Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Marco had one mission: find Kelsey no matter what it took.
It wasn’t going to be easy, either. Surely she hadn’t gone back to the apartment. That would be as good as just running straight into Niko’s grasp. That asshole no doubt had guys watching.
Or did he?
How big an army did he have? Or maybe it wasn’t an army at all but only a few men he could count on. Most of the men in the Family backed Marco. At least, he thought they did.
Now, all bets were off if the old man had ordered all this. Then, the loyal soldiers had no choice but to do what the boss said.
That idea just didn’t hold water.
Enzo was old-school. Honor and integrity meant something to him. True, it was in his own “mob boss” sort of way, but still… turning on Marco like that? Nope.
What was more likely, Marco thought, was the old man didn’t have a clue what was going on.
Remembering what Detective Kellogg had said—that no one had heard from Enzo in a couple of days—he wondered if the man was in a coma or something. Maybe even worse.
Had he died?
His health wasn’t great and he was getting on up there in years. It wasn’t inconceivable that Enzo had just dropped dead. In fact, it was highly probable with his health history and age.
What if it was worse than that?
There was a chance Niko killed his own father. In the asshole’s quest for power, Marco wouldn’t put it past him. That was a sick man—the type who would stop at nothing to achieve his own goals.
Marco would have to figure out the whats and whens later. Right now, he just needed to find his sweetie. And aimlessly driving around the streets of Vegas wouldn’t accomplish that.
Besides, it was dangerous. He was careful to obey all the traffic laws, but all it would take was one cop with a keen eye who’d heard the call about an escaped prisoner to pull him over and ask some questions.
Now, the question was: Where to start?
He finally decided to go to a nearby safehouse he kept so he could get properly outfitted. No one in the Family knew about this place; Marco had kept it a secret on purpose.
Sometimes, a guy just needed a sanctuary away from prying eyes. Also, it was rented under a shell company’s name with virtually no paper trail that led back to him. If the FBI or anyone was ever building a case, they wouldn’t even know about this place, so it wasn’t bugged or under surveillance.
It was an old house that wasn’t in the best of neighborhoods, and not at all where people would think a wealthy mob boss would live.
But looks can be deceiving.
The front and back doors were steel with impact-resistance cores, special hinges that were nearly impossible to bust, and more than one high-security lock to reinforce them. Combined with the bullet-resistant, shatter-proof windows, they made a fortress that was nearly impenetrable.
Now, he wished he would have left Little Kelsey here.
But the neighborhood might have frightened her. And at the time, he’d had no reason to think the threat was coming from inside the organization.
After going inside, he disarmed the security system and instantly went to the back bedroom where he opened the closet door, moved a panel that looked just like the wall, and then punched in the code to a large safe.
Five minutes later, he had a burner phone set up, two loaded guns with some extra magazines, two thousand in cash, and a fake but very realistic-looking ID.
After locking up the safe and replacing the wall panel, he selected an outfit from the closet and quickly changed clothes. While he did so, he thought of how tempting the bed looked. A hot shower was calling his name, too.
But there was no way he was going to rest now. Not with sweet Little Kelsey out there needing him. While a ragged tiredness was clawing at him, he could fight it off and run on pure adrenaline until he had his baby safe and sound.
Then, they’d rest together. But only then.
He would sit on the bed, at least, for just a moment while he made a phone call.
There were only a few numbers that he’d forced himself to memorize, but he figured there might come a time when he didn’t have all the contacts in his phone but would need to get ahold of some people. Like, for example, if he went to jail.
Now, he was glad he’d made himself do that.
Trying Kelsey again, he wasn’t surprised when she didn’t answer. It went straight to voicemail, too, so he assumed her phone was dead.
Was Niko in possession of her phone? The thought made him nearly blind with rage. But he pushed through and kept a clear head.
Next, he made a call to an associate who probably wasn’t in the know about all that was going on but knew enough to have Sal’s number.
“Hey, Teddy, man I’m sorry to call at—” Marco realized he didn’t even realize what time it was “—so early, but man, I need to get ahold of Sal and wash hoping you had his number.”
The voice on the other end was groggy, but didn’t protest. He wouldn’t.
Guys like him wanted a higher role in the organization.
If the underboss called, they did whatever they could to stay on his good side.
That was one of the reasons Marco had memorized Teddy’s number: he knew he’d be a loyal foot soldier.
“Yeah, of course. And no worries. I need to get up anyway.”
Marco didn’t know how true that was, but it didn’t matter. Let the guy kiss a little ass.
Just a few seconds later, Marco had the info he needed.
“I won’t forget this, Teddy. In fact, count on a little something coming your way.”
The underling seemed pleased with that, and Marco made a mental note to transfer an extra paycheck to the guy as soon as all this was over.
Next, he called Sal.
“Marco, shit, man! I’ve been up all night thinking about this. What the fuck is going on?”
“I don’t know. But I’m going to find out. Right now, I just need to get Kelsey and make sure she’s safe.”
“Yeah. I’ve been searching for her.”
“You have?”
“Yeah. I found out where they took her. Man, I had to ask a lot of questions and call in some favors. Word’s gonna get back to Niko?—”
“Don’t worry about that. Niko won’t be around much longer. You know I take care of my people.”
“Yeah. Man, shit, Marco, it’s not about money.”
“I know. Just tell me what you found out.”
Marco listened as Sal told him about the warehouse and its location.
“That’s all I know. Man, you want me to come help you search?”
“No, but thank you. Go home and get some rest. I’ll call you if I need you.” He was about to end the call but said, “And Sal?”
“Yeah?”
“You did real good. I owe you personally. And I won’t forget this. Look for a hundred grand in your account by the end of the week. But the debt isn’t paid. Not by a longshot. I’m telling you, I won’t forget what you’ve done to help Kelsey.”
He ended the call before the other guy could respond.
Marco stood from the bed and tried to fight off the additional tiredness that had set in while he’d been sitting. With that in mind, he went to the fridge, pulled out an energy drink, and started chugging it as he gathered everything he needed and re-armed the alarm system.
Once he was on the road, he considered what Sal had told him.
It could have been a setup. Niko might have offered Sal a ton of cash to flip on Marco, but he didn’t think that was very likely. For one thing, Sal seemed to be on the up and up. A loyal, stand-up kind of guy.
Marco usually had a good read on people about stuff like that.
Anyway, a setup didn’t make sense, he decided after giving it some thought. Sal would give him a definite location if he was trying to lure Marco somewhere. Pretending to be clueless about where she went after she escaped wouldn’t benefit them.
He’d provided the warehouse location, but that most likely wasn’t a trap. In fact, as soon as Niko heard Marco had busted out of jail—and with all the contacts in the criminal justice system the family had, he would find out—he probably closed up shop and got the hell away from that location.
Niko was a punk. A scared little bitch who wouldn’t face Marco like a man. He’d planted the drugs so the cops would do what he was to chicken shit to accomplish himself.
So, most likely there wouldn’t be anyone at the warehouse. But his Little girl might be around there somewhere, running and hiding.
Scared.
Alone.
Waiting for Daddy.
“Don’t worry, honey. Daddy’s coming. I promise.”
Marco gripped the wheel and drove as fast as he dared, racing through the early morning to save his princess.