Lost (Book 6 of the Forbidden Series)

19

Miami Florida…

Zeke sat in the rear of the courtroom watching the proceedings for the fourth day in a row. He had yet to be called, but he had spent the last two evenings being prepped for court by the District Attorney. Zeke tried very hard to focus on the task at hand, but his thoughts kept migrating back to the woman he had left in New York.

Did she miss him? Did she think of him? Of course not, he had to remind himself. It was fool hearted to believe he meant anything to her. She had made it very clear she could never love him. That she would never care for him the way, he did for her. He was only torturing himself.

Zeke tried to shake off the thoughts of Kat and focus on the trial. He had cleaned up for the witness stand. He put on a clean suit and tied back his hair. He had shaven that morning and made an honest attempt to appear presentable. The men seated at the defendant table kept looking back to glare at him. Men he had called friends for the last few years of his life. Understandably they felt betrayed, after all, he had deliberately deceived them and then used their confidence to put them in prison.

The judge called for a recess and slammed down his gavel. The court rose while the judge exited. Zeke was about to leave when he bumped into someone. He apologized and absentmindedly walked past them. It was a moment before he realized the man he had run in to had stuffed something bulky into his jacket pocket. Zeke looked back to see if he could spot the man, but he was nowhere to be seen among the crowd.

Reaching into his pocket, Zeke pulled out a bunched-up ball of paper. Zeke opened the paper and read what was written there. Dead men don’t talk. Simple and to the point. It was typed out and not signed, but Zeke knew full well who it was from and what it was intended to do. The Fiends were trying to intimidate him from testifying. It wasn’t going to work. He wouldn’t be intimidated. Zeke immediately took the threat to the prosecutor and turned it over.

He spent the recess discussing the threat, and the prosecutor added a charge of witness tampering. Zeke was told he was going to be called next when court resumed. They were in the middle of discussing their strategy when a bailiff came over and whispered in the prosecutor’s ear. He then left quickly, and Zeke heard the doors lock behind him.

“What’s happening?” Zeke demanded.

“The courthouse is going into lockdown.” The prosecutor explained.

“What for?”

“Jared’s escaped.”

Dread filled Zeke. He had to be kidding. How on earth had Jared escaped in the middle of the courthouse? He was handcuffed, guarded, and there was security posted at every exit. The man should not have been able to escape. Jared would be coming after him, Zeke knew this. He wanted vengeance for Zeke’s betrayal.

“We’ll wait until the courthouse is cleared and then we’ll have a police detail take you back to your hotel.” The prosecutor said. “We’ll have men on you at all times.”

“It took me three years to collar that guy. Just find him.”

Zeke had been held for four hours in the courthouse while the strategic response team thoroughly searched every nook and cranny of the building looking for Jared. Once they were satisfied he was not hiding anywhere in the building, they lifted the lockdown, and everyone was free to go. Kurt assigned a detail to Zeke to escort him back to his hotel room.

He was thankful to get out of the courthouse. They stopped for dinner at a fast food drive-thru before heading to the hotel. When they reached the low rent hotel, the detail fell silent as they all saw what Zeke saw. The door to his room was ajar. Busted open likely with a crowbar. Dropping their takeout bags on the floor in the hall each man pulled their weapon.

Without a word and their backs to the wall, they moved quickly into the room to overtake whoever may be inside. It was only a moment before the small room was cleared. There was no one inside, but the room had clearly been ransacked. It had not taken Jared and his men long to find out where Zeke was staying.

Zeke went inside after his fellow agents allowed him, he tossed his bag of food on the table that two of the other men had set right. The room was in shambles. The bed had been torn apart, and his bag had been dumped out on the floor and rifled through. “Tucker you better come see this.” One of the agents called to him from the washroom.

What now, had they smashed the mirror too? Zeke groaned, and stepping over the shambles of his room he headed for the washroom. He stepped inside and saw the worried look on the agent’s face and then he saw what was worrying him. The picture he carried of him and Kat had been taken from his bag. Her face had been scratched out with a razor blade from his shaving kit. Across the mirror in toothpaste read I found you, and I’ll find your w***e too.

His heart almost stopped, and Zeke felt like he could not breathe. Jared was going after Kat. He wanted to hurt Zeke, want to kill the woman he loved before killing him. “Call Kurt, tell him Jared is going after Katherine Thompson, and we need a security detail on her immediately.” He managed to get out as he left the washroom and searched the room for the keys to his bike. Finding them, he rushed to the door.

“Where are you going?” Asked the agent as he headed for the door

“New York.” He would drive all night and break every speed limit if he must, but he would beat that madman to her.