Chapter 45 I Have Information
I Have Information
Havoc
She just walked out the door, and I let her.
How could I have messed this up so badly?
There are levels of stupidity…and this pretty much trumps them all. The worst thing about this is that the woman I love almost died because of it.
Does that make me like the woman who shall never be named?
I lean my head back on the couch, but all I see are Greer’s blue lips.
She could have died.
Her son could have died.
Her baby could have died inside her body because of me.
That’s unforgivable.
Maybe it’s a good thing Greer walked away when she did. There is nothing in this world that I could do to make it up to her. I wouldn’t forgive myself.
“Are you done wallowing?”
Creed’s voice snaps me out of my spiral. “I’m not—”
“It’s a good thing that I am. What we did was stupid. But what would be even stupider is losing her. So now we need to come up with a plan. One that she can’t ignore.”
***
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Why am I asking my teenage son if his crazy plan is going to work? It’s total and complete insanity.
“It’s breakfast. How can she say no?”
Easily. It’s one small word.
Creed knocks on the door.
Greer can’t be conned by a healthy breakfast and a nice smile. Though Creed talked me into trying this…who am I to say he can’t con her into giving me a chance to apologize.
“Do you think she’s ignoring us?” Creed tries to peek into her windows.
“That’s not Greer’s style. She’d confront us and tell us to go away.” I love her courage. Her fortitude.
“Then why isn’t she answering?”
That’s a good question. A very good question. “She could be in the shower.”
Creed shakes his head. “Greer prefers to shower before going to bed.”
“Do I want to know how you know that?”
The boy shrugs. “Her friends sort of mentioned it in an offhand kind of way.”
Why does it all of the sudden feel like something is wrong? “Creed, open the door.”
“Dad?”
“I’ve got a really bad feeling. Open the door.”
“Okay, but if she really has guns in that closet of hers, I’m not going in first.”
Greer and guns are the least of my worries. A drug dealer who now knows Greer has a soft spot for my family jumped up to the top. I set the food and the vase full of flowers down on the porch as Creed enters the code.
The little green light flashes…she didn’t change it.
“Greer, are you okay? We’re coming inside!” even as I shout the words, I don’t expect any response.
Creed gives me a worried look.
“Stay close.”
He nods.
We don’t make a full sweep. I head straight for her bedroom. That’s the easiest place to snatch up a person when they’re asleep and defenseless.
I knew I should have taken out that woman. Letting her walk away just gave them more information to use against me.
Please let me be wrong.
As we walk past the baby’s nursery, another pang runs through me. They aren’t just risking one person’s life.
We step into her room and don’t need to go any further.
There’s a broken cup of tea and blood droplets scattered around the room.
“The closet.” Creed runs towards it, stopping at the closed door and the little pool of blood.
She didn’t make it to the gun.
“Head wounds bleed a lot. That doesn’t mean she’s dead.” Creed stares at it in horror.
“They would have left the body if she were dead.”
***
“How did they get her? My security system is state-of-the-art.”
“Through the back yard.” Everett doesn’t look away from the wall of screens in our security room.
I didn’t hesitate to call everyone I knew, asking for help to find Greer.
“You turned your security camera away from it a while ago.”
So that means we have nothing to go on. “What about her security?”
“There are no breaches shown in the log. But I don’t believe that.”
We need to look into the drug dealers. They’re the ones that took her. I know it. I start pacing the far too small space. It’s closing in on me. “Why didn’t they send a message? When people take hostages, they reach out.”
A hand lands on my shoulder. “We’ll find her.”
Rogue’s right. The question is, will she be alive when we do?
“There’s a helicopter incoming.” Volt shouts. “Does anyone know who this belongs to?”
“I do.” Creed steps forward from where he was silently standing in the corner. “That’s Greer’s lawyer. He manages her whole life. So I called him. I think we should call her friends, too. They’re all really rich, and one is a cop.”
“The last thing we want is a cop involved.” Not with what I plan to do when I find Greer. Not one of the ideas that came to my mind is even slightly legal.
The helicopter lands, and the well-dressed older man I saw with Greer the first day steps out.
Fly meets him there and escorts him down to the clubhouse and through to the bunker.
I walk over to my son and whisper, “You should have talked to the group before bringing a stranger in. You know we don’t like prying eyes.”
“He knows Greer more than any of us. If the drug dealers aren’t responsible, then he might have a clue to help us find her.”
“Found something,” Everett shouts. “Your security did come in handy.” He pulls up a dozen images and puts them on the screens.
Each of them is the front of my house, and every one of them has the exact same van in the image.
“For the last four months, this van has driven past your home. It’s not registered to any of your neighbors.
As a matter of fact, the tags are registered to a ninety-year-old woman living in an assisted living facility in Florida. ”
“They’ve been surveilling my house.”
“Oh yeah. And the person inside is smart. They’re wearing a hat and keeping their head down.” Everett grins. “But not smart enough to cover their hands. Smart move investing in the best cameras available.” He zooms in until the fingers on the wheel become clear.
“Tattoos.” This creep has hand tattoos.
“They’re just as good as fingerprints now. It might take us some time, but we’ll find this guy.”
Time feels like the opposite of what we have. What if they discover she’s pregnant?
The door opens, and Greer’s lawyer steps in. “This is quite impressive looking, but completely unnecessary. I know exactly where Miss Greer is.”
“What?” Creed steps forward. “On the phone, you didn’t know anything.”
“You must be the boy who called me. Her new neighbor’s son.
Good thinking, young man. You are also correct.
I didn’t know until I was halfway here where Miss Greer was.
But it turns out I received a message from her housekeeper at one of her skiing cottages in the mountains.
It’s quite remote. A very beautiful place with some of the best slopes in the area. ”
“Why are we talking about a skiing cottage when Greer is missing?”
“Ah, you must be her grumpy neighbor. It’s a pleasure to meet you.
That cottage matters because the housekeeper was thanking Miss Greer for sending her on a five-month-long world cruise.
Now, it isn’t abnormal for Miss Greer to give her staff excessively generous presents.
But it is for her to do it herself. I’m the one who takes care of those things on her behalf.
And since I didn’t do it and she didn’t do it, who did? And why five months specifically?”
“She’s almost six months pregnant. That’s how long it will take for the baby to be born, with a little wiggle room.”
“Exactly. And who says bikers aren’t bright?”
Just about everyone who doesn’t know a biker. “That means it’s her ex-husband who took her, not The Ghost.”
Everett spins around to face me.
“Exactly, but that leaves us with one more slight problem. It turns out that Darrel isn’t the father of Miss Greer’s baby. If he should find out about this little mix-up before we find her, I’m afraid he won’t be very patient or understanding.”
That translates to, he’ll kill the both of them then walk away like nothing happened.
“As long as he doesn’t know, she’s quite safe where she is. But at this time, I do believe I should contact a friend who can acquire some specially trained men to remove her from that situation.”
“That won’t be necessary. We’ll be removing that situation from the planet.” I probably shouldn’t have announced that to a complete stranger.
“Excellent plan. If you need any assistance with that, let me know.” The lawyer’s grin is terrifying. No wonder why Greer hired him.
Creed walks up to the man. “Thank you, Mr. Rothswyler.”
“Rothswyler?” Everett whispers as the mood of all my non-Chaos friends changes at once.
Am I missing something?
Now isn’t the time to worry about it. Greer is coming back home. Then I’m going to convince her to forgive me. After that, we’ll work on picking baby names. My sons both need to have strong names.