by Kaylee, Katy
It really was the perfect location, despite my uncles reticence. There was only one way in and out of the abandoned park and once inside, it was open enough not to give anyone else the chance to sneak up and get the drop on us.
I looked up at the moon and stars shining brightly overhead and just breathed in the sight. This far out from the lights of the city, they burned as bright as neon all on their own. I tried to let the cosmic beauty above me sooth the nerves that jangled inside me but it didn’t help. Nothing seemed to.
So I just stood there, still and waiting, and wondered what the hell had me so jumpy.
Could it be the mass murdering psychopath that was currently hunting in my city? Oh yeah. That. I snorted softly to myself. As if I could forget. Redman had haunted my every waking thought since Beth had disappeared out of my office. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to relax until I had her back in my arms again.
I glanced around the park. It was pitch black, but my eyes had long adjusted well enough to make out the silhouettes of my men. Of my uncle and cousin. The first shipment of weapons had been received and was already being driven in an unmarked van back to a secure location where they could be filed and sold to the highest bidder.
I grinned slightly to myself. Turns out the highest bidder was the government. It worked well for everyone. I got guns out of the hands of my enemies, and every quarter, the city could claim they took thousands of weapons off the street and all the while, more money lined our pocket books and bank accounts.
Few of my men knew where the guns eventually winded up and that was fine with me too. Only me, Luca, and my uncle knew the full details of our plans. Fewer mouths to talk meant it was easier to keep secrets. And it didn’t hurt my reputation any, either.
My uncle shifted uneasily to my right and I nodded in his direction. A moment later, him and my cousin drew near.
“Uncle Phillipe, Antonio,” I said, being careful to keep my voice quiet. “Some of the men are getting restless.”
“It’s that fool Billy. And Remy. They keep talking about some demon or devil or something.” Phillipe said with what sounded like patience wearing very thin. There was an obvious strain in his voice. “They’re a pair of idiots.”
“I know.” I sighed, “But they’re family, idiots or not.” I leaned closer to the older man, “I’d rather keep them close and under my watch rather than running loose doing god knows what.”
I saw my uncle nod in the dark.
“At least they know how to be quiet when they need to be.” He shot a pointed look at Antonio who was dragging his feet behind him.
“What? I just wanted in on the action. Isn’t that why I’m here, dad?”
Something about my cousin’s tone grated my nerves, a whininess that made want to cringe and tell him off. I did think of my uncle as more of a father figure after he’d taken me in after my own father’s murder and I intensely disliked the insolence in my younger cousins’ tone.
But it wasn’t my place to step in. My uncle would just have to deal with it in his own way.
Luckily, we were interrupted as two figures walked towards us out of the shadows.
“The second shipment just passed the gates and is headed our way.” Luca said, walking close enough that I could make out his features, and those of Matteo who was walking beside him. They all knew the plan. Only my uncle still looked uneasy, and Billy and Remy who were peering from shadow to shadow as if expecting a fire breathing horned demon to pop out of the shrubbery at any moment.
I clenched my jaw, fighting back the irritation until I was calm once more, at least on the outside. Just one more shipment and the night would be over and I would be that much closer to seeing Beth again. It couldn’t come soon enough.
“Hey, Phil,” Luca said, shaking my uncles’ hand before turning to my cousin. “Hi Tony.”
“Don’t call me Tony,” The younger man sneered meanly, jerking away when Luca tried to mess up his hair again.
I drew in another deep breath.
“The second drop is almost here. Can we please keep it together a little bit longer?” I said through gritted teeth. Sometimes, even Luca got on my nerves. The man was just good at pushing buttons, but everyone was already on edge. The last thing anybody needed was more friction between them.
“Jesus, this is so boring,” Antonio complained under his breath but loud enough for the others to hear, “I should have gone to the docks. At least then I could have seen the Devil. Isn’t that what you call him? Or maybe it followed us here.”
“Shut up, Antonio,” I said, without much heat. My mind was already on the next day, when I would get to track down Beth and sit her down, make her listen to reason. “The demon isn’t real.” I knew for a fact it wasn’t. The demon of the docks had turned out to be Beth, stalking a hitman.
I shook my head, suddenly terrified for her. What the hell was she thinking? Chasing down Redman by herself like that? And what the hell was she doing now?
I glanced over just as Billy and Remy both make the sign of a cross to keep the demon away and Matteo sneaks up behind them, scaring Billy so bad that he screamed.
“Don’t make me kick your ass too.” I told Matteo as the man walked closer, “You’re already on my shit list after letting Elizabeth overhear you talking about Redman.”
“Shit boss, I told you I was sorry.” Matteo said with a shrug, not looking sorry at all.
My uncle looked over, “I’m sorry, Elizabeth?”
“Yeah, our little Aiden here has a lady–.”
“Shut up, Luca. And you too, Matteo,” I glared at both of them but it was a useless gesture in the dark.
“Aiden, maybe we should talk–.”
“The second shipment is here.”
“Thank god.” I whispered, letting out a swift breath before my temper could boil over. A truck pulled to a stop and rest of the shipment went smoothly as the weapons were unloaded, and loaded into another waiting vehicle. I tossed the man a bag full of cash. Neither of us said a word while he packed back up and left.
I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.
“Look. There! I told you! It’s the demon from the docks!”
I rolled my eyes, glancing over to the dark patch of shadows that Billy was pointing at and froze. It had barely been there at all, but I’d been quick enough to catch it. A slight movement.
Someone was obviously watching us from the shadows, and I didn’t know how, but I had a good idea who it was.
“Everybody get out of here. Go home. Get some rest. It’s been a long, prosperous night.” I say, already mentally forgetting anyone and everyone else.
“What about you, boss?”
“Me?” I asked softly and was glad that no one could see the smile that split my face. They all would have run in terror, “I have a demon to see about.”
* * *
Beth
I watched them from the shadows.
I had practically lived in the stupid park for the last two days, but this was the first time I’d seen anyone in the abandoned, overgrown field.
Hurriedly, I ducked behind a tree with a trunk large enough around to hide at least two of me, peering into the darkness, trying to make them out.
At first, I’d thought they were probably just teenagers, sneaking into the park for a little fun, maybe for a private place to get drunk but as the night progressed it was obvious they weren’t’ teenagers, and they weren’t just there for fun.
These men were professionals, standing at their posts for hours before a truck had pulled down the long, lone drive that led to a center fountain that was as dry as a desert.
And as I grew closer, I realized another shock. I didn’t recognize any of the men from the photos, but I did recognize the tall, broad shouldered man that stood in the middle of them. I knew him intimately.
I would recognize that confident stance anywhere. It was Aiden.
What the hell was he doing out there? Why was he always there? Connected t
o the clues that Leah had left me?
As I stood there watching him, all the terrible suspicions and doubt grew worse. For a moment I thought about confronting him, demanding answers then and there. And then I spotted all the men surrounding him.
He’s part of the mafia, Beth, I reminded myself, they all were. And they were all probably carrying weapons.
I drew back deeper into the shadows of the tree, keeping my body still but there was no way to silence my thoughts as they raced through my mind.
I held the crowbar, the only weapon I could find, tighter in my hands. Even now, knowing who and what he was, I wasn’t afraid of Aiden. I didn’t believe he’d hurt me for a second but I wasn’t so sure about his men. And I hadn’t known who else I would find in the park.
A part of me had been terrified I would find Redman. Or he would find me.
But besides that one single photograph that had appeared at my door with the envelope Leah had sent me, I hadn’t seen or heard another word about the man. I’d scoured newspapers and the gossip rags. Surely if a psychotic killer was loose in the city, he would leave a trail of bodies behind him. But I hadn’t been able to unearth anything. Yet.
I was still shaken by what I had learned about Aiden, but thinking over it the last few days, things had started to fall in to place. Suddenly, all those pieces that I had been missing started to make sense. The money. The secrecy. The security.
Even back when we had been in school together, he’d rarely been alone. And what nineteen year old could afford a nice condo in an expensive area, and had a driver? Looking back now, it was easy to see that even then, he’d had people looking out for him, keeping him safe.
I squeezed my eyes shut. God, I had been so blind. How could I not have realized sooner? How could I have been so stupid, so naïve? I hated all of this. I never should have trusted him.
He’s never given me a reason not to trust him.
He’s the head of a mafia family, what about that! I shouted at the annoying voice that whispered in the back of my head. I couldn’t help the way my heart missed him, or my body, but my head, that I should be able to control at least.
I lost track of the time as I sat there, crouched behind that damned tree until my legs started to fall asleep and my body lost the edge of adrenaline that had first spike through me when I’d seen the men enter the park.
Now, all I felt was tired, lethargic, and that terrible, numbing grief that had blurred my thoughts ever since Will had played me the clip of the voice mail message from my sister. I hadn’t slept much since then. Every time I closed my eyes I heard it over and over again in my head. Her screams. Her cry for help. The man’s voice, nearly indistinguishable.
And the gun shot that was like a ghost in my mind. There, even though I hadn’t heard it. I knew Will wouldn’t make a mistake like that. He would have checked it a hundred times just to be sure before telling me. And that made it so much worse.
I was shaken from my grief stricken thoughts as a shadow suddenly appeared from behind me. I moved without thinking, swinging the crow bar out in front of me until it landed with a solid thud.
“Ouch. Fuck, Elizabeth. What the hell?!”
I already had the metal bar pulled back to let it swing again before the voice sank in.
“Aiden?” I asked breathlessly, still trembling. He stepped out of the shadows, one hand clapped over the side of his face. I could already see a line of blood seeping from beneath it.
“If I’d known you were going to try and kill me I would have announced myself.”
“How did you know I was here?” I asked shakily, hurriedly letting the crow bar fall. My muscles suddenly felt like water anyway, “How did you know it was me.”
He gave me a wry look, made even more sinister by the fact that I could only see one anger blue eye.
“No one else is stupid enough to spy on me, or creep around an abandoned park at night by herself.”
“I brought protection.” I said, hefting the bar again. He held up his hands as if to fend off another attack before taking a stumbling step back.
I reached forward to steady him.
“I must have hit you pretty hard.” I said softly, trying to examine the damage but it was too dark. “Do you need me to take you to the hospital.”
“No.” He growled, “No hospitals. Hate hospitals.”
“Well, I can’t just let you bleed all over the place,” I told him sternly as I took his arm and led him down a path to where my car was parked. “I don’t live that far away from here, and it’s a hell of a lot closer than driving you back into the city. Are your goons still here?”
“My goons?” He said on a bark of a laugh followed by a groan of pain that made me feel a little bit guilty. Until I reminded myself that he was the one that snuck up on me.
“Come on, tough guy. I’ll patch you up at my place, and you can tell me what the hell you were doing at an abandoned park in the middle of the night.”
“I’ll always tell you the truth, Beth. I swear to you.” His voice was suddenly so serious that I had to look away, hating the way my heart fluttered at his words, at the look in his eye. I dragged him to my car with more force than I strictly needed.
“Let’s go.”
Chapter 15
Aiden
I glanced around Elizabeth’s apartment as surreptitiously as I could as she waved impatiently for me to follow her down a short hallway.
I found myself dying of curiosity about her. I wanted to know everything about her, what she had done the last ten years, how she had changed, how she was different. But her apartment was bare, almost impersonal.
The walls were painted a neutral gray, and there was a neutral beige carpet that lined most of the small, one bedroom space. There was a lamp in the corner but it was just a black metal thing that spoke more to its function and use than anything else.
The only thing of Beth’s that I saw was a set of framed posters that hung on one wall. The first one was of a man in a lab coat and a bowtie that I didn’t recognize and the other was an image of a galaxy swirling in space.
A small grin tugged at the corner of my mouth. That made sense. She’d always loved studying outer space, dark matter, and a million other things that I couldn’t wrap my brain around, but Elizabeth had always loved a puzzle, and she’d said that the cosmos were the greatest puzzle of all. And she was determined. She wouldn’t stop until she figured it all out.
And that’s what worried me so damned much. What if she didn’t stop? What if Redman got to her? She would wind up dead, just like her sister.
I winced at the thought, but I knew the probability of her sister surviving and it wasn’t good, especially with Ian Redman involved.
She dragged me in to the small bathroom, muttering under her breath about never getting blood out of the carpet and how the landlord was going to take her security deposit as she gestured for me to take a seat on the edge of the bath tub.
“Ice water.”
She looked up at me in surprise, still rifling through her medicine cabinet as she searched for a first aid kit.
“What?”
I just shrugged at the look in her eyes, “Ice water and vinegar will get the blood out of carpet.”
She stared at me for a long time, and I couldn’t read what was going on in that convoluted, beautiful, complex head of her.
Finally, Beth let out a deep sigh.
“I hate that you know that.” She shook her head, brows furrowed, “No, I hate why you know that.”
“I’m not…” I stopped, trying to find the right words, “I’m sorry I’m not who you thought I was.” I say softly as she starts to clean my up, ignoring my apology. She winced as she wiped off the blood starting to dry on my eyebrow.
“You are going to have a nasty black eye.”
“My men will be impressed,” I joked with a small lopsided grin, “No one has gotten the drop on me in a long while.”
“Well, you deserved it for sneaking up on m
e like that.” Elizabeth raised one eyebrow at me as she dabbed gently at my face. I shot her an incredulous look.
“You were spying on me!”
“Well, you were selling guns to drug dealers or…or little kids or something. Whatever it was I’m sure it was bad. Very bad.” She huffed, biting her lip in that way she had of doing that sent me right over the edge. I had to shift my body on the edge of the tub.
“It’s part of a reclamation deal.” I finally said, explaining with a sigh. I knew I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t be saying a damned word. But I hated the way she looked at me with that disappointed light in her dark gray eyes. Like I had let her down. “I take guns off the street and turn them in to the government, and they pay me money. Lots of money.”
Elizabeth paused at my words, standing back and shooting me a considering look.
“So, what you were doing at the park, you weren’t selling guns. You were taking them off the streets? Getting them out of the city?”
“Sorry to burst your fantasy there of me giving guns to toddlers.” I said wryly, and she just shook her head. I could practically see the cogs of her mind turning, working, picking away at the puzzle in front of her. So rational. So logical. Just like she’d always been.
“So, you’re kind of like robin hood then. Steal from the rich, give to the poor type thing. Or in this case I guess it would be more like steal from the criminals give to the cops.”
I paused, seeing that look cross her face. A look that had guilt twisting inside me.
“Don’t do that, Beth.”
“Do what?”
“Don’t think that I’m a good guy. I’m not.” I leaned closer to her, needing to feel her, needing the warmth of her beside me. Most of all, needing her to see me for who I really was. To accept me for who I was. Not who she thought I could be.
“Make no mistake, I’m one of the bad guys. I’ve hurt people. I’ve done what I had to do to protect my family and sometimes things get messing and I have to make hard choices. I’ve done it before, and I’ll do it again.”