Chapter Thirty-Eight
Adam
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I shouted, storming over to the table with the tools and sliding my arm across the surface in rage, sending them all clattering to the floor. “Four of you. Four fucking soldiers, and not one of you found out he had a twin brother when you did your research?”
I picked up the baseball bat from the floor and started to smash it against the table, the wall, anything I could to try and stem the rage coursing through me.
“The one time… the one fucking time that I don’t do the recon and this fucking happens. Do I have to do everything for this fucking crew? Are you all so totally fucking useless you can’t even be bothered to do a proper background check?”
The others stood there as I lost my shit, not moving an inch or saying a thing.
“What else did you miss, huh? Do we have an army of fucking rapists about to burst in and take us all out for what we’ve just done?” I bellowed, holding my arms out furiously, gesturing to the doors.
“We knew he had brothers, three of them,” Devon piped up, but I didn’t want to hear it.
Too little, too late.
“This is the last fucking time I ever leave the details to any of you.” I was so infuriated I couldn’t keep still. I tried to think what my next move would be, pacing up and down as I swung the bat, but all I could see was the red mist of my fury circling around me.
“To be fair, we did our best,” Colton dared to chip in. “You have been preoccupied lately with your girlfriend.”
He’d just stepped over the line, daring to challenge me, and I threw the baseball bat down in anger and stalked over to him, ready to knock him the fuck out.
“You leave her out of this,” I snarled in his face as Will and Tyler stood in front of him, trying to diffuse the situation.
“I’m not saying it’s her fault, or yours.” Colton shrugged and looked around the group. “It’s not any of our faults. It’s a mistake. Mistakes happen. And let’s be honest here, he was the twin brother of a sex trafficking rapist, so chances are, he was a client in waiting. I’d bet all the money in the world he needed our justice too. So we got ahead of ourselves. Took out a future game player. The way I see it, we’ve killed two birds with one stone today.”
“But we haven’t, have we?” Devon answered. “Killed two, that is. Do we even know where Karl Cheslin is right now?”
I ran my hands over my face and tried to think up a plan. Chances were they’d left the pub and were looking for us. Would they head to the asylum? Try to ambush us there? And why the fuck hadn’t Gaz noticed there were two fucking identical twins standing at the bar? I knew he wasn’t quite soldier material, but surely, he would’ve noticed something as glaringly obvious as that?
To say my head was gone was a fucking understatement. The voices, those demons in my head, they’d really taken over now. My kill switch was broken, stuck in psycho mode, and that wasn’t changing anytime soon.
“You need to check your phone,” Tyler suddenly announced quietly, the caution in his voice cutting through the tense atmosphere in the warehouse. I almost ignored him, too focused on how we’d get to Cheslin–the right Cheslin–before anyone else found out what we’d done.
“Wipe that fucking video,” I stated, pointing at the equipment. “No one sees that, do you hear me? No one.”
Then, I took my phone out and grimaced as I unlocked the screen and found a text from Olivia.
Olivia: Fantasy time. (See, I used a code word). I’m just about to jump into the shower, but I think I might have left my back door unlocked. I really hope someone doesn’t break in and then creep up my stairs, sneak into my bathroom and fuck me senseless against the tiles. Or even worse, over the sink so he can watch my face in the mirror as he makes me come.
A message like that would’ve usually sent me running over to her, but I closed it down. I couldn’t focus on anything but this job. I had to tuck Olivia up into a box in my head and keep her there for when all of this was over.
“I’ve got nothing on my phone.” I looked up to see the rest of them checking theirs and then glancing up at me, staring like I’d grown two fucking heads.
“Check our emails,” Devon said, and I did.
What I saw tore my heart out and made the rage that’d been bubbling from within burst free like fucking Krakatoa.
There, in our inbox, was a message.
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Message: Surprise, Mother Fuckers!
You know, for a crew who claims to be ruthless and unstoppable, you really are fucking shit at this.
Did you think I’d let you fuck about with me and not do my homework?
Do you think I haven’t spent every moment inside prison gathering information on you too? Waiting for the day I could use what I know?
I’ve always been one step ahead of you. Always.
So, I guess by now, you realise it’s not me that you’ve taken. I’m also guessing you’ve fucked my brother up pretty badly.
I knew you were following us even before we got to the pub. I saw you parked up in your shitty van down the road. So, I played a game of my own. I switched places in the car with my brother, Paul. He took my shirt, I took his. And when we got to The Red Lion, Paul, and our mate, Mark, got out. I didn’t. I waited, hiding in the back seat until you drove around to the back of the pub, and then I left, driving Mark’s car to the real destination for my welcome home party.
You see, I’m a big believer in that old saying, ‘An eye for an eye.’ And just look at what I’ve picked up to achieve that.
Good luck finding us.
I’ll be seeing you, soldiers.
Ches.
Underneath the message was a photo of Cheslin, and he was holding my Olivia against him, his hand over her mouth as he took a fucking selfie and smiled. The defiance in her eyes damn near broke me. She was going to fight him with everything she had, and bastards like him fucking fed off that shit, it was their kryptonite.
I had to get to her. I had to stop whatever was about to happen. This was my fault. I didn’t do the recon, I fucked up, and now Olivia was going to pay the fucking price.
“I’m so sorry, man. We’ll get him. Have you still got that tracker on Liv’s phone?” Tyler asked.
My head was swimming, my brain scrambled, as every instinct pushed me to get out of there. But I took a breath and opened up the app to see that red dot flashing, telling me she was still at home.
“I’ll check her CCTV,” Colton added, and my heart sank as he shook his head and looked back up at me. “It’s out. The fucker must’ve cut the wires.”
I didn’t even stop to think, I just grabbed the keys to the van from the table and darted across the room to unlock the door.
“Hey, hold up, we’ll come with you,” Colton shouted after me.
“No fucking time. Ring Gaz. Get this fucking mess sorted. Can I at least trust you to do that?” I shouted back.
“Soldiers don’t act alone. We work together, wait up,” Tyler added, and I could hear them following me, but I was too fast. I climbed into the van, started the engine and sped off, just as one of them reached it and started banging on the side for me to stop. I never would though. I had to get to her, no matter what. This was my problem, my fault, and I had to end this.