31. Urge to Kill
Chapter thirty-one
Urge to Kill
Owen
All hell breaks loose. Everyone’s doing something, something I just can’t seem to do. I don’t have to tell them; they know it’s my Charlie.
It’s my Charlie…
Focus. I’ve been in these situations before; I know what to do. People being taken, kidnapped, or on the run. But this is… someone I know, someone I... it’s hard to separate what I know I need to do from what I want so desperately need not to be true.
My words from earlier play over and over in my head. Haunting me . She needs more than luck on her side, if she’s not already dead.
“Fuck.” Slamming my fists into the table, the urge to kill someone overpowers me. I want to cause some damage. I want to hunt these bastards down. I want to hurt them. No, I will rip them to pieces. I will find her. They will pay for any hair that has been even slightly misplaced on her beautiful head. They will pay. Very. Fucking. Violently.
The scenarios running through my mind on a constant loop cause my lungs to constrict. What if she has been taken? What if she’s hiding? What if she’s hurt? Is she running? Where is she? What’s happened? What if… fuck, I really can’t let my mind go there. My chest tightens further, making it difficult to breathe.
I’m fucking suffocating.
I’m going to kill anyone who has ever laid a finger on my angel.
Fuck, I need to find her. Where the fuck did you go, Angel?
I want to destroy everything around me. I want to level this place to the ground. I’ll do whatever it takes to find any trace of what happened and where she could be.
I will find you, Charlie. I fucking promise. If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll find you.
My phone vibrates in my hand. I’m surprised it can still move from the death grip I have on it. Sitting down, I hang my head between my knees, trying to calm the tidal wave of agonising rage and loss I feel running through my veins, causing a current of unease to ripple under my skin.
I glance down. Leon's name flashes across the screen. Sliding the bar to answer, I hold it to my ear without speaking. Too angry to say anything. Too terrified to let the words flow.
“Shit, where the fuck have you been?” He’s shouting at me. “I’ve been trying to get hold of you, you absolute prick. Charlie is missing…” There’s a tremble in his voice. He’s feeling the same fear I am.
“I know,” I finally manage. It’s more of a grunt than actual words.
“What does that mean? How do you know? Is she with you? Please tell me she’s with you.” I can’t focus. This all hurts too much.
“No.”
“O, give me some fucking answers. Her place was broken into three days ago, three men trashed the place, that’s why I called you the first time. Charlie was supposed to be on the 11.52 flight back to Bournemouth last night, but she never made it. She never got on the flight, never even checked in. I checked every single flight back to the UK last night and this morning, and nothing. I can’t find her. She was messaging us until yesterday morning and we’ve had no contact since. Fucking nothing, O. We need you home, we need to find her.”
“She was here. I didn’t know, Leon… I didn’t know.” The phone is taken from my hand and I’m left trying to figure out how I could have let this happen. I left her to try and keep her safe, then this happens.
Fuck, have I just wasted twelve months? When I could have…
“Tell me everything, Leon,” Dom says as he walks past me.
“Yes, it’s Dom. I have the team with me.” There's a pause. “That’s a story for another time.”
“We have everything. Owen’s taking the lead on this. She’s your girl.” Dom sits while the others stand, all eyes on me. Clutching the engraved necklace, the metal warming in the palm of my hand, I start at the beginning with what we know.
“She… Charlie used to work for Holland and Brooke, from the records. She left over thirteen months ago, started working as an informant for Simon Brooke, just under twelve months ago.” When I left. I don’t say that bit out loud. This guts me. Would she have worked for him, if I had stayed? I need to be out there looking for her, but I know the details are important. I know we need a plan. I can’t fly off the handle if I want to bring her home. We need to do this properly.
“There was a rumour going around that Simon has some information on the case, something we are now led to believe Charlie…” it hurts to say her name, “found for him, linking that fucking bastard, Summers, to something that could put him away for a long time. Only Simon and Charlie have potentially seen this information. It was only a rumour until Simon was attacked, and…” Taking a deep inhale, I continue, “Charlie went missing. Any information regarding the case is currently missing from any of the records at Holland and Brooke. We’ll need a team there today to take a look around, see if we can find anything.
“Five days ago, her boss Simon was attacked in his office. This is when we think whoever attacked him obtained the information on the case and that it was Charlie who had sent it to him.” Taking a breath, I carry on, my whole body a coiled mess ready to explode. “Magnolias, Charlie’s flower shop was broken into three days ago,” pausing for a moment, I need to ask a quick question, “Leon? Did you inform Charlie about the break in? She should have been notified from the system that something was wrong?” Watching me with careful eyes, he answers, from video call he’s on with Ethan.
“We never told her, we wanted her to enjoy her holiday. It’s nothing we couldn’t deal with. She turned off the shop notifications when she got to the airport, told me she was getting fed up with her phone going off every time someone walked in the door.” Okay. That seems fair.
I continue where I left off. “We assume this is where they found out where she was, on holiday in this very fucking resort. Right under my fucking nose.” Leon had to pull Cole from a job he was at and it’ll be a few hours before he can make it back.
“According to some of the staff here, she had a problem with one of the male guests but kept her distance after an incident on the beach. Then yesterday afternoon, at the café, something happened. The footage has been deleted from the area where she was attacked, but we’re waiting on the footage for the hallway. Charlie hasn’t been seen since. She never made it to her flight back to the UK and we are waiting on Cole to find out if she landed anywhere else.” Her passport hasn’t pinged yet.
We’ve already decided to stick around and see what else we can find out from here, while Leon and the team do what they can from the UK. If she’s still here, I want to be here. Until I have evidence otherwise, I’m not moving. She’s been missing almost thirty hours now. Our safe recovery window has already lapsed. We all know it, but I won’t give up. None of us will.
“Owen, I have some information that might help us target who could potentially be leaking the information in the company,” Leon says. “A guy called Josh worked closely on the case with Charlie before she left. He called the shop a few days ago, got agitated when Layla said she was away. He hung up after that.”
“It’s too much of a coincidence. He has to have a connection to Summers. Why else would he call Charlie after all this time? Was this call before or after they trashed the shop in the break in?”
“Before, and I agree, it’s too convenient for this to be nothing. I’ll send Ethan to bring him in.” That kid’s going to hate the day Ethan ever laid eyes on him. His methods of interrogation never fail.
“The law firm has had suspicions about a leak for a while now. A Jessica Holland and Annie Threser have been helping look into it. Ethan, you can speak with them. They are happy to help. Annie is a friend of Charlie’s,” I add.
“Be cautious. If he is linked to the Summers’ organisation, we need to tread carefully. Interrogate him where you find him, don’t lead him home.”
“I’ll ask for a private room.” Sick fuckers going to enjoy this.
“Take the jammers, make it secure before you do.”
“Understood.” Ethan stands to his tall six three frame, looks me in the eye, and adds, “We’ll find her, O. She’s not just your girl, she’s ours too.” I know he doesn’t mean anything by this, they call have a connection to Charlie. I appreciated what they’ve done while I’ve been away.
“What else do we have? The footage from the shop break-in should be with you. We’ve already identified who they are. We just need to confirm their connections to Summers’ organisation.”
We watch the footage of the shop getting trashed. After all the hard work she put into it, it’s devastating. We confirm the names of the three men as, Michael Gambi, Ezera Ferris, and Ernie Williams. While Michael and Ernie are low-ranking soldiers in the organisation, Ezera, on the other hand, seems to be a big deal. We only have a profile shot of his face on camera, but there is no doubt it’s him.
At least now we have a lead. We can find and follow them and we may find Charlie.
The hours are passing by too quickly with not enough action. I hate it, but I know it’s necessary to get the information we can before we move, and we still have a few loose ends to cover here first.