Chapter 7 #3
Waylon looks a bit scarred as I put him into the passenger seat with his very first knife. He’s holding it in such an awkward manner, which I definitely didn’t teach him.
“He’s going to poke his eyes out holding it like that,” I mutter. “Ellis will hit a bump in the road and pop goes the eye.” I feel some relief when Ellis seems to notice this and quickly takes the knife from Waylon.
“Why did you give him a knife?” Jackson asks.
“It was that or the rocket launcher. You’re right, I should have gotten him the rocket launcher,” I say as I turn to go back for it, but Jackson pushes me into the middle seat of the van before I can.
Somehow, I get in the worst spot, stuck beside Tavish with Everly behind me.
I really feel like Everly is breathing down my back and Tavish wouldn’t waste a breath to tell me if Everly was going to stab me for fun.
“I don’t like the way I can hear you breathe, ya weasel,” Tavish says.
“Oh, now I’m supposed to stop breathing?” I ask.
“Nah, just quieter. You know what? There’s a wee spot in the back that would fit your breathing ass… ya know, where the spare tire goes? Or I bet we could leave you behind and there’d be no difference to any of us.”
“Please… anyone out there… give me the strength to not execute Tavish when someone is looking. And if I can’t hold myself back, please make sure they are looking the other way, and when they look back, they go, ‘Oh thank god someone finally put that man down. Ah well.’”
“Ah well, my ass!” Tavish says. “Are you planning on offing me?”
“I only get one man off and he’s in the driver’s seat.”
Jackson clears his throat at that. “Let’s talk about what we’re going to do when we get there… three hours from now.”
“I’m going to have your mighty fine ass stay in the van where it’s safest. That’s one plus side about having a van that looks like this. No one is wanting to get in it, so you’ll be safe.”
Jackson seems oddly suspicious. “Why am I staying in the van?”
“Because I want to keep you ultra safe.”
“That’s ultra sweet of you, but no.”
“I just want my son back,” Sophia says.
“We’ll get him back. I’m not worried about it. And then you’re going to pretend we never met. If our children want to frolic together then we shall let them on the condition that you keep your bullshit out of Waylon’s life.”
“Is Waylon yours?” she asks.
“He doesn’t have to be blood related to be ours,” I snap, feeling ultra prickly with this woman. My level of trust in her is nearly nonexistent. It’s fascinating.
“Calm down,” Tavish says as he pets my face for some reason. I realize I was doing the same thing to Waylon, which was fine with me, but this is just… it makes my skin crawl.
I scowl at him. “What did you just wipe on me?”
“I didn’t wipe anything on you! I was comforting your stubborn ass.”
“Sounds suspicious,” I whisper. “I think this calls for a song.”
“No!” everyone in the vehicle but Sophia says. Of course the one I like least is the only one eager to hear my singing.
“Why does everyone hate me singing? Everly, have you even heard me sing? I can’t remember.”
“I have and it made me regret deciding to spare you. It makes my fingers just… ache to squeeze,” Everly says as I sense his fingers uncomfortably close to my neck. I really think I should be in the front, but Henry is already kicking back and closing his eyes in the passenger seat.
“Henry, Mr. Chief of Police, a murder is about to take place behind you, and I feel like you’re going to sleep through it.”
“It’s alright, I have good detectives. They’ll avenge you.” He stifles a yawn and then seems to get more comfortable.
I sigh and kick back, deciding I’ll save my song for when I have a bigger captive audience.
Unable to bear the silence, I decide that I’ll at least talk about the dreadful plan. “When we arrive, I think it’d be best to work in pairs. We are staking the place out, Tavish. We are not running in, Tavish. We’re not showing ourselves, Tavish.”
“I feel like you just love hearing the sound of my name. Must make you feel good,” he says.
My face twitches a little, but I’m a brave man who stays on task. “Jackson, why don’t you stay with Henry? Everly, I am deeply apologetic, but I think you should stay with Tavish. I’ll stay with Sophia.”
I can see Jackson look back at me, but I just give him a wink. I mean… who else should go with Sophia?
When the van reaches the location, we all file out. Teo Barlow’s place is a fenced-in area with a large estate and a few outbuildings. Just as we step out of the vehicle, Cassel calls, and I put him on speaker.
“What do you have for me?” I ask.
“The four guys who were in the second car were men for hire. They do have connections to the Barlow family but quite low down. Definitely not my first choice when abducting the child of a talented assassin, but I guess they got the job done. There’s no record of them interacting with the higher-ups and nothing on their phones stating why he was taken and for what.
They likely have another line of communication that isn’t coming from their phones.
From the police reports, they’re not having much better luck on their end.
They’ve currently filed nothing of note. ”
“Is Jeremy alright? No one is suspecting him of anything?” I ask.
“Nope. He swooped in after the barrage of bullets, and his car was parked in a position that missed all of you. I didn’t even have to fuck with the footage coming from his car. No one will be any the wiser.”
“I heard nothing,” Henry states, which makes me grin.
“Alright, we’re going to watch the building and update you as soon as we have anything.”
“Sounds good. If you get footage of anyone, I’ll identify them for you,” Cassel tells me.
“Got it.”
“I would watch out for sly foxes. This place is going to be locked down,” he says.
“Understood,” I respond, realizing that he’s feeling the same way I am.
“Don’t be reckless.”
“Never been in my entire life. Only time I was ever reckless was trusting you.”
“Funny,” he says.
I hang up and look at the others a moment before our phones beep.
I open mine and see that everyone but Sophia was graced with a map of the property by Cassel.
He even pinpointed the best locations to watch from that would give us a good advantage but would still keep us from being seen by any security systems in place.
Jackson shares it with Sophia while I examine it and think about the best course of action.
But there was a reason Cassel didn’t need to come to shut down the security. He knows it… and so do I.
“Be safe,” Jackson says. “And please let me know before you rush into danger.”
I grab his face in my hands. “Do you trust me?”
He sighs and closes his eyes before setting his forehead against mine. “I’ve learned that there’s no point in saying no. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“I love you guys too,” Tavish says as he hugs us both. I press my hand against his face, trying to get him off, but he’s impressively strong. “Come on, everyone, get in here.”
“No,” Henry says.
“The only way I’m squeezing into the middle of that is if I get to stab someone,” Everly comments.
“Stop touching my man,” I hiss.
Tavish kisses Jackson’s forehead because he knows it’ll piss me off. I growl at him and quickly rub Jackson’s forehead clean while Tavish heads off into the night with a chuckle.
“Sophia, hold on. I need something from the van,” I tell her.
“Got it,” she says. “Just be quick.”
“Quick is my middle name. Unless it comes to sex. Then it’s Leland the Sensuous.”
“Do you ever think before you speak?”
“Never.” I reach into the van and flip open a case before pulling out my grenade launcher. “Sophia… really, please tell me how this is going to go?” I ask as I point it at her while she has a gun pointed at me.
“What the fuck is that?” she asks like she is allowed to look offended when she’s the one over here pointing a gun at my head.
“It is… my baby. Her name is Calliope. The name means ‘beautiful voice’ because boy, does she make a pretty noise when she explodes the fuck out of everything. The question is… do you want me to sweep you up into a bucket so your husband has something to bury or just kind of leave you scattered about?”
“It’s beautiful,” she whispers.
I gasp. “Isn’t she? Look at her sleekness. Her shimmer. I feel like we’re forgetting something.”
“My son.”
“Oh, right. So you’re trading me to Barlow for your son? Is that what I’m getting?”
“Pretty much. Can I have your grenade launcher when I do?”
“Absolutely not. This baby will be inherited by my son when he comes of age.”
“What’s he going to do with it?” she asks.
“What are you going to do with it?”
“Grab my son then blow up this fucking estate and everyone inside of it.”
“The issue with your plan is that I will be inside of it. What do they want me for?” I ask.
“I don’t know. To be frank… my feelings were a bit hurt when they decided they wanted you instead of me.”
“Did you tell them about me?” I ask, quite curious how they even became interested in me.
“No.”
“How did they find you?”
“I don’t know. I assumed it had something to do with you.”
I shake my head. “Well… it didn’t. If they wanted me instead of you, why did they grab Cam instead of Waylon?”
“I believe they tried to grab Waylon but failed. So they went after me. Cam is my entire world. I will give your son all my money if you just go inside and hand yourself to them so I can have my son back.”
“Waylon is already swimming in money.”
“He could swim in more,” she says.
“My husband would be very sad.”
“We don’t even know that they want to kill you. They could be wanting to use you.”
“Honestly, I assume that’s the case. I’ve never done them any wrong. But I’m also not overly fond of being used.”
“Understandably,” she says.