Crush(6)

When I didn’t see anyone behind me, I headed for the Seaport District. I was going to find Tommy Flannigan if I had to turn over every square inch of the place. The motherf*cker could be hiding in an abandoned warehouse like a rat for all I knew. I didn’t care. I’d flush him out. He was going to be mine—no matter where he was.

It was still dark when I took the streets one at a time, weaving through them, up and down, all the way from the channel to the river. The ice had melted in the water, but it kept its mucky winter shade. There wasn’t much activity this late and there was no sight of him. It was time to hoof it, so I parked near the Boston Fish Pier. “Where the f*ck do we start?” I asked Declan.

We had less than three hours before dawn at the most and I knew if I didn’t find him tonight, I never would. It was too easy to hide in the city in the daytime. And come nightfall tomorrow, he’d be long gone. It was no use going to Lucy’s—the strip club was where the drugs had been found, and the police were swarming there.

Declan’s phone had been going off like crazy. He’d put feelers out everywhere. I couldn’t believe how well connected he was. Someone said he’d seen Tommy walking down Seaport Boulevard hours ago. We headed down that way, pulling on every warehouse door we could to see if any were loose or had recently been broken into. It was crazy, but as kids, we did this all the time. We’d come down here and wedge open the doors to the warehouses and scare the shit out of anyone who followed us inside. It was a game. I’d played it. Tommy had played it. So had Declan. Back then Southie was also a dump, though, and there were a shit-ton of abandoned buildings. Not so many anymore.

For over an hour Declan and I walked on opposite sides of the streets, up and down the docks, and through alleys. The wind was brutal and it was cold, so I’d pulled my hood up long ago. Lost in my thoughts, I kept walking, searching, pulling on doors, looking behind garbage cans, peering into smaller alleyways, checking out the homeless to see if Tommy was pretending to be one of them.

“Hey, man.”

Declan’s voice grabbed my attention and I looked across the street at him as he came jogging toward me.

“He’s at the f*cking Seaport Hotel.”

My heart pounded. “No f*cking way. I thought he’d checked out.”

“Miles just called. A buddy of his in security has been on the lookout and spotted him about an hour ago. Checked in under some alias, but he’s there. Room 510.”

I started moving backwards and pointed my finger at Declan. “Take the Rover and go back to my old man’s. I’ll meet you there later.”

“No way, man. You’re not going there alone.”

I shook my head, still pointing. “I don’t want you involved any further. You’ve done enough for now. Don’t follow me. Just go.”

“I’m not doing that.”

“Declan, you have to leave. I can’t take the chance of you getting caught up in something dangerous.”

He stood there motionless.

“Please, man.” My voice was pleading and I think he got what I was saying. My conscience couldn’t handle it if he got marked or worse if he got killed in the crossfire.

He said nothing.

I took that as an okay and turned around and started running. The hotel wasn’t far, and it would be faster to get there on foot than heading all the way back to my vehicle anyway.

It was almost dawn by now and the early morning sky was just erupting. To everyone else I looked like I was out for a run, not on a mission to confront Tommy Flannigan and—and what? That was the question, wasn’t it? Do I sell my soul to the devil and kill the motherf*cker? I decided not to go there in my mind right now. One step at a time—first I had to find him.

It was the longest f*cking ten minutes of my life, but finally the Seaport Hotel was in sight. I strode through the lobby like I belonged there, hit the up arrow at the bank of elevators, and casually stepped into one when the doors opened. Beneath my calm exterior I was screaming, because my time of reckoning had finally come.

I stabbed the button for the fifth floor and the elevator seemed to crawl up to it. In the hallway, it felt a little surreal. I glanced down and was shocked to see my white knuckles and the ropes of muscle straining against the backs of my hands. I shook off any doubt. I had no choice but to do this. I’d use my fists. If I beat him to a pulp and he didn’t recover, I couldn’t be charged with premeditated murder. The law was flashing through my mind. Murder in the first degree. Voluntary manslaughter. Involuntary manslaughter. It didn’t matter; all would come with a prison term.

If I killed this motherf*cker tonight I was going to be without Elle in my life. If I didn’t, if I turned around right now, I was going to have to let her go.

It was a lose-lose situation all the way around. But the come and get me if you dare note Tommy had sent me was sent for a reason, and I was going to find out what that reason was.

My strides were long. Room 500, 502, 504, 506, 508, and finally 510. Focused on the gold numbers, I reached my destination in less than three seconds.

Without even thinking about it, I lifted my leg and kicked the door in, throwing the entire weight of my body into it. Luckily, this hotel was old and so were the doors.

Barreling into the room, I was shocked when I saw him. I had to remind myself that this time I wasn’t going to be held down by three men while he wielded his knife at me.