Page 60 of Ends of Being

Dare’s glare intensifies, and for a moment, I think he’s going to take a step toward me, but Matt reaches out and grabs his arm, giving him a very pointed look that I can only assume means for him to take it down a notch.

He doesn’t have to take it down a notch for me. If he’d like to go a few rounds, I’m more than happy to oblige. He does stand down, and some of the tension leaves his body, but he still isn’t saying anything, so I ask again, “What do you need? Someone needs to tell me what’s happening.”

Matt moves over to the monitors and starts poking buttons on the open laptop on the desk as he explains, “Dare just happened to run into her while she was out on a date with some guy he’s calling jackoff. When she went to the restroom, Dare saw that shitbag dosed her drink, and before he could intervene, she came back and downed it. So, he decided to wait and follow them out to the parking lot, where he was going to teach the guy a lesson. But when he got out there, they were gone.”

I frown, considering the very short list of possibilities on what occurred between the time they left their table and when Dare made it out in the parking lot. I turn to Dare, asking, “So, it was a set-up then? How much time went by before you made it outside?”

Dare shrugs, shaking his head with a disgusted look on his face. “It wasn’t very long, maybe a minute or two.”

I nod, then walk over to the monitors. “Any sign of her on the cams?”

Matt shakes his head. “No. Coincidentally, the ones that would have a direct view of that area were turned off. There are a few vehicle possibilities from some of the outlier cameras, but nothing that stands out.”

I scan over the data before me, verifying for myself that it’s a dead end. “How about her phone?”

Matt shakes his head again as he replies, “The last ping was near her last known location. They must’ve turned it off immediately after snatching her.”

I glance at Dare, and I see he’s wound pretty tight, a look of agony on his features as he leans over the desk, staring out into nothing.

I walk over to him and rest my hand on his shoulder, then lean down closer and say, “You’re gonna have to let it go, man.”

He turns his head, narrowing his eyes at me as he retorts, “Let what go?”

I raise my brows, then squeeze his shoulder a little harder as I reply, “The regret. The hindsight. The blame. Push all that shit to the side. Focus on the endgame.”

He inhales deeply through his nose and gives me a short nod, and I give his shoulder a final squeeze and then walk back over to the monitors and ask, “How many we got working on this?”

Matt responds, “Everyone.”

I can’t hide my grimace. “How many leads?”

“None. Which is pretty fucking suspicious given how easily some people like to give up information.”

I look over at Dare and wait for him to meet my gaze before I say exactly what he doesn’t want to hear. “You realize the likelihood that it’s too late, right?”

Dare’s jaw clenches, and his eyes are practically glowing with anger, but he nods in acknowledgment. I walk over to the lockers and grab myself a duffel bag full of all the fun shit I like to use in times like these. I sling the strap over my back and grab my favorite leather gloves from the shelf, a smile on my face as I slide my hands inside.

I head to the door with Matt behind me, he asks, “Where the fuck are you going, Tony?”

I don’t turn around; I just keep walking toward the door as I say, “I’m gonna go fuck around and find out. Keep your phone on.”

It has been an interesting state of affairs, to say the least.

Once I left the warehouse, I made my merry rounds across the city. I’m sure I’ve pissed off quite a few people in the process, but I’m also sure that everyone is aware that I give zero fucks.

The only problem with acquiring information by force is that not everyone is super honest when speaking under extreme duress. Most of the time, I can assure honesty as long as I know I have some type of collateral to hold over their head once they’re dead. Most people have at least one loved one who they’d rather not see tortured and murdered so that always works in my favor. But that doesn’t prevent the handful of people who literally have no reason to stick to the truth to try to shove it up my ass later on. Unfortunately, we won’t know if someone’s ass fucked us until it’s too late, but in these kinds of circumstances, it’s just a chance we have to take.

By the time I find out who jackoff is, quite a bit of time has gone by, and all we can do is hope that Toni is alive and physically in one piece. Even if she has been taken out of the area, there’s still a small chance we can locate her, but if she’s dead, that is the literal end of being.

When I make it back to the warehouse, I’m a huge fucking mess. I’ve been feeding Matt and Dare updates as I’ve acquired them, so when I first walk in, I hold up a hand and then detour to the showers. It doesn’t take me very long to scrape all the blood and guts from my body, and when I exit the shower, someone has already picked up and likely destroyed the mess of clothes I had left.

I’m just coming back into the main room, fully dressed and ready to get down to it, when an alarm blares. Matt and Dare both snap to attention, snatching up the nearest device to determine which alarm it is.

Matt exclaims, “It’s her phone. Someone turned it on.”

The look on Dare’s face is a mix of relief and fear. The phone turning on suddenly is not at all proof of good health, and we wait with bated breath as the system works to triangulate her location. The device pings again, and Matt mirrors the screen to the wall-length monitor before us. We see little green dot blinking, and Matt frowns and asks, “Dare, isn’t that one of your buildings?”

Dare shakes his head and replies, “No, that’s one of the few in that area that I don’t own, and offhand, I’m not certain who does own it—“

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