by Brandon Witt
“That look right there,” Alex offered and pointed a finger at Ridley. “It looks like your dog just ran away or something.”
Ridley waved him off without commenting on Alex’s observation, instead turning the conversation back to the more immediate concerns. “So what do we do now?”
“We wait,” Alex responded curtly. “Until we know what we’re dealing with and how much they know, we sit tight. But I need you to understand the severity of this situation, Ridley. From here on out, until I either plop you back into university life or take you with me, you do everything I say without question. Got it?”
“Got it,” Ridley agreed.
“I mean it,” Alex reiterated. “If we leave, you leave everything behind. Even your family won’t know what happened to you. Are you prepared for that?”
His heart was pounding so hard Ridley could only nod. He was already feeling guilty as hell for hoping he’d be going with Alex, knowing what it would do to his mom and dad. Even knowing how scared and heartbroken they’d be, what his disappearance would do to Rae, Ridley couldn’t help the way he felt.
STARING OUT into the dark, Alex leaned his forehead against the window; the cool glass against his heated flesh caused him to shiver. Although he couldn’t see them, he knew at least thirty heavily armed and highly trained men surrounded his small home, and yet he still didn’t feel completely safe. He’d been an idiot to fall into a false sense of security. He’d been an even bigger fool to let his guard down and allow someone to get close to him. One was never safe from Gutierrez, and now he’d brought Ridley into the shit storm.
He’d already told Ridley too much, and yet it bothered him that he couldn’t tell him more. He needed Ridley to truly understand how serious the situation was, how dangerous it was. However, he knew if he told him any more than he already had, Ridley could potentially be in even more danger. Totally unacceptable.
What he really wanted to do was snatch Ridley up and run. The waiting was driving him nuts. Funny, since that was all he’d pretty much been doing for the last year and a half. Waiting. With one tactical delay after another, Gutierrez’s attorney had been able to use the system to keep his client out of the courtroom. He hadn’t been able to keep Gutierrez out of jail, but that mattered little. The drug lord was able to conduct his business, arrange his hits, and continue to fund his empire, all from his six by nine concrete and metal home, without missing a beat. There was no telling how long the wait would be, but in the grand scheme of things, did it matter? When Gutierrez’s case went to trial, after Alex testified, even if the man was convicted, imprisoned, and the key thrown away, Alex could never return to his old life. He would forever be looking over his shoulder.
He squeezed his eyes shut as a wave of remorse washed over him, causing him to tremble. Everyone he’d ever loved, his mom, dad, little sister, grandparents, and scores of close friends had no clue what had happened to him. Literally within hours of watching Gutierrez swing the fatal blow, Alex Castren had been MIA. Alex understood why it had to be this way, but it didn’t help to ease the heaviness in his heart when he thought of what his loved ones must have gone through. What they continued to endure each day. He’d never be able to be a part of their lives again, but he held on to the notion that, hopefully, once the trial was over, they’d know what had happened to him and that he wasn’t dead. Would it ease their pain? Perhaps a little. Would it make it better knowing? Doubtful.
“Hey, Alex, how you holding up?” Mick asked as he entered Alex’s bedroom and leaned against the wall near the window.
Alex looked over at his partner with tired eyes. “I’ve had my fill of waiting for the day. You got anything to change that?”
Mick pursed his lips and nodded. Alex could tell from the guarded expression on Mick’s face that he wasn’t going to like what he was about to hear.
“We picked up one of Gutierrez’s men…,” Mick said warily.
When his partner didn’t comment further, Alex snapped. “Just spit it out!” The stresses of the past eighteen hours were catching up with him, and he was in no mood for evasiveness.
“Going in to Ridley’s apartment,” Mick responded with true regret and winced.
“Son of a motherfucking monkey,” Alex ground out angrily. Alex curled his hands into fists as he struggled to rein in his temper. The urge to lash out was huge and he turned away from the window before another one got shattered.
“You knew there was a high probability they’d know about Ridley,” Mick reminded him. He kept his voice low and even as if speaking with a wild animal.
“Is that supposed to be your attempt at making me feel better about this, because I gotta tell ya, Mick, it sucks,” Alex grumbled, stomping his feet as he began to pace. He needed to get a grip on his anger, as he was on the verge of committing homicide. “I need a drink or a smoke or…. I don’t fucking know what I need, but I need something.”
Mick, ignoring Alex’s temper tantrum, stepped up in front of him and tapped a smoke out of his pack and held it out to Alex. “It’s all I got, man,” he offered with a shrug.
Alex took it and slipped it between his lips. Mick struck a match and lit it for him. Alex took a long drag and blew it out slowly. He rarely smoked. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy it, he did, but he hated the stink it left behind. Not to mention it wasn’t good for his health, but neither was being chased by a homicidal drug lord. He took another long drag.
Mick didn’t say a word, giving Alex time to calm down as he finished his smoke. Mick was used to Alex’s temper, and while he could be a real asshole at times, Mick knew it was never directed at him, but rather the situation. Alex had witnessed Mick’s impressive temper before and never took the colorful things that came out of Mick’s mouth when he was raging, personal. It was part of what made them good friends. They understood each other.
Alex finished his cigarette and dropped the butt into the commode. Wrinkling his nose at the smell, he washed his hands before rejoining Mick in the bedroom, feeling only marginally calmer.
Mick was sitting on the edge of the bed staring down at his hands. He looked up as Alex walked in. “Feeling better?”
“Not really,” he grunted and sat down next to him. “The worst part is I only have myself to blame. I’m the one who brought him into this.”
“You know assigning blame isn’t going to do a fucking thing,” Mick said. “It is what it is, and instead of sitting around punishing yourself, we need to get you packed and on the road.”
“Don’t you mean us?”
“Your request was denied, but—”
“I don’t give a fuck whether it was approved or not,” Alex snarled and pushed to his feet. “I told you I’m not going anywhere without him, and I damn well meant it.” Alex glared down at his partner.
Mick tilted his head and looked at Alex with an exasperated expression. “And if you would shut the fuck up and stop interrupting me, you would have heard the rest of what I had to say.”
Alex ran his hands through his hair, staring up at the ceiling as he blew out an angry breath. “All right, let me hear it.”
“I’ll be lucky if I don’t get fired or, worse, thrown in jail, but I disagree with the director and think the safest place for Ridley is with you.” Mick went to his feet and looked at Alex pointedly with a crooked grin. “I like to think I’m protecting the good folks of Louisiana who have to live near you if you’re not allowed to take your little playmate with you.”
“He’s not a playmate….” Alex chuckled, instantly feeling better. “Well, all right, he kind of is. And we’re going to play in Louisiana?” Alex asked excitedly. “I love New Orleans.”
“It’s not exactly New Orleans,” Mick muttered barely loud enough for Alex to hear as he pushed past him.
Alex frowned. “I know that tone,” he accused, following after Mick.
“Let’s just enjoy your happy mood for a moment, shall we, hmm?” Mick tossed over his shoulder.
“Sounds ominous
,” Alex complained.
“Shh,” Mick hummed and nodded toward the couch. “You’ll wake him up.”
Alex glared at his smugly grinning partner, but he didn’t push the point. Not yet anyway. Instead he went to the cabinet and pulled out a couple glasses and the nearly empty bottle of bourbon and brought them to the counter. He filled each glass with two fingers of the amber fluid and handed one to Mick.
“When do we head out?” he asked in a hushed voice.
Mick glanced down at his watch. “About an hour.”
“That doesn’t give me much time to prepare him,” he muttered and swirled the liquid in his glass before throwing it back and drinking it down in one gulp.
“That’s probably for the best,” Mick pointed out. He glanced back to where Ridley was curled up on the couch, just the top of his head peeking out from beneath the throw blanket. “I mean really, how do you prepare someone for something like this?”
Alex’s chest tightened painfully as he remembered what it had felt like the first time he was whisked off to a safe house. He poured another healthy shot. You really couldn’t prepare anyone for leaving everything and everyone you know and love behind. He rolled his neck, the tension beginning to cause a painful throb at the base of his skull, and looked down at his drink. “Am I driving?” he asked without looking up.
“No.”
“Good.” Alex threw back the other shot, grimacing as it burned all the way down to his churning gut.
Mick pushed his bourbon across the counter without taking a sip. “I’m going to go talk to the team leader.” He looked at Alex morosely. “We pull out in an hour.”
Alex laid his hands flat on the counter and hung his head. One hour. Not much time to pack up his belongings and tell a man his life was about to be completely turned upside down and inside out. He shook his head.
“Fucking Gutierrez,” he muttered under his breath. If he ever got the chance to get his hands on the bastard, he’d show him what it felt like to be turned inside out.
RIDLEY OPENED his eyes, blinking rapidly as he tried to figure out where he was, but it was too dark and his brain hadn’t quite woken up yet.
“Ridley.”
He jerked upright at the sound of his name, the blanket falling away.
“Hey, hey. It’s just me.” Alex laid a hand on Ridley’s calf, grounding him.
“Jesus,” he muttered sleepily and rubbed at his burning eyes. “I was having a hell of a dream.”
“A good one?”
Ridley tried to remember, but the details of the dream were elusive. The only thing he remembered was feeling incredibly happy. “I think so.” He raised his arms up over his head, arching his back, stretching as he yawned. When he was finally able to focus on Alex’s face where he was sitting at the opposite end of the sofa, staring at him, the sadness in his blue eyes caused Ridley’s heart to skip a beat.
“What is it?” he asked in alarm, shoving the covers off and planting his feet on the floor.
“I’m sorry, Ridley. I wish….” Alex pursed his lips and shook his head, the sadness flaring brightly into anger. “One of the men hunting me was spotted at your apartment.”
Ridley moved to sit next to Alex and laid his hand on Alex’s thigh, stroking it in an attempt to soothe. “I’ve thought about it a lot since you first told me and was pretty much expecting this news. Does it suck? Hell yeah and I really don’t want to think about what this is going to do to my family and friends. But it is what it is, right?”
Alex sniffed and laid his hand over Ridley’s and gave it a squeeze. “Funny, Mick said the same thing. And you’re both right, we’re all just going to have to deal with it, but I don’t have to like it. I also won’t stop regretting putting you in danger. I can only promise that I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe.”
A snort of laughter escaped Ridley, and he coughed into his hand to try and cover it up. Obviously he hadn’t been all that successful judging by the strange look Alex shot at him. “Sorry, I’m not laughing at you or at the situation. But damn, is this a complete one-eighty.”
“What do you mean?”
“All the times I thought I needed to be the tough guy and protect you from the likes of Kyle Bouche. Now, knowing what I do about you….” He snorted again. “I find it hilarious is all.”
“Don’t get too comfortable with giving up your superhero persona just yet. We’re going to have to watch each other’s back until this mess is over.” He leaned over and pecked Ridley’s cheek. “But, I’m glad you can still laugh.”
Ridley cupped the back of Alex’s head before he could pull away and pressed his mouth against Alex’s. “Laughing’s not the only thing I can do to show my enjoyment,” he stated and swiped the tip of his tongue across Alex’s bottom lip.
“Really?” Alex asked, a cocky grin curling his mouth. “I’d have thought after last night….” He arched a brow, the meaning obvious without further need for words.
“Yeah, well…. So when do we leave?” Ridley asked dubiously, quickly changing the subject before he started thinking about just what Alex had done to him to create the soreness in his backside and the soreness in other areas.
“Within the hour.”
“Oh shit,” Ridley huffed and jumped to his feet. “That doesn’t give me much time to pack. You better run me to my place.”
“Ridley,” Alex said and grabbed onto Ridley’s arm before he could move too far away.
“Yeah,” he responded distractedly, already thinking about what needed to go and what could stay.
“You can’t go back to your place.”
“What?” Ridley asked in confusion and tried to shrug out of Alex’s grip. “I’ve got to grab my stuff.”
Alex refused to release him. “I’m sorry. I can’t let you go back to your place and I can’t allow you to get your stuff.”
“What? Why?” Ridley stared blankly at Alex, still not understanding why he couldn’t spend a few minutes to throw his belongings into a bag, at the very least clean underwear and his laptop.
“First of all, it’s not safe,” Alex informed him. “Secondly, we can’t tip anyone off that you’re leaving. Mick will make sure your place isn’t disturbed by anyone until your family comes to retrieve your belongings.”
The full scope of what was happening came rushing down on Ridley like a ton of bricks and staying standing on shaking legs took serious effort. “Oh” was all he could push out past his constricted throat.
Ridley blinked back the tears that burned his eyes as Alex slowly slid his arms around him and hugged him. “It’s going to be okay,” Alex whispered. “I promise.”
Ridley closed his eyes and nodded slowly, resting his chin on Alex’s shoulder. Ridley wasn’t worried about himself; he just hoped his parents would be okay and that, once this was all over, Rae would forgive him.
“HACKBERRY? ARE you fucking kidding me? And what the hell is that smell?” Alex complained, wrinkling his nose in disgust at the horrible odor.
“Sorry, sir, I don’t pick the destination, simply drive the car,” Agent Daigle said as he set Alex’s bags on the floor near the door. “And I believe it’s sulfur you smell, sir.”
“You mean you can smell the town all the way down here?” Alex asked incredulously. “And stop calling me sir. That would be my grandpa.”
“Yeah, the process of mining sulfur requires pumping hot steam into the ground, liquidizing the mineral, and pumping the liquid to the surface. So if the wind is blowing in the right direction, you’re going to smell it from miles away,” Ridley offered as he draped an arm over Alex’s shoulders. “You’ll get used to it.”
“And how in the hell do you know this?” Alex asked as he looked over at Ridley with a hard glare.
“Some of us actually went to college. You know, to learn.”
“Ha-ha. You’re such a funny man,” Alex said sarcastically, but he couldn’t help but laugh at the goofy smile on Ridley’s face.
Ridley had t
aken everything in stride. Being whisked away in the middle of the night, transferred from car to car, a flight on a scary-ass ancient plane, and still more car rides, he hadn’t complained once. He hadn’t asked questions and kept a smile on his face the entire time. Alex was beginning to think Ridley was either a really happy person or totally fucking insane. The jury was still out, but he was beginning to lean more toward the latter.
“You’ll find the house stocked with everything you need. I suggest starting with the desk in the office,” Agent Daigle informed them and pulled an envelope from the inside pocket of his suit jacket and handed it to Alex. “Your identifications, sir.”
Alex started to complain about being called sir again but figured it wasn’t worth it and took the envelope. “Thanks.”
Agent Daigle nodded to them and was gone.
“So who are we?” Ridley asked, sounding like a kid on Christmas morning.
Alex opened the envelope and pulled out the contents. He studied the first ID, a Louisiana driver’s license with Ridley’s picture. “You are now officially Ridley Richmond.” He handed the ID to Ridley, as well as a birth certificate and social security card.
“It’s got a certain ring to it, doesn’t it?” Ridley chuckled.
Alex then checked out his documents and frowned. “Ridley, let me see your birth certificate.”
“Why, what’s wrong?” he asked as he handed it over.
Alex dropped the other stuff on the dining room table and compared the two certificates side by side. “That asshole! I am so going to fucking kill him.”
“Who?”
“Mick,” Alex growled and shoved the papers at Ridley. “Look who our parents are.”
Ridley scanned them, his eyes widening in shock as he read. “Brothers?” He then burst out laughing.
“It’s not funny. Just wait till I get my hands on him.”
Ridley continued to laugh uncontrollably. “Sorry,” he got out between giggles.
Alex snatched the documents out of the cackling man’s hands and shoved everything back into the envelope.
