Safe Word

by Teresa Mummert

Page 24

  Author: Teresa Mummert

  The sound of a door slamming loudly brought me back to the present, and I flew down the stairs toward the back door, which hung open. With weapon drawn I gave chase to a shadow that turned down the alley and slipped between parked cars. I jumped over the hood nearly falling on the concrete as I continued to give chase. He was winded and I was gaining on him. As he stumbled and tried to backtrack between a set of row houses, he was blocked by an old dilapidated privacy fence. I grabbed the back of his yellowing T-shirt and slammed his face hard against the rotting wood.

  He groaned as I brought the butt of my gun down into the back of his head. He collapsed onto the ground and I flipped him over as I struggled to catch my breath. It wasn’t Craig. This man was older, and his nose larger and crooked.

  “Fuck,” I yelled as I brought the gun down across his face, causing his cheek to split open, and a trail of blood oozed down, collecting in his ear. I cocked my weapon and pointed it at his forehead, pressing it into his flesh as I gripped his T-shirt in my fist.

  “Who the fuck are you?”

  He moaned but didn’t respond. I dug the barrel farther into him.

  “Answer the fucking question!”

  “I’m nobody. I was told to come here and wait to see if anyone showed. That’s all I know. ” He held up his hands in surrender.

  “Give me an address to who sent you. ”

  “The old Willington factory by the Hudson river. ”

  I let go of his shirt as I stood over him. I grabbed my T-shirt from the back of my jeans and slid it on quickly, tucking my gun safely in the back of my jeans and taking off through the houses to my car.

  Rose was staring at me wide eyed through the passenger window of the car. I rounded the front of the vehicle and slipped inside.

  “What happened? Was he there?”

  “No. ” I turned the key in the ignition causing the car to roar to life. I shifted it into drive and pulled out into traffic. “But I know where he is. ”

  The factory was only about a half hour away, and I had given up hope on making it to the dock in time for the deal. I was already too late. There was no possible way for me to take Rose along and there was no safe place for me to take her. Besides, I needed to find Amber. Nothing else mattered.

  “Come here. ” I put my arm out for Rose. She unbuckled her seat belt and slid across the bench seat into my side. I wrapped my arm around her as I drove out of the Manhattan toward the old factories. “You will be safe when all of this is over. As soon as Craig is dead I’ll send you somewhere safe. ”

  She looked up at me and I squeezed her tighter against me.

  “You mean we will go somewhere safe. ”

  I swallowed hard as my throat began to close.

  “Of course. Anywhere you want. ”

  I turned into the dusty parking lot and pulled next to the building.

  “Wait here. ” I lifted Rose’s chin, running my thumb over her lower lip before leaning in and pressing my mouth against hers. As I pulled back her eyes slowly opened, glistening with tears. “I love you. ” I opened the door and slid out of the car.

  My eyes danced over the old abandoned factory, covered in years of dirt and graffiti. I grabbed my weapon and walked through the open garage bay door and into the cavernous space within. It was cool and dark, even though the far side of the building was nearly all windows. The years of dust that had collected on them let little light shine through. My eyes danced over the metal stairs to my left, and I followed them to a catwalk above me, keeping my eyes on all of the possible areas for Craig to be hiding. There was a closed door approximately four feet away from the landing and I positioned myself next to it as I listened for any motion inside. I could hear a small tapping. I mentally counted to three and pushed open the door, gun extended. There was no one but a rat, who scurried from the corner under an old metal table. “Fuck,” I cursed under my breath.

  My phone rang loudly in my pocket and I scrambled to grab it, holding it up to my ear in anger when I saw that it was Brock.

  “What?” I whispered angrily as I stepped back outside the room and scanned the area.

  “We’ve located Craig. He hung himself, and by the looks of the body it wasn’t long after he shot Shawn. ”

  My mind raced. The man at Craig’s former house said he was here. I thought back to our conversation, squeezing my eyes closed as I racked my brain. He never said it was Craig.

  I took off down the metal staircase and out into the overpowering sun. I shielded my eyes and stopped dead in my tracks. Rose was whimpering as Whitey held a gun to the side of her head.

  “This is interesting,” he said as he grabbed the hair at the back of her head and began to walk toward me. I held up my weapon, letting him know I wouldn’t shoot. I slipped it slowly into the back of my pants as I stared at Rose, pleading with my eyes for her to forgive me. I had looked at the world through my own rose-colored glasses and became oblivious to the big picture. I heard someone clapping from behind me and spun around, coming face-to-face with Danny.

  “I know I missed the drop off. I wanted to make it. ”

  Danny shook his head with a smirk on his face.

  “I see why you were held up. ” He glanced around me to Rose.

  “She has nothing to do with this. ”

  “She has everything to do with this. ” He cocked his head to the side as he stared me down. His gun reflected sunlight into my eyes; then it hit me across my jaw, sending me spinning backward and sprawling in the dirt.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Beautiful Day

  This wasn’t how it was all supposed to end. I’d always envisioned my life in a downward spiral, but dragging Rose down with me was never my intent. With my fingers laced behind my head I was nudged forward by someone yanking the gun from the back of my jeans. Dust blew across my face and I looked up to the sky, light blue and cloudless.

  “Cole,” Rose whimpered, and a large hand reached down beside me and tangled in her long, dark hair, yanking her upward an inch.

  “Shut the fuck up,” Danny growled angrily at her, and my body stiffened. I wanted to rip his fucking throat out for talking to her in that tone.

  “I’m sorry, sweetheart. ” My voice cracked and I wished I could tell her it was all going to be okay, that I was going to save her, but I couldn’t say any of those things. I had to be quiet and buy us some more time.

  Danny released Rose, pushing her head forward, unleashing a ripple of sobs from her chest. He walked in front of us slowly, cocking his gun before sinking down to eye level.

  “You could have been a king and you threw it all away for pussy. ” He spit on the ground in front of her and she recoiled, absolutely terrified. I could feel my nostrils flaring and my jaw clench. I couldn’t fake being unafraid and I could see in his eyes that he was growing increasingly agitated. “It must be something special. ” He smiled at her and it made my skin crawl. “Maybe I should try her out. ” His gaze went to me and I couldn’t stop myself; the rage that was boiling inside of me needed to come out. My head bucked forward and I bounced my forehead off his nose. Blood sprayed over my face and I must have looked like something from a horror film.

  “You stupid son of a bitch,” he growled as two hands grabbed my arms from behind. The smell of vodka warned me that it was Whitey who was holding me back as Danny brought his gun down across my face. I hit the ground, dirt clouding my face as I tried to focus my eyes. My face was close enough to Rose that I could smell her. She was crying loudly, but her sobs faded in and out with the throbbing of my face. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and take away her pain, but I knew I was the cause of it and I didn’t deserve to be the one to comfort her.

  I was yanked back onto my knees and my body swayed as blood oozed from my cheekbone to my chin. It began to drip onto the dirt, reminding me of rain. Faced with death, my life didn’t flash before my eyes
. I didn’t see my past regrets and beg God for forgiveness. I saw Rose. Her face blurred as I struggled to focus my eyes.

  “Don’t cry,” I mumbled, and my voice sounded distant.

  “Just as pathetic as your father in the end. ” Danny stood and began pacing in front of us.

  “It’s your chance to get revenge. ” Brock leaned forward on his elbows. My eyes danced around Fig, a small dive bar that catered to Italian-Americans. The baseball game playing on the televisions mounted above the bar was distracting.

  “I don’t want revenge. I hated my father,” I replied, taking a sip of my beer.

  “Come on, Bishop. You and I both know that you wanted to be the one to make that man pay for what he did to your mom. Doesn’t it piss you off in the least that this asshole took that opportunity from you? He could be rotting away in prison right now. ”

  I sat my bottle down a little more forcefully than I intended, causing it to foam up. Brock sat back in his seat with a creepy smile on his face.

  “Fine. ” Brock stood, pulling a twenty from his wallet and dropping it on the table. “Stay for another drink. You can give me your answer later. ”

  The bell above the door rang, and I turned to see Danny, the man who had killed my father, walk in as Brock walked by him and out the door. I would definitely be needing that next beer.

  “I can’t decide if I want to kill her in front of you, or if I should keep her alive for a few months. See what the fuss is about. ” Danny was a sick and twisted fuck.

  “I wish I could kill you,” I groaned, and Danny pushed the barrel of his gun against my cheek. I winced as it dug into the freshly broken and bruised skin.

  “I bet you do. ” He chuckled. “You’re nothing but a has-been crooked cop. ”

  “And you’re…predictable. ” I smiled, and searing pain coursed through my cheek. I turned to Rose who stared straight ahead in shock, her body shaking uncontrollably.

  “If you could predict what I’d do to you, then why the fuck did you go against me?”

  “You never missed a game in that shit bar. ” I laughed.

  “You’re ruining my career,” I snapped at the suit who stood in front of me like a goddamned terminator.

  “You weren’t meant to be a cop. You could excel at this. They wouldn’t ask you if they didn’t think you could pull it off. ” Brock tried to convince me that this was an opportunity for advancement, but I could only see this ending badly.

  “They just don’t want to lose one of their own. ”

  I shook my head as I ran my hand over my hair.

  Suit number two spoke up. “You are in a very unique position, Mr. Bishop. You have a history with this crew. ”

  “My father had a history with them, and now he is history. I’ve been spending my entire life distancing myself from that bullshit. ”

  “The rules wouldn’t apply to you. You would be off the radar,” he replied. I gritted my teeth. I hated that this sounded like the perfect job for me. I didn’t want to be my father and, even if it was sanctioned by the government, that is all I would be.

  “We are asking you as a courtesy. The plan has already been set in motion. ”

  “What the fuck does that mean?” I pushed from my seat, getting into the asshole’s face, my fists clenched at my sides.

  “We’ll be in contact. In the meantime, make your face known down at Fig’s. Preferably anytime a baseball game is on. ”

  Danny pulled the gun back from my cheek as his eyes narrowed.

  “What did you do?” he asked as took a step back and ran his hand over his mouth and down his blood-coated jaw. “This is what I get for hiring some asshole with daddy issues. ”

  “It’s a beautiful day, Rose. Nothing but clear skies. ” I laughed like I was losing my mind, tilting my head to the sky and closing my eyes. I loved the feel of the warmth on my skin. It had been too long since I had taken the time to enjoy days like this. I needed her to know I wasn’t the bad guy. “I wanted you to see the stars. ” I smiled sadly at her, and her eyebrows pulled together. I should have taken her to California when we were kids, and none of this would be happening. We could have been anyone; as long as we were together it wouldn’t have mattered.