Black
“According to my friend in the courthouse, the Sterlings’ lawyer has been like a Pitbull over this situation with Quill. Bartholomew wasn’t lying when he said he’d fight this,” Lana said as she placed a fresh cup of coffee on my desk. It was nine in the morning and we were going over our day. Lana pretty much attacked me when I got off the elevator, asking how the ball was and who was there and what happened.
“I’ve dealt with men bigger than him, Lana. They use all their fireworks before it’s even dark outside. We will be patient. Call my lawyer and get the restraining order and all that set up.”
She quirked a brow at my mention of forms and proper channels. “You hate authority, and for good reason. You never use it and would rather cut your arm off than rely on the judicial system, so why the change of heart?”
Knowing Lana as long as I had was a benefit in a lot of ways. I didn’t have to explain to her why I had no use for the law, she’d seen me at my worst. She was loyal to a fault. The down side was all those things as well.
“I am not having a change of heart, but I will make the Sterlings think I am doing it the lawful way…” I was about to continue when the sound of shouting came from the other side of my door. It was near impossible for danger to reach my floor, so it had to be in house.
I told Lana to stay put while I checked it out. When I opened the door, Jones and Lee were facing off. Ginger sat in an office chair with a look of frustration on his face.
“Maybe if you weren’t fucking around with the gingerbread man here, you wouldn’t have failed at your job,” Lee snapped at Jones. Ginger shook his head, and I had enough.
“That’s enough. We’re settling this right fucking now.” I could tell the authority in my voice was all that was needed to get them to snap out of it. “Lana, we will continue this later. Please let Quill know what we discussed about the papers and I will get in touch this week for that meeting instead.”
“You got it.” She left, silently rolling her eyes behind the Three Stooges’ heads.
Jones, Lee, and Ginger had the decency to keep their eyes downcast as I took my seat behind my desk.
“Let me make one thing very clear to the three of you. What I just witnessed should have never been seen.” Ginger was about to speak, but my raised hand stopped him. “Now, since you want to act like five-year olds, I will treat you as such. When I point to you, tell me what happened. The first to interrupt anyone will wish they hadn’t.”
I had worked with Jones and Lee for so many years, I was curious what Ginger had to say about this, so I pointed to him.
His eyes widened in surprise. He likely thought I’d choose the others because I had known them longer.
“Well,” he began. “According to the schedule, Jones was supposed to be watching the cameras for Quill. He needed to use the bathroom, and when he peeked out and saw me, he asked me to come in. We talked for a second and when we turned to the cameras, the screens were black.”
Suddenly, I didn’t give a shit about much of anything. Quill was in danger. “And your tiff was more important than Quill’s safety?”
I made to hit the button to get Lana to order a team over there when Ginger spoke again. “We sent out Team X to find out what happened.”
I was in no way appeased, not even a little bit. “Continue,” I rumbled, my anger barely contained.
“So, we reported it and Lee came in, saw the two of us, and shooed us out of the way. Got the cameras online, but when he did, the apartment was empty. We called Clive, but he said Quill never contacted him for pick up.” Ginger sighed, eyeing both men. “Lee accused Jones of thinking with his dick instead of the job at hand. Jones called Lee a prima donna.” He rolled his eyes. “I don’t honestly know where I fit into this, sir.”
“Quill is unaccounted for?” I turned toward Lee, who confirmed it. “Ginger, are you sleeping with either of these men?” He shook his head. “Then you can leave. Contact Team X and find out the situation.”
He ran out of the room like his pants were on fire. I could feel the blood rushing to my face. The clench of my fists did nothing to sedate the tension rolling off me.
“I am so disgusted with the two of you. As of today, you are both on leave. I will contact you both on the future of your employment with me.” Jones slammed his hand against the chair, but my glare halted his speech. “No. There’s nothing either of you can say to make this okay. Jones, you stepped away from the computers when you should have called it in. You left your post.” Equally angry, I faced Lee. “Your jealousy is compromising missions. You two figure it out, but do it away from me and away from my businesses. You both better hope Quill is okay or your suspension will be a termination and I don’t mean your jobs.”
I rotated my chair to face the window. I had no more words for them and didn’t want to hear anything they had to say. It wasn’t until I heard my door shut when I faced back around.
A few minutes later, there was a knock on my door and Ginger opened it, sticking his head in.
“Come in.”
He stood at my desk and cut to the chase. “Team X arrived at the apartment. No sign of Quill, but no struggle and the security system wasn’t activated, indicating no unwanted presence was on the property.”
“And?”
“They are still looking for him.”
I woke my computer up and signed in. Quill’s schedule was available to me, and all I could see was he had to work at Joker’s Sin this evening.
“Let the team leader know Quill is scheduled to work at Joker’s Sin tonight at ten. If no one finds him before then and he’s okay, that is where he will be.”
He nodded and left.
By five, there was still no word. Melissa, Quill’s friend, said she had spoken with him this morning and he likely went to the vet to check on his cat. It was confirmed he had gone there but had left after an hour, sans cat. Atlas said Quill didn’t call out, so I expected he’d arrive at Joker’s Sin as expected.
“Lana, I’m heading out. I’m going to meet Team X at the club. Yes, before you ask, I will let you know when we find him.” She smiled and was distracted by the phone ringing. I left her to it and made my way to the garage to drive home to dress for Joker’s Sin.
I tried desperately to ignore the niggle in the back of my mind that something was wrong. Flashes from the past played like a flipbook in my mind. I wanted to find Quill and I needed him to be okay.
I dressed similar to the last time I had gone there. Grabbed my leather jacket, then called my driver to meet me downstairs. It was only nine, but I wanted to see Quill walk into the place and know he was fine.
With Team X in place at eight, if he had arrived earlier, I would have known.
* * *
I wondered what theme Atlas was going for with all of the feathers, glitter, and stars hanging from the ceiling. I ordered a Jack and coke and stared the door down like I was going to fight it.
Five minutes to nine, I breathed what felt like my first breath in hours. I watched as Quill smiled at the bouncer by the door, his body sinuously dressed in a tight, white material that shimmered. His hair was gunmetal gray, the normally black bracelets he always wore replaced with shiny silver ones. I couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but the laughter that fell from his mouth filled me with relief, a reassuring calm. He was safe.
I couldn’t take my eyes off him as he slipped through the crowd. He was only a few feet in front of me when his color-of-the-day, stunning white eyes locked with mine.
“Black,” he gasped. “Are you okay?”
“Am I okay?” Realizing my voice was rising, I collected myself. “I’ve been looking for you all day.”
He didn’t look ashamed or upset; he was clearly confused. “But I don’t understand.”
How could he not understand? “Where did I lose you in my statement?”
He scanned the room with his white eyes. It wasn’t busy yet, so he gestured for me to follow him. We walked down a narrow corridor and turned to a room. Chairs and tables were all that filled it. He punched his number in and rounded on me.
“Don’t come into my place of work and treat me like a kid. You told me to leave my apartment and tell no one where I was going, to keep to my schedule, so I did that, and now you’re yelling at me?”
What the…. “I never told you to do that. Why would I tell you to leave the one place you were most safe?”
“Yes, you did. I got a call, listen.” He took out his cell and played the voice mail. Sure enough, a voice sounding a lot like mine urged Quill to grab a few things, tell no one where he was going, and stay there until he had to go to work.
“I never made that call, Quill.”
It had just dawned on Quill that he had done exactly what whoever on that message wanted when a loud boom came from outside. Not in the club, but from outside the building. Grabbing Quill, I raced down the corridor. Team X was right there.
“We need to get out of here,” the leader, Malcom, said.
“What was that?” I asked as I followed behind him, Quill’s hand in mine.
“Car bomb.” Just as he said that, another explosion was heard. “Make that two.”
“Ronnie?” Quill shouted through the screams of patrons.
“No way, not the Sterlings’ style,” Malcom said at the same time I also said no.
When we exited the building, a black van was waiting. “Go to your safe house,” Malcom directed, and it was by far the best place to go.
With Team X taking point on this, I concentrated on being vigilant and keeping Quill safe.