Page 88 of Next Level
I jump up. “What?! Where?”
Joe automatically stands up. I’m sure the look on my face lets him know something bad has happened.
Zip rattles off the location and where they’re rushing her to.
I snap my fingers toward Dawg and Chewy. “I’m on my way,” I say, hanging up the phone.
“Joe, I gotta go—”
Joe’s phone goes off next, and he mouths, ‘Hold on.’ “Hello?”
I need to go. I turn to exit the office with my men on my tail when Joe says, “We got George.”
This halts me in my tracks, and I turn around to face Joe again. “When?”
Joe answers immediately, “Just now. They’re on their way here.”
I snap, “No. Something just went down, so until I figure out what happened, take him to our spot. Don’t let anyone touch him until I’m back. My girl was stabbed, and I need to go to the hospital.”
“Keep me posted,” Joe says, and I hear him relay the message through the phone as I walk away.
“What the fuck happened?” Dawg rushes out as we race to our bikes.
Jumping on my bike, I reply, “I don’t know. All Zip said was that Cherry was stabbed and to get to the hospital.”
We fly to the hospital in record time. Rushing into the emergency room, I’m greeted with Sam crying and four freaked-out women.
“Pops, she saved me. Oh God, she can’t die,” Sam cries out as she rushes to me.
I embrace my girl, holding her and looking to Zip for answers. Except Agent Tellez walks over to me first.
Shit.
“Ray, a minute, please.” I hand my crying girl over to Dawg, who envelops her in his arms.
I walk a few feet away, following the agent. When she turns around, she says, “I was following George Casso today. I was taking photos of him giving an envelope to two guys. I was about to follow George out of this meeting when the men re-entered the building from the back. I got a call from our agent who was following your girls today. He’d been checking in all day, letting us know where they were going. This time, they were having lunch. I was at the back of the building when I realized it was the same place. I knew something was going to happen, so I decided to let George go and went back to check on the men. It all happened so fast. I was too late.”
My heart constricts. With clenched teeth, I say, “What the fuck do you mean you were too late?”
“Agent Rojas entered the building from the front and got there first, apprehending the first gentleman. I entered the back just as the second man was exiting. I told him to halt, and he went for what I thought was a gun, and I shot him. When I continued into the building, I found Ms. Jones on the ground. We rushed her here, and they just took her back.”
Knowing Joe has George, I still ask, “Where’s George now?”
I can tell the agent is upset, but I don’t say anything. I wait for her to reply.
Sounding defeated, she says, “I don’t know, but I put out an APB on him. I need to get back to the scene. I rushed here to speak with you and get Samantha’s statement, but I need to go back.”
“Okay.”
She continues, “We’ll find him and make him pay. We’ve got enough evidence to send him back. I got photos of him paying those men. The first guy has already confessed that it was George who paid him. They’re from the same prison, and he promised them lots of money.”
“So what about the other guy?” I inquire.
“The guy who stabbed Ms. Jones is dead.” Agent Tellez sounds just as upset about killing him as she was about Cherry being stabbed.
She’s lucky she killed the bastard. Otherwise, I would have.
“Thank you, Agent Tellez. I need to go be with my girl. Please keep me posted.”
