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Chapter Twenty-eight
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I was so proud of Vee for facing her father, but I was also terrified for her safety. I couldn’t stand the thought of something happening to her, and I wanted to convince her to walk away and try to forget she ever had a sister, but I knew that would never happen. I’d only ever cared about myself before, but now I cared about her, too. If I hadn’t thought losing her sister as well would change some fundamental part of who Vee was, I’d have gone against her wishes and hog-tied her, and gotten her the hell away from New York.
But I knew we had to go through with this, and all I could do was try my best to keep her safe.
We went back to the motel room. We’d wait until it got dark before heading down to the location Vee’s father had told us about. The darkness would offer more cover for me to hide in to keep an eye on Vee.
When day moved to late evening, we packed up our things and made our way down to the warehouse district on the Hudson River. A part of me wondered if Mickey Five Fingers would really let his daughter do this alone, and that we might get down there only to discover he’d already sent his men in, and we’d walk into a bloodbath. He knew Vee was alive now, and would most likely send someone after her. My only solace was that he didn’t have instant access to the outside world, and these things took time to set up. I was sure he’d send someone after Vee, but he might not have the opportunity to do so right away.
She was quieter than usual as we parked the car a couple of blocks from the location. Her gaze darted around, her shoulders self-consciously rounded, her head down. I knew she was worried about being spotted by someone she knew, so I put my arm around her shoulders and allowed her to hide her face against me.
We walked to the strip where the warehouses were located. The vast expanse of the river rushed by on the other side.
“How are we going to know which one belongs to Tony?” she asked anxiously, scanning the identical buildings.
“We sit and wait. Sooner or later, we’ll see someone either coming or going. I bet you any amount of money that Tony’s guys stick out compared to regular warehouse workers.”
We bought coffee and newspapers from a newsstand and took a seat on a bench to keep watch. We hadn’t been there more than thirty minutes before a large black car—similar to the one we’d been driving, pulled up outside one of the warehouses farther down the block.
These weren’t people who felt the need to lie low. They worked on a basis of fear and corruption, and anyone who caused them any trouble would most likely end up badly hurt or even dead. They dressed well and drove expensive cars because they wanted their rivals to see they were successful and shouldn’t be fucked with.
“That’s our place,” I said softly to Vee.
She watched from over the top of the newspaper she was holding as the men ignored the large doorway in the front of the warehouse to walk around the side.
“There must be another entrance around there,” she said.
“Yeah. I guess that’ll be our way in.”
She started to stand, but I put my hand out to halt her. “I want to go now,” she protested. “They have Nicole.”
“We wait until nightfall. More cover then. You need to look like you’re going in alone, and that won’t work if someone spots me.”
I nodded to a clump of bushes which ran alongside the wall. On the other side of the wall, the river ran relentlessly. “We can’t sit here for much longer without raising suspicions, though. How are you at sitting still for a period of time?”
“No idea. I’ve never needed to do it.”
“If we hide over there, we’ll be able to see people coming and going. It’ll give us an idea of how many are inside, and how many we’ll need to deal with. Plus, we’ll be able to see if they move your sister, assuming she’s even in there, of course.”
“Is that likely?” she asked in alarm.
“Most likely not, but it’s best to be prepared.”
We waited until we were sure there were no passersby, and then ran over to the bushes. Crouching low, we secreted ourselves between the foliage and the wall. Through the tightly knit branches, we could see the front of the property.
About twenty minutes later, the two men we’d seen arriving left by the same car.
Around us, dark crept in and streetlights began to brighten, illuminating the area.
Still, we sat and waited.
