by A J Storm
This Viper fellow is a very smart cookie.
They had set up a silent code between the two in case something happened they needed to warn the other not to talk or share. It was obvious to Creeper this was one of those times. They simply shot the shit about their excitement to have a baby in the house.
After an hour and thirty minutes from their check-in, the two were finally escorted into Kenneth Williams’ office. He was sitting behind a large desk and stood from his chair when Creeper and Lyle were shown in and introduced.
“Welcome to you both. Can I get you anything before we get started?”
“No, I’m good—you, Lyle?” He looked over to his friend, then back at Kenneth, declining the offer.
“Well, then, let’s get started, shall we? I’ve gone over your background checks and results from your question-and-answer time this morning. I think everything looks good, and we shouldn’t have any trouble getting your partnership approved for adoption. There is one small detail that came up pertaining to your history, Mr. Blankenship, that might negate the approval. Blankenship was the cover name Creeper was using.
“I’m not sure what you’re referring to, Mr. Williams,” Creeper refuted.
“What’s he talking about, baby? What did you do? Is he saying they won’t let us adopt a baby? They can’t do that, can they?” Lyle played the part well and reacted to the accusation made at Creeper.
“You see, we researched your information and names thoroughly to be sure what you told us matched what we found. Mr. Blankenship, you failed to tell us you were arrested for drug possession when you were twenty. We found it on your record, and I’m afraid it may hinder this process,” the lawyer told him.
“Sir, Lyle has his heart set on adopting a baby. Is there any way we can get around it—make it go away, so to speak?”
“I might be able to do something. I can pull a few strings, but it will cost you more money. If I can contact the proper person, I’m sure we can get this done for another ten thousand. Would that be acceptable to you both?” Williams asked.
Creeper looked over at Lyle as if asking his opinion. “Oh, yes, please. We’ll pay it,” Lyle whined.
“Good. I’ll need the extra ten along with today’s down payment of twenty thousand before you leave. The other twenty is to be paid when you pick up the baby and sign the papers. I should know something within two days and will contact you then with all the particulars of the meeting. Personally, I think we’ll be fine, and the two of you will have your own baby very soon.”
Kenneth Williams stood behind his desk, basically dismissing them from his office. Creeper and Lyle walked out, stopped at the front desk, leaving their money in the office manager’s hands, then left through the front door.
Once on the elevator, Lyle spoke. “I’ve never been so glad to get out of a place. That lawyer is a certified creep—crooked as a corkscrew. I need another shower.”
“I hear ya’, bro. I felt that way the night I watched him with his gang at the bar and how they treated the pregnant woman,” he replied. “Now, we go home and wait.”
Since Chaos kept Willow awake most of the night, he let her sleep in and left for work without saying goodbye. He was anxious about Creeper’s meeting with Kenneth Williams. It wasn’t so much he doubted his brother’s abilities but more he didn’t trust Viper. The dude was powerful, cruel, plus smart as evil comes.
To keep himself busy until his brother called, he browsed the local news on the internet. Chaos had good friends in the Austin police department who gave him access to their departmental web page. Most news items didn’t hold a lot of interest for him, so he scrolled on by. However, one item caught his eye, and he highlighted it to read the entire article.
A young woman’s body was found dumped in one of the small lakes feeding off the Colorado River on the outside of Austin. Her name has yet to be released. There was evidence at the scene the woman had been pregnant, but no baby was found. Autopsy is pending.
“Holy shit?” He picked up his phone and called his main source at the department, seeking more information. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any more information than what was printed. Test results weren’t back from the crime scene investigators. The officer assured Chaos he’d call him when he had more.
The decision was made to not share this with Willow at this point since they didn’t have an ID. He could only hope it wasn’t Nova. Maggie walked in with mail he needed to go through, and Chaos decided it was the perfect time to get off the damn internet. No more browsing for him.
“What on earth, boss? Your face looks like you’ve lost your best friend. Are you okay?”
“I am. Just read a story that upset me is all. You got bills for me there? Hand ‘em over.”
“Stay off the internet, nosy boy. I need you less crazy around here,” Maggie teased.
“Um, who’s crazy?” he teased back. Chaos winked before she walked back to her desk, leaving his door open so she could keep an eye on him. His face really looked pale.
Instead of the computer, he inspected the mail, approved bills to be paid, signed checks to be deposited, and organized correspondence that needed to be answered. A few were test results he’d had sent off on other cases that needed to be filed in the case files. Luckily, it was enough mail for him to stay busy through lunch when Creeper called in.
Chaos spent thirty minutes on the phone with him, getting all the particulars of the meeting. Creeper was pleased all his false background information and histories backed him up. The fact the fake drug bust showed on their investigation was proof Creeper knew what he was doing.
The plan now was to have proper personnel in place on the night the deal was finalized. As well as Creeper’s own men, Chaos would have his friends in the police department there to take everyone into custody. Chaos also decided not to say anything to him or Willow about the female body being found—not until he got more information to go on.
Willow strolled into his office as he was ending his call with his brother.
“Hello, beautiful,” he purred as he stood to kiss her. She walked over behind his desk. “I was just talking to Creeper. What’re you up to?”
“I’m leaving to drive home and thought I’d check in to say goodbye. Thank you for letting me sleep,” Willow said.
“You’re welcome—thought you would need it. I kept you pretty busy.”
“Yes, you did, and thanks for leaving me coffee this morning.”
Chaos stepped to his door, closing it behind him, stalking back to Willow. “You know, I’m in the perfect mood to take you right here on my desk. What would you say to that?” He nibbled on her ear and moved his lips to her mouth.
Willow kissed him back but only briefly. “I’d say ‘no deal.’ I need to go home, then drive to the ranch. We had our time last night, now we need to get back with the program.”
His arms still held her close to his body. “You’re such a taskmaster. We can break the schedule one time, can’t we?”
“Sorry, I’ve already called Daddy. I’ll see you this Saturday.” She kissed him and stepped away, waiting for him to let her out the door.
“I’ll call you tonight, sugar,” Chaos promised. “Drive carefully.”
18
Chaos ran upstairs to eat lunch since Maggie had brown bagged it today. He sat down on his couch to eat and realized just how tired he was. He’d fallen asleep before he knew it. He jerked awake, looked at his watch, grateful it had only been thirty minutes. He’d never hear the end of it from Maggie.
Back at his desk, he hit the browse button on his computer when his phone went off. It was his friend from the police department. He had the name of the woman, and it wasn’t Nova. The coroner’s report wasn’t complete, but they did know she had given birth and died shortly after. She did have bruises and cuts on her face and arms but they were still determining whether it was post-mortem.
At this time, they didn’t know where the baby was. No one had come forward with information
or turned the infant into a hospital. The woman had no family members they could contact, so unless whoever had the baby turned it in, they were at a standstill.
Chaos thanked him for calling and knew the news stations would put the information out to the public. Willow and Creeper would discover what he’d kept from them. He almost punched in a number when he received a Skype call from Howler.
“Howler, brother, it’s good to see you. How was the honeymoon?”
“Oh, you know… it was great. We got back a week ago, and I think Ben is glad. Mac drove him crazy. He still made the old man go with him to the bar at least once a week. How’s things in Austin?”
Sadie walked by Howler’s screen and waved. “Hey, Sadie, are you keeping my brother in line?”
She laughed at Chaos, shaking her head no.
“Too bad—he needs it. Well, Howler, we have a situation here which has developed into a big fucked-up mess. I’ll give you all the small details later, but basically, I’m hoping you can send Mac to me for a while. We or I guess I should say Creeper could use him. A woman hired us to find her pregnant sister who has disappeared. She was dating a lowlife who also happens to be an important lawyer here in Austin. It appears he’s into selling babies.”
“Really? Yeah, if you send the jet to the airfield here, I’ll send the kid to you. It sounds like a real crap shoot. If you need me, I’ll come down there as well. Just holler at me.”
“I will, Howler, I appreciate that.”
Before Chaos left for the day, he called Creeper and shared the information about the female body dump. He’d wait to tell Willow until he called her to say good night.
After midnight, he’d finished his skype call with Willow. She was happy the woman found wasn’t Nova and glad he hadn’t told her before he’d found out who it was. She didn’t think she could have survived the stress.
Chaos had all the lights off in the penthouse. Standing naked next to the glass window, looking out over the late-night city, a reflection of his tats on the front of his body showed in the glass. Normally, he didn’t stand in front of a mirror, staring at his tats. Although he was proud of every one of them and loved the artwork, it could bring on flashbacks.
His military doctor called him stupid for putting the unnecessary artwork on his body, risking a flare-up of his PTSD. Chaos didn’t care. It was the only way he could remove the anxiety and fear for his family, friends, fellow soldiers, and events forced on him. Piercing his skin relieved all of it.
Concern consumed him about Creeper and the baby no one could find. His fear was Viper had the child. It would be just like one of his gang members was involved in the body dump, and ran off with the baby, taking him to his boss.
Without warning, the elevator doors opened, letting in a very angry and intoxicated Creeper.
“What the hell are you doing standing naked in front of the window, dude? You’re getting weirder as you get older,” Creeper accused.
“Are you drunk, man?”
“Hell, yes, I’m drunk. I watched the news tonight, and they showed a picture of who the woman was...” He stopped for a moment, looking like he was trying to gain control of himself. When he looked up at Chaos, tears were streaming down his face. “It was the young woman at the bar that night with Viper. I could have saved her, dammit, and I did jack shit about it. I’m going to bed. Just leave me alone—I’ll get through this one way or another.”
Creeper stumbled into his bedroom, slamming the door and leaving his brother standing in the dark. Chaos was devastated. He mourned for his brother and mourned for the woman whose body was dumped.
The baby—God, the baby—who has it?
He couldn’t help his brother, and he damn sure couldn’t help the woman. He made a phone call, dressed, and walked into the elevator. It was time to work on the tattoo of the mother and baby. Three hours later, he was lying on his stomach on the table, waiting for his friend to clean his thigh, wrapping it up. He handed him a wad of bills, thanking him for staying late. Sitting on the damn thing was touchier than he thought it would be as he slid behind his truck’s steering wheel.
That’s a good thing though. The pain is there to keep me grounded.
Chaos drove home and rode the elevator to a dark, quiet apartment. He was tired—damn tired. He collapsed on his bed, face down and snored in a matter of minutes.
Sometime after dawn, a low voice called his name. He groaned and turned his face away from the stupid noise.
“Chaos…”
Go the fuck away.
“Chaos, wake up.”
No.
A gorilla started shaking him by the shoulder and punched him in the ass. “Dammit, Chaos, wake up,” Creeper yelled.
“What the fuck do you want? Go away.”
Creeper sat on Chaos’ bed, making himself comfortable. “I’m not going away, so you’d better roll over and listen.” He stayed where he was, watching his brother struggle to move to his back.
“You can be a real pain in my ass, little brother. What?”
“I got a call from Kenneth Williams. The baby is ours, and the final meet is tomorrow night at an old club on the north side of the city. We’re to come prepared to take the baby and leave the rest of the money.”
Chaos rubbed his hand over his face and hair, doing his best to wake. He finally sat up and hung his legs over the side of the bed.
“How do you want to handle this? Are you going after him once he hands the baby to you? Tell me what I can do. Oh, and Mac is coming in today. Howler said he’d help if you need him.”
“My head is wonky right now. I think I have enough help, but I’ll think clearer this afternoon. Chaos, I can’t help but wonder if this baby belongs to the woman in the bar. It’s too much of a coincidence to suddenly have a baby available right after the body was found.”
Chaos got off the bed, looking down at his hungover brother. “There’s a possibility it might be. If you or Lyle get handed that baby, don’t let go of it. At that time, bring in your damn guns. A few of the boys from the PD will be on the outskirts of the club to do the arrests and Mirandas. We don’t want this going bad and make a bad bust.”
Creeper groaned, falling back onto his brother’s bed. “What a fucked-up mess.”
“Yeah, it is. But, dude, listen to me. You couldn’t have helped that girl. You couldn’t have gotten her away from there without getting yourself outed or killed. Our goal is getting this guy and his cronies put away so Willow’s sister can go home. That’s the bottom line.”
“All else is collateral damage, huh?”
“It sounds bad, but yeah, little brother, it is. It happens.”
“The bottom-line stinks, man. I’m going to shower, then head out of here. Have Mac call me, and I’ll tell him where to meet.”
“Will do.”
Thirty-four hours later, Creeper and Lyle pulled up to what was left of the club. Kenneth Williams, aka Viper, failed to tell Creeper the old club had been closed for years and was situated on the very edge of Austin. So much on the edge, it was now out in the deserted boonies—no one around for miles with heavy overgrown vegetation. All the windows had been broken out, and parts of the building itself had been torn off and vandalized. Creeper couldn’t imagine what a normal couple adopting a baby would think all the way out here.
He and Lyle had dressed in suitable clothing of jeans, dress shirts, and jackets, still portraying their characters. Once he saw the club, he parked his car facing it, turned off the engine, but left the headlight on, pointing to the front of the building.
“What a hell of a place to hand off a baby,” Lyle sneered.
“It goes with Viper’s persona. He’s a greedy, sociopath and a son of a bitch to go along with it. What he doesn’t know is there are fifteen sniper guns with their sights on the place—he and his goons will never see them until too late.
“Are you packing?” Lyle asked.
“I’ve got my gun under my jacket and a knife in my boot. You?”
“No, man, I thought since I would take the baby, I’d move back to the car and stay there. I don’t want to be holding a gun and a baby, too.”
“Good, that’s what I had planned, too. You’re catching on. Look, if one of my guys suddenly jumps behind the wheel, don’t panic. I want the baby out of here if everything goes south, okay?”
“Sure. I’ve had a good teacher, Creeper,” he answered as cars pulled across what was left of an old parking lot.
“Here we go,” Chaos warned.
Dressed in the same clothing he wore the night at the bar, Kenneth Williams was gone, and Viper was here in all his nasty glory. He stepped out of his car, followed by four of his men, one carrying a bundle in his arms. The damn guy was filthy and holding the baby as if it had bubonic plague.
The second car held six of his gang members, and when they got out of the car, they positioned themselves in a circle around Creeper, Lyle, Viper, and the man with the baby.
“I was surprised we weren’t doing this at your office. This is a long way from it. Would it be all right if Lyle held the baby, Mr. Williams?” Chaos asked.
Viper laughed at the comment. Creeper wasn’t sure what caused the laughter, but he moved his jacket where he could easily get to his gun. The thought had occurred to him Viper wouldn’t give up the baby.
“You, Mr. Blankenship, can call me Viper. Being a lawyer is my hobby. Lyle can hold the baby only after I get my final payment of twenty grand. Do you have it?”
“Yes, I do. It’s in my jacket if you’ll let me get it.” Viper nodded, and Creeper slipped his hand beside his gun and into an inside pocket, drawing out a wad of twenty, one-thousand-dollar bills.
Viper took three steps toward him, and Creeper moved to him, placing the bills in his hand. The lawyer stepped back and gave an order to the guy with the baby.
“Give the baby to the other guy. He looks like he’s the nurturer of the two,” Viper snarled.