I was so focused on what I was doing I didn’t even give a second thought to what I just did. I continued to follow her car until she was heading north, slightly out of town. Her destination puzzled me, and for a minute I worried that she wasn’t even going home. But then she did arrive in a residential area just outside of the city. From the end of the road I saw her park in the driveway of a pale yellow house four lots down. I waited while she stepped up to the porch and disappeared through the front door, and then I turned onto the street and parked two houses away.
Just the sight of her house and yard made me smile. I wondered if I could have picked out her home just by driving down the street. For one, it was the only yellow house on the block. The rest of the houses were white, tan, gray, or brown. Jayden loved the color yellow, but I could tell the house hadn’t been recently painted, and I wondered if just the color alone was what attracted her to it.
The other thing was the color all around the house. The place was very nicely landscaped, and there were endless amounts of spring flowers in all colors, shapes, and sizes. Although I had never known her to do much gardening, I knew she had done a little bit of work at her father’s house. But when he wouldn’t let her plant more than just a few flowers (taking away the “manly charm” of the residence) she insisted her own home would someday be chockfull of flowers—as many as she wanted. This home definitely had Jayden’s touch.
My passenger door opened and I nearly had a heart attack. I had been so wrapped up in my thoughts that I hadn’t even noticed Kenny parked behind me. His look was unpleasant, and I instantly remembered that I had not only disobeyed an order, but I had also hung up on the boss.
He wedged his elbow against the windowsill and leaned his temple onto his iron fist. He watched me from this position for quite a while until I looked into his dark eyes, and glanced over his permanently scarred cheekbones.
Finally he shook his head. “Ty, what are you doing, kid?” his deep voice questioned.
I didn’t know if it was because of Kenny’s occupation, or just that it really was similar, but he sounded exactly like Rocky Balboa. Kenny had even recited several lines from the movies, causing us—on the rare occasion there wasn’t someone around to ruin our fun—to laugh our butts off as he boxed and acted out some of his favorite scenes.
“I don’t know,” I replied.
He sighed. “You know you screwed up, right?”
I swallowed. “Yeah, I know.”
He was silent for a long moment. “You hung up on him?” he asked with disbelief. Then he chuckled and shook his head. “Ty… You gotta get a grip.”
“I know.”
“Well? What’re you doin’ here? What’re you gonna do? You gonna go see her?” he motioned with his head. “You gonna knock on her door and say, ‘I’m back, but I’m still the same dumbass, puttin’ your life in danger.’ ” He shook his head. “Come on, Ty. Don’t be an idiot.”
He was absolutely right, but his honesty made me want to argue. “So what if I did? What if I just got out of the car, walked over to her house, and knocked on the door? Would you stop me?”
“No.”
“Then what are you doing here? Tallying up my stupidity to make the punishment more severe? Waiting for me to make the ultimate screw up instead of just thinking about it? I guarantee I’m suffering enough. There isn’t anything you can do to me to make my life worse.”
“Now you’re talkin’ stupid. Listen to yourself. You know who we’re dealing with? Now I know you ‘n’ the boss have a special relationship ‘n’ all, but get real Ty. Why would you risk her life again?”
I swallowed and stared ahead through the windshield. “I’m going crazy, Kenny,” I said through clenched teeth. “I can’t take this anymore.”
“Just do as you’re told and things will turn out.”
I sighed a very heavy sigh, but the weight of the world I carried was just too much and I stuck my face into my hand. I rubbed my eyes with my fingers, trying to make the moisture disappear. I heard Kenny sigh beside me, and then his hand somewhat gently gripped the back of my neck.
“Come on, kid,” he said softly. “Things’ll look up. I- I don’t know when but…you just need to go home, okay? You can’t be seen around here.”
I grunted. “It’s a little late for that. He already knows I’m here. You’re here, right? –To make sure I’m punished just to please Dean and—”
“We’re not protecting you from Dean!” he bellowed.
I flinched at the strength of his voice, but before I could respond, he cussed at me and shook his head.
“Only you, Ty. You’re the only one that makes me break the rules,” he growled, still shaking his head. He cursed again and looked right at me. “It isn’t Dean that we’re protecting you from. Sure he thinks it’s that way, but we needed him to do some work for us. But something happened, Ty. I don’t know what, but something has really pissed off some of Kristof’s enemies. All I know is that we’ve all been put on high alert—all of us associated with Kristof. That also means you, Ty. They could be looking for you, too. And you know how this works. Hurt ‘em where it counts, right? If they know you’ve got yourself a pretty little thing like her,” he nodded ahead, “you won’t know what sufferin’ is until they’re through with her. You knock this off, Ty. You get out of here, do you understand? Get the hell out of here!”
The blood must have drained out of my body because I felt dead at that moment. I felt lifeless as Kenny’s warning cinched me up without a fight and dropped me into an open grave. That’s what all of this was about? Olevsky’s war was moving in on our own turf? He was protecting us from a rival mafia? But why me? I wasn’t even a player in his organization. Why would anyone care anything about me?
Kenny grabbed my face rather roughly and made me look at him. “Ty. Jayden is safe, okay? You are safe—well, at least you were—so get out of here and let me take care of this, all right?”
I nodded my head—at least I think I did—and Kenny got out of the car. I started the engine and flipped a u-turn, heading out the way I came in. I wasn’t even sure how I came in, so I just started driving. I finally found the freeway a half an hour later, and drove north.
Chapter Forty-Two
I didn’t forget a word that Kenny said because our conversation repeated in my mind, over and over. My father wasn’t the least bit surprised when I told him what I had done. It worried him, and he was thankful nothing happened to me, but instead of chastising me for my stupidity, he carefully listened to what Kenny told me.
“Meinikov,” he replied softly.
“Huh?”
“Aleksey Meinikov. Kristof’s very bitter rival.”
I stared at my father with surprise, unaware that he held this knowledge. He cleared his throat and sat back against the couch.
“Meinikov and Olevsky used to be business partners back in Russia,” he continued. “From what I’ve heard, they were pretty close, almost like brothers. I have no idea what happened between them, only that it was so severe, they both wanted each other dead. If you think Olevsky is a wicked man…” He shook his head and scoffed. “Meinikov would torture his own mother and enjoy it.”
I glowered at the thought, but at the same time, I was carefully trying to fit more of the puzzle pieces together.
“So…do you think Meinikov is actually over here? And Olevsky is over there? What are they doing, seeing how many people they can massacre on each other’s home field?”
“No, I don’t think so. If Meinikov is intent on doing some damage, certain people will start disappearing—key figures, ones that would really make a statement. I’m sure Olevsky’s employees have scattered, even though his organization really is pretty covert. He’s created quite the cloak-and-dagger operation. He’s one of the best. If people are being targeted, I guarantee there has been some major deception going on behind his back. Few are capable of doing such a thing. I have no doubt that Olevsky is in Russia because he has the best possible pr
otection. He would remain in the safest place he could be, which I’m sure he owns several estates that would assure such protection…”
Suddenly my father’s face seemed to turn slightly pale.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
He swallowed. “Uh, well…”
“Dad? What is it?”
“That’s why he wants you there? To protect you?” He seemed to be asking me if it was true.
I sighed. “I have no idea. He just…claimed he could enlighten me on a few things. I have no clue what that means.”
“I don’t understand, Ty. Guys like us are a dime a dozen. We don’t hold any significant weight within the organization. Yeah, if you’re talking about guys like Dean or Kenny, or maybe one of Olevsky’s other key operatives—which, by the way, I don’t know most of them—then I can see why they’d have cause to worry. But you and me… We’re pretty low on the pole. ”
We were both quiet for a moment before I reverted the subject. “How do you know about Meinikov? I’ve never even heard of him.”
My dad shrugged. “When you’ve been around this for a while, you tend to learn things you don’t want to know.”
I silently agreed. There were plenty of things I didn’t want to know.
“Besides,” he continued, “you may already have known, you just didn’t realize it at the time. Did Kristof ever mention anything about the ‘great and dreadful day?’ ”
It did sound familiar and I ever so slightly nodded my head. I always thought he was talking about the end of the world.
“It’s his term for when he finally faces Meinikov. He compares it to the Two Brothers, except in my opinion… There is no Savior in this account.”
I was reading scriptures later that night, particularly Revelations. My skin was actually crawling just at the thought of such devastation wrought upon the earth. The last few months had brought me a greater understanding of God, and being that I was sort of a researcher by hobby from since I could read, I had completely turned my world upside down to get a better knowledge of things I didn’t know. I felt helpless in my current situation, and since no one around me could help, I decided that maybe God really was the only one to turn to.
I continued to ponder religion more often, even attending church with my dad. Somehow I felt like I was doing Jayden a favor, and I hoped that I could some day share my experiences with her. I even read scriptures daily and prayed a lot. I didn’t know if it helped me at all, and I really didn’t know if there was anyone even listening to me, but I guess I felt like someone had been watching out for me over the years.
I was working in the shop on a Saturday afternoon the second week in May. Kent had been there most of the day, but he took off at four o’clock and asked me to lock up when I was done. Cole was there as well, the guy that Kent had hired just after he hired me. Cole was a pretty quiet guy; he never spoke to me unless it had to do with the work we were doing. I was a little surprised when we were cleaning up the shop to leave and he asked if I wanted to go get something to eat with him.
“Uh, sure, that sounds good,” I replied.
He nodded without expression, stripped off his coveralls, and began cleaning up at the sink. When we got in his truck I expected to at least be given a decent conversation. After months of working together this guy had never struck up so much as a casual exchange with me. I thought this was his way of making an effort, but he still didn’t say anything.
I glanced at him briefly from where I sat and tried studying him a little better. He had brown hair and hazel eyes, and he always tended to have a week’s worth of growth on his face, kind of like me. He didn’t seem much older than myself, and I was guessing that he couldn’t be any older than thirty.
He cast a quick look at me as he came to a stoplight. “I’m sure you’re surprised by my invite,” he finally said.
I shrugged. “Uh, yeah, I guess.” I looked around to where we were. We were actually heading out of town, and I suddenly got an uneasy feeling. “Uh, where are we going?”
Cole paused for a few seconds as the light changed he continued to drive. “To eat.”
“Where? The next city?”
He smiled ever so slightly. “Pretty much.” It was quiet again and his expression changed. “Ty, we need to talk. And…I know this is going to be a little bit of a surprise for you, but you need to keep an open mind, okay?”
I raised my eyebrows at him, now totally wary of the situation I was facing. “Talk about what? Anyway, why couldn’t you talk to me at the shop?”
“Ty, I’m not who you think I am.”
I swallowed. What was that supposed to mean? “Uh, okay. Then I suspect you’re gonna tell me who you are?”
He nodded. “I’m a cop.”
My heart stopped for a second, just as he was pulling into the parking lot of a diner.
“A cop? You mean…like an undercover cop?”
He nodded again and turned slightly to face me. “Yeah. I know who you are, Ty—who you’ve been associating with.” My heart picked up a pulse again and it began to race. I shook my head but he only cut me off before I could speak. “You don’t have to deny it. I already know it’s true. Besides, I’m not here to bust you. I want to help you.”
I stared at him with disbelief. A million thoughts were tumbling around in my head, but I couldn’t pin a single one down. I wanted nothing more than to have someone help me out of this mess, but at the same time, it was terrifying to even consider it.
I shook my head again. “Look, whatever you think you know—”
“I’m here on Jayden’s behalf.”
“What?” I spat out. I couldn’t believe he even said her name! “What about Jayden? Is she in trouble? Did something—?”
“She’s fine, Ty. Nothing’s happened. Let me explain, okay?”
I took a deep breath to calm myself down, and then nodded my head so he could continue.
“Jayden is a friend of mine. She came to me a while back—in October—and asked for my help. She loves you, Ty. She believed that something was going on and she wanted to help you. She saw you with Conlon one night—the night you left town to see your father. She saw him talking to you on the street that night. Once she mentioned his name, I knew her worries had merit. That guy has been under our radar for such a long time now.”
I swallowed hard. “That’s why she sounded so odd on the phone?” I said mostly to myself. “She knew I was keeping something from her. That’s probably what she wanted to talk to me about and… And then everything just…”
“Ty, I came here to see what I could find out. I moved here to keep an eye on you and to…”
“See what you could get to build a case,” I finished dryly.
He remained quiet for quite a while. Finally he said, “Here’s the deal, Ty. You help us with this, tell us everything you know to help bring these people down, and you’ll be completely free. As far as I’m concerned, you haven’t done anything wrong. We don’t want anything to happen to you—”
“Well I appreciate the concern,” I chuckled bitterly, “but I won’t be around for very long if this all comes back on me. Besides, how do I even know you are who you say you are? Maybe you’re working for them.” I shook my head. “I can’t trust anybody right now. Just…take me back to my truck, okay? Leave me alone.”
He was slowly nodding his head. “I understand your worries, I really do. These people are unbelievable, I know. But Ty, no matter what you do for them, you’ll never escape their influence. I know you know that. I actually work with a special team. We’re very good at what we do. I know we can help you if you just give us a chance.” I was shaking my head again but he added, “How can I gain your trust?”
I scoffed. “You can’t. I’m not sure you can even understand how deep this goes.”
“Enlighten me. I’ll let you know if I’m surprised.”
I shook my head again. “No, you enlighten me. Then I’ll laugh in your face when you realize you’re in way
over your head.”
He barely smiled. “Only if this means we’re working together.”
“Oh, no way. I told you…I don’t trust anyone. I don’t care who you claim to be, or how much information you share with me. I know people who could convince me that I’m not even Tyler Huntington. I’ve had to deal with crafty people for quite some time—”
“Chase,” he interrupted.
It sucked the air right out of me, and I wasn’t sure if I heard him correctly. “Excuse me?”
He took a breath. “I told Jayden that you would react this way. I told her to give me something that I could use to get you to believe me. She said, ‘Chase… He’ll know what it means.’ ”
I finally gasped for a breath of air. Chase. It was what we had decided to name our first son.
Suddenly I was overwhelmed with an entire sea of emotion. My heart was about to burst from how much I loved Jayden and how much I missed her. I would do anything to be with her again. But was this the right way? What if I made things worse than they already were? How was I supposed to know what to do?
I leaned forward onto my knees and dropped my face into my hands. Cole was right about one thing: it didn’t matter what I did, I would never escape Olevsky’s control. I felt unsure about both decisions, but maybe there really was something that Cole could do. At least I would be working with the right side of the law. Maybe that would account for something. And now Jayden was involved in this, whether I liked it or not.
I sat up and took another breath. “My number one priority is Jayden. I don’t care what happens to me, but her wellbeing comes first.”
“I understand that. The good news is that we don’t believe that she’s in danger—”
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