30. Tate
CHAPTER THIRTY
TATE
I can handle Daniel shooting me. I’m still in control right up to the point where he shoots Rick. My heart leaps to my throat, and I can’t stand that someone who is like a brother to me is hurt because of me.
I stare at Daniel as Rick grabs his side. “Drop the gun, or I’ll shoot your lapdog before you even fire at me.”
I hesitate, and Daniel knows he’s struck a nerve. I don’t want to lose Rick. I wouldn’t cope. At the same time, though, I don’t want to lose my advantage, or Sian. I feel control slipping away from me, and I don’t like it. I drop my gun reluctantly.
Daniel waves his gun around. “All your men as well. They drop their guns to the ground and kick them away.”
I nod, and there are heavy thuds of guns being dropped and kicked away. Daniel looks at me triumphantly. “How the tide has turned. Shame, Tate. It must feel like shit not getting your way. Now... where was I? Oh, yes.” He points his gun at me and says, “Sian, you have three seconds to get over here before I shoot Tate in the head. Come over here and we’ll leave, and Tate can see to his little cleanup and move on with his life. Honestly, he doesn’t care about you. No one fucking does. You’re a waste of space.”
“Then why do you want her so bad?” I demand. “If she’s not worth anything?”
“I have my reasons,” Daniel says. “Sian. Two.”
I feel Sian move and I hold a hand up. “No, Sian. You can’t go with him. You know what he’ll do to you.”
I feel slightly panicked at the thought of her being in Daniel’s clutches. Sian steps in front of me and takes my face in her hands. “You saved me after he attacked me last time. You saved me from the car accident. Now, let me save you.” She whispers the words before she pulls me in for a deep kiss. I pull her against me as I kiss her, but all too soon, she breaks the kiss and slowly walks backwards, keeping her eyes locked on mine until she reaches Daniel, and he presses his gun into her back.
“Good girl. You always did listen well,” Daniel says, taking her arm. “If anyone tries to follow us, I’ll shoot her in the head.” Daniel drags her towards the exit. I want to take a step towards him, but I don’t want to provoke him into hurting Sian. Once they’re out of the club, I grab my gun and rush to the exit. Their cars are peeling away as I go out, and I growl in anger.
I go back inside and straight to Rick.
“Fuck. Are you okay?” I ask him.
He nods, taking his phone out. “I’ll call Imogen.”
“We need to go after them.” I look around frantically. “Clint, get the cars.”
“They’re long gone,” Rick says.
“Fuck it. I’ll go myself.” I pull my keys from my pocket, but Rick stops me,
“You’ve been shot. You need to get that bullet out if you’re going to be of any help to get Sian back.”
“I don’t give a fuck about the bullet,” I snap. “We need to follow them before we lose her. I can’t lose her, Rick.”
“She’s gone, Tate. We need to regroup and come up with another plan.” Rick sits down and dials Imogen’s number.
He’s right. I need to keep my head on straight if I want to find Sian again. “I’ll arrange to clean this up.” I look at Liam’s body lying on the floor, then at Jodi’s. I take out my phone and contact our cleaning crew. They technically work for the police and clean up crime scenes, but with a few well-placed bribes and John in my pocket, they’ve been known to come and clean up our crime scenes before the cops are called out. Not that the cops will come tonight. I send a text to John, giving him the heads-up in case anyone reported a shooting at my club. There’ll be no visits from the police, and there won’t be a scrap of evidence that anything happened here at all.
“Tate?” Andy, my cleaner, answers the phone.
“I have a situation at my club. A big one. Lots of evidence that needs to disappear,” I say. “Two bodies. One male, one female. They’ll need to be disposed of.”
“I can pay the crematorium to take them, no questions asked.” I can hear him getting up from wherever he’s sitting. He’s too old to clean the scene himself, but he oversees everything. He’s been in business since my father was in charge.
I look at Jodi’s body. I don’t feel an ounce of guilt for how she was taken out. Her eyes are still open, but they’re dull. An empty soul staring back at me. I consider closing them, but I don’t even care about that. The last thing Jodi saw was me. I don’t want the last thing Sian sees to be Daniel.
“How long until your team is here?” I ask Andy.
“We’ll come right over. Is Rick okay? He or Clint normally call.” He wants to know if it’s Rick’s body he’s cleaning up.
I sigh. “No, he’s fine. So’s Clint. I just needed to do this myself.”
“Okay, let me grab the guys and get there. We can sort out payment later.” He hangs up. They know I’m good for it.
I turn to Clint. “Make sure no one tries to enter the club. Have the guys cordon off the street so no one even gets close. They must only let Andy and his team in, and Imogen when she gets here.” He nods, and I watch him walk away.
I pace back and forth; I can’t figure out what to do.
Daniel will kill Sian before he lets her go, and I have no idea where he’s taken her. It could be any of the location in that file. I have many ideas of what he could be doing to her. He’s ruthless. He was the one who tortured me, so I know first-hand what he’s capable of. Of course, I’ve already seen what damage he can do to Sian when he’s not incensed. I doubt he’s developed a soft spot since he had me in his clutches or since the last time he was with Sian. Judging by how he took Jodi out, he’s probably become worse.
Imogen arrives and walks straight over to me, but I wave her off, and she tends to Rick first. I can feel Rick’s eyes boring into me. I try to ignore it as Imogen works on him.
I hear cars pulling up outside. It must be Andy’s team. I watch as they come inside, each dressed in a hazmat suit. Andy follows, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. “Tate,” he says.
“Andy. Can you get this done quickly?”
“Quickly or properly?” It isn’t the first time he’s asked me that.
“Both,” I concede.
Andy nods and leaves to direct his crew, who are already bagging the bodies. I see Jodi’s face one last time before they zip up the bag and start to move it.
I look at Liam’s body. I knew there was something off about him, especially the last week or so. That’s why I only give Rick and Clint information of importance. That was why I told Clint about Joey and not Liam. It was just a hunch, and I’m glad I stuck with it.
They zip up his body bag and move him before they start cleaning. I pace back and forth a little more before I go to Imogen.
“How is he?” I finally ask. “We need to get going.”
“I need to get that bullet out of you,” Imogen says sternly. “You’ll be no good to anyone if you get an infection and your arm has to be amputated.”
I shrug off my shirt quickly and sit down. “Make it quick.”
“Don’t you want me to numb it?” she asks.
“I said be quick,” I snap. “I’m not playing games, Imogen. People’s lives are at risk here.”
Rick stands nearby but keeps an eye on the cleaning crew, who are methodically making their way over the crime scene and the rest of the club just for good measure. I tap my foot impatiently as Imogen inspects the wound and then inserts the forceps into it. I don’t even flinch, despite the fact that it hurts. I’ve felt pain before, at Daniel’s hands, and this is nothing compared to that.
After prodding around for a moment, she pulls the bullet out and starts to stitch the wound closed. “You’re lucky it didn’t hit anything important.”
“I have a feeling that was on purpose,” I say. Once she’s done, I stand and shrug on my shirt again. “Rick, we need to get this cleaned up faster. We need to launch a wide-scale search for Sian.”
“You need to calm down,” Rick says. “We can’t rush into anything.”
“Are you giving me an order?” I growl. “I’ll remind you; you work for me, not the other way around.”
“I’m making a suggestion,” Rick says with a frown. “Look at you. You’re ready to declare war.”
“I am declaring war,” I snap. “Nobody crosses me like that and gets away with it.”
“Or takes Sian,” Rick says quietly.
I pause in my pacing. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I mean... what is this girl to you? I’ve never seen you react this way over anyone, not even Jodi.” I glare at Rick, and he holds his hands up. “Just be honest. You can always be honest with me.” He digs in his pocket and starts counting out hundreds before holding them out for Imogen.
Imogen stands there for a moment, takes the wad of cash from Rick’s hand, and then picks up her things and leaves.
I stop pacing and stare into the distance for a long time. I can sense Rick is growing impatient when I finally speak. “She’s like oxygen. I feel like I can breathe when she’s around. She’s got my heart pumping again. She’s important to me, Rick. She makes me want to be a better man. She makes me want more. She’s like an IV drip that’s keeping me from the brink of death.” I look at him sorrowfully. “I want her back, Rick. I need her back.”
“And we’ll get her back as soon as we figure out how to track her down. We’ll do it as quickly as possible so that mutt doesn’t have a chance to hurt her.” Rick puts a hand on my shoulder.
I shake my head. “I’ve failed her.”
“You haven’t failed anyone,” Rick says quietly. “We’ll find her. I swear it.”
I like how much faith he has in us. We’ve pulled off some daring rescues, schemes, and murders in our lifetimes. We’ve done it together, and it’s fitting that after being captured and tortured, we take Daniel down together. He wanted to kill us both. Now, we’ll return the favor.
Rick puts a hand on my shoulder. “We trust Andy. He’s a good man. He’s been good to us. Let’s leave them to do their job so we can do ours.”
It’s not how things are done. One of us always oversees the cleanup to make sure it’s done right and nothing can lead back to us, but Rick is right. Andy is good to us and won’t let us down. Every minute that ticks by is another minute Daniel can hurt Sian, and it’s driving me insane. I need to get my emotions in check, and I need to find her.
“Let’s go back to the estate,” I finally say. “We can regroup there and make a plan of action.”
Rick nods. “I’ll let Clint know to get the cars. We’ll leave a couple of guys here and take a couple with us. We can always call for reinforcements if it comes to it.”
I nod, taking a deep breath.
Sian, hang on. I’m coming.