by M Dauphin
But I see it as an opportunity to ruin Mr. Roe more than just taking her. He’d eventually get over her death, but he’d never get over the fact that she’s alive, healthy, and happy with another man.
I flip on the screen and watch her walk out of the bathroom; wrapped in the white cotton bathrobe I left hanging on the door for her. She looks exquisite, and that’s rare for me. Usually I like my girls a little more on the virgin-skin side of things. Her tattoos mesmerize me, and I can’t wait until I get a better chance to see them up close. Her movements aren’t as fluid as usual, but considering the beating she took tonight she’s moving a hell of a lot better than any other girl would have.
Jesus she’s amazing.
Watching her disrobe brings me a feeling of attraction I haven’t felt in a long-ass time. A feeling of wanting to actually connect with the woman I’m fucking, and not just fuck and leave, like I typically do.
I could walk in there right now and force myself upon her, but that wouldn’t help me get to my final goal. No, I need to keep thinking of the bigger picture.
Earn her trust.
Show her what she can have if she doesn’t push me away.
Show her what happens if she’s too stubborn to realize a good thing.
Make her fall in love with me.
It’s simple, really. I’m a beautiful man with money and a sexy-as-hell accent. I was dealt a golden card in life and now I’m finally getting to use it to its full potential.
“Zeke,” Nathanial announces from the doorway.
I roll my eyes, the constant nagging from this man makes me rethink bringing him into this business. Granted, when I did, he was just a kid I thought I could mold into a second me, but honestly, he’s clumsy and not the man I am at all. He can’t keep a wife so he ends up filling the brothel with them. He’s never actually killed anyone, and this house is the only thing he can really keep in good shape.
I need to get rid of him.
“What now, Nathanial?” I spin in my desk chair and see his eyes flick back to the screen. I turn, seeing Gwynn nude and wandering the room, trying on different clothes and showing off the body she’s earned.
I growl and flip off the screens.
“What do you want?” I growl.
“There’s something going on outside. We think you should see this.”
“Nathanial, this is San Pedro Sula. If there wasn’t funny business happening outside, I’d be worried.”
“Right,” he whispers. “But this is one of those situations.”
I narrow my eyes at him and lean forward in my chair.
“What exactly are you talking about?”
“There’s…. I mean… there’s nothing, Zeke.”
“Nothing?” I growl, my nerves ramping up.
Nothing, here, is never good. It’s like when you have a kid and they’ve been quiet for way too long. Something’s wrong.
I stand up and lock the computers I’ve been working on, just in case, then follow him to the front window.
“Wow.” I’m staring at a usually populated street that’s currently dead.
Not one fucking human being is outside right now. There’s no music, no gangs walking around. I mean, I know I live in the better part of the city, but honestly, there’s none of this city that’s safe at night. I told Gwynn the window was bulletproof so she couldn’t leave, but in all truthfulness it’s because I have taken every precaution to make sure this building isn’t broken into.
“What do we do?” Nathanial whispers from next to me. Whispers. Because apparently there are people around that are going to hear us.
“Start loading the crew… I’ll take care of the girl.”
There’s something going on out there.
Eddie
“Estamos todos listos?” I stare at the old man in front of me and pray to God that I can trust him.
“Si, si.” He nods furiously while shoving the cash into his back pocket. Whistling to his boys, they clear the street just as fast as they showed.
The minute we pulled onto the block, the gang started appearing from nowhere. This isn’t a place to fuck with people, so I pulled out the cash, asked them if that was enough to stay away for the night, then parked my happy ass three blocks down from the building with the little red dot.
She called. She did it again, and when she did I was in shock that she was able to go to a phone again. My heart hasn’t stopped trying to beat out of my chest since the call came through and ended before I could answer. Now here we sit, and I feel like I could fucking throw up from nerves.
“What the fuck did you just say to him?” Tatum mumbles as we slide back into the car.
“Just making sure we’re all squared away. They’re gone all night, giving us all the time we need tonight to figure out who’s in that mother fucking house.”
He nods and closes the door.
“I never knew you knew Spanish,” he says, shaking his head.
“How have you lived in Texas your entire life and you don’t?”
“Texas is a big place, Mr. Roe,” he mumbles, starting to flip through his laptop.
“So what do we have on this residence?” I clear my throat and adjust the binoculars so I can easily see the front door.
All the windows of the residence are coated with a tint that doesn’t let me see much else other than shadows, so I only have the doors to go by, unfortunately.
“A Nathanial Vadir. Born March 1983, Nathanial has seen his fair share of run-ins with the law down here.”
I nod, taking the name and running it next to the Diaz family. Anything that connects Vadir to the Diaz’ and I’m blowing this fucking door down.
“Looks like Vadir’s been married three times, all to American women.” Tatum turns his laptop so I can see the images and something in the background of one of the wedding images catches my eye.
“Let me see that,’ I mumble, snatching the computer from his hands. I zoom in as much as this program will let me and am greeted by the one and only Zeke mother fucking Diaz. A slight blur in the background of an otherwise picture-perfect clear wedding photo, Zeke is leaning on a tree in the distance watching the happy couple dance.
“How long ago was this taken?”
“A few years. They’ve recently divorced,” Tatum answers, taking his computer back.
“Find the wife,” I growl, bringing my eyes back to the front door of this building. “I’ll be right back.”
I hear Tatum start to protest, but mother fucker, if my wife is inside this building and I don’t do everything I can to get her out of it, I’ll never forgive myself.
Pulling my hood over my head, making sure the baseball hat I was handed when we got off the plane for anonymity is in place, I shove my hands in my pocket and start walking around the block. A beeline to the front door wouldn’t be the smartest of moves, and as much as I want to blast through there and take my girl back, I have to play this smart. The way things have been going lately, I feel like this man has been one step ahead of me.
My fucking luck he knows exactly what I’m doing right now.
“Smoke?” I hear a voice from the alley and choose to ignore it and keep walking. There’s trash walking these streets all night and stopping for one will just bring me more trouble than I need.
I stop behind the house, no doors in sight, and lean against a tree, trying to get a good case of the place. There are windows on every level but the first, the white-washed exterior isn’t as ‘old’ as they want it to look, and I’m betting those windows are all bulletproof. There’s no way I’m getting into that house other than the front door.
Shit.
I hear footsteps behind me and tense, not turning around quite yet. If it’s just another person walking down the street I don’t want to cause any trouble. Look at someone the wrong way here and you’re as good as dead.
When the steps slow, I slowly turn to see Tatum approaching me.
“What the hell, man?” I hiss at him, a grin showin
g across his face.
“I have a plan, hear me out.”
I raise an eyebrow at him and start walking away from the house. The more we loiter outside, the more people are going to be suspicious.
“Please, do tell. That place is a fucking fortress.”
“Right… but they don’t know we’re here yet, Eddie. We have the element of surprise. I just cased the entire fucking place. There’s one garage door on the side of the house and one entry door in the front. Every damn window is locked, sealed, tinted, and probably four inches thick. There’s only two ways in… but that means there’s only two ways out, too.”
I pause and look over at him.
“So we just need to make sure nobody gets out.”
“Exactly. Here’s what I’m thinking. We send Jose to the front door. He’s the only one that fits this nationality, and sending a Yankee to their door will send up more red flags than D-Day.”
“And when they kill him on the spot?”
“They won’t. Jose is going to claim he knows Nathanial… an old school friend or something. When they let him in, praying they walk him to Nathanial because what big shot like that is going to come to the door, we bust through while they’re busy and take them all by surprise.”
“Yea, but the garage door…”
“Park the car in front of it. The only way they’ll get out that way is on foot, and we have enough men in the neighborhood on our side… they won’t get too far.”
I nod, taking in the plan.
“It all seems too fucking simple, man. Zeke isn’t stupid… he’s probably seen the empty street and knows something’s going on. I bet he’s got guards all over that place.”
“And?” Tatum grins and cracks his knuckles. “It’s been too long since I’ve kicked ass, Eddie.”
“You can’t kick ass against a gun pointed at your head.”
“Meh, semantics. I can take them down before they even get it unlocked.”
His cockiness bothers me. This isn’t a time to be cocky. There are so many fucking lives on the line right now!
“How many men do we have at our disposal here?” I stop walking and sit on a bench. We’ve made it about four blocks from the house and are completely out of view. I’m having a mild panic attack that I can’t see it, and if they leave with her we won’t know, but I have to trust that the men watching the house have it under control.
“As of right now there are forty scattered throughout the neighborhood. We can get more here shortly if we need them.”
“And they all know what could possibly happen tonight?” I mean, they’re putting their life on the line for a man and wife they don’t know.
“They’ve been in the business long enough to know what’s worth fighting for.”
I fucking know what’s worth fighting for.
My mother fucking wife.
“Alright,” I sigh. “I mean, that’s our only option right now, aside from sitting on the side of the road for days and praying they leave, right?”
“Exactly, and I need to get back to my wife at some point.” He grins, then it falls. “Fuck, man, I’m sorry.”
“Nah, it’s fine. I’m getting her back,” I growl. “Let’s go.”
We take off on foot, hats on, eyes down, headed back to the house. The walk back seems to take ten times longer than it did to get here, but that’s because we’re about to embark on the most dangerous mission I’ve ever been on.
And Tatum’s brought me on some fucking crazy missions. Normally as soon as the technical side of things is over I’m out before it gets too dangerous. This, though, there was no way I was standing on the sidelines.
It’s been weeks. I need her back.
Safe.
As we make it to the block the house is on, three things happen all at once.
A car, silver with tinted black windows, comes flying towards us, not slowing down at all when they speed past. After them a separate car, our fucking car, follows!
And then the explosion. The ground shakes, the boom echo’s throughout the entire neighborhood, and debris starts raining down around us. Debris of the house we were about to enter.
“NO!” I scream, taking off at a run towards the house, flames coming out of the roof.
“Eddie!” Tatum yells after me. “Slow down, man, you don’t know if that’s the last—”
Before the words make it out of his mouth there’s another explosion, this time straight out the front of the house.
“Fuck!” I bellow, stopping in my tracks and staring at the house, now fully engulfed in flames and crumbling.
“That’s not her, man. She’s not in there, they wouldn’t have done that.” Tatum clasps his hand on my shoulder and stares at the building. “We gotta get out of here, Eddie. We can come back in the morning if you want to check things out.” He starts walking away in the direction we came from but I’m frozen in place.
“I’m going to murder them. Slowly and painfully,” I growl to no one, clenching my fists before spinning and heading off towards Tatum.
He’s walking at a faster pace than usual and I’m sure it’s because this isn’t the best place to be at this point at night.
“I can’t fucking believe this,” I curse as we round the seventh block.
Empty. No car, no driver in sight.
“As soon as we get cell service we’ll call headquarters and send for a car. Cool off,” he mumbles, just as pissed as I am that they left us.
“Fuckers.” I can’t fucking believe this is happening. I wasn't sure if she was in there when we showed up, but now I have a sneaky suspicion that it was definitely Zeke inside that fucking house….with my fucking wife.
“Car’s on the way,” Tatum grunts, hitting end and sliding the phone back in his pocket.
As much as I want to know what happened tonight and why the car left us in the first place, I want to find this fucker even more.
The car finds us within five minutes and I slide in, slamming the door and heading straight for my phone.
No missed calls.
The pit in my stomach grows as I start to fear the worst. If she was in the house when it blew there’s nothing left of her. Fuck that better not be the case.
We arrive at the house we’re supposed to be staying in while here and I raise an eyebrow at Tatum.
“For real?”
He grins at me and looks at the mansion on the hill, past the brick and wrought iron gates and rolling hills.
“What?”
“Should we just fucking announce our arrival to the entire fucking country, Tatum?”
“Eddie, they already know we’re here. May as well stay safe and not in the middle of the mess... Right? Plus, the bathrooms here are fucking brilliant.”
He smiles and shrugs, shoving his hands back in his pocket.
“Can’t fucking believe this,” I grumble, walking away.
“Excuse me?” I hear Tatum yell after me. “Stop, dude, what the fuck is your problem?!”
“The fuck is my problem?!” I whip around, fists tight at my side. “My wife is out there with a raging lunatic! Somewhere in this fucking hellhole of a country, she’s being held against her will, and you’re not fucking worried at all! You’re more worried about bathroom amenities in your fucking mansion than you are about helping find her!” This is it. I’ve officially snapped. “And to top it off, you and your crew are the entire reason we’re in this situation! If you wouldn’t employ such fucking idiots… Fuck!”
He watches me calmly, not once screaming at me like I probably deserve. Not once telling me I’m an asshole for yelling at him when he’s gone through so much to get us to where we are. I try to take a few big breaths, clasping my hands on the top of my head and pacing back and forth.
Tatum sits just outside the now open gate and waits for me to calm down.
“Wanna have a seat?” he asks, patting the ground next to him.
“No,” I growl. “I want to find my wife.”
“Rig
ht, and we will… but you’re about to give yourself a heart attack. You wanna die before we even find her?” He quirks his eyebrow up at me and pats the ground. “Sit. Now.”
I growl and reluctantly plop down on the ground.
“I know how you feel, Eddie,” he says quietly.
“Fuck you do…” I trail off, but the minute the words come out of my mouth I remember. It all comes rushing back to me. It’s been less than ten years since it happened, but that’s what solidified my trust in Tatum… when his wife went missing. We had no leads, no way to find her, and somehow we did. He knows exactly how I feel because he’s felt this all before. Jesus, we surround ourselves with such dangerous people that everyone we love will always be in danger.
Shit.
“I do. I know you’re angry. I know you don’t feel like doing anything other than looking for her, and when you do you feel guilty because you aren’t looking for her, but you’re burning yourself at all ends, man. Yes, we let Jase and Mac get out of our sight and they made it back to Texas, but dude, they aren’t the ones that took her. I don’t know if they had a hand in it, but I can certainly tell you, after reviewing the Diaz case, it’s him running the show. We put half of that family in jail, and for good reason, but they hold grudges harder than anyone I’ve ever met.”
I nod, staring at an ant on the sidewalk.
“We’re going inside that place and getting you into the office. It’s all set up with everything you need. We know who has her… now we just need to get one step ahead of them. That’s the problem, Eddie. They’ve been one step ahead of us this entire time. That ends right now… well, after sleep. You’re running almost three days on three hours of sleep. There’s no way you can focus right now. Get inside, shower, sleep—”
“I’m not sleeping until I find her. I’m too fucking close to give up now.”
“You most definitely will, fucker. Sleeping isn’t giving up. Don’t worry, there’s men working round the clock to try to find her, you’re not alone here, Eddie.”
He’s fucking right. Anxiety isn’t getting me anywhere. I need focus and a clear mind to get my girl back.
“Fine. But I’m setting an alarm for five hours. That’s it. After that I’m back to work.