9. Stumped like the trees in The Lorax
Chapter 9
Stumped like the trees in The Lorax
TOMER
W ith Lettie having a heart-to-heart with Freya, this is the perfect time for me to work on her case.
And by case , I’m referring to my plan to rain down hell on the bastards who hurt her. Until now, I’ve had very little time to devote to that plan.
My priority has been Lettie—as it should be. Tending to her physical needs, her injuries, and wrapping her up in all the emotional support I can manage. Regardless of my compelling desire to hunt down those monsters, she comes first.
I don’t regret being there for her. Not for a moment. However, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t growing antsy at the lack of action I’ve been able to take to avenge her.
Fortunately, I don’t require as much sleep as she does, so I’ve completed some research the last few nights. Honoring my promise to stay by her side while she sleeps, I bring two laptops and a tablet to bed with us. Once she drifts off, I work until my eyes snap shut.
Despite making good progress, there are still missing pieces. I need to get intel from the weak links inside the trafficking organization to get a fuller picture of what we’re dealing with and identify all the players.
I’ll start with the individuals who troll bars, abducting innocent women. After that, I’ll find the six lowlifes who were inside that house on the night of Lettie’s rescue.
Whether they like it or not—and they won’t like it—they’ll tell me everything about Lenkov’s trafficking ring. I need the name of every decision-maker. Every flunky. Every henchman. And every customer.
I’m going to dismantle that disgusting operation and put them all in the ground, one by damn one.
Including Nikolai Lenkov himself.
It’s too much to tackle on my own, as much as I’d love to try. So I’ll need to loop in the rest of my Redleg team.
I’m sure I can count on Shep and Kri to join me, given their past with these fuckers. Shep still wants justice for Val and Kri. Mia will be in, undoubtedly. Klein will be a harder sell, but I’m confident Mia can convince him. Leo and Sawyer are questionable. Jonesy, Aaron, and Junior will go along with Shep and me. Anyone else I get is a bonus.
Big Al will be the biggest roadblock. However, once he finds out Lettie’s his daughter, he’ll fall in line too.
Lettie seems to be doing well with Freya here. Perhaps I can get away for an hour or two and beat some intel out of someone. Before I decide, I need to know what Redleg already got out of the two men we captured the night of the rescue. Well, one was captured, and the other came willingly along with his girlfriend.
If we didn’t get enough from them yet, I’ll have to find them. Unfortunately, I’ve got no clue where Redleg is hiding them. Big Al has likely ordered everyone to keep their locations confidential, even from me. Makes sense, considering my relationship with Lettie.
Earlier today, I checked the Redleg case files for the safe house locations but came up empty. No big surprise. I would have done the same thing. Any information stored digitally is subject to being hacked. No matter how secure I think my system is, there is no such thing as an impenetrable network.
Mia proved that when she hacked our system as part of her job interview process. I’m still pissed off at her for that, but I also gained more respect for her, since she was able to pull it off. It was quite impressive. Even if it did chap my ass.
While pacing in the living room, I swipe my thumb across my phone screen to access GPS locations for Mia and Klein. Once I determine they’re at HQ, I call the desk phone in the lair.
Mia answers on the second ring. “What’s up, T-man? I was expecting your call.”
“I’ve only got a couple of minutes while Lettie is preoccupied. I need information.”
“I have my crystal ball here,” she quips. “It says you’re about to ask me about two specific individuals.”
“Affirmative.”
“And said individuals are currently under Redleg’s protection, being hidden from a certain big, bad, disgusting organization. How am I doing so far?”
I grind my teeth, enjoying the twinge of pain. After a brutally long two seconds, I grumble, “Can we skip to the part where you tell me where they are and what intel they’ve given up so far? Or do I need to do some kind of dance first?”
“As tempting as it is to make you do a dance—and I haven’t ruled that out yet—I don’t think you realize what you’re asking of me. I’m not supposed to reveal their locations. I’m already on Big Al’s shit list. Literally . He wrote our names in a notebook that’s labeled Big Al’s Shit List . Your name is in there too. I’m not trying to get fired during my first month at Redleg.”
Before I pressure her to go against Boss, I should see if its even necessary. “Can you at least tell me if they gave up any good intel?”
“Actually, I can talk about that with you. Just don’t ask where they are.”
“Fine. Tell me what information they shared. I’m not asking for their locations.”
Yet.
“Davidov was as tight-lipped as they come. Boss and Leo didn’t get anything out of him.”
“Seriously?”
“Afterward, Leo told me Boss didn’t put the screws to the guy. He wouldn’t let Leo either. He’s very concerned about how this is going to go with law enforcement.”
Closing my eyes, I clench my free hand into a fist and crack my knuckles. “That’s fucking disappointing. What about the other guy?”
“Savin was much more cooperative, which isn’t a surprise. He confirmed the names of the six men who were at the house when we raided it. They matched the IDs we made from the photos Jonesy snapped during the op.”
I switch the phone to my other ear. “Did he give up anyone higher up the food chain?”
“No, but he said he would if he and Tasha could get into WITSEC.”
“That it?”
“He knows the location of other trafficking prep houses and some other key locations where they do business.”
“He knows the locations or gave them up ?”
“The former. He’s not talking any further without protection and a deal.”
“Fucking hell.” My back teeth creak from the strain of my jaw clench. “Did he indicate if he knows where Yev might have gone to hide?”
“Negative. Although, I don’t recall if we asked him that specifically.”
A groan I can’t suppress breaks free. “As much as I’d love to ask you where they’re all located so I could have my own discussion with them, you’ve already told me not to bring that up. So this is me, not bringing it up.”
Rather than responding to my not-so-subtle hint, she changes the subject. “How’s Lettie?”
My pacing stops, feet frozen like the inside of my chest. “She’s... what do you want me to say? She’s fucking traumatized and putting on a brave face. It’s awful, Mia.” I stop talking when my voice begins shaking.
“Oh, T. I’m so sorry for what you’re both going through.”
Unsure where to pivot the conversation, I let silence fall long enough for it to get awkward. In an effort to take the focus off my inner turmoil and Lettie’s suffering, I ask, “How are you making out with the hack to your home security system?”
Mia’s grating sigh meets my ears. “Stumped like the trees in The Lorax .”
“Uh,” I drawl, unsure of her meaning.
“Ignore the Dr. Suess reference. Let’s just say it’s not going well. Adding insult to injury, I’ve reached a jack shit level of progress at figuring out who the mole is on the task force.”
“Fuck.”
“You can say that again.”
There’s muffled talking in the background of the call. Her voice is fainter when she says, “I’ll be done in a minute.” Louder, she says, “Sorry about that, T.”
“You need to go?”
“Yeah, but before I do, I need to say something. Friend to friend.”
Tension squeezes the muscles surrounding my upper spine. “What?”
“I know you’re furious and out for blood. I’ve been in your shoes before. Just don’t do something stupid, okay?”
She’s been in my shoes? Not likely.
“Mia, I don’t know what you guys have figured out about my relationship with Lettie, but?—”
“Not much. Until Monday, I had no clue that you knew she existed,” she interjects, a hint of annoyance piercing her tone. “That said, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. I saw the pain in your eyes and heard the tremble in your typically steady tone.”
Through a tight jaw, I grate out, “Then you’ll understand that I will not fucking rest until the men who hurt her are punished. Painfully. Every. Single. Fucker.”
The phone line crackles with her heavy exhale. “I know, Tomer. I get that. I swear I do, and I want you to have justice. But I don’t want you to do something you’ll regret in a fit of rage. As your friend, I’m begging you to let us handle this. Just take care of her.”
I roll out my neck, trying to shrug off the mounting tension. “I am taking care of her,” I hiss into the phone. “I’m the one putting ointment on her cuts and burns. I’m the one rubbing cream on the fucking welts where they whipped her with a leather strap. I’m the one who has to look at the tears in her eyes and the emptiness where there used to be nothing but light. I hold her when she cries. I see her wince from taking a fucking breath. And so if the chance presents itself, I will take them out.”
“I can tell that what I say won’t stop you. Just promise me that if that opportunity does arise, you won’t go out there alone. Let us help you. You can’t be there for Lettie if you’re dead or in jail because you ran off half-cocked. We’ll have your back. Exactly the way we did the night we rescued her. We can stop them together.”
Her ardent plea gives me pause. I let her words bob and weave through my vitriol haze.
Aside from helping Lettie heal, my sole focus is to carry out this mission on her behalf.
To make it right.
To fix it, just like I promised her I would.
Mia must sense her words are sinking in from the stretching silence, so she doubles down. “I don’t want this to destroy you. She still doesn’t know who you are, right? Or about her dad? You’re on the verge of a serious life implosion. This is only going to make it worse.”
Concern echoes in her tone like a warm vibrato. I don’t sense she’s judging me, only leading me somewhere.
My vindictive side is still demanding I make them suffer. Like my sugar bear is suffering.
However, Mia’s words weigh heavy on my mind and in my heart, shining a single beam of light into my blinding rage.
“Mia, I need to make this right for her. I promised her I would.”
“I have no doubt Lettie wants justice. Vehemently. Yet justice and revenge aren’t the same, and you know that. Ask yourself this: if you cross a line and take a life, will she see you any differently? I don’t know her like you do. I don’t know her history. I don’t know if she’s as vengeful as I would be in that situation. But I do know she has an air of innocence to her. She has a pure heart. I seriously doubt she would want blood on her hands. And if she cares about you half as much as you care about her, she won’t want it on yours either.”
“Fucking hell,” I mumble through a frustrated sigh.
Closing my eyes, I turn over her words, trying to picture Lettie’s reaction if I came home stained in the blood of her tormentors.
Part of me thinks she would understand why I did it. Perhaps she’d even be happy, or at a minimum, she’d feel it was justified.
But what if she doesn’t?
What if she sees me differently?
Or worse, what if she can’t stand the sight of me, knowing I took another life? Sure, she understands what I did in the Army. But this isn’t the same.
Mia’s right. Lettie’s too pure and warm-hearted. There’s a significant chance she won’t be able to look past this type of killing.
Can I take that risk?
With a heavy heart and a jagged voice, I concede her point. “Fine, Mia. I’ll ask for help when the time comes. But it doesn’t matter tonight. I won’t leave her yet. She needs me too much. Sadly, that means I’ll miss out on interrogating Davidov. Lettie’s talking to the cops tomorrow. She’s going to identify him as her abductor. We’ll need to turn him over to CPD at that point. Otherwise we’d be harboring a fugitive.”
Mia curses into the receiver. “Son of a bitch.” After a short pause, she adds, “We’ll find other fuckers to get intel out of. I promise. If he’s going into custody that soon, I need to double down my attempts to find the mole.”
“Do it then.”
“And you go take care of Lettie. Don’t let vengeance distract you from what really matters right now.”
There’s a rustling sound coming from the hallway. My bedroom door pops open.
“I’ve gotta run now. Thank you for talking me down from the ledge.”
“We’ve got your back, T. Don’t forget that. You’re not alone.”
My throat tightens with a pulsing warmth.
After ending the call, I eat up the space between me and my sugar bear. Although her eyes are puffy and rimmed with red, they’re still beguiling. As much as it saddens me to know she’s been crying, I still get blown over when she looks at me.
When she sees me, her eyes brighten. A silent whisper in the air surrounds her that says there you are. I’ve been looking for you. I’ve missed you.
Before Lettie, nobody looked at me that way.
As I take her in my arms and hold her to my chest, I find myself at peace with the decision I made on the phone with Mia. Somehow, I’ll keep my need for revenge in check.
I’ll still hunt them down and make them pay.
But I’ll do it in a way that will never taint how she looks at me.