30. Zeke

30

ZEKE

J oe made some calls on the drive. Based on what I heard from his side of the conversation, the Marchesis had a hacker they worked with who could access the tracker.

When we got to Dom’s house, we all hurried inside.

“Did you find anything at his apartment?” Dom asked.

Joe shook his head. “Nothing. I don’t think he was taken from there.”

Dom turned to me. “Do you have any idea where Vito might have gone, or what he might have been planning?”

“If he’d told me anything, I would’ve let Joe know.”

“Are you sure? He didn’t tell you anything?” Lucien asked.

“I-I thought he was with you.” My voice broke. And I tried to take a breath. I did not want to cry in front of Vito’s whole fucking family, but I wasn’t sure I could hold back my tears.

“Lay off him,” Joe said. “He doesn’t know anything. He’s as scared as the rest of us are or worse. What if it was Peter who was missing? How would you feel then?”

“Watch your fucking mouth,” Lucien snarled. “And you know I would burn down the fucking world for Peter.”

“Yeah,” I said. “That’s how I feel.”

Dom frowned. “Wait a minute. Your game should have started an hour ago.”

“I left. I told them I had a family emergency. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it doesn’t matter. Have you accessed the tracker yet?”

“They’re working on it,” Lucien said. “I’ve got the best guy in the country on it, so it shouldn’t take long.” As he spoke his phone buzzed. He answered it, listened for a moment, then said, “I’m putting you on speaker.”

“Is it Emilio?” Joe asked.

“Yes.”

Val walked into the room, and Dom held up a hand, signaling for Val to be quiet.

“I’m homing in on Vito’s location right now,” Emilio said. Val and I both moved closer to Lucien. I wanted to hear every word. “The tracker is currently at….”

I held my breath, praying he wouldn’t say Vito’s address. I hadn’t noticed my jacket, but he could have put it down somewhere.

Emilio gave an address I didn’t recognize.

“That’s Benito’s house,” Joe said.

“Fuck me,” Val said.

“Let’s go.”

Val frowned at me. “Not you, you’re staying here.”

“If you think that I am staying behind, you’re fucking crazy. I don’t care how dangerous it is, I’m helping you find Vito.”

“Well damn,” Joe said. “Vito sure was right about you, you could absolutely be one of us.”

Lucien cleared his throat. “Devil and Angelo will be here in a few minutes. Devil will go with Joe, Val, and Zeke. Angelo and I will head back to the established meeting place, and Dom will stay here in case to run communications.”

Peter started to say something, but Lucien held up a hand. “You’re staying right here with me.”

Val nodded. “Liam, so are you.”

“Is this how they always act?” I asked.

“Fuck, yes. You get the advantage of it being your man who’s in danger, and you’re a big, tough hockey player.”

Val snarled at Liam. “This isn’t a fucking game. We’re going in there to save my brother, and I will not have you getting hurt.”

Liam held up his hands. “Fine. Peter and I will stay here.”

As soon as Devil and Angelo arrived, I headed out the door. Joe insisted on driving, saying Val was in no shape to concentrate and Devil would scare the hell out of me. He got us to Benito’s house much faster than I could have. Devil was reckless, and I was shocked we hadn’t been pulled over, which would’ve been interesting considering the number of weapons in the car.

We parked several blocks down from the house. Devil and I circled around to the back while Val and Joe went to the front. Their assignment was to take out anyone they found there.

“How can they do that right on the street in front of anyone?”

“They’ll handle it,” Devil said. “Don’t worry about them, just stay behind me.”

I tried to move as silently as he did, but I couldn’t quite manage it. He was eerily stealthy. Val had given me a gun, but I knew I didn’t have the precision the rest of them did. I’d be lucky to do anything but startle someone, and worst case I’d end up shooting the wrong person.

“Are we going in?” I asked when we stopped at the back fence.

“Not yet. They’re going to clear the house, then let me know when it’s safe.”

I waited for what seemed like hours, but it was probably only a couple of minutes before Devil checked his phone. “We’re good to go in.”

“Did they find Vito?”

“Not yet.” Devil’s voice held no emotion as he said the words, but I knew he was as worried as I was. What if only my jacket was here, not Vito? Or what if the tracking device had fallen out? There were so many possibilities. Devil jumped over the back fence, and I followed him. We moved slowly through the backyard. Suddenly, Devil stuck out his arm, and I nearly fell as he clotheslined me. “Don’t move.”

He shined his flashlight on the ground, and I saw a wire running along the ground in front of us. “It’s a trip wire. God knows how else the motherfucker has the yard rigged. We’re going to have to move carefully. Step where I step.”

As we began to move again, the back door opened, and I saw Val.

“Did you find him?”

Devil turned to glare at me, and I realized we weren’t supposed to be making any noise. I was so afraid I couldn’t think. I continued to follow Devil until we made it to the porch.

“He’s got the yard rigged,” Devil told Val. “We need to be very careful.”

“He’s fucking crazy,” Joe said.

Val huffed. “As if you haven’t done that at your cabin.”

Devil and Joe just shrugged, and we followed Val into the house. “We’ve looked everywhere, both upstairs and down here. We cleared every room and there’s no sign of Vito.”

“Any a sign of the tracker or my jacket?” I asked.

“None.”

Something had to be here. “Is there an attic?”

Val nodded. “We checked there, too, and we can’t find an entrance for a basement. It looks like there’s got to be one, though.”

A banging sound made me jump. It came again, followed by something that might be muffled screaming. “Where’s that coming from?”

“It sounds like it’s below us. We’ve got to find a basement entrance.” Val said.

I burst out the door, intending to look for an outside entrance to the basement, but Val grabbed my arm and yanked me back. “You’re not going anywhere. You’re going to stay right here.”

“No, I’m going to find the man I love.”

Everyone’s eyes went wide. Val exhaled. “Fine. Let’s go.”