AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I don't know the man flying the helicopter, and I can barely focus on anything as I grip the seat, intently watching everything whip by below us.
“We’re here.”
Ricco opens his wallet, takes out a stack of crisp one-hundred-dollar bills. When we finally land, he hands it to the pilot. "That's your tip. Thank you."
My belly begins to churn as we exit.
We're closing in on them, and that means I have no idea what's going to happen next.
"You alright, Dani? You look pale. You gonna be sick?” He eyes me warily.
I shake my head. "No. I'm fine, just nervous."
What would I say to a man that faked his death? After everything he's put me through?
"I never thought I could hate somebody, Ricco. I try to think that I'm above hatred."
"Anyone who's hurt enough can hate someone," he says. "The key is you don't hold onto it."
"What do you mean?"
"Nick won't give a shit if you hate him. He won't give a shit if you don't. Do you know who will?"
"Me. Emmy."
"Exactly."
He pulls out his phone and taps a couple of buttons. "There he is," he says. "We need to get her, Dani, but in such a way that he isn't going to hurt her."
I nod, not exactly sure what our next plan should be.
"He's driving. I don't wanna risk him crashing the car. If he knows that we're chasing him, he'll probably drive at a reckless speed. I don't know if he knows how to drive that fast.”
Ricco does, but I don't know about Nick. And the idea of my daughter being hurt is unacceptable.
"What other option do we have?"
"We head them off.” Thinking for a moment, he finally nods. “I have an idea.”
Ricco makes phone calls and quickly puts his plan into place. I’m astounded at how proficient he is, how clear of a thinker under stress. Still, at a speed a hundred times faster than any other humans, some of Ricco’s men begin to show up.
“We’ve set up the detours, sir.”
"I didn't know you have men all the way up here."
Ricco’s scowling at footage on his phone and making notes on a small pad he pulled from his back pocket. “We have friends and enemies everywhere. The key is knowing when to call a friend and when to confront an enemy."
He shows me on his phone twelve men dressed in construction clothes, putting up a detour sign to block a road. They block Nick’s main route and re-route all traffic in another direction. Nick, however, will be sent here.
"We meet him at the detour," Ricco says. “With Emmy.”
"Got it. How far away are they?" He looks at something on his phone again.
"Seven minutes."
"Should we have a plan?"
"Oh, babe,” he says in an ominous voice. “I have a plan."
The way he says it makes the hair on my arms stand up. I swallow and lick my lips again. I wobble a little, feeling faint.
"Want to fill me in?"
With a frown, he says, “After you tell me the last time you had something to eat or drink."
"I have no idea. It was probably… yesterday, I guess. I'm fine."
His eyes grow stern, as he points to a bench. "We have six minutes. Sit."
"Should've gotten that candy in the vending machine from Flo," I mutter under my breath.
"Could've had that second cup of coffee I didn't dump on that asshole."
I’d laugh if I wasn’t so keyed up. I take the Coke and package of peanut M&Ms he hands me, but I have no appetite. I can’t even think about normal things like food at a time like this. I take a tentative sip of the Coke and eat one little M&M to appease him.
It’s almost showtime.
It's sort of amazing to see how easily and quickly everything is orchestrated as he fills in his brothers and gets their updates as well.
"We've gathered intelligence about his route, and the timing when he should be here.”
"I have intel from a New Hampshire state police dispatcher. She’s had a crush on me for a while. She gave me access to everything in the state highway computer systems thinking she’d get a date out of it. LOL’s on her, though. I met her at a party in Swampscott last year, great ass but wouldn’t shut the fuck up the whole night," Timeo says. "Oh, sorry, I went off on a tangent there… we also have surveillance and tracking devices across the country, and everything matches up. Five minutes to go."
"Which location do we choose?" Ricco asks him. The idea is that they've diverted traffic one way, but we need to make sure that we divert Nick the other, so he drives right here.
“We thought it best to set it up in a remote area," Timeo says. "There are fewer escape routes."
They talk about locations, what Nick’s driving, what they’ll use to physically stop him. I look at my watch. The time is going by quickly. I can't wait to see my daughter again. Nick, on the other hand, I could do without, but he's a necessary evil in this particular instance.
