Rico had closed the nightclub and brothel, renovated the building, and turned it into a quaint upscale boutique hotel, The Creole Inn. Eight years later, the Creole Inn had already made Cherone a multimillionaire.
When Rico had arrived at the hotel, he had known immediately something was wrong. None of the usual workers were on duty, and the hotel was almost deserted. He was about to question a young man sitting behind the front desk when Tamara trolled down the staircase like the lady of the manor. Shit! She’s out? When did this happen, and why wasn’t I told about it?
“Oh Spaniard, good, you’re finally here,” Tamara cooed. “I was beginning to think you were not much of an overseer because you haven’t visited this property in six months.”
Rico stared at Cherone’s sister, who was dressed in a navy blue form-fitting gown as though she was about to go out for a night on the town. She wore her long black hair flowing down her back. Her make-up was flawless. He dispassionately acknowledged that Tamara was a beautiful. Not as beautiful as my Cherone, but then who is? Though the hairs on his arms stood and a sharp shiver invaded his body, Rico ignored the possibility of any danger.
“What, Spaniard? Cat’s got your tongue?” Tamara cackled with amusement.
“They let you out,” Rico said.
“They had to,” Tamara said. “I did my time, and now …” She laughed again. “And now, it’s my time.”
The look of glee on her face was the only warning he had before he was hit over the head hard. He knew nothing until he woke up in a brightly lit room where he had been tortured for the past three days. At least he thought it had been three days since he had been captured. They had been pumping him with drugs since he awakened, so he may have lost a few hours of time.
“I know what will make him talk,” Tamara told the leader of his abductors.
“He will tell me who killed my brother!”The leader said confidently.
“It was the black guy. But he won’t tell you his name. Damn, you don’t even know his name!” Tamara hissed. “You need to give him some incentive to rat out his friends. I knew he was a snitch the moment Jerome and Edmond were taken out. You will pay for that, Spaniard.”
So Tamara didn’t tell this asshole that his brother killed Jerome and Edmond. What game is this bitch playing?
“I don’t give a damn what he is! I want my brother’s killer, and he will give me his name.” The leader kicked Rico in the ribs. “You think you’re a tough guy? I will cut your balls off, one at a time! And then you’ll talk!”
Rico stared at the brown-haired foreigner, recognizing him as one of the leaders of the Maghrebi gangs in Marseille, France. Samir Zidane was on the most wanted lists on every intelligence agencies on earth. Samir ran one of the deadliest drug trafficking gangs, specializing in cocaine and heroin. How the hell did this bastard get into the United States?
“No, you need to get his little whore here. She’s living life large in Miami. Get her here and he’ll talk. The manager told you that the owner of this place lives in Miami. She lives with him!” Tamara pointed an accusing finger toward Rico. “You’re such a secretive bastard, Spaniard. Even your hotel manager didn’t know your name.”
Rico stared at the bitch coldly. Tamara had boasted that she had been released from prison for good behavior after only spending eight years in prison. He had not asked any questions and hadn’t uttered a sound since they had captured him. He wasn’t giving them the satisfaction of hearing his pain.
“Who is she?”Samir demanded.
Tamara gleefully produced a picture of Cherone. “This is my whore of a sister. She left me to rot in prison! Not one day did she visit me!” Tamara smiled at Rico. “Imagine my surprise when I went looking for my sister after I got out of prison. I found this place first, told the manager a sad story about wanting to reconnect with Cherone, and he was very helpful. A Google search later, I learned all I needed to know—my sister the college student. That bitch!” Tamara spat. “I downloaded the photo from her Facebook page.”
Rico seethed with the need to feel the comforting weight of his gun in his hand.
Samir looked at the picture and then at him. “Nice piece of ass! I think I’m going to like this incentive.” He bent down to be eye level with Rico. “You have good taste. Is she as fuckable as she looks?”
Through eyes almost closed shut because of the swelling, Rico stared at the picture of Cherone walking on the campus at UM. Her dark hair flowed about her shoulders, her coffee skin glowed with youthfulness and health, and her lips were stretched in a wide grin. She looked happy and carefree. He didn’t show any emotion, while inside he was panicking with fear. Samir was known for his brutality toward women, treating them like sex slaves and often passing them around to his men. It was evident that Tamara was servicing Samir and his men. She was already looking well used. Hell no! Not my baby!
Rico looked away from Samir and the photo. He took in the barren room where he sat on the lone chair. There were no windows, no air. When they left him in the room and closed the door, loud heavy metal music was turned on and the room got unbearably hot. A trick he had learned as a child, he perfected as an adult: the ability to project outside of his physical pain and discomfort and mentally focus on a more pleasant memory. Since being taken, he replayed the hours with Cherone in Technicolor in his mind, effectively blocking most of the pain they inflicted.
“She looks like a sweet little pigeon, waiting for us to pluck her up.” Samir licked his lips and smiled. Samir held Rico’s gaze with pale blue eyes looking almost white, evil intent reflected clearly within them.
Without removing his gaze from Rico, Samir passed the photo to one of his men. “Go get our pigeon. Bring her to me without a scratch.”
Rico only blinked.
The frown on Samir’s face deepened, and his eyes grew colder. “You will speak to me, American pig!” Samir pulled out his gun and started beating Rico about the head with it. Rico remained motionless and closed his eyes. Others joined in the beating. They were like a pack of vicious dogs, only stopping their assault when he lost consciousness.
The instant he regained consciousness, Rico tried calling out to Cherone telepathically. He knew their connection had never been powerful enough over such long distances, but he was desperate to try. He didn’t know how much time had passed, but whenever he was awake, he kept at it.
When he remembered the brutality of the murder of his SEAL mate, Damien, and his family a few years ago, Rico was frantic to reach out to Cherone. Damien had had to watch his wife being raped and then beheaded. His only son, barely a toddler, had been sliced in half before the bastards had killed Damien. Rico would die before he allowed anything like that to happen to Cherone.
I don’t want Cherone affected by any part of my professional life. I have to get out of here before they abduct her!
“You may be a tough bastard, but how about your woman?” Samir taunted.
Wait how much time has passed? Hours? Days? Rico was completely disoriented.
“Do you think she can withstand us? My men are at the university now and will retrieve her shortly.”
Rico went berserk and fought like a madman, crashing his chair to the floor until he was free. Although he hurt a few of the men with vicious punches and kicks, there were just too many of them, and after days of steady blood loss and no food and water, he didn’t have his usual strength. He refused to give up and held his own until they shot him in the right shoulder and left thigh, making his right arm useless, his left leg dead weight. After tying him to another chair, the beatings resumed in earnest. They broke his nose and shattered his jaw. With blood almost choking him and obstructing his breathing, he screamed out mentally to Cherone.
Run!
Where am I going and who am I running from?
He almost passed out in relief when her sweet voice filled his head.
Run, querida! Go to Neo! Don’t go home.
Something smashed into his skull, and he knew nothing
but darkness.
Chapter Twelve
AFTER NEO LEFT in his truck, Cherone borrowed Neo’s car and parked a few blocks from her and Rico’s home. Neo should have already arrived at the house and inspected it. Moving quietly through the dark, silent streets, Cherone crept onto the grounds of her home. She wanted to ensure Neo didn’t dismiss her concerns. Continuing to mentally reach out to Rico, she was beginning to hate the black void his lack of response produced in her heart.
She waited at the perimeter of the property. Creeping steadily until she came to the edge of the house, she crouched down under a window and tried to detect movement or sound in the house. In seconds she heard the unmistakable sound of masculine agitated grunts inside the house. Neo is fighting someone!
With her heart pounding in her chest, she crept into the open door of their garage and looked into the large freezer stored there. Removing a few shelves, she retrieved one of Rico’s guns. She patted the back pocket of her jeans for her custom-made blades.
The fighting inside the house continued with the sound of furniture breaking and glass shattering.
Moving as quickly as she dared, Cherone expertly crept from the garage and sneaked into the house. She entered the kitchen first. The room was completely ransacked. Her fear for Ray and Clara intensified.
Tiptoeing over broken glass, overturned furniture, and spilled fluids covering the floor, she moved toward the male grunts of pain and aggression.
“Where is she, mudderfucker?”
The accent of the speaker paralyzed Cherone. I’ve heard that accent before!
Neo didn’t respond, and Cherone heard what sounded like a fist connecting to someone’s body. She moved faster. Peeping around the corner into the living room, she saw Neo on his knees in front of four vicious looking men holding guns. Two other men lying on the floor nearby with blood coming out of their mouths looked quite dead.
They sound French. No, what did that guy say to Jerome? Algerians! Shit! What’s going on? What do they want?
“Tell us where she is, and we will kill you quickly. If you don’t, we will start cutting you up.”
Neo remained silent.
One of the men punched Neo in the face.
Neo didn’t flinch.
“Cut off his ear!”
When one of the men produced a knife, Cherone threw one of her blades at the man holding a gun to Neo’s head, and the knife found its target in the middle of the attacker’s wrist, cut cleanly through bone and cartilage, and almost severed his hand. The man screamed in agony as the gun fell harmlessly to the floor. Cherone darted to a dark corner in the room.
The men looked to the spot she had just vacated and started swearing and firing in that direction. Their distraction gave Neo enough time to roll away from them, retrieve a gun from his ankle, and shoot two of the men.
But he wasn’t fast enough to get the third.
As the third gunman aimed at Neo, Cherone leaped up and shot Neo’s attacker in his throat.
When all was quiet, she turned on some more lights in room. Cherone wished she hadn’t bothered.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay put?” Neo muttered through clenched teeth.
Cherone placed her hands at her waist and stared him down. “I need you alive to help me get Rico. If I hadn’t come, you’d be dead by now.”
“I had it under control!”
“When? Not from what I saw.”
Muttering under his breath, Neo approached the man whose wrist she had sliced open. He was alive but losing blood fast.
“Where is Rico?” Neo demanded.
The man spat in Neo’s face.
Neo took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his face. “You’re going to tell me what I need to know.” Neo grabbed the man’s wrist and wrapped the handkerchief tightly around it. He then pulled the man to a corner of the room and tied him to a heavy sofa. Neo meticulously checked each fallen man for a pulse. He pulled out his phone from his back pocket. Taking each man’s photo, he sent a message.
“What are you doing?” Cherone asked.
Neo walked over to his prisoner. “Who are you and why were you here?”
The man closed his eyes as if he was bored.
Neo put a bullet in the man’s right knee.
The man screamed loudly and long.
“Why are you here?” Neo asked.
“Fuck you!”
As Neo took aim at the man’s left knee, Cherone grabbed Neo’s hand and gasped in agony when she saw some of the torment in his life flashing through her mind. After the horrific things Neo had suffered and witnessed, Cherone was amazed he could be so caring and still find humor in life. She dropped her hand.
“There is an easier way for us to find those answers Neo,” Cherone said.
“Kid, for the last time, stay over there and out of the way.”
“Lord, save me from stubborn men,” Cherone hissed. She walked over to their prisoner and grabbed his uninjured hand.
The man almost crushed her hand before Neo pulled her away from their prisoner.
“Do you mind telling me what the hell you’re doing?” Neo yelled. “I swear to God, Rico needs to be shot for how much he has spoilt your ass!”
Cherone gently rubbed the lingering pain from her hand. “His name is Henri. He is a Frenchman from Marseille. He works for Samir Zidane, who is here in the United States looking to avenge his brother’s death.” Cherone stared at Henri in horror. “They have Rico in New Orleans.”
Neo looked at her as if she had lost her mind. “How did you…?”
“Did you hear me?” Cherone ran to Neo and hugged him. “Neo, they have my Rico. Please, you have to go get him out of there!” She shook with fear. The brutality she had seen in the Frenchman made her tremble. What pain Rico must be suffering! These men are pure evil.
Neo held and rocked her. “Don’t worry, Rico can take care of himself. He won’t want you to worry like this.”
“But the things they’ve already done to him!” Cherone wailed.
“Look kid, we don’t call him Ghost for nothing.”
Neo’s phone started beeping. Holding her close to him, Neo looked at the display on his phone. “Roni, honey, I need to know how you know so much about this guy. The facial recognition just came in, and he is Henri LaRue. How did you know?”
Cherone raised her head and looked at him through tear-soaked eyes. “Another long story, Neo. Can we go get Rico now, please?”
“Dominic and Sean will be here within the hour,” Neo said. “Once this guy tells us exactly where Rico is, we will go get him.”
“Neo, although you don’t understand my ability, you have to trust me. I love Rico, and I won’t jeopardize his safety for anything.” Cherone turned away and started to leave the room. “When I tell you I know where he is, believe me. Rico is my life. I want him safely home more than anyone.”
“Roni, I do trust you, but I don’t understand what’s happening here. What do you know? And better yet, how do you know it?” Neo frowned. “You have to admit, this is very bizarre.”
“There’s no time to explain. We have to get Rico. Despite what you think, Rico needs rescuing sooner rather than later.” Cherone turned to leave.
“Where are you going?” Neo asked.
“To get ready.”
“Now wait just a damn minute, you’re not going with us!”
“How are you going to find Rico without me?” Cherone advanced on him like an avenging angel. “If you don’t take me, I assure you I will get to New Orleans on my own.”
“We take you around a man like Samir Zidane, and Rico will kill us all. Samir is a very dangerous man. The fact that he can get into the US without detection makes him even more so. I don’t want you anywhere near this guy!”
Cherone gazed at Neo calmly with her hands at her waist. “That’s just too bad. I don’t care who he is. He has my Rico.”
Two hours later, Dominic, Sean and Neo were ready to depart for New Orleans along with
four other military looking men. A team of agents had come and gone with the one live body and the five dead ones. Three men were to escort Cherone to a secure location.
Cherone sat on the living room sofa foaming at Dominic Stone’s highhandedness. “You don’t understand. Rico needs me.”
His silver-gray eyes drilled into her. “You are not doing Rico any favors by delaying us with further tantrums.”
“Thank you for helping Rico, but your arrogance is going to get him killed,” Cherone said. “These guys are only using him as bait. When the person they came here for is delivered, Rico will be killed. You know who you’re dealing with, so you know what I say is true.”
“I’m not in the habit of explaining myself to anyone.” Dominic’s stare was forbidding. “We have done a terrible job of indulging you and not giving you the discipline to obey a command once given. I will say this only once. Despite your help with the intel, we would have uncovered that information with a little interrogation. We know what we’re doing and our mission will go more smoothly if we don’t have to worry about a civilian.”
Cherone stood, walked over to Neo, and hugged him. “Be safe, Uncle Neo,” she whispered.
“Wait, no hug for me?” Sean teased.
With tears running down her face, Cherone turned and hugged Sean. “Don’t worry, sweetheart, we’ll bring him back safely,” Sean whispered, hugging and kissing her on the forehead.
“I’m going to my room,” Cherone said softly as she pulled away from Sean.
“You can’t stay here,” Dominic warned. “These men will take you to a secure location.”
Cherone stared at him coolly. “I just need a few hours to sleep before we leave. Can they protect me for a few hours while I take a nap?”
Neo smiled. “Sure, honey, go take a nap. They will wake you in a few hours and take you out of here.”
Twin Souls (The Guardians: Book 2) Page 11