37. Zero
37
ZERO
S omethings wrong! He could feel it in his bones. There was something in the way Diesel was slurring his words that made Zero begin to panic.
He had seen Diesel drunk before, even a tad high, given that he was supposed to be in recovery. But in all those times, he never heard Diesel talk like that.
“We need to get in there. Something’s wrong!” Zero shouted from the back cab of the van they were in. “I know it. Something just isn’t right.”
“I know you’re worried, but we need to give Diesel a bit of time to assess the situation before we go storming in and blow his cover,” Marc said, turning his head back slightly. He was on his tablet searching for something.
They only got one chance at this. Zero knew the stakes at play. If they ran in and Diesel wasn’t in trouble, that would blow their cover. But if Diesel was actually in trouble and Zero did nothing, he would never forgive himself. He hated balancing risk when it came to someone he cared about.
“D? D? Can you hear me? Say something, dammit. Let us at least know that you can hear us,” Zero shouted into his mic.
Still no response.
They could hear static and rustling, but that was it.
Zero didn’t like this at all.
Had Diesel’s earpiece stopped working?
“Someone’s coming out,” they heard Jared say over the comms.
Their heads snapped toward the door just in time to see Mr. Yellow, Diesel’s date, step out. He walked over to the fence dividing the property and began to take a piss.
Where the fuck is Diesel?
“Zero?” Marc called in a stern voice from the front seat of the van. “Don’t do anything until we know what happened to Diesel. His comms might have gone out, or perhaps he is in the bathroom taking a piss.”
“Taking a piss?” Zero asked, shocked at the bullshit spilling from this man’s mouth. “Were you listening to the same feed that I was? That didn’t sound like a man who needed to take a piss. That sounded like a man who was on the verge of losing control.”
“And if you’re wrong? If Diesel is okay and just needed some more time? What then? We will have blown his cover and allowed a monster to walk free. I know it’s tough, but you need to be patient and weigh the risks.”
Zero didn’t like any of what his boss was saying. If there was one thing that he learned from all his years of pulling cons, it was to always follow your gut instinct. And right now, his gut was going haywire.
The asshole zipped up his fly, then checked the time on his watch. He scratched his ass, then pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket and made a call.
They all sat in silence, listening to Diesel’s date call his drug dealer to see if he had any more product up for grabs.
“Okay, I’ll see you in fifteen,” Mr. Yellow said before ending the call and throwing his phone back into his back pocket.
He’d seen enough. No more wasting time.
“That’s it,” Zero growled, grabbing the gun from inside his duffel bag and pulling open the side door of the van.
“Where are you…” Chase shouted from the front seat, but Zero was already halfway across the parking lot, headed straight for Mr. Yellow.
“Zero, don’t do anything stupid,” he heard Marc say over his comms.
Stupid? Him? Never.
Zero reached the man just as he was fishing his keys out of his pocket.
“Where is he?” Zero shouted, punching the asshole right in the face.
The man fell backward, bouncing off the car next to him and landing on one knee.
“What?” the man squeaked, surprised and caught off guard. “Who the fu—” His sentence was cut off when Zero’s leg connected with his gut.
The man let out a guttural oof that made even Zero’s stomach clench in pain.
“Diesel? The man you went into the club with. Where is he?”
Terrified, bloodshot eyes stared up at Zero when the man suddenly realized that the tweaked-out little shit he had picked up in a dark parking lot actually belonged to some other crazed man.
“Shit. Uh—I didn’t know. I thought he was single.” The man shielded his face as if anticipating another kick to his person.
“Is he still inside? Why did you come out alone?” Zero’s anger was taking on a life of its own. He had never felt this angry, this protective over somebody else before.
Footsteps behind him caught his attention, causing the beast inside him to take a step back. He was still there, but he was letting Zero remain in control… for the time being, that was.
Chase and Marc appeared a moment later next to Zero.
The asshole still hadn’t answered his question.
“Diesel! Where is he?” Zero shouted, reaching down and yanking the man up to his feet with the strength of a thousand bodybuilders. If he hadn’t been seeing red, he might have been impressed by his strength.
“Zero, shit. Calm down,” Marc warned. At least he was smart enough not to get between Zero and his wrath.
“S-selected. He was selected,” Mr. Yellow spat out, his teeth chattering as his eyes darted between the men surrounding him.
“What? What does that mean?” Zero asked, his grip on the man’s shirt tightening with every second that passed.
“The doc. The doc took him. With the others. They were selected.”
“Selected for what?” Zero asked again, frustrated. He turned to Marc, hoping that his boss might be able to translate this drunk man’s gibberish.
“Perhaps if you put the man down, we can get some actual answers,” Marc huffed out, his cold brown eyes burrowing into Zero’s chest.
“Fuck, fine.” Zero released the man, who was caught by Chase’s arms seconds before his ass hit the ground.
“Now. Speak. What do you mean selected?” Marc asked, crossing his arms over his chest, waiting for the bumbling idiot to respond.
Mr. Yellow swallowed hard as he looked back and forth between the strange young men currently crowding him.
“The doc. He throws these parties once a month. He asks us to each bring one junkie, someone we find living on the streets, and he pays us each a thousand pounds and free booze for the night. Then the doc makes his rounds, deciding which junkies he will take with him when he leaves.”
Zero’s stomach dropped. “What do you mean ‘when he leaves’?”
Mr. Yellow looked up at him with sad, concerned eyes.
“He’s gone. He took his selection and left for the night.”
Time stood still as the gravity of his words suddenly sunk in.
Diesel had been selected.
Diesel had been taken.
Diesel was going to become one of those victims.
Sound rushed back into Zero’s ears as his brain and body came back online.
He charged toward the door of the club and began banging on it with the fury of a thousand suns. When the door finally slid open, Zero shoved his gun into the face of the poor unsuspecting doorman.
“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll let me in,” Zero snarled. The man raised his hands in surrender and stepped out of his way.
Blood surging through his veins, Zero charged into the dimly lit room, past the host, who was hollering for him to stop. He dared anyone to try and stop him.
Standing in the middle of the room, Zero held up his gun and fired off a warning shot.
Those sober enough to realize what was happening let out a scream and ducked beneath their tables. That shot triggered a chain reaction.
Men with assault rifles stepped out of the shadows. They glared at Zero, apparently assessing the crazy man who had charged into their club armed with only a single handgun.
Okay, perhaps he didn’t think this one totally through before charging in like a dramatic lunatic with a death wish.
But Diesel’s life could be on the line.
Fuck this shit!
“D! Where are you?” Zero shouted, desperately scanning the room. His fingers shook as he moved the gun, pointing it at anyone or anything that moved.
“Where is he?” Zero shouted.
A lamp next to him exploded.
Startled, Zero’s head whipped around in the direction of the bullet.
Four tables over, a gangster dressed in a black suit that barely contained his steroid-fueled arms held a gun pointed in his direction.
Next, a glass of wine exploded, followed by a pillow and a light overhead.
Man, these guys have bad aim , Zero thought to himself, not registering that perhaps he should fire back or duck behind something to keep from getting unalived.
Just as his mind raced to catch up with his need to survive, blood burst from the side of the steroid man’s head. Zero watched as the man fell forward, mouth open as if ready to complain about the hole in his head.
What the?
Stepping into view, Chase gave Zero a friendly nod.
Good, at least someone had his back.
“Kill them!” a deep voice with a thick Russian accent shouted from across the room.
Glass shattered everywhere as the club became a war zone.
Jared grabbed Zero and pulled him down behind an overturned couch.
“Cover me,” Jared shouted as he Rambo-style crawled across the floor before tuck-rolling behind a table.
Behind the table, a fight ensued. Shouting and smashing, Zero listened to the commotion as Jared fought an endless number of men, it seemed. Two shots rang out before silence fell behind the table.
“Don’t worry. I’m fine,” Jared huffed out before throwing his hand up behind the table, essentially signaling to all the bad guys in the room where he was currently hiding.
As expected, a lamp sitting on a table near Jared exploded.
“Shit,” Jared squealed before lowering his hand and returning fire.
“Matteo is going to kill me if I return you back to him riddled with holes,” Chase shouted at Jared from somewhere along the back wall.
“Isaac might have something to say about it. Can’t say there’s much boning going on when you’re dead,” Jared responded, blowing the nose off someone crawling across the floor.
“I hope that was a bad guy,” Zero shouted, jumping up from his hiding place and shooting two more men standing off to the left.
“He looked sleazy and shifty. Not really the type of guy to be popular at an underground sex party,” Jared shouted back, picking up a full bottle of champagne and whipping it at some angry-looking man gripping a gun. The man gave a grunt before grabbing the back of his head and falling down to his knees.
Bad men were dropping left and right, but there was still no sign of Diesel.
“Fuck!” Chase shouted, capturing Zero’s attention immediately. He was clinging to his arm as blood spread through his fingers.
Shit! He’s been shot!
Just before Zero was about to hurdle a table to check on his boss and friend, a thick meaty arm wrapped itself around his throat, capturing him in a choke hold.
Fuck. Zero struggled against the man, holding him in a death grip. Stars flashed before his eyes as oxygen refused to enter his lungs.
Gritting his teeth, Zero jabbed his elbow into the man’s side as hard as he could.
The man barely let out a grunt.
More stars.
What the fuck was this guy made of? Zero thought to himself as he stomped down on the foot of the beast currently clinging to him like a desperate ex-boyfriend trying to hold onto his man.
Nothing.
Just when Zero had decided that this was the moment he was going to die, warm wetness splashed across his cheek.
Zero barely had time to register the sound of a trigger being pulled behind him when his body was pulled to the floor under the weight of the dead man still clinging to him.
“Fuck! Did I get you?” Jared rushed, grabbing Zero by the arm and pulling him up from the floor. He desperately searched for injuries, yanking at his arms and grabbing his face with his hands. It was only then, that Zero glanced down at the man missing half his face.
“Damn, you totally exploded that dude’s face,” Zero noted, disgusted and impressed both at the same time.
“Yeah, well, I figured Diesel would kill me if I let his new favorite toy get killed.” Jared smirked.
“I’m going to check the back,” Zero said as he cocked his gun and ran off toward the back of the club.
He felt like he was outside his body. His ears felt like they were underwater, and men kept attacking him from all sides. He wasn’t sure if it was his skills that kept him alive or if perhaps Chase was covering him as he ran across the room.
Miraculously, he made it to the long hallway leading to the bathrooms and the back door with superficial wounds and scrapes. He was pretty sure he would feel the pain tomorrow, but for now, his adrenaline was working overtime.
When he reached the back door, he was just about to shove it open when he noticed a metal door between the men’s room and the back door.
It was an odd location for a door. Perhaps it was a storage closet. Perhaps it was another office. But something about the door screamed, “shady as fuck hidden escape.”
Holding the gun at arm level, he pulled on the handle and was surprised when the damn thing moved!
After double-checking his surroundings to make sure no one was lurking in the shadows, he pulled open the door and gasped when he saw a set of stairs leading to the basement.
Now this was the part where he stupidly charged down the stairs, only to be met by a man in a ski mask holding a chainsaw.
What if Diesel is down there? that voice in the back of his mind asked, reminding him that he was supposed to be Diesel’s knight in shining armor.
Fuck it. He pulled out his phone and used the flashlight to guide his way.
Once he reached the bottom of the stairs, he was met by a long hallway that disappeared into the darkness at the other end. There didn’t appear to be any doors, so at least he didn’t have to worry about any killer clowns jumping out at him.
Taking a deep breath, he began charging down the long hallway. Three minutes later, he pushed open the door at the end of the hallway and stepped out into a large, empty parking lot.
What the fuck?
He turned around and took in his surroundings. The lot was empty, save for two lamp posts that barely cast enough light for Zero to see across the street.
And there it was. About a block away, he could see the back entrance that they used to enter the club.
Zero let out a defeated breath.
Parked across the street from the club was the van that they had used to surveil the club.
Was this the lot that the doc had used to kidnap Diesel? Had the doc been aware that Chase and they were watching them from across the street? Jesus. Christ.
Zero’s stomach dropped.
He started jogging back toward the van, anger building as he spotted Marc and Chase standing in front of the van discussing something.
“Where is he?” Zero growled at Marc, slamming his fist down on the hood of the van.
Had they gone in when Zero first wanted to, perhaps they could have saved Diesel. If anything happened to him, Marc and the guys were going to pay.
Glancing up at Zero from the corner of his eye, Marc barely acknowledged his presence.
“I asked you a question,” Zero barked, not caring if the fucker fired him. This was Diesel’s life. He needed to find him and protect him.
Fuck! Why did he waste so much time acting all coy and like he didn’t give a shit about Diesel? So much wasted time. Now he might never get a chance to tell the cocky bastard how much he cared for him.
Another side-eye glance.
“Are you done being an asshole?” Marc asked, his hands resting on both sides of the tablet sitting on the van.
Zero glanced down at the lit-up screen.
“What’s that?” Zero asked, sucking in a breath of air as he tried to regain control over his emotions. He needed a clear head. He needed to think.
“That’s our guy,” Marc said, pointing at the screen. A flashing red dot slowly made its way across a map of downtown London.
“What? What do you mean?” Zero gasped, turning the tablet toward himself to try and get a fix on Diesel’s location. “I don’t get it. How do you know that’s him?”
Marc turned to face Chase. “Do you remember that watch Matteo gave Diesel before you guys left the mansion?”
Chase let out a sigh of relief.
“What? What watch?” Zero asked, confused and frustrated.
Marc turned back to Zero.
“Before these guys left the mansion, Matteo gave Diesel a watch with a hidden GPS locator in it. He was worried that Diesel might go on another bender and run off. With this watch, Matteo could track his movements.”
“You tagged the guy?” Zero asked, shocked and kind of happy as fuck.
“We like to think of it as showing we care,” Chase added, shrugging his shoulders, not seeming offended in the slightest.
“It wasn’t until after I finished interrogating Mr. Yellow that I remembered Diesel had been wearing that watch. Then it was just a matter of logging into my app.”
Zero was impressed.
He took a step closer to examine something on Marc’s cheek.
“Is that… blood?” Zero asked, swiping the crimson fluid from the man’s face before wiping it against the back of his jeans. Yup, definitely blood.
Marc shrugged his shoulders. “Hey, we needed answers, and we didn’t have a lot of time. I used the quick method.”
“What about the pill they had D take when he entered the club? Could that be harmful to him?” Chase asked, reloading his gun like he was heading back into war.
“That was one of the questions I had to ask our perverted friend. Apparently, the red pills are designer drugs that knock out the user, causing them to forget the past six hours. It’s convenient when you don’t want people remembering where they were or what they were doing. I have a feeling that was what the doc was picking up at that motel the other night. It isn’t a drug that you can purchase over the counter.”
“So where the fuck are they taking my best friend?” Jared asked, appearing out of nowhere. He squeezed in between Zero and Chase, craning his neck to see the tablet.
His hair was caked in blood, and he had a nasty cut running along his torso.
The important thing was that they all still had their limbs attached, and all were breathing—some heavier than others.
So where was Diesel?
That was the million-dollar question.
They turned back to the screen and watched as the red dot moved south across the London Orbital Motorway. The flashing stopped about eighty kilometers south of where they were currently standing.
“That’s it! That’s where they’ve taken him,” Zero shouted, relieved and excited. They had a chance at getting him back!
The dot sat there for a few moments before starting to move once again. Chase and Zero exchanged a glance.
Where were they taking him?
They watched in confusion as the moving dot began to dim. What the heck was happening? Then it happened. The dot vanished from the screen.
“What the—” Zero gasped, his eyes bulging from his head. “What just happened?”
He snapped his head toward Marc, hoping for some sort of explanation. Marc was the one who created the damn thing, wasn’t he?
Marc’s eyebrows bunched together, clearly annoyed by whatever the disappearing red dot meant.
“My guess is that Diesel is now inside a lead container.”
“What?” Zero screeched a little too high-pitched for even his own liking. “What do you mean ‘in a lead container’?”
Was he being buried alive? Was he being trafficked across the border? Was he… He didn’t want to think of what other horrifying situation could befall the man who he was falling madly in love with.
Glancing at his watch, Marc scrunched his face before turning his attention back to Zero.
“Judging by how the dot faded slowly before disappearing altogether, that would suggest that the signal was growing weak due to an interference. My guess is that they placed him inside something lead.”
Zero couldn’t believe this. How could they have lost him once again?
“Wh-why would you build a shitty-ass tracker that can be so easily blocked?” Zero was pissed. Marc was a smart guy; why would he build something so inferior?
Marc’s deep-brown eyes darkened—the color in them faded until all that was left were two black orbs glaring back at him.
For the first time since meeting Marc, Zero actually feared for his safety. Sure, Marc had always kind of creeped him out in that sort of Norman Bates, still lives with his mother in a creepy motel kind of way. There was such darkness, such anger, trapped behind those blackened spheres.
They always say to watch out for the quiet ones; well, Marc was the king of the quiet ones.
“First off, that was a prototype that I gave Matteo to test out. Second, I built the device to monitor one’s movements, not track a human trafficker and his gang of kidnappers!”
Zero swallowed hard. They couldn’t give up. They needed to find Diesel.
“So what do we do? How do we find out where they’ve taken him?” Zero asked, rubbing his hand over his buzzed hair, hoping a genius idea would pop in his melon.
“We wait until the tracker comes back online. In the meantime, I’m going to see if I can hack into the traffic cams and try and find a location for our boy.” Marc swiped his tablet from the hood of the car and made his way around to the passenger-side door. “Oh, and you might want to tell your daddy that his son has been kidnapped. I’m sure Matteo would want to know.” Marc was speaking to Chase, no doubt glad that he was not the one to have to tell the big guy that one of his favorite boys had gone missing.
Zero looked at them all like they were crazy. There was no fucking way that he was going to sit around waiting for a tiny red dot to suddenly appear. Not when Diesel needed him.