I Beleive Now (9 page)

But it didn't happen.

So he put his blindfold back on and waited patiently while they entered and once again tied his hands behind his back. They tied them extra tight that time; so much for being alone and coming up with an escape plan. One more missed opportunity. He waited, expecting more punishment than just the pain in his wrists but it never came. They were evidently that confident.

Damn it! Damn it all to fucking hell!

This time,
this time
, he was
not
going to fail. There had to be a chink in this armor, a flaw in the overall plan. He had to figure out what that chink was and exploit it. He'd find out the weakness. That's what Max would do. Asher had given them all the reasons in the world to think he was compliant and cooperative due to fear and stupidity. It was going to now work to his advantage. He'd show them. All of their attention was most likely back on Max and what it was he was supposed to do for them. As long as he was still alive and he heard nothing, then Max was still at work trying to save him. He had to escape. It was going to let Max know he didn't have to worry about Asher as much as he obviously did. He'd finally make Max understand he could take care of himself. He was going to save Max from whatever it was they were demanding—if he could escape soon enough. He
would
do it. The next time they allowed him to be free enough, he was going to do it.

Hang on Max! I will save you again!

He laughed to himself at the thought. He was still scared shitless, but the time he had been in captivity had taken the edge off—or maybe he was just numb. He floated from moment to moment and knowing it was like that truly pissed him off. But he could do nothing while he was tied and blindfolded. He kept telling himself that. He needed to keep telling himself that.

He could do nothing.

Max! Where the hell are you? Can you save me? Do I wait? Are you waiting for me? Do I do something? Or is that going to screw up what you might be trying to do?
Why couldn't that phone call have lasted long enough for Max to at least have told him what he should do?
FUCK!

Oh god…

Oh god…

The blindfold soaked up the tears. He was grateful for that at least.

CHAPTER SIX

Kyo had called Lucca a little over a day later to inform him he was now in Chicago, and when could they meet? Lucca was pleased because he'd just talked with Jackson and things were setting up very nicely. The only glitch? For some reason Jackson was waffling on where they'd hand over the kid, but that particular detail didn't matter at the moment. He probably should pay attention to the fact the guy was pushing out over the edge a little more every day, stressing out over the stupidest things. But he was going to try to keep the peace and set up Kyo to go to whatever place the idiot finally chose. He was sure Kyo wasn't going to care in the least. He himself was planning on accompanying the truck with the "merchandise" aboard, to a remote airfield somewhere in Japan. There he'd meet up with Kyo's boss, turn over the truck, collect the huge sum of money they had agreed to, and then life would be on its merry way to being beautiful once again.

Lucca had asked Kyo where he was staying and Lucca had to laugh when he told him Tyler had set him up in a very posh hotel close to Club Rise. Of course he wasn't there today. He was at some dive, lying low, waiting for this meeting. He was officially arriving in Chicago tomorrow. Kyo told him for that reason, Lucca had to come to him. The less running around he did, the less chance he'd be spotted.

Lucca's car pulled up to the low class, dirty, one-story motel on a back street so badly located even Lucca felt a little sweaty and nervous. He truly hated filth. The light was dim so he knew he probably couldn't even see the worst of it, something he was thankful for. He'd have to tell his new colleague he needed to relocate or he may not survive the night. His driver parked the car to let his boss out.
Crap, do I even want to go inside?
Lucca sighed. He really didn't have a choice.

He told his driver to leave and when he was finished, he'd call him to come back and pick him up. He didn't want his beautiful BMW sitting in this filth, begging for delinquents and derelicts to come anywhere near it. Lucca had barely closed the car door before the driver took off, making it clear he also felt uncomfortable in these surroundings. Lucca chuckled but at the same time cringed. He certainly did not need a driver who spooked this easily. He was going to have to look into that. But for now he had to cement this arrangement and relationship. He still needed the information on the flight plan, as well as when and where the release of the merchandise was to take place. There was also the exact amount of money, and how the exchange would be made. He knew Tyler had to have all of that information but it didn't hurt to make sure it was the
same
information. He still didn't trust either side. So Lucca just needed to feel more at ease that this yakuza was truly going to betray Tyler and not him. He walked up to the room he was told Kyo was supposed to be staying in and hesitated knocking, holding his knuckles just off the surface of the wood. Right there, right where he would have touched the door was…spit? Snot? Something slimy and still wet, and there was no way in fucking hell he was going to…

Suddenly the door flew open and someone pulled Lucca inside.

"Shit!" Lucca nearly yelled out as the door slammed behind him. He yanked his arm out of the man's grasp and swung around to face his attacker. "Are you…Kyo?"

"Of course. What were you doing just standing there like an idiot?"

Lucca ignored his question and looked around the seedy little room, taking in the double bed Kyo had just flopped himself on the edge of, a small side table holding a lamp, and a clock that was flashing twelve o'clock. On the opposite side of the room was an old TV sitting on a shelf jutting out from the wall and just beyond it, a door in the corner hanging off its top hinge. The door most likely led into the bathroom. Lucca did not even want to look in there. There seemed to be a thin layer of dust or greasy film or…
something
…covering everything. There was also an unpleasant smell he could not quite identify—not that he wanted to.

"You may want to rethink your accommodations. If you don't get shot and killed, you might actually be eaten by the fucking germs in this place." He looked at the chair Kyo had indicated to him to sit on but after seeing something actually
move
on it, he was going to stand, thank you very much.

"Yeah, I probably should," he said in English, his Japanese accent a little heavier than when he was on the phone. "I picked this place because it is so far off of Mr Tyler's radar there's no way he is even going to know it's here, much less find it…or me."

Lucca huffed at his logic, not sure it really made much sense. He himself could never stoop this low to stay in something this bad. He really needed to hurry this meeting up. The sooner it was done, the sooner he could get out of there. "So let's get down to business. You're interested in keeping this route open with me and Jackson, right? And that's going to be without Tyler. I'll need to have all of the information concerning the route before that and what it is you expect us to do about Tyler. I don't mind being the one to squeeze the trigger, I just want to make sure we completely understand each other. That's all."

"You also promised me a gift, if I remember correctly." Kyo looked up at Lucca with a gaze he figured must have been confrontational. Did he actually think he would have brought the kid with him?

"The information for the kid?"

"Mr Tyler is giving you the information, Lucca. What he has is correct. We have to allow for him to continue to think you require it from him. We don't want him becoming suspicious. What you need to understand is, when Mr Tyler approached my…friend with this need to once again put together a route, I only allowed it for two very important purposes. Mr Tyler wanted nothing to do with this business in the beginning, and as a matter of fact, was hell bent on shutting it down. So it was quite a shock to have him change his mind, but I guess that's thanks to you and your partner.

"There is a serious and growing market for white children in…well, all parts of the east, as you well know. I wanted this route set up over a year ago. Of course it collapsed due to Mr Tyler's interference. Since then, I have tried to work with a number of individuals to try to get it back up and running but no one wanted to go up against Mr Tyler. Then, out of the blue, he's pushing hard to make this thing happen.

"So I think to myself, fine. Who better to do it than the great Max Tyler, the man who fucked it up in the first place? Even though he had no interest back then, I'm thinking he had to see the easy money and vast power available in this market and if he's not involved in it, he'll eventually be left behind.

"But of course now I understand. You have the much-rumored lover. He's only doing this to get his pet back. If I had not seen how, shall I say, anxious the man was, I would never have believed it. Mr Tyler is not the kind of man who is attached to anything but money and power. I finally feel confident this is truly going to happen. However, I don't like him and he does not like me. Let's just say it's personal. You don't need the details, but I truly want him dead and it no longer matters to me if he knows who is behind it. I thought in the past that I wanted him to die looking at my face but that never got me anywhere. In fact, it nearly got me killed."

Lucca snorted. He totally understood. He personally had never tried to kill the man but he knew Jackson had. Twice.

"So you see," Kyo continued, "I no longer care about that. I only care he dies. More so now than ever, and you should too. Because you have to understand he will have no reason to keep the route open, or you alive, once his cherished one is returned to him. In fact, he probably has your death set up already. He tends to like to make things like that spectacular, as well. You do understand that, right?"

Lucca cleared his throat. Yes, fucking with the devil was precarious business. "I do. We never intended to give back the kid in the first place and Tyler's death was always on the table."

"Good. Glad to hear it. I truly hate working with idiots, no offense. Since Max is the one personally setting up these meetings, he will have to show himself—or you can make him show himself in case he thinks otherwise—and when he does… Well, you understand, right? I will get this route set up and now that I am in direct contact with you, I will demand Tyler's head as payment. That, and, of course, the kitten you stole from him."

Lucca smiled. Kyo was telling the truth. Lucca prided himself on his ability to tell if someone was lying or not and he really believed this Kyo was telling the truth. He found himself sitting on the offensive chair and he cringed at the thought of it as he leaned forward, toward Kyo. "Don't worry. Jackson and I have his spectacular death worked out, too. I like the way you think, Kyo. I am the man for the job."

It didn't take long to relay the plans constructed on both sides and make them sync up but Lucca had trouble thinking and concentrating due to the smell in the room. He could not help but continually look around, hating every moment he was exposed to the filth and the disgusting atmosphere. He hoped he'd heard and understood all the details. The second they were done, Lucca could not remove himself from that room fast enough. He preferred to wait in the shadows outside for his driver once he called him than in the false safety of the room.

Luckily the driver was not far and arrived quickly. Lucca swiftly slid in and the driver sped away as fast as he could. Lucca planned on taking a shower at home. Hopefully the creepy crawly feelings were strictly his imagination and not bed bugs or fleas or whatever else could have jumped to his body in the short period of time he was in that sleazy, unclean room.

However, his mood had greatly improved since that morning, with the knowledge he had everything finally going his way. The route was all but ready and working, Max was as good as dead along with his empire, and the small problem the kid had become was going to be taken off his hands in a few hours. Lucca showed Kyo pictures of the kid but he wasn't going to let Kyo actually see him, no matter how much he insisted. Not yet. The pictures showed Madden bound, gagged, and blindfolded. They also showed his raw and bleeding wrists. If that was not proof enough the kid was their prisoner, too bad. Lucca was relieved when Kyo finally relented and moved on to his agenda for the next day.

Kyo said he was meeting with Tyler tomorrow and he was going to be taken to the warehouse where Tyler, not surprisingly, already had merchandise lined up. He called the man a maniac and Lucca knew exactly what he meant. Kyo said he could take pictures for him—Lucca need not concern himself with having to witness any of it. Of course Kyo had no idea Lucca had already sent in his spies and had all the pictures he needed. And naturally, he was determined to go in himself after he knew Kyo had been there. He needed to make sure everything was still on the up and up. If Max was going to pull a fast one, he'd have to wait until after his meeting with Kyo.

Besides, Lucca never trusted anyone anyway, even pictures. He needed to see it with his own eyes. And because of his cautionary measures, all the things he did to make this happen, soon the money and power he so richly deserved was going to simply fall right into his lap. He would be the one they feared now. Hell! He had a crazy Japanese yakuza on his side. Oh he knew it was a volatile relationship, based only on what one could do for the other. Lucca was young but not stupid. However, it was likely to be very lucrative for all three of them, so he was convinced they were going to have a long and lasting alliance.

* * * *

Kyo was, in all reality, Yoshida Atushi. He really did have a grudge against Max, which was the reason he was so convincing in front of Lucca. He allowed himself to remember Max had shut him down in America only two years ago. Max had stripped him of everything—his lover, his wealth, his status. He'd even threatened to send Atushi to prison. Once Atushi remembered all of that, it was easy to have venom in his voice when talking about wanting Max dead, because at one time, he truly had. Again, Max wanted everything to be real. Being real was one of the reasons he wanted Atushi as a part of his plan. Aside from a past with Max, he was Japanese and he was fearless.