LAKE
Ten minutes to take off, and I was already buckled up on the jet when my phone notified me that someone had broken into my safe. I opened the app, and my wife’s face showed on the hidden camera inside the safe.
“What the hell is she doing?” I trusted her, and she was not the kind of person who stole some cash from me, knowing that she had cards with her. Something was wrong. “OB?”
“Yes, boss.” He quickly came to me.
“Tell the captain to cancel the flight.”
“Why, what’s wrong?”
“Maverick is in trouble.” My heart raced so fast as I unbuckled and rose from the seat. “Call Homer. I need to talk to him. It’s urgent.” I grabbed my hand-carry and dialed Linden.
Owen went to the cockpit to inform the captain.
“I need backup. Trace my car and tell them to follow me.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked in urgency.
“I’m about to find out, but this is not good. I’ll call you back.” I hang up the call.
A few moments later, the captain came. “What’s wrong, Mr. Winston?”
“I need to get off this plane right now. Something came up at home, and it can’t wait.”
They had no choice but to open the door, and I walked down towards the hangar.
Owen called my name, “Huxley is on the line.”
I grabbed the phone from him. “Homer, where’s my wife?”
“I left her in the penthouse. She said she would be staying home all day.”
“Go check her up. Something is going on, but don’t spook her. Give whatever she asks.”
“Anything else, boss?”
“That’s all. Don’t push her. Don’t ask too many questions.”
“All right, sir.”
I gave the phone back to Owen before I climbed into the backseat of the car. I wanted to call her and ask her what she wanted, but she might lie, or it would put her in danger.
Linden called me back. “You’re at the hangar?”
Memphis went behind the wheel.
“We’re leaving. Something’s wrong with Maverick. She looks upset. Can you trace her phone and the GPS of her car without spooking her?”
“Don’t insult me, Winston. Of course, why didn’t you put a tracker on her car? You can trace her iPhone and her car, too.”
“I’m aware of that, but I don’t track my wife because I trust her. Right now, I have a feeling she’s putting her life in danger. Just do it, Linden. Please? This is a matter of life and death situation.”
“Okay, man.”
The moment he hung up the call, Terzo called.
I answered, “I can’t talk to you right now.”
“Figured you already knew.”
“About what exactly?” Knots coiled in my stomach as I replied.
“Maverick is gonna get herself killed.” He gritted out his words.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I felt like I just lost half of my life. Coldness wrapped around me, getting me chilled.
“You people just keep your money in the bank and get richer? So dumb to die, don’t you think?”
“Get to the fucking point, Siciliano!” I growled over the phone as thousands of scenarios pinged in my head.
“Some low-life thugs took Augustine from her house. I have a pretty good fucking idea what they want.”
Fuck. “I have some people, and I’m meeting them right now.”
“You mean useless people? You can’t get your hands dirty, but I can.”
“Don’t act impulsively, Terzo. You’re going to get my wife killed.”
“You shouldn’t have taken her safety lightly. My guess is you don’t know who these people are. I have a pretty damn good idea about them, and soon they’ll be lying in their pool of blood for hurting my sister.”
“Terzo, listen to me-” I groaned when he cut me off.
“No. You listen to me, Winston. I would never put her in harm’s way, and I’ve dealt with this kind of situation many times I could count, and I’m the best person capable of handling this. Whether you like it or not, you need my help. You don’t have to ask me because I’m volunteering myself, and that’s my baby sister’s life is on the line, asshole. If they ask for money, the moment they have it, they will kill them to tie up loose ends. Do you want that?”
“Wait for the backup, Terzo, or you might spook whoever took Augustine.”
“I don’t take orders from you, and the longer I wait and talk to you, the more you’re putting their lives in danger. And let me guess, they asked for money.”
“How did you know?”
“What else do they want? Thugs want quick cash.”
“Or are these people one of your enemies?”
“We don’t take hostages, Winston. Learn it from me right now.”
Goosebumps erupted on my skin. My jaw locked hard when I realized he could be right. “Don’t do this alone.”
“I know where she is, do you?”
“We’re tracing her phone.”
“If you can find her faster, see you there.” He hung up the call.
“Fuck.”
I stared at the phone screen. Another call came in. “Yeah?”
“This is Jacques Lynx. I’ve divided the team. From the info Linden gave us, your wife’s car is going in the opposite direction from her grandmother’s home, but she was there for about two minutes and left. Team B heads the house as we speak, and I lead Team A, heading in her car’s direction. I’m sending you the possible location, but you have to keep your distance.”
“They took my wife’s grandmother and used her as leverage.”
“That makes sense.”
“I put you on speaker so you can give direction to OB.”
“I’m listening, bro,” Owen spoke.
“Keep your distance as soon as you reach the location. You know the drill.”
“Got it, bro.”
“I just shared her live car’s GPS. See you there,” Jacques said.
Owen redirected the GPS screen to the feeds from Maverick’s car.
“How far are we?”
“Twenty minutes,” Memphis said, “Her car is still moving.”
I sighed constantly in the backseat. “Terzo was right. I just trusted her so much. I missed something here. Those people could have asked her millions, but I had only three hundred and forty grand in that safe, and she did not take them all.”
“We have no way of finding out the man who had been stalking her, and it seems they knew your itinerary. The moment you’re flying for a business trip, that’s the time they put their plans into action.”
“You’re right, OB.” A knot formed in my belly.
“I would have received a warning from Osmium if there was a threat in your life. I know how thorough we are.”
“Because I’m not the target. It’s my wife, but why? And who are these motherfuckers?”
“We’ll find out soon enough.”
“We’re ten minutes out.”
“God, it feels like eternity.” I checked my watch, and I grew anxious in the car.
Jacques called back. “Mr. Winston, the perpetrators, two white men in a white sedan, have the money. It looks like they are communicating. Mrs. Bates is placed in a separate location where your wife is heading. Team B is tailing them but can’t move and apprehend the sedan while your wife and Mrs. Bates are not back to safety.”
“Just a heads up, there’s a partycrasher,” said Owen. “He’s with us.”
“Noted.”
We finally arrived at the location across the street.
“I can’t just stay here and wait,” I grunted in annoyance.
“We have to. Trust them and Terzo to do the job.”
I nodded with a heavy heart. “I feel so useless.”
“You’re not useless. You acted quickly, and despite this not being your scene, you managed to coordinate and put a team. If I don’t know you well, I think you’re a pro in handling management crises.”
“You could have fooled me. Don’t talk me out of this. You have no idea how guilty I feel right now.”
“So do I. I feel like I failed you.”
“Subjects are secured,” Owen informed me.
“How do you know?” I asked breathlessly.
“Our comms, boss.”
“I want to see my wife.” A huge weight lifted off my chest, and I could finally breathe.
“They’re taking them to Osmium for a check-up.” Owen drove towards the road. “We have a private doctor. How do you proceed? Keep it quiet or what?”
“I want those assholes found.”
“Consider it done.”