Under His Protection

by LaQuette

  It was amazing the change a day made.

  ELIJAH was looking in the fridge for something to drink while he waited for Camden to finish up in the bathroom when his burner vibrated again.

  “Hello.”

  “Is he with you?” Her words were rushed, peppered with fear.

  “Yeah, what’s happened?” Elijah was already walking toward the bathroom door, banging, yelling for Camden to hurry up before she could respond.

  “My man on the inside was made. I don’t know how, yet. But his body was found under the L train near Livonia and Van Sinderen Avenues. Don’t let Camden out of your fucking sight. Where do you have him stashed?”

  “At a house in Westchester. I’ll text you the info.”

  “Keep him in that damn house until I get there. I’m on my way.”

  Elijah grabbed Camden’s hand and pulled him through the connecting garage door. Somewhere between the mudroom and the kitchen he gave him the CliffsNotes version of what had transpired along the way. The moment they were inside the kitchen, the lack of the familiar aroma of seasoned meat being fried and then smothered with gravy set his alarms off.

  He looked down at his watch and noted he and Camden had spent about three hours enclosed in Elijah’s ready-made love shack. By now, the evidence of his mother’s culinary mastery should be present.

  Elijah heard his father and brother screaming sports terms from the family room. He took Camden by the hand and pulled him along as he walked to the family room.

  “Pops, where’s Mama?”

  Neither his father nor brother turned away from the football game filling the mounted large-screen television. “She went to the store to get some stuff for dinner.” His father rattled the words off and returned what little attention he’d spared to Elijah’s question back on the game.

  “We’ve got a situation; we need to get her here now. Get her on the phone.” Elijah glanced around the room again while his father got his phone out. “Where’s Viv?”

  His brother pulled his gaze away from the television screen, paused the DVRed game, and answered him. “Downstairs sleeping. What the hell is wrong with you?”

  Elijah didn’t answer. He just watched as his father made the call, tapping the speaker icon as the line rang.

  “Hey, baby.” Evelyn’s happy voice greeted his father.

  “Where you at, Ev?”

  “I’m still shopping for dinner.”

  “Ev, you left here three hours ago. You got Elijah worried. You need to get back to the house.”

  There was a brief pause before his mother’s bubbly voice filled the room again. “Walter, honey, I couldn’t find what I needed at the store. Elijah’s corner market didn’t have those tiny sliced carrots and those white raisins I love so much for the potato salad. I took a cab to that larger natural foods place a little farther out. I should be back soon.”

  The call ended, and panic settled in the pit of Elijah’s stomach as he yanked his burner phone from his pocket.

  Camden stepped into the room, placing a comforting hand on Elijah’s shoulder. “What’s wrong? She’s just at the supermarket.”

  “Camden, you’d see world peace before my mother put unnecessary shit like carrots and raisins in her damn potato salad. That was a code. My mother’s in trouble.”

  Elijah put the phone to his ear, relieved Captain Searlington answered on the first ring.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Elijah had never been more grateful for Captain Searlington’s directness, because he didn’t have time for pleasantries when his mother was in danger. He let out the shaky breath he’d been holding since he waited the moment before Captain Searlington’s voice traveled across the line, then uttered the words no son ever wanted to speak. “The Path has my mother.”

  ELIJAH’S hand throbbed where his nails cut into his palm as he stood in the middle of his living room watching Captain Searlington and his fellow officers set up command.

  This wasn’t his first time being part of a missing persons search. He’d watched family members standing around hopelessly as law enforcement set up shop. But in all his years on the force, he’d never surmised that he would be the one waiting while those in charge figured out what to do. No, he didn’t do waiting, and the endless sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he stood unable to do anything about finding his mother, told Elijah he liked being on the other side of the table much better than his current position.

  “Dear God, what have I done?”

  The soft sound of Camden’s voice pulled Elijah’s attention from the unfolding scene and made him focus on Camden. Elijah moved toward him, placing a single finger under Camden’s chin, forcing the man to look up to him. “This is not your doing, Cam. This is the work of a madman.”

  Elijah was technically correct. But as his father, brother, and sister-in-law filed down to the basement together when the police arrived, Elijah couldn’t help but wonder if they stepped aside to give his fellow officers the room, or if they blamed him so much for this fiasco that they couldn’t stand to be in his presence right now.

  Elijah could see doubt cloud Camden’s wide eyes. “Elijah, we both know the reason this is happening. There’s no place else to lay the blame except for on my shoulders.”

  Captain Searlington interrupted Elijah’s response, calling his name from across the room.

  “We’re ready.” Captain Searlington’s voice was steady but direct. She stood with her hands braced on her waist and her legs shoulder-width apart. With her gun holster sitting on her hip, she looked like a fierce superheroine ready to conquer the villains with her superpowers.

  The description wasn’t far off. There were times this woman had in fact slapped an S on her chest and saved the day. For his mother’s sake, he hoped this time would be no different.

  “They haven’t called to notify us of the kidnapping or make any demands. My guess is they’re still figuring out how to leverage your mother’s capture.” Captain Searlington was right. No calls had come in yet. If this were any random snatch and grab, he’d be worried, well, more worried than he already was. But knowing that they’d forced her to give his father that bullshit line about shopping for potato salad ingredients, it inclined him to agree with Captain Searlington. They didn’t want them to notice she was gone yet.

  “We’ve got everyone in your family’s phone tapped, including your home phone. The Westchester PD are allowing us to take point on this, so we’ve got boots on the ground canvassing the areas she was last known to be in. Smyth and his team are going through the street cams to see if we can pick up anything that way too. We will find these bastards, Stephenson. We’ll get her back.”

  Elijah believed her. He had to. Thinking of any alternative where his police brethren didn’t save his mother wasn’t something Elijah could make himself do.

  “What do you need me to do, Captain?”

  Captain Searlington took a long breath before raising her eyes to his. “Elijah, you know I can’t have you involved in this investigation.”

  His heart beat faster in his chest as he saw resolve settle in Captain Searlington’s eyes. “You can’t cut me out of this. This is my mother, Cap. Is it because you don’t trust me? I know I haven’t been in the field for a minute, but I’m still a good cop.”

  Elijah stiffened as he said the last line, realizing his voice had silenced the entire room, drawing the eyes of the other cops to where he and Captain Searlington stood. He took in a breath, trying his best to ignore the other people standing around them and to focus on his boss. He knew what they all must think. He couldn’t protect himself. How could he be trusted to protect someone else?

  He couldn’t concentrate on their assumptions. Before his attack, he was a good cop. That’s all he could think about right now. This was his mother. There was no way he’d fuck this up. He had to be the one to bring these bastards in.

  Captain Searlington placed a firm hand on his shoulder before tipping her head toward the doorway. Elij
ah nodded and followed her out of the family room, down the hall, and to the empty kitchen.

  “Elijah, I have no doubts about putting you back on the street. If I did, I would never have assigned the ADA’s case to you.”

  Elijah lifted his brow and crossed his arms over his chest. “I thought you said you assigned me because brass demanded it? That Camden’s boss requested it?”

  Half of her mouth lifted into a knowing smile. She didn’t even have the decency to look apologetic when he caught her in a lie.

  “His boss requested it. And I agreed that you would be the best candidate for the job.”

  Elijah released a rough sigh and let his arms fall to his side. “Why would you do this? Why would you play with Camden’s life like that?”

  “Elijah. You were jumped by a couple of tweakers. There is no shame in that. I never wanted you anyplace but on the streets, but I knew you had doubts. I figured a job like this one would put you back out in the field in a controlled enough way that you’d realize you still had what it took to make a difference in a job made for you.”

  Elijah turned away from her and walked over to the island. He wrapped his fingers around the cold granite and squeezed until the hard stone made his fingers ache. The bite of pain took his focus off his anger and kept his mind present in the moment. Otherwise, he might forget the respect and friendship he had for this woman who also was his boss.

  “Don’t be so fucking proud of yourself when the result of your little game is that my mother is missing.”

  “Elijah, let’s not start with the blame game. I’m not the one who had his entire family involved in what was supposed to be a protective custody detail.”

  “You blaming me?”

  Elijah didn’t want to look at her. He was too afraid she’d say what was already rolling around in his head. He closed his eyes, trying hard to pull himself together. He couldn’t afford to fall apart now. Not when his mother’s life was in the balance.

  “Actually, I do. If I’d known your family was here, I probably would’ve signed off on them being here. It was too dangerous to move Warren. But I would never believe you’d be lax enough to not warn them of the dangers. Why was your mother walking the streets by herself? She was missing for three hours before you figured out that something was wrong. Where were you in that time? Why the fuck didn’t you realize what was up before then?”

  Elijah swallowed the bitter pill Captain Searlington was shoving down his throat. She asked the same question he would if their roles were reversed, and Elijah knew there was no reasonable answer that would make it all not his fault.

  “Officially, I’ll take the flack on this one. But we both know this could only happen because your head wasn’t in the game. It was on Warren.”

  He heard her step closer to him, placing a gentle hand on his upper arm when she stood in front of him. “Regardless of whose fault this is, the blame lies solely with the Path. Let’s keep it on them, and focus on how to get your mother back. Part of that is letting me and the team handle it. You’re too close.”

  “We may not have any choice in the matter.” Lieutenant Bryan Smyth’s voice pulled Elijah and Captain Searlington’s attention behind them and the ringing phone in Smyth’s hand. “Answer it, Elijah. The monitoring is already set up.”

  Elijah grabbed the phone and answered it with a measured, “Hello.”

  “We know your cop friends are listening. If you want to see your mother alive again, you’re gonna do exactly as I say. It’s simple really. Him for her.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “HELL, no!”

  Camden shook as Elijah’s booming voice filled the room. The sound alone was enough to put his nerves on edge. Knowing Elijah’s refusal to go along with his captain’s plan could result in Evelyn’s death didn’t help his situation either.

  “Stephenson, we have little choice in the matter. We’ve got twenty minutes to make it to the drop-off at the I-95/Pelham Parkway intersection. There isn’t enough time to scope things out and make a tactical plan to grab your mom. We’re working on that now, but until we get the info, we need to come up with a counterplan. We have to at least humor these fools. We have to let them think they’re getting what they want.”

  Elijah pulled his hair into a low-riding ponytail at the base of his neck. It was a sign of stress for Elijah. The minute he became tense about something, he pulled the ever-present hair elastic off his wrist and swept his hair from his face and his shoulders.

  Everything in Camden ached to comfort Elijah. Evelyn didn’t deserve this, and the stress it was piling on top of Elijah was almost unbearable to witness. Camden folded his arms around himself, trying to quiet the guilty pressure building inside him.

  “There’s got to be another way, Captain. We can’t just trade one for the other. These people are crazy. They put a bomb under his car and nearly killed him. The moment Camden walks on the scene, they will kill him and my mother. You can’t think you can trust them to not double-cross us.”

  “Stephenson, I said nothing about giving Camden to these people. I said we’d let them believe they were getting what they wanted.”

  “So, you’re gonna throw our mama to the wolves to protect Elijah’s man?” The room became quiet, and everyone turned to see Emmanuel and the rest of the Stephenson clan standing in the background. They were fortunate the only cops in the room were Elijah, his captain, and Lieutenant Smyth. If anyone else had walked in and heard Emmanuel’s proclamation, things would’ve been so much worse. “That can’t be what you’re suggesting, is it, Captain Searlington?”

  Walter placed a firm hand on Emmanuel’s shoulder. “Son, it’s not as simple as that. Captain Searlington and the rest of your brother’s people are doing the best they can.”

  Emmanuel shrugged his father’s hand from his shoulder and stepped toward Elijah and Captain Searlington. “The best that they can would be to give these people what they want and save my damn mama instead of protecting Elijah’s boyfriend.”

  “Manny, we’re gonna get her back, man. But sacrificing Camden to do that isn’t a plan we can agree to. We cannot ask that of Camden.”

  Camden saw worry and hurt fill Emmanuel’s eyes. He hadn’t known the man long. He hadn’t known any of the Stephensons long, but there was something about this family that made Camden’s protective nature flare. Hell, before he’d met these people he hadn’t known he had a protective side. But watching them crumble under the threat of losing their matriarch was cutting Camden inside like hot metal through butter.

  “What if you weren’t asking, Elijah? What if I offered instead?”

  Elijah turned to him, shaking his head. “Camden. I love that you would offer, and as tempting as it is, I can’t accept it. We do not trade one hostage for another. That is not NYPD policy.”

  Emmanuel turned to their father, worry and frustration carved into the lines of his face. “You can’t agree with them. She’s your wife. Do something.”

  The usual stoic expression Walter Stephenson wore threatened to fall with each tremble of his squared jaw. “Your brother is not wrong, Emmanuel. Everything in me wants to get your mother now. But sacrificing Camden isn’t the way we do that. If we do that, they’ll both end up dead.”

  Camden watched as the three Stephenson men each processed those words. Emmanuel spared Camden a sorrowful glance that tore at Camden’s heart. This family was falling apart in front of his eyes, and none of them would be all right until they returned Evelyn unharmed.

  “Manny.” Elijah’s voice was thick with emotion as he called his brother’s name. He stepped closer to Emmanuel, wrapping his arms around him. “We will find these motherfuckers and end them before they hurt Mama and still protect Camden at the same time.”

  “I’m scared, E.”

  Elijah held his brother tighter, wrapping him in a protective cocoon. The sight of the two men clutching at each other for strength while Vivienne walked across the room to embrace their bone-weary father made Camden
hurt for this family more.

  The notion of feeling so much for a group of people he’d only spent days with seemed strange even to him. But this family had raised a man he cared for. If he cared about Elijah, how could he not be ripped to shreds by watching their pain?

  It made little sense, this connection he had with this man and these people. But logical or not, there was something powerful about the Stephensons that had grabbed hold of Camden’s heart and wouldn’t let go.

  We loved each other, so we took care of each other.

  Evelyn would be proud that the people she loved most were doing just as she’d expected, taking care of one another no matter how much it hurt. Ache squeezed his heart, and Camden understood why Evelyn’s words were so accurate. Watching the man he loved hurt and knowing he couldn’t do anything to change it made Camden’s chest constrict with the discomfort of helplessness.

  But are you really helpless?

  As soon as the thought sparked in the back of his mind, Camden resolved to follow it through. Elijah would hate him for it later, but Camden couldn’t allow that to keep him from doing what was right.

  His eyes looked down on the corner of the counter where Elijah had dropped his keys when they entered through the back door. Camden made a quick swipe of his hand, fisting the keys quietly in his palm. He slipped them into his pocket and glanced back at the scene still unfolding in the middle of the kitchen.

  All eyes were still on the Stephensons. Camden took one final glance and slipped out of the back door. He didn’t look over his shoulder as he made his way through the backyards of the connecting properties. He just kept going until he found the dark blue sedan Elijah informed him of the night the Stephensons arrived. It wasn’t until he was already driving down the block that he allowed himself to glance at the retreating small house through the rearview mirror.

  “Please forgive me, Elijah. I couldn’t let her die because of me.” Camden was doing the wrong thing for the right reason. He just hoped Elijah would understand why.