MC: Brighton (14 page)

I think that through. “So I put my half of the bill money in the account for whatever we need?” He nods. “Okay.”

“We have one more stop and I don’t want you being pissed, so I’m going to tell you now. Your car is too big for you. You have trouble judging the distance from inside it. I have a car waiting at the dealership that would work better for you and the Brothers’ bikes would stay safe with you parking anywhere in a lot.”

I crack up. “I’m a lousy driver. I know it. I’m a nervous wreck parking anywhere near motorcycles. But I don’t need a car, Digs, I walk most places anyway.”

“You pulling in and out anywhere near my bikes is a concern for me. You need a smaller car and I’m counting it as a cheaper way to save my bikes.” He’s smiling, but I know he’s serious because his eyes aren’t.

“Okay.” I finish eating.

He drives us to Main Road Motors and I smile at Racks. “Brother, Penny. I’m glad he’s getting you out of that boat and I have something you can drive.”

Does everyone know how bad I drive? “Thanks, I think.” He laughs and walks us toward a Mini. I look at Digs. “For me? A Mini for me?” I jump on him. It’s gray with lavender racing stripes.

He catches me. “Jesus, you’ll stretch your stomach, Pen.”

“You bought me a Mini!” I can’t believe him.

“Lucky bastard,” Racks says, handing him the keys.

I laugh as he puts me down. “You drive this and when you’re comfortable we can go bigger, something that might fit a car seat.” He’s smiling. This time his eyes are too.

“Okay!” I get in when he opens the door.

The passenger seat is all the way back and he squishes himself in. “Christ, this is small.” I smile and drive us out of the parking lot and down the road. “It’s already better, isn’t it?”

“Yes, I can see everything from here. You’re the best boyfriend! I love you, Wesley Brighton.”

“Love you too, babe. Get me to my bike before I need a can opener to get the fuck out of this thing.” I laugh and drive him back. I kiss him before he gets out.

“Making me grow could kill me in here.”

“Oh, sorry. Thank you for the new car.” He laughs and tells me he’ll follow me home. I drive with no problems. He was right. My car was just too big. I even pull in the garage with no problem and I’m not anywhere near his motorcycles. I need to thank him. I never had a reason to thank Lenny and he always told me what to do when he thought he deserved it. When Digs pulls in and parks on the motorcycle side I walk over to him. I can do this. I give me a pep talk and put my arms around his waist. He’s surprised but not mad. I pull on his shirt to kiss him and unbuckle his belt.

He stops my hands. “Whoa, babe, what’s all this? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for whatever you’re about to do, but I have a feeling it’s for the wrong reasons. What’s up, Pen?”

I look down. How embarrassing. “I wanted to thank you for buying me a car.”

He lifts my chin up. He’s smiling. “I’m all for that. It’s not necessary, but I’ll take it. I don’t think you want to do that here, the contractors are finishing the patio up tonight.” Just as he says it a man comes to the garage door, calling his name. Oh, fiddlesticks! That would have been even more embarrassing. Digs smiles down at me. Oh dear. I look at the floor.

“Yeah, Chris?”

“I need to know what stain you want. Danny said to check with you, but he thought oak.”

“Oak sounds good,” he says, not even moving to buckle his belt. When the steps fade away I see his hands buckle his belt, then he lifts me from under my arms. I put my legs around him and hold on. “I have a couple of things to do on the computer. How about you show me how happy you are with the car when I’m done?”

He’s smiling, so I smile. “Okay. Thank you.” I kiss him until he growls. I unwrap my legs and he sets me down. I can’t help smiling. I hope he’s quick with his work.

We ride into RI at a smooth seventy-five with Sticks clearing a path. I’m relieved Danny isn’t pushing faster. I can relax and actually follow along with the chatter in my ear a lot better than last week. Knowing both sides of the OPs helps, before Sticks says something I’m anticipating Danny’s movements.

A couple blocks away, Danny pulls over. We’re waiting for Chet and Lyrec. “When we go in you find the kid. Don’t step in the room—”

“Before I check for cameras,” I cut him off.

He smiles. “Yeah. You’re going to want to get the boy out of whatever he’s bound with but hold off. We need to shut the cameras down first.”

“I can do that while someone else goes in.”

“You will, but I want you to see the scene in person. It’s a lot different than on video. Once you find him, keep him calm so you can loop the feed.” He’s intense and serious. I nod. The kid’s already on camera. Now I’m going in just to see the scene and calm him down. Shit.

“How far out are they? We fuckin’ coasted here,” Danny asks Sticks. I know Sticks is rolling his eyes because that’s what we do. Danny’s always impatient. This is why VP and Rich has them roll together.

Sticks: “LP1, they’re two out.” He gives it a minute, then starts his bike.

Danny: “We’ll come from the west side. There’s an empty lot two blocks down.”

Rich: “Roger, LP1. They’ll have a block on you but come in right behind.”

Danny: “Roger, LP2.” We ride the outside block and pull into the empty lot. There’s a building shielding us from the apartment house. I still can’t believe we’re heading into a tenement house. Our target is the second floor. Jessie pulled video from the entry last night. We now have open access. The money they put into this operation is nuts. They’re backed by big money that’s been hard to get to. It’s only a matter of time, but every time we get close they change it up and we’re scrambling to catch up. If we had nothing else going on we’d be done with this, but dedicating a couple days a week just isn’t enough. Now we’re down to one. We’ll be rescuing kids for years this way. “LP2, we’re moving into the entry.”

Rich: “Roger. We’re covering the feed, LP1.” We move up the stairs without a sound.

Danny keys his mic twice.

Rich: “Your backup is right behind you. You’re clear, LP1.” As soon as Rich finishes the sentence Danny’s foot is hitting the door. He walks in with his gun pointed. Then ducks. I swing back and hear the bullet pass by. Sonofabitch!

Danny is up and moving, firing as he walks. I’m behind him and see he’s clear, then turn down the hall. I open the first door and stand aside. Nothing happens, so I swing around with my gun trained in the room, then let my breath out. I motion for them to be calm and stay put. They don’t move. I go to the next door and do the same thing. Thank God it’s clear. Danny’s talking to Rich, but I’m focused on clearing the rooms and it’s not registering. The last is the bathroom. I check behind the curtain and get surprised by a man in it. I point my gun down, hit him with my left and shoot his leg. He goes down and the broom falls to the floor.

“Nice shot. I would have gone for the toes, though, that hurts more,” Danny says from behind me.

“I’ll remember that next time.” I pull out the duct tape and hand it to Danny. I need to get the feed looped so we can get the kids out of here. This was supposed to be a boy and that was bad enough. Now we’ve got a fuckin room full of kids. I find the computer in the living room and pull my laptop from my backpack, setting it on the side and hooking in. Chet comes in and goes right down the hall. His partner stands at the entrance to the hallway. Danny tells him to look in the other bedroom for some shirts. He’s talking to Rich to get Cleanup and some help with the kids, but I’m hooked in and tune them out. When I control the feed I yell, “Clear!”

Danny: “He’s not here.”

I register noise upstairs and go to the entryway. Danny is right behind me. On the landing I stop to listen, but Danny runs up the stairs. Fuckin’ guy could have said something. I follow him up. He kicks the door in and waits. Nothing happens, so he steps in. VP had us all in full dress and I’m thankful. The vest doesn’t cover everything, but it covers enough. While Danny walks through I see the camera trained on the hall. “Stop!” He freezes. “Camera at the hall. Don’t step into the view.”

He looks around and steps back. “Nice catch.” He talks to Rich while I run down for my laptop.

The kids are all in the living room and Chet is talking to them, writing down names. Lyrec is getting them water and has cookies on a plate by the laptops. When I step in the room the kids squeeze closer together. “I need my computers. Do you know if a boy is upstairs?” I try to sound gentle, but they look scared.

“Another boy and girl were here. They got taken somewhere else,” a little girl says. She’s looking at the cookies.

I take one and hold it out to her. “Thank you, I think they might be upstairs. These cookies are for you. You can all have some.” A boy reaches for one but moves his hand back when I reach for the computers. I put one on top of the other and push the plate closer to them. He grabs the cookie fast and shoves it in his mouth.

Me: “Sticks, can you have Cleanup bring at least eight happy meals?”

Sticks: “Roger, Digs.” They’ll bring more, they always do.

I run up the stairs and set the laptops on the counter and look for the second feed. This is the third separate feed for the house now. The entry, the second floor, and the third hallway. I hope it’s hooked to the room too, but either way it’s a lot of money into this one house. Someone is going to be pissed. “Hallway’s clear!” I tell him.

He takes a couple of steps and stops. “LP2, we have a trip wire across the hall.”

Rich: “Stop! Don’t go any deeper. VP is eight out. Give him a chance to get there.”

Danny: “I can step over it.”

VP: “Stand down, LP1. Trip isn’t the only catch. Too many kids for just one. Too many feeds.”

Danny: “Roger, VP.”

Pres: “Thank fuck you listen to someone!” Pres growls out.

Danny laughs, then looks at me. “Thank fuck he doesn’t run my Ops. We’d never make it in a door.” I smile, but I remember when he got pissed at Pres. I thought he got shot too. I was so fuckin’ relieved to see him stand up. Pres handled it wrong, bringing him in, but he held it together until Bob had to chase him up to the Club. We had just lost Casper and Petey. I understood why Pres brought him in, but Danny didn’t. He still won’t let Pres run OPs for him.

I go back to hacking, trying to get into the feeds, because the hall is on its own. I need the next line, so I use the string from the last. “There has to be a computer around here somewhere.”

Danny is walking around, looking for it. “There’s a fire escape to the bedroom window.”

I look over at him as he’s unlocking the window. “No! If there’s a trip in the hall they could have the windows wired.” He slides the lock back in place and I breathe easy. Shit.

He pulls the mini blinds down and whistles. “The top has a wire coming from outside and into the casing.”

VP: “Bet explosive’s in the casin’. We’re one out.”

There’s a noise above us. Since this is the third floor, there shouldn’t be anything but rafters above us. Danny looks at the ceiling, then goes to the entry and looks up at the ceiling there. I go back to my code, hearing VP and Pres pull up. When I hear Pres talking I look over and see him at the door, looking up at the ceiling. I hear the creaking from the ceiling. Someone is moving fast on the rafters. Then the living room ceiling explodes and Danny is on a guy with his knees on his back as if he rode him through the ceiling. Jesus. He shakes like a dog and dust flies. “Computer is on its way,” he says as if nothing happened.

VP is laughing from the hole, looking down. “Worked out nice,” he says and I hear the creaking as he walks back toward the entry.

Pres is behind me watching, but he’s not saying a word and I can see it’s killing him. Danny’s taping up the guy with duct tape, but I think he’s out or he’s letting Danny tape him with no resistance. VP calls him to the entry and he brings me a tablet. Shit, I hate working on these. I look for a cord to hook it into my laptop. I didn’t bring my bag because it’s too heavy to carry on the ride and the Ducatis have virtually no storage space. I luck out finding a cord and get into the feeds pretty quick.

VP and Danny are looking at the trip wire and the windows. VP goes back to the hall. “If the feeds are in here we should have something for the traps, right?” Danny says.

Pres stands behind me, watching. “The boy is in the room.” I split the screen on the other laptop and pop the video up. VP comes over and bends in close. “I can put it on full screen.” I open it up for him.

“Remote?”

“No, it’s a straight shot.” We can’t see the door from the feed.

He points to the right corner and I zoom in on it. “Explosives? Fuckin’ kiddin’ me.”

Danny is in the hall. “They have to get in somehow.” He’s looking at the door jams and molding, so I go back to finding something on this tablet. “Here!” VP goes over to him.

I look up and see him getting ready to unscrew the switch plate with a pocket knife. I open another file and start checking the docs, then open them quick. “Got it, VP.” He comes over and looks at the screen to my right.

“Danny, stop. It’s a pressure switch,” he says.

“Fuck!” Pres says as Danny steps back with his hands up in front of him.

“One more turn and it would have been off.” He smiles at us.

“You would have been with it,” VP says. Pres runs his hands through his hair but still doesn’t say anything. VP goes back to the schematics on the screen. I hook him up a mouse so he can navigate through them.

I go back to looking at files. When I open a file it flashes numbers and a red button. “VP.”

He looks over, then at Pres. “Twenty-eight minutes the place will blow.”

“What? A fuckin bomb here with all these kids?” Pres goes to the stairs and yells for Tiny. “Get them in a truck at the vacant lot.”

“They’re almost done eating,” Tiny says.

“Get them out now. There is a bomb somewhere in the building. They can eat in the truck away from here.” I hear him say calmly.

I’m running code to see if I can shut off the timer. “Sticks, I need Geek.”

Sticks: “Roger, Digs.” About a minute goes by and I hear the click. I don’t wait for him to check in.

“Geek, there’s a timer on a tablet. It’s a live feed from somewhere in this house. There are trip wires and traps everywhere we look. How do we get into the room to get the boy out without blowing us and him up? We have twenty-five minutes according to the timer.”

“Send me the files and look for another computer or a remote,” he tells me.

“Already sent the files,” I tell him distracted. I’m looking around. A remote can be anything. The living room is a mess, but it could be in here. I take a step and realize it might be on the guy in the middle of all this mess. I bend over him and reach to turn him when he rears up. I punch him and pull my gun, pointing it at his head. “Where’s the remote?” He just looks at me. I look at Danny.

“Toes hurt like a bastard.” I see him move out of the corner of my eye and point my gun to his foot and shoot. He screams. “See, big guy like that screaming over his toes. Hurts like a bastard.”

“Got it. Where’s the remote?” He’s still whining, so I point to his other foot.

“No! He’ll kill me!” the pussy whines.

I shrug and shoot his foot. “Fuckin’ Brothers are all alike!” Pres yells. Danny laughs.

“Tie him up here. We’ll take the other kids out and leave him to blow with the place,” Danny says, pulling duct tape from his pocket. I mold it back into a circle and make like I’m finding the end.

“No! Just flip the switch to on and everything shuts off. I want to leave with the boy!”

“You leave when I leave,” VP tells him. Danny flips the light switch and VP nods to me. I drag the guy to the hall. He’s not whining, so Danny opens the door.

The guy looks at VP. “I want to leave with the boy. I’ll tell you everything, but I want to leave with the boy.”

“Not till we get in the other room,” VP says. He throws chin and I go back to the computer. Geek is moving files on one side as I’m running code on my screen. The clock isn’t stopping. I tune them out until I see movement on the side of me. Danny bends and puts the little boy on the side of me.

“The feed for the girl is looped. It’s the same thing as straight shot.” He nods and moves aside for VP.

“Same setup.” He looks at Danny.

Geek clicks in. “The whole third floor is going to go up. There’s not enough time to stop it.”

Danny goes to the door and the pussy starts yelling. I look at Pres. “You shouldn’t be here, Pres. You should bring the boy down and stay with the kids away from this building.”

VP nods. “He’s right. Need you out of here. Somethin’ happens least the MC keeps goin’.” He smiles. Fuckin’ VP.

Pres looks at Danny and I know what he’s thinking. Thank fuck he doesn’t say it. He throws him chin and fixes the boy’s shirt, then lifts him up, telling him he can go home soon. I watch him leave, then tell them, “Less than ten.”