Chapter 5:-
The Dodge seemed to trudge home as wearily as Taylor felt – but then, they had been together for some years. On the other hand, Matty sat beside him, looking like the cat that got the cream. He wasn't knocking it, he was pleased for him and Innez was gorgeous. Not as gorgeous as Rachel, in his opinion, but she wasn't bad.
He couldn't wait to crawl into bed beside Rachel tonight, and just curl around her, feeling her breathing deeply beside him, feeling the baby move under the weight of his hand. He flicked his cigarette butt out of the window and hoped the smell wouldn't bother her, he'd tried to give up but well, shit, work drove him to it.
There had been another bust up at the club tonight, another bouncer in hospital and he and Matty had vowed to look for new jobs tomorrow – anything was better than this. If anything happened to Matty, Rachel would kill him. He never even thought about if anything happened to him.
Taylor pulled the Dodge up and they both got out. "Looks like Rach waited up for you, man," Matty was looking up. The apartment lights were on, unusual for this time – she was usually out like a light by 10.30pm. Being pregnant had made her tired as well as horny, he smiled. 'No, she's always been horny as fuck,' he thought to himself.
Taylor shrugged, "unless Innez came back!"
"Now that would be nice," Matty was grinning like a Cheshire cat.
They climbed the stairs to the apartment and Taylor saw it first – the door to the apartment was wide open. "Fuck!" Taylor whispered quietly.
Matty looked over Taylor's shoulder and saw the door open, "what the…"
Taylor nudged the door, no sign of her in the kitchen or the living room. They inched their way into the building. All sorts of things were running through Taylor's mind: 'what if something's happened to the baby?' 'What if she fell in the shower?' Shit! He marched through the apartment. She wasn't in the bedroom or the bathroom. "FUCK! FUCK!...FUCK!" he shouted.
Matty had grabbed the phone and dialed her cell number; they both heard her phone ring in her bag on the coffee table. Matty dialed Innez's number, it rang for ages, finally, "hello?"
"Innez, its Matty. Rachel's not there is she?"
"Rachel. No. Haven't …." She yawned again. "Sorry. No, I haven't seen her since she went to the cinema with Taylor. Matty, what's wrong?" she listened while Matty explained. "Ok, I'll be there as soon as I can." Innez dropped the phone and ran to change.
Taylor was thumping his fist in his hand, pacing the room, and shaking his head.
"Fuck Matty, where can she be?" Taylor' eyes were welling up. "What if something's happened to her? What if something's happened to the baby? FUCK!!" he shouted.
"I'm gonna call the hospital," Matty dialed the number but, no, they hadn't had a Rachel Deserve in tonight.
Suddenly Taylor burst out of the apartment and up the stairs, Matty close on his heels, "Taylor? What is it?"
"Man, I knew it!" he took the steps two at a time, only stopping when he reached the apartment directly above theirs.
"Knew what? Taylor?" Matty followed him.
Taylor hammered on the door, knowing there would be no answer. "Those two fucking guys. I had a feeling. We passed them on the stairs tonight and Rachel spoke to them. Didn't recognize their faces," he hammered on the door again. "But when the big one spoke I thought the voice sounded familiar." He was shouldering the door, using all his hulking body against it.
Matty joined Taylor and the door burst its hinges, they both flew into the room. "It was the voice, man. I heard it in Teddy's club that night he asked you to go to Spokane to get the money from Georgie Yarkus."
The apartment was deserted, a few bits of crappy furniture to make it look like someone was there. Take-away cartons littered the place and a folder lay on the coffee table. Taylor picked it up. He opened it feeling sick to his stomach. A picture of Rachel and a few sheets of paper, reports from a P.I.
"But Teddy's dead. We shot him. Both of us. Six shots each. He was dead." Matty couldn't believe this; no way could Teddy be alive. No way!
Taylor passed the file to Matty and he opened it. There were a dozen or so photo's of them coming and going from the apartment. He flicked through the papers, glancing at the details.
"Whoever they were, they've got her," Matty said. "And if they got her, they're heading back to Brooklyn."
Taylor's face fell even more, "man, they can't fly her, she's pregnant. They can't fly her out and the drive will be too long."
Innez was in the doorway. "I heard you from downstairs." She went over to Matty and Taylor and took the file. "She can fly Taylor. Up till the seventh month – I remember her saying something when she was reading one of her books."
Matty and Taylor looked at each other, and realization sank in. Whoever had her, had taken her back to New York. And they had to go.
They went back down to their apartment and grabbed a few clothes and the file and left to get a flight to Brooklyn. Matty offered to drop Innez off at her apartment but she said she was going with them. They called at her apartment to pick up some clothes and her bag; she stuffed the file in her bag and got back in the Dodge.
A flight was due to leave in about two hours. Taylor waited outside, chain-smoking. Matty and Innez waited in the lounge. "Fuck, Innez. If anything happens to her…"
"Who's got her?" Innez knew Teddy Deserve was dead. Rachel herself had shot him.
"Has to be Teddy. Benny's got no need for her and Theresa hated her guts." Matty thought about Marbles and Scarpa, and how it felt when they died. Tears fell down his cheeks.
"We'll get her back. Taylor will get her back," she wrapped her arms around him and held him close, watching Taylor outside in the moonlight.
They boarded their flight and Taylor was like a caged animal the entire trip. They were all glad to get off the plane. His anger didn't lesson on the way to Benny Chains club.
There was a knock on Benny Chains office door, "come in."
His face registered three figures. His son, Taylor and a girl.