Chapter 43 - Jo
forty-three
Jo
My stomach twists at the single word that just left my mouth.
Sam shakes his head. “No, Jo—”
“It’s our only option right now,” I hiss, “I am not lettin’ your daddy die for us.” I give him a look that I hope conveys exactly what I’m thinking—which is, “please just shut up and we’ll talk about it once we get out of here.”
His mouth opens slightly like he wants to argue, but then he presses his lips into a tight line.
“Excellent,” Xavier claps his hands together. “So at ten PM in two days, meet us right here, and if my scientist is alive, as well as still able to use his mind, Samuel Wright will escape without a bullet to the brain.”
Sam grits his teeth, nodding once. “Forty-eight hours. I want your word that nothing will happen to my dad in the meantime. Call off your guards.”
“No.” He shakes his head, my stomach sinking. “He’s my insurance that you’ll hold up your end of the deal.”
“I’m going to call him every day,” Sam warns, stuffing his gun back into his waistband. “I’m going to make sure he’s still alive and breathing, and if he’s not—.”
“Call him all you’d like,” Xavier shrugs, “but if you warn him at all, he dies. I have his phone tapped—don’t test me.”
I don’t miss the look Vander gives his dad. Like he doesn’t quite recognize him.
“Fine,” Sam growls.
Xavier gives us an appraising look before nodding once and walking towards the front door of the house. He glances back. “Well? Aren’t you going to get going?”
“I s’pose we could start walkin’,” I muse. “Though we might miss your deadline if we have to get home on foot.”
The front door of the house opens, and Adela rushes out, tears streaming down her cheeks and her face flushed red.
“Adela!” Vander barks as she rushes past him and goes straight to me.
“Addie?” My brows shoot up as she grabs my hand, pushing a set of car keys into them.
“Take my car,” she whispers, wrapping her arms around me.
“I was listening at the door. I couldn’t make out all of it, but…
” She sniffs, pulling back. “It’s probably being tracked so don’t take it all the way to where you’re going.
Xavier…he won’t let me go. He can’t—it’s how he keeps Vander under his thumb. Just…just go, okay?”
Tears sting my eyes, and my voice cracks. “Addie.”
“I’ve always wanted a sister,” she sniffs again, her voice strained, “thanks to you, I know what it’s like now. I love you, Jo. Stay safe. This baby is going to need his Auntie around.”
A sob breaks out of my chest as I wrap Adela in my arms again. “I love you too, Addie.”
“Tick, tock, Ms. Harding.” Xavier’s voice slices through our moment like a slap to the face, and I quickly try to reign in my emotions, handing the keys to Adela’s car to Sam.
“When this is over, we’re comin’ back for you,” I whisper so only she can hear me. Lips tight, she nods, and backs away, standing next to a conflicted-looking Vander.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Kole mutters, grabbing me by the hand and leading me to the SUV Adela picked us up in earlier.
Tears sting my eyes as we leave the residence, passing a now-empty guard house.
We drive in silence for an hour, not wanting to speak in case Xavier has listening devices installed in the car to spy on Adela.
Texting with Declan on the burner, I coordinate with him where he can have a car meet us. When we’re finally behind the wheel of a vehicle we know hasn’t been tampered with, Hayden sighs, his head falling back against the headrest. “What the fuck are we going to do?”
“Well, we’re definitely not givin’ Brooks to Xavier.” I cross my arms, looking around the car and meeting Sam’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “We just have to figure out how we’re goin’ to keep Samuel Wright safe in the meantime.”
“We could talk to my brothers?” Kole suggests. “I cannot help them kill my father until this is settled, so it would be in their interest to aid us.”
“If I could somehow warn him what was happening, then he’d know to be on guard…” Sam mutters to himself, fiddling with the volume of the radio.
“Sam,” West sits straighter suddenly, his eyes lighting up as he looks at my alpha, “You’re going to go see a play.”
Sam immediately perks up, “Fuck, you’re right!” He sticks his hand behind him, wiggling his fingers. “I need the burner.”
Brows raised, I exchange a look with Kole and Hayden. We’re obviously missing something here. Regardless, I place the phone in Sam’s hand and watch as he quickly dials the phone, putting it on speaker.
“Hello?” A deep voice answers.
“Hey, Dad,” Sam sounds unaffected. “I know I haven’t called recently, and I’m sorry. I just wanted to check in.”
“Sam?” Samuel sounds pretty pissed. “Do you know how worried I’ve been? The things I’ve heard—”
“Yeah, I know, I’m sorry. We’re fine, really. In fact I’m thinking I’m going to go to a play in the next couple of days.”
Silence.
I give West a questioning look, but he just shakes his head, motioning towards the phone.
“A play, huh?” Samuel’s entire demeanor changes, his tone now calm and controlled. “Which one were you thinking?”
“Hamlet. You know I love a good tragedy. So don’t worry about me, okay? I don’t know what you’ve been told, but West and I are fine.”
“I didn’t realize there were any showings of Hamlet going on right now.”
“It’s been on for at least a week, but I think they wrap up in two days or so. It’s no Lord of the Rings, but I’m pretty excited about it.”
My brows raise higher into my hairline. Lord of the Rings?
“Gotcha. Well, I’m glad to hear from you, son. Don’t go so long without calling again, okay?”
“I won’t. I…I love you, Dad.” I watch Sam’s throat bob as he glances down at the phone.
“I love you too, Son.”
The call ends, and Sam lets out a sigh of relief.
“Anyone wanna explain to me what just happened?” I ask, leaning forward.
“During Samuel’s…lessons, he shared a code he used to use when he was in security, adapted from his time in the military,” West explains, taking the phone from Sam.
Sam’s grip tightens on the wheel, and he keeps his eyes on the road.
“In the military, ‘bravo’ indicates an increased threat level, but if you’re trying to communicate that without other people realizing, you can’t just come out and say it.
So, they found a workaround. When people clap at the end of a play, what do they say? ”
“Bravo.” I grin, suddenly understanding.
“Exactly,” West jumps in, “so when we say we’re going to go see a play, it communicates that.”
“What was the significance of the play being Hamlet though?” Kole frowns, tilting his head.
Hayden snorts. “Obviously it’s because in the play, the King is killed in his own castle garden while he sleeps. By saying Hamlet, it was communicated that it is Daddy-o Senior who is in danger—in his ‘castle’ so to speak.”
West and Sam look at him with raised brows. “Exactly.”
“How did you know that?” Kole asks in awe.
Hayden shrugs. “Rich kid, remember? I’ve had to study Shakespeare more than I ever wanted to. You know, it’s kind of offensive how shocked you are.”
“Some of the shock was dulled by your effective use of ‘Daddy-o’.” West smirks, shaking his head.
“So what now?” I lean forward, speaking to Sam. “We’ve warned him, but…what do we do now?”
“You know how I said, ‘it’s no Lord of the Rings?’” Sam asks, tapping the wheel.
“Yeah, that was weird.” I tilt my head, looking at him.
“It references Boromir using the Horn of Gondor to call for aid,” West explains, turning around in his seat. “Basically, he was saying that we’re coming to his aid.”
“You are all nerds.” Kole snorts, shaking his head. “Hamlet and Lord of the Rings. Next you are going to use Star Trek to communicate that you need to take a piss.”
“Hey now, Sugar Bear,” I click my tongue, knocking my shoulder into his, “ain’t nothin’ wrong with being a nerd.”
“You can blame West for that,” Sam smirks. “He would spend the night and make us watch it on the big TV, and Dad would inevitably get sucked into the story.”
“Wait.” My eyes widen as I sit up straighter. “Where does your daddy live? How are we goin’ to help? We only have two guns with us, and that’s not enough. I don’t even have the knife you gave me.”
“We’ll go to your brother's place first and regroup. Then, we’ll get a good night’s sleep and head to Vermont.
” Sam looks around the car. “Does that sound okay with everyone? I know that keeping my dad safe isn’t…
well, it’s not part of our mission, whatever that is.
I’ll understand if you want to stay behind. ”
“Oh, fuck no, Daddy-o,” Hayden protests. “Just cause you’re afraid your old man might like me better, that doesn't mean I’m gonna stay behind.”
“As Lisichka has said,” Kole shrugs, “you have the only decent father out of all of us. It would be a shame for him to die.”
“You know I’m there, Sam.” West’s tone is serious, his fists tight. “Your dad has always been there for me. I’m not about to back out on him now.”
“What kind of daughter-in-law would I be if I stayed behind, Sammy-boy?” I grin, unbuckling my seatbelt just long enough to sit forward and press a kiss to his cheek.
Sam’s eyes shine with gratitude as he sighs, nodding. “Alright. First stop: The Gallagher Family compound.”
*To Be Continued*