Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Gideon
“Fuck!” I roared and turned to Danny. “Car. Now.” Then to Alex, “Let’s go we—can tail it.”
“You’re going nowhere, Mr. Hendrix.”
Behind me stood Commissioner Shaw and about ten other police officers, weapons drawn.
“You’ve caused quite the spectacle. I’ll need you and your associates to stay here.
” He smirked, his eyes glinting with victory.
Well, this motherfucker was going to die slowly, and the last thing I’d remove would be his eyes.
“You don’t want to interfere, Shaw.”
He chuckled darkly. “Officer Malby, please escort Mr. Hendrix to holding.”
My eyes narrowed and I took a step forward, which made the officers advance. “Funny. I thought Penn was being transferred because there was no room in holding.”
He nonchalantly lifted a shoulder. “Space has suddenly opened up.”
My phone vibrated in my pocket. I went to get it only to be grabbed by one of the officers, my hands pulled behind my back, and cuffs clicked around my wrists.
“You’re making a huge mistake, Shaw.”
He didn’t respond, just went inside. Prior to being thrown into holding my phone, weapons, and wallet were confiscated, along with Danny’s, Alex’s, and Toni’s.
Raff was being tended to by an officer, and I was told he’d be going to the hospital.
I could only hope he’d get word out to the rest of my crew.
“I want my phone call.”
One cop rolled his eyes and sauntered off but another approached the bars. She looked over her shoulder a few times and then whispered to me, “Mr. Hendrix, I’m so sorry this is happening. What can I do?”
I peeked at her name tag. Officer Gianni. “You’re Ray’s daughter, aren’t you?”
She smiled. “Yes, what you did for him and his business, well, I’m forever grateful. So please, before any of them come back, tell me what you need.”
“Thank you…what’s your first name?”
“Mari.”
“Mari, okay. Here’s what I need.” As quickly as I could, I listed everything. She listened intently and took numbers down. When she walked away, my chest wasn’t as heavy. Mari would get to the people I needed her to.
“Do you think she could get info on where the van is going?” Alex asked.
“All police vehicles have LoJacks. If she can, she will. I just don’t know if this particular van was jimmied with or anything.” I slumped my head against the wall. “I knew this was a bad idea.”
“It wasn’t,” Danny defended. “Ideally, it would have worked.”
I lifted my head and glared at him. “This isn’t like I tried to steal something and it didn’t work. Penn was taken. What do you think Lorcan is going to do to him, Danny?”
“I know, Boss.”
“When I’m out of here, he’s dead.” I glared through the bars at the officers milling about. “All of them are dead.”
We sat there in frustrating silence for half an hour until Mari approached with my lawyer on her heels.
“About fucking time, Charles!”
“I’m sorry, but I was in court. The judge doesn’t exactly accept when I ask to be excused.”
“Get me the fuck out of here.”
He sighed. “That’s not going to be easy.”
I inched closer to the bars. “Make it easy, Charles.” My eyes flickered to Mari. “How did it go on your end?”
“I made the calls you asked, and mostly everything else.”
“What’s mostly?”
“There was no LoJack on that van Tolland took.”
I pressed my forehead against the metal. “Of fucking course not.”
“Gideon.” My lawyer pulled me from my angering moment.
“What?”
“Raff is in the hospital. The doctor said he’ll be okay, but he shot a cop.”
“Raff will be in the hospital for a few days, yeah?” Charles nodded. “Then I’ll worry about him later. I need my phone, I need to get the fuck out of here. Make it happen.”
With a huff, he stormed off and went to do what he did best. I regarded Mari. “My crew?”
“I got word to get more people to your family, and I spoke with someone named Jeff. He told me to tell you he has ears to the ground and will be looking for Penn.”
“Mari, can you get me my phone?”
She bit her lip. “I’ll try.”
“Thank you.”
I made my way to the bench, sat down, and hung my head. Fuck. Penn just wanted to leave this town, and I wouldn’t let him. I probably should have. Maybe he’d be safe and not in the hands of that psycho Anders.
“He’ll be ok.” Alex sat beside me. “He’s tough.”
“He may not feel pain and fear, Alex, but that doesn’t mean he can’t die.” I turned my head to face him. “And Lorcan will want him to hurt…what do you think he’ll do to him when he doesn’t get the reaction he wants from Penn?”
Alex had the intelligence to not answer that. He pressed his back against the wall behind us. “We’ll get to him.”
I ran my hands through my hair, glad they hadn’t thrown us in here cuffed. “I just don’t know how much of him will be left when we do.”
I lost track of time as I sat there thinking about all the ways I’d failed Penn, my kids, and family.
I closed my eyes and thought of Ella. It was always the same freeze-frame.
The morning she died, sitting at the table with me and the twins laughing at me about something I said.
Her auburn hair glowing as the sun hit it, her blue eyes sparkling like jewels.
I missed her every day. It was a hole I’d never filled and I’d have been fine if I never had…
then Penn walked into my life, and everything shifted.
“Mr. Hendrix?”
I opened my eyes and saw Mari standing by the bars and quickly moved to her. She slipped my phone through the slots, and I snagged it.
“Thank you.”
I went back to the bench, and when I looked at my phone saw I had a voice mail, and one text. I opted for the voice mail first.
“Gid, it’s Penn…which of course you knew.
It’s hard to type with my hands cuffed behind me, so I had to call using my nose.
” He fucking chuckled. He was being taken to his death, and the man laughed.
“Anyway, I’m sure if they find this phone, a few things will happen.
One, they’d switch locations thinking I told you and two…
probably destroy it. Neither is ideal.” Again he laughed.
He sounded okay. I couldn’t put it on speaker or I’d risk someone I didn’t want to overhear, so Alex, Danny, and Toni were watching me while also blocking anyone’s view to me.
“I don’t know where they’re taking me, Gid, but I’ll be okay.
There’s only the rear window. Been driving a bit.
Once the van stops, I’m going to share my location…
I’m sure my nose can do that. I’ll have to leave the phone in the van; I can kick it under the seat here but can’t take it with me.
” He sighed, and there was silence for a beat.
“Promise me something, Gid. If this doesn’t end well for me, you can’t blame yourself.
You may have thought you stopped me from leaving but if I’d really wanted to go, I would have.
Do. Not. Blame. Yourself. Just maybe get this motherfucker off the face of the earth. Bye.”
The voice mail ended, and I ignored the lump in my throat as I checked his text message. He shared the location. “Fuck!”
“What is it?” Alex asked.
“He shared his location.” I showed it to him.
“The marina?”
“Lorcan’s yacht…which means he could be anywhere if he took it out.”
Danny rushed to the bars and called for Mari. “Can you get word to Jeff, or anyone on Gideon’s crew, get to the marina. If Lorcan’s yacht is there, don’t let it leave.”
“Sure.”
“I could have made the call,” I argued.
“Not likely.” Danny side-eyed the bullpen. “You have company.”
Sure enough, my lawyer and the commissioner were coming my way. I had better be getting the hell out of here.