Chapter 15
Allister
Decker slams on the brakes as he swings into the estate turnaround where I'm waiting.
My head is pounding. My phone is in my hand, and I'm praying for it to buzz with a text saying everything's fine.
That the girls are off somewhere eating cupcakes, and there's some dumb, harmless reason for the terror that's been clawing me since I got here.
But deep down, I know it's not true.
"The Bentley's gone. Henrietta said she doesn't know where they went."
"Fuck. I've tried May's phone eight times. Fuck it, I'm not waiting. We're tracking their butts. I've got that tracker in her phone, so even if it's off, it still pings. Let me get on it."
Decker yanks his phone out and starts punching the screen like he's trying to drive his fingers straight through it.
"Let's go." Decker's already got the Suburban in drive as I hop in the passenger seat. "They're on I-69, heading south."
I check the tracker as Decker shoots in and out of the cars around us. Traffic is light, thank Christ, and we hit the exit fast, headed for the industrial center. They can't be in a hurry. We're gaining on them.
"They're turning on Milwaukee." I snap, watching the little blue dot blink across the map.
"Fuck." Decker pounds the steering wheel. We both know if they get the girls into one of those abandoned warehouses, this goes bad fast.
"We're losing the tracking, Deck. Hurry. It's not blinking."
"Fucking service down here sucks." He roars, punching the gas and swerving around a work truck. Tires squeal as he takes the turn onto Milwaukee and stamps the gas again.
"Fuck! There!" My heart slams against my ribs as I catch red taillights swinging into a half derelict warehouse. "Turn left, go around back!"
The Bentley's barely moving, and Decker's on it.
He swings into the alley behind it, takes another turn, and we're on top of them.
The Suburban screeches, and Decker rams its massive front into the Bentley's passenger side.
We're both out the doors before anyone can react.
For the first time in more years than I can count, our hands go straight to the guns on our belts.
We draw and aim at the car. We don't carry often, but tonight Decker made sure we came ready, the pieces he keeps locked at the Monarch and at his place.
"Get out of the fucking car!" My voice could shatter glass.
Wilson's hands fly off the steering wheel. Little fuck, I knew something was up with his overly-attentive ass.
"You better unlock those fucking back doors, you little shit."
Wilson lowers one hand, and the locks click. Lucky for him, he listens, because I'm in no mood to argue.
I'm already at the back door. I'm not waiting, no way, my girl's in there.
There's Leah, taped up and slumped at a painful angle, her head against the side of the car.
I swing to Victor as Decker comes in from the other side.
Dumb fucks didn't have seatbelts on, and they're both on their knees in front of the girls.
If this wasn't so fucked up, I'd laugh my ass off.
Victor turns his head and finds my gun aimed at his slicked-back Guido hair.
"Don't reach for anything. Don't take a deep breath. Don't fucking blink." My voice is a steady growl, and his hand drops back to the floor of the car.
Decker's got Victor's buddy by the hair, gun to his temple, when the driver's door opens.
"I'm so sorry. I had to..." Wilson's pathetic little voice comes from behind me. He's a little shit, but nothing about him reads as a threat, so I turn my head and keep my gun on Victor.
"Bullshit." I look back at Victor. "You want to live, right?
" I don't wait for an answer. "Take the fucking tape off the girls, then sit your ass in that seat.
You too." I nod to the other meathead on the floor in front of May.
They both shift and crawl back up, hands where we can see them.
Then Victor starts untying Leah and May. "It's okay, baby. It's all okay."
I hate that he's touching her. Hate it. But there's no way I'm taking the gun off either of them. The second the tape's off May's mouth, she's screaming like a banshee, no words, just noise. Victor's none too pleased, which makes me smile.
She kicks the other meathead in the shin, then slides over to help Leah while I keep the gun on Victor. When he's done, he shifts back into the seat next to his buddy, hands up by his shoulders.
Decker shoots me a look. He can't help the grin, and I give it back. Neither May nor Leah is a pushover. Even if we hadn't shown up, these two assholes would've had their hands full.
"I've got this." Decker turns back to Victor. "Help them into the car, and I'll wrap this up."
"Look, I didn't mean... I thought this was for the best." Wilson's still pleading with me from behind, and it's starting to get on my nerves, so I cut him a glare, and he shuts the fuck up.
"Baby, you okay?"
Leah rubs her mouth where the tape left a red patch, but she nods. "It's not his fault. I don't know what was going on, but it was all Victor." May and I help her out of the car, but her eyes won't stay on mine. I try to put an arm around her, but she's not having that, either. What the fuck?
"Cops?" Decker mutters, coming around to grab May, leaving the two assholes in the car to sweat.
"Please, no more cops." May leans her head into Decker's chest. "Can we just go? I'm so tired of police and investigations..." Decker catches my eye, and I shrug. "I just want to start our life. Our lives."
I'm torn. Part of me wants these fuckers to get the long arm of the law shoved straight up their assholes. But the look in their eyes says they got the message, loud and clear.
Leah lifts her face to mine, arms folded over her chest, before Decker or I can say anything else. "Tell me about the drugs. I need to know now. And you were arrested. Tell me about that. I can't do this any other way. I'm so confused. I can't trade one life of being used for another."
My heart stops.
"Babe, what are you talking about?"
"Don't act dumb, either. Wilson told me. He showed me pictures. The prescription bottles. Your background check, a conviction for illegally possessing prescription drugs."
Decker shakes his head and speaks before I can. "That's a long story, Leah, but it's not what you think."
"He's right. I'll tell you everything. Just trust me, and let's get back to the house first."
Leah sighs, but she nods and lets May help her over to the Suburban.
"You two." I lean down to the car and peer inside. "Get your asses in that building. Count to ten thousand, then leave. I never want to lay eyes on either of you again, do you understand? If you even see my face in a crowd, you'd better turn around and run the other way."
I keep my gun on Victor and his partner as they drag their sorry asses out of the car and head inside.
I'm still not convinced we shouldn't get the cops here.
I glance back at the girls huddled in the back seat of the Suburban.
I want them home. From the read I got on Victor, he won't stick his ugly ass nose around these girls again.
"You," I say, turning the gun on Wilson, "get this fucking car back to the house and wait inside it, or you'll be even sorrier than they are."
I almost feel sorry for him as he hangs his head and nods toward the ground.
Leah says he didn't have anything to do with this, but as much as I want to believe her, I've had a bad feeling about this little fuck since the moment I set eyes on him.
I need to hear his side, then I'll decide what to do.
After a moment, the Bentley turns in a wide circle. Deck grabs my shoulder and steers me toward his Suburban. "You okay, man?"
"Yeah, I will be. I'll tell Leah the truth. All of it. About my mother, the pills, the arrest. Then I take my chances she can forgive me."
He nods, and we climb into the car.