Page 41 of Marcellus: House of Drakos

They entered a nightclub so packed with people that you could hardly move around.

Oz led the foursome, followed by Marcellus and Alex and Scottie, all with ballcaps pulled down to conceal their identities.

It was easier for Marcellus: He wasn’t well-known in America anyway.

But Alex was very well-known in certain circles.

Most of which, he noticed, wouldn’t be caught dead in that particular club.

But trying to find Bobcat Grishom, though a tall man, seemed nearly impossible.

They pushed through group after group, clique after clique, for seemingly half an hour. Oz was told Bobcat was spotted entering the club, but his guys didn’t want to blow their cover by going in behind him. Now it was like finding a needle in a haystack.

Until Oz suddenly stopped in his tracks. Marcellus and Alex and Scottie were able to squeeze in on either side of him to see why he had stopped walking. It was then that Oz nodded in front of them.

All three men looked where Oz was directing them to look, and Marcellus and Scottie saw him too. Since Alex only knew what he looked like in the photos Oz’s men had provided to him, it took him several seconds to find him. But then he saw him too.

“Let’s split up in case he tries to split,” Oz said. “You two take the right side,” he said to Marcellus and Alex. “You follow along from the left side,” he said to Scottie. “I’m going straight for him,” Oz said and didn’t wait for an objection. He headed straight for Bobcat Grishom.

Bobcat was hip-bumping with two ladies at once as he held up a glass of beer while they joyously danced. Oz decided to bump into him and then quickly turn around. “Bobcat Grishom? That you?”

Bobcat slowed his dance as soon as he saw Oz. His first instinct was to see if anybody was with him.

It was obvious to Oz that he wasn’t buying a chance encounter. Oz Drakos suddenly showed his face at a time when he was tormenting Marcellus Drakos? A blind man could see through that pile of shit. “Hey there, Oz. What are you doing in Chicago?”

“Hanging out. I thought I heard you had moved to the West Coast.”

“Oh yeah?”

“That’s what I heard. Not true?”

Bobcat, certain it was a setup, threw his drink into Oz’s face, pushed one of the ladies in front of Oz, and took off toward the back of the club.

Oz threw the lady aside and took off after him. Marcellus and Scottie, on the opposite sides of the club, took off after them. But Alex, who knew he couldn’t outrun any of those younger men, ran instead for the front exit where Marcellus’s driver and bodyguard were waiting at the SUV.

But Oz, Marcellus, and Scottie were still on the chase.

They ran toward the back as they pushed and shoved through crowd after crowd of stubborn partiers.

Oz knocked over a waitress and kept on running.

Marcellus bumped into a waiter, causing his tray filled with glasses of beer to fly in the air.

Scottie, though more adept at avoiding the press of people, kept stepping on complaining ladies’ shoe tips. But he kept on running too.

Bobcat ran through the kitchen area and Oz, Marcellus, and Scottie were right behind him.

Oz knocked a sous chef into a hot stove, causing him to burn the palm of his hand when he touched the stove to break his fall.

Marcellus shoved against a line cook, causing plates to break that he held in his hands as they all ran through the kitchen and out of the back door.

It had been raining earlier that night and muddy puddles were everywhere, slowing their speed, as all three men chased Bobcat through alleyway after alleyway trying to make up ground.

Scottie was amazed at how fast his father could run, given that he was no kid anymore, but he kept up easily.

But it still looked hopeless. Bobcat was faster than all three of them.

Until Bobcat ran into a brick wall and tried to scale that wall to get away. Oz jumped up on the wall and tried with all he had to grab Bobcat by the catch of his leg. Scottie scaled the wall, too, to help, but Bobcat jumped over and took off.

Just as he did, an SUV came to a screeching stop at the opening of the alley and Alex, behind the wheel, blew the horn. When the three men turned and saw him, they all ran to the SUV, hopped in, and Alex took off.

They rode around for nearly two blocks before Marcellus saw Bobcat toss a woman from her own vehicle, jump in it, and take off. “There he is!” he yelled out, and Alex took off behind him.

With Marcellus on the front passenger seat and his driver Andre and his bodyguard Johnny moved to the backrow when they all hopped in, they all settled in for what turned out to be a long chase.

But during the entirety of the chase Alex stayed within striking distance of that Honda Accord that Bobcat had carjacked.

Until Bobcat turned a corner so fast that he ended up on two wheels and had to slow his momentum just to maintain control.

That was when Alex was able to catch up.

It was a dark road with muddy ditches on both sides.

Before that car could regain momentum and take off again, Alex rammed into the back up it just hard enough to force it to swerve.

And that was exactly what Bobcat did. Only he swerved too hard and ended up offroad and then stuck in a ditch.

But he didn’t stick around. He bailed out of that car and took off running through the wooded area just beyond that ditch.

Scottie and Oz jumped out of that SUV and ran after him. Marcellus was about to join them, but Alex pulled him back. “They’ll catch him,” he said.

Marcellus and Alex looked into each other’s eyes.

And there was affection there one for the other.

It was the first time they seemed to acknowledge their brotherly concern and connection.

And although it went against his very take-charge nature, Marcellus did as his big brother recommended. And stayed put.

Oz and Scottie ran through the mud-filled woods right behind Bobcat.

But given the mud, it was a slog more than a run.

But eventually Scottie, the youngest of the three runners, decided to use it to his advantage.

“I got this, old man,” he said to Oz and whipped right past him.

Despite the mud, he outran Oz and was able to catch up to Bobcat.

But he caught up to him just as Bobcat had taken one more step and fell into a muddy sinkhole. Scottie, running so fast, fell into the sinkhole too.

When Oz got up to both of them, as they were reaching out their hands for assistance, he smiled. “What can I do? I’m an old-ass man according to you.”

“Stop playing, man!” a disgusted Scottie yelled. “Help me out of this sewage-smelling mess!”

Oz laughed as he helped Scottie out and then both men pulled Bobcat out. And then they dragged him to the SUV.

With Johnny and Andre assisting them from the backrow to get Bobcat into the SUV, they tossed him onto the middle row seat. Oz got on the front passenger seat as Marcellus sat on one side of Bobcat and Scottie sat on the other side. They wanted answers. But Bobcat claimed to know nothing.

“Why did your ass run if you have nothing to hide?” asked Marcellus. “Now tell me what you know!”

But when he started playing dumb again, Marcellus had had it.

He grabbed him by the throat and repeatedly slam his head against the side window with such force and violence that Bobcat began bleeding.

“Remember now?” Marcellus yelled at him as he continued to slam his head against that window. “Remember now?!”

Oz and Alex were surprised by Marcellus’s level of violence. He could see some street in the man, some serious street, but it seemed to be buried deep down. But apparently not that deep.

But Scottie wasn’t surprised in the least. When his father lost it, he went to town. There was no holding him back.

“What do you know?!” Marcellus yelled at Bobcat.

“I told you I don’t know anything,” Bobcat began saying again, but Marcellus grabbed his neck again and was about to shove his head against that blood-stained window again. “Okay I’ll tell you!” Bobcat yelled out.

Marcellus exhaled. About time. “Then tell me.”

“I was paid to do the snatch.”

“Of whom?”

“Your son.”

Marcellus stared at him.

“And your daughter.”

Scottie was surprised by that admission. So was Oz and Alex. But finally they were getting somewhere! “Why you?” asked Oz, who was turned around to the backrow. “You’re an explosives guy.”

“That’s why,” Bobcat said.

They all were terrified.

“What do you mean? My son wasn’t chained to any explosives,” Marcellus said.

“And he got away. They didn’t expect you to find the location since it was his bar. Who would take a kidnapped person to his own place? They thought that was ingenious. I did too at the time. I was preparing the explosives when you rescued him.”

Marcellus’s heart was hammering. So was Scottie’s. “Go on,” Scottie said. The idea that his beloved sister could be in that level of danger had him feeling nauseous.

“Your daughter is a different story,” Bobcat said to Marcellus. “I was already ready. I wasn’t making that same mistake twice.”

“Where is she?” asked Marcellus.

“They blindfolded me. When I got there, it was an empty room. All I had to do was sit the box down, give him the remote, and then they blindfolded me again and took me away again. I didn’t see anybody or hear anybody.”

“Who did you give that remote to?” Marcellus asked. “And I dare you to tell me you don’t know because I know you do. You saw him. Who is he?”

“I don’t know his name--”

Marcellus slammed his head into that side window again and did so repeatedly again.

“Zorbo Lay!” Bobcat finally yelled out. “It was Zorbo. He paid me.”

Alex looked through the rearview mirror at Marcellus as he drove. He nor Oz had ever heard of that name.

But Marcellus and Scottie had. “Zorbo Lay?” Marcellus had incredulity in his voice. “Why would one of my department heads pay you to kidnap my children?”

Department head? Alex and Oz glanced at each other. And then they looked back at Marcellus.

“I don’t know why he did it,” said Bobcat. “He contacted me and asked if I wanted to make a big payday. I always did after you wiped me out of everything I ever owned in my life!”

“Stick your ass to the story,” Scottie ordered.

“He didn’t tell me why he wanted it done,” said Bobcat. “But he’s the one.”

Scottie looked at his father. He couldn’t believe it either. Zorbo Lay worked for Drakos Aeronautics for years. And still did! “Do it,” Marcellus said.

Scottie quickly pulled out his phone. His deputy chief came on the line. “This is for your ears only.”

Yes sir.”

“You personally go downstairs, with escorts, and get Zorbo Lay and detain him immediately. It’s a Level 1 detention with no exceptions and again your eyes only. Then call me once you have him in your custody.”

“Right away sir.”

Then Scottie ended the call.

“Where to?” Alex asked them.

“Drakos Aeronautics,” said Marcellus, and Alex continued driving.

But just less than five minutes later, they got the call. Zorbo Lay was not in the building and had not been seen since his meeting with Marcellus on yesterday.

“Gotdammit!” Scottie yelled out.

“I’ll get a team on it sir,” said his deputy over the phone.

“Make it a Top Priority Secret Catch on his capture. No details given to anyone. But put every available man on the chase,” Scottie added.

“Yes, sir! Right away sir,” his deputy said, and Scottie ended the call.

But Oz was on the phone as well, and his connections were on the case too.

Then they all looked at Marcellus. He was so distraught that it was painful to see.

“Where’s my daughter?” Marcellus bemoaned. “What has he done to my daughter?!”

Alex and Oz’s hearts went out to their half-brother. It was as if everything they had heard about him was as misguided as their own anger toward him. He was nothing like the picture they had painted of him. He was nothing like that man they thought it was their duty to despise.