Chapter 21
Atlas
Fuck, fuck fuck! I scream. I am well and truly out of time if this has anything to do with True. There isn’t a damn thing I will be able to tell Josh. This shit is not good, not just because Savannah is caught in the crossfire but because this can put my family at risk and expose my role in Victor’s downfall. One of the main reasons I have been able to get away with all the shit I’ve been up to is because I’m a ghost and you can’t fight a ghost no matter how powerful you are. I’m hoping like hell this doesn’t have anything to do with True but in my gut I know it’s a futile wish. Josh broke every speed limit and traffic law known to man to get to his wife in less than 10 minutes and I know he is reliving her abduction. FUCK! This is a shit storm.
Exactly seven minutes and thirty-nine seconds later we made it to the coffee shop. All eight of us walk in and Josh makes an immediate beeline to his wife. I swear that man has a psychic connection with that woman, how did he find her that fast in this crowded coffee shop. We all pulled up chairs to the small table and if the situation wasn’t so serious I would’ve laughed at the looks on the two dead men’s faces.
“Who the fuck are you and why were you following my wife?” Josh asks with no warm-up. He is not in the mood to play with these men. The man closest to Savvy visibly and audibly swallows.
“We weren’t following your wife” the guy stutters out, “we were following her.”
He jerks his head in True’s direction.
“Why?” Josh asks and his voice sounds like thunder in an electrical storm. The coffee shop falls so silent you could hear a mouse piss on cotton. Joseph gets up and goes to the counter, less than five minutes later the shop is empty and the closed sign is on the door.
When he comes back over I ask, “how did you manage that?”
“I bought the place,” he says with a straight face. I just blink at him.
“Now answer the damn question” Joshua snaps.
“There is a reward for any information on a missing woman matching her description,” the guy says. “We were following to make sure she was the woman we’re looking for”.
“ How much is the reward?” I ask.
“One million dollars,” he says.
“Damn,” Savvy says “just for information?” the man just nods like a bobblehead doll.
“Let’s go!” Josh says and the chair scrapes across the floor and slams on the floor as it tumbles over. He’s pissed and I can’t blame him.
“Aryan go get Savannah’s car,” he says as he hands him the keys Savvy gave him.
“Joseph get our car.”We begin walking to the front of the shop, once outside Joseph gets out and locks the shop door. Damn, he really bought the place. We put both guys in the back of the SUV.
“Jabarri erase all the footage, Savvy make sure you tell him where y’all went today, Asher take the women home, and stay with them Joseph, Atlas, and I have some business to attend to. The rest of you go back to the site, we'll see you later at home.” And that’s why he ran special forces teams when he was in the military.
“Maybe I should go with the women instead” I try and the look Josh levels on me causes me to take a step back.
“Don’t back up now Atlas, we’re going to set this shit straight today.”
“Asher when y’all get to the house, no one leaves under any circumstances, understood?” he says while looking directly at True.
“Understood,” Asher says and we all go our separate ways. Joshua was so pissed he didn’t even kiss Savvy goodbye. FUCK!!!!
We get to the garage I use to chop cars, shower, and take care of other business I do not want my brothers knowing about. We take the men out and tie them to chairs, and go outside to talk.
“Gummy, what the fuck is going on? I left you to do you hoping you'd come to me when the time is right but you have been determined to do whatever this is on your own. But this has come to our family’s door and that shit is unacceptable. So talk!”
“ Joshua, I know I have no right to ask this and you have no reason to give it to me but I need a favor.”
“A favor?”
“Yes, give me two weeks. Two weeks and we will sit down and I will tell you everything. Please Josh, I have never asked for anything, but I am asking for this and for you to let me handle this. I say as I jerk my head towards the garage.”
“You’re asking for a lot Gummy,” he pulls me in for a hug. “Be careful” he says as he heads back to the SUV, gets in, and pulls off.
I waste no time with niceties and get right down to business. They were after True so they could collect on the reward. Several hours later I am walking into the house, the guys who were crazy enough to follow True and Savvy, well let’s just say they will never be seen or heard of again. I head directly to my room to find True waiting for me, she does not ask any questions. She's been around this enough. I take a shower, I am exhausted mentally and physically and now I am on a time clock because Joshua is not going to let me slide with those two weeks. I move to get out of bed and the phone rings.