Page 17 of The Madman's Nightmare
Laying back onto the bed, I rested my forearm over my face as I tried to think of a way to get out of here without losing a piece of myself or my soul in the process.
Chapter 9
Devlin
The link Aubrey sent to my phone indicated Timothy was less than a mile from us and from the speed the dot was moving, it appeared he was walking. James was driving and I was sitting in the passenger seat as my brother, Lucian, sat in the back observing. He had volunteered to come with us, saying ‘He wanted to see the madman in action.’
I had given James a look and he returned it, silently communicating that Lucian was in for a surprise. Where our father, Sergey, was a sadistic asshole who only cared about himself, and liked to use mind games, I was a different kind of crazy.
When I see a threat, my vision grows red and a bloodlust that scared me from time to time overtook me. I kill without remorse and enjoy the thrill of holding someone’s life in my hands. I’d used that part of me to grow my empire, and eventually, take my businesses legal and respectable. Since I’d been with Elise, I’d pushed that part of me deep down, but this fucker helped take her away from me, and all bets were off.
Staring at the app, I remarked, “If he sees me, he’s going to run, and I don’t have many contacts still active to cover us here.”
We were in a little town called Smyrna, on the edge of Nashville, about an hour and a half from Pierce Bluff. I rarely did any business in this part of the state, respecting an old allegiance with a friend who owned an adult club in downtown Nashville. His family ran this part of the state, and they were like me. Legal, but morally dark.
“When we find him, roll up on him and I’ll take care of it,” Lucian suggested, then added. “The rest is yours to handle, but you’re in no shape to take someone down.”
James cut his eyes to me before he looked back at the road, showing he agreed with Lucian. I knew I wasn’t at my best, but with my wife’s life on the line, I would be able to do whatever I had to do to bring her home to me and the boys. But I needed to be strong when it was time to free my Lamb, so I acquiesced.
“Agreed,” I replied and pointed the next turn out to James as we followed the dot through an older residential neighborhood.
You could tell by the houses it used to be a nice place, but hard times, and probably drugs, seemed to have taken its toll on the residents. Some of the houses had full fences wrapped around them and they appeared to be well maintained. Others had old cars and other pieces of junk littering their yards, and still others seemed like they were places for people to score their next fix.
Seeing the decline was normal, unfortunately, for certain parts of the country, and as I pointed the next turn, I remarked, “This is what the Flats looked like when we took it over. At least parts of it did. There were those houses on the back few blocks that never seemed to fold to Marco’s demands, and those were the people who supported my takeover.”
“They just wanted to live their lives and not have to worry about a shootout killing one of them in their sleep,” James added. “What you see in this neighborhood was part of the reason we banned human flesh and hardcore drugs from being bought and sold in the Flats. We didn’t want the last few good people to leave, so we ran the bad ones out.”
“I never asked why you killed Marco,” Lucian said, and I turned to look him straight in the eyes.
“He had someone monitoring Elise, and I discovered him watching her. Something inside me snapped and I slit his throat without thinking.”
Lucian whistled and replied, “You’ll do anything to protect her, won’t you?”
I turned back in my seat and answered, “Of course. She’s my Lamb.” Sitting up straighter in my seat, I spoke to James. “Turn right two blocks down and he should be a few houses up on the right.”
“Stop up here for a minute,” Lucian said, and James pulled over a block before we needed to turn. Lucian jumped out and grabbed something off the ground before he returned to the van. Looking in the mirror, he rubbed dirt on his shirt and pants, then ran his hands through his hair, making his normally well-groomed hair messy and unkept. “I need to fit in if I’m going to get close. When we turn, stop on the corner and I’ll catch up to him on foot.”
I want’ sure of the plan, but knew Lucian was deadly in his own rights. He was trained by our father, and the syndicate to be a killer, so I had to trust what he was asking of James.
James gave him a nod and pulled the van away from the curve as I checked the tracker. Timothy seemed to be walking down the road and as we stopped at the corner, I looked to see that the houses were more rundown and spaced out this far back in the neighborhood. They looked abandoned, and that meant anyone who was using them wasn’t going to call the cops. Hopefully.
Lucian got out and closed the van door before he glanced at us through the window and took off in a jog down the cracked sidewalk. We watched as he moved around garbage cans, overgrown yards, and when we seemed to be within a house or two of Timothy, we stopped jogging and said something we couldn’t make out.
Timothy turned and topped as Lucian approached him. He pulled something out of his pocket and showed it to Timothy before he pointed back toward us. Timothy seemed to nod and turned with Lucian to walk back toward us. James turned the van and parked in front of a vacant lot as he said, “Get down.”
I slid down in the seat, hating that I had to hide in order to get this asshole, but when I heard Lucian and another voice approach the side of the van, I knew I was going to have my answers soon. They climbed inside and were laughing at something as the door closed behind them. James pulled away from the curb as Lucian said, “I told you they would take us to get it.”
“I wasn’t sure. The sight of a van usually means something bad, but I’m glad you’re on the up and up, man,” I assume Timothy said.
“I appreciate your help, man. We needed some weed, and I told my friend you looked cool,” Lucian replied.
James gave me a subtle nod, and I pushed up into the seat. Looking out, I saw we were nearing the end of an abandoned cul-de-sac. James stopped in a dark spot and put the van into park, allowing us privacy. Perfect. No one around and no one to hear what I’m going to do to this asshole for shooting me.
Turning in my seat, I saw Lucian sitting next to the door and Timothy typing onto his phone without paying attention to his surroundings. He smiled and lifted his head to speak when his eyes connected with mine.
The fear was instant and when he tried to push past Lucian to escape, James spun in his seat and lifted his gun, chambering a round. Lucian grabbed Timothy and wordlessly pushed him against the side of the van.
“Where is my wife and who the fuck paid you to take her and shoot me?” I asked, coldness filling my voice as my eyes adjusted to the dark interior of the van.
