Page 117 of Jace 4Ever
“It’s Tony.”
It was so quiet on the other side that I wasn’t sure the guy hadn’t hung up. Finally, there was a sound, and a choked answer. “Tony. Of all the days, of all the people...”
“I need your help. I got a guy here who needs to get the hell out of the city.”
“Tony. I’m in the middle of trying to find someone. It’s super critical and, man...” The voice was so painfully familiar, and it nagged at me as he spoke again. “I can’t right now. Can you call back in like a day?”
“He’s being chase by the mafia. I gotta get him out of this city, Aaron.”
My jaw fell open, and I couldn’t stop my gasp. There was no way… “Aaron?” I breathed. I leaned in closer. “Aaron Donner?”
“Who the fuck is this?”
“Jace,” I managed to finally mumble.
I heard his gasp, and his words tumbled out, “Jace. You’re with Tony.”
There were two other gasps, and then I heard Smoke’s voice. “Where the fuck are you guys?”
“No.” This voice I didn’t know. “Don’t tell us, not right now. Jace, you have the Shoemaker chasing you down. He’s down there somewhere trying to make you shoes. You have to get back to the Freedom Tunnel. Can you do that? Tony?”
“Yeah, we can do that, but it’s going to take us about a solid hour to make our way back up,” Tony said. “Who the hell is the Shoemaker?”
“Enforcer,” Smoke said. “One of the nasty ones.”
“He’s gone rogue with some of Don Fitecchio’s now former associates,” Aaron said. “We found your message in the living room. We’re trying to find you down here. We have been for two days.”
They were looking for me. I wanted to cry.
“Tony, is that really you?” Aaron asked quietly.
“Yeah, A. It’s me.”
“You’ve had my number all this time?”
“Well, yes.”
“Shit.”
“Look, can you get him out of the city or not? Please, Aaron.”
“No, we can’t get him out of the city because his fiancé wants nothing more than to have him home again.”
“No, no,” I gasped. “Get me away from Nelson. They’ll kill him. I can’t let him be hurt.”
“Jace, Don Fitecchio himself showed up in his apartment,” a third voice said. “A mafia don guaranteed that you would be safe from his consiglieres. You don’t get that every day. Come back. We’ll track the Shoemaker and his lackeys, but you need to be out of the picture.”
“Get him up here, Tony,” Aaron said. “We’ll meet you at the Junction.”
“How are you going to protect us?”
I had to laugh at that one. “Smoke is a CIA agent. I think. He could be MI6 for all I know.”
“I’m former FBI,” the other person said. “And Nelson is a former Army Ranger. He knows what he’s doing. Bring him here. We’ll get him safe. And, you too, if you want.”
Tony looked at me and nodded.
I nodded back. “Get me back to my fiancé.”
