Reading Online Novel

Atonement (The Protectors #6)(43)



"Did you talk to him?"

"He started to leave when he saw I was in there, but he stopped when he saw my face. Didn't say anything to me, though. He wasn't alone." Remy took another drag on his cigarette and then stubbed it out, half-finished. "Some big fucker was with him … all dressed in black. Kind of stood back in the doorway like he was giving your brother privacy, but not letting him out of sight. Anyway, Aleks came up to me  –  I was standing by the sink cleaning my face … I was upset," Remy hedged.

I suspected 'upset' didn't even cover the young man's state after he'd been brutally assaulted. 

"So, he comes up to me and there's this big vase full of flowers on the counter next to the sink. He looks at me for a second and then he pulls out this blue one and hands it to me. Says it represents hope. That's it, then he turns to go. I wanted to keep him talking so I started asking questions about all the flowers and what they mean. He started telling me, but the guy with him cleared his throat and Aleks stopped talking just like that and turned to go."

"Do you know who he was with?" I asked impatiently. I couldn't do anything with the information Remy had given us.

Remy shook his head. "Didn't see who he was with, but he wasn't there to be sold or traded."

"How do you know?" Magnus asked.

Remy hesitated, his eyes shifting to Magnus for a moment before coming back to me. "Because he was collared."

I stiffened at that, but managed to remain calm. "Anything else? Maybe you saw him getting into a car?"

"No, but he said something right before he walked out … told me that Faustini's sold the best flowers and to go on Thursdays because that was when they got new deliveries."

Relief went through me. It was something and at this rate I'd take just about anything.

"Tomorrow is Thursday," I said to Magnus and he nodded. To Remy I asked, "Can you come with us to Faustini's and point him out if he shows up?"

Remy began violently shaking his head before I even finished the question. "No way, I'm leaving town today. Les is … "

His voice dropped off and he searched out another cigarette. "I've gotta get out of here. You can't miss him, trust me." He sucked on the cigarette and said, "I need some cash."

I could tell he was embarrassed to be asking for it, but his desperation was driving him. I pulled out my wallet and removed all the cash I had. But I hesitated and glanced at his arm. Remy must have noticed because he said, "Don't worry, I'm not going to shoot it. I've been clean for a month … methadone."

I nodded since I had no choice but to believe him. He didn't seem high, just frantic, but if he was finally making a break from his pimp, that could explain his need to escape the city. "Where are you going to go?"

Remy shrugged. "As far as this can take me," he said as he pointed at the money in my hand.

"You don't have any family?" Magnus asked.

He shook his head. "None that want to be seeing me anytime soon," he murmured. I exchanged glances with Magnus and knew where his thoughts were … exactly in the same place as mine.

I nodded to Magnus and then to Remy I said, "Remy, how do you feel about rain?"



* * *

Faustini's was a little hole in the wall florist near Chinatown. It wasn't the kind of place that sold fancy bouquets or little trinkets like balloons and knick-knacks. Flowers were the old man's bread and butter, pure and simple.

Right after putting Remy on a bus bound for Seattle, Magnus and I had headed to the flower shop to scope it out and come up with a plan. We'd known it was stretch that we'd likely see Aleks the following day, but that stretch had turned into a very likely scenario when Angelo Faustini had set eyes on me. I hadn't even introduced myself and he'd chuckled and made a sidelong comment about how I reminded him of someone. Magnus and I had taken the opportunity to find out how much the man knew about Aleks, though we'd done it in a way we wouldn't be putting my brother at risk if Angelo turned out to be associated with the men who had him.

And Angelo had delivered in a big way. Aleks did indeed come in every Thursday morning. Magnus and I had debated the best way to make contact with Aleks, but had ultimately decided it would come down to whether Aleks was alone, which given what Remy had told us about the escort Aleks had had in the bathroom, wouldn't be very likely. We'd opted to watch for him from our rental car at the end of the block.



       
         
       
        

I glanced at my watch for what had to be the hundredth time and even Magnus's hand on my thigh wasn't calming me down like it usually did.

We were so damn close.

"He'll be here," Magnus said softly, though he kept his eyes on the shop down the street.

I nodded, but didn't say anything. I wasn't sure I was even capable of speaking.

"Look," Magnus murmured and I snapped my head around to see a black Town Car pulling to a stop in front of the shop. I snatched the binoculars from the console and focused them on the car. Whoever was driving stayed in the car. But the back door opened to reveal a huge guy dressed in black. I could see the gun in a holster beneath his jacket as he got out of the car. He stepped back and waited and I held my breath for the next occupant to exit the vehicle.

All I saw at first was a skinny body dressed in simple jeans and a sweater. No jacket to protect against the wind. And a mop of brown hair with just the little bit of curl.

And a fucking chain link collar around his neck that belonged on a guard dog, not a human being. Disgust and rage went through me, but I managed to stay focused. I needed to see his face.

"Turn around, damn it," I whispered to myself.

Even though I knew the young man hadn't heard me, he did just that and I nearly dropped the binoculars. Remy had been right. Even without the birthmark which I could see plain as day, he looked just like me.

"It's him," I breathed in disbelief. "It's actually him."

Magnus's fingers pressed into my leg for the briefest of moments. I watched my brother and his escort enter the shop and then lowered the binoculars. "It's him, Magnus," I said, still reeling.

"I know, baby," he said softly and then he kissed me.

I knew I needed to keep it together, even though all I wanted to do was go into that flower shop, get rid of the hulk of a man keeping watch over my little brother and take Aleks into my arms and tell him no one would ever lay another hand on him again. "You're up," I said to Magnus as I clenched my fingers into a fist in the hopes of stopping their shaking.

Magnus nodded and reached for the door handle. I grabbed his wrist and waited until his eyes were on me. "Be careful," I said softly.

"I will," he said before kissing me again and then getting out of the car. I pulled my gun from my back and held it on my lap as I used the binoculars to watch the driver of the Town Car. Magnus began jogging down the block towards the car and with his sweats, running shoes and knit cap, he looked like all the other runners who braved the winter weather to get their daily exercise in. And fortunately, there were enough people around that he didn't stand out. He stopped on the far side of the car when he reached it and bent down, pretending to tie his shoe. With a flip of his wrist, he planted a tracking device in the wheel well of the car and then he was back up and running again. The driver of the car didn't even spare him a glance. Relief was instantaneous as Magnus made his way around the block and out of sight. I turned on the app on my phone and smiled when the tracking device activated and showed up on my screen. With the busy Chicago traffic, we'd decided not to run the risk of losing the other car as we followed them or of staying too close and getting made. 

Several minutes passed before Magnus dropped down into the driver's seat, breathing hard. He'd clearly picked up the pace when he'd been running around the rest of the block to get back to me. We didn't speak as we watched Aleks and the man return to the car, several packages of carefully wrapped flowers in their hands. The man put them in the trunk while Aleks climbed into the backseat. As they pulled away from the curb, we kept our distance. It took about forty-five minutes to arrive at our destination  –  a huge house in a suburb just north of the city. The Victorian style mansion sat on at least a dozen acres of perfectly manicured lawn surrounded by wrought iron fencing on all four sides and with Lake Michigan butting up against the back of the property.

"Fuck," I murmured as I realized how tough it was going to be to get into the house. From where we were parked, I could see dozens of security cameras focused on the front of the house. Why the hell hadn't we just risked it and snatched Aleks at the shop? Between Magnus and me, we could have taken the two men.

Yeah, except it would have been a fucking bloodbath.

"Look," Magnus said. He'd been using the binoculars to scan the property. He handed them to me and pointed to the far right of the house where the land was more wooded. Movement caught my attention and I realized it was Aleks. He was walking towards a greenhouse, the flowers from the shop in hand. More importantly, he was alone  –  no guard.

"Let's see if there's a way in on that side of the property," I said quickly. Magnus drove us around to that side of the house which was heavily wooded.