Page 34 of The Book of Wrath

“He was playing the long game wasn’t he?” I ask, knowing I probably don’t want to know the answer to that.

“More then that. All the women we’ve gotten close to over the last month are being watched courtesy of Ryan Paxley. Only reason they weren’t taken sooner was because Ryan was quote playing with the goods. Megan, Ally, her sister Alice, her cousin Lexi. All are being watched. I called Rick first and told him to put a detail on all the houses, including yours,” Roark just checked me with a verbal gut punch.

Tony slammed his fists on the desk, “You called us here knowing the women we love are alone?!” He pops up from the seat charging around the desk. He goes to swing, but Roark dodged the hit, shoving his knee into Tony’s gut.

“I called you once the protective details got outside the houses. You think I’m fucking stupid? Where Max is dating Megan, her brother is friends with mine. He is protective of his sisters and his cousin. If anything happens to them, my brother will force me to get involved. I took the precautions need,” Roark wasn’t dumb, and if he called Rick then he must have found out something big.

“Who’s the ringleader?” I ask, hoping there was an answer in the madness. I watch Roark’s face twist with anger.

“Michael Paxley,” Roark spits out the name as if it was poison on his tongue.

“His fucking father?!” Andy yells out like we didn’t know who Michael Paxley is. Roark nods, I want to vomit. Megan has been in that man’s presence on multiple occasions. The man hosts at least two speeches on his campaigning tour at the library where she works at. Could that be how he met her?

“He’s on track to win the votes for governor. This can be very tricky,” Tony says, and I know he’s right. Michael Paxley got into politics ten years ago, and has held prominent seats on city councils, he tried skipping the line to run for a senate position but failed.

“He is the literal term of wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Andy says, pulling out his laptop and tapping away on the keyboard. “He’s squeaky clean on paper. No bribes taken, nothing suspicious with his bank accounts or his hotels. It looks like they are trying to open a new hotel in Rehoboth. No idea where it will go, that area is built up as it is. Wait, there is a plot of land that the family owns in Claymont near the river. The building permits for the area are sealed up, that’s odd.”

“Want to bet there is a house or some type of storage on the property?” Tony says, they continue to discuss the possibilities of the Paxley’s involvement in the kidnappings of children and women. I just kept thinking of Megan, hopefully still sound asleep in our bed, curled up to my pillows.

“What do we do?” Andy asks, snapping my attention back to him. I notice the entire room is looking at me now. I became the lead guy on this a year ago when we found out about a few dirty cops who were apart of gathering these people on unsolicited charges and just never brought in, or who had always happened to be on search parties for missing victims.

Three of them were a part of a search and rescue for Christina and Avery. I had gotten a little handsy with Officer Metcaffe and ended up beating him within an inch of his life when he confessed to kidnapping sex workers and taking them to a drop off spot. He never confessed to taking Christina or Avery though.

“Did Jeff ever make it to our wonderful establishment down state?” I ask, Tony just smiles.

“We got him at the Wilmington Airport trying to hop a flight to Nashville. Pete has been keeping an eye on all flight activity since we got Roy. Jeff did a good job at hiding, but he’s on his way here. Pete and Marty roughed him up a bit, they had him in the city for most of the day,” Tony checks his phone, placing it down on the desk in front of him. “They’ll be here with him shortly.”

“Good, put Ryan back in his room and leave Roy in the main room. When Jeff gets here, we’re going to put him in Ryan’s vacated chair. Let them see that we have them both, they may talk to save their lives,” I say before storming out of the room.

The heavy footsteps behind me tell me Roark is on my heels. “I wouldn’t have called you away from her if I didn’t think this was a bit bigger than her,” He blurts out.

“I know, this isn’t just about her safety or her families safety or even her friends safety. It’s about all the women and children who need saving,” I stop, turning around to look him in the eyes. “Two will die here tonight. It’s up to them if it’s at the same time or if one gets to watch the other go.”

“Rough them up for information, then take them out?” He asks, knowing that I need to let out some frustration.

“Yes, but Ryan lives to see tomorrow. He will watch them both die.,” I say, the threat and promise in my words makes him smile. Tonight, will be the start of the end for the Paxley family.

Chapter 28

Roark

I stood outside, leaning up against the outside of the building taking a drag off my sixth cigarette this evening. There goes my promise to my mother about me quitting. The job alone is stressful, but this is more stressful than anything I do at my day job.

Tonight was going to be the first night Max has been physical with one of our guests since MetCaffe, Williams and Rakes. He was brutal with those three, they confessed within an hour to their involvement in the kidnappings and random disappearances. None of them confessed to Christina or Avery’s abductions though. Max still says one of them knows who did it, but courtesy of him MetCaffe is on a feeding tube, Rakes has serious brain damage and Williams lawyered up so fast once he confessed. He never once mentioned Max’s name or any of ours.

I worry once Max unleashes himself on them that he won’t be able to stop. He goes through several punching bags a week; his temper has calmed down slightly since Megan. He’s no longer going out to bars looking for fights or doing that stupid underground fight club in Philly. He’s been doing good.

A car turns onto the long driveway up to the warehouse, I can tell by the speed and the loud ass thumping of music coming from the car that Pete and Marty were having a good old time. The car halts into the parking spot next to Max’s hellcat. If they would’ve hit that car, he would kill them both.

“Prisoner transfer,” Marty teases when he jumps out of the passenger seat, his dark skin seemingly lighter in the moon light. Marty did undercover in the city, so he never looked like he was a cop. People always thought he was getting arrested left and right. I got a rock thrown at me by a kid one day for “arresting” him on possession charges. He laughed but later scolded the kid for it.

“Hey Marty,” I wave at him as nerdy ass Pete gets out of the driver seat. You would never know he was cop by looking at him either. Major tech nerd, glasses, but aside from Andy he was the best hacker we had on the team.

“Hey Roark, how’s the high life working for ya?” Marty calls out as Pete opens the back door to the car, pulling out a rather larger male with a black bag over his head.

“You know ladies love a man in uniform,” I tease back. Pete rolls his eyes as he comes up hauling this dude with him. “This Jeff?”

“No, this is Paul, we came all the way out here with the wrong guy,” Pete says sarcastically. Marty shrugs his shoulders, and we follow Pete inside.

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