Chapter 6



"I can't do it, Gabriel."
"Just this one favor for me, man. I have the cash."
"No, Gabe. If I do, you'll just go get yourself killed."
"If you don't, I'll just buy one from someone else."
He could see the determined look in Gabriel's eyes and knew there was no changing his mind now. "Fine. But when you're dead, don't say I didn't try to stop you."
He handed a gun to him, and Gabriel pushed some money across the counter. He pushed it away and said, "Keep it. I won't take money from a dead man."
Gabriel tucked the gun into his pants and left the store, leaving the money on the counter.
*******
Renee didn't know how long they had been there. There were no windows in the building. She couldn't ask the men. They would only talk to her long enough to tell her to shut up.
She was just starting to close her eyes to try to get some sleep when the door swung open, and sunlight flooded in. She squeezed her eyes shut to block the light out. When she felt it was safe, she opened them again.

A large man was standing in the middle of the room looking at them. He was rather handsome with short blond hair and piercing green eyes. But there was a look in his eyes that Renee instantly mistrusted. She saw Cara out of the corner of her eye and noticed that her face had gone white with fear.

The man walked over to Cara and looked down at her. "I would have liked to see you again under different circumstances, but I guess these will have to do."

"I never wanted to see you again under any circumstances."

"Look . . ."

"No, you look. When I figured out what you were, I didn't want to be dragged down with you. I used to think you loved me, but living in fear of you proved me wrong. I was finished with that. So why don't you just leave me alone?"

He grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. Renee stood up and stepped between them. She pushed him away from her friend. He took a step backward, surprised. Then he stepped forward and pushed her to the floor.

Her shoulder hit the concrete floor, and tears of pain came to her eyes. She saw him dragging a struggling Cara toward the door of the building, but knew she couldn't do anything to stop him. She was going to try anyway. Renee stood up and started walking forward. Her knee, however, wouldn't work right, and with every step, stabs of pain went through her arm.

She took another step forward, and her knee went out from under her. She fell to the floor and couldn't get her leg under her to stand up again. Before he went through the door, she heard someone ask him, "What do you want us to do with the other one?"

"I don't care," he replied with a shrug. "Kill her."

He pulled Cara after him and left. The men turned around, and the one who seemed to be in charge walked over to her. She looked at him with mixed fear and defiance in her eyes.

"I don't want to kill you," he told her. "But I don't see any other choice."

"You could just let me go," she suggested.

"So you could tell your cop buddies where to find us? Sorry, but that's not a possibility."

"You can't kill me. She'll come after you and won't stop until you're dead." The paleness of her face contradicted the assurance in her voice.

The man turned around. He remembered reading about the men Miffe had hired before. They had all been killed with a sword. He had to think of a way to get rid of this girl without that happening to him.

*******

Gabriel walked down the street not sure where he should start looking. He came to an abandoned building and for some reason felt he should check there. He pulled his gun out and walked toward it. The feel of the gun in his hand was reassuring yet frightening.

Walking around the corner of the building, he found the door. Gabriel approached it warily, unsure of what he would find inside. He stepped through and had to let his eyes adjust to the dim lighting.

There were three men inside. One had a gun pointing at him and the other two were pointing their guns at Renee. He raised his gun to point it at the man facing him. A bullet slammed into the stock of Gabriel's gun and sent a shock of pain into his hand and up his arm. He dropped the gun and grabbed his hand. This caused pain to shoot through his already injured arm.

The man advanced on him and his mind raced to remember what Ian had taught him. Stay calm, he reminded himself. Think about your actions.

The man had reached him by this time. He reached out to grab Gabriel, but the younger man knocked his arms away, then hit him in the mouth. He followed it with a fist to the nose.

One of the other men left Renee and came over to help his partner. He wrapped his arms around Gabriel so he couldn't get away. Gabriel started to panic, then forced himself to stay calm. He kicked his feet out and fell to the floor, bringing the other man down with him.

He was up quicker than the larger man, but before he could use this to his advantage, the other man grabbed Gabriel by his shirt collar. This pulled his sleeve up, showing the bandage. The man grinned wickedly and tore the sleeve off. Then he ripped the bandage off and hit Gabriel's arm right on the wound. He cried out in pain as it opened and started bleeding again.

He hit him in the same spot several more times, then pushed him to the floor. Gabriel struggled to his feet, but was getting weaker as the blood left his body. The man hit him in the stomach, then hit his jaw, and Gabriel fell to the floor again. He didn't have the strength to get up.

Renee crawled over to him. His eyes had been closed, but he opened them when he felt her beside him. She picked up the torn off sleeve and used it to try to stop the bleeding. She held it on the wound with one hand. With the other one, she held his hand. He looked up at her and smiled. then his eyes closed.

*******

Sara was turning her computer on when she heard a knock on the door. She looked up to see Captain Richards standing in the doorway. "Is something wrong, Pezzeni?" He asked. "Looked like something was bothering you when you came in."

"Gabriel's missing. So are Renee and Cara. I need to find them."

"I'll send someone out to look for them."

"Thanks, sir."

He left and she turned back to her computer. Sara started to search for anything she could find on Dakota Miffe. In an hour she had found out a lot. One of his connections was Kenneth Irons. That told Sara all she needed to know. Of course she knew she would never get any information out of him.

She also found out where some of Miffe's warehouses were located in the city. She was about to leave to check them out when her phone rang. "Pezzeni."

"Pez, it's Jake. They found Cara. I'll meet you on the corner of Edmund and Heath Street."

"I'll be right there." She didn't like what she heard in his voice. It sounded devastated.

She walked quickly outside, jumped on her bike, and started toward the appointed place. When she arrived, there was a crowd gathered around the side of a building. She pushed her way through, saying "Excuse me" and "Let me through" until she was in the front.

Jake was standing by a sheet-covered body. He looked at her, and she saw a pained look in his eyes. She hesitated a moment, then lifted the sheet. What she saw made her want to be sick.

Cara was laying there, her naked body exposed. There were visible signs of abuse all over her body. Her throat was slit, and her eyes were open, staring toward the sky. Sara dropped the sheet back over her body and turned away.

"Jake, get her body out of here. "I'm gonna get this guy."

"Pez, I'm coming with you."

She looked at him, knowing how he felt. "No, Jake. I'll take care of him. You take care of her."

She pushed her way back through the crowd and got on her bike. A rage started to rise in her as she rode to one of the warehouses on her list. She had only known Cara for a couple of months, but they had become friends in that time. Sara knew that she had meant even more to Jake.

She stopped in front of a warehouse and walked inside with her gun drawn. It was empty. She turned around and kicked the wall in frustration.

"Anger will not find them."

She spun around and looked at Danny. "Nothing else is working either," she snapped at him.

"They will be found. All you need is patience."

"I don't have time for patience! They could already be dead."

"They aren't. You still have time." With that he disappeared, and she left to check out the next warehouse.

*******

Gabriel's head was in Renee's lap when he started to wake up. He groaned then started to open his eyes. Renee put her hand on his shoulder. "Lie still," she whispered. "You lost a lot of blood. You don't need to lose any more."

He looked up at her and smiled. She pushed his hair out of his face, then ran her fingers down his nose and to his lips. "When we get out of here," he whispered weakly.

She smiled at him, then took his hand in hers and squeezed it. Bringing it up to her lips, she kissed it. "You should go back to sleep," she told him.

"Only if you go with me."

She lifted his head out of her lap and laid it gently on the floor. Then, she laid sown beside him and put one arm under him, and the other one went around his back.

She woke up several hours later to find him thrashing around. Renee rolled to her knees and put her hands on his shoulders to hold him still. Sweat beaded his forehead, and there was a feverish look is his glazed eyes. She put a hand to his forehead and found it hot to the touch. She stroked his head for several minutes until he finally stopped thrashing. She rose to her feet and made her way slowly over to the men. "There's no reason for you to keep us here. Why don't you let us go?"

"I already told you once. You'll tell your cop buddies about us. Can't risk that."

"But he's going to die if I don't get him to a doctor." She was almost in tears at the thought.

The man just shrugged. "That's his fault. He shouldn't have been so stupid."

"Bastard," she hissed through her teeth as she lunged at him.

The other two men grabbed her arms and pulled her up short of her target, whose face had gone pale. The color was coming back as he advanced on her. She was struggling to get away, but wasn't able to. A fierce pain was radiating from her knee and it almost gave out on her. She would have fallen if the men hadn't been holding her up.

He had reached her and was smiling wickedly. She glared at him defiantly. She was shaking so much inside that she didn't trust her own voice. He slapped her, leaving a red mark on her face and opening a cut at the corner of her mouth. "Now, go sit down. You can do your boyfriend a lot more good if you're alive."

The men tossed her to the ground, and she landed on her side. Her hip, elbow, and shoulder hit against the hard, cement floor. She tried to stand up, but her leg folded on her, and she sank back to the floor. She dragged herself back over to Gabriel and laid beside him as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

*******

"I can't find him. I can't find Renee and Gabriel. I don't even know where to start." Sara put her head in her hands. She was frustrated with all the dead ends.

"Let me help you, Pez," Jake said.

"Jake, I know how you feel."

"Then let me help you get him."

"Jake, I can't"

"Why not?"

"You're too close."

"And you're not? She was your friend too."

Sara lowered her head and sighed.

"Pez, I want to get this guy."

She looked up again. "I do too, but we have to leave revenge out of this."

"I don't want revenge. I want justice."

She thought for a moment, then said, "All right. Let's go," She said as she grabbed her coat.

"Where are we going?"

"Vorschlag Industries."

*******

Gabriel's shirt was soaked with sweat. Renee had pulled it off of him hours ago to use it to mop the sweat from his body. He was burning up, but was shivering like he was cold. The sweat continued to pour forth, and Renee didn't know how to make him more comfortable.

He had been like this for several hours. She wasn't sure exactly how long though. Time seemed to drag by. His fever wasn't getting any better. In fact, it was getting worse as each hour passed. Renee was afraid that he was going to die if he didn't get help soon.

She could heat the three men talking. "He's suffering enough as it is," the leader told the other two.

"Aw, can't we at least have some fun with him?"

He let out a sigh. "Go ahead. But leave her alone. I don't know about the boss, but I wouldn't mind some time alone with her."

The men chuckled as they walked over to the two captives. Renee jumped to her feet and stood between them and Gabriel. "Don't go near him," she said in a threatening voice.

"Get out of the way," one of them replied, pushing her away.

The other man pulled a bottle out of his pocket and opened it. He bent down and held it over Gabriel's face. Turning it over, he emptied the contents into the cuts on his face. He let out a scream of pain, then started muttering incoherently. The men just laughed to themselves. "It's not that bad, boy. It's just whiskey."

One of them kicked him in the side and laughed when he groaned in pain. He brought his foot back for another kick. Renee chose this time to launch herself at his other leg. He stumbled and fell to the ground. The other man grabbed her as she started to get up. He dragged her over to the leader and dropped her to the floor. "Have fun with this little spitfire," he said with a grin.

The leader reached down and grabbed her arm. She jerked it away. "Keep your hands off of me."

He grabbed her again and said in a menacing voice, "I will tell you what to do. Now stay on the floor."

She stood up and glared at him in defiance. He rose from his seat and looked down at her. "When I say stay on the floor, I want you to be laying on the floor."

"I don't care what you want."

"Get down."

"No."

A fist flew into her stomach, and another one crossed to her jaw. Her legs crumpled, and she fell to the floor. He grinned as he got to his knees.