Page 31 of Murder & Mayhem
“Fuck. Yeah, have Gid meet us. I don’t like going into places like that alone. We’ll check the house first. Maybe we’ll get lucky. Yeah, yeah, I know, our luck fucking sucks. But we’re due, right? Yeah, we’ll be leaving in ten.” We were? What the fuck was going on? I clamored out of bed. Had they gotten a lead?
“Definitely reach out to them. I know you said they found a new hacker, but you’ve done enough for Castellano over the years that he fucking owes you. If they have information, we need it.”
Dominic climbed to his feet and walked to what I figured was a closet. I followed, hating that I had no idea what was going on. All kinds of terrible scenarios ran through my head.Something major had happened though. I picked at my skin and hung back at the doorway of the large walk-in closet. Dominic was still speaking to Ari, but I stopped paying attention to the words. He had pushed away a panel and was now kneeling in front of a safe.
“Okay, yeah, send me the coordinates and keep me updated. I will, A. Love you too.”
I pressed my hands to my stomach in an effort to calm my nerves. Dominic had such a close relationship with his brothers, and in a way I was envious. Bailey and I were close, but it was different. It was all about survival. I couldn’t remember the last time we’d said we loved each other. We used to all the time, but lately, since we felt somewhat safe, Bailey had been rebelling a little. Not really fighting with me, but pushing back. Questioning why I was still so paranoid as I tried to explain that six months wasn’t enough time, how we weren’t even out of the city yet and until we were, we couldn’t let our guards down. I hated that I’d been right.
“Jamie?”
I tilted my head up to see Dominic, who was watching me with some concern. He somehow had gotten partially dressed, a pair of casual black slacks on in place of those obscene sweats. He had a shoulder holster strapped on and was busy strapping another holster around his waist. My jaw dropped because damn, he looked good.
“Ari located Slash. He is actually a she and her name is Nancy Williams. Does that sound familiar to you?”
I turned around to face him, leaning against the doorframe. “No. I never heard the name.”
Dominic nodded like he wasn’t surprised. “Yeah, us either. Ari has been doing some research and found out a little, but he has a contact that’s a lot more immersed in this world. He reached out to them to see what they know. There are not asmany female players, especially associated with gangs, so there’s a chance she’s on their radar.”
I frowned. “She’s who has Bailey?”
“It’s a strong possibility. Ari was able to connect Slash loosely to the crew your stepdad ran with. And, more importantly, to O’Malley. Turns out, they’re cousins through marriage or some shit.” He shrugged and grabbed a button-down shirt off a hanger. He began to put it on. “She’s not a member herself, but the crew does seem to do some running for her. She owns property that’s in the vicinity of the area Dan thought O’Malley was going to.”
My pulse raced as I tried not to get too hopeful. Dominic was holding something back. I could already read him well enough to know that. Whatever it was, was probably not good news.
“What else?” I prompted, crossing my arms over my chest in an attempt to look threatening.
“If O’Malley really handed Bailey off to Slash, and honestly, Dan had no reason to lie, then this is on a much bigger scale than we imagined.”
My stomach dropped and I automatically rocked back, trying not to fall into worst-case scenarios until I had all the information.
“What does that mean?”
“We thought Joey sold Bailey to the crew to pay some debts. That’s fairly local and small scale. They’d probably keep him locked up in one of their bases until they were sure he wouldn’t run, and then make him work off what Joey owes. It would be much easier to grab him from there and handle business. But, while we still know very little about her, it’s clear that Slash has her hands in much bigger pots. We’re talking international trafficking rings. Now, we have no idea what her plan is with Bailey, and a lot of this is speculation. But it meanswe have to move much quicker. If Slash is holding Bailey at the docks, there’s a very real chance she’s going to try to relocate him out of the country. We need to get him before that.”
I sank to the floor, the hopelessness penetrating the barriers I had been desperately trying to build to keep me functioning. Traffickers. Like, big-time international traffickers. It was so much more than I could ever imagine. We had to get Bailey out of there. If he ended up overseas . . .
The thought was too sickening to even consider.
“Did Joey know the plan?”
Dominic sighed and came to kneel in front of me. “I don’t know. Based off what Dan said, I’m leaning toward no. He probably didn’t ask too many questions one way or the other.” Yeah, probably not.
Instead of responding to that at all, I asked, “So what now?”
Dominic nodded. “Ari got a hit on the car that was in those surveillance videos. It’s at one of the Wraiths’ bases. I don’t want you to get your hopes up because it seems unlikely that Bailey is there, or even O’Malley since it looks like he went rogue, but we have to check every lead. Gid is going to meet us there for backup. In the meantime, Ari will keep searching every corner of the dark web and doing his thing to get more information. Hopefully, Ari’s contact will not only have something for us, but possibly lend some manpower if our worst fears turn out to be true and he’s already at the docks.”
Dominic seemed calm despite the news, and I tried to use some of that peace to reassure myself.
“I know things seem bleak. But we’re not giving up, okay? We’ll find him.”
I nodded even if I had my doubts. It was still so hard to believe that I wasn’t alone. We didn’t move right away. Dominic was breathing slow and even, and I mimicked thatunconsciously at first, but eventually intentionally as I stared into his eyes and let myself believe, even for a moment, that things would be okay.
Finally, Dominic climbed to his feet, looking a little reluctant to move. “Why don’t you go get cleaned up and changed? I don’t think I have pants that’ll fit you well enough. You’ll have to wear your jeans, but I’ll find you a shirt or something.”
Swallowing hard, and a little touched, I got up and rushed to the bathroom. My head was a mess, but I did my best to focus on one thing at a time. Brush my teeth. Wash my face. Get dressed. Find Bailey.
When I came out, Dominic wasn’t in the room anymore, but my jeans were out on the bed along with a long-sleeved T-shirt and a black hoodie. The shirt was all black, with a small logo I didn’t recognize on it. Plain, unassuming. Nothing to draw attention to me. I brought it to my nose. It smelled mostly like laundry detergent, but there was the slight hint of Dominic, the scent I was quickly associating with safety. I pulled the shirt I was wearing over my head and tossed it on the bed before replacing it with this one. It was way too big, but I didn’t mind. I rarely had stuff that fit me right, and at least this time it was because it was Dominic’s. I liked wearing his clothes.
