“We’ll find her, kill her, and put her in my fuckin’ cremator,” Words says.
While I agree with Words’ sentiment, she could be in any one of the fifty states. And if it was her, she’s unlikely to contact me as I’d requested, and tell me where she is. Unless she’s got a fucking death wish.
Bullseye takes out his phone. “Genie, get your ass in here. We need to know if we can track Toni.” He puts the phone down.
Seconds feel like minutes until he appears. But when the door bursts open, it’s not him, it’s Pippa.
Saint glares at us all before anyone can object to a woman appearing in church. It’s the VP she heads straight for. Standing behind his chair, she doesn’t waste time. “Freak kicked her out. But Toni had lost her purse as well as all her belongings when they fled from the MDMC, and she wasn’t going to politely go and ask for it back. So I took the initiative when I saw her leaving the clubhouse. I gave her a phone and some money to get her started. I also replaced her ID and sent it to her at the first address where she landed.”
“Why the fuck?” Bullseye snarls.
“Why?” Pippa’s eyes land on him, and to be honest, even I’m a little afraid of her expression. “Because I can track the phone I gave her.”
Saint pulls her down on his lap and plants his mouth on hers.
“Give me the fuckin’ number right now,” I demand.
“No!” Prez’s voice is like thunder.
I stand.
“Sit the fuck down!” Prez roars, sending me one of his death stares. Then he continues fast, “You call her? What’s she going to do but lie to protect her ass? Nah, we need eyes and hands on her.”
His rationale breaks through to me. Whatever I said to her, past experience unfortunately tells me, I wouldn’t be able to tell if she was being truthful. And what could she tell me? The why, perhaps, the when, and how. But it’s doubtful she’d be able to tell me where Alongi is now, and where he’s taken my old lady.
“Toni’s in Nebraska.” Pippa doesn’t wait to be asked.
“Nebraska? How the fuck did she end up there?” Bullseye slashes his hand through the air, then picks up his phone. He selects a contact and calls it. After a few rings, it’s answered.
“Tyrant? Bullseye here…Yeah, Arizona. We met at Big Daddy’s shindig last year… Yeah, I know it’s coming up again soon… No, we haven’t decided…We’ve got shit going on here, and that’s why I’m calling. Want to ask you a favour.”
He proceeds to sum up the situation. When he gets to the details, Pippa passes him her tablet. He chuckles loudly. “Get this, Tyrant. She’s running from one chapter of the Kings, only to land near another. She’s in your territory, Brother, right there in Turmoil. Yeah, here’s the address.” He reels it off. “You will?… Thank you…Yeah, as soon as you get something from her.” He pauses, then adds, “My recommendation was to end her, but the brother involved gave her a chance. It looks like he was wrong and I was right. Now she’s fuckin’ betrayed us. You do what youhave to to get to the truth, and…” his voice drops and becomes menacing. “If she’s … Yeah, Tyrant, thank you. We owe you one.”
He ends the call, shaking his head, then rubs his temples. “Tyrant is a good fuckin’ man to have on your side. Cross him? Well, your bitch, Freak, will regret she ever heard of the Kings if she’s gotten in bed with the Mafia. She’ll soon learn nobody fucks with us.”
“It won’t help,” I say wearily. Knowing where to find her, trusting our Nebraska brother to interrogate her, and end her, as I can’t think of any other way Alongi would have found Trixie, it must have been her – does nothing to help. We might discover how their paths crossed. I can’t see that Alongi would have divulged his plans. The best I can hope for is retribution, and that will do fuck all to save Trixie.
I’m the fucking enforcer. I was Delta. But that doesn’t stop me from putting my head in my hands, dropping my face to the table, and not giving a damn when an agonised sob bursts out of me.
“We’ll fuckin’ find her, Freak.” It’s Saint’s voice. Vaguely, I hear the door opening and closing, and when I pull myself together enough to turn my head his way, I notice Pippa is no longer sitting on his lap. “Pippa and Genie are doing all they can.”
“It’s like looking for a needle in a fuckin’ haystack.”
Rat’s right, but I don’t appreciate him pointing it out.
Is Trixie really lost to me? Is she still breathing? Has Alongi already killed her? Or has he reclaimed her? One thing’s for certain, a man like him? He’ll be punishing her for leaving him. And after five years… I don’t even want to think of what his anger could make him do. Now it’s an agonised wail that leaves my mouth, and I can’t summon up the energy to care what my brothers think of me.
Ignoring me, they carry on the meeting. Theories are proposed and dismissed. I’m only half listening. The truth is, we’ve less than fuck-all to go on. Trixie could already be in her grave, or halfway to New York. The thought that I might never see her again all but destroys me.
I should have claimed her five years ago, that first night together. I should have seen more than just a club girl then. Once the scales fell from my eyes, courtesy of course of some home truths delivered by my son, I knew she was the only woman for me. Is this my punishment for all the time I wasted with my head up my ass? Is the universe laughing at me?
Unwanted memories swirl around my head, recollections of how she looked when she first appeared at the club, and I hadn’t even seen the worst of it. So beaten and broken, six chapters of the Kings all offered her sanctuary.
Irish had seen something worth saving, and we made her a fucking whore. Why the fuck hadn’t I seen what she was then? I’d have had five years to track down and kill Piero Alongi.
The door opens again. This time it’s Genie. “I’ve found something.” The urgency in his voice puts a halt to my pity party. At once, I’m all ears. “I got the sedan. It headed out of town, but stopped.” Rushing in, he quickly hooks up his laptop and presses the button that summons the drop-down screen. Moving toward the head of the table, he picks up the pointer. “We caught a black sedan here.” He indicates a traffic cam on the outskirts of town. “But it didn’t appear here.” Now he taps a speed camera on the highway. “So, if it’s the one we’re looking for, it’s stopped somewhere around here.” He fiddles with his tablet, and a circle appears. “The only structure in that area is this, a small holding that looks abandoned. But there’s enough of it standing that it could be used to hide someone or…” his voice trails away.
Or a body.Hidden under the table, my fingernails curl into my palms so tightly they draw blood.
