The Law of Motion (Law Series) (72 page)

"Negative," he answered. "Not him."

"Ten-four," Dario replied and I exhaled listening a little more attentively.

Kristen exhaled putting her empty glass on the tray as Jeff passed us again. Thank goodness, schmooze fest is done. You just covered the last group; we can actually enjoy this shindig now.”

Doc let Juan continue on with Cedrick and Joanne with Makenna, Dario staying at their side as my girls made their way over to us. “We heard the all is quiet on the western front, so we’re hitting the
actual
bar now.”

“Finally,” I exhaled in relief walking with the girls over to the open bar set up solely for entertainment tonight. “I think that I’m starting to get a stick up my ass by association.”

“Girls…” Pop Harris started to interject.

Joanne’s voice interrupted a touch of humor in her demand. “Oh Liam let the girls have their fun. You have Roslyn and the guys on security, Clarissa and I have the boys, and they know how to behave themselves. She needs to blend, do you see anyone else drinking only champagne?”

I looked around picking up her observations, everyone was a bit more relaxed now that most of the upper level execs had cut their checks and left. We had raised just over two million dollars and that was before Neil Industries matched, bringing the amount to just over four point five million. I took my rum and coke, and sipped with pride knowing that I earned every bit of this drink.

I talked with my girls, and a few of the employees that I didn’t bump into yet before heading over to play with Juan and Cedrick in the game booths which was kind of hard to enjoy in a floor length dress. It had been Joanne’s idea to not only have a party for my benefactors but a welcoming for everyone in the neighborhood as well
, in and around the rec center. It gave them a chance to look around at what the place now had to offer.

“Is anyone else dancing in their pants?” Clarissa asked after her second soda.

Kristen nodded. “Yes, I’ve been holding it for almost ten minutes, hoping those lines would go down.”

“Seems like we’re just going to have to wait in them,” I shrugged feeling like the only sane person for not holding my bladder. “I’ll leave the boys with the one of our ‘security guards’.”

I walked them over to Adrian, who had his back to me scanning over his section of the events still in full swing. He froze when I got about ten yards away from him, turning around almost like he could feel me, though there were about a dozen people traveling in between us in different directions.

“You know you shouldn’t stand so close to me, people will start to think you have a thing for your employee’s.” He teased giving me a smirk that made my neck turn hot.

I shrugged off his comment with a simple, “I’m the boss, besides it wouldn’t be anything that they aren’t already used to.”

He raised an eyebrow at me, looking me over, luckily Juan and Cedrick were too busy
sneaking
into their prize bags for a third time to pull out another candy bar. “Ah, so where is this
rendezvous
taking place?”

“Don’t get me started.” I growled a seductive threat getting back to the point. "What I was coming over here to ask was... Would you watch these two for a minute? The girls and I need the restroom."

He chuckled, “Yeah, I’m sure it’s going to take a good ten minutes to slide out of that dress before you can even go, so you better hurry.”

"Not funny, baby," I almost whined, rolling my eyes. The dress wasn’t tight enough to hinder movement, but I would definitely have to step out of it to go. "It's not exactly a party going on in here," I said, gesturing at my body.

"Mmm, but it 
could be
," he crooned in her ear, looking around before sneaking a peck on my cheek.

"Don't tease, Adrian, not here."  I warned.

"Fine, and yes, I've got them. But where?” He asked, looking around for where the bathrooms could possibly be. Worried as always.

"It’s right inside the rec center,” I answered dryly pointing in the direction. "Everyone is armed, except for Clarissa and I, so don't worry."

"I'll always worry," He muttered, jerking his chin at Macon, who could hear the conversation just fine, so he knew to keep watch.

I waved my hands up in surrender, “Bye.”

I walked back towards the group of women waiting on me as I heard Dario in my ear.

"Everyone, check in, please, J?"  He asked, looking for Jackson.

"We're good. Just had to walk out a guy harassing a bunch of girls," he sighed, “Making my way back to the entrance.”

"Cameron? What's going on out there?" Adrian asked, because he was parked down one of the old streets.

"Lots of activity from Hunt's boys.” He reported.

"Keep me posted, Cam, okay?" He asked, it didn’t take long for his focus to come back to me. He didn’t like me out of his sight. "Alyssa? Kristen?"

"We're in the rec center now, Adrian," Tink piped in over the earpiece. "Kristen may kill someone, 'cause the line is a mile long."

"Hang in there, baby," Macon chuckled, trying to keep water on a short fuse.

"I'm trying," she laughed, rolling her eyes though I could tell she was anxious. “Note to Alyssa. They need bigger bathrooms. Three stalls aren't enough," she growled dramatically.

"I'll get right on that," I said with a smile.

By the time we got in viewing distance of the door God, I had to pee so damn bad. I was practically dancing in front of the door. The girls laughed at me, but they had no room to talk. "Shut it," I snapped, smirking at Kristen’s laughter. “I didn’t pick on you when you had the micro bladder.”

Kristen rolled her eyes, “I was
pregnant
.”

"It's really not fair when they tap dance on your bladder like that," Clarissa groaned in sympathy. "Cedrick drove me crazy," she stated with a laugh, shaking her head.

"Makenna waited until the worse possible moment to shift around," Kristen said with a grin. "I swear, it was like she'd bide her time until I was nowhere 
near
 a damn bathroom."

We all chuckled, but my head snapped up when the door opened. I heard the girls' laughter as I bolted in, finding the first empty stall. My eyes practically rolled back with the relief that came. As I fixed my clothes, I heard the water run, a gasp, and then the door open and shut quickly. But it was the sound of the lock that brought my mind and nerves to complete attention.

Before I could come up with a plan, my stall door was kicked open, and an old, rusty revolver was immediately pressed to my forehead. Zoe had never looked so ragged as she did standing in front of me. She looked totally on edge, completely wasted, and utterly insane. Her eyes were wild as she took in my entire being, shaking her head slowly.

"Well, well, well... Look who's the bell of the ball," she slurred, sneering at me, her accent thicker than ever.

"Zoe," I started.

I could barely hear her tell me to shut up due to all the activity that exploded inside my earpiece, but be damned if I was taking it off.

Zoe put a finger to her lips, pointing toward a storage closet at the end of the room. Glancing inside, I saw how she'd gotten into the bathroom—the ceiling. One rectangular tile had been shoved aside, and she'd used the shelves to climb down. She must've been waiting for me all night.

Jerking the gun toward the ceiling, Zoe motioned for me to climb up. My hands clenched at my sides, itching to just turn the gun she had on me, but I knew she'd flip the fuck out. I couldn’t afford to have a shootout with over a hundred men, women and children in attendance, so I did nothing, hearing my Adrian's voice call for Macon, hearing Cam order the festival shut down, and fighting with all that I had not to say anything to the people speaking to me.

"Fuck, Alyssa... If you can hear me, I need to know what's up, Honeyface," he sang, and I could tell he was trying to remain calm, but his close proximity made me want to call out to him.

Zoe poked the muzzle of her gun to the back of my head, and I kicked off my shoes, climbing up the shelves quickly, wanting to give myself space and time, but she was right on my heels, the only thing I could do was give them a trail. If she saw my ear piece, she didn't make mention of it. To be honest, she looked too tweaked out to be able to be that observant.

"I'll tear this fucking door off the fucking hinges. I swear I will. But I need to know..." Adrian warned softly in my ear, and I could just imagine his fierce gaze narrowed in on the bathroom door.

I had to wait; I had to make sure that Zoe didn't hear me, but that he followed. The problem was now that Zoe shut the closet door behind her.

Once we were both crawling along the ceiling, I finally gave him something. "Go." It was barely a whisper, but he heard me, and I could faintly hear the door shatter down below.

"What did you say?" Zoe asked in a harsh whisper, gripping my hair.

"I said... Where are we going?" I snapped back, my lip curling in hatred as I glared at her over my shoulder.

"To that ladder, and then climb down. We’re going to see Terry," she stated, jerking her chin toward the far wall in front of me. "Go, bitch, or I'll kill you up here and leave your body to rot like a dead rat."

I snorted, rolling my eyes at her dramatics, but I continued to crawl across the ceiling. I made my way to where the ceiling stopped, looking down to where there was an empty space between the walls, all the way down into darkness. There was a perfect view out a dusty window down to the festival below. She 
had
 been watching all night.

"Go," she growled, poking my head again with her gun.

One quick glance at it, and I saw that it was completely loaded, but so damn old that it looked like it would barely fire.

"You won’t shoot me with that thing. Where the fuck did you get that gun, the bottom of the sewer?" I asked her, unable to refrain from picking on her. That had been my problem with her from the very beginning, from the first time I'd met her.

"Climb, bitch," she snapped, looking over her shoulder.

It seemed to take forever to climb down to solid ground. As soon as my feet hit the bottom, I glanced around to see that we were in some sort of tunnel. I shook my head, because I was pretty sure no one knew about this shit.

"Speaking of rats," I muttered, looking down the barrel of that gun again. "You sure do know your way around like one. Live in the sewer, too?"

That earned me a blow to the head with the butt of that gun, and I grunted with the dull throb it left me with, but I met her gaze again.

"Walk," she ordered, gesturing behind me.

I stood my ground for a brief second, “Touch me again and you better be prepared to use that thing.”

She grinned her pupils so dilated that there was more black in her eyes than anything. “Walk.” She demanded again waving her gun haphazardly, the safety off. Maybe I’d be lucky and she’d shoot herself.

"Damn it, Alyssa," Adrian hissed over the headset. "Do not egg her on, baby. We're right behind you. Okay?"

"Okay," I said, answering them both and giving the ladder I'd just climbed down a longing glance upwards.

"But if you get that one small chance, Honeyface, you take it," he ordered in my ear. "Fucking tear her apart. Got me?"

I grinned ahead of me, where Zoe couldn't see. Adrian's worry was there, laced in his tone, but his command, his faith in me boosted me just a little. As we walked, I listened to my crew and the outside security people speak over the radio.

"Ross, keep an eye on that rec center."

"On it, Bro," she replied back.

The boys cheered, and I spun to see that they'd both won, though I was pretty sure that my dad had helped them. From the look on the attendant's face, I was most likely right.

"Good job buddies" I laughed, picking up Juan and the teddy bear as he beamed at me, he was having the time of his life.

"Let’s go again Unca Adwien!" he commanded.

I laughed, putting him back down, looking at the loot bags my dad was holding for both of them. "No, that's enough toys for you, save some prizes for the other kids" I suggested playfully.

I took their hands in mine not wanting to lose them in the crowd. I looked to the rec center, and Ross wasn't on post. I glanced around to see Jackson back in front of the rides, and Joanne, who was holding Makenna, talking to Mr. Daniels, but not the girls.

Just as I was about to ask for Ross to check in, she popped around the corner with what looked like one of Hunt's boys talking to him animatedly. Suddenly, Cameron's voice sounded over the radio.

"Christ," he snapped. "Adrian, we have a problem! One of Hunt’s men was found dead in an alley. From what they can tell me, he's been dead about an hour. That was the last time they heard from him."

"Copy," I snapped, turning to Dad. "They'll come in if it's them..."

My sentence was cut off when I heard something that gave me chills.

"Well, well, well... Look who's the bell of the ball..."