to go after my dad.”
Dino stood up. “Well, he won’t be going after anyone again.”
He found her jeans on the floor and handed them to her. While she slipped into them, he pulled on a shirt. Taking her hand, he led her around all of the broken glass in the bedroom then down the stairs. They could see all of the flashing lights out in front of the house. He opened the door as the first set of officers approached the house. He explained who they were and what had taken place. Then directed them upstairs where Gabbert was.
◆◆◆
It was nearly ten in the morning when the police and FBI investigators left the house. All their friends were there, including Chris from the FBI.
Everyone was gathered in the kitchen area. Arianna sat at the kitchen table. She was still in shock that Gabbert had broken into the house with all intentions to kill her.
She looked at Chris and shook her head. She felt numb. “I don’t understand. Why come after me? What did I ever do to him? If anyone should be mad, it should be me, considering he’s the one who threw me under the bus with that bogus complaint.”
Chris gave her a sympathetic look. “My guess is that he realized he wasn’t going to be able to get close enough to your dad, and he knew his time was running out here. So, he went after you instead. Killing you would’ve made your dad suffer in other ways.”
“So now that Gabbert has been found, I guess that means you’re headed back to D.C.?”
“In a few days. I need to process a lot of paperwork, so I’ll be sticking around for a little bit longer.”
Dino got up and shook Chris’s hand. “We appreciate everything you’ve done.”
Chris furrowed his eyebrows. “I’m just sorry we couldn’t have caught him sooner.”
“It is what it is,” Dino replied, and Chris agreed.
After Chris left, the entire team stayed and helped clean up the mess from the altercation.
Arianna went into the garage to get the dustpan. She heard the door close behind her, and it startled her, making her jump.
When she turned, she saw Dino standing there. His hands were on his hips, and his expression was blank. She wondered if something was wrong.
“Is everything okay?” she asked as he began to stalk towards her.
When he got to her, he surprised her when he lifted her into the air and sat her down on a stack of nearby boxes. Her legs were wrapped around his waist and her arms looped around his neck. They were eye level. He didn’t say anything—he just stared into her eyes.
“Dino?”
“I want to say thank you.”
She pulled back a little and cocked her head. “Thank me?”
“For listening to me and not putting yourself in danger.”
She grinned. “I think I’m smart enough to know when to listen to someone who knows what is best for me, especially when it comes to my safety.”
“I love you.” He said, then closed the distance between them and kissed her.
He released her lips and pulled her into a hug. She held on tight. In fact, she was never letting him go.
“I love you, too.” She whispered.
