by Dale Mayer
How depressing. She undid her hair clip, ran her fingers carefully through the locks then reclipped it. Just as she finished there was a knock on the door. “Vanessa, are you okay?”
She opened the door and smiled at him. “I’m fine and feeling much better.”
With his help she navigated back to the couch and sat down. There was a certain amount of relief at getting off her feet while she was still feeling the effects of the room swirling around her. From the sharp look on Sasha’s face she knew the doctor understood. She gave her a wan smile and said, “Thank you for checking me over.” Then she glanced at the men and added, “What happened to the other guys?”
Markus said, “They are fine. The vehicle has been towed and the men have headed to Brett’s house.”
She frowned. “Do we know what happened?”
“A large truck behind us slammed on the gas and the SUV went over something small and flipped,” Markus said quietly, that sharp gaze of his missing nothing as he assessed her injuries. “You’re the only one hurt.”
“Was this a sophisticated move or something the gang could easily work out?”
“Anybody who watches movies would’ve been able to set this up,” Markus said calmly. “And never underestimate the skills of the various gang members. They run multiple businesses, not just extortion and gambling rings.”
“Thankfully, I have no idea how gangs operate. That’s one thing I didn’t have too much exposure to. Gangs of girls versus gangs of boys,” she said with emphasis, “are two different things.”
“Maybe,” Sasha said. “But girls are meaner.”
She shared an understanding glance with Sasha. “Unfortunately that’s very true.”
At that moment, Chase walked over with a hot cup of coffee for her. She accepted gratefully. When he sat down she said, “What’s next?”
“The gang might be smart enough to set up an accident like this, however, I doubt they were smart enough to take out city cameras that would easily have tracked their movements,” Chase said.
She brightened and then sighed. “Wouldn’t the vehicles be stolen anyway?”
“Quite possibly but with the new technology I imagine we can get some decent headshots too.”
“Headshots would give us hard evidence. That would be perfect,” she said. “Because these guys need to be put in jail along with all their other friends.”
*
They left Sasha soon after. Vanessa didn’t want to bring harm to anyone else and as she was well enough now to leave the doc’s care they decided to head back to Brett’s house. Markus was once again driving. Evan sat in the front passenger seat and kept an eye out on the roads to see if they were being followed.
He’d been quiet the whole time. Just then Vanessa’s phone rang. She answered and immediately frowned. He could hear only part of the conversation. And what he heard was not good.
“The move was postponed until when? Why? They should have started moving today or tomorrow.”
He turned to look at Vanessa’s head nod. “Okay, so we will put it off till next weekend. I presume the plumbing problem can be fixed by then.”
Vanessa reached up to touch her forehead as if contemplating what this meant. “In a way that’s not a bad thing. Sinja wasn’t done packing yet. We have to make sure we keep the family safe in the meantime. Yes, I understand they are being guarded. We were going to meet them today for ice cream but our plans have changed.” She looked up at Chase, one eyebrow raised in question.
“We might manage the ice cream thing,” she said into the phone. “I could call Sinja and see if she’d like us to take the boys off her hands for an hour or two. I know she was worried about being ready for the move. These extra few days would help her.”
Chase listened as Vanessa and her caller went over several other case files. It helped him realize the impact of being away from her job.
Vanessa ended her call. “Is the ice cream thing possible?” She looked out the window to see where they were.
“It’s too dangerous right now,” Markus said. “We can’t put them in any more risk. Being seen with us again is going to reinforce that we care about them.”
Chase’s phone rang. “Mason, what’s up?”
“Sinja’s apartment has been broken into. The boys are missing. Dane and Sinja are both in the hospital. Dane was shot in the back. Sinja was attacked as well but wasn’t badly hurt.”
Chase’s heart stopped beating. “Shit. Any idea where the boys are?”
Markus shot him a hard look and immediately changed direction, taking the next right corner.
“No,” Mason said. “Where are you?”
“We just left Sasha and are now heading toward the boys’ apartment.” Cooper recognized the area, and knew they’d be there within a minute. “We’re almost there.”
“Be careful,” Mason bit off. “These assholes are really starting to piss me off.”
“We have to find the boys,” Chase said. “We also have to take these assholes off the streets.”
He could hear Mason speaking with somebody in the background. “We’ll report as soon as we get to the apartment.”
“Do that. I’m on my way.” Mason hung up.
Chapter 21
Vanessa wanted to race out of the car and fly straight up to the boys’ apartment. She couldn’t believe they had been kidnapped. How low could these assholes go?
Chase led the way to the apartment, his gaze not missing a thing while she was slowly going to pieces. She tried to pull it together but it just plain hurt. “I hope Dane’s going to be okay,” she whispered.
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised to hear Sasha had been called in for this one.” Markus stepped into the elevator to take them up. On the boys’ floor he stepped out first and checked to see if it was safe. The apartment door was ajar. They did a quick walk-through but there was no sign of anyone other than the police. While Chase checked in with Mason, Vanessa studied the devastation.
“Where could the boys have been taken?” She wandered from room to room seeing the multiple boxes packed up, evidence of Sinja’s hard work.
“Dane was attacked on the main floor. He’d just done a walk-through on this floor when he was shot from behind,” Chase said. “Apparently there were two men. Both gang members as far as he could tell. They laughed and said something about that was easy before they walked past him. That’s all the information they got from him before he lost consciousness.”
Vanessa’s lower lip trembled. “How are we going to find them?” she said. “We have no idea where the gang members are even staying.”
“They will contact us,” Markus said. “The only reason for kidnapping the boys is to stop Chase from testifying.”
Her gaze went from Markus to Chase and caught the guilt eating away at Chase. “Oh, Chase. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He brushed it off. “This is punishment for the years I belonged to the gang.”
She shook her head wildly. “No, don’t even think like that. You did not do this. These assholes have to account for their own actions. This is not your fault.”
But Chase didn’t want to listen so he turned and walked out of the bedroom. She turned to face Markus. “What can we do?”
Markus shook his head. In a soft voice he said, “We just have to wait.”
“That’s not helpful,” she cried.
“We’ll do everything we can, but we don’t have an idea of what direction they went.”
“But the neighbors might. They would’ve heard something. And although they won’t likely talk to you,” she said, “they will talk to me.”
Determinedly she walked back out to the hallway and knocked on the first door. No answer. She walked to the second door. No answer. By the time she was at the third door she was past frustrated.
She pounded on the door and called out, “A good man was shot here today. And two little boys, immigrants, like many of you, were kidnapped. Surely somebody saw something. We�
�re just trying to help the boys. Their mother is in the hospital after being attacked, and these men will come back if we don’t stop them.”
There was a weird sense of stillness in the apartment building then the door in front of her opened just a crack. She could see the partial face of the man standing behind it. In a quivering voice he said, “I heard the shot. And the screaming from the boys.”
In a much softer voice she asked, “Did you see the attackers? Did you see where they took them?”
“They went down the elevator, but I looked out the front window and they drove up the street and made a left.”
Markus stepped closer behind her. “Did you see what kind of vehicle they were driving?”
“A van. A black van.” And the door shut in front of them.
Vanessa turned to face Markus. “Is that any help?”
He nodded, his phone already out in his hands. “It’s more than what we had before.”
He walked a few steps down the hallway and spoke to somebody. Vanessa stood and wondered if she should continue pounding on the doors. Surely somebody saw something else. But no one else answered the door. She walked back inside the apartment to see Chase standing lost in the middle of the room. Her heart went out to him. She walked up and wrapped her arms around him.
“Remember this is not your fault.”
He looked down at her but his arms didn’t hold or hug her back. “It is my fault. I should’ve done this a long time ago. Then these boys wouldn’t have been hurt.”
She stepped back slightly so she could look up into his face. “Maybe not but then again maybe it would’ve been much worse. You could have been killed.” Looking around the smashed apartment she wondered out loud, “How do they think they’ll be able to walk away from us?”
Chase turned to study her. She tried to explain. “The police are now involved. You and your entire unit are involved. These kids were under extra protection. There is no going back for these men.” She shrugged. “I just don’t understand what kind of loyalty Gregory inspires that would have them all putting their lives at risk.” She opened her arms wide to encompass the entire apartment. “It’s just unacceptable that they should be able to use fear tactics to ruin so many lives.”
Chase reached out and snagged her back into his arms. He smiled down at her. “I love that you’re so fierce. These kids need defenders.”
She nodded but her gaze locked on his. “I feel like I have to help them,” she cried. “Nobody helped me back then. The girls taunted, insulted and knocked me around verbally in the worst ways. I ended up in the foster system when my parents were killed. And things got even uglier. That’s not fun for anybody.”
She hated that tears clogged her throat. She was so afraid for the boys. They were so young and so innocent, just tools for these men. And she also knew there was so very little information to go on. She cast another look around at the apartment, her mind spinning furiously.
“It should have been me.” She sent him a sharp look. “Let them take me as bait.”
“Hell no.” He shook his head. “That’s never going to happen.” He stepped back and crossed his arms over his chest, his glare deepening the longer he thought about her suggestion. “There’s no way in hell I’m going to agree to that.” He reached down to cup her cheeks, his voice dropping to a hoarse whisper, “Don’t you realize how devastated I would be if something happened to you?”
She covered his hands with hers. “I’m glad to hear that,” she said in a low tone. “Because that’s how I feel about you. We can’t let them take you or the boys.”
He let his hands fall away. “But how does letting them catch you help anything?”
“Now that they have the boys maybe they won’t care. But if they do…” She smiled. “Why not put a tracker on me? Set up a trap or something.” She could see the wheels in his head turning and knew that as much as he hated to, he had to consider it. Inside she was terrified. Men treated captured women in horrible ways. But she’d do what she had to do to save those boys. That it could also possibly help save Chase made it all that sweeter. She leaned forward and whispered earnestly, “There really are very few options.”
“There has to be a better one than that.”
They glared at each other until Markus spoke from the doorway. “She’s on to something, but I’m not sure she’s got the right subject.”
Chase’s frown deepened as he puzzled through Markus’s words. And then he understood. With a curt nod he said, “Let’s do it.”
Vanessa knew she’d missed out on something and it was important. “Do what?” she cried. “Explain, please.”
“He means I should be the bait.” Chase smiled. “I like that idea.”
“What?” she gasped in horror. Vanessa hated that idea. “Are you nuts?” She reached out to give Chase a shake but of course being way bigger and more solid than she, he didn’t move. She flung up her hands in exasperation. “They are going to shoot you. There is no reason to keep you alive.”
She watched Chase’s gaze track over Markus for his opinion. Markus frowned.
“They are going to want to know what I’ve told the police and what evidence I am holding,” Chase said. “If they can’t get it from me verbally, they’ll beat the crap out of me to get it.”
She snorted. “Then they obviously don’t know you very well anymore, do they? Because that technique would never work.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. “No, my idea is better.”
He snorted. “There is no way I’d allow that.”
“I didn’t go through all this trouble to keep you safe to have either of you taken,” Markus said. “But the fact is if one of you gets hauled back to where they are keeping the boys we could all come in and save you.”
“Then me it is. She has to stay safe.” Chase ran his fingers down his forehead and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Agreed.” Markus was quick to approve.
She glared at him. “Bottom line is those boys need to be safe. If that means both Chase and I have to be taken then that’s what it will be.”
“That would be the worst case scenario,” Chase said in a hard voice. “They will do all kinds of horrible things to you in order to get me to talk.”
She turned to him. “And you won’t say a damn word.”
He reached out a hand and stroked her cheek. “You will be my weakness. If we are both taken I will talk. Because I will do anything I can to save you.”
Tears came to her eyes. She rushed into his embrace and threw her arms around his neck.
He crushed her close.
*
Over the top of Vanessa’s head he motioned to Markus, please keep her safe.
Markus didn’t have any trouble deciphering his intent. He nodded and walked back out of the room, giving them some privacy.
Chase had no clue this emotion coursing through his veins was even possible. From unloved and living a surface life as a child, he’d never even considered something like this could happen. Now that he had it within his grasp, he’d do anything to protect it. He gently kissed her forehead and then her temple, his heart swelling. He’d looked at his face in the mirror so many times, and all he’d seen was a scared and guilty street rat.
As he looked back the long road of how far he’d come, he realized life really had changed. He had to finish off this last piece of his past. Put it behind him so it couldn’t be allowed to hurt anyone else.
He dared those assholes to come after him right now. He’d put them in the grave not even six feet deep. They were animals. Let other animals tear their bones apart.
A small hand reached up to stroke his cheek, her fingers tracing the scar marring his skin, and he realized that was still a vestige of his own past – the anger, the hatred, the need for violence. Vanessa was so much softer, so much more caring. In this case she was right.
“Okay,” he whispered. “I’ll let them live long enough for justice to prevail.”
She
gave a hiccupping laugh. Then reached up to pull his head down and kissed him. “Did I ever tell you how proud I am of you?”
His eyebrow shot up in surprise.
Her smile deepened. “I am. What you’ve done, how far you’ve come…amazing.” She shook her head. “Let’s get the boys back and get through the trial,” she whispered. “Because for the first time in years I actually feel excited about my future.”
“Right, after all you are looking at a new apartment.”
She stroked her fingers across his lips. “Yes and I found myself looking at condos. In places with backyards, garages and workshops. A larger place than I would need. Because although we haven’t said anything it does occur to me that we might want to spend a little more time together in the future.”
He could hear the note of vulnerability in her voice.
He leaned down, kissed her hard and whispered, “Absolutely. So don’t jump into an apartment just yet.” Hearing Markus’s steps coming back in, he winked at her. “Maybe we should reevaluate our living conditions first.”
“Are you two ready?” Markus said with a note of humor threading through his voice. “A man can only give you so much time alone here you know, we do have an emergency.”
Chase grabbed her hand and walked toward the front door. “Do we have a plan of action? Any news?”
“Swede’s hunting down the van. Shadow and Hawk are trying to track the boys. Do Amrit and Peter both have cell phones?”
“Oh my God, that’s right,” Vanessa cried. “It’s one of the things we helped them with early on. Sinja doesn’t understand the phones very well, but the boys picked it up very easily.”
“As long as the phones are on and they have them with them, we should be able to track them,” Markus said.
“And if they are charged. Amrit’s phone was dead when he was at the park.” Vanessa said. “It would have saved us a lot of grief if we could have called him.”
As they raced down the stairwell to the bottom stairs and the vehicles waiting for them outside Vanessa asked, “What about Dane, is he going to be okay?”