Glenn-Stormy-Love-&-Spaghetti-on-Aisle-Eight (14 page)

call.” Frank glanced up when Nick tapped the desk. Nick nodded.

Frank grinned. The trace had been successful. “Thanks again,

Gideon.”

“Anytime, De Luca.”

He should have known something was wrong from the beginning.

Gideon had referred to him as Frank from the very beginning, not his

surname.

Frank continued to hold the phone to his ear until he heard a dial

tone before replacing it in the cradle. “Well?”

“We traced the call to a warehouse on the lower east side. SWAT

is gearing up as we speak.”

“We got you, you sick on of a bitch.” Frank felt practically giddy

as he yanked open the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out his

police-issue bulletproof vest. After strapping it on, he grabbed a

couple of extra ammo magazines for his pistol and tucked them into

his back pocket.

“Ready?” Nick asked.

Frank nodded. “Let’s do this.”

Nick must have rallied the troops before they left the precinct

house because several other officers were waiting with the SWAT

team at the rally point two blocks from the warehouse. Frank was

surprised to see one of them was his older brother Vinnie. He nodded

toward the guy then continued to the front hood on one of the

vehicles.

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He gave the SWAT commander a quick rundown of what was

going on, what they were up against, and a general description—not

physical—of the man they were looking for. It was hard to pinpoint a

subject when they didn’t even know if it was a man or a woman.

While he was pretty sure it was a man, there were devices out there

that could deceive anyone. The main thing he knew was that the perp

was insane.

As people began getting ready to deploy and enter the warehouse,

Vinnie motioned for Frank to step to the side. Frank grimaced

because he knew he was about to get the third degree. Vinnie was a

big brother, after all.

“Talk to me, Frankie,” Vinnie said. “Ma says you haven’t called

in a week and you never made it home for Sunday dinner. What’s

going on?”

Frank could lie and tell his brother the truth later, or he could just

tell him the truth now and get the lecture over with. “This isn’t for

Ma’s ears, got it? Not yet at least.”

Vinnie frowned but nodded.

“The shooter is after a man named Seth O’Connal. He’s doing

everything within his power to kill Seth.”

“Okay.” Vinnie seemed confused.

“If I have anything to say about it, Seth will be joining our

family.”

Vinnie just stared.

“As your brother-in-law.”

“Damn.” Vinnie started to grin. “When do I get to meet this

man?”

Pain throbbed through Frank’s chest. “Just as soon as I find him.”

“You don’t know where he is?”

Frank shook his head. “Up until an hour ago, I thought Seth was

avoiding my phone calls. Now, I’m not so sure.”

“What happened an hour ago?”

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99

“I called Seth’s friend, Gideon Wulfe. I was hoping that Gideon

would know where Seth was or could at least take a message for me

to give to Seth. The only problem was that the person that answered

Gideon’s private line was not Gideon.”

Vinnie froze, getting the strangest look Frank had ever seen on his

face. He almost looked constipated. “Gideon Wulfe?” Vinnie asked.

Frank nodded.

“The billionaire Gideon Wulfe?” Vinnie asked the question like it

was important they were talking about the same man.

“Yes.” Frank nodded again. “Gideon Wulfe the billionaire,

married to Micah, the son of former Senator Michael Adin, who

caused that huge scandal a couple of years back.”

“Shit!”

“Vinnie!” Frank shouted when his brother spun around and ran

toward the command post. He tore after his brother, wondering what

in the hell was going on. Shock made his knees weaken when Vinnie

put on a headset and demanded that the mission be canceled and all

men be called back to the command center. “What in the hell are you

doing, Vinnie?”

“If you are after who I think you are, then you have bigger

problems than you think.”

It was early summer and the temperature outside had to be in the

low eighties and yet, Frank felt a chill surround him that made him

shiver. “What do you know?”

“Stefan and I have been investigating the theft of some blasting

caps and dynamite from a construction company. According to the

lab, the stuff that went missing matches the ones on the bomb that

blew up that house over on Hyde Street.”

Frank frowned. “Since when do you investigate robberies?”

“Since two night watchmen were killed when the blasting caps

and dynamite were stolen.” Vinnie’s upper lip curled back, a

disgusted grunt coming out of his mouth. “They were shot in the back

of the head, execution style.”

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Frank was confused. “What does this have to do with Gideon?”

“The house that blew up on Hyde Street belonged to him.”

“I know that, but it was Seth who lived there. Gideon and Micah

live on an estate in the West Hills.”

Vinnie’s eyes narrowed. “The same estate where you almost got

your damn fool head shot off a few days ago?”

Frank flushed.

A smirk appeared on Vinnie’s face. “You didn’t think I knew

about that, did you?”

Frank winced. “Does Ma know?”

“No, Pop has kept it from her so far, but she’s bound to find out

about it sooner or later.”

“Damn.”

Vinnie lifted a hand, resting it on Frank’s shoulder. “My point

here, Frank, is that I think we’re looking for the same man.

Unfortunately, he stole enough stuff to make several bombs, and if he

gets wind that we’re headed into raid the warehouse, he might try and

take a few of us down with him. We need to send someone in first,

check things out.”

“Send me in,” Frank volunteered.

“Hell no!”

Frank jerked his shoulder away from Vinnie’s grasp. “I know you

don’t want me in danger, Vinnie, but I’m a detective.”

“This is different,” Vinnie argued.

“No, it’s not. I’m positive that this sick freak is after Seth and fuck

if I’m letting anything happen to him. If anyone is going to take a

chance, it’s me.”

“Frank—”

“Vinnie, this is something I have to do. Please.”

Vinnie’s wide shoulders slumped. “If anything happens to you,

Ma and Pop are going to have my ass in a sling.”

“I’ll be extra careful.” Frank smirked as he looked at his brother’s

impressive physique. “You wouldn’t look good in a sling.”

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101

“That’s not what I’ve been told.”

Frank deadpanned. “What?”

“What…what?” Vinnie shot Frank a perfectly innocent look, one

that Frank wasn’t buying. He just didn’t want to know what his

brother actually meant. There were some things brothers didn’t need

to share.

“What do you have so far on this guy?” Frank asked as he made

sure he was ready to head into the warehouse.

“I know he’s crazy, Frank,” Vinnie replied. “Don’t underestimate

him. If you see anything out of place, hightail it out of there. We can

always get SWAT to send in a robot.”

“No, I need to do this, Vinnie. I need to make sure he’s put away.

I need to see it with my own eyes so I can tell Seth he’s safe.”

“You must really like this guy.”

Frank nodded. “Seth is…” Was there really away to describe

Seth? “He’s special, Vinnie.”

“How special?”

Frank’s lips curved up as he thought about the man that was

slowly stealing his heart. “Special enough that I’m going to beg him

to keep me, even if I have to go down on my knees.”

Vinnie whistled. “That is special.”

“I only have one problem.”

“What?”

Frank grimaced as he looked his older brother right in the eye,

trying to keep his fear locked behind his teeth. “I have no idea where

Seth is.”

Frank’s stomach began to roll when Vinnie glanced down the

street toward the warehouse he was about to raid.

“Do you think…?”

“Anything is possible,” Frank replied even though he didn’t want

to consider the possibility that this idiot had Seth. “Nick!”

“Yeah?” Nick came running over.

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“I need you to drive over to the Wulfe estate, talk to Gideon,

explain to him that we think his cell phone has either been stolen or

cloned, and then ask him about Seth. I want to know when the last

time Gideon has seen him.”

“On it.” Nick started to turn away.

“Nick,” Frank called out again. “Stay frosty. This jackass knows

more about us than he should. He knows how we operate, how

we…holy fucking shit!” Frank shoved his hand through his short hair

as he began pacing, putting together the pieces of a puzzle he should

have seen right from the beginning.

“What?” Nick and Vinnie asked at the same time.

“We’ve been looking at the wrong guy this entire time. This isn’t

Senator Adin.” Frank’s stomach clenched like he had been punched in

the gut. “This lunatic is a cop.”

“A cop?” Vinnie shouted.

“Sirus Brown,” Frank said. “It has to be.”

“Frankie,” Vinnie said as he rested a hand on Frank’s shoulder, “I

worked with Sirus when he was part of the force and he’s just not

smart enough to pull off something like this. The man is a moron.”

No sooner had the words left Vinnie’s mouth when he suddenly

grunted and looked down. Frank heard the shot a second after he

watched a blotch of crimson red blossom across Vinnie’s chest.

“Take cover!” Frank shouted as he grabbed his brother and pulled

him around the side of one of the vehicles. He gently lowered Vinnie

down to the pavement and pressed his hand over the wound in his

brother’s chest. “Cop down!” he shouted. “Someone call the

paramedics.”

“Frank,” Nick said as he held out a cloth. Frank quickly took it

and pressed it over the wound. “Paramedics won’t come into a hot

zone. We have to get Vinnie out of here.”

Frank glanced around. They couldn’t carry Vinnie out of here. It

would put them out in the open. “Who has the keys to this car?” he

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103

called out. A moment later, a set of keys landed on the ground next to

him. “Nick, open the back door so I can—”

Frank crouched down over his brother when bullets rained down

on top of them. Once they stopped, Frank glanced up, and then

cursed. The tires on the vehicle they were hiding behind had been shot

out. There were also several bullet holes in the hood of the car, steam

billowing out.

Frank growled as he grabbed the police-issue communication

device in his ear and then his brother’s ear, tossing both as far as he

could. Nick arched an eyebrow at him but did the same.

“So, why did I just do that?” Nick asked.

“He’s listening to us, monitoring our communication devices.”

Frank ground his teeth together, more angry than he could ever

remember being. “He knows everything we are doing, maybe even

before we do it. He knows police procedure like the back of his hand.

He can anticipate each move we make.”

“Then I have the perfect solution.” Nick had an evil grin on his

face as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number. “Ivan, I need

your help.”

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Stormy Glenn

Seth yanked at the duct tape keeping his arms pinned to the arms

of the chair he was sitting in. His arms and legs were all taped to the

chair. Besides needing to scratch an itch on the tip of his nose so

badly that he was about to go crazy, he couldn’t escape.

He had tried.

The damn chair was nailed to the floor. If he didn’t get to scratch

his nose pretty damn quickly, he was going to scream. He would work

on escaping right after that. Maybe if he was lucky, he would even

find his cell phone. He hadn’t seen it since he woke up.

Seth still couldn’t believe the monster that had been trying to kill

him had gotten through Ivan’s iron clad security. The guy had

definitely done his research. He had known Seth wouldn’t be able to

keep away from Ruthie, especially when Ruthie and Lisa were in

danger. All the bastard had to do was wait.

Seth had walked right into the trap the man had set.

Seth felt faint when he looked down and saw the vest wrapped

around his chest. While he looked pretty good in red, he did not look

good in explosives. And the vest he was wearing was layered in the

lethal little sticks.