I give Brad some medication that will help with his pain and headache.
“Do you remember when you were attacked?” asks Phil.
“It was late last night,” answers Brad and then Brad rubs his forehead with his left hand.
“Do you have any idea who would do this to you?” I ask Brad.
Brad looks at me, thinks about my question, and then starts to break down.
I look at Phil and wonder why Brad just got upset.
Phil, Brody, and I hear some commotion around our main gate and Brody says, “I’ll take care of it.”
Phil looks at me and says, “I’ll help him.”
“Good idea,” I reply to Phil and then Phil and Brody exit Brody’s house.
Brad looks at me and says, “I’m sorry Ryan.”
I’m confused at what Brad is sorry about and ask Brad, “For what?”
Brad looks at me and he’s hesitant to answer.
I see that Brad wants to tell me something and yet again he’s hesitant for some reason.
Brad gathers his thoughts, lets out a breath of air, and says to me, “For how I’ve been acting lately… Sal, Jacob, and DK want me to…”
I think I know where this is going and say, “I figured something was up. You were acting so weird lately.”
“They have my wife and they threatened to kill her if I didn’t do what they say,” says Brad.
“Who has your wife?” I ask Brad.
“Sal, he took her and has her in one of his condos,” answers Brad.
I think about what Brad just told me and I kind of feel bad for Brad.
“Is she still alive?” I ask Brad.
“I don’t know,” answers Brad.
I hear the commotion getting louder and louder outside near our front gate.
I look at Brad and say, “Try and get some rest, you are safe here.”
“Thank you Ryan, but I really need to be getting back home. I have to know if my wife is still alive,” replies Brad.
BANG!
I hear a loud gunshot come from around our main gate.
I run out of Brody’s house and I see everyone is quiet now.
Phil lowers his handgun and shouts, “Now that’s better!”
“What the fuck happened?” I shout.
“I fired a warning shot into the air to quiet everyone down!” shouts Phil.
I walk over to Phil, Brody, and our entrance guards and look at Dalton, Dean, and Jaws Junior who are standing together next to Jaws Junior’s car.
“I told you, we aren’t connected with the guy being beaten up and dropped here,” says Dean.
“So it’s just a coincidence that you two were on guard duty last night and this morning we find Brad across the street?” shouts Phil.
“Yeah!” shouts Dalton.
“Why are you so buddy-buddy with these two now?” I ask Jaws Junior.
“What? What do you mean?” answers Jaws Junior.
“You seem to be hanging out with these two a lot lately,” I answer Jaws Junior.
Jaws Junior doesn’t respond.
“What’s your deal? Where did you two come from?” I ask Dalton and Dean.
“Our deal?” asks Dalton with a sarcastic tone.
“Yeah, like where were you before you came here,” I answer.
“The Have, we came from the Have,” answers Dean with some nervousness in his voice.
“You mean the Haven?” asks Brody to Dean.
“Yeah, there, we came from the Haven,” quickly answers Dean.
“Before that?” I ask Dean.
Dean looks at Dalton and neither of them answer.
“Well, you gonna answer?” I ask with an aggressive tone.
Dean looks at Dalton with a sad look on his face and Dalton answers, “We were on the street. We were homeless okay?”
“What happened to your families?” asks Brody.
“They were killed by the dead,” answers Dean.
I start to feel bad for Dean and Dalton and I think everyone else does too.
“Well, go home and you are both off guard duty until we figure this out,” I say.
“Okay,” replies Dean with a sad tone.
Dean and Dalton look at Jaws Junior and Jaws Junior asks, “So we can’t go to my house and get my bike today?”
“They aren’t going with you,” I answer.
Dean and Dalton walk away from us and towards their house that is in the same cul-de-sac where Brody’s house is in and Dean says to Dalton, “That was a pretty good line about us being homeless and about our families. I think they bought it.”
CHAPTER 15
ANYONE ELSE?
“How is he just going to walk back into Channelside after he was attacked there?” asks Phil to me, Jon, and Matt as we sit in Bobby G’s living room a couple hours after all the craziness that occurred with Brad, Jaws Junior, Dean, and Dalton around our front entrance.
“I don’t know, but I doubt we can keep him here. They have his wife,” I answer.
“That’s a tough situation, but I think we have to let Brad do what he wants,” says Jon.
“But he was supposed to kill Ryan,” says Matt.
“So if he kills Ryan, they’ll let his wife go?” asks Jon.
“Doubtful, Brad probably won’t see his wife again,” answers Phil.
“What do you mean? Why not?” asks Matt.
“They took Brad’s wife to make Brad kill Ryan, but even if Brad kills Ryan why would they return Brad’s wife. They have no reason to return her,” answers Phil.
“So what do we do?” I ask.
The guys look at me and they don’t have an answer.
“What can we do? We don’t have anyone inside Channelside that can help,” answers Phil.
I think about Bakari and how he knows a lot of people and ask, “What about Bakari?”
“What about him?” answers Phil.
“He could have some people on the inside at Channelside,” I answer.
“Maybe, but what could they do about Brad’s wife?” asks Matt.
“They could at least tell
