Top of Your Ambitions

“Steven Hall, former lieutenant of Admiral Cedrick Jones’s unit, owns a meat factory after being discharged. Wife died from lung cancer a year before.” Iverson announced as he dropped a file on the table inside the break room.

Rian shot up from his seat anxiously, glassy eyes glancing at the detective as desperately as he is feeling right now. He didn’t pay any mind to Wallace and Alex, who are both seated beside him around the table. The main concern for him is the survival of his two best friends.

Just yesterday night, Rian found it strange that neither Zack nor Ace returned to the loft. He just assumed that the two possibly pulled off a getaway weekend to rekindle their old flame, but Iverson informed him that she left following a lead and did not return with news about it. As a detective, it is unlike her to leave loose ends untied.

That is when Rian finally realized that whoever framed Dan Potter for bombing Admiral Jones’s home could or might possibly kill Ace and Zack.

Iverson had found Zack’s car tailing after Ace in the surveillance footages during that day, meaning that wherever they are, they are together and in danger.

“It’s him?” Wallace’s small, shaky voice emerged from behind Rian.

“We’re not one-hundred percent sure, but we talked to everyone in Jones’s unit and Hall is the only one who claimed that Potter and Jones started having problems right before their honorary ceremony. It looks to me like he is trying to plant a motive on Potter.” Iverson explained.

“JAMES, I NEED YOU TO BE ONE-HUNDRED PERCENT SURE!” Rian shouted incredulously.

The older detective nearly jumped at the sudden rise in volume. Even Alex jumped slightly in his seat on the drummer’s left.

“Rian…”

“We are wasting time! I’m not about to lose two of the most important people in my life just because your team can’t seem to get ahold of evidence.” Rian snapped inconsiderably.

Iverson opened his mouth and closed it again. A hand emerged on Rian’s shoulder but it was brushed off as soon as it landed.

“Hey, Rian, the team will find the right evidence and they will find Zack and Ace and they will be alive and well.” Wallace whispered as she attempted to comfort the drummer.

Angry with bloodshot eyes, Rian turned on the redhead with an accusatory glare on his face. He pointed his index finger at her face and snarled at her.

“This is YOUR fault! You had to bring Acacia that stupid case about your stupid ex-husband and now she is going to die or is probably already dead because of you. I am going to lose my best friend because you put her in this position. Oh, and I’m going to lose Zack too because you refused to tell him about your identity and about who you are!”

Wallace stared at the drummer in disbelief as tears coated her eyes.

“Rian, it’s not her…”

“SHUT UP, GASKARTH!”

Alex did what he was told immediately.

Iverson groaned loudly, running a tired hand through his face and hair. He approached Rian with the same angry strides.

“You are not the only one who cares for Ace here. She is my partner and my friend. I will not lose her. She will not die on my watch. I will find her and she better be alive or I will commit a murder.” Iverson threatened.

Rian sighed heavily and sat back down on his seat. His attention is turned to the man sitting behind the table in the interrogation room. The light-skinned man wearing a beanie hat and a winter coat looked to be bored out of his mind. He has this nonchalant feel about him that pissed the drummer off so much.

“Who is that fucking bastard?”

“Leonardo Hagen, we linked him to the bomb parts and to Steven Hall. I will get an address out of him, even if it is the damn last thing I do.” Iverson gritted through his teeth.

Without a word, the male detective turned from the group and stormed his way out of the break room. A few moments later, he appeared in the interrogation room. All three spectators in the break room turned to the large window view of the action and repositioned themselves in front of it.

“Hagen, your records are clean.”

“Then why am I here, detective?” The man yawned in disinterest.

“But I did find records under your falsified alias, Neal Roberto Yager. Here I have records of your transactions with an unknown party; look at the money he gave you for the bomb parts you’ve built.” Iverson dropped a pile of paper on top of the desk.

The bored expression on the man’s face vanished instantly.

“I do not know where they are.” Hagen said quickly.

Rian saw Iverson’s composure heighten at the man behind the table. The detective knows what he has to do to find his friends.

“Oh, so you do know what I want.” Iverson said, tone lightening.

Hagen shifted uncomfortably in his seat and scratched at his light blonde hair.

“Well why else would I be here right? You are looking for that sexy, sultry detective and her bodyguard boyfriend.”

Rian’s fist tightened at the lack of respect the man has given for his best friend, but he can see Wallace stiffen in her position beside him. She is uncomfortable with the concept of Zack being referred to as another woman’s boyfriend.

“So you want to tell me who took them and why they were taken? Oh, and it’d be great if you told me where they are.” Iverson’s sarcastic voice rang hollowly in Rian’s ears.

“That’s easy, that totally fuckable detective stuck her nose in where she shouldn’t. And that boyfriend of hers happens to be with her. But she can let me stick whatever she likes in her”

“That detective you are speaking so crudely about is my partnerso show a little respect, you little shit.” Iverson sat down at the other side of the table and leaned closer to the blonde man.

Hagen laughed light-heartedly, leaning back against his chair.

“Where are they, Hagen?”

“I don’t know, detective.”

“Tell me and your 100 year prison sentence will be negotiated to 20 years.”

“You have no proof that I did it.”

“I know you didn’t, but I do have proof that you are an apprentice to homicide.”

“And that’s going to give me 100 years?”

“You built a bomb that killed a seasoned admiral who served this country and his entire family, Hagen. So yeah, you will be charged with 100 years if you do not cooperate.”

Hagen shrugged again as if none of the fact fazed him.

“Oh, that sucks. So unless you can give me immunity, I ain’t telling you jack shit!”

Iverson got up from his seat in apparent rage and in one quick instant, the table in front of him flipped over on the blonde man. Hagen’s chair and body moved backwards on impact, making a harsh landing against the floor.

“God damn it, Hagen. You give me a name and address or else I will make your life a living hell. I will make sure they put you on death roll. You think I won’t convince them? I will, because an admiral is dead and a fellow member of the Baltimore police force is abducted and you are an apprentice and withholding evidence.” Iverson barked at the fallen man, pointing a finger down at him as he went on a tangent.

“I am not an apprentice in their abduction!”

“Where are they, Hagen?” Iverson gritted through his teeth this time.

The blonde opened his mouth and then closed it again.

“Reduce my sentence to ten years and I tell you an address and name.”

Iverson scoffed.

“Fifteen.”

“Ten.”

“I can’t do that, the district won’t let me. They think that giving you what you deserve is more valuable than my partner so they will never agree to that. So what I’m going to do is make you tell me.” Iverson took out a gun from its holster.

“You can’t do that…” Hagen stared at the weapon wide-eyed.

“Detective Kovacs is my partner, and definitely worth losing my job for.”

“Fine, fifteen years.”

“Name and address.” Iverson demanded.

Hagen sighed.

“Steven Hall. 187 Holden Blvd.”



“Zack, are you honestly doing one-hand pushups while we’re in captivity?” Ace asked in disbelief as her body moved in speed with the movements of her ex-boyfriend’s pushups.

Since they are both handcuffed to each other, the blonde detective resorted to sitting on Zack’s back while he stuck with his morning exercise. Zack has been dead set on doing it ever since he woke up.

“If I’m going to die, I’m going to die fit.”

“Zack, you are already fit. And that arm of yours is the only freely functional arm you have left. If the heavy weight of my body breaks that last arm, you are not going to die pleasantly.” Ace noted.

Zack continued to do his pushups, elevating the blonde with the ease of his movements.

“Actually, you are a lot lighter than you used to be. Ace, you haven’t been eating right, have you? You are not eating enough!”

“Zack!”

“I’m serious! You are too light.”

She rolled her eyes and chose not the reply. It did not matter; Zack continued to do his pushups.

“Are you okay, Ace?”

She did not respond and just continued to let him resume to his exercise. It is not often that Zack actually shows concern for her. He is too busy trying to express to her how much he does not want to be with her to actually give her a side of him that proves to her that he actually cares. The past two days of being locked in this room has been different for the pair. Zack started to show a slight bit more concern regarding her wellbeing.

Maybe it is his starving appetite talking.

Before the blonde can even think about replying, the door is thrown open. Acacia nearly fell over when Zack shot up from his position on the floor. The two untangled themselves from the mess with their handcuff before turning to face the actual enemy.

“Ahh, detective!”

Ace’s eyes widened in realization and in disbelief.

“You-you--”

“Who is that?” Zack whispered.

The young man in his mid-twenties grinned smugly at the two in front of him and pulled out a gun from his back pocket. Ace’s stance tightened at the realization that it is her gun. He must have snatched it from her after dosing her with a sedative.

“D-David Harper.”

I thought he was innocent. Wallace told me her brother was innocent, Ace thought woefully to herself.

The brunette’s face changed drastically. His face stiffened at the realization that the detective actually knows his name.

“So who shall I kill first?”

“How about you turn that gun around and just shoot yourself in the head?” Acacia recovered from her shock and chirped in sarcastically.

David Harper smirked, shaking his head.

“How about you take off your winter coat and your pants and let me ride on that glorious mound of yours?”

Zack stepped up suddenly.

“How about you show her some respect, you fucking pervert!” He snarled.

Rolling her eyes, Ace tugged at the handcuff and pulled her ex-boyfriend back.

“You know, I can just shoot you and take her however way I like…” Harper grinned at Zack, tilting his face up in wonder.

“Listen here, you…” Zack started but was interrupted by heavy footsteps from outside the door.

The footsteps startled David, making him take a few steps back from the two.

“David? What is taking so damn long? Get the two twerps out of here, find a way to get rid of them.”

Another man emerged from the door and Acacia recognized him as well.

“Steven Hall.”

Hall turned on Harper with a scowl on his face.

“They know our names?”

“Can I just shoot them, sir?” David asked.

“No, it’ll cause too much commotion. It’ll be easier for the cops to link their deaths to us if we put a bullet through their heads.”

“But sir, we cannot let them go. I know we just transported everything out of the country but they know who we are. We won’t have a chance to run.” David argued.

Steven Hall sighed in annoyance and pulled out a gun from his coat pocket.

Ace turned to look at Zack and identified fear in his eyes. He has never been held at gunpoint in his entire life; he did not like that he will die by the hands of criminals. She shot him a reassuring smile, despite her own suspicions of dying at their mercy.

“Take them!” Hall demanded.

David nodded quickly and appeared behind the pair. Ace can feel a gun pressed against the back of her head and suddenly, a hand groped at her rear end.

“You’re disgusting.” She muttered to him as the pair was forced out of the room.

When they got out the room, they realized that they are in an empty factory. Boxes piled up everywhere, but judging by the opened, empty crates, the criminals already transported the evidence outside of the country. That is what they were doing while Ace and Zack were kept inside the room. Everything is clear to her now.

Except one thing.

“Hey David?”

“Yeah, sexy?”

“Don’t call her…”

“You were listed as an apprentice to Dan Potter for the death of Admiral Jones and his family. Why is that?”

“Well, if they catch that stupid bastard, I will stand before the court, under oath and swear that I was working for Potter.” David explained.

They were brought into another room but Steven stopped before opening the door.

“But Potter was framed.”

“Yeah by me.” Steven chuckled.

“You’re going to die anyway, detective, so I might as well tell you. Steven and I decided that if we worked together, we would both benefit from it.”

“How would you both benefit from the death of Admiral Jones?”

“Well, I hated that bastard. He kept me on the unit and wouldn’t let me discharge from my services when my wife was dying from lung cancer. And by the time I was finally discharged, it was already too late. My wife died because of that bastard. Dan Potter? I just hate him. But not as much as David here.” Steven scratched at his dark facial hair before turning to the younger man.

“Yeah, well, he screwed my sister over and she bolted. I never saw my sister again, so I decided to show him how it feels like to lose control of his life. You know the whole story, detective. I do not need to elaborate.”

Before Ace even have the chance to process what had happened, Steven opened the door to the room. Zack tugged at the handcuff in alarm and the blonde decided not to respond. She is feeling the fear sink in as well.

“Just stick them in there. They’ll die eventually. No one will find them and it’ll be a slow, painful death. By the time their bodies are found, we’ll be in Costa Rica with new identities.” Steven laughed cynically.

They are both shoved into the freezer room by an excessive force, door slammed shut behind them before they have the chance to protest. The sound of the door locking followed shortly after. Both Zack and Ace glanced at each other and then around the room.

“Are we honestly going to freeze to death?” Zack asked in disbelief.

“And handcuffed to each other?” Ace groaned, picking up their handcuffed hands.

Using his free hand, Zack readjusted his black coat so it covers his whole upper torso completely. Luckily it is winter and the pair decided to dress relatively warmly on the day they were abducted.

“Ace, I’m so sorry. You are going to die because of me.”

Shuddering at the cold, Ace inched closer to him and placed a cold hand on his face.

“If not for you, then who?”

Notes

Only a few chapters left guys!

And are they going to survive the freezing room??? Should James get in trouble for pointing a gun at a suspect? Will they find Zack and Ace???

alltimeblowww, thank you for your compliment! I worked really hard on this series and it feels really nice when people tell me they love it! I seriously try my best to make these stories unique and worthwhile!