Chapter Sixteen
“And you’re sure this girl, Crissy, saw a man forcing the missing woman into a car?”
“A white sedan. Old, she said.” Charli looked at herself in the cracked mirror and tugged at the hem of her skirt.
“But no make or model?”
“No, just old is what she said and when I asked her to describe the shape, it sounded like a 70s model. A real lead sled. She swears the man shoved the woman into the trunk. And she said the man was big, had on a baggy jacket and a baseball cap and baggy jeans and he looked dirty.” She gave the skirt another couple of tugs and grimaced.
“Okay,” Zeb was texting as they talked. “I’m letting everyone know. Did she by chance notice a license plate?”
“She said there wasn’t one.”
“Great.” He continued to text.
Charli tugged at the hem of the denim skirt for the fifth time. “You have any idea how hard it is to hide a weapon in an outfit like this?”
Zeb, who was leaning against the wall in the storage room he’d commandeered as his temporary home, put away his phone and pushed away from the wall to walk over to her. “Turn around.”
She did and he shrugged. “Okay, you got me on that. No way you’ll hide a handgun.”
“Then I’m taking this shoulder bag that Mimi gave me. It has a slit in the inner lining so I can put the gun beneath the lining in case anyone wants to look inside.”
“It might not be smart to go armed.”
“If I wear this outfit, then I’m carrying the purse. With the gun.”
Zeb held up his hands. “Okay. So, we’re on the same page as to what’s going to happen?”
“Yeah. We’re showing up at the drug boys’ place and you’re gonna try and sell your ho.”
“Well, I wouldn’t have put it like that, but yeah, that’s essentially it. And if they want to take you anywhere, I have two Rangers who will be following us.”
“And if they just want to take me somewhere and bang me, those same Rangers are going to intervene.”
“Yes. So, don’t take them out yourself. Let it look like a rival gang moved in and took you.”
“And if they just tell me to hit the streets and turn in what I make to them, I use the money you gave me.”
“Right. Now remember, if that’s what happens and someone approaches you and asks you to get into a car, make sure you’re in sight of me or one of the Rangers. They’ll signal to let you know it’s them by the phrase I gave you earlier.”
“Well, you better hope no one else in the hood yells, ‘Hey, Amazon, brings that ass on over here and plant it on my face.’” She shook her head in distaste. “And by the way, whoever came up with that one needs to be punched.”
Zeb crossed his arms and thrust his chin up. “Oh yeah?”
“Oh, shit, was that you?”
“Naw, just messing with you.”
“Dick.” She said and tugged at the skirt again. “Okay, let’s get this show on the road.
“After you,” he gestured toward the door.
Charli walked out and waited for Zeb. When he emerged, he leaned over and spoke softly to her. “Don’t punch me, but girl you make that slut-wear look damn good.”
She wanted to be annoyed by the statement but she knew Zeb didn’t mean anything untoward with the statement. Charli had come to really like him and felt like when this was over, she’d have a friend. At least she hoped so.
He slammed his hand on her rear and together they headed for the other side of the zone, where the drug runners had set up. The closer they got, the more leers and lewd comments she received. By the time they stopped on the sidewalk outside of the old liquor store, she was ready to knock some teeth out.
“Hey, Antony, here she is.” Zeb announced as soon as the boss stepped outside.
“She’s a fucking big bitch.” Antony eyed Charli up and down. She wanted to kick his gonads up to his tonsils but instead, she smiled as Zeb squeezed her ass and then shoved her toward the young man.
Charli had no doubt that she could take this punk. He was probably twenty-five, with hair that stood up like a retarded rooster, spindly arms, and black jeans held up with a belt that looked like it was fashioned from motorcycle chains welded together.
His swagger was what really annoyed her. While others in this zone were struggling for survival, this piece of human excrement was trying to peddle poison and capitalize on their desperation and fear.
“So, she any good at sucking dick?”
“She can take the chrome off a trailer hitch, my man,” Zeb replied.
“How much you want for her?”
“Enough to get me the fuck outta this place. Say, five G’s?”
“Five G’s? Man, you insane. I am paying no five G’s for a piece of ass.”
“For this ass you will.” Zeb grabbed Charli and pulled her in front of him, running his hand up to cup her breasts. “Look at this, boys. One hundred percent real American titty. No aftermarket bullshit here.”
He then moved his hands down her body to the hem of her skirt and pulled it up to her waist. Charli now understood why he had insisted on the pair of lace thongs he’d given her.
One of his hands slid lower and cupped her sex. “And this…” He blew out a low whistle. “This right here is some prime pussy, brother. She can damn near squeeze a man off without him moving a muscle, she’s got so much control. I’m telling you, you can make bank on this snatch.”
“Then why you so willing to sell, big man?”
“Like I said, I need to get the fuck outta here. Got something waiting for me in the land of fake titties and year-round beaches.”
“I’ll give you a thousand.”
“You’ll give me five.”
“Twenty-five hundred.”
“Five.”
“Thirty-five hundred.”
“Five.”
“Fuck, fine, man. Five.” Antony snapped his fingers and one of the men standing behind him stepped forward. “Gimme five.”
The man reached into the pocket of his jacket, pulled out a wad of cash, and peeled off a stack of bills. He handed the cash to Antony, who counted it and handed it to Zeb.
Zeb didn’t bother counting. He just shoved it in his pocket and smiled.
“You not gonna count it?” Antony asked.
“Nope. You wouldn’t short me.”
“No? How you know that?” Antony kind of puffed up his chest until Zeb smiled and took a step toward him.
“Because you know that if you did, I’d tear your throat out while those two dumb fucks watched and then I’d kill them.”
Even Charli got a bit of a shiver at the menace in his tone and that downright ice cold look in his eyes. Damn, if Zeb wasn’t a bad ass. She wouldn’t want to cross the man.
“Well, you got your money, so the bitch is mine.”
“And you treat her right, you hear me, Antony?”
“What’s it to you, man? Yo ass gonna be in the land of beaches and titties.”
“You’re right, it will soon enough, but until I make my arrangements I’ll be around and if I hear you hurt my bitch, I’m gonna take exception to that. You feel me?”
“Yeah, man. I feel you. ‘Sides, what kinda fool you think you doing bidness with? I am gonna damage something that’s gonna make me bank? And you’re gonna make me bank, right, bitch?”
“The name is Delilah, and I suggest you take a page from the Dude’s book and just stay the fuck outta my way and let me do what I do. I’ll deliver your cut at the end of the night but aside from that, we’ve got nothing to say to one another.”
“I’ll be the one who decides what we—“
Charli realized she could be making a mistake, but she had started down a path and now had to continue, so she moved fast. In a blink, she had one hand around his neck and the other cupping his balls.
She lifted him up and smiled at him. “Baby, this is how Delilah rolls. Now you and me can be sweet friends or we can be enemies. I know you have some muscle working for you and maybe you can have them fuck me up. But not before I turn you from a rooster to a chicken. You feel me, sweetie?”
“Put me down.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
Charli released him and watched as he rubbed his throat with one hand and his balls with the other. “You’re one crazy bitch.”
“Who can handle herself and make you bank. So, what will it be, Antony? Will you be the man who runs the baddest, most money-making bitch in the place or the man who fucked up what could have been a very lucrative arrangement?”
“I ain’t no fool. Talk is cheap. You come back before dawn with a grand and we’re gonna have one fine arrangement. You don’t and me and the boys are gonna have five G’s worth of fun. You feel me, Delilah?”
“Not a problem.” Charli smiled and turned away, then stopped and walked back over to Zeb. “In fact, I’m gonna make half of that right now. I think me and you need to say goodbye, don’t you, Dude?”
“For five hundred dollars?” Zeb asked. “For that, I’m gonna want you for more than a quickie.”
“Then let’s get started stud.” She looked back at Antony. “I’ll be back by eleven with half your money.”
“You do know that if you’re trying to run one on me, my guys will find you. And they’ll be packing more than hard dicks.”
“I hear you, boss. I’ll see you at eleven.”
With that, Charli took Zeb’s arm and they strolled away. Once they were halfway down the block, she spoke. “I’m gonna need you to hold all but a grand of the cash. We’ve got enough for three nights so we better get a lead before it runs out.”
“You mean you’re not gonna go out and make your new boss bank, Delilah?”
Charli blew a raspberry. “Come on. Let’s find somewhere to hole up for a few hours. From what I heard from that girl, the last disappearance happened just before midnight a block from the liquor store. I’m gonna be there and we need to make sure everyone else is in place as well.”
“We will be.”
She nodded and tried to push away the niggling feeling that had plagued her all day that something was about to happen. She’d had the feeling before and never had it boded well. Which made her wonder just how close they were to making contact with whoever abducted that girl ten days ago and what kind of shit they’d face when it happened.
Most of all, she prayed that whatever foreboding this feeling might signal, that Grady was safe and would be coming home in one piece.
*****
Grady got out of the taxi and stood on the sidewalk for a few minutes, staring at the entrance of the cemetery. It’d been nearly twenty years since he’d been here.
He hadn’t really planned on coming. When he finally finished debriefing and was released, he made a trip to Kentucky where his teammate and friend Johnny had lived.
The last time he was there was to tell Johnny’s wife Belinda that Johnny wouldn’t be coming home. This time he went to present her with a gift. No one knew, but every time a SEAL was killed in the line of duty, every SEAL, active and inactive, chipped in money to give to the family. Grady had a cashier’s check in his pocket for fifty-two-thousand dollars.
Added to the death benefits the family would collect, Belinda would be able to raise her and Johnny’s little girl, Janine, and have a little nest egg and college fund. It did nothing to ease the pain and loss, but at least they had all done right by Johnny and helped to provide for his family.
After Grady left there, he wandered around for hours, thinking about Johnny, about the child who would never know her father, and about himself and what he wanted out of life.
For years he’d told himself and anyone who would listen that he wasn’t interested in settling down. Marriage wasn’t for him. He came up with a hundred and one excuses, maybe more, and never once uttered the truth of why he wouldn’t let himself care.
The reason for that lay beyond the entrance of the graveyard. Grady hadn’t been able to cross that threshold in almost twenty years. Not since the day he walked out of the place, broken and alone.
Now it was time because now he realized it hadn’t mattered if he was ready or not, it had just happened. Charli Sampson had touched him in a way no one else had since he was eighteen.
He sucked in his breath, told himself to man the fuck up, and took the first step. Every subsequent step brought a flash of memory.
Emma’s hair, that glorious strawberry blonde hair that cascaded down her back in a riot of soft lazy curls. Those soft, silken strands that he loved to tangle his fingers in, bury his face in, and smell the scent of honeysuckle that always rose from her tresses.
Emma. Green eyes and skin like cream with a shy smile that could melt the coldest heart. Emma.
He fell in love with her the day they met. He was a month away from graduating high school and she had just moved to town and entered school as a junior.
Grady could still remember the day he saw her, that blue skirt she wore with the flat little shoes with the strap across the foot and the pristine white blouse with the lace on the collar.
She looked like a doll, a living doll, so perfect that it took his breath.
He fell in love with Emma that day and the day after she graduated high school he married her.
He’d just started SEAL training. She planned on working at her mother’s beauty salon in town, doing nails, and as soon as he was officially a SEAL, they’d buy a little house and talk about starting a family.
Grady stopped at the double headstones beneath the sheltering oak. Emma’s folks had kept the gravesite tidy all these years. There were flowers planted around the tree, wind chimes that hung from the branches, and even a little bench to sit on.
Emma White Judd, beloved daughter, wife and mother. That’s what was on her tombstone. Grady thought it a shame that there wasn’t a way to convey more—to give someone who might stop and look a way of knowing how much she was loved, or how much she loved others. Or maybe how her laugh was infectious, or how she could hold up her finger and get dragonflies and butterflies to light on it.
Why wasn’t there a way to let people know that if ever a person had deserved to live a long and happy life, it was Emma. His beautiful Emma. Even now, his chest and throat felt constricted with grief and loss.
“I love you, Emma. I always will. But I—the truth is I found another love. Not like you, honey. Nothing could ever be like you.”
Grady knelt and lowered his forehead to the cool surface of the tombstone. He’d resisted this moment for two decades, but he couldn’t any more. “Emma. I know you’re not in the in-between, but I need to see you, or hear your voice. I need to know that you and Emilia are okay. That it’s okay for me to be okay.”
He closed his eyes and listened to the sound of his heart, willing himself into that place of nothingness. When the transition happened, he jolted. This wasn’t where he was supposed to be.
“Sure it is.”
Grady turned and tears spilled from his eyes. There stood Emma, glowing and whole and more beautiful than the first day he saw her. And with her was another female, equally as beautiful but with hair less red and quite a bit taller.
“Is that−“
“It’s me, Daddy. Emilia.”
Grady couldn’t take it. He sank to his knees and covered his face with his hands, letting all that he’d held in these past twenty years spill free. He cried for what he’d lost, for all the things he’d missed—growing old with his wife, watching his daughter grow. He cried for all they missed and for not being able to prevent them from dying.
“I’m so sorry, honey.” He looked up when he felt Emma’s hand on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here, that I couldn’t save you. You and Emilia.”
“It’s okay, Daddy.” Emilia knelt beside him, as did Emma. “We’re alive.”
“But where?”
“Where isn’t important, Daddy. Being happy, giving and receiving love—that’s what matters.”
“I’ll always love you, baby. Till the day I die and beyond.”
“I know, Daddy. We both do.” She looked at her mother and Emma nodded.
“What we had was beautiful and we created something beautiful together, Grady—our child and a love that transcends all. Stop blaming yourself for something you couldn’t have prevented. We all have our paths. This was ours.
“Yours lies in Texas. It’s time to hang up your guns. Time again to be a husband and a father. This is your second chance, sweetheart. Make the most of it. Be happy. Love and laugh and celebrate all the moments allotted to you.”
“How can I do that when you—“
“When I am doing the same? You know this isn’t me, Grady? It’s…it’s the energy of me, of what we were and what we’ve become and what we will be. But me? I’m carrying you with me, in my heart, and I’m alive. I love and laugh and cherish it all and so should you. Don’t devalue it with grief. Celebrate it. Please. For me. For Emilia and for our love.”
“I will always love you, Emma. You and Emilia.”
“As we will you. Now, it’s time to go. Go home, Grady. Go claim your life and your love.”
Grady suddenly jerked, feeling a hand on his shoulder, shaking gently and a soft voice. “Sir? The cemetery is closing. It’s time to go.”
He looked up at the face of a man he’d never met until this moment, and saw compassion and strength. “I’m sorry. I’ll leave.”
“Don’t you fret about it, son. No harm done.”
“Thank you.” Grady rose, took one last look at the twin gravestones, then turned and walked away. Away from the past and toward the future.