Operation 24 The Black Phone
God
They were back in God and Day’s suite in less than an hour.
Nobody remembered the drive, crossing the lobby of the hotel, or the elevator ride to their floor.
God remembered Cassidy’s energy beside him like heat off a blast furnace. His new business partner was one breath away from tearing through the city in search of Xander.
He also remembered Ruxs and Green pacing, both waiting for God to point them at a target.
He remembered Day calling Gen and telling him to get to the suite now, in a tone their family knew all too well.
Day went straight to Free’s setup but slammed his fist on the desk when he realized he didn’t have the access codes. Only one other man did as a fail-safe. “Steele, get me Fox on the line.”
“Calling,” Steele rumbled.
“Tell him we need him to get into Free’s system. Now.”
Steele put the phone to his ear. “He’s heading to his office.”
“Tech, do you copy?”
He answered after a few seconds.
“Yes. I copy.”
Tech’s voice was low. Too low. Controlled in a way God didn’t like. Calm was useful. Too much calm meant if he got out of line, he’d be killed.
God forced his own voice level. “First question. Are all of you together and is anyone hurt?”
A pause.
“We’re all here. We’re alive. No injuries.”
Cassidy braced both hands on the back of a chair.
God closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. “What happened?”
Tech’s answer came clipped, professional. “We were leaving a shop on West 3rd. It was a busy sidewalk. I moved in front of Xander, putting him between myself and Free. Curtis was on his right.”
God pictured it.
Too many civilians.
No clean shot or open lane.
Tech continued. “They were already in the crowd. They closed around us. One bumped Curtis and pushed him in. Another stepped up behind Free. Before I could move Xander out of the pocket, there was a gun at his back.”
Tech’s voice tightened until God strained to hear him. “The man spoke into his ear and told him to walk quietly. No sudden moves. No attention. If I reached for my sidearm, or if any of us shouted, he said Xander would be dead before he hit the ground.”
Cassidy started to pace.
Day stepped closer to him, not touching yet, just there.
“I couldn’t draw in that crowd. And I wasn’t gonna call the guy’s bluff.”
“You made the right call,” God said immediately.
Cassidy shook his head.
“He made the right call.” Steele glared.
Cassidy’s hands flexed, but he said nothing.
Tech paused a long moment and God waited, assuming he had to be quiet, or someone was watching.
“They moved us into a van staged like a delivery truck,” Tech murmured.
“Two at our backs. One at the driver’s side.
One passenger. Three more watching the crowd.
They stripped our phones and Free’s messenger bag once we were inside.
I assume Xander had already triggered his ring alarm.
Free and I put the code in our watches when they closed the van doors. ”
God went toward the table where Free’s system should have been waking up.
Nothing yet.
“Why didn’t you radio earlier?”
“They took every device they could see,” Tech said. “I couldn’t risk letting them know about the Hart Communicator. Couldn’t let them know my glasses transmit. I waited until they stopped searching us.”
“Location?”
“We were in the back of the van for at least an hour. Multiple turns. Highway, then surface streets. I couldn’t see out. We’re in some abandoned warehouse now with high blacked-out windows. They got us zip-tied on the floor.”
God’s mind was moving through a dozen scenarios, none of which seemed possible without breaking a lot of laws.
Ruxs paced. Green stood near the wall, breathing through his nose as if he was trying to ward off a panic attack.
Steele stared out of the window at the blackness, his expression unreadable.
Cassidy had both hands in his hair now, fingers locked at the back of his neck.
Free’s voice slipped into the comm, quieter than Tech’s. “Call Fox. He’s the only one who can work my system.”
“I know,” Day said, “He’s on it.”
“I sent him the access codes,” Free whispered. “Once he’s in, my screens will come up. You’ll get Tech’s glasses cam and our locations will ping.”
“Hurry up,” Cassidy said, voice rough enough to cut. “For Christ’s sake, hurry up.”
God put a hand out in front of him, palm down.
Stay steady.
“They want ten million wired to an offshore account,” Tech said. “One of them plans to take Xander to his bank in the morning to authorize the transfer. They said if he tries anything, they’ll kill us first, then him.”
Cassidy caught the back of a chair in one fist and launched it across the room. It slammed into the wall with a violent crack before it splintered into several pieces.
Nobody flinched. Each of them had been through this before. They knew what it was like to have a gun pointed at the head of the man they loved.
“Fox said he’s almost in,” Day reported.
Free’s voice came again, smaller this time. “God?”
“I’m here.”
“Do not call Ivan. Please.”
God went still.
Hart was his best friend. He couldn’t keep this from him.
“I know you’re gonna get us out of here,” Free whispered. “But for fuck’s sake, don’t call him. I don’t need him losing his mind two thousand miles away where he can’t help.”
God’s throat worked once. “Okay.”
Free breathed out. “Thank you.”
Tech’s voice dropped lower. “They’re coming back. Standby.”
Everyone in the suite froze.
For several seconds, all they heard was distant movement through Tech’s open channel. Footsteps. A metal door. The scrape of something being dragged across concrete. Xander’s quicker breaths, thin and uneven, tipping toward panic.
Then a man spoke.
“Everybody comfortable?”
His voice was close to Tech. His tone sounded as if he was entertained by their fear.
No one answered.
The man laughed. “Good. Now, this doesn’t have to get complicated. You cooperate. Money gets wired. We disappear. You all go home with a story to tell.”
Another voice, farther away, said, “Check the ties.”
Footsteps moved.
Someone grunted.
“Don’t fuckin touch me,” Curtis snapped.
A hard shove followed.
God gritted his teeth.
For fuck’s sake. To not be blood, how the hell was he just as reckless as his fathers?
The first man spoke again. “This is your own fault, Xander Vale. Bennett promised a payout, and I don’t care if he ran like a bitch. Somebody’s paying what I’m owed.”
God’s blood heated.
A third voice, raspier, shifted closer.
“My twin brother got killed by one of your goddamn bodyguards,” he said. “My cousin’s in prison. Three of my friends are dead because your little celebrity ass wouldn’t just stay scared like you were supposed to.”
Cassidy’s entire body seemed to vibrate.
Day moved beside him and put a hand against his chest. Not to stop him physically. To remind him he was not alone with his rage.
The kidnapper spoke with venom lacing his voice. “Oh yeah. Somebody’s gonna pay. And if you do it without trouble, maybe I won’t make you pay for their lives with yours.”
“I’ll give you anything you want. Just don’t hurt them,” Xander said shakily.
Cassidy’s eyes shone.
God had to look away from him.
There were sounds a man made when pain and anguish crippled him. Cassidy made none of them, which somehow made it worse.
God turned to Ruxs. “Where’s Genesis?”
“He’s on his way,” Ruxs answered. “You know he’s going to lose his shit.”
This was exactly why he hadn’t wanted Xander to go. It didn’t matter that Bennett Ashford was gone. There was always another opportunist asshole with greed, and a gun.
“Let me at least break one of their arms or something,” The angry one said. “They killed four of our fucking friends and have the audacity to go out sightseeing a week later.” His voice moved. “I can’t decide which one of you bastards I wanna hurt most.”
Curtis gave a breathless laugh.
God’s eyes snapped shut. This damn kid.
“You guys are so fuckin’ fucked,” Curtis said. “The only thing you need to decide is if you want your funeral open or closed casket.”
A hard slap cracked through the feed.
Xander yelped.
Free cursed under his breath.
Green balled his fists as murder flashed in Ruxs’ eyes.
Curtis spat. Then laughed again. “I guess you want closed.”
God ground his teeth until pain shot through his jaw.
He glared at Ruxs and Green wanting to blame them.
“Tech,” God hissed into the comms.
“I know,” he answered tightly.
“Tell Curtis to shut the fuck up and stay that way.”
A beat passed.
“Curtis, you’re pissing off more than these guys. Shut the fuck up.” Tech said, low and sharp.
Curtis muttered something God couldn’t make out.
Tech growled, “I mean it.”
Another minute dragged by.
Maybe two.
Time became a living thing.
Then Free’s screens lit up on the other side of the room.
They all rushed over and zeroed in on the map blooming from dark gray into grid lines, before a fixed location marked in red appeared on the larger screen.
It was in an industrial district on the outskirts of the city. Another screen showed what Tech could see through his glasses.
Concrete floor. Rust-stained support columns. High, broken windows blackened by dirt.
Xander on the floor with his hands bound behind him, breathing too fast, face pale, and eyes bloodshot and wet.
Curtis beside him, lip split, blood at the corner of his mouth and on the concrete near his knee.
Free sat near Tech’s other side, wrists zip-tied, eyes locked with cold hate on the man standing over them.
Tech’s viewpoint tilted slightly as he kept his head down.
Fox’s serious face appeared on the third screen. He stood in his ranch office in a black T-shirt and cap, eyes moving fast across the feed. Behind him, shelves, maps, and old tactical photographs blurred in the background.
“Got ’em,” Fox said. “Location is an abandoned freight warehouse off Alameda corridor. Sending coordinates to your phones now.”
Cassidy snatched his phone as it buzzed.
Fox’s gaze cut to God. “Do you want me to call authorities?”
God shook his head once. “No.”
Day glanced at him, then back at the feed.