31. Gideon

Gideon

T wo painful, terror-filled hours have passed. Descario comes into the room and slams a file down on the table. I hang up the phone and look up at her. It's the middle of the night, and the whole world appears to be asleep. Even the air is bitterly cold.

"Tell me you have a location!"

"Gideon!" Rafe chides.

I ignore him. Dane snags the file, flicking it open, and reading through it at light speed.

"Have you found her?" I shout.

Maria Descario looks broken and exhausted. She's shaken to her core and lost. I don't care. This is my life at stake. I need her to get her shit together.

"Let's go find him. We know who he is, now we know where he is! What are we waiting for?"

"We didn't know. This is why I insisted we go through this process," she says flatly and rakes her hand through her hair. She's been doing that a lot tonight, and it's a birds nest now.

"What?" I ask alarmed.

"Because that location, the one we thought was his house, isn't his house. I sent an undercover to knock on the door. There was a family living there. This is." She points to an image of flowers and a gazebo. "It took me a long time to find this, to unravel the lies. This house, I know this house. We tried to purchase it, but a private buyer snapped it up. We wanted it not because of the house itself but the location." She turns to face us. "It backs onto the Harmon estate. Owned by one Ivan Sparrow, but our surveillance hasn't seen Ivan Sparrow there once in the last year."

Blood drains from my face. Almost fucked up. What would have happened if I'd followed my instincts and rushed to the wrong property? I look at the house and realise this is the house Jax can see from her bedroom window. Does he plan everything? This creepy motherfucker needs to die!

I don't remember the drive. I remember the feelings. The scream of the sirens. The desperation and panic. The fear we would be too late. I remember Dane muttering, and I remember Rafe whispering. I think there were pleas, I don't know if they were prayers or what, but I remember wishing my dad was here. If my mother hadn't taken me away, and I'd been able to find him. Dad would know what to do.

It's such an irrational thought.

When the car stops, I barely wait for it to pull up short before I'm stumbling out of the car.

We rush up to the house as a man rushes out. I get a moment to realise it's Jacob before he collapses in Rafe's arms. Dane's already running by the time I hear the creaks and groans.

He's flying. I'm on his heels, pushing my body faster than I've ever moved.

"Please. Please," I beg silently.

Dane slides down and gets inside the perimeter of the house before the roller doors slam shut.

"He's in there. He's got her," I hear Descario shout. "I need units here. Everything! No! I don't care. It's happening now. We have him!"

"Who? "

"Who has her?" Rafe shouts. "Tell me his name. I need to know. I need to hear it!"

"Louis. It's Louis. It's impossible, but it's Louis," Jacob sobs. "You have to save her. Ring the police. Ring everyone."

That's all the answer I need. Louis. We're here. It's the end of the game. One way or another, only one of us will win.

I stare at the house, locked down, impenetrable. Dane made it inside. There's hope.

We still have hope.

I throw myself at the roller door, howling like a broken man. The fury and fear trying to drown me. She's inside.

With a monster.

No matter how hard I throw myself at those doors, I can't get in. I back off and run back to the road. All these huge, expensive mansions. And no one around.

Detective Descario is talking into her radio, rapidly calling for more backup.

I search the outside of the house and spot something that sends my brain screeching to a halt.

Smoke.

"No," I moan. "No! NO! NO! NO!" I howl until my voice gives out.

I slam my fist into the metal! "RICHARD!" I howl. "DON'T DO THIS!"

Rafe grabs me and hauls me back, but I fight him, finally getting free and slamming myself back into the house's security.

"Terry, stop!" Rafe calls out.

I freeze. He used my name. My real name. I whirl and find him staring at me, tears running down his cheeks.

"We can't get in that way."

"She's going to die if we don't do something!" I shout.

"I- "

I storm past him and then pause. There's a darkness near the cars that isn't natural. I edge closer to it, unable to draw away.

"Dad?" I ask in shock. "Uncle?"

The two forms straighten, their outlines strengthen and waver. A third joins them, and though I don't know him like I know the other two, I recognise him all the same.

"You need to save her, Terrance. I can't do it alone."

I shake my head. "I can't get in."

Another form appears, and as soon as I see it, my heart breaks.

"Let go of the body," the man says to me.

My eyes well with tears. "I don't know how."

"We'll show you."

"You might not be able to come back, son," my dad whispers.

"I don't care. I just need her to live. Jax is everything," I say back. "I love her."

The four spirits exchange looks.

"Walk out onto the road," my father says and walks beside me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see a couple of people running towards us. I look the other way and see Rafe. He's got his hands to his head, he's crying. He looks back and spots me.

His expression changes rapidly, and he screams. I don't even hear the sound, I just see the expression of agony on his face.

"I'm sorry," I mouth at him.

The four of them surround me, and I focus on them, blocking out everything else.

"Think only of her. Push everything out of your mind," Mason says. "You can do it, cousin."

"Pull yourself free. We will help you," Uncle Martin murmurs.

"I'm so proud of you, son," my father whispers.

"Save her." The fourth murmurs, but his attention drifts, and he takes in the person flying towards us. "River! Don't let the body die! "

I'm torn from my living body in an agony that I can't explain in any words known to man.

I hover there as River slides on his knees to my body. He looks up at me, seeing the five of us together, and then slams his palms over my chest and starts CPR.

"I'll keep him alive, for you," River says to the ghost kneeling beside him. "I'll keep him alive. You bring her back." Tears leak from his eyes, but he ignores them. He sniffles, but he doesn't stop, doesn't falter.

I turn away as Rafe slams to a stop just in front of me. His face goes under several rapid transformations before he reaches out, putting his hand over my heart. Or where it would be if I weren't invisible.

"Find her, Gideon. Save her." His low plea is almost drowned as sirens explode into the air around us. Blue and red flashing lights push me out of this world.

I take his cheeks in my hand and press a kiss to his forehead. He can't feel it. I'm not here. I'm just a ghost. "Look after them, Rafe. I love you."

Mason reaches out and takes my hand, and we shift into the shadows and step inside the burning house.

I glance back, taking one look that will last me a lifetime. My father, uncle, cousin. Then I turn into the smoke and dark halls of Louis' den of deception, and I start hunting for the one reason that keeps me alive even when I was dead.