Authors: Samantha Grady
“Get off me and I’ll tell you.” Mason said slowly raising his hands in a surrender gesture.
“Darcy took Olivia and Lucca and shot Jonah in the neck.” Shark said from behind me in a matter of fact tone.
The world started to spin, my knees felt weak and no matter how much I tried blinking the tears away they still spilled over and down my cheeks. I could hear Rachel crying behind me but I couldn’t bring myself to move. This shit wasn’t meant to happen. Jonah and I had walked away from the underworld drug business. With Vinnie dead and gone our ties to the underworld should have been just as dead. But now it was back and it had taken my baby boy. The baby boy I had only just really gotten, the baby boy who should never had been touched by any Denver underground hands. The baby boy I was going to get back no matter what.
Pushing away from Mason I stormed into the ER looking for my brother. It took all of five seconds to find Jonah, as the stupid shit was standing in the middle off the ER, pale as a white bed sheet, dried blood soaking his shirt and a bandage across his neck, arguing with two doctors and a herd of hospital security.
“All gunshot wounds must be reported to the police. You need to stay here until the police arrive.” A furious doctor snapped at Jonah.
“It’s not a gunshot wound.” Jonah snapped back, his whole body wavering.
“Oh no. Then what is it?” A nurse asked.
Turning his head slowly Jonah caught my eyes. Fear and pain flashed across his face before he could mask it. “You know my name and address if the police want me they know where to find me.”
“You’re playing a dangerous game discharging yourself Mr. Diaz.”
“Yeah well dangerous games are my favorite.” Jonah yelled over his shoulder as he walked slowly towards me.
Rushing to take his arm so he didn’t fall over, I pulled him to a stop. “Where the hell are you going?”
Looking at me with slightly glazed over eyes Jonah moved towards the exit doors. “To get Olivia and your son back.”
“No.” Shark said stepping in front of us, “I have people on it. What you need to do Jonah is get back in that hospital room. You look like shit man.”
Pulling away Jonah walked by Shark. “Don’t give a fuck.”
“Call him off Denny.” Shark hissed, his blue green eyes blazing.
Looking from Shark to Mason holding a crying Rachel I knew there was only one thing to be done. Looking back at Shark I let my face say it all and then ran to catch up with Jonah only stopping to tell Mason to take Rachel home.
“What’s the plan?” I asked.
“Shake Denver down until we find them.”
“We’ll need to stop at Risk.”
“Why?” Jonah asked stopping beside the car.
Looking over the roof of the car I let my mind slip to a place I never thought I’d have to go again. “We need guns.”
Chapter 16
Shark…
“Aren’t you going to go after them?” Mason asked after helping Rachel into the taxi’s back seat.
“And do what?” I asked. “Nothing I say will stop them.” Not true all I had to do was tell them who I was about to call and they would both stop without a doubt. Hell anyone would stop, a DEA agent didn’t do what I was about to do. Fuck a good DEA agent wouldn’t even be here in the first place. But from that first look at a then sixteen year old Olivia I knew right then I’d always break the rules for her, no matter what.
“Try to keep them out of trouble. As soon as I get Rachel settled I’ll call Jackson and see if he can help. He’s already looking into Jack.”
“Keep him on Jack. I’ll take care of the rest.”
Walking away from Mason I took out the cell, which only held one unnamed number. Pressing dial I waited for Nick to pick up.
“Trouble?” Nick whispered his voice out of breath like he’d been running.
“Yeah.” I said reluctantly, “Darcy took Olivia and Denny’s son.”
“Jonah?” Nick said the one word so full of anger I felt the chill even over the phone.
“Darcy shot him. He’s ok the bullet only grazed his neck.”
“Fuck!” Nick roared down the phone causing me to pull it away from my ear.
“Tell me you have something for me to work with Nick?”
“From what I’ve gotten from the others is Darcy was sent with Mika’s new boy about two weeks ago to get information out of someone in Denver. I’m guessing that someone she and the boy are looking for is Jack. But the thing that is bothering me is this new boy hasn’t been seen by anyone around the compound. Felix also found out that he has been on Mika’s pay roll for over a year now but this is his first job.”
“Is Mika keeping him hidden for a reason?”
“I think so and I think it’s connected to Jack, maybe even because of Jack.”
“Which brings us back to the start what do they want with Jack?”
“Jack has information Mika wants.”
Motherfucker, goddamn shit.
“Jack knows about us.” I snapped.
“Felix and I thought the same thing but I think we’re just being paranoid. Jack’s a cop if he knew about us he would have reported it not sent Darcy and Jace the newbie after him.”
“Jace?” I yelled not caring that I was in an ER parking lot with people now staring at me. “Jace motherfucking Owen?”
“Could be, you know him?” Nick asked surprised.
“Yeah Nick I know him. Tell me what is Jack’s last name?”
“I have no idea Shane I’m just telling you what I’ve heard around the compound. It’s not like someone is giving me information on a silver platter, I only know the cops first name and like I said about the new boy, Mika has kept him away from the rest of us I couldn’t tell you what the kids last name is.”
“Its Owen Nick.”
“They’re related?” Nick growled.
“Yes, Jace is Rachel’s brother and Jack’s motherfucking son.”
“Jack, Rachel and Jace are all part of the same family.” Once again I had to pull the phone away from my ear as Nick yelled every cuss word he knew in two different languages. “Vinnie betraying the Russians,” Nick finally said, “it has to do with that. Jack helped Olivia right and Darcy was sent to kill Vinnie. So Darcy must have found out where Olivia got the information from.”
“So Darcy is here to take out the two people who know about Vinnie’s fuck up and Mika’s embarrassment as he was in charge of the guy Vinnie was working with. I’ll buy that but why take Lucca?”
“Because Darcy and Jace want Rachel.”
Shit. “The only thing in the world Denny and Rachel would make a trade for, which mean’s Jack told Rachel whatever it is he knows.” I whispered it all making sense now.
Cussing loudly Nick took a deep breath. “Yes which means Olivia is expendable. You have to find her before they kill her Shane. I don’t need to remind you that if she dies everything we have worked for, for the last four years dies too.”
Fuck what we were doing; if Olivia died I would die. My life had been tied to her since the day I killed Alex and screwed Nick’s life so bad it would never be repaired. “I’ll find her Nick.” I said quickly as I ran to my car to do just that.
Chapter 17
Jonah leaned against the wall his gun pointed at a Denver gang member as I beat the leader of said gang. Jonah looked like shit and as far as Jonah actually being able to fire his gun and hit the target I had serious doubts. But right now I needed information quickly so I didn’t have time to play big brother or get better back up. That crazy bitch Darcy had my boy and nothing was going to stop me from getting him back. Pulling my arm back I hit the little shit in the face causing his teeth to tear through his lower lip. “One more time. Darcy used your crew to steal from me. Now I know you know where your crew is at all times, so tell me where the fuck are they?”
“Darcy paid me extra. Said she would pay more if I didn’t ask where she was taking my crew or ask what they were doing.”
“So let me guess you took the extra money instead of your crew’s safety.”
“Business over safety D you know that. Fuck your old man is the one that taught me, I know you know.”
Pushing the little thug to the ground I wiped my hands down my pants and turned towards the door. Darcy had paid to make sure no one found out where she was. Stupid bitch.
“Come on.” I said to Jonah guiding him out of the warehouse and back to my car. This was the sixth gang we’d hit and still no one knew where the fuck Darcy was. Shit half of them didn’t even know who Darcy was. There was a reason she worked for Mika and had been able to stay under the radar for four years spying on Olivia, she was like a freaking ghost.
“Who’s next?” Jonah asked quietly, leaning heavily into the car.
“We’re getting nowhere with the gangs, except for this one the others don’t even know Darcy.”
“We need to go higher, like a drug boss.”
“Yeah and there is only one drug boss in Denver stupid enough to fuck with us.”
“Adam.” Jonah sighed.
“Adam.” I repeated.
****
My head wanted to explode, my heart wanted to beat out of my chest and my stomach was trying to turn inside out. Mason had practically carried me into the town house. Nothing had ever felt like this before. I wanted to scream and cry but even those felt too hard to do. What would I do if Denny never found Lucca? How would I live without him? I wasn’t going to live without my little boy.
“Denny and Jonah are going to find him Rachel.” Mason said coming into the room with a glass of water.
“What if he’s hurt?” I said lifting my hand to take the water but found I couldn’t with my hands shaking so bad.
“Olivia’s got him Rachel she won’t let anyone touch a hair on his head.”
“Mason, Rachel you guys here?” Shark called coming through the back door.
“Living room.” Mason yelled as I jumped to my feet.
“Did you find them?” I said rushing towards him.
Looking over my shoulder at Mason I saw Shark shake his head. “Rachel we need to talk.”
Oh god.
Shark went to say something but his phone rang. Shooting me a pity smile Shark answered his phone while leaving the room.
A stream of cuss words left Shark’s mouth which had Mason and I running to the kitchen. Slamming his fist into the kitchen table Shark lifted the phone back to his ear. “How fast can you be here?” Shark said into the phone. Nodding his head Shark answered back. “Good. Stay out of sight when you hit the ground.”
I had no idea who he was talking to or what he was talking about but the anger rolling off him had my whole body bracing for what he was going to say.
Throwing his phone onto the table, Shark stayed facing away from Mason shaking his head violently. “Darcy was told to bring Jack back to Mika.”
Oh god, ice-cold fear spread through my veins causing my knees to turn weak, only Mason’s hand on my elbow kept me up.
“Taking Olivia and Lucca was not the plan.” Shark said his voice shaking.
“So Darcy is acting on her own?” Mason questioned his voice deadly quiet.
“Yes.” Shark answered back. Turning around to face me I was surprised at the heartbreak I saw in his eyes. Shark was completely and absolutely in love with Olivia. “Is there any reason why your brother Jace would be involved with someone like Mika and Darcy?”
Jace? Where the hell did that come from. “No.” I said shaking my head, “Jace isn’t involved in this.” Jace wasn’t a part of the underground scene, there was no way he would or could work for someone like Mika.
Mason’s hand tightened painfully on my elbow. “Denny and Jonah helped him.”
Turning his eyes on Mason Shark slapped the table. “Shit they did, after Adam beat him.”
What the fuck were they talking about? Jace was beat? When and by who?
“So Darcy took Jack, Olivia and Lucca with help from Jace?” Mason asked.
“That sounds about right.” Shark snapped pacing the room.
“Jesus.” Mason hissed.
Stopping in front of us Shark ran a hand through his hair and let out a long breath. “Question is why is she going against Mika’s orders?”
Mika the Russian mob’s drug lord the same name Shark said on the phone this morning. Fuck was it only this morning they’d followed Shark out to the farm and only this afternoon that I’d gotten back my family only to have it ripped away. Way too much for just one freaking day.
“Darcy wants something.” Mason whispered pulling me from my thoughts.
“Yes, which brings us to what do those three have that she wants?”
Turning my eyes on Shark I thought about everything I thought I knew about him. I didn’t know his real name, no way was Shark a real name, he didn’t look old enough to be more than a rookie DEA agent. This morning I’d heard him talking to someone named Nick. Nick who worked for Mika? Maybe it wasn’t just this Nick guy working for Mika maybe Shark was working for Mika too. Which meant he wouldn’t help me get Lucca back. Pain so bad I’d never felt anything like it before slashed through my heart.
Snapping I sprung forward knocking Shark into the table and took a hold of his neck. “I know you’re working for Mika!” I screamed making both yelling man freeze.
Mason grabbed my shoulder and started to pull me off, “What are you talking about Rachel?”
“This morning I heard Shark tell someone called Nick to get back to Mika before he got in trouble.” I shouted trying to keep my hold on Shark.
Moving quickly behind me Mason pushed me off Shark and grabbed his neck where I had been holding and slammed the smaller man into the table. “Why the fuck are you talking to Olivia’s brother?”
Oh shit.
“It’s not what you think.” Shark snapped pushing at Mason’s arm. “Now get the fuck off me.”
“Talk first?” Mason hissed with so much anger I felt myself moving away from him.
“I can’t.” Shark yelled.
Growling Mason slammed Shark’s body harder against the tabletop. “Talk!”
“I’ll talk but not in front of her.” Shark yelled his eyes darting to me with so much hatred I swear I saw the devil trying to surface.
Mason was about to protest but was stopped by his phone ringing. Letting a frustrated sigh out Mason used the hand not holding Shark to answering his phone. “Jonah what’s going on?”