One You Never Leave

by Lexy Timms

  True to the cyber age, the locksmith bought out his smart phone and swiped the card. “If you give me your email address, I’ll send you the receipt.”

  “Sure.” Emily gave him the email address for the bike shop.

  “Great. Everything’s good. I’ll be back in a couple minutes with the keys. Promise. It’s too cold out there to stay out too long.”

  “I appreciate everything you’ve done.”

  “I’m so glad that the locks are done,” her mom commented as the man left. She continued pacing the living room.

  “Mom.” It wasn’t a question.

  “What?”

  “What the hell’s going on? You’re acting like a caged animal.”

  “I guess I’m keyed up,” replied her mother. “You being in the hospital and everything. Are you sure you shouldn’t have stayed?”

  “Mom, please. I couldn’t have stayed there another minute. Just being in the hospital made me feel sick.” She didn’t mention being home didn’t seem to be helping either at the moment.

  “Where’s that husband of yours?” Amanda said, exasperated. “Dinner’s going to be late.”

  “Mom, please. Relax. You’re stressing me out.”

  There was another knock on the door.

  “Is it always like this?” said her mother. “No wonder your blood pressure is through the roof.”

  “For shit’s sake,” said Emily rubbing her eyes. “It’s probably the locksmith returning with the keys.

  Her mother moved to the door again. Opening it brought another rush of chilly air. “Who are you? You can’t come in here!”

  Emily turned to watch a couple of rough-looking Hispanics push her mother against the wall and barge into the apartment.

  “What the hell!” Emily’s heart jack-hammered in her chest. In a moment of lucidity, Emily pulled out her cell phone and tried to dial 911, but her hands were shaking too hard from cold and fear.

  “That’s her,” one of the men said gruffly, his accent thick.

  Emily clutched the phone under her blanket.

  A second man reached inside his jacket and pulled out a gun, holding it against her mother’s head; the other advanced on Emily.

  “Get out of my house!” she screamed.

  “Get up,” said the man, coming at her. He wore a leather jacket, though at this point Emily couldn’t see the patch. He wore some black diamonds on the front, which Emily knew was not a good sign. These men were not just criminals, they were dangerous criminals.

  “Leave my daughter alone!” cried her mother, frozen against the wall as the gun pressed against her temple. “Please. Can’t you see she’s pregnant?”

  “Yeah, we know,” the larger, big bellied man barked. “Get up or my friend here won’t hesitate to put a bullet in your mama’s head."

  Emily struggled to get up, scooping her phone as she did so and slipping it in her pocket.

  “You, mama, get her coat. She’s going on a little trip.”

  “Where?” Her mother had been a nervous wreck a moment ago with a locksmith, and now she was tough as a bear protecting her cubs.

  “Shut the fuck up!’” The guy close to her pressed the barrel of the gun harder against the side of her head. “Coat! Now!”

  “Please, Mom. Just grab my coat.” Emily felt the hot tears sting as they ran down her face. Where was Luke? Had these men come after him first?

  Her mother, visibly trembling, got Emily’s coat from the closet. Big-belly ripped it from her hands. He swung around to Emily and glared at her, as if begging for an excuse to hit her. “Put that on! Now! Or your mamacita gets it.”

  Emily struggled to get her coat on and do it up. It had grown tight over her belly. Please little one, stay safe inside me.

  “Let’s go. The Boss is waiting.”

  “What about her?” said the other, pointing at Emily’s mother.

  “You know what to do.”

  “No!” yelled Emily. “Don’t hurt her!”

  “No one’s getting hurt, little mama—yet. It’s not on the order. However, you need to move, snap! The boss is waiting on ya and he hates to be kept waiting.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Aftermath

  Luke stood alone in the back parking lot of his shop, shocked, not knowing what to do next. He couldn’t believe Okie had stripped his patch from him, especially on the say-so of Pepper. Okie didn’t know that Pepper was a DEA agent and Luke was sworn to secrecy. He scrubbed his face with his hands, stunned by the actions of his club’s president and the utter backing of them by people he thought of as brothers and friends.

  It was unfathomable.

  A crunch of boots on gravel caused Luke to whip around.

  “Hey, Luke.”

  Luke stared at Saks, who was wearing a dark wool coat, not his usual club jacket. Why was he here? Why wasn’t he wearing his Spawn colors? “Did you know?”

  Saks shrugged. “I didn’t think it was right, so I handed in my jacket.”

  Luke stared at him in surprise, shocked, and, in a strange sense, honored that Saks stuck up for him against the Hades’ Spawn. He then grew angry that they pushed Saks that far or accepted the resignation. He didn’t know what was wrong with Okie, but Saks deserved more from the club than an easy out. “You shouldn’t have done it.”

  “Any club that would turn on someone like you? Not worth the effort. Besides, my family’s been after me to quit the club anyway. Conflict of interests.”

  “I thought you weren’t involved in the family business.”

  “I’m not. But since that tussle with the Rojos in August, they’ve been eyeing the club with suspicion.”

  “That’s on Jack Kinney.”

  “They know who did what and why. But they don’t trust that the DEA was all in the shit of the club.”

  “How did you know about that?”

  “There’s a reason that family is on the force, Luke.”

  Luke thought about how Saks’ cousin, Detective Anglotti, leaned on him and Emily, going so far as to execute a search warrant for both his home and his business.

  “Shit,” said Luke. “Your cousin gave me a hell of a time.”

  “Yeah. For my part, I’m sincerely sorry about that. And we couldn’t shake that asshole Pepper’s tree. He’s good. I’ll give him that. But there’re certain members of my family who would kill him rather than look at him, so he’d better not get in their way.”

  “I thought wise-guys were legit businessmen now.”

  Saks chuckled. “There’s spin on every carousel. Come on, let’s get a beer.”

  The thought was tempting. The stinging rejection by the Spawn made Luke want to lick his wounds, but his wife and her mother was waiting on him for the groceries.

  “No, I have to get home to Emily. She must be wondering if something happened to me.”

  “Well, something did.”

  Saks’ phone rang, and he turned his back to Luke to answer it. “Fuck! No. You think? No, I’m right here with him. Yeah. See you in a few.” Saks spun to face him. “Luke, you need to keep your shit together, man,” his voice dropped to a level of alarm as he stared at Luke, fear now in his eyes.

  Cold dread washed over Luke. “What? What the hell happened?” His thoughts went straight to Emily.

  “Promise you’re going to keep your shit together.” Saks’ tone was urgent, and it frightened the crap out of Luke.

  “Yeah, just tell me what the fuck’s going on.”

  “This locksmith at your apartment stepped away for a few minutes to make some keys. When he returned, your mother-in-law was unconscious on the floor.”

  “I’ve got to get home,” said Luke, his panic rising. He started moving toward his truck.

  Saks grabbed him arm. “Wait, Luke. There’s more.”

  Luke swallowed hard. “Emily,” he whispered. “Is she okay?”

  “He doesn’t know, Luke. Emily’s missing.”

  “What?” Luke took a step back. “What?” He blinked,
and his heart hammered against his chest as a fear he hadn’t felt since he was a child flowed through him. “Who the hell did this?” His voice was cold as ice.

  “I don’t know.” Saks pulled his arm. “Come on. Let’s go. I’ll drive.”

  They left Saks’ winter rat of a beater car at the shop after Saks raced through and turned the lights off. Luke made sure every door was locked, though his hands were shaking as he did. Every instinct told him to get home as fast as he could and every second he couldn’t stole minutes from his life. Possibly Emily’s life. And our baby’s.

  Luke could barely see the road in front of him. His vision bounced as his fear gripped him. His focus cleared as he tried to calm his breathing. It was a good thing Saks was driving because Luke was sure he’d have an accident trying to tear his way home.

  Saks was on the phone with his headset in place, calling out names to his phone to call, and then leaving urgent messages or having terse conversations.

  “Yeah, tell Uncle Vits we need to know who did this. Who? Candidates are the Hombres or the Rojos.”

  “Or,” said Luke quietly, “her ex, Evan Waters.”

  “Hold on, Luigi. What Luke?”

  “Evan Waters. We’ve had restraining orders on him. He doesn’t leave her alone.”

  “Okay, Luigi, there’s this dick, Evan Waters, who’s been bothering her. You know about him? Okay then.”

  “And,” said Luke, letting a shiver of a sigh escape his lips, “my uncle.” He couldn’t deny that his uncle could be a part of this. With his crazy insistence that Luke go to Mexico to help run the family drug business, it made him a likely suspect.

  “Hold on, Luigi.” Saks looked at Luke. “What uncle? I thought you didn’t have any family?”

  My uncle, Raymondo Icherra. He came to my apartment. Said I should come to Mexico. He also said that I needed some convincing. I didn’t pay much attention at the time. I didn’t think he’d do anything like this.

  “Icherra? As in the Mexican drug lord? What, Luigi? You know about this guy too? The family is in talks with him? Damn. No one keeps me in the loop. Find out what you can Luigi. This is getting worse by the minute.”

  Luke slammed his fists on his thighs. “She’s in a high-risk pregnancy and shouldn’t have any stress. If anything happens to her or my son, there’s going to be hell to pay.”

  “Keep your shit together, Luke. We’re going to find out who has her. And we’re going to get her.”

  “We?”

  “Yeah. I’m calling in the troops on this one. No one is going to mess with my boss. Or my friend.”

  “I can’t ask you to do that, Saks.”

  “You can’t stop me, Luke. Listen. Here’s what you don’t know about me. My mom made my dad promise to keep me out of the family business. To keep my mom happy, he agreed, but it’s been tough, you know? I’m always the odd man out. People don’t talk to me at family functions much. I’m always coming into conversations where people stop talking.”

  Luke wondered if Saks’ was talking because he needed to or just to distract Luke as they drove.

  Saks shook his head. “College wasn’t exactly my thing, and the only thing I really liked was motorcycles. I worked shit jobs to get the money together for the Harley school. But even after that there were few shops willing to give an inexperienced guy a job. Until you. And while you didn’t sponsor me into the Spawn because you were too new yourself, you paved the way for me. For the first time, I had a place where I could be myself and the conversations didn’t stop when I came into the room.”

  Luke gave a terse smile. “Hell, Saks. I’ve seen guys with experience who couldn’t break an engine down and put it together like you.”

  “Still, you took a chance on me. I know I play it on the down-low, but you’re like the brother I never had.”

  Luke didn’t know what to say. In the Spawn, they all said they were brothers. By and large, the guys did stand by each other, at least until today. Saks was always a good employee and didn’t complain about things much. They enjoyed hanging out at club functions, and on road trips, but he had no idea that Saks felt that way about him. This only showed how close to the vest Saks played things. Heck, Luke didn’t even know Saks’ family was wise guys until last August.

  And now the guy went and quit the club for Luke’s sake.

  You couldn’t buy that kind of loyalty.

  They were almost at Luke’s apartment building, and right away Luke could tell there was a commotion. Police cars sat in the parking lot with their lights strobing, and his neighbors stood on their balconies in the sharp cold, straining to get a look at what was going on.

  “Good,” said Saks. “Luigi’s here.”

  Luke remembered this name from Saks’ phone conversation. “Who’s Luigi?”

  Saks smiled grimly. “You know him as Detective Anglotti.”

  “Luigi is his first name? Like in the video game?”

  “Yeah. At the station he uses Louis, but his birth name is Luigi. I used to tease him about it all the time. Might be why he’s got that chip on his shoulder when it comes to me. Where’s your parking space?”

  Saks swung into the parking lot of Luke’s building where an ambulance and police cars were parked at the entrance of the walkways. After parking in Luke’s space they both rushed over, only to be stopped by a uniformed officer.

  “This is a crime scene,” the officer announced.

  Anglotti walked to them “That’s okay, Stevens, this is the husband of the victim.” He glared at Saks. “What are you doing here?”

  “Making sure Luke gets home without crashing his truck.”

  “Well, you can go now.”

  “Can’t. Left my vehicle at the shop. I’ll just stick around.”

  “Then stay out of my way. Mr. Wade, I need to ask you some questions.”

  “Sure, in a minute. Where’s my mother-in-law?”

  Anglotti pointed to the ambulance. “She’s there. But she refuses to be transported.”

  “Does she need to be?”

  “She took a blow to the head and should be checked out.”

  “Right.”

  Luke made his way to the ambulance where Amanda had a blanket over her shoulder and a paramedic taking her blood pressure. A bandage was over her right eye, though blood bled through.

  “Mrs. D, what happened?”

  “They took her, Luke.”

  “Who?”

  “Two Hispanic men. I don’t know why.”

  “Oh for heaven’s sake! I’m her husband!”

  Sam Dougherty pushed through the police and almost ran to the ambulance, pushing Luke aside roughly when he got there.

  “Amanda, are you all right? What the hell happened here? Where’s Emily?”

  “If you don’t mind, sir,” said the paramedic, “I’m trying to get her vitals. Her heart rate is fast. With that blow to the head she really needs to be looked at in the Emergency Room.”

  “Of course. Take her.”

  “Sam,” said Amanda in appeal.

  “No buts about it, Amanda. I’ll be right after you, as soon as I find out what happened.”

  “Okay, Sam,” said Amanda with resignation, and she allowed the paramedic to bring her into the back of the truck and close the doors. As soon as they were shut fast, Sam Dougherty turned and rushed Luke, grabbing his jacket with both hands.

  “What the fuck happened here?”

  Luke stood stock-still, surprised and shocked that Sam laid hands on him. Luke quelled the instinct to react. This man was his father-in-law, and only bad things would come out of the two men exchanging blows.

  It was Anglotti who stepped forward and pulled on Sam’s arm. “Sir, I’m Detective Anglotti. Step away from Mr. Wade.”

  “This asshole has been nothing but trouble,” spit Sam. “Do you see what your criminal activities have brought on us?”

  “Sir, Mr. Wade is not being charged with any crime.”

  “You know what happened with that
club of his.”

  “Yes, and the men involved in criminal activities are under arrest and awaiting prosecution. I can tell you with certainty that Mr. Wade was not involved in their activities. He has been investigated and cleared by our investigations.”

  Sam glowered at Luke. “I know you’re responsible for this.” He pushed Luke away with a hard shove.

  Luke stared at Sam, his jaw clenched tight, cold anger washing through him. It was possible. If his uncle was behind this, then he was responsible for Emily getting kidnapped.

  “Now, what is your relation to Mr. Wade here?” said Anglotti.

  “He’s my daughter’s husband.”

  Yeah, thought Luke. Not son-in-law. Never that.

  “Your daughter being Emily Wade?”

  “Yes.”

  “Sir, we regret to inform you that your wife, Amanda Dougherty, has reported to us that Emily was kidnapped by persons unknown. We are currently investigating this crime. Do you have any knowledge of the events of this day?”

  “I was coming here for dinner with my wife, Emily, and this asshole.” He jerked his thumb at Luke. “And found this.”

  “Sir, since you have no other knowledge of today’s events, I’m going to ask you to leave the crime scene. We’ll be in touch if we have any questions.”

  “Fine. I have to get to the hospital anyway.” With a final hard stare at Luke, he turned and walked to his car.

  Luke let out a small sigh of relief that Sam Dougherty was now gone.

  Anglotti swung to face him with a notepad in his hand. “Now, tell me everything you know about who might have kidnapped your wife.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Kidnapped

  Emily rode blindfolded in the back of a car. That’s all she knew. She had no idea who took her or where she was going or what they were going to do. At least being blindfolded might be a good thing. She remembered from crime shows that if the criminals didn’t expect to return you they wouldn’t blindfold you.

  She shivered, cold, deeply frightened, and missing the strong arms of her husband. She focused on breathing, trying to stay calm for the sake of the baby, knowing if she got too anxious her blood pressure would soar and could cause more problems.