Page 23 of Fire

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Patting Patton on the back, I said. “Thanks, bro. I guess I worried for nothing.”

“No problem,” Patton said as he stood up and looked at Davian. “You can have your chair back.”

When Davian took a seat, I wheeled my chair closer to the table. “So, what are you working on?”

“We are still trying to find out more about Niles Harris and where he is.”

“Any luck at the place Levi gave me?” I asked as Davian brought up the search engine we frequently used.

“Not yet, but I have faith he will turn up. I have Calvin and Stone watching the place. How about you? Anything else on your end?”

I thought about my little meeting with Levi. There wasn’t anything else that I hadn’t already shared or wanted to. “Other than what I told you, I have nothing else.”

I rolled my chair from the table and stood. “I’m going to head out. Call if you need me to do anything.”

“You got it.” Davian returned his sights on the computer and then to me. “I’m glad everything is good with Kenzi.”

Nodding my head, I turned and headed out of the computer room. Davian, more than anyone, knew the feeling of helplessness when the woman you loved more than life itself was in danger. Just the thought of something terrible happening to Kenzi kicked my pulse up a beat and twisted my gut. With the sick feeling I felt inside, I had to be sure she was safe. Stepping it up a notch, I jogged to my truck and got in. The Grant Park Market was only ten minutes away. If I hurried, I might be able to catch Kenzi before she left.

Grant Park Market didn’t have a big parking lot, and with only half the spots taken, it didn’t take me long to find Kenzi’s car. I pulled my truck into the parking spot beside her Jetta and turned the engine off. Luck was on my side as I locked the truck and walked toward the store entrance. God only knew how long she had been shopping. Fate allowed me to get to her before she left. When the automatic doors opened, my search for a petite woman with beautiful blonde hair and green eyes began.

I scanned the checkout stands first with no sign of her. Kenzi had to be still shopping, so I started looking down each aisle. She wasn’t in any of them. As I walked along the back of the store, I again looked down the aisles—still no Kenzi. The possibility that she was in the restroom was another option since she wasn’t in the store. There was only one way to make sure, so I waited by the women’s bathroom for a woman to either enter or leave. Fifteen minutes passed with neither. With no activity, no way she could be inside, or anyone else for that matter. Still, I had to make sure. Opening the door, I yelled, “Kenzi, are you in here?”Nothing.

Now I began to worry. Walking to the front of the store in double time, I took one last look at the check stands before leaving. This was crazy. Even though her car was still in the parking lot, she was nowhere to be found. I pulled my cell from my back pocket and dialed her number. As I waited for her to answer, I looked inside her car. Sitting on the front seat was her cell. My heart fell to my gut, and I knew my initial instinct to be worried was confirmed. I pulled my keys from my pocket and flipped through the keys until I found the extra key to her car. When I opened the passenger door, I knew something was wrong. I could have kicked myself in the ass for not checking her car first. When I picked up her phone and flipped it over, the screen had been smashed with no chance of bringing it to life.

I stuffed her phone in my pocket and walked to the back of her car. Holding my breath, I inserted the key and turned it until the truck popped open. My breath left my lungs, but only after seeing that the trunk was empty. With my phone in my hand, I pulled up Davian’s number. Before he answered, I was in my truck, pulling out of my parking spot.

“Axe, what’s going on?” Davian asked, concerned.

“She’s not here. Something is dead wrong. I’m heading to the location that Levi gave me on Niles Harris.” I had no clue where to look for Kenzi, and it seemed a good place as any.

“I’ll get in touch with Reyna. Maybe Kenzi has been in touch with her.” I could tell that Davian was just as worried as I was. He was all too familiar with signs of danger, and a car with no Kenzi in sight had warning lights all over it.

“I already did. Reyna hasn’t seen Kenzi since this morning,” I admitted, my heart breaking in two.

“We’ll find her, Axe.”

~

As I headed through the city, thoughts of where Kenzi could be ran through my head. The idea of someone taking her before she got out of the car became a definite possibility. Crosby McCall came to mind as a person who might have been involved. Then again, so did Levi McBride. Taking a detour, I turned left at the next light and headed toward Shady Tree Apartments. He was going to be in for a surprise. If Levi had anything to do with Kenzi disappearing, he would be singing like a bird by the time I left his apartment.

Breaking every traffic law possible, I was parked in front of Levi’s apartment building ten minutes later. His truck was parked outside, which told me he was home. I opened the door to my truck and ran to the apartment building, then swung the glass door wide open with angry force. As hard as it hit the building, I thought for sure the glass would break. If this shithole had an elevator, I would be at his apartment in no time, but since it didn’t, I wasted precious time climbing up four flights of stairs.

By the time I reached Levi’s apartment, I wanted to kill him. Without the customary knock on the door that I should have given him, I raised my boot-covered foot and kicked in the door. It didn’t take much effort to knock the door off its hinges.

Levi’s pissed-off eyes were on mine. “What the fuck, dude? Don’t you know how to knock?”

“I am way past knocking, asshole,” I cursed as I walked toward him. “You have two seconds to tell me where the fuck Kenzi is.”

“How am I supposed to know where she is? I haven’t seen her since yesterday.” Levi replied defensively, and I knew by his tone he was lying.

“Have it your way.” I stepped toward him, and without a second thought, my fist met his jaw. “Now, should we start again? Where. Is. Kenzi?”

“I already told you. I don’t know.” Levi insisted, wiping the blood from his lip.

He was still lying. I rolled my hands into fists, and since the first blow didn’t jog his memory, I laid into him a little harder with a punch to the gut and a few more to his face. Levi stumbled backward. He must have gotten tired of being used as a punching bag because for every punch he got, he returned one of his own. He wasn’t the wuss I thought he was. The force behind the punch to my face caused me to lose my balance, allowing him to get another one off to my gut.

We went back and forth at each other, blood flying—his more than mine. It was the last punch to his face that caused him to go down for the count. With him out cold, I had a window of opportunity to search his apartment for any clues that would lead me to where Kenzi was. The bedroom seemed like a good place to start.