by Ashley Nemer
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
He pulled into the restaurant's back alleyway and turned his car off. He hated having to resort to pulling favors from the so called 'friends' he'd acquired from the many different jobs that he'd worked on throughout the years in this town. He'd never called in a favor. Never. This was why he didn't get attached, this exact reason. Now he felt some sort of obligation to find Nadia and whoever took her, find them and kill the person who had taken the one he had found a peculiar attachment to.
"Mr. Ali," the hostess said. She bowed her head to him, showing a sign of respect as he passed by her, walking through the back door and moving to the booth towards the back of the restaurant. This was where he preferred to do his business.
"May I get you something to eat, sir? Something to drink?" She looked at him for just a moment. He watched her try to avert her eyes, but she couldn't help herself. His beauty and stunning features made it hard for those who knew him to divert their attention elsewhere.
"Water, that is all." A monotone tenor escaped his lips when he spoke to her. She hurried away and he waited, waited for his old 'friend' to show up.
"I didn't expect you to ever come into my place of work, Carlisle," a low, deep voice said from around the corner. He watched as Mr. Talbot walked up to the bench and sat down. He took off his hat and rested his hands on the table. One of his girls brought him a coffee, and he waved her away. He noticed that the man looked like he had aged since the last time he had seen him. What had it been, two years?
"Rumor has it, the friendly neighborhood reporter has been taken by one of the local brutes. You know anything about that?"
He watched Mr. Talbot's thumbs twitch and circle each other, he hated to be questioned and Carlisle knew it, especially in his own establishment.
"That depends, which reporter are you talking about? I've heard of a few going missing; you need to be a little more specific."
Carlisle brought his fists down on the table and raised his voice. "Now you listen to me, I heard she was a friend of yours too, so I'm calling in my favor; consider us even. You tell me who took her and where he is keeping her, or I'll bring down everyone who works with you and who helps you with all of your trafficking and any other ring you have going on out of this little front company you have here, Talbot. I came to you out of respect, now give me Nadia!"
Carlisle watched Mr. Talbot's body tense and the look on his face freeze in shock. "Nadia?"
"Don't play dumb with me. You and I both know you know what is going on in this town more than anyone else. WHO TOOK HER?"
"Carlisle, I have no idea. Whoever did it, it wasn't sanctioned; it wasn't approved. You know Nadia's a friend of mine; I'd not have been okay with that."
"You better hope that, when this all comes to a head, the story I find out matches what you just said because, so help, me if it doesn't, Talbot, you will be my next victim."
"Obviously there is some attachment with you two that I don't know about, so I'm going to excuse this outburst of disrespect in my home environment this one time … But Carlisle, you had better watch yourself. There aren't that many people who would go against the order we have established in town. You know that."
Carlisle nodded to Mr. Talbot and stood up to leave the booth. He paused a moment and turned to look into the eyes of his 'friend.' "You will let the bosses know, after this. Whomever’s man is responsible for this, I'm coming for that boss and I'll take him out too. We can't have irresponsible people running our city."
Mr. Talbot didn't speak. Carlisle looked into his eyes just for a second then walked out of the restaurant, got into his car, and left.
