Chapter 28 Onyx
“I really think I should have driven,” Cooper said beside me.
“You’re both fucking delusional,” Charlie said from the back seat. “He’s too pent up, and you’re going to pass out at any minute,” he grumbled. “I should be driving.”
“You drive like Sable,” I bit back at him.
“Yeah? Well, then your mom’s an excellent driver,” Charlie quipped back.
“She backed into a water fountain,” Cooper reminded him as he leaned his head back. “In an empty parking lot.”
“She didn’t hit anyone else,” Charlie countered after he thought about it.
“You got eyes on him?” I asked Cooper instead of carrying on the conversation. Cooper had tracked him down, and now we were going to get answers.
“It’s hard because we’re moving. I have a slight time lapse, but I should be okay,” he told me.
“Time lapse? How long?”
“Few minutes.”
“Minutes?” I demanded. “A lot can happen in a few fucking minutes.”
“Will you calm the fuck down?” Cooper growled. “She’s in your fucking fortress, Jer’s there, and Owen’s on his way. The cavalry is charging, man, lock it down.”
“When did you get all hot and bothered for her again, anyway?” Charlie asked as he moved to lean between us. “Haven’t you told us for years that you hate her?”
“Hate sex can be really sensational,” Cooper told Charlie. “You know that. I don’t know what you and that crazy Fitzpatrick bitch are up to, but that’s not even someone you like. He’s always liked the vampire.”
“Can you both shut up and focus?”
“Ugh, I hate when he’s like this,” Charlie said as he leaned back in his seat. “Takes all the fun out of it.”
“He’s on the move,” Cooper suddenly said. “Fuck, I need a constant signal,” he told me. “You need to slow down.”
“No.”
“Onyx, for fuck’s sake, I need to track him, slow down.”
Pressing on the brake suddenly, they both jerked forward. “God, you’re a cunt,” Charlie protested as he rubbed his neck.
I smiled despite their glares. “Where is he?”
“I’m looking,” Cooper snapped. Driving slower, I felt my impatience rising.
“Coop,” I warned him.
“I’m on it,” he bit back tersely. “Wait. Stop.”
“What?”
“Stop the car.”
Violating several traffic laws, I pulled over. “Talk.”
“I think,” he peered at his laptop, “I think he’s heading to Commerce.”
“The office?” I asked in confusion. “She isn’t at the office.”
“Maybe he doesn’t know that yet?” Charlie said as he leaned forward and watched the CCTV.
“This makes no fucking sense to me,” I told them. “What are we missing?”
“Nothing,” Cooper said grimly. “We’re following everything he’s doing.”
“Why are we following?” I demanded suddenly. “Why aren’t we leading?”
“Because I can’t predict the future, can you?” Cooper snapped at me, his patience wearing thin.
When my cell rang, I answered it on Bluetooth. “Jer?”
“She’s gone.”
“What the fuck do you mean, she’s gone?” Charlie asked as I met Cooper’s look.
“She came running down the stairs like a bat out of hell, screamed she was sorry and that you were wrong.”
“Who’s wrong?” I asked him. “Me?”
“I dunno, man, she didn’t hang around for me to ask. Look, Owen just got here. Chrissy is panicking. What do you need?”
“For you to have kept her in my fucking house,” I snarled.
“Easy,” Cooper warned beside me.
“Shit.” I took a deep breath. “Stay with Chrissy, calm her down. We have this covered. Tell Owen to head to the office. Call me the minute she checks in. If she does.”
I hung up and shared a look with Charlie and Cooper. “What’s she doing?” Cooper asked.
“Saving a boy she thinks she failed,” I answered as my hands tightened on the steering wheel.
“She said you were wrong,” Cooper said as we idled at the side of the road. “About what?”
“The way we do things,” I told him. “She wanted to call the police.”
Cooper looked at Charlie, and Charlie spoke up. “Then you call the police; you don’t run out of the house.”
Cooper was looking at the tablet. “How old’s this boy again?”
“Nineteen,” I told him.
“We are wrong,” he said as he showed me the tablet. “We’re looking at the wrong guy. This is Ronnie Christie.”
The face on the screen was of a thin, lanky guy with thick dark hair and thick glasses.
“Who the fuck is this?”
“Not the stalker,” Cooper said. “We’ve been played.”
“We don’t get played,” I growled. “He’s heading to the office. Run every single one of the staff again. Check for a Texas connection. I don’t give a fuck if it’s someone who stood beside someone at a funeral, run it.”
“I need help with that,” Cooper told me.
“Fine,” I said as I turned to Charlie. “C’mon, Miss Daisy, you’re driving.” We swapped places, and Coop handed me another tablet.
“I’m going to find this piece of shit,” I grumbled, and Cooper grunted in reply.
We were almost at the office when the call from her came in. “Angel, where the fuck are you?”
“I think I fucked up,” she whispered.
“Where are you?” I asked, forcing myself not to tell her yes, you fucking have.
“I’m at the se—”
I heard her scream, a grunt of pain, and then silence.
“Angel?” I asked, but Cooper raised his finger for quiet and pointed to the display. She was still connected.
We were so close to the office. My software was in range, and as I connected, I searched for her phone.
It pinged, and I showed it to Coop, whose eyebrows rose.
Charlie kept driving, and when we were parked, we stayed in the car for a moment.
Charlie pressed mute on the display, and I waited for Cooper.
“Is it done?”
“Blank feed showing for the last minute,” he confirmed.
“Let’s go.”
“Wait!” Cooper grabbed my arm. “You don’t know what you’re walking into. Let’s take a moment. She’s minutes in front of us, she’s fine.” When I went to protest that she wasn’t fine, he tightened his grip. “She’s fine, Onyx.” His steely stare settled me.
“She’s fine,” I repeated. “I’m fine. Can we go?”
“Be smart,” Cooper cautioned me as we got out of the car, and I gave him a curt nod. “Onyx, I mean it, use your head.”
“Take the stairs,” I instructed, and the three of us halted when the elevator opened.
“Where the fuck have you been?” Owen asked as he stepped out. “I’ve been here for ten minutes, waiting for you in the foyer.”
“Have you seen Angel?”
“She’s here?” he asked as he looked between us. He held up his baseball bat. “Let’s go get our vampire, shall we?”
I’d designed the basement layout myself.
When the building had been purchased, it had been a normal space of storage, some rooms, nothing much.
I’d put security down here, and their office was right at the entrance to the basement.
Along with it was a conference room, a few showers, and then the rest of the rooms were locked.
For good reason.
My comms room was down here, and I did not need IT snooping. Cooper also worked out of here, and as a PI, he had a lot of confidential stuff in his office. Charlie also liked to work down here because his work and Cooper’s usually overlapped.
I was a very good sports agent. But athletes were only human. And humans were disgusting creatures. The shit some of these “stars” thought they could do made my job a hard one. Angel had lost one client through a bad reputation, but I had let go plenty.
She was right to question if I had been the target all along, because it made sense. But we were meticulous in our clean-up, and none of the fuckers were stupid enough to mess with me a second time.
But her? She was too good for her own good.
“Where’s security?” Owen asked as he checked the door.
“Lunch,” Cooper told him quietly. “Indefinitely.”
“Split up,” I commanded. “Coop?”
“I’m with you,” he said with a nod. “Be ready to drop that bat,” he told Owen as we went one way and they went the other.
We checked each door, and when I heard the muffled struggles, my feet picked up the pace. Cooper slowed me down with his hand on my hoodie, holding me back. Frustration ate at me, but I knew better. Rash meant stupid.
Cooper stepped in front of me and gave me a look, one I knew well — he was going first. I nodded curtly, and he slowly pushed the door open.
She was tied to a chair, a blindfold over her eyes, and a cloth lodged in her mouth. Her hair was loose and covered her like a curtain. She was struggling in vain against the cuffs, and Cooper darted across the room to her as I followed and checked everything in the room.
“Shh, it’s me,” Cooper whispered, and I saw her still. Quickly, he took out his lockpicking kit, and I watched the door as he uncuffed her and pulled the gag free and blindfold down from her eyes.
“Coop — Onyx!” She was on her feet, and she swayed dangerously, clutching at Cooper as she stumbled. “Shit.”
Cooper steadied her and pushed her hair back, revealing the dark red mark across her face and a cut on her cheek.
“Took a blow?” he asked her.
“Hurts like hell,” she whispered back. “Is he okay?”
“Onyx? He’s fine. He’ll be better when you’ve seen a doctor,” Cooper reassured her.
“No, not Onyx, Ronnie.” Angel swayed, and Cooper caught her.
“She’s got a concussion,” he told me. “Need to get her out of here.”
“Where’s the boy?” I spoke to her for the first time.
“He isn’t here.” Angel tried to steady herself against the chair. “Onyx,” she called, and I grit my teeth as I looked to Cooper, silently communicating what I wanted.
“Fuck, man,” he hissed at me as he reached out for her. “You drink anything, Angel? They inject you?”
She raised her arm, and Cooper growled when he saw the needle mark. “Why won’t he talk?” she asked him.
“He’s trying to keep it together for you, vampire. Need you to be quiet now. We’re going to move you, babe.”
“Babe?” Angel giggled. I moved closer to the door, keeping watch. “I’m not a babe,” she said. “And you hate me, so that’s really fucked up.”
“It is,” he agreed. “I’m going to have to carry her,” he told me.
“Fine. Let’s move.”
We moved quickly through the hallway. I glanced back several times to see if she was okay, and Cooper met my look each time. As we reached the exit, I heard the unmistakable click, and my hand stayed out in front of me as I slowly turned around.
A guy with a bandana across his face and his hoodie pulled up stood with a gun pointed at Cooper’s head. Mimicking a Devil — for that I would make him pay twice over.
“Tell him to let her go, or he dies.”
“Fuck, at least I’d be able to sleep,” Cooper told me as he shrugged, and then he dropped Angel and spun and attacked the guy with the gun. I’d already been moving forward when he moved, and I caught her as she stumbled, her condition making her heavy.
“Steady,” I warned her.
“I’m okay.”
Owen was there, and with a crack of the bat, he took the guy down, and Cooper jumped on top of him.
“Careful,” Angel warned. “He’s not alone,” she said as she fainted.
Charlie came running up, and I handed her to him, “Wake her up, she has a concussion.”
Striding over to the prone body, Cooper ripped the bandana off him. “And who in the fuck are you?” Cooper asked.
“Will Hershman,” I answered. “A pro bono lawyer who fucks over his friends.”
“We know him?” Charlie asked as he tapped at Angel’s other cheek. “She needs a hospital.”
“Take her to the house, call the doc, and tell Jer to keep Chrissy away.”
“You don’t ask much, do you?” Charlie grumbled as he lifted Angel. “And what do I tell her when she wakes up?”
“Tell her I’ll be there soon.”
“She’s gonna kick your ass,” Charlie mumbled as he headed to the door, and opening it, he went through to the parking garage with Angel.
Owen looked at me and then Cooper. “Where’s the other one?”
Will started to laugh, and I spun on my heel to go grab Charlie. As I pushed open the door, it was knocked back on my face, throwing me back. I heard Charlie grunt as he fell against it.
“Onyx!” he yelled.
Pushing with all my strength, I felt Owen and Cooper at my back. When we burst through, Charlie was unconscious on the ground, lying across the door, and a car was disappearing out of the parking lot, taking Angel with it.
“Coop!” I was already running for my car, and I looked back to see him dig the keys out of Charlie’s pocket. “Stay with that fucker!” I yelled at Owen. “No one gets near him!”
Cooper threw the keys at me, and we were chasing the car. “Find him.”
“I am,” he snarled. “Get me up to speed.”
“She got a call from a guy she went to college with, telling her about a freshman point guard. She went out to look at him. She liked what she saw. She was making the move to sign him.”
“Next right. She flip?”
“No. I took him.”
“So, the kid’s signed?” Cooper asked in confusion. “Turn left. What’s the problem? Straight through the lights.”
“It’s that Christie kid, I know it is.”
“The brother?”
“No.” I grabbed my cell and called Jer. “It’s me.”
“You got her?”
“No. I was running a check on Judd Christie’s family. It’s on my laptop in my room. Check his father.”
“Where’s the brother?”
“I don’t know, Jer, check the dad.”
“I’ll call you back.”
“Talk to me,” Coop demanded. “He’s on the sixty-five.”
“Heading where?”
“Brentwood?”
“This makes no fucking sense,” I shouted as I hit the wheel.
“We’re going to get her,” he assured me. “She’s too fucking annoying for something like this to be the end of her.”
“She signed the kid. The father was in a car accident the year before. Hit-and-run. I’m pretty sure it was Judd Christie that hit him. Judd Christie did not get signed by her, he acted out, he spiraled, and he committed suicide.”
“He hit a car and didn’t know if he killed someone,” Cooper said to me in understanding. “I saw the headline. It said Carmichael was in a bad way, not sure if he’d make it. Police were looking for witnesses.”
“He wasn’t that badly injured,” I said as I glanced at him. “Where?”
“Still on sixty-five.”
“Why would they say he was worse than he was?”
“Slow news day? I dunno. Who cares? The boy sees it, panics, doesn’t think life’s worth living, boom.
Gone. Almost a year later, the guy whose car he hit, his son is signed by the very agent who rejected him.
” Cooper looked at me. “That’s . . . thin.
Unless it wasn’t Carmichael that got hit, but did the hitting, and the kid was too high to know he wasn’t in the wrong. ”
Jer called back. “Hey, the dad just got out of County five months ago. No money, no home, family wants nothing to do with him. He owes a lot of gambling debts.”
“Scrap what I just said, looks like we have an answer.” Cooper looked down at his tablet, checking Angel’s progress. “You know, just once,” Cooper said quietly, “I’d like it to be for good old-fashioned revenge. Fuck, even love.”
“But it’s always about the money,” I told him grimly.
“Every fucking time,” Cooper agreed.