by Campbell
Camilla might have been skirting close to violating the six-month time limit she had in America, but she still had a few days left before she’d be outside the law.
“Sir, I’m going to—”
With his voice at a level he never used, Shaz said, “And I’m going to need you to act on the double. I need to see my client in the next few minutes, especially since—to the best of my knowledge—she hasn’t been charged with anything.”
“But sir—”
“If that doesn’t happen.” Shaz folded his arms and stood with his legs spread apart. “I’m not only going to sue the governor of the State, I’ll extend that to the local civic authorities, this police department, plus the officers involved in Camilla’s detention.” He pointed to the policeman. “And you, so please ensure that I speak with your commanding officer. Now.”
The man raced away as if a host of demons from hell were hot on his heels.
Miss Mabel hovered at his elbow, but when his gaze landed on her, she shrank back as if afraid his fury would extend to her, too.
He quirked one side of his mouth and murmured to her to have a seat.
In return, she bobbed her head in a slight nod, then went to do as he suggested.
While he waited, Shaz prowled the space like a hungry leopard who’d caught wind of its prey. The commanding officer was a hefty, personable man, who understood that Shaz would not be deterred. “Give us a few more minutes to get Miss Gibson’s things and have her released,” he said, after they spoke. “My apologies for this inconvenience—”
“That never should have happened, but I don’t suppose I’ll get an explanation for this foolishness since no one has accused my client of a crime.”
He avoided Shaz’s gaze while a maroon tide crept upward on his neck. He turned away. Almost stumbling over his feet in his haste. “I’ll be right back.”
The entire ordeal took an interminable forty-five minutes before Camilla appeared.
As she walked toward him, hugging herself, his scalp prickled. Camilla’s wide eyes intensified the fear crawling in his gut. He knew exactly what it meant to have his stomach plummet to his feet. He gripped her by both arms as she whisked away her tears with the back of one hand. Before she spoke, he anticipated the words that were a like a blow to the solar plexus.
“They took my baby, Shaz,” she cried. “Where’s Ayanna?”
CHAPTER 20
This was the longest night of Shaz’s life.
Camilla’s earlier story still tore at his gut. When she realized Ayanna had been loaded into a separate vehicle, she tried calling Aunt Mabel but wasn’t allowed to use the phone. The first thing the officers did was confiscate it.
Her face was ravaged—eyes red, features swollen from the tears she shed. Meanwhile, Shaz was at his wits’ end trying to figure out where the police, and whoever else was behind that bit of skullduggery, had hidden the little girl. A total information blackout faced them. As best as Miss Mabel recalled, three units were parked outside the house. Two police cars and one unmarked vehicle.
Daniel backed up that story and earned Shaz’s eternal gratitude by getting the license plate numbers as the convoy drove away from the house. The challenge was, the number on the unmarked car led nowhere—almost as if it had been given phony plates. Frustration bubbled inside him when Daron conveyed this information. Shaz racked his mind to figure out the next logical step.
When Dro and Reno met him at Miss Mabel’s house, he insisted on going with them to find Ayanna. Only the Lord knew how Camilla had the presence of mind to activate the earrings when she first left the house. With the tracking device engaged, Daron was able to tell him, via phone, that Ayanna was stationary and that he had members of his team watching the location—a house, ten minutes away, in Chicago. Daron was on his way there.
Dro, Reno, and Shaz stood together on the verandah strategizing, while Camilla walked aimlessly around the living room.
“I’m coming with you,” Shaz said, as the other two men prepared to leave.
“Are you sure that’s the right thing to do?” Dro asked, lifting his chin toward the house. “Looks to me like Camilla needs you.”
Shaz glanced over his shoulder and rubbed his jaw. “With the security in place Camilla and Miss Mabel will be fine.”
“He’s right,” Reno insisted, “Your place is with her. Let us do this. We’ll keep you updated and that way, the two of you will know what’s going on.”
After a tense moment of silence, Shaz let out his breath and grumbled. “That makes sense but keep me in the loop every step of the way.”
“You’ve got it,” Dro said, resting a hand on his shoulder.
As both men left the verandah, Shaz entered the living room. He went straight to Camilla, whose eyes reflected her desperation and wrapped his arms around her. “The team will do everything they can. I know it’s hard, but keep your chin up. You did good activating the earrings. That will ensure they bring Ayanna back. Trust me on that, okay?”
She nodded, then pressed her face against his chest. Her warm tears soaked his shirt.
As she cried, Shaz stroked her hair and whispered comforting words. Gently, he pressed kisses to her forehead and hair. When she stopped crying, he urged her to wash her face.
Camilla didn’t look any better after she returned, and at that point more words would have been trite. Her obvious pain twisted his gut and made him feel useless.
The minutes dragged, coagulated into one hour, then two. Daron sent a text advising that Ayanna and her captors were on the move.
Meantime, Camilla and Miss Mabel were inconsolable. The two of them sat staring at the blank television screen as if someone had died. Shaz stalked back and forth, checking his phone every few minutes. Hope lit Camilla’s eyes, then faded each time Shaz suppressed whatever update Daron provided. After each instance, he died a little inside.
At two o’clock when the police could provide no information and didn’t seem inclined to right the wrong that came through their foul-up or collusion, Shaz dragged a hand over his face. Only God knew where they’d be without the Kings doing their part.
Camilla’s soft sobs, then her catatonic behavior did a number on his nerves. Shaz was as helpless as a newborn baby and he hated it. Nothing fazed, weakened, or overcame him. Now, a woman and a baby he’d grown to love did all that. In one blow. He rubbed both sides of his jaw, weighed down by the hopelessness in Camilla’s eyes.
He suspected there were several things at work, but come the morning he’d start uprooting things inside The Castle with a vengeance. Shaz knew how to play in the light and he also knew how to skate close to the darkness. This game had turned dirty and it was time to respond the way his opponents would understand. Office hours were but a few hours away. Waiting was also a strategy. He wanted those who were behind this cruel act to know he was on their trail.
His phone pulsed and he looked at the screen.
Dro had sent him a text. Closing in on new location. Ayanna stationary. Stand by.
For the next fifteen minutes, Shaz paced the area around the sofa. The cadence of his heartbeat was fast and heavy. Containing his excitement was hard, but Shaz managed not to give away anything. He’d wait until Daron confirmed that Ayanna was safe before he told Camilla.
Those earrings were a godsend. He sent up thanks and prayed Ayanna hadn’t been harmed. He had his doubts anybody would touch her, if the Alderman had anything to do with this show of power.
Another text lit his phone display. On location. Getting ready to move.
Shaz looked up from the cell and Camilla’s gaze sharpened. “You heard something?”
“Give it time,” he said, sickened that he had to watch her succumb to despair once more. “I’ll tell you when I have news.”
The atmosphere was like that of a mausoleum, but he stuffed both hands into his pockets and stayed on his feet as his mind wrapped around what might be happening with his fellow Kings.
“Shaz?” Camilla pr
essed a hand to her forehead and pulled in a deep breath. “D’you really think they’ll bring her home?”
He nodded, wanting to hug her until her fears slipped away. “Daron, Dro, and Reno are good at what they do. We just need to give them time.”
Miss Mabel’s head drooped and she jerked awake. She yawned, rubbed her eyes and was nodding off again, when Camilla spoke softly, “Auntie, it doesn’t make sense for you to lose your sleep, too. You should go lie down.”
Miss Mabel shook her head. “I wouldn’t feel good to be sleeping when I don’t know where my grandniece is and what might be happening to her.”
With a faint smile, Camilla reassured her aunt. “You have to be at work in the morning, so I’ll call you when we hear something. Promise.”
“Make sure.” Miss Mabel eased to her feet, stretching as she did. “I’m not as young as I used to be. Can’t keep up.”
Normally, her comments amused Shaz. This time, all he could muster was a faint smile. He was on edge, but held his composure. Camilla and he waited for another twenty minutes before another text came through. This time from Daron. Mission complete.
That’s when he told Camilla that Ayanna was coming home. She unravelled, sobbing in his arms while he dropped soft kisses on her temple. “Don’t cry, hon. It’s almost over.”
Camilla refused to sit still after that, and rushed to the door at every hum of an engine.
Dawn was approaching when a vehicle drew up outside Miss Mabel’s house.
Shaz strode to the door and yanked it open. Daron, dressed in what looked like black combat gear, opened the front passenger door of a black Ram ProMaster cargo van. Reno, who wore similar garb, also got out of the vehicle. From the back seat, Daron lifted a swaddled bundle from Dro’s arms and stood straight.
Before Shaz could get a word out, or move a muscle, Camilla shot past him and ran straight at Daron. She lifted Ayanna from his arms and squeezed the sleeping toddler to her chest while tears streamed from her puffy eyes.
“Thank you,” Camilla whispered repeatedly as she opened the blanket and did a tactile and visual scan.
Daron saluted her as she turned toward the house. Dro and Reno stood aside and allowed her to pass. The early morning chill and an unnatural silence settled around them as Camilla disappeared inside the house. When the door closed behind her, Daron faced Shaz, pulled out his phone and scrolled to a photo. “Do you know this guy?”
Shaz pinched the photo and opened it up on the screen. The guy in the picture was the same one who’d been watching him outside the gym. He still hadn’t figured out why he seemed so familiar.
Frowning, Shaz asked, “Who’s he, really?”
“A small-time con artist. Has a record for small stuff. This time though, he won’t get off so easy.”
“I’m assuming you have him in lockup?”
“Put it this way.” He glanced at Dro and Reno. “We have him on lockdown while he thinks about who he’s gonna give up to gain some time off his sentence.”
Shaz knew not to ask where he was being kept or who else made up that we. Instead, he went in another direction. “Was he the one driving the car?”
Daron and Dro exchanged a glance, then he eyeballed Shaz. The tilt of Daron’s head and his folded arms told Shaz he was asking too many questions. With a weary smile, he conceded. “Scratch that. I don’t need to know.”
After a sharp nod of approval and another silent exchange with Dro, Daron turned away.
“One last thing.” Shaz stopped him by grabbing his arm. “Those earrings. They’re a brilliant touch ... and to think we figured they were over the top when you first introduced them as a security measure. Can’t thank you enough.”
A wry smile came to Daron’s lips. “Yes, my gadgets deserve respect, but you’re more than welcome.”
“Yeah. Talk later.” Shaz set his jaw, then gritted out, “I’ll be rattling some cages, starting today.”
“The woman and the baby inside are definitely worth it. Do what you have to,” Daron said as he went down the front steps.
“You best believe I will.” Shaz included Dro and Reno as they went past him. “Thanks for everything.”
Daron grinned. “You need to stop thanking us for carrying out our obligations. One for all and all that jazz …”
“That’s right.” Dro and Reno laughed because they both spoke the same words.
Hands in his pockets, Shaz watched as the vehicle rolled away. He looked up as fingers of daylight traced across the sky and offered up a prayer of thanks. The baby was back, and Camilla was happy. That meant he, too, was content.
Last night had brought him to a turning point. His woman’s agony turned him inside out and changed something in him. He wanted, no needed, Camilla in his life. He wanted to love, protect, and keep her safe from anything that could harm her or Ayanna.
Still, he was facing the most important battle of his life. The critical thing was, he had the influence and the network he needed to strike a blow against those Khalil was trying to eject from The Castle and restore its former reputation. The fact that these issues were intersecting meant he had to stay vigilant until he and the Kings brought everything to a satisfactory close.
CHAPTER 21
Shaz folded his hands on the desk and wore a confident smile. He needed sleep after the stress of last night, but that had to go on a backburner. To Georgiana, he said, “I’m sorry to call you in at such short notice, but I need your help.”
The teenager threw her mother a fleeting look and sank lower in the visitor’s chair.
“Georgiana,” he said to get her attention. “There’s no need to be afraid. Have you heard from Hussey since you were here last time?”
She shook her head.
Soraya chided her. “I didn’t raise a dummy. Answer when Mr. Bostwick talks to you.”
“No.” Georgiana raised her chin. “He ain’t bothered me since then.” She frowned, then glanced at her mother, before throwing an accusation his way. “Nicole didn’t come back.”
“We’re working on it and that’s why I need your help.”
Despite discreet inquiries and analyzing footage from security cameras, The Hub remained an impenetrable fortress. For now, Shaz reminded himself.
“What you wanna know?” Georgiana asked, her eyes glinting with suspicion.
He included Soraya in his carefully worded statement. “I could lie to you and tell you I’m only trying to find Nicole, but since there are other persons involved, we’d like to help them, too. You get me?”
She nodded and her brows cleared.
He picked up a pen and pulled a notepad in front of him. “I want you to tell me everything you remember about The Castle. Where you were kept. How many other girls were around you. Who took care of all of you—”
“I was only in there for a month, so I—”
Shaz held up both hands to reassure her. “That’s okay. Whatever you remember will help me.”
After clasping her mother’s hand, Georgiana closed her eyes and relayed her experience from memory. At one point, she scrubbed her eyes with the heels of her hand and sniffled. Then her eyes popped open. “Water.”
With his head cocked toward her, Shaz waited.
Georgiana sat forward, and her voice rang with excitement. “Late at nights, we could hear the sound of water. I dunno if it was a river or a waterfall or what, but when it got real late and we were quiet, we heard it.”
One side of Shaz’s mouth tipped up as his heart accelerated. That bit of information put him closer to finding the place where the girls were being kept.
A sad note crept into Georgiana’s voice as she continued, “I heard there were pregnant girls there, too, but I never saw them … we heard stories about the babies.”
“Like what?” His pen poised over the paper while he held Georgiana’s gaze.
She used her knuckles to dry a line of tears. “That they were taken away as soon as they were born and sold to rich people.”
&n
bsp; “Were there only Black girls, Georgiana?”
Slowly she moved her head side to side. “No. A mixture. Chinese. Indian. White. Some from the islands.”
With both hands thrust in his pockets, Shaz paced the room, staring at his shoes while absorbing what he’d been told. He moved toward the potted plant next to the window, simply because he didn’t want Georgiana and Saroya to see the effect the story had on him. They were from the surrounding neighborhoods, so the same thing could easily have happened to his sister. Snatched as she went about her business and put into sexual slavery or forced to produce a baby for twisted people who chose to take advantage of the poor.