Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Penny felt sick. She’d never been this scared in all her life.
Not when John was violent and she knew he was going to turn on her.
Not after he died, and she had to figure out what to do next.
Not when Colvin sent people to her hut to collect money she didn’t have.
Not even when she realized she had literally nothing for her or Bowie to eat when that asshole left her without a dime.
But not knowing where the two people she loved most were at that moment? If they were okay? It was bone-deep terrifying.
Chaos had arrived back at the apartment, and Penny had felt almost as if she were floating and watching and listening to what was happening from above everyone else. Her ears felt clogged, like his news was coming from the other end of a long tunnel.
He’d told them all about Fred finding Pyro’s scent and following it to a parking lot. Then about finding his phone and Bowie’s backpack…and how there’d been no other signs of either her daughter, or the man who’d changed her life for the better.
Chaos also told them they hadn’t found blood or any other evidence of violence.
But Penny didn’t even want to think about that.
The only thing that made her feel even the smallest twinge of hope was that Pyro was with Bowie.
Of course, there was no proof of that, but she refused to believe anything else.
If they were separated, Bowie would be helpless.
She was only six. And blind. While Penny was constantly amazed at the things her daughter could do, being kidnapped and taken somewhere unfamiliar would be daunting enough for someone with sight. And who wasn’t a child.
“He said if I didn’t pay him, he’d take her,” Penny whispered, when Chaos finished explaining what he and the other Night Stalkers had found. “That he’d get what he was owed by selling her.”
She heard the other women gasp, but she kept her gaze locked on Chaos. She saw a myriad of emotions flit across his face. Surprise, shock, anger.
“Not happening,” he bit out. “Pyro will keep her safe until we can find them.”
“How are we going to do that?” Penny asked. “I called the police while you guys were gone, and they said they’d send someone out to take a report but they haven’t arrived yet. Even though Bowie is a kid, and blind, they don’t seem too concerned since she’s with Pyro.”
“Casper’s calling Tex.”
The other women nodded, as if the matter was settled. But for Penny, it wasn’t. She couldn’t simply sit around and wait for information. Every minute that went by was one more that her baby was possibly being harmed. Or that Pyro was suffering.
“I want to talk to him,” she blurted.
Chaos looked confused. “Talk to who?”
“Tex. Do you have his number? I want to know what he’s doing to find Bowie and Pyro, and what I can do to help.”
“What we can do is wait for Tex to do his thing and get back to us.”
Penny was already shaking her head. “No. This is my daughter. You have no idea how it feels to have a part of you ripped away like this. I realize that if she and Pyro are together, it’s a best-case scenario.
But she’s blind, Chaos. As proud as I am of her independence, the fact remains that she can’t see!
And as much as we want to believe it, there’s no guarantee Pyro’s still with her.
I can’t just sit around twiddling my thumbs and waiting.
I need to do something. And what I want to do right now is talk to this Tex person and hear what he’s doing to find my child! ”
Penny heard the hysteria in her voice as it rose, but she didn’t care.
All her life, she’d been the good girl. The one who didn’t rock the boat.
Who did what she was told in the hopes she wouldn’t be kicked out of yet another foster home.
But she was done with that. Bowie’s life was at stake, and she couldn’t, wouldn’t, sit around and be a “good girl,” letting everyone else decide her fate.
Screw that. Screw Colvin Jackson, or whatever his name.
She wanted Bowie back. Now. Tonight.
Chaos stared at her for a long moment before reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his phone. He unlocked it, clicked on something, then held it out to her.
It was silent in the room, as if everyone was holding their breath, waiting to see what was going to happen next.
“I pulled up Tex’s number. All you have to do is click Call.”
“Thank you,” Penny said, taking the phone.
She went to the small table next to the kitchen and sat.
Her legs felt rubbery, as if standing up to Chaos had taken the last of her physical reserves.
She put the phone on the table and tapped the screen.
Then she put the call on speaker. Chaos had a lot at stake here too, his friend was missing.
And Penny had no problem letting the other women hear the conversation.
She had no idea what the man on the other end of the phone was going to say, and she had a feeling she might need their support.
The phone rang twice before a man answered.
“I’m a little busy, Chaos,” he said. “What’s up?”
“It’s not Chaos. My name is Penny Burns, and my daughter was kidnapped. I want to know what you’re doing to find her and how I can help.”
To the man’s credit, he didn’t sound irritated or even surprised that she was on the other end of the line. “You know that Pyro’s cell was left behind, right?”
“Yes. And Bowie’s too. It was in her backpack.”
“Yeah. So I’ve been hacking into the security cameras along the route from the playground to the parking lot, where their belongings were found.
I’ve found video of them walking on the sidewalk, hand in hand, and nothing seems off about their body language.
Unfortunately, I’m still looking for any cameras that show the parking lot of the old taco joint they cut through.
I’m hunting down some leads of a few vehicles that were in the area at the time I estimate they went missing, but the quality of the security feeds is shit, so I haven’t been able to get plate numbers.
Right now, I’m running a program to find the makes and models of the cars that were caught on video in the area, to see if I can find them that way. ”
He took a breath, then said, “I’m glad you called. Talk to me, Penny. Tell me who you think took your daughter.”
“Colvin Jackson,” she said without hesitation. “Or whatever his name is. He told me once when we were in Gabon that if I didn’t pay him the money John owed, he’d take Bowie and sell her.”
“Have you ever seen proof of this supposed debt?”
“No. I asked once, refusing to give his goon the monthly payment. But the next day our place was ransacked and robbed, and I didn’t think it was a coincidence, since Colvin himself showed up the day after that, demanding the payment. That’s when he threatened Bowie. I didn’t ask again.”
“And your husband was killed in the parking lot of a strip club?”
Penny felt shame spread through her. She closed her eyes, regretting putting the call on speaker.
She felt a hand on her shoulder, and when she glanced to see who was behind her, found not just one person, but Laryn, Mandy, and Zita.
Instead of pity on their faces, all three looked angry on her behalf.
Their support gave her the courage to respond to Tex.
“Yeah. He hadn’t been intimate with me in a few years at that point, so I didn’t care.
We were basically just cohabitating. I wouldn’t let him touch me after he’d started visiting the strip clubs.
I was more than aware that he wasn’t just watching women dance without their clothes on.
The police said it was a robbery, but then they gave me his personal belongings, which included his watch, a necklace he always wore, and his wallet.
There wasn’t any money in it, but I always wondered what kind of robber would take the time to search someone’s pockets for a wallet, then stand there and go through it instead of simply running away with the whole thing.
While also leaving behind a watch and necklace that were in plain sight. ”
“I’m wondering the same thing,” Tex told her. “You knew that Pyro had asked me to look into Colvin already, yeah?”
“Yes.”
“The man owned that strip club. And many others like it. He’s made a lot of money, not only in oil but in selling sex, as well.
Your husband probably did owe him money, because Colvin’s a shrewd businessman.
He knows how to play people, and he probably made John sign a contract when he didn’t have the money to pay for more pussy. Sorry for being crude.”
“I think we’re past worrying about that. What does this have to do with finding Bowie?” Penny asked. She didn’t condone what her husband was doing in the years before his death, but he’d more than paid for his bad decisions.
“You also know the man you knew as Colvin is here in the States.”
“Yes, Pyro told me. Washington.”
“I’ve scrubbed his phone transactions, looked at his bank records, and I can’t find any connection between him and anyone who might be there in Virginia.
But that doesn’t mean they aren’t there.
He probably paid, or is planning on paying whoever took Bowie and Pyro, in cash.
Money he didn’t actually deposit when he arrived here from the UK.
It most certainly wasn’t Colvin himself who snatched your daughter, but his hands are far from clean. I’m sure of it.”
Penny agreed. “What now? How do we find them?”
The silence on the other end of the line was terrifying.
“Tex? You can find them, can’t you?”
“I’m working on it.”