Page 10

CHAPTER 10

Ethan turned on the shower and stood under the cold spray. He’d woken early with a massive headache. As much as he wanted to stay in Brooklyn’s bed, he knew he needed to get out of there. He’d called Rusty, who came immediately, and he headed home.

The shower felt good on his aching skull. The frigid temperature was brutal, but it usually worked to kill his headache if he got to it fast enough. This one was bad. He’d thought he was done with these monster headaches but obviously his body had other ideas.

It didn’t help that he’d had the dream again after he’d fallen asleep. The woman laughing and smiling. He couldn’t see her face, just a glimpse of her jawline. A quick flash of ink, or a birthmark. All too fast and disjointed to make heads or tails of. Always the scent of her perfume in his nose when he woke up. Stupid. He had spent an amazing night with Brooklyn, better than he’d ever imagined and yet the woman still appeared in his dreams to haunt him.

He needed to get his head examined. Brooklyn was everything he could ever want, and yet he found himself wanting to put distance between them just in case . In case of what? Some fantasy coming to life? He snorted derisively, then sputtered as he inhaled some of the water.

The distance thing was probably not a bad idea though. Guilt washed over him. He should have said no to her. She was vulnerable, and he took advantage. She said yes, hell, she’d asked him, and was a willing participant, but he still couldn’t help but feel like the better choice would have been to say no. Sadly, he just wasn’t that strong. He would, however, make it up to her today. They needed to get on the same page, even if that meant not being near each other.

He turned off the water and stepped out, quickly toweling himself off. Last night had been fantastic, better than he’d ever imagined. That was a helluva hard thing to give up. He sighed. It had also seemed…odd. A few times he’d had déjà vu, like he’d slept with Brooklyn before. Like he knew the curve of her hip and the hollow beneath her jawline. How his fingers felt inside her. He shrugged and continued to dry off. Whatever was going on in his brain, he wasn’t going to dwell on it. It would just bring the headache back.

He quickly dressed in jeans and a white button-down. After rolling up his sleeves, he tucked his gun in his waistband at the small of his back. Moving toward the kitchen, he glanced at Mojo, who was conked out in his bed. The poor guy was totally done. Ethan couldn’t blame him. Mojo had been keeping watch for what seemed like days, never truly relaxing and now that he was home, Mojo was taking full advantage.

Ethan made an omelet, and when Mojo opened an eye, Ethan chopped some chicken breast for a snack for the pooch. Sitting at his breakfast bar, drinking his coffee, he looked around his condo. He hadn’t bought a house like some of his teammates. He was too used to being on the road. Why did he need a house? He just needed a place to lay his head when he was in town. That’s what his places had always been.

Now that the Big Island was his home base, he knew he could get a more permanent place. but he hadn’t thought it was necessary. Looking at the bare beige walls and generic furniture, he suddenly had a pang. Brooklyn had made her place a home. Somewhere to come and actually relax, enjoy time off. His place screamed only here for now. Except he wasn’t a bachelor on the go anymore. Maybe it was time to buy a place, like his teammates.

His cell rang and he answered. “Bellamy, how’s it going?”

“I’m calling to ask you the same question. Did last night’s conversations yield anything useful?”

“Not a damn thing.” Ethan let out a sigh. “I’m nowhere on this and out of leads.”

“Shit,” Bellamy grunted. “Did Nova have any ideas?”

Ethan snorted. “Other than the Yakuza angle, nothing actionable. None of it makes any sense.”

“Yeah, no shit.”

Ethan took a sip of coffee. “Brooklyn tried to convince me, or maybe herself, that it was all a mistake. Like whoever tried to grab Liam just made an error, and now they’ve realized their error, so the danger has passed.”

“And what do you think of that?” Bellamy asked his voice neutral.

“I think it’s fucking wishful thinking. Someone wants Liam for whatever unknown reason, and they’re just regrouping trying to come up with another way to get him.”

“That sounds about right. Bad actors rarely ever give up and go home.”

“Yeah. There’s no way we’d be that lucky.” Ethan’s headache rumbled alive a little bit and he squeezed his eyes shut against the encroaching pain. “I was thinking of driving by the corner where the incident happened. Maybe there are cameras that no one noticed. I’m grasping at straws, but straws are all I have left. I’m out of ideas.”

Bellamy sighed. “I hear that. Let me know if you find anything or need any help.”

“Will do.” Ethan broke off the call.

He started to put his phone down but then thought the better of it. He dialed Brooklyn. He wanted to explain why he wasn’t there when she woke up this morning, but the call went to voicemail. He glanced at his watch. She was probably already at work. He left her a quick message telling her that Rusty had been there to keep an eye on things this morning and that he’d be there once Liam got out of school.

That done, he got his wallet and keys and headed toward the door. Mojo lifted his head but Ethan told him to stay. The dog needed some downtime. Not too much because he’d get bored and into trouble, but he’d been on duty for a while now and deserved a little bit of R Ethan drove slowly past the corner where the attempt to snatch Liam had occurred. Nothing stood out to him. Nothing that said this was the best place to grab the kid. He pulled a U-turn and then parked. He sat in his truck and looked at the corner. It was a three-way stop. A small restaurant on one corner, a dry cleaner on the other and a t-shirt shop at the top of the street. There was a parking lot next to that where Brooklyn must have parked her car.

A feeling of unease settled on Ethan. The guys in the van must have been following Brooklyn before the grab attempt in order for them to know she and Liam would walk up to the stop light. They could have easily parked in the other direction. There was no guarantee that they would walk to the light.

He didn’t look forward to broaching that subject with her. She was frustrated enough that the kids hadn’t noticed anything. Once he confronted her with the fact that she hadn’t noticed it either, she was going to hurt.

Ethan continued to watch the traffic. It just solidified his notion that this was not a good spot for a kidnapping. Too many people around. Too much traffic to guarantee a swift getaway. No way to even be sure the light would be in their favor which would mean they might have to run the red and try to avoid hitting anyone. More and more, he believed this was not a professional job. Whoever the guys were, they didn’t seem to know how to criminal.

But that didn’t jibe with the whole Yakuza thing. If the van was owned by the front company of the Yakuza, surely they would send experienced thugs who knew what the hell they were doing. Brooklyn said they were young. Maybe they were trying to impress the gang bosses. Still, he couldn’t connect Liam to the Yakuza.

Ethan got out of his pickup and went over to the t-shirt shop first. He went inside and pretended to shop as he scouted around. No cameras, or at least none that he could see, and if he couldn’t see them then, they wouldn’t have the kind of angle needed anyway. The t-shirt shop had been a long shot.

He headed across the street to the restaurant. It was right on the corner where the incident occurred. In an ideal world, they would have cameras that picked up something. Ethan walked inside, and immediately, his heart sank. It was a hole-in-the-wall kind of place that served exceptional food but was bare bones about everything else. Great if you want a good meal. Shitty if you wanted anything else.

“Aloha, you can sit anywhere,” the young woman said from behind a lunch counter.

“That’s okay.” Ethan offered her a smile. “I just had a couple of questions.” He approached the counter. “By any chance, do you have cameras in here?”

The young woman frowned as she tucked her long dark hair up in a bun. “No, no cameras. The cops asked the same thing the other day when those guys tried to grab that kid.”

“You were here for that?” Ethan’s hopes rose. “I’m working with the boy’s family to figure out what’s going on. Did you recognize anyone?”

She shook her head. “Nope, never saw any of them before…which is kind of odd when I think about it. The Big Island isn’t that big when it comes to locals, you know? They looked to be about my age so you’d think I would have run into them somewhere.” She shook her head.

Ethan’s hopes sank. He pulled out a card from his back pocket and handed it to her. “If you think of anything or see those guys again, give me a call.”

“Sure,” she said as she took the card and then picked up the coffee pot heading toward the end of the counter to refill a few cups.

Ethan stood on the sidewalk and debated going down to talk to the café owner, Dave, but he couldn’t see any point really. If Dave knew anything he would have reached out by the sound of things. Instead, Ethan headed across the street to the dry cleaners.

He held the door open for a customer on her way out and then walked in. A young man stood at the counter serving another patron. Ethan glanced around as he waited. No obvious cameras. He looked up on the shelf over on the far wall and a smile touched his lips as he spied a nanny cam hidden in the plant. He wondered if the kid behind the counter even knew it was there.

The other patron left, and the young man switched his focus to Ethan. “Can I help you?”

“Yes, is the owner here, or the manager?”

The young man frowned. “She’s in the back, but are you sure I can’t help you with something?”

“Were you here the other day during the attempted kidnapping of the boy across the street?”

“It was awful,” the clerk lamented.

“Did you recognize any of the men involved?” Ethan asked.

“No. Never seen them before.”

Ethan tried another tact. “Did the cops ask you about having any cameras?”

This time he got a nod. “Yes, they did, but, unfortunately, we don’t have any.”

Ethan had figured as much. The kid had no idea that a nanny camera was there. It was well hidden in the greenery. So much so that it made it obvious that the owner didn’t want anyone to know they were watching. “I would like to speak to the owner please.”

The young man shrugged. “Okay.” He disappeared behind a rack of clothing and then reappeared a moment later with a diminutive Asian woman in tow.

“How can I help you?” she asked in a surprisingly deep voice.

Ethan smiled. “Could we talk privately?”

She frowned and glanced at the clerk. “Ollie, please go in the back and check the latest deliveries. Make sure everything is ready to go out.”

Ollie said nothing but disappeared behind the rack of dry cleaning again.

“What do you want?” the woman demanded.

“I want to see the footage from your cameras.”

The woman shook her head. “We don’t have any cameras.”

Ethan smiled slightly. “You have one right up there.” He pointed. “My guess is you use it to watch the cash register. You must be worried your employees are skimming. Or maybe you’re skimming yourself from some other type of business. Wouldn’t be the first time a dry cleaner has been used to front a drug operation.” The woman opened her mouth ostensibly to protest but Ethan continued. “Lady, I don’t care why you have the camera, and I have no interest in your business, but a little boy was almost kidnapped across the street earlier this week and I’ve been hired to find out who is behind it.” He handed her his card. “I need to see your footage.”

The woman’s eyes narrowed as she glanced first at the card and then back up at him. Finally, she nodded. “Come with me.”

Ethan pulled open the small door and followed the woman deeper into the shop. They entered the back office. “Ollie, go back up front.”

Ollie jolted to his feet and hurried out of the office, which was a good thing because the office was tiny and cramped with papers and clothing on every single surface except the desktop and the keyboard on the desk.

The woman sat down at the desktop and started typing on the keyboard. Ethan realized he didn’t know her name but was smart enough to know that he didn’t really need it, and if he did it would be easy enough to find out. He would send the cops over if anything good was on the video.

The woman turned around a moment later and handed him a USB stick. “Here. This has the last week on it. I like Ollie, but my nephew also works here and he’s not as respectful or trustworthy. I’d fire him, but I need proof first, or my sister won’t believe me that he’s stealing.”

Ethan nodded. “Good help is hard to find. Working with family is never easy.”

She kissed her fingertips and waved them at the ceiling in a your lips to God’s ear’ gesture.

“Thanks for this,” he said. “If there’s anything useful on it, I will have to send the cops over to get their own copy.”

The woman sighed, resigned to the inevitable. “I hope this helps.”

Ethan offered her his hand and they shook. He returned to his pickup. Time to go back to the comms center and see what he had. With luck, he might be able to see the faces of the men involved. That would get them somewhere because, at the moment, they were dead in the water, and that was the last place he wanted to be when it came to Brooklyn and Liam.