The Dominator (60 page)

“What took you?” he snarled.

“I had to pee, honey, holy shit; relax.” I put my seatbelt on.

He made a growly sound and backed out of the barn. He’d closed the jeep inside and locked it last night.

Twenty minutes later he had coffee in him and he sat in the car in the local country department store while I went in, his credit card in hand, and bought a coffee maker, a toaster oven that had two hot plate burners on top, plus a broom and a mop and bucket.

He was talking on his phone, well mostly listening and “yeah, yeah” –ing as he drove me across the street to the grocery store. I went in and per his directions bought enough food to feed us for about a week.

When I got back out, he got off the phone and we loaded the groceries into the back and then he drove us back to the farm.  He blasted the music all the way back. It was loud Metallica and he drove too fast, bordering on reckless. By the time we got back I was feeling kind of grumpy, too.

He helped me get the groceries up the stairs and then he told me he’d be back in a few. He left the loft, dialing a number as he left. I lit a few scented candles, put the groceries away, and then started to sweep the floors in preparation for a mopping. The place wasn’t particularly dirty but if we were staying here for up to a week it certainly was a little dusty and filmy and dead buggy so I was going to give it a thorough cleaning. I saw him out by the pond on his phone and he looked like he was reading someone the riot act. I couldn’t hear him and didn’t really want to, anyway. If he’d wanted me to hear the conversation, he’d have made the call from here. 

When he came back in, I had the single serve coffee maker set up, I had the place smelling better, looking cleaner, and then I offered to cook breakfast for him. He nodded and sat on the sofa and put his head in his hands. He looked exhausted and stressed.

I cooked him an omelet and some toast. He ate and then he passed out on the couch, his phone lying on his chest. Almost two hours later his phone rang. He bolted awake and grabbed it,

“Dare!” His expression dropped and he was silent for a few minutes, listening, but his eyes were intense and his jaw was tight, “Seriously? Okay, yep. Right. Call me later, Bye.”

He put the phone down.

“Sit,” he said, patting his knee.  I hesitantly walked over and he pulled me into his lap and kissed my head.

“This is further blowback from Mexico. There was a relative of Castillo that’s local. We thought we got him but that was a decoy. He’s the one who arranged the shootout in the house the day we came home from here last time.   Jimmy was shot last night; he’s in the hospital in intensive care.”

“No!”

“We had the security footage checked and some chick at the gate coaxed our guys to open the gate and then two other guys showed up and abducted them. I got us out of there just in time. Another 30 minutes and we’d have been shot up in our sleep. Someone cloned Eddy’s phone, he left it on the bar at the restaurant, and so they texted me like Luc was in labor. They were just trying to get us all to the hospital, planning a shoot out there, since they didn’t get me at home and couldn’t get into Pop’s. They got into Dare’s apartment but he shot their guy. He, Tessa, and the boys are fine.  But…” Tommy took a deep breath, “Pop and Lisa, they were asleep when the text came through but Lisa’s phone was dead and Pop never checked his voicemail or texts. She got it this morning and they drove to the hospital before talking to anyone. Pop got shot twice in the hospital parking lot. Once in the shoulder; once in the gut.”

I gasped.

“He’s in surgery.”

I put my arms around him and squeezed. He hugged me back.

“My two guys watching our house last night, found dead. Jim in ICU, Pop in surgery right now, my sister and her kids in hiding, Pop’s wife beside herself. We got her with Tessa and the kids.”

“Luc and Eddy?” I asked.

“Eddy got them out of town at his folks’ cabin. He’s trying to keep my sister calm. He’s bringing her to Tess and Lisa today.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah, it has hit the fucking fan. I’ve got a few of our guys dealing with things. Dare and I have cleanup in progress.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means we’re safe here and that I won’t bring you home until it’s safe.”

“Okay.”

“Tia?”

“Yeah?”

“Your father was moving drugs for someone affiliated with
these
guys, owed them a lot of money.”

My hand came up and covered my mouth.

“Your father has hours, days at most. He might already be gone.”

I pulled away from him, ran to the bathroom, and promptly hurled my omelet into the toilet. After I finished brushing my teeth I heard Tommy’s phone ringing.

When I came out, he wasn’t there. I looked out the screened-in doorway and he was outside by the pond again, talking on the phone, pacing. He looked up at me and jerked his chin in a “You alright?” kind of way. I nodded. He started walking toward the barn. I sat on the sofa. He was with me a minute later.

“How’s everything” I asked.

“Same,” he answered, “I feel fucking helpless right now. Sitting around waiting is not something I do well.”

“Tommy.”

“What?”

“Can you please hold me?”

He grabbed me and held me tight. He took me to the bed and we got under the covers and just held each other for a long time.  His phone rang after a while and I saw it had Dario’s name on the screen as he lifted it to his ear, swiping the screen with his thumb.

I got up and filled the kettle and turned it on to make tea.

“Fuck. Okay,” I heard him say, “Fuck! Yep.”

He got to his feet, “Do you drive?”

“Drive?”

“Do you know how to drive a car?”

I nodded, “I only have my learner’s permit, but I can drive, yeah.”

“Okay, I’m taking the Harley. I’m leaving you the jeep keys and I’m leaving you a gun.”

“No.”

“Yes. Here.”

He showed me how to take the safety off and lifted the screen on the back wall of the loft and then pointed the gun out the back doors and taught me how to shoot.

Afterwards, he put the gun down on the table and took me by the shoulders.

“Jimmy didn’t make it,” He said.

My hand covered my mouth.

“I have to go deal. I want you to stay here. Here’s a phone, it’s a burner. Don’t turn your
iPhone
phone on.” He reached into the knapsack from the storage garage, “I’ll program burner numbers for me, my brother, and Nino.” He looked at the flip phone in his hand and started hitting buttons on the new flip phone. If you need them cuz you can’t get me, call one of them. I should be back tonight. If I’m not back by tomorrow morning, I want you to call my brother for instructions and he’ll get you with the other girls. Don’t turn on your regular phone until I tell you it’s okay. It’s over there with the card pulled.” He motioned to the counter, “And don’t use your computer online with either phone as a hot spot or anything. I don’t know if anyone is tracking your social media accounts to try to figure out where you’re logging in from.”

I started to cry. Poor Tessa. Those poor baby boys.

“Athena, don’t, don’t fall apart. My girl is tough enough to handle this, okay?”

I nodded, “I’m just thinking about your poor sister, your nephews. Your whole family. You. Don’t get hurt, Tommy. Please. ”

“Baby. I’ll be fine,” he said, with conviction, “You’re safe here. No one knows where this place is; not even my family. I’ll be back as soon as possible, okay? Sleep with the gun under your pillow. Do not hesitate to use it. It’s not scary.” I squeezed my eyes shut tight. He took my face into his hands, “It’s not. Look at me. It’s not scary; it’ll protect you.”

I nodded, “I won’t sleep until you’re back. Don’t get hurt.”

“Don’t be afraid to sleep. This is a safe house, baby. I’ll hurry back to you. I’ll call when I’m on my way back.” he said and then he kissed me hard and I sank against his body and wanted to memorize the feel of it. He gave me two keys. One to the jeep and the other to the padlocks downstairs. He backed away, grabbed the knapsack, and went down the stairs.  I followed him. He pulled the motorcycle out, kissed me again, and told me to lock the door. I did. I watched him drive away from the window and then went back upstairs. I wanted him to be okay with every fiber of my being.

Tommy

Jimmy was shot three times and didn’t survive.  But the thing was, I still didn’t know what side he was on when he died. He acted like he’d forgotten she’d given the guns to him and he’d been all sketchy when I’d asked him. He’d put them in the gun safe in my office, he’d said.  They were there when I’d looked but I’d still thought it was strange that he’d acted that way and that he hadn’t mentioned them. Now, knowing I was supposed to be taken out in my sleep, I wondered if he’d neglected to tell me about it on purpose. Was he in on it?  He was a friend of mine and Dare’s, had been good to my sister, was dad to my two nephews, for fuck sakes, but he was ambitious. Was he so ambitious that he wanted to take me out? I didn’t wanna believe it.

Pop was just out of surgery, he had serious injuries and the prognosis wasn’t great. We were getting news from Sarah because if a Ferrano stepped foot on hospital property they’d likely get shot. We were worried they’d target her because of her association with us but she insisted on being at the hospital. Pop’s room was under guard by a security company we’d hired through Zack, my PI. I was meeting my brother and we were going to end this.

Tia’s father was just a pawn. He was probably approached and likely offered some deal or something if he double crossed us. Or maybe he was just selling the drugs for them as a coincidence. I didn’t know yet what the deal was but it’d obviously backfired. Pop had something to do with O’Connor getting busted, for sure. I didn’t know how it all factored in with Jimmy, Pop, and the two guards at my house getting shot and I didn’t know how Tia’s cell phone number had gotten out but I knew it had to all be connected.

It took a lot to leave Tia by herself. If I hadn’t been 100% confident that no one knew about the farm’s existence, I wouldn’t have done it. If I hadn’t been 100% confident that she’d listen to me and stay put, I wouldn’t have done it.

I was wrong. On both accounts. She wasn’t safe and she didn’t listen. Thank God she didn’t listen.

Tia

As soon as he left I was pacing the hayloft and felt like I was going to crawl out of my skin so I decided to take a walk. I went for a wander of the property and kept the flip phone in my pocket. I walked for a while, until I found what appeared to be the property line, a small wooden fence that bordered a thick and dense forest. Up until that point, it’d been woodsy but not dense.  I decided to walk back. As the barn and house came into view, ice pierced my veins because I saw two men approaching the house on foot.  I dropped into the tallish grass, I was still hundreds of feet away, and I stayed put.

Damn. The gun Tommy had left me was under a pillow, inside the pillow case. Not that I felt like I wanted to use it but at that moment it’d make me feel better to know I could at least point it at someone and get them to leave. The keys to the jeep were in my pocket right now because as I’d come out I had unlocked the door and stuffed the keys in my pocket with the flip phone. I hadn’t re-locked the door.

I thought about the upstairs. Anyone going inside would know we were there. Beyond the jeep being parked there and the refrigerator full of groceries, was a bag with mine and Tommy’s clothes lying on the floor beside the bed. Damn. Tommy had a complete false sense of security about this place.

I dialed his number. He didn’t answer.  I dialed Dario’s number, it went right to voicemail. I called Nino.

“Yeah?”

“Nino, it’s Tia.”

“Hey, Doll. You okay?”

“No. I’m crouched in a field at Tommy’s safe house and there are men approaching it.” They had scoped out the house and obviously determined it wasn’t inhabited so approached the barn.

“Shit,” he answered, “Where’s Tommy?”

“I don’t know. On his way down there, I guess. He left me here.”

“Stay hidden, I’ll call you back. Turn your phone to silent.”

“Okay.” I hung up and turned the ringer off. The men had gone inside the barn.

Time ticked by real slowly and then I saw them come back out and talk for a minute by the door. Then one man headed toward the road and the other went back into the barn. Fuck. One was leaving and the other was waiting, presumably, for Tommy to get back.

My phone light up.  Nino calling. I answered it with a whisper.

“What’s happening?”

I told him, in a low whisper about the fact that two had come but one had left and that the other was inside. I told him the guy had a gun and that there was also a gun up in the loft in the pillow.

“I can’t reach Tommy or Dario. Maybe I should come get you. Where, exactly, are you?”

Damn. Tommy said no one knew where it was. I mean, obviously he was wrong, but should I tell Nino? Nino was practically family to me and obviously Tommy trusted him but Tommy already suspected James had defected and there was what Earl did. Was Nino loyal to the Ferrano family? Tommy obviously believed in him enough to put his number on my phone. What should I do?