Cole sat at a table in the club. The general emotions around him were those of relief and release. He watched his brothers relax, unable to join them. Brian sat with him and Rat was just about to sit down when Cole told him, "Rat? I love you like a brother and we have ridden some hard miles together, but I swear that if you even hint, at all, that she is a tramp, I'll gut you."

 

Rat stared at him and then sat down, "All right."

 

After a full beer, Brian said, "Cole, this is shit. You know it is, but you can't place it. So, come at it another way."

 

Cole looked over at him, "Such as?" his voice harsh. Then he shook his head, "I know I sound harsh and cynical Brian, but I got nothing. So if you got something, give. Please."

 

Brian nodded and got up, and walked to the bar. He came back with a pen and a large pad of paper, setting it down in front of Cole. "What we know, Cole," he started. "Stick with what we know. She was smart. She didn't scream and go into hysterics during the maelstrom of that drive-by. So she's tough. She was nearly fearless until Lou was brought into the picture. After that, she was nervous as fuck."

 

Cole went over those moments in his head. His mind brought up the image of her wide-eyed fear when Lou was talked about. Then he recalled the Valkyrie blaze in her eyes when faced with the two men in the cougar. "All right," Cole nodded in agreement.

 

"She said she had to talk to you at Rat's house. It was personal, but important." Brian continued.

 

"She wanted to say she loved me before I left," Cole admitted.

 

"No, that's not all she said. Write it down Cole, all of it," Brian suggested.

 

"Write it down? Why?"

 

"Because I don't think she was saying I love you before you left for war. But rather before she left for war. She told you something, Cole. Just write it down," Brian pressed.

 

Cole took a long drink from his beer and mentally shrugged. He didn't have anything, so why not? Bringing up the memory, which was more painful than he imagined, he began to write down her words. It was a bit of a spiel she gave him in the room, but by the time he was a little more than half way through, he recalled the last words she said on the phone. "I'm so fucking stupid," he spat.

 

"What?" Rat said, leaning forward.

 

"In the bedroom. She told me that no matter what happened or whatever anyone said, to always remember that she loved me."

 

"Right?" Rat said, "And?"

 

Cole looked at his longtime friend, "On the phone, she was convincing and cold as hell. I mean, it was harsh and logical, and…and then she ended with 'oh, and always remember what I told you.'"

 

Brian nodded, "She was going after Gabriel."

 

The younger man stood up and paced a little, his mind churning, "She had something. Something she believed would work. Maybe she thought that since he wanted her, she could get close enough. In fact, possibly even show her right through the front door so she could shoot him in his office or something. Whatever it was, it failed and he got her."

 

"But why the phone call?" Rat asked. "How the phone call?"

 

Cole shook his head, "Way wrong questions. Why am I still here, and how do I get in there? Those are the only important questions right now. I couldn’t care less about the phone call. It didn't matter and she told me it didn't matter at the end of it. She basically said 'oh, and this is all bullshit; come get me' and I'm still here pounding suds."

 

A tall man, with hair nearly gone to gray wearing a suit Cole figured cost more than his yearly house payment with a stunningly beautiful redhead walking next to him, was now coming their way from the bar. Cole noticed Frank had pointed them in his direction.

 

"Holy shit. Look at her," Rat breathed.

 

"Is one of you known as Cole?" the man asked, looking from face to face.

 

"I'm Cole. Cole Porter. What can I do for you?"

 

The man inventoried Cole like he had never been assessed before in his life. The green eyes were like scanners and the mind behind them was sharp as a laser scalpel. "Yes… you are just who I want to talk to, I believe. My name is Max. Do you know that name?"

 

Cole nodded slowly, "I know of a Max. If you are the same Max, I might be interested in talking to you as well. Very interested."

 

"You know Nicole? Did she talk about me?"

"Yes, but not much. You were her… measuring stick."

 

"Excuse me?"

 

"You were the one she compared her world to --  this guy was nice, kind of like Max. This guy was mean, which Max never is. This guy was a good investor, but not quite as good as Max -- Understand?"

 

The sharp laser eyes were suddenly warm and nearly misty. "Do you care about her?"

 

"Yes, Max. I do. In fact, I just figured out that she's in a great deal of danger. The only reason we're still here is because we're trying to figure out how to breach a building my whole club was wary of with the limited resources we have."

 

"Maybe you would do better with the resources I have. Write your list."

 

Cole smiled, "Well, one of the first things on that list Max is going to be a method, currently unknown, of taking out fifty to sixty well-trained, well-armed men without blowing the house and killing Nicole in the process."

 

"From what I saw over at the house, that would be my first item, too, so put it down. You see, Cole, the way this works is you tell me what you need and I get it to you before sunrise." Max told him.

 

Cole studied the older man and Nicole's words came to his mind, these men don't have the problems of other people; they have the problems of other governments.

 

"You've been to the house? Have you seen her?" Cole asked, straightening up then rising to his feet.

 

"Yes, son, I have and all she says is your name, Horsemen, and help. Oh, she also said she loves you. Now, is there an office we can talk in so I can demonstrate my resolve, because she is on so much smack right now, she may not last much longer."

 

When Jim gave his permission to enter his office, he was sitting alone in the dark with only a small desk light on.

 

"Jim, this is Max, a friend of Nicole's. We have news if you are interested."

 

"I'm more than interested. Turn on the light and tell me what we've been thinking is all wrong, because my head knows it is, but doesn't know why."

 

Cole went over by the desk, "Well, as near as we have it figured so far, something scared her so much about Lou being involved that she decided to enact a plan of her own. She didn't tell me, well, because I would have stopped her, of course. I don't know what the plan was, but it failed."

 

Max interrupted, "Nicole has been working with me for years learning investing and the stock market. She had a little over a million in her portfolio. She tried to buy her way out with Gabriel yesterday at about eleven o'clock, it looks like. Not sure where she got the idea to do that, but she thought it would end your war. She had the transfer ready, but probably didn't know that she could have done it right there over the Internet.

 

"She must have thought she had to go there to transfer to his computer. Anyway, it looks like they haggled down to seven hundred and fifty thousand, but after accepting, the transfer was never made. I believe that this Gabriel fellow was just trying to get her to the house. Once there, he captured her, shot her up with heroin, and began his torture."

 

"Oh shit," Big Jim breathed, "And you saw her at the house?"

 

Max nodded his head in confirmation and added, "And it doesn't look like they are going to move her."

 

Cole turned to Max, "You suggested you have a way past Lou's guards?"

 

"You're sure they are Lou's, Lou Donadio?" Max asked, pulling out his cell phone.

 

Cole lifted an eyebrow, "Yes."

 

Max dialed a number. Waited. "Lou? This is Max." After a pause, Max said, "You, too, Lou. I'm calling in a marker."

 

Cole traded glances with Jim, Rat and Brian, who were as stone-shocked as he was.

 

"Lou, here's the thing. You have some men at a house for a guy named Gabriel and I need to get into that house for less than fifteen minutes and then your men can come back in if you still want them to. I'm betting you won't." Max said then listened to Lou's reply. "Well, because Nicole tried to buy her way out…What was that Lou? Yes, Lou, your Nicole. This Gabriel fellow, he took her deal, but then went back on it, threw her in a room, and is ODing her on heroin right now. So we're getting ready…."

 

Max suddenly moved his phone from his ear, and Cole could hear barks, and squawks, and caught a few curse words, as well. Once that was finished, Max continued, "So I can expect your help then?" Then Max looked around, saying "Hold on," then to the gathered group, "Any of you object to Lou coming with us?"

 

They looked at each other and focused on Jim who said, "I don't mind. I'm coming, as well. I think this is Cole's call, however."

 

"I'm good. I just want her out now." Cole clarified.

 

"Looks like you are in, Lou, but make it here in less than thirty. Good. See you soon."

 

After Max hung up his cellphone, Cole looked to him, "Mind if I ask how you know Lou so well?"

 

Cathy, Max's assistant, answered, "Lou runs the docks. Max owns them and much of the real estate around them. The private areas, at least."

 

Rat sounded a long, low, impressed whistle.

 

Lou was there in twenty minutes, coming in with a driver behind the wheel of a black and chrome Lincoln Continental. As soon as Cole verified that it was Lou in the back seat, he gunned his engine and headed for the street with Brian, Rat, and Jim behind him. Max's limo and then the Lincoln fell into the fast moving convoy.