Chapter Ninety-Two

Chapter Ninety-Two

Adrik

I was pacing up and down the sidewalk opposite Dr. Moretti's house. I was so angry that I almost couldn't think. I needed Sephie to help keep me calm and she was missing. We had no idea where she and Ivan were or how to even begin looking for them.

"I have the info from when they left the warehouse to where they were grabbed and then where we found their helmets and the tracker. Let's retrace their movements. We're bound to find something," Viktor said.

That was a weak plan, but right now, it was the only plan we had. They could be anywhere in the city now. We didn't even know for sure if Ivan was still with Sephie. They would have to kill him to get him away from her, I knew that, but there was a very real possibility that he was already dead.

I caught Stephen looking at Misha, then he looked at me. "Boss, you can find her. You don't need the tracker. The connection you two have, that's your tracker. I don't know how it works when you two feel each other, but you can find her. Misha can help," he said.

I stopped, thinking about what he'd just said. "It's never worked when we've been this far apart before. We've always been relatively close," I said.

"Maybe I can amplify it the same way Sephie did for me when we saw Trino in trouble," Misha said. "I don't have a clue how she did it, but I'm willing to try everything I can to see if it works."

"We should go to where they were grabbed. Misha might be able to see something there," Stephen said. I simply nodded once and headed to my bike.

It was still very early in the morning. Most of the city was asleep, which made it easier for us to move through town. We made it to the corner where Sephie's tracker had stopped for a few minutes. As we got closer to the spot, we could see bodies. My heart immediately dropped into my stomach. Please don't let one of them be Ivan. Stephen pulled ahead and checked the bodies. He shook his head no and I exhaled, momentarily relieved.

Misha got off his bike and looked over the scene. Ivan's bike was still there, but it wasn't wrecked. There were tire marks on the street in front of the bike, as well as behind. They blocked them in. Misha walked to Ivan's bike, turning to look at the one dead body well behind the bike. He pointed to the body, saying, "He grabbed Sephie. She got loose and shot him." He looked back toward the bike. There were two more bodies closer to the bike. "Ivan," he said, pointing to the bodies.

He stared at the bike for long enough that I thought he'd lost whatever it was he was seeing. Just when I was about to say something, he turned to look at a car parked on the street. He bent down to look at the front fender of the car. It was slightly dented, like the car had hit something at some point. He put his hand on the car and inhaled sharply. We could tell by the look on his face that he was seeing something we couldn't see.

"She went to help Ivan and they rushed her, pushing her into the car. They held a gun to her head to stop Ivan. They took her tracker and all the weapons and put them in their vehicle." He pointed up the street. "They went that way," he said.

At least we knew that Ivan was with her, for now. I was now worried about her being hurt though. "Is she hurt? Can you tell?" I asked Misha.

"I think she's okay. Or her adrenaline is masking it. She walked to the vehicle okay, even after they shoved her into the car really hard," he said.

"Let's go where we found the helmets. Maybe Misha can give us the direction they went in after ditching the tracker," Stephen said. We all climbed back on the bikes, following Viktor to where we found their helmets earlier.

It only took a few minutes to reach the spot where we found their helmets. Misha got off his bike again, surveying everything the same as he did before. He stood for a few moments, looking at everything. He finally looked to me, clearly frustrated. "I can't see anything this time. I know they went north when they left here, but that's all I can see this time. Sorry, Boss."

"North means Sal's area, which means it was likely Sal that grabbed them," Viktor said.

Stephen climbed off his bike. "Boss, come here. I have an idea," he said as he walked toward Misha. At this point, I was ready to try anything. Just because we'd narrowed down the area of the city they were headed to didn't make it any easier to find them. "So, when Sephie touched Misha, his visions amplified. What happens when you do it while you're thinking about trying to feel Sephie?"

It was worth a shot. I inhaled, extending my hand to Misha. It was easy to think about Sephie and finding her. I was already desperate to feel her in my arms again. I felt Misha squeeze my hand tighter. "They took them to an old building, but it's so dark that I can't see an address. Keep thinking about her," Misha said, then added, "They're in a room. It's an old office building. I can't see very much clearly, but they're both alive."

"So, the north side in an abandoned office building. That narrows it down," Andrei said, somewhat sarcastically, but with apparent frustration in his voice.

We stood in silence for a few minutes. Viktor looked at Misha, a look of hope on his face. "Misha, when they took the tracker from Sephie, did you see them take her earpiece?"

"No. Ivan's either. They still had them when they got in the vehicle," Misha said.

Viktor then looked to me. "The range on the earpieces aren't as strong as the tracker, but we might be able to pick them up if we can get close enough."

"How close do we need to be?" Andrei asked.

"Those things have about a two-mile radius," Viktor said.

"It's worth a shot," I said.

"I also suggest waiting until daylight. If they're holding them in an abandoned building, having people drive by at this time of the night is going to be obvious. They'll see us coming. For once, the darkness won't provide the cover we need. We should wait until daylight, so there are other people out and about," Viktor said. "We divide that part of town up into a grid and work it until we get a signal. We can get the dealers to help on foot too. They'll blend in easier."

"Fuck! I know you're right, Viktor, but pausing the search does not make me happy," I said, trying to control my anger.

"You're not the only one, Boss. We all want to find her, but we need to be smart about it. We don't want them moving her. Or worse," Andrei said.

"We're gonna find her, Boss. Now that we know Ivan is with her, that helps. I don't feel like she's dead, either," Misha said. He paused to look at me, then added, "Add that to the list of sentences I never thought I'd say in my life. Seriously, though, you would feel it if something happened to her. I know it."

"I don't think she's dead either. There's a pull in my chest that I feel anytime I'm away from her until I get back to her. It's still there and it's getting stronger," I said.

"We might be able to use that to help find her," Stephen said. "How strong does it get?"

"I'm not sure. I haven't been this far away from her, ever. It gets stronger when she's hurt though. I told her it feels like my heart is urging me to destroy whatever caused her pain." I ran my hand through my hair. I was definitely not expecting to be having this conversation in the middle of the street at 3:00 a.m.

"She's told us about that before. She feels it too, and we all feel it with her, just to a lesser extent than you," Andrei said.

"Let's head back to the penthouse. I think if you can focus on that pull, it'll help us know where we should start looking once the sun comes up," Stephen said. I nodded once.

As we drove back to the penthouse, I caught myself thinking about how surprising it was that it was Stephen that had come up with this plan. I would not have bet on him to take charge of this situation before Sephie. Just like with Misha, she was slowly bringing out the absolute best in Stephen. He had talked more since she came into our lives than he had in the previous few years that he'd been working for me. We were all somewhat relieved and admittedly slightly disappointed to learn that he wasn't a serial killer.

Viktor stopped by the office and grabbed a map before meeting the rest of us in the penthouse. Andrei started making coffee for everyone. We were all quieter than usual, worried about finding her. I was having trouble controlling my thoughts. I kept thinking about them hurting her, which would cause my anger levels to rise even more. It was taking every bit of control I had to keep my anger in check, using the trick that Sephie had showed me.

Viktor put the map on the kitchen island, marking the spots where they were grabbed and where we found their helmets. Sal controlled the north side of town. It had been a booming area years ago, but had seen a decline in the past few years. There were plenty of abandoned buildings in his area, which would not make our search any easier.

As I looked at the map, feeling completely overwhelmed at where to start looking, Stephen said, "Boss, focus on that pull you feel. Close your eyes if you have to, but focus on the pull you feel toward her."

My anger was at such a level that paying attention to anything else was proving to be difficult. The pull in my chest was a normal feeling when I was away from her. It had become so normal that I didn't pay much attention to it when I was away from her. Stephen could tell from the look on my face that I was struggling.

"Think about her, then. Think about finding her, specifically. Think about how relieved you're going to be to see her once again. Think about feeling her in your arms when you find her," Stephen said.

His words were helping my anger subside enough that the pull in my chest grew stronger. My demeanor must've changed because Stephen nodded to Misha, who grabbed my hand again. Misha's eyes went wide as soon as he touched me.

"Keep thinking about her, Boss. Feel that pull in your chest. Focus on that," Stephen said.

Misha said, "I know the area. I still can't see the address on the building, but I know the area. They're not that far from the docks." He let go of my hand and pointed to an area on the map. "They're somewhere in here."

Viktor marked it on the map, taking a closer look at the area. "This makes it easier than having to search the entire north end of town, but there's more abandoned buildings than not in this area."

"How easy is it going to be for us to search the area without being seen?" Andrei asked.

"Not as easy as I was hoping. There won't be many people in this area. We're going to need Gus and his guys to help us search. They'll be able to blend in with the few people that are going to be out and about better than we can," Viktor said.

"What if we use a distraction? Drop another building in the area. It might make them nervous enough that they move them, then we can catch them as they come out," Andrei said.

We all thought for a moment on Andrei's idea. "I want to make sure we're not dropping the building they're in first, but I'll level that end of town if it means getting her back," I said.

Once the sun came up, Viktor called Chen. "Any word on Sephie?" he asked as he picked up the phone.

"We're narrowing down where we think they took her. We need your help. We have a way to search for them, but the part of town they're in is mostly abandoned buildings. We're going to stick out. We need you to get Gus and his guys to help us search," Viktor said.

"How many guys do you need?"

"As many as you can get," Viktor said. "We'll meet at the apartment building. Two hours."

The parking lot of Sephie's old apartment building was full when we showed up two hours later. Chen had gathered twenty guys willing to help us search.

"How did you get this many guys on such short notice?" I asked Chen.

"They're all grateful you stopped the brawn operation last night. They want to help," he said. "Most of them are Trino's guys. Apparently, that guy will sing her praises to anyone who will listen." He gave me a tight smile. "But we all want to find her and stop the other bosses, especially Sal."

Viktor took over and laid out the plan for the search. The earpieces would connect to each other automatically when you were within range. All the guys had to do was be close enough to Sephie and Ivan's earpieces and their earpiece would beep to connect. No connection, no beep. It was as simple as that. The city was already a grid, so Viktor just assigned groups of guys to each section of the grid. All they had to do was walk down the street, waiting for the beep in their ear that told them which building Sephie was in. Without getting caught, of course.

"Everybody's packing, right?" Gus asked when we were ready to leave. Everyone nodded their heads yes. "If anyone stops you, you're there to make a deal. Find a homeless person if you have to. Whatever you need to do to make it believable, but try to stay under the radar as much as possible."

While they were searching, we couldn't do anything but wait. I paced. My adrenaline was still going full force. There was no chance on me being able to sleep until we found Sephie and Ivan.

At one point, Andrei got up and looked through the cabinets in the kitchen. We had left all her dishes and kitchen appliances when we moved her stuff from her apartment. He found her coffee maker, then found some coffee still in the pantry. He sniffed it, then shrugged his shoulders and set about making coffee.

"This is probably going to suck, but I need something and I'm sure you all do too," he said as he poured himself a cup of coffee. We watched as he took the first sip. "I've definitely had worse."

Everyone else grabbed a cup after Andrei was the guinea pig. I really didn't need the caffeine boost, but I wasn't going to turn it down either. It was another two hours before guys started returning to the apartment. The first ones back had no luck. Viktor marked off their areas on the map, further narrowing down where they were holding them.

Gus returned with Chen and Oscar. "We got them," he said, walking to the map and showing Viktor where they had picked up the signal from Sephie and Ivan's earpieces.

Chen looked at me, saying, "I heard them, sir. They were speaking Russian, so I don't know what they were talking about, but I heard both of them when the earpiece connected. I talked to Sephie very briefly. I wasn't sure if she could speak English where they were, so I just asked her to clear her throat if they were okay. She did. I told her you'd be there soon to get her."

The flood of relief that washed over me almost made me stumble to the ground. Chen grabbed my arm to help keep me steady. He looked sympathetic. "I understand, sir," he said quietly.

"We have it narrowed down to two blocks and those two blocks don't have quite as many abandoned buildings as the rest of the area," Viktor said. "Andrei's idea might work."

"Is his idea to blow another building as a distraction because that's the kind of idea I fully support," Oscar said. Andrei just nodded his head, a small smile on his face. Oscar clapped his hands once, rubbing his palms together. "Building demolition is my love language. When can we get started?"

"First, we need to make sure the building we choose isn't where they're keeping them," Viktor said, somewhat sternly.

"Of course, of course. Do you know how quickly I'd be dead if I harmed a hair on that woman's head? I'm not that dumb. What do you guys need us to do?" Oscar said.

"Searching the buildings on those blocks will be a little easier since it's more populated, but it still won't be easy," Gus said. He looked to DJ, then asked, "DJ, I know you know people in this part of town. Can you find out if anyone has seen anything suspicious on these two blocks? Somebody might've seen them bringing Sephie and Ivan to the building. If it's Sal that took them, they might've seen him showing up to the building."

We heard Stephen's phone beep. He took it out, reading the text message. His eyes went wide, then he walked to the map. He pointed to a building. "They're here," he said.

"How do you know?" I asked urgently, walking to look at the map.

"It was Keith. He said Armando has been acting weird. He left the house really early this morning, wouldn't tell Keith where they were going, just gave him an address. He made Keith and Chris wait in the vehicle while he went in the building. Keith said he has a bad feeling about whatever Armando was doing," Stephen said. "And for the record, Keith and Chris don't know about Sephie being taken."

The building he took Armando to was in between two occupied buildings. There was, however, another abandoned building at the end of the block. Andrei's plan could work.

"Tell Keith to keep us informed of Armando's movements to that building. Don't tell him why. We still don't know if Armando is on to Keith and is feeding him information. He might still be trying to play both sides," I said.

Stephen texted Keith, then got an immediate reply. "He said Armando is scheduled to go back to the building tomorrow morning again, but again won't tell Keith and Chris why."

I looked to Andrei. "How quickly can we make this happen? If we can catch Armando at the building, we can take care of him right then."

"I just need a few hours and Oscar's help setting everything up," Andrei said.

"It'll be ready by tonight," Oscar said.

"I don't think it's just Armando that set this up either. I have a feeling Sal is behind this too," Viktor said. "Maybe we can catch both of them at the building."

"Agreed. I need to let Trino know we have a good shot of taking Sal out, which means he should take care of Anthony and Lorenzo at the same time," I said. "Gus, Oscar, does Trino know Sephie was taken?"

"Si, Jefe. We called him to let him know the warehouses were taken care of. We told him they grabbed her. He said to tell you he'd do whatever you needed," Gus said.

I nodded, taking my phone from my pocket. I walked to the bedroom to have a private conversation with Trino. Now that we had confirmation that Sephie was alive, I was quickly becoming overcome with emotion. My anger had receded to a manageable level, but I was now feeling every single other emotion all at once. I didn't trust myself completely to keep it together right now.

"Jefe, tell me you found her," Trino said when he picked up the phone.

"We have her location, but it's going to take a little longer to get her out. We know for sure Armando is behind it, but they're in Sal's part of town, so it's likely he's behind it as well."

"What do you need? I hate to ask this question, but are you sure she's still alive?"

"She is. We had the dealers that helped us with the warehouses search that part of the city. The guys that grabbed her and Ivan didn't get their earpieces. The dealer that Sephie has known for years, Chen, is the one who found her. He heard her and Ivan talking. They're okay. He told her I was coming to get her." My voice cracked when I said I was coming to get her. I was fighting back tears.

Trino let out a long exhale. "Jefe, this is good news. What's the plan?"

"We have word that Armando is scheduled to go back to the building tomorrow morning. We're going to drop a nearby building to create a little chaos, hoping to flush them out. My hope is we'll catch Armando and Sal at the building. They won't make it out," I said, my anger level now rising once more.

"I'll take care of Anthony and Lorenzo at the same time. I have them locked up for safekeeping. After the attempt on me by the Mexicans, I'm not fucking around. I grabbed them right away. They've been waiting for their sentencing ever since," he said.

"Sounds good, Trino. Even if we can only get Armando tomorrow morning, Sal will panic when he gets word that you've taken care of Anthony and Lorenzo. He'll be easier to take out then if he's not at the building in the morning."

"Let the dominoes fall, Jefe."