CHAPTER 11
AVA
My hand was trembling so badly I almost dropped my cell phone before I got it to my ear.
I was reaching out to someone I once considered a part of my cop family, who I had pushed away as soon as I was injured and hadn’t spoken to in almost two years.
Was he even going to take my call or just slam the phone down the second he knew it was me?
“Homicide,” he answered . I’d needed to call his desk phone, since I had long since lost his cell number in my frenzy to push every single part of my old life far away.
“Oz? It…it’s Scott…uh, Ava Scott,” I said feeling pretty vulnerable and likely sounding nothing like the cocky bitch he was used to me being.
“Scott? Shit! Where have you been? I tried to call you like a million times but your cell was disconnected?”
“Yeah, I know. I kinda went off the rails for a while there,” I admitted as I turned my back on the three guys who stood watching me with confusion and annoyance. “Sorry. I guess I was kinda fucked up after the shooting and everything.”
“Forget it. How are you? You good?” he asked.
Oz, or Richie Osbourne, as he was called fully, was about a decade older than me, and he was part of the homicide division I worked as a detective in for over five years.
He was a person I considered a close friend, along with several other members of our team, including my partner who had been killed the night I was shot.
We’d all been tight until I’d been handed my medical retirement and shoved away from all of them and my career – the one and only focus in my already messed up life.
“Been better,” I hedged. “Listen, I’m in New York looking for my brother. He got himself into some shit and he’s missing.”
“You want me to come out there. I have some days I can take, help you work the case,” he offered instantly.
“Appreciate the offer, but I’m working with a guy I know from NYPD. I just need some information if you’re good with helping?”
“You know I am, but how come you can’t get it from NYPD?”
“Oh, you know me. I may have stepped on some toes over here,” I lied, sort of. I had pissed Mason off, which was the reason I needed Oz’s help, so it wasn’t a total lie.
“Winning hearts and minds as always over there, huh Scott?” he laughed.
“Always,” I found myself laughing too. “Can you get me a list of regular haunts for a crime family out here, Name’s Owen. Irish mob is my best guess. They should be in the system since they’re on the FBI’s radar,” I explained.
“What the fuck are you getting into, Ava? You sure you don’t need back up? You know we’ve always got your back.”
“I know and I appreciate it, Oz, but I’m good. I can handle this. Can you just get me the info and email it to me?”
“Yeah, okay, but I want you to call me when you get back to the city. It’s been too long since we met up, and we’ve all been worried about you,” he told me, sounding so honest and concerned I actually teared up. I never should have pushed them away and I was starting to realize that.
“Fine,” I agreed as I pulled back my tears. “I’ll call, but you can put your fucking worry away. I don’t need it. I’m good. I’m always good,” I lied.
“Just be fucking careful. This Owen family looks like bad news.”
“Always am. Thanks, Oz.” I hung up and swiped at my damp eyes.
Maybe I would actually call him when I got back to Chicago.
Once I knew Colt was safe of course. Maybe I’d even move back to my place again.
If Colt was alive, maybe I could find a way to piece some parts of myself back together again. If he was alive.
“Who was that?” Jack asked as I turned back to face the three of them.
They looked pretty comical stood in a line side by side, just staring at me looking bewildered.
Apart from Mace. He was most definitely pissed with me.
I knew the look well, and as always it sent a shudder of excitement straight to my core. He looked even sexier when he was mad.
“A friend,” I answered as I grabbed my old bag that I once used for college classes and threw the strap over my head so it sat across my body.
“Ava love, what the fuck are you doing? You can’t walk into a room of criminals and just offer them money. They’ll probably just shoot you and get the money anyway,” Jack told me.
“He’s right. You’re being insane. Just stop and think for a fucking second,” Mason added.
“I’ve thought, Mace, and you know what I decided?” I asked him bitterly.
“That you want to die, because that’s all that’s gonna happen if you do this!” he barked at me.
“I decided that I am not going to let Colt fucking die. Any of you try to follow me or stop me and I’ll shoot you.
You think I’m bluffing then just try me!
” I growled before pushing past all of them and exiting my room as steadily as I could.
I was still shaky because I was tired, and amped up because of what I knew I was about to do.
Was it a sensible decision? Probably not.
But I had found that criminals could be reasonable people where money was involved, and I was banking on them not being willing to shoot a disabled women on sight.
I had to at least try. I knew Colt would do it for me if he had to.
I knew my brother would do anything for me.
I moved to the living room and rolled my eyes when I saw all the papers from Colt’s file still spread across the floor.
“Thanks for the help, Jack,” I told him sarcastically as I struggled to drop to my knees, then started gathering everything up, except for the file on Helen and the pages Colt had printed from the news stories on her murder.
“If you’re doing this, then I’m coming with you. You’re not going alone,” Mason said and I knew they were all behind me now, likely still stood in their line trying to intimidate me into acquiescing to their demands. How little they knew me!
“Yeah, It’ll end really well for the both of us if I walk in there with a cop,” I scoffed.
“You’re a cop!” Deak cried and when I glanced around to him I could see the worry on his face.
“I’m a very obviously disabled woman who I’m sure they’ll take pity on and not shoot immediately. That’s my play and I’m sticking with it. That’s why I have to go in alone,” I told them all calmly.
“I could bring in some back up…”
“Mason, no. One sniff of the cops anywhere near this and I will end up dead. Please, just stop underestimating me and let me do this. Either they have Colt and I’ll get him back, or they don’t and at least we’ll know where to focus next,” I told him as I picked up the file on Helen’s death and slammed it on the table at my side.
“That’s why you need to start looking into this,” I added as I looked to Madon again.
“Do you have any description from when he….from back then?” he asked carefully.
“Tall. I’d guess around 6’2”. He was slim, not an ounce of fat on him, but definitely toned and muscled.
He wore all black and a mask. It was like a kids Halloween mask that he’d painted black.
His hair was like a crew cut back then. Dark brown.
His eyes were brown too. That’s about all I have,” I told him matter-of-factly.
I couldn’t allow my mind to go back to that night.
I didn’t have time for any more of the flashbacks that seemed to have returned to me.
“Location?”
“I don’t know exactly. I was barely conscious when I ran, and my head was a mess.
I was still in the city. Thinking about it since I think it might have been near the subway.
It was definitely underground. Colt told me he collected me from a diner I stumbled into on the upper east side.
A waitress setting up for the day let me in and gave me her cell to call him, but I think I was running for a while before that.
It’s not much, but I was really fucked up at the time,” I told him as I again fought not to think back to that nightmare I had survived.
“You ran? You got away?” Deacon asked.
“Yeah. I played dead. He must have thought I passed out and he released the cuffs and let me down to the ground. I’d been taking those self defense classes ready for Quantico, and when I took him by surprise I got him down long enough to run.
” I explained. Just saying Quantico was a hurtful reminder of the dream I had once held of joining the FBI.
That night had ruined everything for me.
“Jesus fuck, Ave. Why didn’t you bloody tell us what happened? Why didn’t you let us be there for you?” Jack gasped as he came closer and wrapped his arm around me from behind. I pressed my face into his bicep for just a moment, needing the comfort.
“I should have. I should have told the cops too, but I was ashamed and scared and I just wanted to pretend it never even happened. Now Helen’s blood and that of who knows how many others is on my hands,” I confessed tiredly.
“That’s not true, Ava,” Deacon said right as Mace spoke too,
“Don’t be ridiculous, baby.”
“Just look into it Mace, okay? Please. If the Owen’s don’t have my brother, then this psycho does and we need a lead to follow to get him back,” I pleaded as I looked up into Mason’s dark eyes. He and Deak had moved even closer too and were stood right behind where Jack still held me.
“Okay, I’ll get on it, but Jack and Deak are going with you. You can go in alone, but if you do get Colt out of there, you might need help with him, so they need to be close, okay?” Mason said, cutting off my argument before I could even make it.
“You can follow me in Deak’s truck, but you need to stay a block away, and I’ll call you if I need you. Deal?” I bargained. Mace and Jack shared a look then nodded. Knowing it was the only way I was going to get out of the apartment without them arguing further, I took it.
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