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“Who are these people, Jake? What do they want?”
“I don’t know what that they want with you. They just told me that they wanted to scare you a bit, that’s all.”
“Okay, but who are they?” Jake coughs, and I hear movement before the sound of swallowing comes down the line.
“He told me his name was Garcia, that’s all I have.” I watch as a look passes between Seb and Rick at the mention of the name Garcia, and Jamie shifts in her seat. “He said he could tell me what happened to my sister.” He sniffs loudly, before breaking out in another hacking cough. He doesn’t sound good.
“I still don—”
“Listen to me, Jess. These men, they’re dangerous.” I hear the beeping of a machine in the background becoming more erratic as Jake talks. “You need to go to my flat. You’ll find a file with—” His words are cut short as the machine skips into a continuous beep. There’s a flurry of noise before the call disconnects.
Rick immediately tries calling Scott back. When there’s no answer, he gets up and paces the floor, redialling continuously.
“Want to tell me who Garcia is?” I ask the room, hoping one of them will give me an answer.
“I wish we fucking knew,” Jamie replies in a snippy tone, just as Rick finally gets through to Scott.
After a couple of minutes of conversation, Rick’s colourful flurry of words, which would make a sailor blush, tells me the news isn’t good.
Ending the call, he turns to us, and whilst there’s a small thread of sorrow at whatever Scott told him, anger seems to be the riding emotion on his face.
“Jake’s dead.” He stands with his hands on his hips and head bowed before looking up and announcing that he needs to make a call and disappearing off down the corridor.
“Does someone want to explain what the fuck is going on?” I demand, looking at Seb and Jamie.
Thirty-Three
Rick
“He told me his name was Garcia…”
As soon as the word left his mouth, I knew there had to be a connection to the shit that went down with Marcus and Tempest.
Following the ‘Dinner of Death’ at Marcus’ house, we were able to connect Marcus’ to several human trafficking rings in Manchester and London. The police are still trying to connect the dots and deal with the fallout of having so many prominent businessmen and government officials, even some of their own, listed as members of a club associated with slave auctions and human trafficking.
I hit redial again as I hear Jess asking who Garcia is. Jamie’s reply couldn’t have been more accurate. Redial, redial…
“Hey, man,” Scott answers, sounding out of breath and harried. “Fucking nurses wouldn’t let me use the phone, and I wanted to wait and see what happened.” He pauses, taking in a deep breath. “He’s gone, Rick.”
Every swear word known to man leaves my mouth on a heavy exhale. When I’ve stopped cursing, Scott tells me he’s waiting on Jake’s address, then he and Jay are going to turn his place upside down to find this file he mentioned before he took his last breath.
After giving them the news about Jake, I head to my room to make a call. I hear Jess demanding answers as I walk away.
In my room, I pace back and forward, rubbing my hand over my chin as my mind spins. My phone rings in my hand, and I lift it to see it’s Dean.
“Dean, what’s up?”
“Hey, sorry to ring you so late, but I thought you’d like to know we finally got a hit on the email IP address.”
“Really?” I sound sceptical and suspicious because I am. Why now?
“Yeah, some guy named Jake Danvers…” I tune him out as he reels off the address. And there is the reason why I thought it was too good to be true. “Rick, you there, man?”
“I’m here, Dean. Thanks. Take a break for a few days.”
“Okay, but you call me if you need anything.”
“Will do.” I end the call, and stare at my phone.
