Chapter Six
Moon
It’s 3 in the morning, fourteen hours since Fernandez took Madison. I can’t sleep, but I can probably drum up the energy to knock Alex on his ass. He’s silently pacing the living room while I stare at my phone. Dax and his crew are on the streets hitting bars to test the wind and see if any information is floating around about someone wanting girls and those girls never returning. I should have thought of searching the prostitute route for Fernandez before Madison went missing. I snap my mind closed on the thought. Blaming myself won’t help find my wife.
“Let’s go for a drive,” I tell Alex. I can’t sit still either. Usually I would be charging full steam ahead knowing the likelihood of someone kidnapped and returning alive was extremely low. The plan would be pure vengeance—find and destroy. But this is Madison and I cannot allow my mind to think that way or I’ll fall down a hole where I can’t return from. I’m living in a void where darkness fills every square inch.
I can’t lose Madison.
Alex doesn’t even acknowledge my words, just turns on his heels and heads to the back of the house to the garage. He doesn’t handle sitting still well either. Maybe driving will help clear our minds enough that we can function.
Two Dogs, Madison’s crazy pit bull, gets up and mopes behind me. I grab his leash off the rack by the back door and decide to bring him with us. He whines when he should be happy at a chance to go for a car ride. Somehow, he knows Madison’s in trouble. At least the damn goat is in Flagstaff or we would have a menagerie in the back seat.
I receive raised eyebrows when Alex sees Two Dogs, but he bites his tongue and doesn’t bitch about hair in the backseat of our newest vehicle. When we’re settled in the car, Alex pulls the black Mercedes SUV onto the road in front of the house. It’s still in the nineties at three in the morning, but I rolled the back window down before I got in so Two Dogs can stick his head out. Alex keeps the air conditioning running at full blast.
The streets are fairly empty even at the first large intersection we come to. “Where do you want to go, boss?” Alex finally asks. He only calls me boss when he’s trying to get a rise out of me or he’s in one of his moods. It’s definitely a mood this time.
“Just keep driving,” I reply wearily. “I promise Fernandez won’t get to Celina.”
Alex grunts. The thought of our women in danger has shook us to the core. We’ve built an organization that garners trust and commitment among thieves. For many, this wouldn’t be a healthy business model, but we found by keeping promises and distributing wealth fairly to those who support us, we can survive in relative peace. Fernandez was a dangerous frustration. I misjudged him and it’s not something I’m proud of.
I wait out Alex in silence, hoping he’ll talk. I know he’s upset about Madison but something else is bothering him too. He finally inhales deeply and then glances at me after releasing the air from his lungs. “I don’t understand why Fernandez went for Mak. I know we ruffled his feathers, but after Melina went back to California, I thought he was the least of our problems. On top of that, I didn’t think he would find men willing to help him or men willing to go up against us.” His hands tighten on the wheel, letting me know this is really bothering him. “There’s something bigger going on. I guarantee Fernandez has a plan. Sending Cori’s finger was part of it,” he says wearily.
He speeds onto the freeway while we both think about the larger picture. He eventually turns off onto Thomas Road, heading for the warehouse district in downtown Phoenix. He pulls into the section we own and slowly cruises the area in front of our warehouses. The parking lot is dark and empty. We have cameras to monitor the entire area and only place extra men on guard duty when we have something of value inside. It’s not guarded tonight.
Alex stops in the middle of the lot and drums his fingers on the wheel. When he turns to me, I know I won’t like what comes out of his mouth next.
“He has someone in his pocket on the inside of our organization.”
Fuck.
Alex continues. “He knew too much about Cori. I have trouble believing he just got lucky. The video of Mak getting into that car only showed her. He took Cori first and used her as bait to draw Mak out. She and Mak are tight. Someone betrayed us or he wouldn’t know that Mak would come to the rescue.”
My jaw is clenched when I reply. “It could be one of the escorts.”
“Yes,” he says and the drumming starts again. “Or it could be someone close to us. Money is power and Fernandez will be offering a lot when it comes to his hired help. His organization is in tatters with half of his men dead and the other half in jail. Whoever is helping him is from our territory, I feel it.”
I let the thoughts soak in. The men inside my house have all proven themselves and I trust each one with my life and Madison’s. The problem is my organization has grown so much since taking over New Mexico that I don’t have a close connection with some of the new faces we’ve hired and neither does Alex.
“Is there anyone inside the house you feel uncomfortable about?” I ask because Alex may feel differently about one of the men than I do.
He shakes his head. “They’re solid. We need to find out who they’re fucking, though.”
He’s right. “Handle it.” I lean back in my seat, the exhaustion getting to me. “Let’s go home and grab a few hours of sleep. We need it.”
Alex turns the car out of the lot and we return to my lonely home, which will never be the same without Madison. When my head hits the pillow, sleep doesn’t come. A crazy fuck has my wife and I know what that entails. Whatever he does to her will be dealt with when she’s back home in my arms. She just needs to survive until I get there.