Chapter 6 #2
“Leland, you could go to jail for this. We have to get out of here. We have to let the police handle it. We’ll find Waylon. We will.”
“Jeremy, how are you even going to explain this?” Cassel asks.
“I’m going to be honest and tell them that Waylon called and we were afraid they took him,” Jeremy says. “We’ll play it off like the gunfight was already over by the time we arrived. For now, stay back.”
I shake my head. “No! I have to—”
Cassel pins one man down so Jeremy can restrain him before moving to the next. “I have their phones. I can figure it out. I promise you.”
Now that Jeremy is on the man I’d been prepared to shoot up some more, Jackson tugs me away from him while Jeremy reads him his rights and binds his arms. I don’t want to go. I want to stay here; I need to find Waylon.
“Leland, come on,” Jackson says as he starts dragging me away from them. I have no choice but to follow.
Once Jeremy has all of them restrained, he stands watch over them as we move out of sight seconds before the police show.
“That was too fucking close,” Everly says. “I’m not going to prison.”
“We won’t,” Jackson assures him. “Jeremy will spin some tale about him coming in at the tail end of the fight. It’s not going to be fun since we’re going to be pulled into it as soon as he tells them that Waylon contacted us, but we shouldn’t be at fault.
They’ll assume the vehicles weren’t together and that whoever took Waylon shot at the carful of people who Jeremy apprehended. It’ll be fine.”
“It’s not fine because they have Waylon,” I say.
“I’ll figure it out,” Cassel promises. “As soon as I’m back at my place, I’ll tear apart all of their information and figure it out.”
Though I nod, I’m not quite sure what to do.
“Heya,” a voice comes from behind us.
I turn and glare at the Scottish parasite.
While I’m not always certain what side Tavish is on, he did rely on us recently when he got conned and ended up on an island with a man trying to kill him.
Did I go to the island to save his life or did I go to the island because the very idea of hunting a man down on a private island sounded thrilling? Only Jackson knows.
“You’re a bit late to the party,” I point out.
“I saw the police apprehending them. I mean, you said we needed to find the boy and I found the boy, but I can pretend I didn’t,” he says.
I freeze as I stare at him before rushing over. “You found Waylon?”
“Sure did, but with that attitude I’m going to make you climb fifty flights of stairs before I even tell you where he is.”
“I will throw you back on that island. Now where is he? Is he hurt?” I ask, and he must notice my anxiety because he immediately shakes his head.
“He’s a little roughed up but fine. Ellis has him,” he says. “Come on.”
I hurry after him as he leads me past the building where the car had come out. I see Ellis kneeling next to a large dumpster, and when I step around it, I see Waylon squatting there, just out of sight.
“Oh fuck,” I say as I grab him and drag him to his feet so I can hug him.
“Don’t scare me like that ever again, you hear me?
” He seems startled at first but quickly wraps his arms around me.
His fingers dig into my shirt while he squeezes me tightly, like he’s just as happy to see me as I am to see him.
“They took Cam,” he tells me in a shaky voice. “I couldn’t stop them.”
I stiffen as I realize that I’ve had this all wrong. Of course I thought they were after Waylon, but were they actually after Cam all along?
“Do you have his mother’s phone number?” I ask.
“No.”
“I called Nathan for permission for Cam to go skydiving with us, so I should have it somewhere,” I say as Jackson, who must have been right on my heels, takes Waylon from me.
“Are you okay?” Jackson asks as he starts checking him over while trying to hug him with his other arm.
Waylon nods even though I can tell he’s struggling to keep it together. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
I scroll through my phone, finding the number that has no name attached and calling it. It rings and rings before he answers.
“Hello?”
“Nathan, this is Leland, Waylon’s guardian. Can I speak to Sophia?”
He hesitates, probably confused and wondering what the boys got into. “She’s at work still. Has something happened?”
“I need her number.”
“Yeah, of course. I’ll text it to you. What’s… is something going on?”
“Text it, quickly,” I say before hanging up.
The text comes through almost immediately and I click the number. The woman thankfully answers.
“Sophia, this is Leland. We have a problem.”
“What the fuck do you mean?” she asks, already getting defensive.
“Waylon called me and told me there was someone following him. Of course I thought your lying ass set it up. I got to the scene and found Waylon, but Cam is missing.”
“What the fuck do you mean Cam is missing?”
“I’ll send you our location. We’re trying to track where they’re going. The police took over the scene before I could get more information out of them.”
“Did you do this?” she asks.
“You think I orchestrated Waylon getting hurt and terrorized so I could fool you into thinking someone else took your kid? I’m not sure how sloppy you really think I am.”
“Where are you?”
“Like I said, I’ll send you our location, but I’m not sure what good it will do. The police are already here. We’re simply telling them that Waylon called and we just arrived.”
“My family knows nothing about the life I lived. I… I’ll be there.”
“Got it,” I say and end the call.
Cassel gets my attention. “Ellis is going to drive me to my house. I’ll let you know as soon as I figure out something.”
“Take the guns we used,” I request, and all of us pass them off to him.
“Leland, you have blood on you. Switch shirts with me,” Ellis says as he quickly starts pulling his shirt off.
I grab it then pull my shirt off and hand it to him. There’s little I can do about my bloody knuckles, but I decide I’ll just do my best to hide them with the longer sleeves.
“Be careful,” Tavish tells Ellis.
“I will be. Going to Cassel’s house sounds like something I can handle. This type of stuff? I cannot do.”
“Hey, you held a vase while skydiving. Name another person who can do that. Even Leland’s weasel arms couldn’t do that,” Tavish assures him.
I slowly turn to look at Tavish and raise an eyebrow. “How did you get in the group text anyway?”
“Hey! I was the one who found him. You should praise me,” Tavish says.
I choke out, “Thank you for finding Waylon and being useful for the first time in your life.”
“That’s what I like to hear,” he says smugly.
Ellis and Cassel hurry off as I debate what we should do now.
“I really wish I could have had a longer… “talk” with those guys,” I grumble.
“I guess we should tell the police we found Waylon. Jeremy likely told them Waylon’s the one missing,” Jackson says.
“Yeah, we’ll inform Jeremy,” I agree. “Then we’ll head to Wellstone and have Sophia meet us there. Best neutral ground we have.”
“My car is down here. Let’s put Waylon inside and then drive down to Jeremy,” Jackson says as he points to where his car was left behind when the fleeing vehicle buzzed around it.
“Did you kung fu them?” I ask Waylon, wrapping my arm around him again and ruffling his hair.
Waylon doesn’t seem to know what to do with the petting, but he permits it because he’s a good kid or a sucker, I’m not quite sure.
“I sure tried! It’s so much different when it’s in the moment,” Waylon says, looking disappointed in himself.
“It’s like… my adrenaline was running so high but my mind wasn’t.
I actually had gotten one guy to the ground and sprayed him right in the face, but when they took Cam, it just…
I couldn’t get to him. I was panicked, and I wasted the whole thing of pepper spray on one man.
Like… why didn’t I share it with the others? ”
“It’s alright. I nearly got myself killed the first time I went on a hit. I had trained for a while, and I was so confident in myself but like you said, right in the moment… it’s very different. But I’m going to up your training to six hours a day, seven days a week,” I decide.
“I wouldn’t have time to even exist between that and school!” he cries.
“And then I’m going to build a little box to store you in. Like a little hamster! I’ll give you a wheel and come around every now and then to give you a pat and tell you what a wonderful job you’ve done for that day.”
“Wonderful job doing what? Questioning my life choices?”
“You’ll be so safe. Ooh, I could build you a little Fence Jr. to keep you company!”
“Let’s not terrify the child,” Jackson says before hesitating. “Um… looks like… my car has company.”
“The fun kind of company?” I ask. “Tavish’s extra-large head is in the way.” I push it out of the way and when my eyes make contact with the dark-haired woman in her thirties waiting near Jackson’s car, I hastily push Tavish’s head back in the way. “Change of plans. It’s all Tavish’s fault.”
“I come when you call, find your boy, and ya still blame me? I cannae wrap my head around your brain,” he mutters, his accent flaring up with his declaration.
“That’s because your brain is the size of a wee acorn,” I clarify for him.
“Ah, of course.”
“I think we should be as honest as possible without admitting that we had anything to do with shooting the car. The guys in the vehicle might describe us, but people like them will likely keep their mouths shut. I think there’s only so much Detective Patel can speculate about us before she starts looking into us harder,” Jackson says as he watches the detective who is rather new to the force but took an interest in us far too quickly. Irritatingly quickly.
“That’s fine. Sophia might not be happy that she’s being dragged into it, but she also put our baby boy in danger.”
“Leland, I see you walking backwards,” Detective Patel says. “Only a guilty man walks backwards.”
“I’m the least guilty man here,” I respond, all smiles as I push Tavish out of the way. “I was simply trying to put some distance between me and the stinky Scottish man. I needed a bit of fresh air.”
“There’s quite the ruckus going on just down the road,” she observes.
I nod. “We were actually just heading that way to stick our nose into it.”
“Looks like you already did. I was seeing what you boys were up to. Just found it peculiar your car was here,” she says.
“Officer Walker informed me that Waylon, who I’ve learned is under your care, got wound up in this but I see you have him.
Officer Walker stated that he sadly made it onto the scene after the gunshots and was here just to clean up the mess.
I’m hoping his cruiser picked up something, but of course the camera is pointed in an inconvenient direction. ”
Jackson looks over at me before stepping forward.
“To explain our involvement, Waylon was walking to the mall with his friend Cam when he called and said some men were following him. We got here after whatever happened over there. We just now found Waylon, but he has informed us that there was a second vehicle and his friend was taken in that one.”
“So your friend is missing?” Patel asks Waylon.
He nods. “A guy began following us back there,” he says as he points.
“I called Leland, and he told me to get into any building I could. So I tried heading for that office building there when more guys came out and started after us. We ran down some alley where a guy grabbed my bag, dragging me back from Cam, so I shoved it at him. I made it around the edge of this building before another guy grabbed me, and I sprayed him with pepper spray… but I wasn’t close enough to hit the others.
“They grabbed Cam while I was spraying the guy… by the time I got the guy off me, I realized Cam was already in a car that was headed that way. That’s when I heard the gunfire.”
“What color was the vehicle?” Patel asks.
Waylon scratches his head. “Like a gray SUV, I think? It happened so fast.”
“And are these guys who took him members of that gang you were involved with, Waylon?”
He looks alarmed as he quickly shakes his head. “No! That stuff is all over. I swear.”
“If they were after Waylon, I believe they’d have taken Waylon instead of his friend,” Jackson says.
“Was your friend also involved in the gang?”
“No! I just met him at school. I didn’t do anything to cause this, right?” he asks as he looks at Jackson and me for guidance. “Was I the cause of this?”
“No, you didn’t,” I say. “Detective, please place your focus on the missing child and not blaming ours who had nothing to do with it. They were clearly targeting Cam. You can’t tell me a group of grown men would have given up on a defenseless teenager who had already used his entire bottle of pepper spray if they were after him too. ”
“I will. Are you currently carrying a gun?” she asks.
“Yes, I am,” I say.
“I’d really appreciate it if you handed your gun over… just in case.”
I glower at the pesky woman, despising the idea of her touching my baby. And then I’m stuck trying to decide which baby I love less to hand her—the baby on my right or the baby on my left—though really, I just love them both so much, but I must do what I can to protect Waylon.
“A-Are you going to hurt her?” I ask. “Last time, your crew wanted to hold on to my baby for so long only to go, ‘Wow, you’re right, you weren’t the one to shoot them.’”
“It’s so weird this keeps happening to you,” she says. She’s such a sassy woman.
Jackson just gives her his innocent smile. “We are PIs, ma’am. I think sometimes we just end up in the wrong place at the wrong time while looking into our clients’ issues. But this time, we really were just rushing here to protect Waylon.”
“I understand. I’ll have someone take your weapons, and Waylon, after we get you looked over, can you give us a more in-depth statement?”
“I can try,” he says.
“Just remember, everything you do here can help us find your friend.”
Waylon nods and I’m left questioning what role I should play in this. The longer I’m stuck with the police, the harder it might be to find Cam.