“Sure,” she answers, opening her bag and pulling out a pad and pen.
“I need you to get Evan to find this person,” I tell her, writing down Dean’s name and number. I rip it off the pad, handing it to her. “He was my bodyguard, tell Evan to give him this message. ‘Kitty needs you.’”
“O-okay.” She frowns.
I don’t hang around to explain, I don’t have time, I need to do this now or I never will.
We sit in silence as we wait for Kitty and Kay to get into my SUV. Ty sits behind me and I catch his eye in the rearview mirror, a silent conversation going on between us. Neither of us saw this coming and I blame myself. I’ve spent so much time with Kitty lately and not once did I see any of the signs. Yes, she hid it well, but now that I think about it, it’s so obvious. The need to not be at the compound. At the time I thought it was because she wanted to be here, with me, and maybe she did, but I have no doubt that the main reason was because she didn’t want any of them to catch her.
The weight that she’s lost, the way she acts when she’s been away from the house for a while, the way she runs off to the bathroom. I should have known, I should have seen it.
The door opens and Kitty climbs into the passenger seat, her eyes red and swollen, and her face turned down to the floor.
I turn the key in the engine and pull out of my driveway, heading to the airport.
No one says a word on the way there, the only sound is Kitty’s soft sniffles. I move my hand and place it on her thigh, squeezing gently, but she doesn’t acknowledge me because she’s stuck inside her own head.
“Kitty?” I ask.
She shakes her head in reply and I move my hand off her thigh, knowing that she needs time. I’ll give her that time, I’ll let her sort her head out but I won’t abandon her. I’ll be there every step of the way, whether she likes it or not.
I pull up to the drop off point outside the airport, getting out and pulling our bags from the trunk.
“No,” she says once she sees both of our bags. “You can’t come with me.”
“What—”
“I need to do this on my own. I can’t have you watching over me.”
My breath stutters at the thought of her doing this alone. She’s not alone, she has me and the manmade family at the compound; she doesn’t need to tackle this alone.
“I just want to help,” I tell her, my voice sounding weak.
“It’s too much, Charlie,” she says, shaking her head and stepping forward. “I need to do this… without you.”
I scrub my hand down my face, my stomach bottoming out. “Is this your way of breaking up with me?”
She worries her lip and looks down at the ground, picking her bag up and hauling it over her shoulder. “I don’t know.”
A lump forms in my throat and I can’t help the thoughts running through my head, I knew this would happen. I’m not meant to love or be loved, maybe I should just resign myself to that fate. To being alone.
“I’ll go with her,” Kay announces. “I’ll make sure she gets there okay and then I’ll come back on the next flight.”
My shoulders drop as I look at Kitty, knowing that it doesn’t matter what I do or what I say, she needs to do this on her own, without me. I don’t like it, in fact, I hate it, but she needs to do this, I can see that now.
Ty pulls Kay off to the side, leaving just me and Kitty standing awkwardly and I can’t take it another second. I take two big steps and place my hands on either side of her face, tilting her head back to look up at me.
“I’m gonna let you do this on your own,” I tell her. “But you need me, any hour of the day, you call me and I’ll get on the first flight out there. I’m here for you, Kitty Kat. Never forget that.”
“I know,” she whispers, lifting up on her toes and placing her lips against mine in a gentle kiss. “And I will.”
“You will?” I ask, my voice full of hope.
“If I need you, I’ll call, but I just need this time to sort my head out, to be myself again. I hope you can understand that.”
I nod my head slowly, leaning down and resting my forehead against hers. My arms slowly wrap around her as I stand up straight, her head going to my chest and I relish in the feel of her in my arms, afraid that this could be the last time I get to hold her like this.
Neither of us say another word as she pulls out of my embrace, shoulders her bag and takes Kay’s hand, both of them wandering into the airport.
I watch her until I can’t see her anymore and then turn to Ty where he stands a few feet away, talking on his cell. His eyes meet mine and he moves closer.
“Cartel,” he whispers, pulling the cell away from his ear. “Evan has some more info.”
I nod my head and pull my own cell out, dialing Jonny. “I’ll set up a meeting with Jonny, you’ll need to be there.”
Ty nods in response and I walk to the driver’s side of my SUV, determined to throw myself into work.
If I can’t be there with Kitty, helping her through this, then I need to keep my mind busy, and work is the only way I can do that.
I nod my head in greeting at Ty, Luke, Kay, and Evan and wave my arm at my guys to follow me. Jonny told us that he could meet the next day but that he’d only meet on his turf and on his terms. I told him that wasn’t a safe option but he refused to do it any other way, and knowing that he had inside information that none of us would find out if it wasn’t for him, I had no choice but to agree to it.
So here we are now, all of Ty’s guys and all of mine, walking into Diva’s, the place where Kitty was shot, the thing that caused her to spiral out of control.
The two guards standing watch at the front doors do their best to ignore our presence as we walk in but the quick flick of their eyes gives them away.
“I don’t like this,” Ty says, coming to stand beside me.
“Me neither,” I answer him. “But it’s the only way that I could get a meeting with him.”
Ty grunts in response and as soon as we push through the next set of doors, I see Jonny sitting in the middle of the room with several guys standing behind him, all facing the entrance.
Me and Ty move forward, sitting opposite him as all of the guys hang back, making sure that this isn’t a set up. I wouldn’t put it past him.
“Sergeant Mackenzie.”
“Jonny.”
“This must be your brother and Kitty’s boss, Tyson.”
“That’s me,” Ty tells him, leaning back in the chair.
Jonny claps his hands, looking around the place, his eyes moving over all of the guys who have spread out around the place before he frowns.
“Kitty?” he asks.
“Rehab,” I growl, not willing to give him any more information than that.
He doesn’t say anything even though I’ve caught him by surprise, but ever the businessman, he shakes his head and leans forward.
“I can help you get the cartel,” he says. Six words and he has all of my attention.
He raises his brows and leans back, lifting his hand to one of his men before they hand him a file which he hands over to me.
I look down at it and then pull it open, seeing dates, times, and places. There’s a whole page full and I frown down at it, looking back up at Jonny.
“What are these?” I ask, passing the file over to Ty so that he can see the information.
“They’re your hits, where you’ll be able to capture all the members of Fernando’s cartel.”
“They’re all on the same day,” Ty announces.
Jonny chuckles and shakes his head. “Of course, they are, you need to do it all in one day otherwise you won’t get them all.”
I nod my head, understanding what he’s saying. Once we hit the first one and they find out, they’re going to try and stop the next deal, but with them all in one day, they won’t have the chance to stop it.
I hate to admit it, but Jonny is smart, smarter than I gave him credit for.
“And what will
we find at these deals?” I ask, closing the file and resting my hand on the top of it.
He watches me for several seconds, his gray eyes honing in on me.
“I want you to agree to my deal before I give you any more information,” he says, a fire in his eyes that I’ve never seen before. “Gio.” He waves his hand to one of his men and he steps forward. “Tell him.”
“Fernando has my little sister, Gianna.”
“Okay…” I say, confused about what he’s asking me to do.
“We want you to get his sister back when you take him down, she’s not allowed to leave his side so she’ll be there. I want you to arrest her like you will the rest and then you call me and I’ll come and pick her up.”
“That’s what you want in return?” I ask.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He narrows his eyes at me. “That’s none of your fucking business.”
I raise a brow at him before turning to Ty, trying to gauge his reaction. His eyes don’t move from Jonny but I can tell by the look on his face that he doesn’t like what’s going down one bit.
I run my hand along my jaw, debating what to say and do. “I don’t know if I can guarantee she’ll get off without a charge.”
Jonny’s eyes swirl with anger and he leans forward, his jaw clenched. “I’ll give you her dealer.”
“What?” I grit out, my hands clenching into fists.
“I’ll give you Kitty’s dealer. You want to know who supplied her? I can tell you and you can do what the hell you like to him.”
I narrow my eyes at him, trying to work out his angle. Why would he want to give up her dealer? What does he have to gain from me getting her dealer off the streets?
“She took a bullet for me,” he shrugs, seeming to read my thoughts without me saying a word. “I owe her one.”
My breaths become heavy as he leans back in his chair, waiting for my answer. I don’t even need to think about it.
“You have yourself a deal.” I stand up, Jonny doing the same as I extend my hand to his and shake it.
“It’s Joel,” Jonny says and then walks away, his men following him.
My hands are clutched around a book as I stare out of the window. The room so silent that it almost makes my ears hurt. For a week now I’ve been at this rehab and it’s nothing like I thought it’d be.
My imagination was running wild on the flight here, and the cab ride from the airport was even worse. I thought it’d be full of teenagers who smoke pot and take heroin or old men who can’t stop drinking, but I was wrong.
They’re normal people; normal people who have gotten caught in the ring of addiction. I’ve kept to myself, not wanting or needing to make friends here, but the group sessions have really opened my eyes to how addiction can affect people in different ways.
My problem lies with all of the free time that we’re given, that’s when my mind wanders and all I can think about are those pills, that along with every other little thing that has ever happened to me.
I think of Charlie, my dad, Dean, all of the guys back at the compound, but mostly of how I grew up.
My mind doesn’t stop spinning and although there’s no noise around me, there’s plenty inside of my head.
I stand up, placing the old, worn out book onto my queen-sized bed and walk to the window.
The giant house is surrounded by gardens as far as the eye can see. The flowers tended to by a groundskeeper. I’ve found myself walking between the flower beds often, noting down which flowers they have and which ones they don’t.
My mind drifts to my own small garden back at the compound. I haven’t tended to it in what feels like forever and I itch to be able to plant something, to dig my fingers into the soil.
A light knock on the door draws my attention and I turn around.
“Group session,” a small female voice calls and I heave a breath.
I’ve been able to get away without talking in the group sessions but I know it won’t be much longer before I have to talk. After all, they are group sessions that require input from everyone.
I pick up my sweater off the chair that points to the window and pull it over my head before I walk out of my room.
I make sure to shut the door behind me as I walk down the bright yellow hallway and down the light wooden staircase that flows down into the middle of a grand foyer. The place used to be owned by some high society people and passed down through the generations until the current owner opened up a rehab facility in the giant home.
I haven’t seen him yet, but I’ve heard plenty of talk about him and this place, apparently, this is a popular facility simply because of him and all that he’s done to help addicts get clean.
I walk through the dining hall that looks out onto the vast gardens and into the small room that adjoins it where the group sessions are held. There’s six people gathered on chairs in a circle, one of them being the therapist, Yvonne.
“Katherine.” She smiles.
“Kitty,” I tell her, for what feels like the hundredth time as I sit down.
“Ah, yes, sorry.” Her lips lift up into a soft smile and she turns to the group as a whole. “Now that we’re all here let’s go around the group, tell everyone on a scale of one to ten how hard today has been for you so far.”
She nods her head to the first person and they proceed to tell her that today is a five, they’re all in the middle range until she gets to me.
“Three,” I tell her, pulling the sleeves of my sweater down over my hands as I look down at the floor.
“Care to tell us why?”
“Not really.”
“Kitty, this is a group session for a reason. You need to share what you’re feeling.”
I huff out a breath, looking out of the windows that line the wall and look out into the gardens. I watch the groundskeeper as he lifts up a wheelbarrow and pushes it across the grass.
“I miss my plants,” I whisper, not looking back at Yvonne. “I miss training, I miss my friends.” I take a deep breath and lift my head to look into her deep blue eyes. “I miss Charlie.”
“Charlie?” she asks.
I don’t answer her, I just look back out of the window and sigh. I miss his voice, I miss the way my body fits against his, but most of all, I miss the way he makes me feel.
My arms wrap around my middle as I hold myself, trying to keep myself together enough to see the session through.
I just need to sit here, not saying another word until they’ve all poured their hearts out. I just need to listen and get this over with and stop thinking about the pills.
My hands shake as I bring them back to my lap, knowing that it’s one of my side effects of stopping the pills. Today is the first day that I didn’t wake up and throw my guts up down the toilet bowl, so I’d say that’s a win, a small win, but a win nonetheless.
I was warned when I first checked in that I’d have some side effects if I went cold turkey, but I couldn’t start taking the lower dose they wanted to prescribe, I needed off them before they ruined my life for good.
Eight weeks. That’s how long I have to be here for and I’m determined to be clean by the time I leave.
I’ve been watching and waiting since the day that Jonny told me Kitty’s supplier was Joel. I know he expected me to go straight to him, but I’m not that stupid.
I like to be unpredictable, and this, waiting and watching, that’s being unpredictable. I should arrest him, take him to the station and lock him up, but all that will do is take him off the streets for a couple of years and when he gets out, he’ll be right back to his old tricks again.
I need to get him out of here for good and it won’t be legal by any stretch of the imagination.
A knock on my window has my hand reaching for my gun, but when I look up, I see Luke’s face.
“What?”
He opens up the passenger door and jumps in, leaning his head back on the headrest. “Plan?” he asks.
“Huh?”
/>
He chuckles and turns his head to me, raising his brows. “What’s the plan?”
“I don’t have a plan,” I scoff, looking back at Wayward apartments and seeing Joel standing there with a few of his minions.
“Yeah, and I’m a fairy.” He rolls his eyes. “I want in on the plan.”
“No fucking way, this is police business.”
I ball my hands into fists, wanting him out of my SUV asap. Why the hell does he have to get involved? He’s always there and I’m getting sick and tired of seeing him around.
“This ain’t police business, this is you trying to protect Kitty and I want in.”
“Why?” I grind out, turning to face him with fire in my eyes. He’s a little too close to Kitty for my liking and I’m starting to think there’s more to it than them just working together. Did I miss something? Were they together? No, they couldn’t have been, Kitty would have told me, right?
“She’s like a little sister to me, she’s family, and family protects one another, so I want in.”
I scoff and shake my head. “Yeah, right.”
He growls low in his throat and smacks the dashboard with his open palm. “I know what you’re thinking and it’s not true. Me and Kitty, we’re close, but not like that. When you spend almost every day together on jobs, you get to know each other and I know her, probably better than you, but still I didn’t see it. I didn’t know she was taking those pills and that’s on me just as much as it’s on you, and I need to make it right. So I’ll be helping you whether you like it or not.”
I grip the steering wheel in my hands, my knuckles turning white. I don’t want him to help me, I don’t want him to have any part of this, but I can’t deny that having an extra set of hands will come in useful.
“How far are you willing to go?” I ask, my voice gruff.
“As far as I need to,” he replies and I turn my head to him, seeing it in his eyes that he’d move heaven and earth for her, just like I would.
“Good,” I tell him, tilting my head to where Joel is standing. “Take the bag off the back seat, plant it in his place tonight and then I’ll come in with my unit when you give the signal.”
The Distance Between Us (Mac Security Series Book 3) Page 23