Chapter Twenty #17
Jerry groaned. “Because he’s one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” He waved his hand at Lyn and then Lany. “Those are the other two. There’s a fourth one floating around, the former head of the Irish mob out of Chicago.”
Sparks’ eye twitched. He pointed to Lyn. “You’re a member of the FBI’s cyber crimes unit.”
Lyn nodded. “I was a member of SWAT team one, but I went to work for the FBI a few years ago. Now, I’m married to the second-in-command of the SWAT unit.”
Sparks nodded a couple of times before pointing at Lany. “You’re the police commissioner’s nephew and married to the commander of the SWAT team?”
Lany grinned as if he found this whole thing funny. “And the father of six.”
“And you know the son of the head of the Gambino family and the former member of the Irish mob out of Chicago?”
“Yeah.” Lany nodded quickly. “Danny, Lyn, Eddie, and I are out best friends.”
Sparks stumbled back a couple of steps and then reached for the arm of the couch, slowly lowering himself down onto the cushions. “I think I need a drink.”
Jerry snickered. “I told you that the world of Lany Delvecchio is not for the faint of heart.”
“How?” Sparks asked. “How do you justify being involved with criminals? You’re officers of the law.”
Hadn’t we already gone over this?
“Alleged criminals,” Lany pointed out. “They have never been found guilty of a crime.”
“That time when Juarez kidnapped Lany and was trying to sell him,” I said in a terse voice at the memory, “Vinnie Castellano not only located him before we did, but he bought Lany for two million dollars, preventing him from being sold to someone else.”
“Carlos was the one to give us the name Eduardo Salazar,” Lyn pointed out. “He has his men searching for him now. If he finds anything, he’ll let us know.”
Sparks’ eyebrows snapped together. “Why would he do that?”
Jerry sighed heavily. “As much as I hate to say it, Carlos is not that bad of a guy. I’ll admit that we stand on opposite sides of the law, but he strangely has a moral compass that doesn’t allow him to shed blood indiscriminately. He works with Sal quite often to keep the peace in our fair city.”
“Kind of like he is doing now,” Lyn pointed out. “While it is somewhat self-serving, his heart is in the right place. Carlos doesn’t want to see blood in the streets any more than we do.”
I chuckled when Sparks frowned. “Yes, there are mafia men with morals. Unfortunately, they are a dying breed.”
“It’s why Vinnie got out of the business,” Lany stated.
“He was getting tired of cleaning up messes of people that did whatever the hell they wanted with no regard for life. Even if they don’t strictly follow written law, there has to be a line that you don’t cross, and these idiots nowadays don’t seem to know where that line is. ”
“This guy we’re trying to find is a good example,” I told him. “He doesn’t care who he hurts as long as he makes a profit. He used a bomb threat to kidnap Lany so he could sell him as a sex slave online. He was also manufacturing illegal drugs that are used in date rape cocktails.”
“Carlos doesn’t deal in drugs or sex slaves,” Lany said. “That is a line he won’t cross. He wants this guy off the streets as much as we do, so we work together to make that happen.”
“Don’t get us wrong,” I said. “If we found concrete evidence of Carlos breaking the law, we’d toss him in jail so fast his head would spin, but until that point, we work together to keep the peace.”
“It’s a fragile collaboration,” Jerry explained, “but it’s one we all work hard to maintain.”
I chuckled at Sparks’ confusion as I pulled out my cell phone when it rang and answered it without looking at the caller ID. “Delvecchio.”
“Is Junior close to you?”
My brow flickered with unease when I heard the urgency in Lancaster’s voice. My gaze darted to Lany. I got up and walked over by the window where I’d have a little more privacy for my conversation. “He’s in the study with me. Why?”
“Cynthia is missing.”
I swear I could feel the blood draining from my face.
“Explain.”
“She was out shopping when Lany called to tell me that there was trouble,” Lany’s father continued. “I called her bodyguards and told them to bring her home while I went to get the kids.”
I swallowed tightly. “The kids?”
“They are safe, Salvador. They are with me,” Lancaster quickly said. “I’m bringing them to the house now.”
I could suddenly breathe a little easier. “Okay, tell me where she was.”
“The mall on Princeton Street. Her escort called five minutes ago and said she never came out of the dressing room. When they went to search it, it was empty. They called me immediately, but they are searching now.”
“I’ll get Lyn on it now and send someone down to help with the search.” My eyes darted to Lany again. He was still smirking as he listened to Sparks and Jerry talk. I knew that smile wouldn’t last long. “We’ll find her, Lancaster.”
Cynthia was much loved by pretty much everyone that knew her, but she was adored by her family. I doubted Lancaster and Lany could function without her in their lives. Nothing could happen to her, and I’d move heaven and earth to make sure she was safe.
“I have to go tell Lany.”
And break his heart.
“We’ll be there soon.” The ache in Lancaster’s voice was heartbreaking. “I wanted to go look for her, but I thought bringing the kids home was more important. Cynthia would skin me alive if I allowed anything to happen to them.”
“I’m already mobilizing everyone now, Lancaster.” I walked over to my desk and quickly wrote a note telling Lyn what was going on and to start looking for Cynthia. When he turned wide eyes up to me after reading the note, I nodded and then held a finger to my lips and pointed at Lany.
Lyn immediately started tapping away at his keyboard.
“Get here as fast as you can and don’t stop for anything. I’ll reroute Brant’s team to meet up with you and escort you here.”
“Thank you, Salvador.”
There didn’t seem to be anything more to say at this point, so I hung up and walked out of the study to find Brant. When I did, I quickly told him what I needed him to do, and then I drew in a deep breath and walked back into the study so I could break my husband’s heart.
“Lany.” I walked over and sat down next to him, reaching for him.
The smile Lany had on his face slowly slid away. His eyebrows furrowed. “What happened?”
“Your father called.”
Lany sucked in a breath. “The kids?”
“No.” I shook my head. “The kids are fine. Lancaster is bringing them here now.”
“Then what—” The blood drained from Lany’s face turning it pasty white, and he slowly began to shake his head. “No.”
“Cynthia was at the mall when we called to tell them to bring the kids home. Your father called her bodyguards and told them, but when they went to get her, there was no sign of her. They are looking for her now.”
Tears flooded Lany’s amber-green eyes. “Sal…”
I pulled Lany into my arms and hugged him as hard as I could. Luckily, Lany was used to me being a little rough so he didn’t complain. In fact, I think it was more of a comfort to him than anything. If I’d been gentle, he’d panic.
“We’re already looking for her, Lany. Your father is already on his way with the kids, Brant is sending a team to the escort them here, and I’m sending people to help with the search of the mall. We’ll find her, Lany. I promise.”
“What’s going on, Sal?” Jerry asked.
I glanced past the man in my arms and met the man’s worried eyes. “Cynthia is missing. She was at the mall over on Princeton Street when we called Lancaster and asked him to bring her and the kids here. They can’t find her.”
Jerry didn’t say a word to me. He just got up, pulled his cell phone out, dialed, and then started barking out orders.
“Who is Cynthia?” Sparks asked.
“Lany’s mother,” I replied as I rubbed Lany’s back. “Cynthia Harris.”
Sparks blinked at me. “The Cynthia Harris, as in Lancaster and Cynthia Harris, business moguls and philanthropists? That Cynthia Harris?”
I nodded. “She’s also Jerry’s sister-in-law. Lancaster is his brother.”
“And she’s missing?”
I nodded again.
“Holy shit!” Sparks’ eyes rounded. “The whole city is going to burn down.”
Quite possibly.
Lancaster adored his grandchildren and his son, but he lived and breathed for his wife. His love for her was an inspiration into how I treated Lany. If anything happened to Cynthia, no one in the city would be safe.
“Sal, I’ve got something,” Lyn called out. “Cynthia was taken out through the service entrance by two men with masks. The put her in a white cargo van, which was driven by a third man, when they reached the loading dock. I’m tracking the van now.”
“Did you get a look at their faces?” I asked as I released Lany, jumped up, and hurried over to Lyn. “Can you identify them?”
Lyn had already been looking through traffic cams, following the white van, so he brought up a smaller window and showed two masked men forcing a very resistant Cynthia down the service hallway behind all the stores.
I quickly glanced to my side when I heard Lany whisper, “She’s alive.”
“And pissed,” I stated, seeing the fury in Cynthia’s amber-green eyes, the same eyes I looked into every night and day.
Lyn closed that screen and went back to tracking the van. “It looks like they are headed south.”
“What’s south?” Lany asked.
“Everything at this point,” Lyn replied. “It’s too early to try and pinpoint where they are going. All I can do at this point is track them.”
“Keep tracking them,” I ordered as I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Clarke. “How far out are you?”
“About ten minutes, why?” Clarke asked.
“I need you to double time it. Cynthia has been kidnapped.”
“I’ll be there in three.” Clarke hung up before I could say more.