Cade Creek 11 - Race Against Time (14 page)

“Yeah, but if I can help…” Race twisted his fingers together. “What do you think I should do?”

Vinnie’s heart warmed when Race turned to him and Ari for advice. He wanted to hug the man to him and never let him go. And as much as he wanted to hide Race away from the world, he knew he couldn’t. “I think you should do what your heart tells you to do, Race.”

Race’s beaming smile was all Vinnie needed to know he had said the right thing.

“I really don’t know much,” Race said. “We went out on two dates before he started to creep me out and I stopped taking his phone calls.”

“Is that when the beatings started?” Ari asked.

Race nodded. “He doesn’t take no very easily.”

Vinnie knew Race had no idea how prophetic his words would be when the phone rang a moment later. Confused about who would be calling so early in the morning, Vinnie reached over and grabbed the phone.

“Hello?”

Race’s gut clenched when Vinnie held the phone out to him. This couldn’t be good, especially since he didn’t think anyone knew where he was. He held the phone to his ear despite the need roaring through him to run away.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Racine.”

Race’s eyes rounded. He glanced up at Vinnie and then Ari before answering, “What do you want, Terrence?”

Vinnie growled as he pulled Race into his arms and tilted his head down toward the phone. Ari went tearing out of the kitchen, returning a moment later with Dorian, Agent Ryan, and the sheriff.

Race pulled the phone away from his ear and hit the speaker button. “I have nothing to say to you, Terrence.”

“Do you have something to say to your little friend?”

Race frowned. “What friend?”

“Ra-Race?”

Tears welled up in Race’s eyes at the sound of that frightened voice. “Aldrin?”

He heard the sound of flesh hitting flesh, a high painful cry, and then Terrence’s voice. “Do I have your attention now, Racine?”

“What do you want, Terrence?” He knew the man wanted something.

“You.”

Race was afraid of that. “When and where?”

“No!” Vinnie and Ari shouted at the same time.

“Ah, I see we have company,” Terrence said. “I assume it is those two firemen I saw you with?”

“You can’t have him, Flannery,” Vinnie snapped.

“And that would be where you are wrong,” Terrence replied. “Racine is mine. He has always been mine, and the sooner he realizes that, the sooner this will all be over.”

“Just tell me where you want to meet, Terrence,” Race said. When Vinnie opened his mouth, Race held up his finger. Vinnie snapped his mouth closed. “If you hurt Aldrin, there will be no place you can hide, Terrence. I have friends, and they will make you pay.”

“Oh, the little man has teeth.” Terrence’s laughter echoed through the phone like a death knoll. “How delightful. I will enjoy breaking your spirit, Racine.”

“Fuck you, Terrence.” Race hung up the phone. When he looked up, everyone was staring at him. “What?”

“You hung up on him, Race,” Dorian pointed out.

“None of you are getting this. Terrence doesn’t like to lose. He’ll call back.” Right on cue, the phone in Race’s hand rang. Race hit the receive button and then put the phone on speaker again.

“You will pay for your insolence, Racine.”

Race hung up the phone again. This time, he ignored the shocked looks from the others. He knew what he was doing. He might have run from Terrence Flannery just as fast as he could, but that was only because he knew exactly what type of man he was.

The man was a bully, and the one thing Race had learned over the years was that bullies didn’t like to lose. Get them pissed off enough, and they made mistakes. Race was betting that he could piss Terence off enough that the man would make a big enough mistake to sink him.

This time when the phone rang again, Race let it ring a few times before answering. “Hello?”

“There’s an empty warehouse five miles outside of Cade Creek on Lower River Road. Be there in two hours. Be alone or your little friend dies, after I turn him over to my guards to play with.” Terrence hung up before anyone could say anything.

Race’s hand trembled as he set the phone down on the counter. “So.” He glanced at the faces glaring at him. “How are we going to save my ass because it won’t look good hanging from Terrence Flannery’s belt?”

When the yelling started. Race narrowed in on the one man not shouting at him. “Vinnie? Do you have a plan?”

“Yes,” the man replied calmly, which should have been Race’s first clue. “I’m going to kill the fucker.”

Race snickered. “Do you have a better idea?”

Dorian sighed as he pulled out his cell phone. “Let me make a few phone calls.”

Things seemed to happen pretty quickly after that. Before Race knew it, he was in a car on the way to the warehouse on Lower River Road. There was a plan in place to surround the warehouse and take Terrence when he handed Aldrin over, but Race didn’t have much faith in it.

After Dorian had made his phone calls, everyone started tossing out ideas. Ari seemed too angry to speak directly to Race, and Dorian just seemed plain pissed. Agent Ryan was practically salivating at the idea of getting his hands on Terrence.

No one listened to Race when he put in his two cents. He knew the rescue wouldn’t go as easy as everyone thought it would. Terrence wasn’t an idiot. Psychotic, yes, dumb, no. He would have a backup plan for his backup plan. Race knew he needed to be ready for anything.

And if anyone knew of the small gun he had taken from Dorian’s truck and hidden in his boot, he’d probably get his ass beat. He was just glad he knew it was there. Dorian had shown it to him back before he went to the city. He wanted to make sure he and Artie knew there was a weapon in the vehicle before they used it to drive around. Sound thinking.

Race hated leaving Dorian behind, but the man had promised to be there with help before the whole thing went sideways, and it was going to go sideways. There was just no way it couldn’t.

Even with Vinnie and Ari by his side, Race couldn’t help but feel apprehensive. Granted, he felt safer with them than he did even with Dorian, but Terrence was just plain mean. He didn’t care who he hurt to get his own way and if he believed for one moment that the way to hurt Race was to hurt Vinnie and Ari, he would do it.

When they pulled down the road from the warehouse, everyone except Race climbed out. Race met Ari and Vinnie’s eyes for a brief moment. “You’ll be close, right?”

“Just a stone’s throw away,” Ari said. “But I don’t like this. I don’t like you facing him alone.”

Neither did Race.

“Just make sure your friend gets out of the car,” Vinnie said. “We need him in sight just in case something happens.”

“Don’t do anything to provoke him,” Agent Ryan added.

“Just breathing provokes him,” Race said. He knew firsthand Terrence’s ability to go from caring to abusive like the flip of a switch. The neon-green cast still on his arm was proof of that.

Swallowing hard, Race nodded. “Okay, I won’t say anything to make him angry, but please do something before he shoves me into his car.”

“He’s not taking you anywhere,” Vinnie assured him.

Race was grateful to have Vinnie and Ari in his corner. He wasn’t sure what he would have done had they not decided to care for and protect him. More than likely Race would have been forced back into the situation with Terrence. Vinnie and Ari had no idea how thankful Race was for their kindness.

With a deep breath, Race pulled away, driving slowly down the road before turning into the lot of the warehouse. He slowed when the abandoned building came into sight, fear clogging his throat.

Talking crap on the phone was one thing. Terrence hadn’t been there to knock him around. Now Race was about to face the man and to say he was terrified was an understatement. He was so nervous that the car jerked slightly as he drove. His hands wouldn’t stop shaking. Hell, his entire body was shaking.

“You have to be brave,” Race whispered to himself. “You have to do this for Aldrin.”

And for anyone else Terrence had harmed or killed. The man needed to be stopped, and Race was going to try his best to put Terrence away for life.

Race pulled the car to a stop and just sat there. In front of him was a black BMW. Through the glass he could see Terrence in the driver’s seat and in the back was Aldrin. He knew Terrence’s goons had to be around somewhere. The man never went anywhere without them.

Terrence got out and circled around the car. He pulled the back door open, allowing Aldrin to slip out. Race was surprised that Terrence had come. The man used his goons for everything else.

With a tight swallow, Race exited the truck. He left the driver’s door open as he moved to stand by the hood. His throat thick with fear, Race wanted to grab at his collar and pull it away from his skin, but he didn’t want to bring attention to the Kevlar vest hidden under his shirt.

Agent Ryan had insisted.

“So, my property returns.” Terrence smirked, but Race saw the anger in the man’s eyes. He was going to pay dearly for all of this. Race just hoped he was saved before things went south, because if Terrence got his hands on him, Race might not survive.

“Are you ready to make the exchange?” It was on the tip of Race’s tongue to tell the man that he wasn’t Terrence’s property, but the agent had warned him not to rile the man.

“So quick to return to me?” Terrence glanced around, as if he knew that Race hadn’t come alone. The man hadn’t become a wealthy, shrewd businessman by being dumb. Race’s eyes widened slightly when Terrence pulled a handgun from inside his suit jacket.

“Let’s make this go smoothly,” Terrence said. He shoved at Aldrin’s shoulder. “Get moving.” Terrence then looked toward Race. “You get moving as well.”

Race started taking small steps toward Terrence, praying that Vinnie and Ari rescued him before he reached the man. He was pretty sure he wouldn’t survive the hell promised in Terrence’s eyes. The man was so pissed, Race was surprised he didn’t see steam coming out of his ears.

Race swallowed hard as he got within reach of Aldrin. This was it. It was now or never. Race grabbed Aldrin’s hand and pulled. He started running back the way he had come. He squeaked when he heard a bullet slam into the truck hood just as he reached it. Oh man, Dorian was going to be pissed. He loved that truck.

“Racine!” Terrence shouted when there was a loll in the firing. “Get your ass out here before I really get angry.”

“Not a fucking chance in hell!” Race shouted back.

When another bullet slammed into the truck, shattering the front window. Race ducked down behind the truck, pulling Aldrin down with him. He was too scared to glance back and see if it was Terrence shooting at him, although he was pretty sure it was.

He knew he should probably get inside the truck and just drive away, but for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out what he had done with the keys. With bullets slamming into the truck and the ground near him, he didn’t think driving the vehicle was going to happen anyway.

Race just crouched down and covered his head. He could feel Aldrin shaking as the man crouched next to him, pressing into his side. “I am so sorry about this, Aldrin,” Race said just loud enough for Aldrin to hear him. “I never meant for you to be dragged into this mess.”

“And I thought my life was exciting.” Aldrin’s eyes were huge on his pale face. “I got nothing on you, man.”

Race shrugged. What could he say to that?

“Drop the weapon, Flannery.”

Race blinked for a moment before scooting over to peek around the edge of the truck. Agent Ryan was walking out of the trees, the gun in his hand aimed directly at Terrence. Race shook his head. The idiot was going to get himself killed.

“Damn it,” Race bit out when Terrence turned and fired, hitting Ryan in the shoulder. He saw Ryan start to go down, but recover. The agent slapped his hand over his bleeding shoulder and ran behind a stack of wooden crates.

“Get out here, Racine,” Terrence shouted again. “I’ll kill your little friend if you don’t show your face.”

Race didn’t know if Terrence was talking about Ryan or Aldrin, but he wasn’t taking any chances. Gathering up his waning courage, Race started to get up. Before he could fully stand, Vinnie came running out of the woods, shooting at Terrence. Race’s jaw dropped. He wasn’t even aware that Vinnie had a gun, or knew how to shoot one.

They really needed to talk.

“We need to get out of here,” Aldrin said as he tugged on Race’s shirt. “Quick, while he’s distracted.”

“I can’t,” Race said as he stared down at the man for a moment before looking back toward where the shooting had been going on. “I have to—where’d he go?”

“Who?” Aldrin asked.

“Vinnie.”

“Who’s Vinnie?”

Bullets were flying, blood was being spilled, and the likelihood of them getting out of there alive was pretty dismal. Still, Race couldn’t help but smile when he thought of Vinnie and Ari.

“One of my lovers.”