by Ali Parker
"No, but I'll check in with Izabella is she doesn't call me soon." I glanced down at the screen as she walked out. "Why didn't I notice how cute she was before?"
Right. She was wearing slutty clothes, which never did it for me. I wanted to imagine far more than I got to see. At least at first.
"Where's Danny?" Sandra stopped by the open office door.
"He's working today on a new shipment. You need something?" I pressed a button to pause the feed again.
"Just someone to look at my pistol. Something is fucked up with it." She growled and walked back down the hall.
"Call him. He'll come out when he's done." I turned back to the computer as my phone buzzed. A text from D to help the new drug guys get a place and then a call from Izzy rolled in. "Ugh. Damn. I'm not going to get anything done out here today." I picked up the phone and barked into it. "What?"
"Bad time?" Izzy voice was smooth and forced me to pay attention to her and only her.
"Never for you." I licked at my lips and tried hard not to think about the night before. All I needed was to walk through the middle of a whore house with a big ass hard-on. It was like a mating call for those girls who ate men for breakfast lunch and dinner. Not all of them were like that, but Sandra had a few that-
"Eddy? You still there?"
"Yeah, sorry. What's going on?"
"I just talked with Jonathan. The DNA results show that we're dealing with Derrik Kallup. I'll call Demetri, but I wanted to start with you first."
"Shit. That's a good and bad thing, I guess. Seems like all of the evidence was pointing toward them, but how stupid can you be?" I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes. "What's the next step in the plan?"
"I'm sure it's going to move to mine and D's responsibility. You figured out who it was hurting the girls. It's time for D to make the call and me to pull out my weapon."
"You make that sound so damn sexy, but I hate the true meaning behind it. Isn't it better for all of us to deal with this one? There's a lot of Kallups in Chicago, Izzy."
"Only seven that have bound together to wreak havoc on my family. That's a play day in the park." She laughed softly.
Why I thought she would ever let anyone protect her was beyond me. She was more stealthy and deadly than all of us put together, but I wished like hell that she wasn't.
"Let me call D. It was my job to wrap up, and I appreciate you help, but let me take this one, okay? I'm sure he'll buzz you when he's ready for the massacre to begin, but until then..."
"Sounds good. I'll be in touch soon. Thanks again for last night." She made a kissing sound and I smiled.
"You unruly bitch."
"You love sick pussy."
I laughed and hung up, hating her for pinning the tail on the donkey perfectly. I dialed D's number and half-expected it to go to voicemail. The guy seemed to always be knee deep in something.
"This is D."
"It's Edward. We got the results back from DNA. It's Derrik Kallup's blood. He's in the system's records of course, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't working alone."
"Dammit. The Kallups never work alone. None of them are strong enough, or smart enough to pull off anything without the rest of the group. It's part of their strength."
"Awesome. Where do we go from here?" I knew he didn't need my sarcasm, but I didn't need a lesson on the Kallups. I was tense as fuck at the thought of D sending my girl over there to even up the score.
"You work on another set up from your end and I'll be tracking them from mine. I would have loved to just grab my weapon and called a couple of you guys to join me in busting up their fun, but they stay hidden really well. I have no clue where the bastards are, but we're about to put out a city-wide search."
"Alright, you want me to use Audrey again? Is that the plan?"
"No. Use another girl. Jenny, maybe. You're going to let her go with the guy that you think might be Derrik and follow them. Don't let her out of your site. I'd assume the bastard that takes her will lead us right to the rest of them. It might not be their hideout, but it will give us access to all of them."
"You really think this idiot is going to make the same mistake twice? I think you're underestimating them pretty badly here, D."
"We're both going to be working on it. If they don't come after another girl, then you win... they're not complete idiots. If they do... then I win."
"What are we winning?"
"How about the loser leaves Izzy alone forever?"
"You talk to her about that?" I smirked, hating the bastard for even trying to shove me farther away. It wasn't like he was ever going to get off his sorry ass and give her what she needed in a relationship.
"Nope. She's not the kind of woman that will ever choose the best thing for herself."
"Alright buddy. I'm getting back to work. No deal on Izzy. She's about all I have to look forward to most nights of the week. Talk soon!" I hung up on the cock and glanced up to see Audrey watching me. "What? He's an asshole."
"I see that." She walked in and took the chair across from me. "What's the plan on catching this guy?"
"We're working on it. I don't think you have to do anything else, but if you're interested in a job with the family, just let me know. I think you'd do well with them. You're a tough cookie."
"Do men thing that women enjoy being called cookie? Do I look like a floury sugar ball with chocolate poking out of various parts of my body?"
"Um... what?" I laughed loudly at the look on her face. She was the most sardonic woman I'd ever met in my life. She'd put Izzy to shame in her unwillingness to entertain anyone or anything she wasn't into.
"I am interested in working for the family, but for now, I don't think I should be done with the search for this guy. I'm strong and I'm fast. I can help you figure this out, and I'm the toughest girl you have."
"He's also seen your face." I moved my hand around my face as I widened my eyes. "Your face... you know, this pretty thing."
"Ha, ha." She leaned back in her chair and put her feet on the desk. "I'm not leaving until you let me help you."
"Alright. Be that way." I shrugged and pressed a button on the computer. "You can help by going to find Jenny. D wants to use her as bait. They guys have already beat up on her a little, so they might be quite interested in finishing the job."
"Jenny isn't here." Sandra walked into the office and stopped beside Audrey’s chair. She reached down and tapped the younger woman's boot. "Feet down, please."
"Of course. Sorry, Sandra." Audrey blushed, making her look far more young and innocent than she probably was.
"Where's Jenny at?" I stood up and stretched.
"I don't know. I was going to give her a few more hours and then call D." She crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself. "She's never late on getting back in the morning."
"When did she leave?" I sat back down and opened the camera files for the night before as Sandra confirmed my suspicions. "We'll just look it up. Easy enough."
"I feel sick about it for some reason." Sandra started to pace the floor. "If anything happened to one of my girls, I don't know what I would do."
I watched Jenny walk from the house toward a dark brown bronco and sighed with relief. "Different car than our guys."
"Of course it would be a different car, Eddy." Audrey got up and walked around to my side of the desk. "Moving the camera back to see if we can get a visual on the guy."
"Good idea." I glanced up at her, liking her a little more and more each time I got to talk with her. She was growing on me. Scary thought.
I slowed the camera down and pulled in the focus on the guys face. "There. Recognize him."
"Shit. That's him, Sandra. That's the guy that attacked me."
"What?" Sandra face drained of color as she dropped down into the chair beside her. "No. Do something, Eddy. Find her. He's had her all fucking night. No."
"Shit." I grabbed my phone and called D.
"This is-"
"Dude, we got a pro
blem. The same fucker that took Audrey and tried to rough her up grabbed Jenny right from under our noses last night."
"What?" D barked into the phone. "Put me on speaker. Now."
I set the phone down with shaky hands and pressed the speaker button. "You're on. Sandra, me and Audrey are in the room."
"Sandra, what time did she leave and have you spoke with her since?"
"She left at nine. Right around nine-fifteen." She was choking up. "Find her, D. I can't lose one of my girls. Please find her for me."
"What do we need to do?" Audrey jumped in before I could.
"I'm going after these fuckers. I'll grab Izzy and we'll head out." D's voice was tight with tension. "Edward, get Jonathan on the phone and tell him to track the car from Sandra's place through the city until it stops. Give him all the details that he needs. Do it now."
"I'm going with you." Audrey leaned toward the phone. "This is Audrey."
"No, you're not." The phone went dead, leaving the three of us looking at each other.
I snatched up my phone and walked toward the door as I called Izzy and explained what we needed. She didn't hesitate to get off the phone with me and call Jonathan. I got a text a few minutes later as I was pacing in front of the whore house and panting like a smoker who'd run his first marathon.
I felt helpless. Completely and utterly helpless.
Chapter 16
Izabella
"Dammit to hell." I got off the phone with Jonathan and texted Edward that he was on it. We'd have information in fifteen minutes. The jog to my father's office from my bedroom upstairs never seemed so long. I knocked at the door and tried to slow my beating heart.
"Come in." Why the sound of my father's voice calmed me was a mystery, but it had something to do with him being the voice of reason my whole life. Every time I stepped out on the ledge of a new adventure, it was him whispering wisdom that would keep me safe and remind me of purpose.
"Daddy." I walked in and moved around the desk, dropping to my knees and pressed my face against his chest as he wrapped his arms around me.
"Baby, what's the matter?" He kissed the side of my head as I pressed my face farther in his chest.
Everything was the matter. Where did I even start?
"I just need you for a minute." I took a shaky breath and squeezed him tightly. "Nothing is making sense right now."
"Then you need to remove your lenses and wipe them off, my sweet. You're just use to running though the sprinklers full speed, but sometimes, you have to pull back, reassess, wipe off your goggles and then go at it again."
I moved back to my knees and nodded. "Someone took Jenny last night from the prostitution house. Jonathan is working on getting a visual using the city's cameras on where he went, but-" I couldn't go on.
"It's alright. I know you care about Jenny, but it's going to be alright. Call D and the two of you go find her." He touched the side of my face. "And Izzy... You have to be true to who you are, baby. No matter how much it hurts sometimes."
I didn't have to ask what he was talking about. My father was an old sage at times. He didn't know what he was talking about, and yet his words drove down deep into my soul. It was time to let Eddy go. He didn't belong to me, and no matter how much I fought against the idea of truly being alone, it was coming sooner than later.
At least by being an adult about it, I'd have a friend when it all happened.
"Thanks, Papa." I leaned toward him and kissed his cheek before getting up and walking to his door. I paused and glanced over my shoulder. "Can we talk when all this is figured out?"
"Yes. I would like that very much." He leaned back in his big leather chair and clasped his hands over his stomach. "I think maybe it's time that you and I clear the air a little, hm?"
"Yes. It's time." I blew him and kiss and walked out into the hallway as D burst out of Marco's office, scaring me half to death. "Fuck. I didn't know you were here."
"Let's go. We need to head toward the east side of town. I guess your boyfriend worked a lot faster than we expected. Let's take my Jag."
"No. My Porsche. It's faster."
"Are we really going to have another pissing contest?" He growled at me as we walked toward the front door.
"The Porsche is faster, Sir." Nate winked at me.
I tossed my keys over my shoulder to D. "See. Told you, but for being a good sport, I'll let you drive."
"I hate both of you." D walked out behind me and moved around to the driver’s side. He groaned softly when he got in. "God, I love this car. It feels like sex and smells like you."
"Don't start." I reached up to the GPS. "Give me the address and tell me what you think we're up against."
"It's 2326 Blaylock. That's right down the dock from us." He turned on the car and pulled out of the driveway like we were racing against time. "Call my sister and tell her to lock up everything and close down for the day. I don't want her or Selma to get hurt."
"Alright." As much as I couldn't stand D's bitchy older sister, the last thing I wanted was for either of them to get hurt. I pressed her number on his phone and waited a minute.
"Hey little brother."
"He's beside me, but is driving. It's Izabella."
"Oh."
I smiled and glanced over at D as he gave me a stern look. "We're headed out toward the dock. D wants me to tell you to shut down for the day and get out of there. The Kallups are holed up a few units down and we're pretty sure that they're the ones beating up our girls from Madame Gizelle's."
"And why would they bother us down here?" She snapped rudely.
"She said to go fuck yourself with an eggplant." I handed him the phone and glanced out the window to my left as D barked instructions into the phone. He dropped it in the cup holder beside me and growled. "What the hell is it with you two?"
"She's your sister who loves you dearly and wants the best for you, and I'm the woman that wants to suck you off every night. There's a conflict of interest here. She feels like I drug you into this life, remember?"
He glanced over at me and pulled his bottom lip in his mouth, shaking his head and not replying.
I let it drop between us and tried not to get my hopes up too much that my brother was somewhere in the warehouse too. Maybe the Kallups had him tied up on the wall beside Jenny.
Or something even worse...
*
My phone buzzed in the cup holder beside me as we turned down the long narrow street that lead behind all of the units. Marco. I snatched it up, knowing I didn't have long to talk.
"Talk fast. I'm in the middle of something," I snapped.
"So bossy."
"Now, Marco." I unbuckled as D parked the car and got out.
"The tapes have nothing on them. I'll let you listen when you get a minute. They're garbage. Just jumbled up shit."
"All of them?" My heart sunk in my chest as I got out and pulled my glock from my back.
D glanced over at me. "Get off the phone. Let's go."
"All of them, Sis."
"I gotta go." I dropped the call and tucked the phone in my pocket.
"What's going on?"
"Nothing," I mumbled and walked toward the storage unit.
D paused by the main door and glanced back at me. "You never have been a good liar, Izzy."
"Neither have you." I pushed past him and brought my gun up as I moved to the side of the door, trying to let my eyes focus.
D slipped into the room and closed the door.
The smell of death and decay filled my senses and caused me to gag.
"Try to hold yourself together." He stopped beside me and rubbed the small of my back softly. "Breathe through your nose and don't walk too far in front of me."
"I'm a big girl, Demetri. I can handle myself." I glanced over at him as fear rushed through me. What if Freddy was in this place? Would Demetri care? If he didn't... everyone would change for me.
Freddy was my baby brother. My flesh and blood.
"Look for
Jenny, Izzy. Look for Freddy too." He squeezed the top of my ass and left me standing there with my worst fears rising up inside of me.
The only light was a small amount that filtered in from the tiny windows at the top of the shed, but they only illuminated certain parts of the shed. Something creaked to my right, and I stiffened and pointed my gun toward it.
"Just me," D whispered. "Go to the left up here and I'll take the hall to the right."
"Okay." I moved to my left and turned as he grabbed me.
"Be careful. Just call for me if-"
"Don't." I pulled from his hold. "You want me to be someone I'm not."
"Is that true?" He smiled and turned, leaving me in the darkness.
It was true, but maybe the lie was that I didn't want to become that girl for him, for me, for both of us. I turned and walked into a darkened hall, pausing only to listen for the sound of someone breathing or moving around in the darkness in front of me. As badly as I wanted to reach out and flip on the lights in the hallway, it was a death trap is someone was at the other end.
I moved along the wall, sliding my back up and down it to differentiate my height as I made my way toward the offices on my end of the building. I ducked into the first one I saw and flipped on a lamp near the closed window shade. A small mattress was in the far corner with a dirty blue blanket on top of it. Blood stains covered the once white sheet tossed about and dark grey blotches covered the pillow. Tears.
I glanced behind me before going over to kneel beside it. I moved the blankets around, not thinking about what I might get on my hands or what filth I was rummaging through. I needed to know.
The small black phone that dropped to the floor as I picked the mattress up left my heart shattering in my chest.
I bent down and let out a soft sob as I flipped it open. A picture of my mother smiling back at me left me sliding down to my knees.
"Freddy. Where are you?" I glanced around before working to tear through the office looking for clues. I moved from office to office, fearless in my search for my brother. Nothing. There was nothing. At least his body wasn't laying on the mattress, beaten and tore apart.