I Beleive Now (12 page)

Oh yes, Jackson intended to be greedy about all of this. He was going to give the kid to Kyo, but he truly did not care if Asher lived or died at this point. The one thing Jackson
did
care about was being there and watching as the great and powerful Max Tyler died. He wanted to finally see the man completely, absolutely and positively, ding-dong-dead.

Now, he just needed to wait for that hour. He couldn't help but smile.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Today's technology made it very easy to not only track people and their movements but to actually hunt them down as well. People tended to live out their lives online with venues like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, not to mention what other information was available electronically. With cell phones and texts and emails, you could easily pull everything you need to know about someone quite literally out of thin air. Even those who think they are stealthy and have protected themselves from this exposure fall victim to the persistence of experts.

Those facts did not diminish Max's men's accomplishment of being able to find the actual next ship date of human cargo set up by the real Kyo. Even with all that technology at their fingertips, the task was still an enormous one, given the time frame. However, throwing a few monkey wrenches into the mix was quite simple and by doing that, Max made it utterly impossible for the yakuza Kyo to meet his deadline; for this Kyo, such failure could be fatal. He did not know Max was behind the monkey wrenches. All he knew was Max stepped up to the plate when he really needed it the most and with the human merchandise—white American children. It fit the bill.

Kyo most likely snickered to himself, too, because the price being asked was definitely the right one in his book. The only thing Max required was his yakuza boss's presence to meet the plane he was sending shortly to check out, in person, the quality of the merchandise Max had to offer. That was it. It was all Max wanted. That, and of course, the illusion that Max intended to do business with them in the future. To Kyo, this was an unbelievable opportunity to not only correct a screw up but to do business with Americans, and the great Max Tyler to boot. It was all too good to be true. And all Kyo had to do after setting it up with his boss was to lay low. Max was going to take care of the rest. Kyo had no problem with that.

Meanwhile, the fake Kyo, Atushi-Kyo, waited for the location where he was to pick up his prize, and Max breathed a sigh of relief. The information on where Asher was being held had, at last, come through. They had finally caught up. Max didn't trust it completely because it did seem too clear, too cleanly received, and on top of that, incredibly, almost, too late. It was highly suspect but they needed to follow through.

The plan for going in was quite simple. It was to be a two-pronged approach. The first part was that Atushi, pretending to be Kyo, was to let the ones holding Max's lover know Max himself was planning on "doing away with his weakest link". They figured he might be allowed to take his prize early. The second half was that Cadum would head to Madden's location at the same time, but separately. Once he got there, he'd wait for Atushi to go in through the front door, to "negotiate" with those holding Asher, while Cadum went in through the back.

Max insisted on accompanying Atushi, convinced at this point it no longer mattered if any of the Red Dragon gang recognized him or not. They headed out.

* * * *

Cadum left too. Aware now of Madden's location, he needed to move fast; to grab him and take him to safety. He didn't feel good about not being at Max's side, but totally understood the charge he was given. He knew Asher was now more important to Max than his own life. To please his boss, this was what he needed to do and he preferred to do it alone. He drove through the night, determined to not let Max down.

* * * *

Atushi and Max arrived about the same time Cadum did. They never saw each other. They knew Cadum was to go around the back of the warehouse where they had been told Asher was being kept, and enter undetected. He and Max boldly walked in the front.

"What…what the hell!" The two guards who had been sitting playing cards and drinking beer jumped to their feet when Atushi and Max entered the room. Even though they had to have been told to expect company, it seemed to take a moment for them to realize they were in trouble. One stood and reached back for a gun, which had been lying on the table, but Max didn't let him get far. A shot rang out and the gun spun off the surface and slammed into the wall just on the other side of the table before it clattered to the floor. The man who had reached for it stood there looking dumbfounded, probably not quite sure what had just happened, but obviously deciding it didn't matter. He turned back, most likely intending to lunge toward Max, but of course ended up facing Max's gun. He chose very wisely not to move.

Atushi stepped forward and said in his Japanese-accented English, "My name is Takahashi Kyo. You have something for me and I came to collect it."

Both of the guards first looked at each other, then back at Atushi. He simply stood watching them while they appeared to be calculating what to do next. Clearly both of them recognized the name but they still seemed very confused. Finally the other guard seemed to figure out one of them needed to talk.

"How…did you know about this place? This isn't the pickup point," he said as he sat back down in his chair, effectively making himself less of a threat. Atushi admired the move. He knew, as did Max, it put the man closer to his gun, which was also lying on the table.

Max spoke. "I won't be aiming for the gun this time. If you don't want to die, pick it up by the barrel, put it on the floor, and slide it over to me."

* * * *

The sitting man held still—not necessarily in defiance—just in surprise. He had not actually thought about going for the gun. Sitting was not an advantageous position to be in to be able to do such a thing. But the man in front of him, more than likely Max Tyler, obviously thought it was possible. He had not seen any pictures of the man but the description he had received from Lucca fit this guy completely. Not to mention, they were told to expect Max Tyler to do exactly what he was doing.

Since the sitting man could accomplish nothing at the moment, he decided he'd comply. He slowly reached up and did as he had been told to do. Once the gun was on the floor, he kicked it in the intruders' general direction. He really didn't care. He knew the kid was nowhere in the building and marveled just a little over the fact Jackson had it right. The only surprise was that Kyo was here, too,
with
Max. He had to make sure this piece of information made its way to Jackson as soon as possible because it looked like Kyo was set to double-cross them.

The alarm was set to be tripped the moment they walked into the room where they had kept the kid, alerting Jackson they were here. But the only person Jackson had counted on being there was Tyler himself. Of course, it no longer mattered. The only change was that the kid died too, along with Kyo and anyone else who tried to get in the way. But for the moment, he needed to continue this charade.

"Look, I have no problem with you taking the kid from here. I just need to confirm it with either Jackson or Lucca." He was saying this as he reached into his pocket for his cell.

Once again, Tyler spoke. "I don't think that will be necessary." He walked quickly over and slapped the cell out of his hand. Tyler then pressed his gun to the guard's temple. "You see, there is a change in plans, but we're the only ones who know about it. It seems Tyler has moved to take the kid out completely because he's become a liability. Since Kyo here was promised him in good condition, we came to take him. Where is he?"

The sitting guard swallowed hard.
This isn't Max Tyler standing here holding a fucking gun in my face?
Jackson had been so convinced he would show up just like this, he never thought about the possibility it may not really be Tyler. The purposely-leaked information that had given away this location was only leaked to sources close to Max Tyler. He should have been the only one who had it. How was it that Kyo was aware, if he wasn't out to betray them? Something was not right.

But…did it even matter? Because…
shit!
Max was now gunning for the kid? He didn't like this turn of events and knew that, with the force these two were showing, most likely their story was true. At least, it was good enough for him. If it was true—if Max was truly coming with guns blasting—this could turn into a bloody fucking nightmare.

And, honestly, these guys didn't seem any better, so what the fuck was going to happen when they found out the kid was already gone?

Instead of trying to be the good employee with an attempt to get vital information to his boss, he'd instead concentrate on getting out of this building alive.

"Fine…fine. He's back there." He inclined his head to indicate a closed steel door that looked like it went into an office.

* * * *

Max looked at the door and cocked his head slightly. Yes, that had to be the office he had been informed was where Asher was being held.

"Is it locked?"

"No."

Max pulled back his gun then slammed it into the side of the guard's head. Falling out of the chair, he crumpled to the floor. Immediately, Max reached over toward the other guard, who still stood with his mouth wide open, and grabbed his collar. Pulling him hard, Max shoved him into the now-vacated chair in front of him. He pressed the barrel of the gun hard against his temple. "Is. It. Fucking.
Locked
?"

For a moment the guard sat still, eyes wide, breathing heavily. Things weren't going to go well for them when this came out, but at the very least Max knew the guy still wanted to live, even if he might have to run for his life later. "Y-yes…it is…"

"Key!"

He fished a key out of his pocket, fumbling with it, almost dropping it as he tried to hand the small metal object to Max. This time he hit the man even harder. The force of the blow made the guard slam against the table before falling to the floor to lie very, very still.

Both Kyo and Max headed for the steel door.

* * * *

Cadum had taken out four of the Red Dragon gang on his way to this back office he knew to be the one where they were holding Asher Madden. The one thing he didn't know was what shape the young man was likely to be in. Was he still tied up? Drugged? Chained to something unbreakable? Unmovable? Fortunately for Cadum, stuff like that didn't matter. Whatever he faced he'd plow through and make it happen. He was going to get Asher Madden out alive and well. But then he heard voices, voices that were getting louder than he was comfortable with. Afterward, he also heard what sounded like a struggle. If Mr Tyler was going to need him, he needed to move fast. But first he had to make sure Madden was safe. He popped the window open. He was grateful it had not been locked, something Mr Tyler's men would have never overlooked. Of course a locked window wouldn't have been an issue. He'd have simply broken in anyway. But this way was definitely easier, far less noisy and faster. Speed was now extremely necessary. He hoisted himself up and into the room, scanning the space quickly as he did, but Madden was nowhere to be found. Had he been given the wrong information? Cadum looked to the door when he heard a key being inserted, then the door slammed open.

* * * *

Max flew in only to see Cadum standing in the middle of the room alone. "Where is he?"

"He's is not here, sir."

"Then where…?" Max's cell phone came to life. He quickly pulled it out and saw the number on the display. "Jackson!" He almost yelled into the phone.

"Yes, Tyler? Could it be your little pet is not where you thought he would be?"

Max heard laughter and closed his eyes.
Shit!
They'd been tricked. "Well, Jackson, seems you were able to…
misguide
me." Max found it impossible to keep the anger from his voice.

"More than that Tyler, I
fooled
you!" Again, laughter. "I decided your little pet needed indeed to be at the airport with you. But here I am, doing you this grand favor and you are trying to double-cross me." His tone of voice conveyed hurt. Max could almost see his fat bottom lip coming out in an effort to sound sincere. It only lasted a mere fraction of a second though before the voice became angry. "Just like I thought you would."

"
Jackson
!"

"Don't worry, Max. Your little pet is just fine. In fact he's right here. Remember the deal, Tyler! The deal was the information for the kid. Got it?"

"I got it," Max said through clenched teeth already shifting gears in his head, figuring out the new path to go down in order to save them from this mess. "Where is
here,
exactly?"

"Come to Joliet, Tyler. To the Michael Angels Regional Airport. If you don't know of it, it's not a big surprise. Although small, it can handle private cargo jets, which is exactly what now sits on the runway and holds all our precious cargo. Here, I was also able to call in a few favors and get clearance for pretty much any takeoff time I wanted. So you see, Tyler, I am not without power of my own, even after all the shit you put me through." He laughed heartily into the phone. "Come to the south side of the airport once you find it. There are hangars on that side. Be here in forty-five minutes and I'll let you know where we are from there. Forty-five minutes, Tyler." He disconnected.

Max stood for a moment, just holding and looking at his silent phone. "Well, at least we were right about which airport it's going to be. We need be in Joliet at the MAR in forty-five minutes." His voice did not convey all the anger and fear he was feeling at the moment. He even was amazed himself at the control he had. "Let's get going."

They started leaving, were all the way outside, when Kyo's phone rang. He fished it out of his pocket and looked at the number, showing it briefly to Max before answering. "Jackson?"