We’d just gotten backto my apartment when Sean’s phone vibrated with a call. He looked at the screen and frowned. “It’s my mom.”
He swiped to answer it. “Hey, Mom, what’s up?”
I could hear her voice, high-pitched and frantic, even from several feet away. Sean’s face went pale. “Wait…what? Slow down…I can’t…What do you mean taken?”
My chest squeezed, and I was afraid I already knew what was coming next. Sean’s hand went to his mouth and tears fell from his eyes. “Oh God. No. No, no, no, no.”
And the big strong man, the one who held me up and had my back all the time, fell to his knees on the hard stone floor of my foyer. His phone slipped from his hand and clattered onto the granite tile as he put his face in his hands and wept.
I could hear Mrs. O’Neil still talking, calling for her son, so I picked up the phone. “Mrs. O’Neil, it’s Jeremy,” I said, frankly surprised at how calm my voice sounded.
Her voice was thickened by her brogue and garbled by her tears. “Jeremy, what are we going to do? They have my boy.”
I took a breath before I answered. I had an idea about who might be able to help, but I had to make a phone call first. “I’m going to get Sean back home to you, and I’m going to call someone who might be able to get us some more information. We should be back in less than two hours.”
“Thank you, Jeremy. Thank you.”
“You’re most welcome. Do you have someone you can call to stay with you until we get there?”
She sniffled. “Aye. I’ll call my friend, Kelly. She’ll come by.”
“All right, good. I’ll see you soon.” I ended the call and knelt in front of Sean. As soon as I touched him, he reached for me and pulled me into his arms.
“What am I going to do? I can’t…I can’t lose him. My baby brother… He must be so scared.” A sob tore from him as he held me tightly. This was his worst nightmare come true. I had to do everything I could to help.
I pulled away from him slightly and took his face in my hands. “I’m going to call someone who might be able to help. I’m going to take you and your bag into my bedroom so you can change while I make my call.” He nodded mutely. I rose and held out my hand to help him up, then I led him to my bedroom.
I closed the door behind me when I came back into the living room to call Tony. He picked up on the first ring. “Hey, Piano Man. Forget something?”
I didn’t bother with a preamble. “Tony, I need your help.”
His tone of voice changed instantly. “What’s wrong.”
My voice hitched when I answered him. “Sean’s brother has been taken.”
“Fuck.” There was a long silence. “Okay, I’ll be there to take you to his mother’s house. It’ll be about twenty minutes. I have to make some calls.”
I looked at my phone screen in confusion. “How did you know we were going to his mother’s house?”
“Where else would he go? That family is tight. It’s what I would do.”
“True,” I replied. “I’ll see you in twenty minutes.” Before I hung up, I added, “Could you come up here? I think it might help Sean if you talked to him.”
“Sure thing. I’ll see you in a bit.”
Sean was sitting on my bed looking at his phone when I returned to my bedroom. His jacket was off and his tie was undone, but he hadn’t finished undressing. I sat beside him and saw he was looking at a picture of him and Liam all decked out in Pride-themed shirts and hats.
“That’s a great picture,” I said carefully.
“Yeah,” he replied, his voice thick with emotion. “It’s from last year’s Pride parade in Asbury Park. Two months before he left for Syria.” His hand tightened around his phone as a tear rolled down his cheek. “What am I going to do? He’s all alone. I’m supposed to protect him.”
I gently took his phone from him and set it on the nightstand. “Let me help you get changed. Tony will be here soon, and he may have a way to help.”
“How?” he asked as I pulled him to his feet.
“I’d rather have Tony explain it. I promise he’ll be here soon.”
By the time Tony arrived, I’d gotten Sean to change, and I had his suit and duffel ready. Sean paced my living room, only stopping when Tony walked over to him and put his hands on Sean’s shoulders.
