Ryan Renewed: New York Ruthless: Book 5

A call comes through from Mikey, and Conor presses the button to answer it. Our younger brother’s voice fills the car. “We found Hayden.”

I glance at Conor beside me in the driver’s seat. “Where?”

“Some apartment building in Newark. He must have been hiding out there or something. We’re on our way to him now.”

“All three of you?” I ask.

“Yeah.”

I swallow down the ball of anxiety that forces into my throat. “Be careful,” I warn him.

“We will, bro,” he says with a sigh.

“I mean it, Mikey. If anything happens to her…”

“You really think we’d let anything happen to her, Shane?” he barks at me and I close my eyes and take a breath. We’re all feeling the tension and the frustration of the last three days.

“Sorry,” he mumbles. “We’ll take good care of them all. Promise, bro.”

“I know, son.”

“Where are you and Conor anyway?”

“On our way to have a chat with a few members of the brotherhood,” Conor replies.

“Fuck! You found them then?”

“Yeah. We finally got a good lead and we’re heading to meet Jakob and Rudolf now.” Our efforts at the Black Bear were pretty fruitless but then Jakob and Rudolf had plenty of other contacts we could shake down and eventually we found someone who had seen a guy with the firebird tattoo at a motel on the outskirts of the city.

“You two be careful, too,” Mikey warns.

“We will, kid,” Conor replies.

“Keep us posted,” I say.

“Ditto.”

“We will. Speak soon.”

“Bye,” I say and end the call.

“They’ll all be okay, right?” Conor asks me with a worried look on his face.

“They all know what they’re doing, Con,” I remind him but I share his anxiety. I don’t believe for one minute Hayden was the mastermind behind all this. It’s someone much smarter than him. I think the brotherhood are working with someone else too. They have been content to sit on the sidelines for decades. They are assassins not leaders. But who and why? Hopefully, we’ll have some answers soon and I can end every single fucker who thought they could try and take her from me.

“Hmm. You have any idea who the fuck might have got to Hayden?” he asks, I know he suspects the same as I do because we have done nothing but talk about it for the past three days. “Unless the brotherhood did just suddenly decided to make a power grab?”

“Maybe.” I rub a hand over my jaw. “But how do they even know she’s still alive? I don’t think it came from Vlad or his sons.”

“Me too,” he agrees.

“And who the fuck else knew?” I shake my head.

“Someone obviously did. So let’s go get some names.”

Fortunately, it’s not often that Conor has cause to let his sadistic side loose and I know he would sooner keep it under lock and key these days, preferring to explore the darker side of himself in a much more controlled way with Jessie. But today, he is ready to do whatever it takes to protect our girl and I almost feel sorry for the poor bastards who are going to be on the receiving end. Almost.

When we arrive at the motel, Jakob and Rudolf are already waiting for us. Conor rolls our car to a stop and we jump out to meet our new colleagues. It’s hard to believe we’re working with the Bratva, but Vlad’s sons have proven to be smart, ruthless and trustworthy – at least so far. They are exactly the kind of guys I like to work with.

“They in there?” I nod toward the motel.

“Yeah. Room 204,” Jakob replies.

“How many?” Conor asks.

“Four of them.”

“Perfect. One each,” I say with an arch of my eyebrow.

“That’s what he said,” Jakob laughs as he points to his younger brother who rarely speaks.

“Anyone on either side?” I ask.

“Nope. Place is a shit-hole and it’s pretty empty but they each have a room each along that bottom floor, so nobody will hear us as long as we don’t make them scream too loudly.”

“I find if you cut out their tongues first it really helps keep the noise levels down,” Conor says matter-of-factly.

“Yes,” Rudolf grunts and smiles at my brother.

“Let’s not cut out all of their tongues until one of them has told us what we need to know, eh?” I suggest.

“Shall we?” Conor says with a tilt of his head.

“Let’s do this,” Jakob replies and we walk toward the motel room.

“These guys are hardcore, Con. It’s not going to be easy to make them talk,” I say quietly as our Russian colleagues walk ahead.

“I know, bro. Don’t worry. I got this.”

“I know you do.”