Page 75 of Mouse Trapped

I might not have been at the sharp end as much as others, but I’m not going to do anything to jeopardise our mission.My mission. To save my kid.“I won’t fuck up, Blade,” I answer through gritted teeth.

“He’s yours, Brother. Time for holdin’ back is now. Later, when we’ve got them at the compound. That’s the time you can let loose.”

My eyes widen slightly. “You’ll let me lead?”

The enforcer raises his hands. “All yours, Brother.”

Half my mind’s concentrating on what’s going on, the other half is planning what I’m going to do if, as we suspect, the man, or men will attempt to snatch Drew this evening. Yeah, I’ve got some ideas about making them talk. As I sit, my native blood races.

On the field Drew scores a touchdown. I’m about to leap up when Blade’s arm shoots across me. “Chill,” he reminds me.

It’s hard. I can see the kid’s got talent, and I want to cheer him.Next time,I tell myself.There’ll be a next time.

Then practice is over. The coach calls the teams together, stands talking to them for a while. I notice him slapping Drew on the back, probably to congratulate him.Kid’s done well.I’ll be telling him that myself.

“We’re on,” Blade whispers, standing up and stretching to get the kinks out of his back.

I’m on my feet too. Ah, there’s Lady. He’s started down. Viper and Bullet have appeared as well. Closer to the boys, following them as they make their way to the changing rooms,are Wraith, Peg and Dollar. Heart and the rest will be waiting out front, just looking like dads come to collect their sons. Beef, Rock, Shooter and Marvel will be hidden at the edge of the parking lot.

Drew emerges from the changing room and goes out to where the cars are waiting just like I told him. He takes out his phone, looks at it, then around at the parked cars as if not seeing who he’s looking for. He does good, he walks a little distance away from the others as though to get some privacy, still looking at that darn phone.

I send him a quick text.

Got you covered.

I see him give a quick smile, but never once does he raise his head trying to find us.Kid trusts us.One by one the other kids get into cars. The parking lot starts to empty.

What’s that?I nudge Blade. A car with its engine idling draws closer to Drew.

Walk back towards the entrance.

Immediately Drew obeys my text. I don’t want him to be grabbed and tossed into that vehicle. The distance increases between the car and my ward. Out of the corner of my eye I see Marvel, Rock and Beef approaching from the rear. Shooter’s veered off to meet Heart, and they’re heading for the side of the car. I nod to Blade. We start moving to position ourselves on the passenger side, and I check to make sure Drummer and Wraith have the front. Unseen by the few remaining kids waiting with the coach, Prez has his gun in his hand and is pointing it at the windshield.

Heart wrenches open the door, his own gun pointing inside. I pull the passenger door more or less at the same time.

Two Hispanic faces look at us in dismay.

“What are you doing?” one says, while the other swears in Spanish.

“Out,” I tell them, gesturing with my gun.

“We’re here to pick up my nephew.”

“Oh?” I ask conversationally. “Which one would he be then?”

His eyes flick to Drew, then past him. He points… to a kid who at that moment starts waving at another car which has just arrived.

“Seemsyour nephewdoesn’t need a ride after all. So we’ve got time for a conversation. Out.” I wave my gun again; Blade having positioned his body to prevent anyone seeing it.

At that point the crash truck draws up alongside. Our operation proceeds to go down like a knife through butter. Without anyone else having seen, we’ve got them zip tied and in the back, fast. Protests coming out of their mouth, but duct tape soon quiets them.

As Matt and Peg zoom out of the car park, Blade tilts his head to one side. “Sure that’s them, Brother?”

“I’m sure.” There’s no doubt in my mind. They were targeting Drew. If we hadn’t been here, they could easily have snatched him.

“Just got to get them to admit it.” Blade, like me, is staring after the truck.

Yeah. We have. I might have an idea how to do it. Slapping him on the back, I tell him, “Don’t start without me.” Then I go to my bike. There’s a quick detour I want to make before I go back to the compound, it won’t take long.