Page 11 of A Game of Survival

"So, last night I combed over every piece of evidence we had from the abduction of Teddy and Max." Lincoln begins to tell me. I'm too eager to know what the hell we are doing and interrupt him.

"Tell me what I need to know, Linc. If there is a chance we can bring Teddy home to our girl today, tell me for the love of God, don't string this out!" I say firmly.

"I'm getting there, Silas. I need to explain everything, it's not as simple as you think. God I hope we can bring him home to her today but first you need to listen to me." I can tell he's riding his own fears with Teddy being taken. He's a father and out of all of us he must understand the way Lucille is feeling the most.

"I’m sorry. Please continue. I’m just as desperate to find him as you are." I admit, running my hands through my hair.

He nods, "OK, so as I was saying, I went through everything again in detail, anything I thought was suspicious, I checked, triple checked until I found it. What I’d fucking missed. The short version is I ended up hacking into an ATM camera feed and I saw first hand how it all went down at Max’s. A van pulled onto Max’s driveway, custom design with completely blacked out windows. Four men, head to toe in cover, snuck in and took Max and Teddy by force. All I know is the evidence points to Max being innocent. He was unconscious when they carried him from the house, he is as much a victim as Teddy.” I clench my fist at the thought of them doing this whilst Teddy was asleep. Or worse having him witnessing the whole thing after what happened with his cunt of a father.

Lincoln continues to relay what he has found. "The van disappeared towards Mountain Springs, but I had Felix keep his eyes and ears to the ground looking out for any sightings of it. And low and behold he called not 30 minutes ago, the van had flagged one of the speed cameras on the city border. He’s sent a tracking signal for us to follow and where ever the van is headed we are going to intercept and we are going to find out where the fuck they have taken Teddy and Max and who’s behind all of this. These fuckers are going to wish they were never born Silas." he seethes, his eyes burning bright with the rage thats evident in the tone of his voice.

My palms are sweating as I think about all the scenarios that could happen when we find this van. We are one step closer to finding out the truth and finding out where they have Teddy. I cannot fail my love. I will not allow it.

"Good job, Lincoln." I nod, but something about what he’s saying still doesn't add up. “How sure are we that whoever it was that took Teddy from Max’s was the same person that took him from the warehouse?” I ask “What the fuck does Ronan have to do with all of this?”

I notice Lincoln's knuckles turn a ghostly shade of white against the leather of the steering wheel and his jaw tighten at my questioning. “I don’t know brother. But this is the best lead we’ve had in days” he sighs, visibly loosening the tension in his shoulders. I simply nod and praise him again for his work.

Linc has always there for me, so I feel it my duty to return the favor when his demons rise as he does when mine come out to play. He simply nods. I can’t help thinking how today could be the day we fix my love's broken heart, putting every piece back together and making her whole once more. We will avenge her and everything they threatened to take from us all. My mind drifts to where my brother is, he's been AWOL for longer in the past but something just doesn't sit right with me about his behavior this time.

Lincoln is quiet, focused intently on the tracker on the screen but his sharp tone cuts through the silence of the car, "What the fuck, why is it going there?"

I look at the live feed seeing what Linc sees, the confusion in Lincs eyes is mirrored in my own. The van appears to be stationary in the parking lot at Cole’s restaurant, and we are three minutes out.

"Put your fucking foot down Lincoln, NOW!" I half shout, half scream. Linc is already speeding to the destination, and as we arrive the tires screech loudly on the tarmac. I'm out of the car before it's even stopped, Lincoln is right behind me. Closing in on the van, I rip the driver's door open, almost taking it off the hinges. It's empty, the fucking van is empty. Rage is bubbling to the surface. I punch the steering wheel and turn to Lincoln, I see the disappointment and anger in his eyes. I can’t fucking believe we got so close, I slam the van door shut, snapping my orders through my anger. "Get somebody here to come and collect this van NOW. I want every single square inch of it inspected, raked over with a fine tooth fucking comb, immediately. Nothing gets missed! I need to call Dario. Him and Enzo were meant to escort Lucille to her apartment today but it looks like Cole, Enzo and Benji have some fucking explaining to do as to why this van has shown up on their front door step of all places.” I risk a glance over at Linc who merely nods, already getting his phone out before barking his orders into the hand piece.

Pulling my own phone from my pocket I dial Dario, it rings once before he answers. "Boss, how can I help?"

"Dario, I need you to keep an eye on Enzo until myself and Lincoln get to you. Are you at Lucille’s apartment already?"

"Yes Boss, she's just in there now getting some clothes together, she ordered us to stay outside so we thought it best to give her the space..." he begins before a muffled shout comes through the phone.

"What the fuck is going on Dario?" I shout, my body stricken with fear at whatever is happening on the other end of the line. Linc is in my eyeline now, silently pleading with me to let him know what’s happening, no doubt worried by the tone of my voice. I hear raised voices, one of them definitely being Lucille’s, a few scuffles, and then silence before Dario starts talking again.

"Boss, we have a situation. Max Costello is here and she just threatened to fucking shoot me. She won’t let us near him. What do you want me to do?" He recalls frantically, I can hear the frustration in his tone, I know he isn’t happy Lucille has threatened him with a gun. I’ll have to deal with her later for that.

"I want no harm to come to her, do you understand me Dario? We will be there in five minutes. Not a hair on her head is to be hurt, do you understand me?" I threaten, I am not in the mood for incompetence.

"Yes Boss," he replies through gritted teeth.

"Good. See to it you keep to your word, Dario." I snap before hanging up the phone. “We need to get to Lucille’s apartment. Tell Felix to get the van taken back to the warehouse, he can work on it in the garage around the back. It’ll be better than taking it to the casino or the club, especially if they’ve still got eyes on it.” I say, turning my attention back to the van.

“I really thought we had something here, I can't believe we are back to square one,” he exhales in despair raking his fingers through his hair before we both get back into the car, only this time, I’m in the driver's seat.

“We can focus on the van later, Brother. As for now, Max Costello is back from the dead and Lucille’s threatening the guys with a gun if they go near him” I say so matter of factly that I almost appear calm as we race out of the restaurant's parking lot. Only I know what's really going on inside of my own head, and it isn’t pretty. Max may be Lucille’s blood, but if he hurts her in any way, if he is responsible for what has happened with Teddy, that will only spare his life. It doesn’t mean he will ever get to walk again after I’m through with him. And that's a promise.

“Once this situation is dealt with, we’ll get all of Cole’s men in and question them one by one, see if we have an even bigger problem than we thought. And we can try to figure out why the hell the van that was involved with Teddy’s kidnapping has ended up at the restaurant.” I am trying to make sense of the whole thing as I say it. But I only end up with even more questions than before. Linc grunts disapprovingly beside me.

“Why the hell indeed. Cole has so many things to answer for and this is just the tip of the fucking iceberg Si,” he says with malice in his words before calling our men to relay the new instructions.

On the quick drive over I'm on edge the whole time, my knuckles white on the steering wheel as I plough through the traffic, worrying about what’s happening. Is Lucille safe? Has she shot anybody yet? Why does she have a gun in the first place? Why is Max there and is he going to hurt her? Does Max have Teddy? I don't trust the Irish prick even if Lincoln thinks he's innocent. Being family doesn’t automatically grant you innocence, we’ve learnt that the fucking hard way. He won’t get off easy if I have anything to do with it.

As I park up outside the complex, I’m not even convinced I’ve switched off the engine before we both rush inside of Lucille's apartment, completely abandoning the car at the bottom of the driveway. We unholster our guns and I nod to Dario who moves swiftly to the side as we enter in a wave of fury. In one fluid motion, Lincoln grabs Enzo by the throat and pins him to the nearest wall, knocking his gun from his hand and consequently expelling the air from his lungs at the same time. Enzo’s eyes flare immediately, shock and instant recognition dilating his pupils.

“What the fuck is this?” he rasps, grabbing hold of Lincs forearm and trying desperately to remove his fingers from around his throat. Lincoln leans forwards, his face an inch from Enzo’s while I watch his fingertips sink into the flesh of his already reddening neck.

“Are you a fucking RAT, Enzo? If you even for a second consider lying to me, I will cut your treacherous tongue from your mouth and make you fucking eat it.” Lincoln spits into his face. Enzo struggles against the wall, fighting for his breath. The panic rising in his eyes is like adrenaline to me spurring me on as I watch Linc show absolutely no remorse as he almost chokes the life out of him before he’s able to respond.

“Answer the goddamn question, Enzo!” I snap, pressing my gun into his temple.

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