Handcuffs dug into Jace’s skin as he waited for the sirens to fade. He held his breath, crouching in a dense thorny bush, and tried to formulate a plan.
Dogs were barking loudly nearby, making it hard for Jace to think straight. He started climbing out of the bush to get a look around, but it wasn’t easy in handcuffs and holding a pistol, especially since he wasn’t familiar with guns. He got free of the thorny branches and looked around. Even in the dark, Jace knew where he was at a glance. He had a friend that lived nearby and knew he could hide out there, but the handcuffs were very conspicuous and he wouldn’t make it all the way unseen.
A house across the street had left their garage door open, and with no lights on inside, it looked like a better place to think than the corner he was standing on. Jace ran to the garage, hoping he would find something to get the cuffs off or at least break the chain.
The dogs were still barking, but Jace was as quiet as he could be as he rummaged around the garage. It was very organized, but he wasn’t finding anything that would help. Plenty of wrenches, ratchets, and gardening tools, but nothing that would do anything to a handcuff chain. He started thinking the towel he found might be his best bet; he could at least cover the cuffs up. But then he opened a drawer and saw a pair of bolt cutters. They would work perfectly, and he set down the gun to grab them. It was awkward, but Jace got the handcuffs’ chain in the jaws of the bolt cutters and started using the leg of the workbench and the sole of his shoe for leverage to break the chain.
Jace almost shat himself when someone behind him commanded him to freeze. Shit, he thought to himself as the man approached, how’d they find me?