CHAPTER 6 THE SACRIFICE

"Fuck." Clint clenched his fist, stopping just short of crushing his phone. Goddammit! Panic squeezed his chest, and he fought it off.

"Dad…?" Luke entered the kitchen uncertainly. "What's wrong?"

Clint turned away from the boy and pinched the bridge of his nose, breathing deeply. Don't lose it—don't fucking lose it. He cleared his throat and faced his son. "Go over to Kane's," he told Luke with an air of urgency. "Stay there until I get back. You and Axel, tell him I said to stay there."

"Where are you going?" Luke whispered.

"I have to go to town." He ushered the boy toward the backdoor. "Now, go."

Luke nodded with concern and did as he was told.

As soon as he exited the backdoor, Clint sent a text to Cochise. ‘Meet me out front.' The cowboy didn't wait for a reply. He strode through the living room, grabbed his jacket and cowboy hat from the rack by the door, and left the house.

The Egyptian was coming down his porch steps when Clint reached the sidewalk in front of his house. "What's going on?" Cochise asked, on alert.

"I'll tell you on the way." Clint walked around the rear of his car and unlocked the driver's door. The Egyptian nodded without argument and approached the vehicle.

"Clint."

The cowboy paused as he started to open the car door. Axel had emerged from Cochise's house and was headed his way.

"What's happening?" The younger man passed by the hood of the car and walked up to Clint. His fiancé was sixteen years younger than Clint yet matched the cowboy in maturity and common sense. He could also read Clint like an open book and lying to him was a futile effort. "Where are you going? Luke looked worried when he came in."

"I don't have time to explain," Clint said, anxious to get going. "Gabe may be in trouble, and we need to get into town now."

The Egyptian tensed at the cowboy's words but didn't interrupt.

"In trouble? What do you mean?" Fear crept into Axel's eyes.

"I'm… I'm not sure," Clint admitted. "I'll call you when I know more. But for now, you and the kids stay with Kane. I'll feel better if you're all together."

"Okay…" Axel wanted to ask more, but his assessment of Clint's state of mind prevented him from delaying the cowboy any further. "Be careful." He glanced at Cochise. "Both of you."

"We will." Clint kissed him. "As soon as we know something, I'll let you know."

Axel nodded, clearly wanting to go with him, but Clint didn't extend the invite. Whoever was on the other end of that phone call to Gabriel gave him the chills like he hadn't felt in a fucking long time. He had no idea what fucked up situation he was walking into, and he didn't want Axel anywhere in the vicinity of the psychopath who had threatened to take his brother apart piece by piece.

"Angel?" Max stepped into Maddy's bedroom doorway. The younger boy sat on his brother's bed, his head in his hands. Tension clenched Angel's body as his chest hitched. Max shared his fear and anxiety. "Son?" Max walked over and sat beside Angel and wrapped his arm around the young man. He kissed his head. "Maddy will be okay," he whispered with a light rasp. "He'll come home." Max needed reassurance as much as Angel.

"Where is he?" Angel whispered with a sob. "What is happening?"

"Have you talked to Dane?"

Angel hesitated, which told Max he had spoken to his husband.

"What?" Max pressed. "Has he heard from Cole or Gabe?"

"He, uh…" Angel stood and wiped his eyes and moved away from the bed to the window, his back to Max. "He and Devlin are trying to locate Cole. He said he would let me know as soon as he knows something." He sniffed and cleared his throat as he stared out the window into the darkness.

"Trying to locate Cole," Max murmured and rose from the bed. "What about Gabe?"

Angel stiffened but didn't reply.

"Angel?" Max frowned. "Is there something you're not telling me? If so, you need to tell me."

"I don't…" Angel hung his head and hugged himself, trembling. "… know anything."

"I feel like that isn't the whole truth." He approached the young man and squeezed his shoulder. "What did Dane tell you on the phone?"

Angel shook his head as a sob caught in his throat. "I can't—"

The doorbell rang. Then – bam-bam-bam – as someone pounded on the door.

A look of anxiety and concern pinched Max's face and he walked swiftly from the bedroom. Angel followed.

Horatio was headed for the front door when the two emerged from the bedroom. He paused before opening. "Who is it?"

"Clint," came a gruff, southern drawl from the other side.

Horatio quickly disengaged the locks and pulled open the door. "Clint—"

The cowboy didn't wait for an invitation and surged into the house, trailed by the Egyptian. Horatio closed the door and shot Max an uncertain look.

"You need to tell me what the fuck is going on in here?" Clint demanded of Max. "What happened the last time you saw Gabriel? He was here earlier tonight, right?"

Max nodded and motioned for the men to go into the kitchen. Angel followed behind Max and Horatio, and the twins crept in from the living room to stand in the kitchen doorway. No one asked them to leave.

The two gangsters listened in agitated silence while Max relayed the events of the evening.

"We've been calling Cole and Gabe's phones, but no one picks up," Max said. "We can't get a hold of Maddy, either, or Abel and Savannah." He glanced at Angel and the twins and lowered his voice. "I'm trying like hell not to panic, but I'm scared out of my mind."

The cowboy looked firmly at Angel. "Where is Dane? Why isn't he here?"

Angel glanced at each of the older men and looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "Dev- Devlin wanted to talk to him. Devlin's the one who wanted me to bring the twins over here."

"Why?"

"I-I'm not sure."

Clint stared at the younger man, a slight squint to his eyes and cinch to his brow as if he were studying Angel, then took a step toward him. "Tell me."

"W-What?" Angel's eyes darted to Max and back to the cowboy.

"Gabriel is in trouble," Clint spoke low, rough. "I need to know everything."

"What?" Max swallowed, his pulse kicking up. "What do you mean, Gabe is in trouble? Do you know that for sure?"

"Yes," Clint growled, his eyes trained on Angel.

"How… how do you know?" Max glanced at both of the gangsters.

The cowboy seemed hesitant to answer, and Cochise remained dead silent, letting Clint take the lead. "That isn't important right now," Clint muttered and pressed Angel, "What aren't you telling us? There are lives at stake, kid—don't fucking hold out on me."

Max stared at Angel; he'd had the same inclination that the young man wasn't telling him everything. The cowboy could sniff out a lie like a bloodhound and he was now picking up a scent from Angel.

"Shall we return to the topic of conversation before your cowboy friend interrupted us?" Daniel watched his son mentally grapple with his thoughts, desperately searching his frantic mind for a nibble of their former conversation. Then that light came on as he remembered.

The younger man raised his eyes. The monster leered back at him with malevolent elation, feeding on Cole's terror and utter helplessness. This was the very thing that jacked him up back in the day with his female victims—watching the last vestiges of hope drain out of them to be replaced by absolute despair and horror as they realized their fate.

Thisis what he'd missed during his imprisonment, what he'd craved like an addict craved his drug of choice. Tingling heat spread through his groin and his dick hardened. He thought about the pretty blond girl in his custody and his erection swelled, straining the crotch of his pants. He was eager to get back and play with her, but he wasn't quite finished here yet.

"You think I killed Ezra." Daniel's leering smile sprayed quills of terror into his son. "I'm hurt that you believe I could do such a thing. I knew how much you cared for the boy, and the despair it would cause you if he died." He shook his head and tsked. "I couldn't do that to my own child."

A new kind of horror crept into his son's eyes, causing a strong pulse to roll up Daniel's cock.

"If… if you didn't… kill him…" Cole rasped with a tremor. "What did you do to him?" Tears formed. "I know you did something." His throat worked and his voice strained tighter. "I saw you at his house… I saw you go into the root cellar. What was down there? What did you do to them?"

His smile stretched into a maniacal grin. "Do you really want to know? I think you do." Before his son could counter, Daniel leaned in and dropped his voice to an eerie, ghostly tone. "I fucked his mom and made his dad watch. I sliced into her tender flesh while I raped her holes… but made sure I didn't strike a fatal blow. When I emptied my seed inside her, it was her turn to watch me take care of her husband. I was so excited after being with her that I nearly took his head clean off when I cut his throat." Daniel sucked in a deep breath and shivered with ecstasy. "I think I came again when his head flopped to the side and almost fell right off his neck."

His grin held as Cole shuddered beneath the horrific images Daniel planted in his head. "Ezra…?" Cole whispered, his voice raw.

"Ezra wasn't there for that show. He was with you."

"What… what did you do with him?" Cole choked as tears rolled down his face.

Daniel chuckled. "That's a tale for another time. For now, how about you tell me more about this cowboy friend of yours? Don't think I missed that tiny spark of hope on your face when I told you who was calling. Is he one of the dangerous people in your life that I need to watch out for? Be honest; is he a formidable foe?"

Angel shrank away from the cowboy. The man would never use force against him or harm him in any way, but he remained a frightening and intimidating figure nonetheless—especially when he was in a state of urgency.

I'm sorry, Dane… I have to tell them.

"Gabe…" Angel croaked. "… he's… he's in the hospital."

"What?" came a unison response from all the men.

Angel glanced at Max apologetically. "Cole found him in the alley behind that new club. He was… stabbed and bleeding."

"What?" Max breathed. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Angel swallowed. "Gabe was in surgery," he murmured. "There was nothing anyone could do. Dane and Devlin… they didn't want you to worry about Gabe, too, when you were already worried about Maddy."

"You shouldn't have kept that from us." Max looked distressed, his anxiety swelling.

"Does Cole know who stabbed him?" Clint demanded.

"I-I don't think so," Angel said. "He had something important to tell Dane and Devlin, but then…"

"Then what?" the cowboy growled.

"He…" Angel shook his head. "… he left the hospital without telling them where he was going. And he isn't answering his phone."

Max was confused. "Cole wouldn't leave Gabe until he knew he was all right." He frowned. "He's been acting off for days. Gabe tried to talk to him about it but Cole insisted nothing was wrong."

"Was Gabe's phone on him when they took him to the hospital?" Clint asked.

"I don't know," Angel whispered.

"Why do you ask?" Horatio spoke up.

Clint exchanged an uneasy look with the Egyptian. "Doesn't matter," he muttered. "We need to talk to Dane and Devlin and check on Gabriel."

"We need to be at the hospital, too," Max said.

"No," Clint countered sharply. "Stay here. All of you. And don't open the door to anyone you don't recognize."

Angel's fear mutated inside him; the cowboy looked scared. And that scared the hell out of Angel. The cowboy wasn't easily spooked.

Cole's mind numbed and his words drifted hollowly from his lips as he explained who Clint was. His thoughts weren't on what he was saying—but on the things the monster had said about Ezra.

If he didn't kill him… what did he do to him?

He had thought that his dad murdering Ezra was the worst of his worst nightmare. It wasn't, he realized now. Horrifying images plagued his mind of Ezra locked away somewhere, tormented and tortured by the monster. Had he done the same things to Ezra that he'd done to his female victims? Would he do those things to a boy? He'd raped Ezra's foster mom, but not his foster dad.

Cole wanted to puke. His skin grew cold and clammy, and he felt lightheaded as if he might suddenly pass out. His dad's voice sounded muffled and distant, his face growing hazy.

"Henry."

Cole blinked and his head cleared a bit as he tried to focus on the man across from him.

"You all right, son?" Daniel asked with dry amusement. "Don't check out on me now. The fun has only just begun. In fact, let's play a little game now." He craned his head forward as Cole stared at him sickly and afraid. "What would you give in trade for your three little friends?"

"What…?" Cole breathed.

"What would you sacrifice to get them back?"

"Me," Cole whispered. "I'll sacrifice myself to save them. Do what you want to me, just… just let them go."

Daniel sighed. "Nah. I've already got you. I need something of value to you."

"What do you mean?" Cole hadn't thought he could grow more frightened than he already was, yet as he stared into the monster's dead eyes… his fear morphed into an entity all its own.

A sinister grin split the monster's features, stretching so wide it looked almost cartoonish and sent icy chills down Cole's spine. "I want the one who got away." His eyes squinted in malicious glee. "Your husband."

Paralysis seized Cole's mind and body. He wants me to trade Gabe for Abel and the kids. Cole couldn't breathe as his heart came to a standstill in his chest. He's going to make me choose who… lives or dies.

"I want an answer by morning." The monster rose from the table and tapped his wrist and an imaginary wristwatch. "Tick, tock."

Cole watched in frozen horror as the man walked out of the pub to be swallowed up by the night.