Phoenix: Ride With Me Series

8. Phoenix

“That isthe last box from the U-Haul trailer.”

I grunted moving the box down the hall. What in the hell was in this thing? “I sent the guys on. They’ll be back tomorrow for our Friday night cookout.”

I set it on the floor of the boys’ bedroom with a thud.

“Pops is on his way back. He went into town to get us some lunch. I think, don’t quote me yet, that Casey was picking up Maddie from school, taking her to her appointment at the clinic, then they were going shopping. I don’t know what for. It’s a surprise for you.”

“Aww, I love surprises.” She came into the room, a basket of clothes in her hands.

“What is this?” I asked, pointing at the box.

“Their computer and gaming stuff. Took all three of us to move it this morning. They wanted to do it, but they’ve broken themselves in half.”

Her laughter drew me closer. I kissed her cheeks, her nose, her lips.

“Ew, can you not get your cooties on the carpet?” Dean walked in, making a face. Kenny, who was his brother’s shadow, looked up and pointed a finger at me, his little brows pinched together.

“You’re slacking off, mister.”

“What do you know of slacking off?” River asked. He squealed, taking off out of the room when she grabbed for him.

Chuckling, I pulled out my knife and sliced the tape across the top of the box.

“Where do you want the computer and games set up? There are outlets on all the walls.”

“Do you really want us here, or is this just to get in my sister’s pants?”

I turned to see Dean staring at me. The look of concern on his face broke my heart. I knew some men would have taken them in just to get her. I wasn’t like that. I wasn’t most men. I cared for them all.

“Come here,” I motioned to the desk chair, “Let’s get this out of the way.” When he sat, I took a seat on the bed. “I’m going to be straight up with you; I like your sister a lot. She knocked me off my feet the first time I saw her. There’s…” I rubbed a fist over my chest. “She’s a special woman. She led me to get to meet all of you. You guys have a special place here.” I tapped my chest.

“You sound like a redneck Hallmark card.” This kid was something.

“Let me say it this way; I want her in my life. I get the bonus of having you guys too. This is going to be a big change for all of us, but you know it’s needed. You weren’t safe where you were.”

“She wasn’t either,” he said, looking down at the baseball in his hand.

“No, she wasn’t. Look, kid, I’mma make you a promise.” He looked up at me. “I know you were the man of the house, but I’m going to take that responsibility. You get to be a kid. A teenage boy that sometimes will have a shitty attitude. You get to live your best life. But, and I’m going to tell Rosie this too, no matter how you think something should go, River and I are the adults. You do as we say.”

“House rules.” He nodded. “We had them there too. River has to work. We were left to take care of the little kids.”

“It won’t be like that here. You get to be a kid again. Okay? Just don’t think you’re ready to step up, ‘cause trust me kid, you’re not. I will never lay a hand on you in anger, but if you step up?—”

“You’ll knock me down a peg. Yeah, I know.” He chuckled. “I have no intention of getting beat up by my sister. If I did that, it’s not you I’d be worried about. She’s like that Chuck Norris fella. No thanks.”

I let out a booming laugh. He was totally serious. The look on his face, I couldn’t hold back.

“Dude, not cool.” He shook his head, getting up to go back to the box he was digging in.

“Where’s my marble man?” Kenny ran in, his cheeks red from the exertion of running from his sister.

“Marble man?” I asked, looking around.

“Marvel men. They’re over here, Kenny. In the blue box, where you put them.”

“Marvel men? Like the characters from those movies?”

“You don’t know what the Marvel men are?” They looked at me as if I had three heads

“Yeah, yeah. Iron Man. The Hulk and Captain America. I know who they are.”

Kenny’s eyes got wider, excitement showing. “Can we watch Hulk smash!” He jumped up and landed to thump his fist on the floor.

“Wait, what’s that?”

“You’re going to break River’s heart, man.” Kenny laughed.

“Who is breaking my heart?”

“Your motorcycle meathead doesn’t know the Marvel characters.”

“Meathead?” I snorted and went for him. I snatched him up, easily hanging him upside down. “Meathead?” I winked at River.

“Now you’ve done it, Deano.”

“Put me down,” he laughed. “You’re not a meathead. I take it back.” He laughed harder, wiggling. “I take it back.”

That was better.

Chuckling, I put him down on the bed. “That’s better.”

“Hey, come on, kids, get your things unpacked, and we’ll get the electronics set up later.” River turned to head back out of the room. “Dean, help Kenny so he doesn’t hurt himself.”

“Don’t I always?”

“Yeah, you do, you’re a great brother.”

I followed after her, my booted feet thundering down the main staircase.

“Derek called while I was outside.”

“Oh?”

“They were able to track down the Mickelson’s. They are currently in Virginia.”

“Wait, when I talked to them, they were in Florida.”

“Yeah, it seems they got bored, bought an RV, and are traveling the States now.”

“Cool. I can’t be mad at that.”

“I’m only mad that it took so damn long to find them. Derek and Hatch told them what was happening. They’re on the way back here, to look the property over. They’ll know for sure if there were any places we didn’t look. They’ll also know if something was disturbed on the property.”

She stopped in the doorway to Laura’s room. Every box was upside down. Her belongings were in piles on the floor. Raven saw me looking and shook her head. “She wanted a fort; who was I to say no?”

Shaking my head, I stepped inside to help sort things.

“What does this mean for now?”

I met her gaze. “The next step is to keep looking for the realtor. The man on the signs isn’t a realtor, not that anyone has found at least. They believe it might be an AI-altered headshot.”

“Ugh, great.” She sighed, flopping down on the bed.

“What if they don’t find any connections to any of this?”

“Then they don’t. We move on and live our lives.”

“Fair.”

I picked up an armful of clothes and toys to drop on the bed. I’d already seen the pile there moving. I kept my face blank until Laura jumped up.

“RAWR!”

I tossed the clothes, as if I’d been scared. My hands went to my chest, and I fell over—carefully, mind you. I was not as bendy as I used to be.

“I gots hims!”

She was so damn proud of herself. River, who hadn’t known she was there, really had jumped. Her hand went to her chest. Laura ignored her and climbed off the bed. I laid back on the floor, still as a statue.

“I think you scared a year off my life, kid,” River muttered. I wanted to laugh, but I couldn’t. I was playing dead. “I think you scared him so bad he passed out. Oh no. Give his face a pat.”

“Wakes ups.” She climbed up on my chest and just as she reached for my face, I sat up, wrapping my arms around her so I could tickle her sides.

Her banshee shriek of laughter was something I swore only dogs should be able to hear. And since she was inches from my ears, I was now deaf.

My cell went off as I blew a raspberry on her cheek.

“I’m back; who’s hungry?”

I heard the boys racing down the stairs toward the kitchen. Grinning, I pulled my phone from my pocket. It was then that other phones went off. River pulled hers from her back pocket and frowned.

I could hear Pops’ voice get louder. “What do you mean missing?”

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“It’s Maddie. She’s run off.”

“What?” I stood, trying to put Laura on the bed. She clung to me like a monkey, so I let her stay on my hip. “What happened?”

“Man, I don’t know. Derek is checking cameras. Casey said they were walking across Main Street to Talbert’s, and she was just gone. No sign of her or anyone else around.”

“Was she tossed in a car or something?”

“Where was she?” River, Pops, and I converged in the living room.

“Okay, give me five minutes. I’m sure Phoenix is heading that way too.”

“I’m on my way, baby. No, it’s not your fault. Casey, deep breaths. I’m coming.”

“Deano? Can you watch the kids; we have an emergency.” River took Laura from me and headed toward the kitchen.

“Be there in five minutes.”

“Where were you?” I asked Casey, who was still crying.

“Crossing at Main Street by the fountain. She was right beside me. I took my eyes off of her long enough to check the baby in her stroller. I swear that was it.”

I moved to hug her. “Hey, it’s not your fault. We’ll find her.”

I pulled out my phone and tapped an app. When she came to live with me, I gave her a phone. That phone had an app that allowed me to see where she was in real time. I should have checked it before I left the damn house.

“Hey, I got her on the cameras,” Derek called out. I moved to the back desk, my gaze falling on the video of the street cameras. I watched as Casey and Maddie walked along the street. Both smiling and enjoying the walk. They stopped and checked the street for traffic before crossing in the crosswalk.

It was then that Maddie slowed down. She turned slightly, looking down the sidewalk to where two men stood outside of the hardware store.

Derek clicked a few buttons, and another view popped up. A close-up of the men.

“That’s the man on the realtor sign!”

“And that is Lee Kramer. He’s wanted on a list of charges…Dammit!”

Derek picked up his cell and hit a button. “Stel, it’s Derek—Yeah, look, you still have the bounty for Kramer and—yeah, Garcia? Well, I’ve just seen them. They’re in town. Yerp. Okay, bye.”

“This one,” he said tapping a finger on the screen, “is Alonzo Garcia. He’s wanted for bail jumping in two states. Why they let them out in the first place—I’ve called in backup.” He looked at me. “I figured you’d wanna go after Maddie.”

“Can you pull this up on the big screen, show me the area?”

A few clicks on his keyboard, and the map was up. “The red dot is where her phone is. What’s that?”

“It’s the old alleyway they used for the butcher shop. That area is a mess.”

“The perfect place for an ambush of a defenseless girl.”

I took off, hitting the front door so hard it bounced off the wall. A Burke PD car blocked the driveway. Before I could go around, the officer spoke. “Hulk and I are coming to help.”

“You drive,” River said, tossing me the keys. That was fair, she had no idea where we were going.

Ten minutes later, we were parked across the sidewalk, and I was jumping out.

“Maddie!” If she’d kept her processor on, she’d hear me. If she hadn’t, she could be anywhere. I ran along the trashy alleyway, my eyes searching every shadow for her.

“Phoenix!”

I backtracked and stopped beside River. She had on a pair of rubber gloves and in her hand was Maddie’s phone.

“Fuck!”

“Let me see that.” Officer Kruger stepped up, his hand going for the cell. He held it down to his K-9. The big dog was dancing in place. His eagerness to work shining through. He barked, his nose going from the cell to the air. It took a good five seconds before the dog was off and running, his nose going from the ground to the air and back. We followed him back out of the alley and down the street. His laser focus on his task meant we ate up a lot of distance in no time.

The dog stopped outside of a door, his excitement showing loud and clear. He was thumping the door with his tail, his butt on the ground.

“Let me go in. If she sees a stranger?—”

“You won’t fit.” River pushed us both aside, pulled the broken board back, and slid into the darkness.