Chapter Eleven
“Damn it!” John growled.
He turned away from the door, resisted the urge to curse again, and tried hard to rein his anger in.
Losing his temper wouldn’t help Little Trixie. It was imperative that he keep a clear head.
But his imagination wouldn’t stop spinning wildly, telling him tales of all the awful things happening to Trixie right then.
Still standing on the porch of the mansion across the street and several doors down from Athena’s, he and Trevon had just discovered how dire the situation was.
“I’m calling them,” Trevon said, his phone already in his hand and on speaker.
John didn’t have to ask who.
The Daddy Guard.
Jack’s voice came on. “Hey, Trevon.”
“Hey. We have bad news.” Trevon went on to tell him about the vehicle. After giving him the gist, he delivered the kicker. “We walked across the street to check on the house they were at. It’s empty. For sale. And the door was slightly open. I think they broke in here and waited.”
John obviously knew all that, but just hearing it verbalized twisted his stomach into more knots.
“Shit!” Jack said. “I knew I shouldn’t have left her alone.”
“It’s not your fault,” Trevon told him. “You tried. Athena tried, too. We couldn’t make her stay. But we can get to her now. We’re on our way.”
“Loews of Hollywood. You’ll get there before we do,” Jack said.
John figured that was the case. The Daddy Guard mansion was in South Los Angeles, a full ten miles from Trixie’s hotel. Throw in traffic and you might as well be on the other side of the world.
But Autie Athena’s was maybe two miles away, if it was even that far. And John had experience driving fire engines through crowded streets, so he could easily maneuver his personal pickup.
He’d get there in no time at all.
“We’ll meet you guys there,” Jack said. “We’re mobilizing now.”
John was already running toward his vehicle, too far away to hear how Trevon responded.
Chapter Twelve
Even though it was an outdoor mall, it all seemed claustrophobic to Trixie as she rushed through the space.
That feeling didn’t have anything to do with the mall’s design—a large, multi-level oval cut out among a cluster of buildings. It had everything to do with the two men that were chasing her.
No, make that four men.
Somewhere along the way, two others had joined in the fray.
They were dressed similarly and had that same look, making her think they were all part of a team of some kind.
The mob? Mobsters didn’t really wear matching outfits, right? But these guys all had on jeans and tight t-shirts that stretched over their muscles. The clothes weren’t exactly the same color, but they were close enough to where it seemed coordinated or something.
She couldn’t concern herself with their fashion choices right now. What she needed to worry about was the fact that they all seemed hellbent on getting to her!
She used the stairs to descend to the third level. Casting a glance over her shoulder, she could no longer see her pursuers. Had she lost them? It had been a mad dash through that lastfloor of the mall. Perhaps she’d given them the slip in all the commotion.
After skidding to a stop along the railing, she looked down to the next level.
