Page 101 of Peaceful Chaos

"Because I'm not fucking stupid!" David shouts. He's also barely holding himself together. "I know Damien isn't going to hand her back, no matter what we do. I'd like to say I wouldn't consider it if I thought he would. My little girl is in that monster's hands!" He breaks down in body shaking sobs, and I have to turn away.

"She's my sister," I tell Sin. "We have to get her back. You know what he'll do to her."

He swallows hard. "I do. We won't leave her with him." He turns to David. "I need to know that we don't sacrifice one for the other. We will get her back. Can we trust you?"

"Nothing I say is going to give you peace of mind. You're going to have to have faith," David says.

Lucien moves between us. Something has changed in my brother, and I fear we're going to have to figure out how to save him as well. "David, I need you to understand me. We will get Tempest back. I will protect my sisters. Both of them. Do you understand me?"

David nods. There's a lump on the side of his head, but it isn't the bumps and bruises that makes him appear broken. Worry for his daughter has wrecked him.

"Good, because let me make this clear. Raven is going to put herself at risk. As much as I'd like to stop that, we can't. She's an adult, and she's trained to protect herself. Even still, my father is a sick bastard. If we do this, we go all the way. Damien doesn't walk away from this. There's no arrest in his future. He will die for this."

David licks his dry lips. "Promise?"

"It's a guarantee," Lucien says. "But let me make another promise to you. If you go behind our back, make any deal with Damien we aren't aware of, and you will meet the same end."

"You'd kill me for trying to save my daughter?" David asks stunned.

"I'd kill you and not lose a wink of sleep if you decide to save Tempest and throw Raven to the devil. We can't have you working against us if this is going to work. In the end, I'll still save them both. Damien will still die, but if you prove to be the same kind of heartless sonofabitch, you'll join him, and my mother and sister will be better off for it."

David nods again. "I believe you."

Lucien squeezes Grant's shoulder. "Time to make amends, uncle dearest. You stick with him. If he makes any move that will put Raven in more danger than she'll already be under to set up this sting, you shoot him."

Javier flanks Lucien and glares at the FBI agent. "Time to prove if you really can operate in the shadows, Holbrook."

Grant gives a slight tip of his head. He doesn't like this, no matter what he agreed to when they met him at the secret FBI office. He's still too much of a boy scout.

A car pulls up alongside the plane, and Chaos agents pull their weapons. The window rolls down, and Teddy shouts from the window. "Relax, it's just us."

Ford, Shane, Teddy, and Agent Marks steps out of the vehicle. "I couldn't make them stay behind," Brett explains.

"We've been training. You'll need us," Teddy insists.

"What about the girls?" Sin asks.

The three of them share a look. Ford shakes his head. "They weren't happy with us. They insisted that if Raven can take a risk, so could they. We finally managed to convince them to help from a distance. It's the best we could manage."

David's phone rings. I hold my breath when he puts his finger to his lips to silence us and he puts the phone on speaker.

"Gerrick," Damien's voice booms through the speaker, using the alias David is known by in the underworld. "I hope you've considered my offer. Bring me my daughter and you can have yours back. This doesn't have to be complicated. Just an agreement from one father to another."

The plan for the exchange and trap for Damien was solidified on the plane. Now we all hold our breath to see if David will follow through with it.

"She'll be landing shortly. I told Javier I had a lead and they needed to come here. He bought it," David starts laying the groundwork. So far he's staying true to the plan.

Damien laughs. "That man always has been easy to throw off the scent. You aren't planning on double crossing me, are you, Gerrick?"

"I know how this world works. Men like us can't turn to the authorities for help, not even mercenaries. We do have an issue though. I'm not bringing Raven to your club. I don't trust you not to double cross me. I'll have what you want, we do the exchange at my club," David counters.

This is another part of the plan. Damien will never accept a location of David's choosing. We need to lead him to choose a location he thinks he can still control. Antonio Padilla is probably just as horrible as Damien. You don't make an agreement with someone like him and trust him to keep it. No, with someone like him, you've got to find the weak spots and put enough pressure to bend him to your will.

Padilla has no idea how David, known to him only as Martin Gerrick, knows he has warrants out for his arrest in Washington State. All he knows is that David knows he murdered his mistress. He's desperate enough to keep hiding in Playa that he'll turn over the use of his club and his silence not to be arrested.

Not that we trust him even with the threat hanging over his head. Chaos soldiers have replaced every member of his staff, and I'm sure there is a gun pointed at him at this very moment as an added security measure. All of this because his is the only underground sex club not run by either David or Damien. Although David's clubs don't actually sell sex anymore, the illusion he's still a trafficker remains strong.

"Fine, we'll use that pissant Mexican's shithole. Meet me there tonight at ten. Don't be late, or your girl will meet some of my friends." Damien cuts off the line.

"So he's a pervert and a racist," I grumble. Not that I'm surprised. There doesn't seem to be a single redeemable quality about the man who spawned me.

---