Patrick's POV
Minutes passed slower than they should. Andrew and I sat in the hospital's waiting room, trying to keep our anxieties from going ramped while also being as quiet as possible in order to not wake up Jared. We had yet to hear about his girlfriend's condition but that was the last thing on our minds at this point.
Dread and tension could be felt through out every corner of the room but as time went on people slowly began to calm down, but it could be noted that no one's hand strayed too far from the gun on their side.
When an hour passed and we were not forced to flee the building, I took it as a good sign. Jem, at the very least checked in with his friends, was safe for now and that was good enough for me. When the second hour passed I could feel myself starting to get antsy again while Andrew blinking constantly just to keep him awake.
I could blame him though. It was already midnight and after a full day of work with more work in the morning, I was pretty tired too but my need to make sure Jem was okay outweighed the need for sleep.
When the third hour passed I convinced myself Jem was making us wait out of sheer spite. Clearly the punishment he gave us earlier hadn't been enough for him and I was tempted to follow Andrew's lead on sleep when a light tap on my shoulder kept me from drifting into dreams.
I turned my head to see Jem standing there, looking a little worse for wear but other wise fine, with his index finger to his lips as he looked over at Andrew, who was completely passed out and was laying on Jared's shoulder.
I nodded and that was all Jem needed to walk away with me close on his heels.
"Are you okay," I asked as soon as we were out of earshot from Andrew.
"I'm fine."
"What took so long getting back?"
"It was a long drive but I've been here for a while already," he admitted, confirming my thoughts on him purposefully making us wait up for him.
"And you didn't feel the need to tell us," I asked, struggling to keep my voice down as we entered the living room. Several people were laid sprawled out and asleep on the couch, wanting to be close to their friends in the hospital but not wanting to sleep in uncomfortable chairs. "This might be hard for you to comprehend but some of us get worried when people we like disappear for several hours at a time. We've been worrying about you for hours! What could you have possibly been doing that would take that long?"
"Planning," he said simply as he approached the door to his side of the house.
"And you couldn't stop for three seconds just to let us know you weren't dead?"
"I needed Andrew asleep before I did anything else. This isn't the kind of thing you talk to sweet little therapists about," he said a bit too harshly as he pushed his door open. He didn't bother saying another word as he walked down the hallway to get to his office.
"Where's the other one," Devon asked the second we walked in.
"Asleep."
"So go wake him up," Barrett demanded.
"He's exhausted, let him be," Jem brushed off as he sat behind his desk casually.
"Bullshit," Devon scoffed.
"You just don't another voice of reason to dismiss this plan of yours," Barrett agreed.
"You're not wrong."
"And you're not going through with it," Devon said. His voice left no room for argument. It was rough and final but Jem didn't seem to care.
"That's not for you to decide," he said with a small shrug as if he couldn't care less about his friend's opinion.
"What plan," I asked before I had a chance to stop myself. "Why would you need a plan anyway? Devon said it was just an attack. Don't you just need to know who did it and get one with it?"
"Normally yes, but they took something from me and I want it back."
"Can't you cut your losses on this one? I'm sure a few hundred dollars of drugs or guns won't hurt you that much."
"If it were drugs or guns I would have," Jem agreed sadly. "They took a man that worked for me. That man's first son will be born in a month or so, I would imagine he wants to be here for that."
The room was silent for a moment; Devon and Barrett mourned the lost of their friend who wasn't even gone yet while I didn't know what else to say in a situation like this.
"What's this plan of yours then?"
"Don't even ask that," Barrett scolded. "I'm not sure you can even call it a plan. It's more like a fucking suicide mission."
"Don't be so dramatic," Jem waved off.
"Then don't be so stupid." Jem only rolled his eyes before looking back at me.
"Elijah Down, ever heard of him?"
"No," I asked sadly after searching my mind of every gang leader and murder suspect I could remember off the top of my head.
"Shit," Jem sighed. "Me either and that's a problem. He's the one who has my man. He somehow got my new phone's number and called me after the raid, willing to set up a trade."
"That's good. At least it will be over soon," I said, honestly not knowing what I had to do with any of this and why Jem would want to keep Andrew out of it.
"Ask him what that psychopath wants," Devon offered as he glared at Jem.
"A man for a man," Jem said simply. "It's fair enough."
"You're not just any man," Barrett seethed.
"I might as well be. What makes my life any better than Kellan's? Because I have you two as friends and he doesn't? Because I own the gang that he just works for? Because Patrick and Andrew feel the need to worry about me while his wife and kids worry about him?"
"That's not the point. Since when do we make deals with people like this? We shouldn't be planning a trade we should be planning a raid of our own."
"And risk a war we have no business starting? You expect our men to fight because I wouldn't hand over myself for the sake of peace?" Devon and Barrett both scowled at the answer.
"The problem is, I'm not the only one he wants," Jem sighed. "For whatever reason, he wants you and Andrew too, and that's what I can't allow."
"So you're allowed to get yourself killed but not us," I asked rhetorically but Jem only smiled brightly.
"Exactly! I'm glad someone finally understands how this works."
"This is a terrible plan," I scoffed, noting how pleased Barrett looked that I was siding with them.
"You haven't even heard the plan yet," Devon said dimly. "These are just Elijah's demands."
"As if it could get worse than this but fine, what's the actual plan?"
"I go in wearing a wire and a tracker. Dev and Barrett will be able to find me before anything bad has a chance to happen. We'll have a raid team on hand, ready to go and when the time is right, they'll come in and take me back. Simple as that."
"How is that any better than just getting Kellan back ourselves? You're raiding regardless. A war will break out anyway, might as well do it the safest way possible and do it to get Kellan back."
"Not necessarily. One of our men, probably Barrett with kill Elijah while someone else, probably Dev comes to find me while the rest kills everyone they can find. By the time all of us are home free word will have gotten out that Elijah is dead and someone from my gang killed him, making it common knowledge that the remainder of his gang is mine and that I own everything he left behind. Even if a few of his members survive the raid they'll go underground to avoid merging with us and getting punished for being involved in Kellan's ordeal. The whole thing will be over within a day."
"Assuming nothing goes horribly wrong," Devon chimed in with a frown.
"Nothing is going to go wrong."
"You hope," Barrett scoffed.
"I still don't see why we can't just do that plan now for Kellan," I said making Jem sigh deeply.
"Jem is playing God," Barret said with a glare. "He's not going to do anything dangerous unless he's the only one who has a chance of dying in the process."
"It's not that. Think for a second. They will have gotten what they wanted. They'll all be in such a good mood that the biggest boss in the city came to them on his knees they won't be too bothered with anything else. I'll have their sole attention while everyone else is celebrating. If we go in while they still have Kellan they'll be expecting it."
"And what if they kill you the second you're alone with them," I asked even though I didn't want to think about that.
"Then it's been a pretty shit run anyway," Jem declared as he leaned back in his chair. "I expect you two to not be far behind me. Finish the job then off yourselves. I refuse to live a life in hell without you suffering with me," he said as he smirked at his two best friends.
"You'll suffer alone. It's a fitting punishment for your stupidity," Barrett said with a harsh glare.
"This isn't funny James," Devon seethed out, nothing but anger coursing through his eyes. "You could die because of this you dumbass."
"Do your job correctly and I won't," Jem said just as harshly.
"That doesn't change the fact that he wants me and Andrew too. He won't settle for just you."
"Luck for us, as of two hours ago, you and Andrew got on a flight to France. I hear the weather is lovely there this time of year," he said as he dropped two pay stubs for plane tickets onto the desk with our names on each of them. "If he comes looking for you he'll start there giving Barrett and Dev enough time to get you as far away as possible. Elijah will have to take what he can get."
"This is still a stupid plan and it's not going to work," Devon sighed. "We made him get you hoping you and Andrew would be able to talk some sense into him."
Andrew probably could have, at least a little bit; it made sense why he wanted until he was asleep to come get me. Still, if his two best friends couldn't talk him out of it, what chance did I stand?
"Don't do this," I sighed as I rubbed my face tiredly. "We have a name now. Let me see what I can find out about him in the morning. Let me find something to charge him with. Let me convince the station to go after him. Keep your hands clean from this."
"You really think you can manage all of that in a day? We have less than 24 hours to get this done or Elijah will be a lot less cooperative and that will be even more dangerous. Besides, people are going to die one way or another; would you rather it be your men legally or his out of spite? That and do you really think your department is going to give two shits about a gang war? They won't know anything about you nearly dying; they'll think it's just two gangs doing what gangs do best. Cops are way more willing to let us battle it out and take care of the survivor later than they are to step in the middle of something like this."
I probably couldn't even find anything to charge him with by tomorrow if he was anywhere near as careful as Jem. Without that I couldn't build a case, I couldn't get a warrant for his arrest, and I definitely wouldn't be able to convince the department.
I sighed to myself again while Devon shot me a glare.
"This is a shit plan."
"Do you have a better one," Jem asked smugly, knowing good and damn well I didn't.
"Not yet but if you'd give us time," Barrett started.
"We don't have time. We're wasting more than enough time just talking about it. We could have already been planning this in detail with the raid team, making perfectly sure that all of our loose ends were tired if you would just give in already."
"You would be acting this way if it were us trying to get ourselves killed," Devon pouted.
"Thankfully we haven't been put in that situation yet and I don't plan on ever letting that happen either so let's not even bring it up. No better plan can be made in this little time?"
When no one offered anything else Jem nodded. The smug smirk he had been wearing since he got back dropped for a split second before he stood up and marched towards the door.
"Everyone's asleep right now, no reason in waking them up yet. Get some sleep. We're starting early tomorrow. And you," he said, barely sparing me a glance, "you're not going to work in the morning and neither is Andrew, make sure he knows."
"I'll get Andrew," I said as he kept walking towards his room. "We'll come to your room in a minute."
"I'd prefer if you didn't actually," he called back stiffly, his door shutting harshly behind him, only to be opened a few seconds later as a whistle pulled from his lips. The second all three dogs entered his room, the door was shut again, leaving the three of us to stare at his office door, not knowing what else to do.
"Do take it personally," Devon sighed. "He gets like this when he's stupid. Don't expect him to be all lovey in the morning either. He likes to act like a real asshole if there's a possibility he might die. I guess he thinks a few hours of him being insufferable is enough to make us forget that we like him most of the time."
"He's going to be okay though, right?"
"Of course he is," Barrett brushed off sarcastically as he pushed himself away from the wall. "He's the great Jem King. He can get out of worse situations than this blindfolded with his hands tied behind his back. At least, he's convinced he can."
Barrett doesn't say another word as he leaves the office, leaving Devon and I alone.
"No matter what happens, he's going to be a mess when he gets back," Devon said as he looked down at the floor. "He could loose only one man and he'd have a break down but we're going to war and he's going to loose a lot more than just one. You need to be ready for that. I don't know what you two did last time but it worked so, get ready to try it again."
I could feel myself nodding but I don't remember telling my body to do it.
"You'll be on the raid team, right?"
"As if he could keep me away," he scoffed.
"Please keep him safe," I begged barely above a whisper.
"I planned to," he confirmed before he's face dropped. The emotionless mask he always wore shattered as tears began welling up in his eyes. "But if I don't make it out, don't let him blame himself. Keep him healthy."
He extended his hand to me and I accepted it with a firm handshake, sealing our unspoken deal.
"And for the love of God keep Barrett away from fire," he said with a shaky laugh as he pulled away.
I watched as he blinked his tears away quickly and his stoic face returned. He gave me a simple nod before heading back to his own room.
"Thank you Devon," I called out before he even reached the threshold of the door.
He turned and gave me a once over before the smallest smile graced his lips.
"It's Dev. Don't thank me yet. I promised to bring him home. I never said I would let him come back unscathed. The bastard will be lucky if I don't shoot him my damn self when this is over."
A laugh forced it's way out of me as he turned and disappeared down the hall without another word.
Last updated March 9, 2022