Chapter 23
Chapter
Twenty-Three
KENDRIX
Seth had been behind this the entire time. I was still trying to understand it all. He was supposed to be one of my closest friends, but it didn’t make sense.
“Kendrix, I know this is a lot but we have to stay focused. Now tell me everything you know about Seth Chow. We have already ransacked his home and his office. His family has no idea where he is, they claimed that they haven’t talked to him in years.” Levi had us all in the conference room at the job.
We even managed to get Brian out of retirement for a minute, he refused to sit back and watch his cousin in danger.
“We have known each other since college; we met on move-in day. He was my roommate, quiet, calculated, but a nice guy. There was nothing about him that raised any flags around me, but isn't it always that way? The most dangerous people are the unexpecting ones; that is how most of those missing girls were held hostage in the basement of the neighborhood’s favorite guy.” I hung my head, willing myself to take a few deep breaths. The panic attacks that I hadn’t had in years were back with a vengeance.
“Thank you Ken, I know this is hard for you, fuck it is hard for all of us. We all love Phoenix, so we get it, but I need you to pull it together, man. I called Gran to tell her, and she is sending in reinforcements that should be pulling up soon.” Levi patted my back.
We had been at this for the last 36 hours and we kept hitting brick wall after brick wall.
“Reinforcements sounds so plain in comparison to what I can do; I haven't thought of a cool code name yet, but when I do, make sure to address me by that moving forward.” I familiar voice said, strutting into the room with an all-black fitted suit, she looked like she just walked off the set of an action movie.
“Asha, what are you doing here?” Levi quipped. I stole a glance at Brian, and he smirked, shaking his head at the icy tone Levi used with her. She must have pissed him off because he was always nice, especially to her.
Asha ignored him and came over to me, saying, “Bring it in, Kenny. You gave me a scare.” I hugged her, relishing the warmth of her love for Phoenix to come all the way here.
It was so surprising because she never left the island for anyone. Makayla and Phoenix had been begging her for years to visit them, but she refused every time.
“Thank you for coming Asha, please acknowledge him before he starts his shit.” Levi was burning a hole in the back of her head.
Asha gave Brian and Johnathan a hug before walking over to Levi. She held out her hand for a handshake. He smacked her hand away and pulled her into his arms, whispering something in her ear. Whatever it was, she melted into the hug before pulling away and moving to the corkboard.
We had pictures of Seth, Michael, and Amanda along with every note and email. The person emailing Cameron turned out to be Seth, too. Pins and strings connected everything back to Seth.
“Levi, you don’t mind sitting down so I can talk, do you?” I hid my smirk behind my hand and Brian laughed out loud, asshole.
“Asha, this isn’t your domain; it’s mine. Please show me what you can discover that we haven’t already. But you know what you got it, baby. Impress me.” Levi sat in the chair next to Johnathan.
Asha pulled a folder from her bag and used an extra pin to hang up another photo .
“Well you guys are on the right track but you forgot one more suspect.” Destiny McClain’s picture was right next to Seth.
“Wait a minute, you believe that her mom is involved too?” Johnathan asked in disbelief.
Asha nodded, “Yes, once Phoenix told me everything, I asked her to play the voicemail for me. She told me that you two had no idea who the woman culprit was, so I took it upon myself to figure it out. I played it for Ms. Lucy, and she told me that it was Destiny. She said when they were kids, she wanted to be a vocal actor, which is how she learned to disguise her voice. It was a weird tick she picked up anyways; I put some guys on Destiny and have several pictures of her with Seth right around the same time all of this stuff started.” She put the pictures on the board. It had to be about 20 pictures of them together, the shit was mind-blowing.
“But I don’t understand. What the hell are they doing together?” Brian stood up and walked over to the board.
Asha shook her head, “Destiny apparently is running low on money and somehow got tied up in The Cartel. Seth’s family comes from a long line of the Higanbana Cartel. The higanbana is the flower of death and matches the flowers he left for Phoenix. Destiny promised Phoenix to him but the only thing standing in their way was you. I guess he got tired of waiting and decided to do something about it. Phoenix’s dad had no idea, he gave me a list of their other properties. They have a beach house close to Rockaway Beach and a cabin that is almost an hour away in Holly Hills.” My heart hurt for my baby; she didn’t deserve this shit. But I would make sure she got her revenge.
“Did I meet your expectations?” She sent a pointed look at Levi who was sending a charged stare her way. She just made the man fall deeper in love.
“Yes ma’am, can I take over from here?” He got up and walked next to her, studying the pictures on the board for a few minutes.
“I believe that we should check the cabin first. It is risky to drive almost two hours with a victim in the car. But to be on the safe side, we can send a team to the beach house, and the others can go to the cabin. Kendrix, what do you think? Which one would he pick?” I thought back to all our conversations over the years.
Suddenly I remembered a fun fact about him: “Let’s go to the cabin, he used to complain about the beach. He has a thing for nature.”
“There you have it, boys, and girl. We will go over the plan and suit up. It’s time to bring our dear Phoenix home.” Thank you, God!
“Agent Thompson, we have detected 10 people inside; there are five rooms. We have located the victim; she is in the one on the far left wing. She doesn’t look hurt but we can’t be too sure.” An agent said through the earpiece, and I breathed a bit easier at the knowledge that she wasn’t hurt. My mind needed to be clear and concise because using emotion could get me killed.
Levi and I were posted at the back door, guns locked and loaded. Brian and Johnathan, along with a few other agents, stood at the front door, ready to strike. We had a sniper on the roof of another cabin waiting on our call to take down whoever he could find. Levi told Asha to wait in the car to be ready to comfort Phoenix when she was brought out, but I had a feeling she wouldn’t stay in the car.
“Alright, team. We need to get Phoenix out to safety and take down everyone but Seth and her mother. I have other plans for them.” Levi said a quick prayer, and we kicked down the door on three.
“Cut the power now!” I shouted before throwing the grenade into the cabin.
It took out at least three people in the dining room and we used our silencers to hit the two people waiting by the stairs. We moved as a synchronized team, we didn’t have too many hostage situations, but this was the love of my life we had to save.
“Great shot man, heavy on your left!” Levi shouted, I ducked into the dining room and heard two bodies fall to the floor.
“I got them for you, yall go up and we will clear out the rest of the house.” Brian nodded and motioned for me to go up the stairs.
If our calculations are correct there should be only three people left. Seth, Destiny, and my jewel.
I turned to see Levi and Johnathan right behind me. The night goggles came in handy; I crept up the steps and stopped to listen for anything.
“We have to get the fuck out of here now Seth, I told you not to let that bitch get in your head. She is too much like my mother; she outsmarted you to buy time for them to find her.” Destiny shouted; it came from the last room at the end of the hallway.
“Seth baby, I would never, you have to believe me. It has been an emotional few days, and I really wanted us to rest in our new bliss. Are you going to let her talk to me that way?” Hearing her call another man baby made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
“Calm down, Kendrix; you don’t know what she had to do to survive. Phoenix has always been smart; Destiny was right. She is like Gran in all of the best ways. Now we have eyes inside the room. Agent Skinner, on the sniper, says that Phoenix is standing by the window. Destiny is closest to the door, and Seth is in the middle of the room. Now we have one more smoke grenade, so on my count, we need to get in there. Are you ready to get our girl back?” Brian asked.
“I was born ready.”
“3, 2, 1,” I kicked the door open, and the smoke filled the air.
“Phoenix, get down, baby!” I couldn’t see her, but I knew she heard me.
“Not until I get my turn, I’m coming for you bitch!” Her voice was deadly.