Page 122 of Working for the Mob

Mr. Baker’s gaze sharpened. “You need to work harder. You need to go over there right now and demand that they return my daughters.”

“We’ve got everything under control,” Lance said, but his tone sounded condescending to me.

“If you had everythingunder control,then my daughters wouldn’t be wherever the hell that the Valuncias have them,” he said, and puffed himself up. I could feel my anger rise with his. “This is your fault,” Mr. Baker said, and stood up. He pointed a finger in my face. “You need to fix it.”

“Hey! You need to calm down,” Lance said, as I got to my feet as well. “Both of you.”

Lance tried to push me back into my seat.

“These aremydaughterswe are talking about. And they are in the hands of those villains because of you,” Mr. Baker said. “What are you going to do about it?

“I know it’s my fault!” I shouted. “It’s my fault she was targeted, and it was my fault that she was at the train station to begin with.”

“And how are you going to get them back?” he demanded.

“I’m turning myself over, okay? I’ll give up my life for the two of them.” And I'd do it one-hundred times again if I had to. I tried to swallow, only to find there was no spit in my mouth. “Are you happy now?”

Mr. Baker blew out a frustrated breath of air. He remained stone-faced and his gaze stayed fixed on me.

“Listen. I don’t approve of you, or whatever hillbilly operation you and your brother are running here. But until I saw Lucy in this café, I never thought she’d amount to anything. She’s really found herself here.

“And Genevieve seems …” Mr. Baker searched the table for whatever word he couldn’t find. “Happy? Yes. She seems happy. And I’ve never seen her happy before.

“I’ve seen her busy. I’ve seen her proud. I’ve seen her excited when she’s halfway through her first cup of coffee. But I’ve never seen her with a purpose. I’ve never seen her with a drive when she wakes up at the start of the day. And I’ve never seen her smile the way she smiles at you.”

I cursed under my breath. His words made what I did just hours ago worse.

“If we’re going to get my girls back tonight, then I think we need a different plan.”

???

A couple hours later, the four of us, Henry, and Officer Brighton sat in the café, rehashing everyone’s role for the night. Mr. Baker had prodded us to come up with a new solution.

“And Henry, I want you to drive off as soon as you get the girls. You got it?” I asked, and he nodded solemnly.

Henry had taken the abduction as gravely as I had. Which was good, because he had the most important job out of all of us. His job was to ensure that nothing happened to Genevieve or Lucy and get them away to safety.

“Is everyone else good?” I asked, and looked around the room.

“Art, I don’t really know,” Officer Brighton said. A wrinkle ran across his forehead and sweat beaded at his hairline. “I didn’t sign up for this. A fight with the Valuncias?”

“This is what we pay you for, George,” Lance said crossly, which might have been a below-the-belt comment. But I didn’t stop him. We needed as many men as possible for the plan to work. Even with the four of us, this would be tough. “It’s more than just asking you to look the other way. We––”

“I can go,” Mr. Baker said.

“No,” I said, immediately. “Mr. Baker, we need you to stay here with Jamie. We’ll come back here as soon as we’re done.”

His eyes flicked to Officer Brighton and back to me. “But I can do this. I … I need to do this.”.

Beads of sweat ran down the man’s creased forehead, and his hands shook. But there was something overpowering the fear in his eyes. Determination.

This man would do what he needed to get his daughters back.

“Mr. Baker, have you ever shot at someone before?”

He licked his lips and his eyes flicked sideways. “No. But I––”

“Have You ever shot a gun before? Have you ever held one?”

---