49. Adrian

"The real Andrew Gallagher died at age twelve in Belfast," Marcel voices aloud what I"d been suspecting of a while now. "I have some connections in the UK, and they sent a copy of his death certificate. He would have been fifty-eight now."

We"re at his apartment in Chelsea. In all the years I"ve known Marcel, I can count on one hand the times I"ve been to his apartment.

It"s a sleek, modern, one-bedroom apartment that could belong to a showroom for its bareness. I"ve always marveled at the minimalist style that Marcel seems to adhere to. We"re now in his living room, reviewing some old case files, and trying to make sense of the entire situation.

"So, he stole Andrew"s identity," I say, dropping one of the files I"d been skimming through on the desk. "Interesting, though, that Quinn referred to him as his uncle," I add, stroking my jaw pensively.

"At this point, we can only infer that there"s some sort of relation between Jimenez and the Gallaghers."

"They acted too fast against the Agostis. They must have realized we knew something."

The attack on Enzo and Rocco had been smartly timed. Both of them had been present in an open space with a lot of people around. With Enzo still in the ICU, it"s only a matter of time until the Agosti business falls to Jimenez.

"If Enzo dies, the Agosti territory will be up for grabs."

"The Marchesi are also swiping in to try to salvage what they can. I"ve had reports that Enzo"s wife is already giving orders as Capo. Plus, her family landed in the States the day after the attack."

"It"s not going to be pretty. I wouldn"t want to be Enzo… if he survives." I grimace at the thought. For all my dislike of Enzo, I can only imagine his reaction at waking up to find his father dead, his partners betraying him, and his wife reaping the benefits of his own demise… Too many betrayals at once.

"You said that Bianca met Jimenez"s son." Marcel shuffles some papers, looking for something specific.

"Yeah. Odd considering none of our intel has ever alluded to the existence of a son. From what Bianca told me, he"s in his early thirties and has a defining scar on his right cheek. I"ve already done a partial search in the police database, but so far, I got nothing."

"Look at this."Marcel shows me a profile photo of a man with a scarred cheek.

"What"s this?"

"When you described the guy to me, I had my doubts but decided to look into it. He"s not in the database because he"s never been convicted, but we had a case come in almost three years ago, and this guy was the main suspect. A few women came forward with rape allegations against him. Some of the testimonies had holes in them, so he got away."

"What piqued your curiosity about him?" I ask, knowing there must be a reason why Marcel is showing me this.

"I remembered him from my days as a prosecutor. I was the one handling his case, so I met the guy. Nasty piece of work, no remorse. That he got away on mere technicalities guts me… His name is Carlos Delgado, thirty. Mother was Elena Delgado, father unknown."

"So? That"s a long shot to assume that the unknown father is Jimenez." I arch an eyebrow, thinking he"s grasping at straws with this.

"Here." He spreads a few more pictures on the desk, and I see what he means. All of them show Carlos meeting with Quinn in a dark alley, their hands exchanging something.

"When was this taken?"

"Day before the shooting." I frown. Why would Marcel have pictures of Quinn from before the shooting?

"Before?" I ask, trying to mask the doubt in my voice.

"I"ve had someone watching the Gallaghers ever since they came to NYC." Wait, what?

"Why? Did Vlad put you up to this?"

"In a way. We watched Enzo and, by extension, the Gallaghers." It all sounds logical, given Vlad"s blatant interest in Enzo. But why do I feel like it isn"t the real reason…

"Maybe one of these days, you"ll give me more details into this friendship of yours with Vlad," I add casually and watch Marcel"s face fall for a second before he composes himself.

"Maybe…" he answers cryptically.

"Let me send a picture of Carlos to Bianca; that way, we can have direct confirmation without resorting to conjectures." I get my phone out and snap a picture of Carlos, sending it to Bianca.

"Right. How have things been with you and Bianca?"

"Good. She adopted a cat." I keep my answer short and vague, not wanting to disclose more details. Our new relationship is still in its infancy, and I don"t want to jinx anything.

"A cat?" Marcel asks, clearly amused.

"Her name"s Mally. You"ll like her," I add fondly. However, Marcel doesn"t seem to share my enthusiasm, as the prospect of meeting Mally has him already pale.

"Shit. Sorry, forgot about that." I shake my head at my thoughtlessness.

Marcel has a pet phobia. I know this because when we first met, I had one too many pets. One time, Marcel had come by my place, and at the sight of the animals racing towards him, he"d fled the premises and had declared my apartment off-limits. It seems that fate is about to repeat itself.

"No worries." He tries to dismiss it, but I can see I"ve ruined the mood.

I excuse myself and tell him I will update him when Bianca replies.

"One more thing…" Marcel says as I"m about to head out.

"Hm?"

"Carlos is still in NYC. Tell Bianca to be careful."

"Thanks."

Now, that"s a worrying thought. Bianca had tried to describe her experience at the Block in as much detail as possible, and I"d been shocked at how close she"d come to being assaulted, first by the guards and then by the man who bought her.

He"d been bent on getting his due since, apparently, Martin had cheated him. I"d tried not to show Bianca just how upsetting those details had been to hear, mostly since it was clear that it wasn"t too bad from her own perspective.

To just think of her in such a situation… I still blame myself for allowing her to do that in the first place. I don"t care that it did yield results, and we uncovered Jimenez"s identity. Not at that potential cost.

After wrapping up with Marcel, I head back to work to complete some paperwork. With everything going on, I"d been on leave for almost two weeks now. Although the amount of work I have to catch up with is outstanding, I leave at around six, thinking to surprise Bianca for dinner.

Since we"ve decided to give our relationship a try, things have been… too good. We"ve had various discussions, and we"ve both confessed the stuff we"ve done in our past. I"d told her about my childhood, how my parents had done the best they could with me, and that I"d been a happy teen until their deaths.

After that, I"d been placed in foster care, and because of bullying, I"d ended up on the streets only to be taken in by a Catholic church belonging to the Irish mob. I"d described my time in the ring and how it had forced me to grow up and mature. I"d also confided in her my shame at keeping that lifestyle for as long as I did when there wasn"t anything forcing me to do it other than my thirst for revenge.

I owed Theo everything.

Not only had he given me a clean slate, but he"d also given me a ticket out of a lifetime of criminality, which was what I"d been looking at had I continued on that path.

In turn, she"d also described her childhood. Her voice had held her usual cool tone as she"d related the abuse and neglect she"d suffered at Martin"s hands. After Jenna, she was already looking at a self-destructing path that Drew had helped her avoid by showing her how to redirect her anger. She"d told me as much as she could about her involvement with the Bratva. And then she"d opened up about how her obsession with me started.

I have to admit I"d been a little weirded out by the lengths she"d gone to get to me. But is it normal to find it all just a little bit endearing?

Maybe not… and perhaps the fact that I hadn"t reacted negatively to her confessing all the fucked-up shit she"d done from the time she"d first seen me to our first meeting should be the first sign that our relationship will never be normal.

And now that I"ve had a taste of her brand of abnormal… I"m not sure I"d ever want to go back to normal.

I get home before dinner time, but I"m surprised to find the apartment empty.

"B?" I call out, but nothing. Mally slowly walks towards me and gives me a meow. I pick her up and pet her a little while I look for Bianca. When I realize she"s not in the apartment, I check my phone and see that there are no messages from her. I frown. She"s usually pretty quick at replying to my texts. I dial her number, and while it rings a few times, it soon goes directly into voicemail.

Okay… not to panic. I"m sure there"s an explanation.

I go to my laptop and try to track her phone. The app shows me the phone"s last location, and it"s not too far off from the foundation.

Maybe she"s on her way from work? Over the last few days, she"s been organizing a leadership takeover. Maybe her meetings have run late.

I think Marcel must have sown paranoia in my mind when he"d mentioned that Carlos is still in New York.

Yes… I"m sure that"s why I"m so frantic about not hearing from her yet.

I wait another half hour, the time it usually takes her to get home from the foundation. When there"s still no sight of her, and her phone location hasn"t changed, I take my car keys and head towards her.

It"s not too long until our locations coincide on the map. I look around and see an empty street. Already a feeling of uneasiness creeps up my spine.

I get out of the car and dial her number. Please pick up… I walk around in circles, still ringing her phone when I suddenly hear a sound. I"m barely able to put one step in front of the other towards the bush where the noise comes from.

I take a deep breath and burrow my way through the foliage. I see the phone. I don"t see Bianca. I sigh in relief, my worst fears alleviated.

I pick up the phone and notice it"s cracked. There"s no way Bianca would have just dumped her phone and left it somewhere. No… something isn"t right.

"Carlos is still in NYC. Tell Bianca to be careful." Marcel"s voice rings in my head.

No… Please let her be okay.

I try to compose myself, knowing that if I let fear rule me, I won"t be able to do anything to find Bianca. I slowly look around from the spot where I"d found the phone for any CCTV cameras that might have caught what happened on film. I see two of them overlooking the street.

I know what I have to do. Swallowing my pride, I get in my car and drive to Vlad"s. He has the resources to find Bianca. I also ask Marcel to meet me there.

I drive at full speed, not wanting to waste any time. When I get to Vlad"s, Marcel is already there. So fast?

"Bianca"s missing." It"s the first thing I say when I see them. "I found her phone, but no sign of her." Turning to Marcel, I ask, "Do you think Carlos…" Marcel purses his lips.

Vlad, on the other hand, doesn"t seem to think this is an emergency.

"Maybe she just got sick of you," he says, joking around. Daggers must be shooting from my eyes as I make my way towards him. He puts his hands up in surrender.

"Chill, Hastings. I got you." Vlad gets his computer, and after inputting password after password, a map appears on the screen.

"What"s that?" I ask, looking at the red dot on the map.

"That"s Bianca"s location."

"But how?"

"Both Bianca and I had a chip implanted under the skin for this exact reason. Because we were partners, the chances of one being used to draw the other out were quite high. We didn"t want to take any chances, so we covered our ground."

"That"s one of those storage places in the Bronx, isn"t it?" Marcel studies the map on the screen.

"I think so," Vlad concurs.

I don"t have time for this. The moment I have the location, I do a one-eighty, already heading for the door.

"Do you want to save your wife, Hastings, or go to your own death?" Vlad makes a tsk sound that stops me in my tracks.

"We can"t waste any time. You know that the first few hours after a kidnapping are the most important," I address Marcel, who"s also seen his fair share of such cases.

"Yes, but there"s also the element of surprise. And we can only bank on that if we know the details of who took her. Don"t be hasty."

"I can"t just sit around, Marcel." My voice betrays the emotion I feel inside. If Carlos took her…

My mind keeps on imagining the worst.

"Patience, Hastings." Vlad shakes his head. "Now, tell me where you found her phone."

I give Vlad the coordinates and watch as he swiftly pulls the CCTV feed. At this point, I"m not even interested in how he"s done that. All that matters is seeing what happened to Bianca.

"When was the last time you talked to her?" he asks me.

"Around ten." When she"d told me about her plans at the foundation.

Vlad starts the feed from ten, and we go through the footage until I point out Bianca"s car coming to a stop.

"There"s another car." Right behind Bianca, another car stops. We watch as she gets out of the vehicle and heads towards the other car, knocking on the window. Simultaneously, a man walks around the car and takes her by surprise, likely with a chloroform-infused material. After she slumps against the man, she"s loaded into the car.

"Stop." I point to the frame that allows the best view inside the open window.

"Zoom in." Vlad zooms in, and I spare a glance at Marcel. It looks like him.

"Carlos? " he asks, and Marcel and I nod.

"We need to go there."

"Wait," Vlad says again, and I get annoyed with all his interruptions. He pulls up more CCTV footage, this time from the storage unit in the Bronx.

"There"s a lot of traffic." Marcel frowns and asks Vlad to search for other angles.

We see a few trucks pulling up at the industrial entrance. Switching to some inner cameras, the trucks are being unloaded and craters are being carried inside the buildings. There"s also an excessive number of staff climbing out of the vehicles.

"What do we know about that storage company?"

"It"s been closed for more than a year now and was recently acquired by an offshore account… Do you think?" Vlad looks at Marcel when he asks this, and he nods.

"It could be Jimenez"s new operating base," Marcel speculates. "It would make sense why the increased traffic now, since Agosti is out."

"You think he moved in so quickly?"

"To get the best part of a carcass, a scavenger must be the first one at the scene." Vlad"s voice turns wistful.

"Thanks for the imagery," I add drily.

"Welcome." He beams.

"You can"t simply barge in there. We need a plan," Marcel tells me. "It"s likely they have an army in there." He paces around, thinking of something. "Vlad, can you find the blueprints of the building?"

"I"ll try," Vlad replies and gets to work.

I head over to Marcel and lower the volume of my voice. "I can"t just sit around. What if something happens to Bianca?"

"We"ll get her. Don"t worry," Marcel says.

"I wouldn"t underestimate your wife, Hastings." Vlad"s eyes are still on the screen when he calls out.

"Yeah, but even she isn"t invincible."

Vlad looks up ever so slightly, and for the first time, I detect something more than apathy.

"She will be fine." I give him a small nod, the only concession I"m willing to make when it comes to him.

Vlad manages to eventually find the building"s plans, and we pore over them, making notes on all the entrances, exits, and how the rooms are connected.

"If Jimenez"s already finished with the preparation, then we should expect to meet guards here, here…" Vlad shows us the most strategic placement of people given the open spaces in the building.

"I"ll have my people ready. Hastings, how are you with a gun?"

"Decent," I answer. I haven"t had much practice since my active-duty days, but those are long past. I can probably hit a target, but I"m nowhere near as proficient as Bianca.

"Hope so. If you"ve noticed, trucks carrying craters come in every two hours." Vlad shifts back to the screen. "The most straightforward way to access the compound is to hijack one of the trucks and take out the men inside. We"ll then replace them and deliver whatever it is they"re delivering. "

"Sounds good to me. When can we go?" I say, almost too impatiently. I know I should pay more attention to the planning part, but I can"t stop thinking about Bianca and what might be happening to her right now.

Vlad proceeds to follow CCTV footage along the truck"s route and finds the best spot for the takeover. After we hash over all the details, Vlad phones Maxim and asks him to assemble some people.

A little while later, Maxim comes in with a huge box-like case and opens it for us. Inside are bulletproof vests, guns, and other weapons.

Vlad takes a pair of long, curved blades and sheaths them to his back, in the bulletproof vest pockets that seem to be custom made to hold the swords.

Both Marcel and I don the vests, and we each take two pistols.

"How are you with a pistol?" I ask Marcel, amused. I don"t recall him ever touching a gun.

"He"s good. Aren"t you, Marcel?" Vlad answers for him, putting a weird emphasis on his name. Marcel seems to be put out by the reply but doesn"t comment further.

With everything now in place, we leave towards the convened spot.