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“Mrs Brown, you don’t have to stay up, go and rest.”
“You know I can’t do that. Tell me what you need,” she says taking a deep breath as if to centre herself. I nod as I look around, for something, anything to keep her busy.
“Can you get the coffee machine on the go and maybe make up some sandwiches for everyone, please? It’s going to be a late night.”
“Of course.” I watch as she rushes into the kitchen to make a start and to keep herself active so she doesn’t have time to think.
I head for the dining room and walk straight to the chair at the head of the table. I look around at the eight security guards, a handful of bouncers from the clubs and my brothers. They all came running as soon as the call went out. We may be ruthless, but our staff respect us and always come whenever we call. They know what they signed up for and know that we reward a job well done as well as have no issues dishing out punishments when they let us down. Most of these men and women have met Jasmine and have come to like and respect her. They understand as far as we are concerned she is to be treated and protected the same as us.
“From this point onwards nothing else matters but finding Jasmine,” I snap as I lean on the table, unable to sit still.
Jason’s right I need to keep a level head and I need to dig deep into my dark side as I know we are going to have a fight on our hands when we go to get our girl back. I shrug off my jacket and place it on the back of my chair. Looking up I see my brothers standing in front of me, Jason in a shirt and trousers from his meeting, the twins in their signature jeans and t-shirts. All of us have our game faces on. On the outside, we appear in control and ready for anything. But on the inside, we are hanging on by a thread and we won’t feel normal in any sense of the word again until Jasmine is home.
I turn to see Terry standing at the side of the desk. “What the fuck happened?” I demand as I undo my cufflinks.
“Jasmine and her friends were leaving the club at the end of the night. Everything had gone to plan, jasmine wasn’t intoxicated, and seemed to be having the time of her life. One of her friends was highly intoxicated and we believe they may have been spiked as a way of keeping one of us busy. Another friend was knocked over as we exited the elevator and sprained their ankle. As all this was happening a large brawl broke out which we now believe to be a diversion. A bouncer grabbed Jasmine and told us he would handle her whilst we got the others to the car. There was so much going on in such a small space, it seemed like the safest way to deal with the situation.
“As we got to the car there were gunshots fired and when I turned to check Jasmine she and the bouncer were nowhere to be seen. I rushed back expecting them to have taken cover, but I couldn’t get near the building due to the commotion caused by a second round of shots. Every time I got close someone would get in my way or shots would be fired. It was absolute mayhem. When I finally reached the building, it was in lockdown. As soon as they realised who I was and that Jasmine was inside I was allowed entry.
“I couldn’t find Jasmine or the bouncer anywhere. I went around to the back of the building and outside thinking they may have tried to get to us that way, but they were nowhere to be seen. That was when I found her handbag and his headset. I realised then he had kidnapped her.” Terry stops and takes a deep breath before looking me in the eye.
“We found a used EpiPen on the floor not far from the bag. We believe it was used to inject her with drugs. It had some clear fluid left in it that has been sent to a guy I know for testing. He will have the results within the next couple of hours, he knows this is a priority.
“After realising she was gone, I jumped in a staff member’s car with Layton. We raced after them as Tim who is another bouncer there and used to be part of my team checked over CCTV whilst the driver took the girls home. Tim found the registration and I tracked the car. But I lost it and by the time I found it again, it had been abandoned. It looks like they transferred into a van but there was no way of tracking it. I picked up Tim and came straight here.”
I nod to him “I want to know as soon as you have the results. We can only assume they were knock-out drugs to stop Jasmine from fighting.” I pinch the bridge of my nose and count to ten in my head, trying desperately to stay in control.
“Who’s been called?” I ask opening my eyes to look at Jason.
“All the guys we trust. They are on the way and offering assistance in finding her,” he explains before leaning on the table. “I sent someone to check on Carol as I had this gut feeling I couldn’t shake. She wasn’t there and the place was trashed, they sent photos.”
“Like it was before?” I ask, assuming she is back on the drugs, but Jason shakes his head.
“Something went down in there. With the amount of blood on the floor there is a chance she’s dead.”
“Fuck,” I curse not knowing what to do with that. “How many people know who she is and her relation to Jasmine and our father?”
Jason shrugs.
“Tommy used to flash her about when they were together. He liked to show off in front of her as well,” Sean answers as I rub my face. That means people know they could use her to get information about Jasmine including when her birthday is.
“The only reason I give a shit about Carol is that Jasmine will. Let’s see if we can find out what happened to her, but Jasmine is our priority. If Carol is dead there isn’t anything we can do to help her now anyway,” I sigh as I look around at my brothers. “Any news on Tommy? There is a chance he is involved in this.”
All three shake their heads. I’ve had a gut feeling about him for a while now, but I haven’t shared it with the others. He’s been too quiet for too long. The chances are someone he owes caught up with him.
“Keep trying all forms of communication with him.” I run a hand through my hair. “Get this room ready for everyone. Also, contact Taylor. He’s offered all his men free of charge if anything was to happen. I want Terry to meet with them in an hour. If the rest of the guys are offering help we will take anything we can get. I have a phone call I need to make and then I will be back in here.” I snap before storming out of the room and heading to my office.
I throw the door open and head straight for the desk. As I sit in the chair, I see the photo of Jasmine and me. My heart aches knowing that she is in the hands of someone who could hurt her. She never asked for any of this, yet we dragged her into this world and now I have to pray all the training Sean has done with her will pay off and we find her quickly. But I know to do that we will need as many pairs of eyes on the ground as possible. Lifting the desk phone, I dial a number and let out a sigh as I slump into my chair. I hear the phone being answered on the other end of the line and sit forward leaning my arms on the desk.
“McIntire, It’s Christian O’Reilly. Is your offer of extra security still on the table? I don’t care the cost. I need as many people as you can spare.”
“What’s happened, O’Reilly?”
I swallow as I say the three words that I swore would never escape my lips.
“Jasmine’s been taken.”
32
