Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
CADE
“You feel better?”
I ignore Enzo. But he’s not done.
“Because I do. I feel amazing we took time to yell at your girl. We as in you. If I’d—”
“Shut up,” I mutter as we sit about a mile from the training center, and I hack into the security feed on my laptop. We’re in the back of the SUV, the windows are tinted, and it looks like we’re just parked.
Enzo’s sitting in the seat opposite me on his computer as he sets up a proxy to allow him to toggle through the camera feeds without anyone watching.
“I’m just saying,” he says. “You weren’t the nicest.”
“Once I have her safe, I’m locking her up.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” He slides me a look. “Can you do the viruses remotely.”
Fucking Vi. She could have waited, done as she was told.
My throat is tight and my stomach in turmoil and I’m having trouble sitting still.
What I want is to storm the fucking gate. Or the store.
If I wasn’t so fucking in a panic about her, I’d be stone cold furious.
“Short answer yes.” I shake my head. “Long answer is it’s going to take a little bit of time.”
“How much?”
“Maybe half an hour, if I work hard.”
“Do it in five.”
“Oh, real easy for you to say…” I trail off because there’s an expression on his face I don’t like. “Problem?”
“Not sure. This is harder than it should be…” He frowns, tapping furiously on his keyboard. Then he lets out a laugh. “Yes. Got it.”
I finish the hack I’m doing and then start to work on the viruses. It’s not them per se, it’s getting them there, but as I look at the feed coming in from the USB link Vi set up, I see how to do it and it shaves ninety percent of my estimated time off it, and I’ve got them up and loaded in minutes.
Enzo’s quiet.
Too quiet. He’s staring at his computer, hands not moving.
My mouth goes dry. “What is it?”
“There are people around, but not a lot. A chick’s blowing a dude, and I do not think that’s meant to be happening.” He shakes his head as I snatch his computer.
“It’s a training center for sex work in some capacity.”
He tries to snatch it back. “Yeah, but he’s definitely a guard.”
I look at the image. “That’s Violet’s friend.”
“That’s the other thing, where’s your girl?”
My heart beats wildly as I start to swipe though about twenty different camera feeds.
I find a few that are locked, but it doesn’t take me long to bypass whatever security they have and then I stop.
On the third camera.
Violet.
Something’s wrong. Very, very wrong.
She’s on the floor, hands up and tied to a pipe…or is that handcuffed?
I want to throw up. I want to kill every asshole in there.
I force myself to take a slow, deep breath. It looks like a cell.
And she’s not alone.
The feeds are color, which is why I knew it was her friend, Macy, blowing that guard. And I can appreciate what Vi’s wearing, in a distant way. It floats, that appreciation, like it’s untethered, like it’s an offer from somewhere to keep me sane.
Vi’s awake, she’s looking around, and she doesn’t look hurt. No blood, no bruising that I can see,
I want to zoom in, but I can’t, the camera system doesn’t do that. But she looks like she’s in one piece, and her clothes are all on.
Thank fuck.
I make myself look at the other person on the floor. Whoever it is, is female, but I just see the hair and a dress. She’s not facing me.
It could be Gianna. It could be anyone.
“Enzo, look…” I hand him back his computer.
“Fuck. Okay, I can see your point now.”
“We need to get in there, help her. Now.” I look at him.
He lets out a slow breath. “We do, but our plan of storming the castle with troops went out the window when your mini you went and took matters into her own hands. We were meant to be planting the USB, gathering the information and then tomorrow or the next day, or whenever…storming.”
“We need to do something.” I’m more than aware I’m shouting. “And we need to do it now!”
Enzo doesn’t shout back. “It’s not that simple.” He remains cool and soothing, and I do not want to be soothed. Not at all. Because nothing will soothe me except my girl safe. In my arms.
“Goddamn it, Enzo—”
“Use that big brain of yours. We need a plan. Going in there without one wouldn’t just be dangerous to us, which is something I’m adverse to, but also to Vi. I think—”
He stops because someone taps on the window, driver’s side, backseat door.
We exchange a look.
There’s a big shape outside, and he winds down the window.
A man bends and peers in. He’s got the suit, a toothpick in the corner of his mouth, and his nose looks like it’s taken more than one hit.
Talk about stereotypical New York movie mafia. He must work for Uncle Gino.
“Yo, Enzo. Gino is not a man who takes to being told to fucking wait. Get out of the car. You and your little buddy.”
He doesn’t pull a gun, he doesn’t have to. He motions for us to get out, and we do, taking our equipment with us. Rules are rules, and we don’t leave our hardware behind, not when we’re in the field.
We follow the thug across the street to a gleaming limo, and the back door opens. He motions for us to get in.
So, we do.
On the big white seat with the mini bar open sits uncle Gino himself.
The air is pungent with cigar smoke, and one sits in an ashtray. One of his heavy gold ringed embossed hands holds a glass of whiskey.
He looks at us, and if the other dude was stereotypical mafia henchman, I’m now sitting across from a Gotti or the fictional Vito Corleone.
“It might have come to your fucking attention, Enzo, that I don’t take kindly to being told to fucking wait.”
He takes a swallow of his drink.
“It’s not Enzo’s fault,” I say, rushing in. “It’s mine.”
“Jesus, shut up, Cade.”
But Gino holds up a hand and silences his nephew. “Go on.”
“My girl went in there—”
“It’s a training center for the girls who work at The Dungeon,” Enzo says, “which is—”
“I’m aware, Enzo,” Gino says. “And of the people who go and do business there.”
Even though it’s the kind of place I like, I get what he’s saying, the meaning behind it. I don’t think uncle Gino cares about the sex or the kinks. I think he cares about the deals made there. Those particular patrons.
“Violet’s in the center, we’re trying to find Joseph Walsh’s daughter, and we think he had something to do with it, but Vi got caught, and she’s in a cell in that training center,” I say, the words falling over each other. “We need to get in there and help her before it’s too late.”
Gino laughs and shakes his head. “Why didn’t you just say so instead of making me wait? I can help. I’ve got the manpower to bring this place to the ground, and I’ll do it,” he says. “For a price.”
Enzo looks at me but doesn’t say anything. I get it. And this would be on me. While I’m reluctant to do this man another favor because with those sort of favors stacking up, I can see me being in servitude to him for the rest of my life.
“Look, you already fucking owe me, kid. What’s another favor? And how much worse can it be owing me twice?”
Fuck. Without Violet, I’m done. And I nod.
I’m in a corner, and he’s the only door, and time is running out.
Fast. “Whatever you want, I’ll do. She’s worth it.
” Then I lean forward, and I stare him down.
“But I’m only doing you your favors…that’s me, not Enzo, and I’m only doing them if my girl gets out alive. ”
“It’s a deal.”
Gino makes a call to get his men here, and we pull out our computers and get to work.
“We can loop an image for them. If they go in to see what happened, there’ll be nothing,” Enzo says. “Your name won’t be on any of this, uncle Gino.”
“You think I care?”
I look at the man. “Maybe not, but there’s a lot to be said for a card up your sleeve, and you doing this under the radar is one. We’re making sure the place, when it’s hit, means no one will be the wiser.”
Hopefully, then Thomas won’t be able to call in any favors.
But more than that, I hope we’re not too late to save Vi.