CHAPTER 8 SSDD
The deputy looked in the rearview mirror for the third time.
“Something wrong?” Gabe asked.
“We’ve got a tail.”
Gabe twisted around and looked out the rear window; all he saw was a kaleidoscope of headlights. He faced forward. “Are you sure?”
“I would be surprised if we weren’t being followed,” he said. “But this could be bad.”
“What do you mean?”
“Daniel won’t be happy about this. You might want to call them off. You don’t want to upset Daniel.”
“Call them off?” Gabe frowned. “I didn’t set anyone on us.”
“But you know who it is, don’t you?”
Of course, he knew. Clint and Cochise would never let anyone take Gabe without knowing where he was going.
Roland offered his phone to Gabe. “Make the call and tell them to drop the tail.”
Gabe looked at him for a moment, then grabbed the cell and dialed Clint.
Suspicion tinged the cowboy’s voice as he answered the unknown number.
“It’s Gabriel,” Gabe said quietly into the phone.
“I know you’re following us. But you need to stop.
If the madman finds out we were followed, it could cause him to back out of the deal and not release Abel and the kids.
” He listened as Clint voiced his resistance to letting Gabe slip away into the night to be handed over to a serial killer with no way to find him.
Gabe wasn’t thrilled about it either. But if it meant risking even more danger for Abel and the kids, he was willing to take that chance.
“You have to,” Gabe murmured. “We can’t risk harm coming to Abel and the kids.
” He sighed and sniffed. “I love you guys.”
When the call ended, Gabe handed the phone back to the deputy, feeling sick to his stomach. He knew how the ‘I love you’ sounded to Clint—like a goodbye —and that wouldn’t sit well with the cowboy.
“It’s for the best,” Roland said, tucking the phone away.
“Easy for you to say,” Gabe muttered. “You’re not the one getting handed over to a fucking serial killer.”
“You agreed to this.”
“I didn’t have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice,” the deputy said. “Even if it sucks ass.”
“No,” Gabe mumbled. “Not when my friends are in danger—there is no choice.”
Roland smiled small. “I can see why Henry… Cole… loves you. It won’t be easy on him if you don’t come back. Losing two loves to Daniel might just break him for good.”
Gabe frowned. “Two loves?”
The deputy cast him a quick look. “He never told you about Ezra?”
“Who’s Ezra?”
“His first true love. I’ve never seen a boy so in love as Henry at thirteen.”
Gabe looked forward. “He never mentioned Ezra,” he murmured.
“I guess I’m not surprised,” Roland said. “He lost him in a bad way, and it probably hurt too much to think about him. And as he said, he didn’t want to be Henry Pruett anymore when he ran away. And Ezra was a big part of Henry.”
Knowing the psycho fuck had already stolen one love from Cole somehow made this situation even worse.
“Does it bother you that he didn’t tell you about Ezra?” Roland asked. “I get the impression you’re used to him telling you everything.”
He tells me everything.
Gabe flinched inwardly as something in his mind shifted and a memory flashed through his head.
“This doesn’t make sense. Cole doesn’t do things like this.”
“Has he been acting at all off lately? Maybe something’s been troubling him that he didn’t tell you about.”
“He tells me everything,”
Gabe shot a sidelong glance at the deputy as his memories unfurled.
“What did you say your name was?”
“I didn’t. But it’s Mark.”
“Have you been working here at the club since it opened?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Are you from New York?”
“Yes.”
The memory of last night suddenly flooded in.
“What was my husband wearing tonight?”
“What? I don’t know—clothes. I was more concerned with his condition than what he was wearing. Why?”
“You had to have noticed something. You dealt with him up close, right? Helped him to the back room to lie down. You didn’t even notice what color of shirt he wore, or what kind of shirt it was?”
“Look, why are you giving me the third degree? I didn’t have to call you. I could’ve thrown his ass out and let him fend for himself.”
Gabe’s heartbeat pounded in his temples, climbing into his head as images tumbled into his mind, one after another.
“Who the fuck are you? Is Cole even here?”
“You’re too smart for your own good. You should’ve played along, and everything would’ve gone smoothly.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? Who are you?”
“I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.”
“Where the fuck is Cole?”
“I don’t know… probably home by now.”
“What…?”
“I’m tired of your questions. It’s time to finish this.”
“Finish what—”
His hand crept to the bandaged wound beneath the smock shirt. His eyes shifted to the deputy through the dark interior as the man looked ahead. It was him... the motherfucker.
Byrne saw his passenger holding his wound. A smile of satisfaction began to form, but he forced it back, replacing it with a look of sympathy. “Are you in pain?”
Gabe withdrew his hand and glanced out the front windshield. “I’m fine,” he mumbled. “I’ve been in worse shape.”
Not as bad as what you’re going to be here real soon, I guarantee you.
Clearing his throat, Gabe said, “Maybe we should try to take out the psycho ourselves.”
“What?”
“He’s just one man. If he isn’t expecting us to act, we could get the upper hand.”
“Seems a bit suicidal to me,” Byrne said. “He’s a serial killer. One false move, and your insides might be on the outside.”
“What do I have to lose?” Gabe muttered. “He’s going to torture and kill me anyway. At least, this way, I’d have a fighting chance.” He glanced at Byrne. “I’ll do it myself, but I’ll need a weapon—gun, knife, anything.”
Byrne looked ahead as if considering the idea. He nodded. “You’re right. He is going to kill you.” He shook his head. “But you don’t have to do it alone.”
“Do you have an extra weapon?” Gabe asked. “Something I can conceal?”
“Just my sidearm and I’ll need that.”
“Anything,” Gabe said.
“I have a night stick. However, I’m not sure what good that’ll do you. That’s an up-close weapon.”
“I’ll take it.”
Byrne smiled. “You’re a gutsy bastard, you know that?”
“Mostly just desperate,” Gabe whispered.
“If you say so.” Gutsy was being nice. The fucker was downright stupid if he believed he could take out the Mangler with a fucking night stick . But Byrne was in the mood for some entertainment.
“We don’t make a move until we know Abel and the kids are safe, though,” Gabe stressed. “If I fuck up, I don’t want them paying for it.”
“Of course,” Byrne said. “Can’t have them in the crossfire.”
Gabe grunted low and looked out the side window.
This would be good. Maybe the fucker would get in a few lucky whacks with the stick.
Byrne wasn’t opposed to seeing his old man get smacked in the head a few times, the bastard.
After what he put Byrne through—abandoning him in the woods with a nasty kid fucker so he could run off and start a new family—the fucker deserved a few slams to the head.
I love you guys.
Clint understood what that meant, and he was not fucking okay with it. They hadn’t freed Gabriel from Quint just to lose him to another goddamn psychopath. Still, the car slowed and pulled over to the curb as the vehicle transporting Gabriel sped off into the night. Clint made another call.
“I’ve been tagged, as expected,” he informed the callee. “Don’t lose them—and stay out of sight. Call me the second you have a location, and wait for me. No fucking heroics.”
Lowering the cell phone, Clint gripped the steering wheel and watched the taillights of the target car disappear among the countless other vehicles clogging the city streets.
The asshole transporting Gabe was part of this.
His call to the local precinct was bogus.
Detective Jordan inquired about the call and found nothing.
Jordan then called the FBI, and they would arrive soon—but not soon enough.
Clint had no intention of waiting around for them to show up and figure shit out.
The phone rang, and Clint jerked. He raised the cell. Axel. He exhaled slowly and answered the call.
“Hey.”
“What is going on?” Panic laced Axel’s voice.
“You were supposed to call and let me know what was happening. Luke got another message from the twins. They said Maddy still hasn’t shown up.
Abel and Savannah, either. What the hell is happening?
Have you seen Angel? He’s gotta be losing his shit if Maddy is missing. ”
What the fuck was he supposed to say? How much info was too much?
“We’re in the middle of something,” Clint said. “I don’t have time to explain. Just sit tight, okay? And stay there. All of you. And don’t open the door to fucking anyone until we get back.”
Silence filtered through the phone, then, “Clint…” Axel’s voice was quiet, unsteady. “What is happening? Did someone take Maddy and the others?”
Clint closed his eyes, releasing another breath. “Yes.”
“Who?”
“I don’t have time to explain.”
“Are Cole and Gabe all right? Did you find them?”
“Yes, they’re… fine.”
“Why don’t you sound sure? Are they okay?”
“Yes,” Clint murmured.
“Are you okay? Because you don’t sound okay. What you’re doing… how dangerous is it?”
The depth of concern in Axel’s voice knocked some air out of Clint. If Axel knew all the details, he would lose his mind—he might even come into the city. Clint couldn’t have him anywhere near these psychopaths; he had enough to worry about.
“It’s nothing we can’t handle,” Clint said. “Just look after Luke and Hope, and I’ll be home soon.”
“You promise?”
The fear behind those two words nearly broke the cowboy. “I promise, baby. You know there ain’t a force in existence that can keep me away from you.”
“There better not be,” Axel whispered with a tremor.
“Try not to worry.”
“Of course, I’ll worry. I have no control over that.”
Clint smiled small. “I’ll be home soon. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Axel said thickly. “More than life.”
When Clint lowered the phone, dampness filled his eyes. If things went bad and he didn’t make it home...
Don’t fucking start thinking that way. You’ve been through shit before—this is just more of the same.
SSDD. Clint sighed. “Same shit, different devil.”