Page 6 of Fearless Protector
“They’re going to be in for a long ass night answering to Tommy and his boys.I’m sure the Larussios are going to want to know what the hell they were doing back in this town because I’d put a good wager on them being sent by the Chicago Boys.”
“Exactly,” Garret says.“I’ll let Tommy know we need Bobby Ray and Jules’ location asap.In the meantime, I can have some of the guys head out your way and come myself.”
Mason clears his throat as the wheel of the SUV pulls to the right, and he corrects course.“No, the temperature’s dropping out this way.The roads are getting slick, real slick.I don’t like the combination of temps and moisture on the roads.We’ll find Jules, handle Bobby Ray, and get back to town.PJ doesn’t know the address, but she knows the area.We’ll find her.You just take care of Lacy and Patti.”
I continue surveying the area, watching for something familiar, anything that will tell me we’re getting close to Bobby Ray’s place.But there’s absolutely nothing but desolate trees that have lost their leaves in a swirl of white, while visibility gets harder and harder.I wait until after he’s disconnected his call.“We’re never going to find them.”
He points up ahead.“I think we just did.The farther away we get the worse the weather is.They’ve been driving in this sludge.You see the tracks up ahead?”
I turn my eyes to the front of us and take in the tire marks ahead.The sludge and accumulating ice pulls the vehicle again.Mason does something with the gears and keeps control of the wheel, bringing it back in line.“Not all SUVs are created equal,” he says.“This one could use a little more weight in the back, but in all fairness, not many vehicles are good on the ice.It’s going to turn into an ice-skating rink soon.”
I point to the fork in the road.“There.They went right.”I have never been so thankful for bad weather as I am tonight, realizing that there’s no way I would have remembered which way to go to Bobby Ray’s without the tracks.
Mason takes a right and slows, following the trail but cutting the lights.“I’m not sure how far ahead they are, but we’re going to take it nice and easy and err on the side of caution to make sure we don’t spook him.”
My heart is still racing with what I heard on the phone, but everything muddles around in my mind right now.Lacy and my other friends are safe.All I can focus on now is the fact that we need to find Jules.I drink some more coffee, hoping it starts to clear this self-induced foggy brain.“I’m so sorry for everything.If I hadn’t gone outside, Bobby Ray wouldn’t have had a chance to take Jules.This is all my fault.”
Mason takes my hand.“It’s not your fault.We didn’t have a security detail on you and Jules, like we did on Lacy.That’s the only reason Jules was taken, and Lacy wasn’t.No one thought Jake Eldridge would come after her friends.Did Jake ever put pressure on you or her other friends when he was trying to persuade her to sell her house?”
I shake my head.“No, Jake left us all alone.We grew up together.I mean, we were never real friends, but he never bothered us when he was harassing Lacy.”
Mason nods.“This is a new pattern of behavior.The timing of it with Lacy getting married to Garrett tomorrow tells me it’s more of a personal vendetta than a business one.Probably a little of both, but it’s just too coincidental.”He slows.“Anything look familiar?Are we getting close?”
I nod, because the clearing and barren field that was bursting with corn in the summertime finally looks familiar.I can picture exactly where we are now and what it looked like then.“Right around the corner to the right.He lives in a one-story log cabin.The road takes you to the side of his house, and there’s a long gravel drive that leads up to the garage on the other side.
Mason turns in and then pulls off to the side of the road.“Keep the engine running and stay put.But if I don’t return in twenty minutes, I want you to get out of here.Get back to the highway as quickly as you can, and call 9-1-1.Understand?”
Chapter5
Mason
PJ’s eyes spark.“I’m coming with you!”
“I need to get in their fast.I don’t have time to argue with you or look after you right now, or you’ll learn what a spanking for bad behavior feels like from me.”
Her eyes widen in surprise, but I don’t miss the little smile she tries to hide.“This shouldn’t take long if things go according to plan.”I lean over and open the glove compartment.I hear the inhalation of breath as I remove my weapon.“Let’s hope it’s just precautionary.”I pocket the Glock before closing the door quietly and making my way toward the cabin.
I sneak around back, staying close to the walls of the house, skirting along the evergreen bushes heavily dusted with a sheen of ice.The first window I come to looks to be a bedroom.I glance in, keeping my weapon down but on the ready.The room is empty other than a twin-sized bed and nightstand with a lamp.The minute I get closer to the patio door, voices spill through the walls.“You’re going to regret the day you ever laid eyes on me, Bobby Ray.They’re going to come for you, and when they do…”
“Shut up, Jules.Just shut the hell up.I need to think, and you flapping your lips is not helping a damn thing,” a man yells.
I head back the way I came, skirting around the house and toward the front, farthest away from their quarreling in the back and right up to the front door.I turn the knob lightly, not expecting it to open, but it does.I make my way into the living area cautiously, walking softly on the carpeted floors in the dark, stepping around the couches, and around the corner, heading toward the sound of their voices.
Jules sits in a high-backed wooden dining room chair with her back to me, wrapped with blue rope that looks like it belongs on a fishing boat and should have an anchor tied to its end.I sneak into the room and place the butt of my gun at the base of Bobby Ray’s neck before he has time to realize I’m there or react.“Take a seat, Bobby Ray.”
He doesn’t comply; instead, he continues to stand in place.I keep my gun right where it is nudging him forward, in front of Jules and another chair.He exhales loudly.“Look, I don’t want any trouble, man.This isn’t my fight.I’m just holding her for Jake and his boys, that’s all.”
I laugh.“I think whether you want it or not, trouble just found you.”I push him into the seat next to Jules.“Sit.Don’t move, or I’ll shoot.No other warning about that, got it?”
He glares at me, but he has a healthy respect for the gun in my hand, and I don’t plan to give him a reason to think I won’t use it.Because I will, if I have to.
I look around the room and grab a length of the blue rope that’s laying in a heap on the floor next to Jules.Her eyes are focused on the gun too.She’s talking so fast at first, I can barely make out a word she says.I stop her.“Slow, breath, and tell me slowly what happened, okay?”
Jules swallows hard, gives me a little nod, but looks at me with eyes that still look hazy and glazed.“One minute we were dancing, the next I was feeling ill.We went outside for some fresh air.I remember him wanting to get some smokes from his truck and then bam, everything went dark.”
I tug on his ropes to make sure he’s nice and secure, while refraining from slugging the guy who likes to drug women.“You’re safe now, Jules.”Ice starts hitting the window coming in sideways and hard, causing a pelting sound to echo through the cabin.“I’m going to go get PJ.She’s waiting in my vehicle.I’ll be back in a…”
PJ walks into the room, the same way I came, looking as guilty as she should.I close the distance between us in a few steps.“Did I not leave you in the vehicle and ask you to stay?”
