Page 78 of Double Edged Hearts
“No worries. You’ll need your strength. I know if it was my girl, I’d do the same as you. I just wish we were up against anybody besides these people. It gets messy when things are uncertain and you don’t know what you’re dealing with.”
“Yeah. It’s worse when they have leverage.”
He nods and says no more. He just heads back to the fridge.
There is no more to say because the truth of the matter is, nobody knows what’s going on.
Nobody knows what the outcome will be.
* * *
“This looks okay,” Doc says, and Claudius observes him as he looks at the wound on my waist. The area where he stitched doesn’t look as bruised and swollen as it did yesterday. “I need you to rest though. I don’t want those stitches to rip.”
I stare at him and hold my tongue. It’s best if I do because I don’t want to be rude and give him a mouthful for saying shit I don’t want to hear. But I swear to God, if he tells me one more time to rest, I’ll be popping bullets.
“Thanks, Doc,” Claudius says.
Doc places a fresh bandage over the wound and leaves us.
As I look at Claudius, I know he’s getting ready to tell me more things I don’t want to hear. I also know he has an idea of my plans for the day and it doesn’t involve resting of any kind.
This is day two now that they’ve had Cora. Assuming she’s still alive. Tomorrow is when the shit with Matvey is supposed to go down in Chicago. I’m not waiting another minute, and I certainly won’t be wasting it either.
“Alex,” Claudius says when I reach for my T-shirt.
I look at him. “Boss.”
He eyes me with caution. “You need to rest. The boys and I will find her. We’ve called for backup. The Giordanos and the other guys are on their way.”
I stare at him, grateful for the reinforcement of our friends in our alliance, but that’s not going to stop me from being there.
“Thank you, Claudius. I appreciate everything you’re doing. But I have to be there. I can’t sit here and wait. I have to do something, anything.”
“I get it, I do, but you know you have us, and we’ll be looking for her like she’s our own.”
I believe him when he says that. They’re all like that, and I have no doubt they’d give their all and more to find Cora. It’s not about that though.
“Claudius, you and I both know that if we were talking about Ava, you’d be on the street with your guts hanging out looking for her.” That silences him, because he knows I’m right. There’s not a damn thing he wouldn’t do for his girl, and he would have to bedead, dead, deadto stop him from going on the street to find her. “I need to be there. I need to be out there looking for her, and she needs to see me. She needs to see that I tried no matter what’s going on with me.”
Before he can say another word, the door opens and Gibbs walks in.
“Found them,” Gibbs says, and I stand.
I’m stronger just for hearing that. “You found her?” I ask.
“Yeah. One of my analysts managed to hack Richard’s phone and files. He’s planning to leave today for LA then head for Russia. They’ll be leaving from a private airport at two.”
“Thanks, Gibbs, good work,” Claudius says.
“Thank you, Gibbs,” I say too, and hope fills me.
I turn to Claudius, deciding to stop any further orders in their tracks.
“I’m going,” I tell him. “I am going. Don’t try to stop me.”
“Okay. I won’t. Let’s gather the crew and get ready to go.”
I nod.
