The Walls of Levi Read online

  “Did Levi tell you everything?”

  She shakes her head slowly before answering. “No. Zant told me when Levi was in here with you.”

  “Oh.” I really don’t know what to say. She seems concerned for me, but also, I get a reserved vibe from her. It’s almost like she doesn’t trust me, but I haven’t given her any reason not to. I calm myself down. Defense mode is not needed right now. I know I’m safe. I’ve just got to show Micah that I’m a genuine person.

  After standing there in silence for a several seconds, she tells me that I can sleep in Nova’s room and Kelly would take Axel’s. Nova and Axel will sleep in her room on a pallet.

  She also takes me to her room and gives me something to sleep in. I left everything at Levi’s. We thought we were going back there tonight.

  Once I’m changed, Kelly finds me. She and Micah are going to stay up, watch movies, and wait on the boys to call.

  It looks like I’m going to be doing the same, because there is no way I will be able to stay asleep if I even get there.

  Chapter 21

  Levi

  We pull up to the shop, and I immediately know something is wrong.

  The Clover Racing mechanic shop is on the outskirts of town. After a couple years of working on my bikes in my garage, along with Ron’s and Dale’s, we decided that building a shop would be more constructive for all of us. It’s a shop made completely of drill stem pipe and sheet metal. All us guys had a hand in building it. That includes Ron, Dale, Zant, and Chance. It’s a special place to me. Though my office is in town, this is my place. This is where Clover Racing is.

  The front of the shop is a huge sliding door. It’s big enough to get a full-size truck into it.

  When we pull up, I see the huge dent in the door right away. It appears someone rammed into the door with a vehicle.

  We get out of the Demon and since it’s dark, I pull a flashlight out. I touch my pistol on my hip. I can feel it there without touching it, but I need the extra reassurance that I wasn’t stepping out on my own.

  Zant and Chance walk up beside me with flashlights as well.

  None of us speak at first. We have no idea what kind of damage is waiting for us on the inside. Ron and Dale are here, but I haven’t talked to either of them for about an hour.

  “Do you think we need to check the sides on the outside as well?” Chance asks.

  I nod, so he and Zant go to the right while I go to the left. We agree to meet up around back.

  Once I get to the side and out of the sight of the other two, I hear something. I turn my light to the sound, but I see nothing. I slowly keep walking to the back of the shop.

  About half way there, I hear something again – this time it’s behind me. I quickly turn around and my flashlight lights up Russell Glint. He has a sinister smirk on his face. That isn’t what keeps my attention though. It’s the baseball bat he has in his right hand.

  “I’ve been waiting on you, boy.” He doesn’t make any move towards me, and I don’t make a move either way. I’m quickly thinking if I can outrun this guy and even if I do outrun him, who’s in the dark waiting for me? I doubt he is here alone. He has too big of an ego for that.

  “Why?” I ask. Once Zant and Chance get to the back and notice I’m not there, they will come on around to see where I’m at.

  That is, if they don’t get held up on the other side. My insides run cold.

  “Well,” Russell says, as he swings the bat in front of himself. “I need something you took from me.”

  “I didn’t take your money. I won it. It was a fair race.” Playing dumb is going to keep us here longer.

  “I’m not talking about the money, kid.” I grind my teeth together when he calls me a kid. I’m not no damn kid. And I plan on showing him.

  “What are you talking about then.”

  “You know very well what I’m talking about.” He takes two steps towards me, but I don’t move. He can’t intimidate me. I’m way past the point of being intimidated by anyone.

  “Enlighten me.” I’m going to make him tell me. There are a lot of things missing in this story and he’s going to fill them in for me.

  “You see. There may be a few things you don’t know. So yes, I will enlighten you. You’ll be dead and can’t repeat it anyway.” He hits the palm of his hand with the bat as he talks. If he thinks hitting me with a bat is going to do anything, he doesn’t know Fred well. “Someone owes me a good sum of money. That girl was going to be my payment.”

  “Why her?” I don’t really care who owes him money. It could be Fred. It could be Wilson. Neither one of them are my concern.

  “She’s sexy. She’s fresh. She would go for a very pretty penny. I can guarantee it.”

  I grind my teeth together again at how he describes Kathleen. If I wasn’t waiting on information, I would just take care of him now. It wouldn’t take much to get that bat out of his hand and beat his skull in with it.

  “But you see, you stepped in and messed up my little plan.”

  Before he can say anything else, we hear police sirens and headlights light up the night sky around us. I throw my hand up to shield my eyes. I’m also thinking to protect myself. Russell could do some damage with that bat while I’m blinded. I turn around, so I can open my eyes. I squint to see around me, but I see Russell nowhere.

  Zant and Chance quickly come up beside me. We ask each other if we are hurt. They didn’t see anyone on their side. Once they saw I wasn’t alone, they called the police.

  “I only confirmed that he was wanting her to sell her. I didn’t get to find out who he is working with.”

  Zant nods his head, and we make our way to the police cars that pulled up.

  Chapter 22

  Levi

  Two police cruisers are in the driveway, along with an unmarked car. When we get close, the door opens to the car and a guy steps out. He looks like he’s around my age, but I can tell he is carrying an air of anger around him. That type of fury radiates off of you. I know it well. He’s about my size, with his height and big build.

  “What do we have here?” he says when he steps in front of us.

  After everything Russell just said and ran off, I don’t feel like standing here. I need to be looking inside my shop and getting back to Kathleen.

  I know he doesn’t know where she is, but she isn’t beside me and that makes me nervous.

  “My shop was broken into and vandalized. I saw someone on the side of the building, but he took off when you showed up.” I’m not giving away a lot of info until I know what’s going on myself.

  Russell said I messed up his plan. I don’t think for one second, he gave up, though.

  The police officers take out their notepads and start writing. I don’t care what they write down, I keep looking at the detective. If anyone is going to help us, it will be him.

  “Can we go look inside then?” the detective asks. He kept looking at me like he’s searching for something. I don’t know what he’s looking for, but I can guarantee he isn’t going to find it on my face.

  “Sure,” I respond and turn towards the shop. “We haven’t been in yet, and I’m sure my guys are in there.”

  I open the smaller door next to the big sliding door to enter. I see the officers and the detective looking at the damage, so I take a peek inside while they do, and my stomach sinks. Dale is very obsessive about where his tools are in here. Everything has a place. He wants everything put back if you borrow it. I moved a wrench one time and put it back in the wrong spot; I heard about it from him for a month.

  I turn back and see Chance and Zant behind me. I don’t say a word, but they can tell it’s bad from the look on my face. I turn back and enter my shop.

  There are tools everywhere. The bikes are all on their sides, except for my racing bike. I don’t even realize I’ve moved inside completely until I touch the seat of my bike and my vision turns to red.

  “Who is her?” the detective asks.

  Cut in
to the seat of my beloved green, orange, and white Suzuki GSXR are the words, “WE WILL GET HER.”

  I turn around and crash into the detective. He’s staring at me with narrowed eyes and all I can feel is exactly what he seems to be feeling… rage. I try to focus so I don’t black out.

  I feel myself start to slip, and I close my eyes for a second and pull up Kathleen’s face. Her dark brown eyes, her beautiful olive complexion, her plump lips that I’ve decided I’m going to kiss once this is all over. There isn’t another girl, other than Micah, that can pull me back from the dark like she is able to. There has to be something there. I’ve felt it from the moment I saved her. Those two hours of talking in the car, seeing her with my family, and watching her play with Nova. I am pulled to this girl that I just met. That’s never happened before. It’s her.

  I open my eyes and the detective is still waiting for my answer. I look over to Zant. “Z, tell the detective. We will need help.” Zant nods and he and the detective walk to the back where my office is. Once they are gone, I finally notice Ron and Dale. They are talking to the officers.

  “Have they been here the whole time?” I ask Chance, whose standing next to me and surveying the damage like I am.

  “Yea. As soon as you walked in, you zoned out.”

  I bend over and pick up a wrench to put back in the correct spot.

  Once the shop is almost cleaned up, with the help of everyone, including the officers, Zant and the detective come back into the shop. The detective takes a seat on a stool, and I do the same. I wait for him to speak.

  “My name is Rick Thames and I’m with the Martinsville Sheriff’s Office. It just so happened that I was at the station when your call came across tonight, and with nothing else to do, I followed these two.” He points to the officers standing to the side, ready to take notes. “After seeing the damage and talking to Zant, I’m glad I did. I’m just going to cut to the chase, because we are on borrowed time.”

  I like that. I don’t have time to talk in circles about an issue. I want to get it out there and over with. It appears that Rick here is the same way. Good thing because my patience are running thin.

  “What do you mean borrowed time?”

  “I’m familiar with Russell.” Of course, he is. Who isn’t familiar with that asshole?

  “How so?”

  “He runs an underground business. I’ve been trying to nail him for a couple years now. I knew before I got here you raced against him Friday night for money.”

  “I did. He was talking noise, and I was tired of it. Ron here,” I point to Ron, “set it up and everything went down Friday night.”

  “So, tell me how Danny Roberts’ daughter got caught up in all of this.”

  I proceed to tell him everything that happened between Friday before the race until this very moment. He sits there, quietly listening while the officers take notes.

  “What does Fred James have to do with any of this?” Hearing him say my father’s name throws me off a little, but I expected it. My hometown is two hours away. That isn’t far for Fred to drive to handle illegal business.

  “I don’t know.”

  Rick nods and scratches his neck.

  “From what I can gather, the situations are separate. I think you just fell into the middle of another thing that Russell has going.” He sits back a little, a tad straighter on the stool and looks around before looking back at me.

  “I’m going to tell you what I think happened. And right now, it’s just a hunch from what I’ve been gathering. I need you to know, so we are all on the same page. You look like a standup guy and even though I know your father, I know that you don’t have anything to do with him.”

  “How do you know that?” I don’t have anything to do with Fred, but I do want to know what this guy knows about me.

  “I follow you, and I hope you kick ass in a couple weeks at the Isle of Man TT.” I almost give him a grin, but I know Fred’s name is about to come up and that kills it.

  “I also follow Fred. Mainly because he did business with Russell a couple years ago and that put him on my radar. But he’s a piece of shit.”

  I listen as Rick spills just what my father has been up to lately.

  “Fred borrowed some money from Russell a couple weeks ago. I don’t know what for. I just saw him take it from Russell, go around the corner and hand it to your mother.” My mother? I haven’t even thought about Mary. I’m not surprised that she is somewhere involved, though. Fred was always more important to her than taking care of her son.

  “A week passed,” Rick continued, “and Fred didn’t have the money to give back to Russell. So, what I am gathering is Fred met up with Wilson, whom he has also worked with before, to kidnap a woman to pay back his debt.”

  “How will kidnapping someone pay back his debt?”

  “Russell is a black-market dealer for the sex trafficking group that runs out of Martinsville.”

  My blood turns to ice, and I hear Chance curse beside me.

  “So, Fred was going to get this girl kidnapped and hand her to Russell to be sold. Is that what you’re telling me?”

  “Yes.”

  “And I just happened to get in the way?”

  “Yes,” he answers again.

  Fate.

  While I kept thinking the word in association with Kathleen. There it is. My one is her. I just know it.

  “Where is she?”

  “She’s hid well.”

  “Are you sure?”

  My heart drops.

  Fred knows about my family.

  Chapter 23

  Kathleen

  I wake up on the couch where I must have dozed off during the movie that Micah put on. The guys never called, and while it makes me nervous, I’m also a little relieved. They never called to tell us to hide anywhere else.

  Kelly and Micah both reaffirmed me that I was safe, and no one knew of the connection between them and Levi.

  I choose to believe them.

  I climb off the couch and step over Micah, who is laying on her stomach on the floor with a light snore escaping from her. I make my way to the bathroom. I use it, then I wash my hands and look in the mirror. I look in disarray, but not like I did earlier when Levi told me that I was attempted to be kidnapped to be sold into sex or human slavery. I shake all over from the chill that runs down my back. How do scum sleep at night knowing what they do to people?

  I answer myself.

  They probably sleep well with Satan in control of their soul and quietly whispering evil thoughts into their minds while they slumber.

  I’ve never came into contact with such evil until Friday night. I’ve never been subject to what Levi has. It also appears that everyone in this little family has some evil skeletons hiding in their closets. I don’t know what that feels like.

  Maybe my dad sheltering me my whole life has been a God send.

  I fix my hair the best I can with my fingers, flip the light off, and make my way back to the couch. Kelly is asleep in the recliner and half way hanging off. I chuckle as I lay back down.

  These girls have been nothing but nice to me, and I feel very blessed.

  Right before I doze off again, a knock on the door sounds throughout the house. It’s not a light knock. It is a booming one that sounds like it may take the door off the hinges. I sit up quickly and watch as Micah and Kelly do the same. Both girls are wide eyed, and as we look at each other, I’m sure they are seeing the same on my face.

  The pounding on the door comes again and we quickly get up and run to the kitchen. It’s still dark and really early in the morning. No one that has good intentions would be here at this time of morning. Whoever is on the other side of that door knows something about me.

  “Micah,” a voice says on the outside of the house. I look at Micah and she has her hand over her mouth. Terror is all over her face. I go to her and wrap my arms around her. She’s shaking like a leaf. Kelly is typing like crazy her on phone. No doubt letting the guys kn
ow that someone is here, trying to either get in, or get us out.

  “Micah, I know you’re in there,” they say, even louder this time. It’s a man’s voice. It’s deep and sounds like he’s been smoking for many years. There is ill intent behind every word.

  “Open the door Micah. I know I can get inside, and you don’t want that.” I hold tight to Micah. It feels like she’s going to shake right out of my arms. Kelly takes off down the hall to the kid’s rooms. I hear a little whispering, but for the most part, they are being quiet like mice.

  Soon, she comes back with her phone in her hand. She moves to us and shows us the screen. Levi had text her. Stay away from the door. It’s Fred. This was all him.

  Why would Levi’s dad want to kidnap me? I know I’m shaking as much as Micah is at this point because my head is starting to hurt.

  Another boom sounds at the door and we all three jump.

  “Micah, let me in. I know the boys aren’t here.” Kelly gasps and covers her mouth. She then grabs both of us and moves us to the farthest corner in the kitchen. We kneel down, so the bar separates us from the door.

  “The kids are hiding in the closet. If we have to, we will run and do the same.” Kelly has a good plan, but I’ve already made up my mind. Before he gets close to either one of them or any of the kids, I will go with him.

  “I heard rumors about what Roy did to you, Micah.” With that Micah goes deathly still and I look at her. Her face is completely white, and I watch as her eyebrows come together in confusion laced with anger. I don’t know who Roy is but by the way Kelly kept saying oh my gosh behind me, I know none of this can be good.

  Slowly Micah stands up and grabs my hand. She then does the same to Kelly and she leads us down the hall into her room. She drops our hands and goes to the table beside the bed. She opens the drawer and pulls out a pistol. My eyes grow wide and Kelly starts whispering. “Micah. Please be careful. You know who this is.”