Redemption (The Protectors 8)

I hung my head and shook my head.

“I also remember you trying to stop Jed more than once.”

“It wasn’t enough,” I murmured.

“It was,” I heard Ronan say. “Seth’s still here. He survived that night because of you. If you hadn’t made that call…”

Disbelief tore through me at the way the man’s voice cracked. Seth reached out to link their fingers together. Their eyes connected, but even without words, I knew what they were saying.

This was wrong. It had to be.

“You deserve justice,” I whispered. “Your parents deserve it.”

“We got it, Levi,” Seth said softly as his damp eyes met mine. He smiled slightly as he continued. “And if my parents were here right now, my mom would be hugging you and my dad would be patting you on the back and inviting you over for dinner. Because that’s what kind of people they were. You saved my life, Levi. And you saved my daughter’s life. If I didn’t think it would freak you out, I’d hug you myself.”

I wanted to cry. Both because none of this made any sense to me and because deep down, I’d wanted him to forgive me. It wasn’t something I’d ever admitted to myself though, because I didn’t believe in wishing for the impossible.

“Levi?”

The sound of Father O’s voice got my attention and I saw him standing in the doorway leading to the soup kitchen. His eyes scanned the room. Neither Phoenix nor Ronan had put their guns away. I didn’t even know where to start with explaining to him what was happening. I was about to try when my eyes fell on what he was holding in his hand.

I moved past Phoenix and hurried to him.

“Is that…is that Henry’s toy?” I asked as I took in the sight of Henry’s stuffed caterpillar. I finally noticed how pale Father O looked.

“I…I just got back from the hospice. This” – he held the toy up – “was taped to the soup kitchen door. There was…there was a note attached to it.”

He held up a small, folded piece of paper. I met his eyes and knew by the panicked look in them that he’d read it. I took it from him and forced myself to open it, though in my gut I knew what it was.

The game’s changed.

Call me or you’ll never see the brat again.

206-555-2100

“No,” I whispered to no one in particular. But this time when my knees gave out, Phoenix wasn’t there to catch me.

Chapter 24

Phoenix

I reached Levi seconds after he crumpled and fell to his knees. I’d already noticed the toy in Father O’s hand, but I hadn’t understood its importance until I’d seen Levi read the piece of paper Father O had handed him. I took the crumpled note from Levi’s fingers and scanned it.

“Ronan!” I called as my heart threatened to punch through my chest.

I felt Ronan take the note from my hand. I got Levi upright and then led him to the first pew and sat him down.

“Father, when was the last time you used the door this was taped to?” I heard Ronan ask.

“When I left…a couple of hours ago.”

“Levi, look at me,” I whispered. His skin was cold and I was worried he was going to have one of his episodes. Luckily, his eyes focused on mine. “We’ll get him back.”

“He’s just a baby,” Levi murmured. “T wouldn’t hurt a baby, would he?” he asked. But I knew he was asking me because he wanted me to lie to him.

Because he already knew enough about T to know the man likely wouldn’t have any issue with hurting a child to get what he wanted.

“He needs him alive to get what he wants,” I hedged. I looked up to see Ronan, Seth and Memphis surrounding us. “Memphis, can you go to Levi’s apartment and see if you can find Henry’s mother? Apartment 220.”

“Seth, I need you to go with Memphis, okay?” Ronan said. His eyes shifted to Memphis. “Call Reese for backup.”

Memphis nodded. Ronan gave Seth a quick kiss and then the pair were leaving the church.

“Levi, do you have your phone with you?” I asked.

He nodded. He was still clearly in a state of shock because his moves seemed sluggish. I listened as Ronan called Daisy and told her to prepare a trace.

“Baby, I need you to listen to me, okay?” I said. “I need your help to get Henry back.”

My words seemed to snap Levi out of it and he quickly nodded. “Yes, okay.”

“The good news is that T has no idea about us or what we’re capable of. Ronan is going to have T’s phone traced. But we can also hack the phone to see who he’s called. So even if he doesn’t have Henry with him, we’ll have a good chance of finding where he stashed him.”