Page 114 of Jace 4Ever
“I’m afraid not,” he said. “Not in the least. I found all this out entirely too late to do anything about stopping them. But this is over, and I do hope you find him soon.”
“When can we expect your capo?” Griffith asked.
“As soon as I find him.” Fitecchio let out a breath. “That’s actually how I came to find all this out. He wasn’t at a meeting today and…well. Now I know what’s going on.” He pulled the driving gloves back on. “I’ll have him to you as soon as my men find him.”
“Wait,” Bridget said. “You’re telling me that the capo who ordered this hit is still out there?”
“Yes.”
“Fuck,” Noah and I growled.
“Gentlemen, that is your department. Mine is to find my man and take care of him. Mister Jerrod here is held harmless by my family. We won’t pursue him. I wish you luck in finding your missing man.” He turned and marched back out of the room.
Griffith stared at Bridget, and she shook her head. “Don’t. Don’t go after him. I know that’s a beautiful opportunity, but if you don’t, you’ll be able to get more cooperation out of them.”
“I hate when logic sucks.”
“We have to find Jace,” Smoke said. “You heard him, his capo is still out there and still going after Jace.”
“I need to go—”
“Your ass needs to stay here,” Maddox cut in. “The capo already arranged for you to be far away from this. If he sees you, he’s going to kill you.”
“He’s right,” Bridget said. “Do we have any ideas where Jace would run to, that would keep him hidden?”
We all turned and looked at Jerrod, and he shook his head. “I got no idea. I am not a good brother. I let him do some seriously fucked up shit to keep a roof and food.”
“You certainly did,” Noah said. “So he ran away. Where? Where did he run? Did you both grow up here, in the city?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “Ow! Fuck!”
“Bullet is still in there. You need to go to the hospital.” Logan snapped off the gloves. “You’re damn lucky nothing got really hit.”
“Where did you grow up?” Noah asked.
“Harlem, mostly,” he said. “We had a few years in Alphabet City and one over in Queens. He went missing not long after my dad kicked.”
Noah kept at him, grilling him for more information, but my attention shifted. Aaron unfolded his arms and walked to the side of the fireplace. He touched the wall there and traced something. Looking down, he kicked a piece of wood from one of my many ruined bookshelves out of the way.
“Shit,” he whispered and snapped his head around. “I know where he’s trying to hide.”
Griffith, Smoke, and I ran over to where Aaron was standing. He pointed to the wall and I could kind of make out some letters carved into the wall.
“Moletun? Mole-tun? Molet un?” Smoke tried sounding it out.
“Mole Tun,” Aaron said. “Mole people. Tunnels. He went underground.”
“He said he lived down there for a year or so, when he was homeless.” I turned and looked at Jerrod. “He had to turn tricks to keep his ass alive, instead of relying on his older brother who couldn’t be bothered to him over to the state or make sure he wasn’t starving.”
Griffith put a hand on my arm. “Don’t. He’s going to be arrested. Even though he didn’t pull the trigger on his brother, he took the contract. That’s time.”
I nodded. “All right, if he’s gone into the tunnels, how do we find him?”
Aaron tossed a chin at two people in the room. “I take Smoke and Logan down there and search.”
“Good.” I headed for the closet to find better shoes for a search. “Let’s get going.”
“No.” Aaron grabbed my arm. “Only Smoke, Logan, and I are going. We’re not taking a brigade. Three people: Smoke because I know what he’s capable of, Logan because I think he’d be a great asset, and me because I know the tunnels.”
