The Crescendo (29 page)

Jaz didn't reply, just a small nod of her head. Yeah, Jaz had it pretty darn good but she wasn't about to rub it in.

‘Are you willing to tell me your name? Can we stay in touch? Is it too much to ask to be in your life?' His words were spoken with care, almost a plea.

Jaz didn't even think about him wanting to see her, or getting to know her. It had been the furthest thing from her mind. Even now, Ryan sprang to mind. What would he think about her doing this?

‘I guess you can call me Jaz. And yes, it's my real name. I'm not sure it's good for us to be anywhere near each other while you are still dealing in drugs and murder. Otherwise it might be me putting a bullet in you at some stage.' A touch melodramatic but realistic, she thought.

‘Seriously, how can you be a spy when you can only be,' Salvatore paused to do the sums, ‘what, about eighteen?'

‘Yeah, but I can take care of myself. You don't have to worry about me.'

‘It's not every day you find out you have a daughter. It changes everything.'

‘You have no right to be my father. You are far from it. But I come to you with an offer to take a step closer to that position.'

Salvatore lent forward, his frown serious. ‘I'm listening.'

‘Do you know Jamison Figlomeni well?'

‘You are mixing with the wrong crowd, Jaz.'

The sound of her name on his lips was weird. Was this all getting too familiar? Would he want to hug her goodbye next? Would Jaz like that? Her emotions were so mixed up. She'd detested this man for what he did and the stories she'd heard from Ryan, yet here on this couch he was just a man. No, he was actually her biological father, which only complicated things more.

‘Just be thankful we've gone after him at the moment. But a word of warning, you may want to cease your drug operation if you plan to have any sort of life.'

‘Who do you work for? Who did Julie work for? Is it the police?'

‘You don't need to know that. Just know we have lots on you and Jamison and we won't stop until we topple you all.'

Salvatore scratched his chin. ‘So what do you need on Jamison? I do know him, have done some business together, but we generally stay out of each other's way.'

Jaz took a deep breath. This was her chance. ‘We had a man undercover in Jamison's gang.' Sal's brow went up, obviously impressed they knew about the gang. ‘But we think he's in trouble. I was hoping you could reach out to Jamison and see if our man's still alive and where he might be holding him. We have eyes on all his buildings that we know of but have nothing.' Her heart was racing again, thinking about Ryan stranded.

‘You must be pretty desperate to come to me.'

Sal was smart. ‘Yes, I am.'

‘This man means something to you?' he asked. ‘You don't need to answer that. I can see it all over your face.'

Jaz's hand went to her cheek and she felt silly for being so readable. But she was here for Ryan, his safety was driving her.

‘Sure, I'll do it.'

‘What?' Jaz wasn't expecting this or was ready for it. Sure, she'd hoped he'd help and that being his daughter might sway him but she didn't really know how he'd react to any of what she'd told him. He could have pulled out his gun and shot her if he hadn't believed a word she'd said.

‘I said I'd help.' He thought for a moment. ‘I can get in contact on the pretence of a deal. Maybe tell him I'm getting out of the business and see if he wants to buy in. And I'm guessing you'd like me to do this asap?'

Jaz could only nod. She was barely breathing, let along able to make a sentence.

‘Right. Did you want to wait here while I call him? Or do you have a number I can reach you on?'

Heck, she had to think. ‘I can wait. And how about you give me your number.' That way she could call him on a burner phone.

‘Righto.' He stood up and went to his desk. He grabbed a business card and wrote down a number on the back. ‘This is my private number. Feel free to use it anytime.' He held it out to her. ‘Anytime, Jaz. For anything.'

Again she felt a weird sensation when he said her name, especially sounding all sincere-like. Jaz went over to grab it from his fingers. Then he pulled out his mobile and made a call.

It was a quick one. ‘Hi, it's Sal. Can we meet?' And then a few ‘yep's' and it was done.

‘We meet in an hour. Call me in two hours' time and I'll hopefully have some information for you.'

‘Do you think he'll tell you anything about Reece?' Jaz used Ryan's alias name.

‘Reece? I can only try. We do discuss matters about things only we have to deal with. I asked him not that long ago about one of my men who went missing.'

Jaz almost choked, lucky she wasn't eating. ‘Yeah, about him. He's dead.'

Sal's mouth opened but no words came out. Just as well. ‘I won't ask how but at least now I know for sure now. Did you?'

‘Long story, I was there and it wasn't meant to happen,' said Jaz. ‘So I'll go and call you in two hours?'

‘Yes. I know you don't know me, or even like who I am, but I won't do wrong by you, Jaz. I know I have to earn your trust. A lot will change from now,' he promised. ‘I'm glad you came to me.'

Jaz was still on the fence, unsure if this was the right thing to do. She'd put herself at risk now that Sal knew about her. She'd have to be extra careful he didn't have her followed, find out where her mum lived; you name it, Sal could destroy it. But looking into his eyes now, she felt the strangest urge to trust him, or to at least give him a chance. Maybe she was too gullible or too much of a romantic, hoping that Sal could do something good. Was it a flaw? Was she setting herself up to be hurt? All she had to go on was her gut feeling. And right now her gut just wanted Ryan safe.

Chapter 28

‘Um, say that again?' said Anna.

Jaz took a deep breath and tried not to let her words rush out. ‘I was just with Salvatore and he's going to try and find out where Ryan is being held and if he's okay.'

‘What the hell were you thinking, he could have killed you,' said Tay. His arms flapped by his sides like he was trying to launch into space. His face was red and there was a glint in his eyes that said maybe he thought Jaz had gone a little mad.

Jaz sighed. It was time she shared her secret, they wouldn't understand otherwise. ‘He won't. I just recently found out he's my biological father.'

Tay rocked back on his heels as if she'd hit him with a leaf blower. ‘What?'

‘Um, say that again?' repeated Anna.

So for the next twenty minutes Jaz told them the whole story about how she came to work out Sal was her real dad. All their interrupting questions made the task much longer than it needed to be.

‘So the medallion was the key. Without that, you'd still be none the wiser,' said Taylor.

‘Yep. Only I was happy to just ignore this information, carry on as normal, but now with Ryan in trouble I thought Salvatore might be able to help,' she said.

‘How? By having a drug lord to drug lord chat kind of thing?' said Anna sceptically.

Jaz shrugged. It was pretty much what she'd thought.

‘Shit, Jaz. So now you're waiting to call him? This is crazy.' Tay paced around Pax's kitchen. ‘How did Sal take the news?'

Every so often Anna and Tay would think up a new question for her, which she tried to answer. ‘He was a little shocked, I guess.' He'd reacted the way a normal person would and that seemed wrong. Shouldn't a killer and drug dealer not really give a shit?

‘How are you feeling about it?' asked Anna. Always so thoughtful.

‘To tell you the truth, it's a little weird. I'm not sure how I should be feeling about it. Speaking with him just made it all the more confusing.'

The sound of his voice as he called her name still rolled around in her mind, along with the look on his face as she left his office. Jim and the other guy had stopped work to see if they were needed but Sal had waved them away.

‘She is never to be harmed, you understand?' he'd told them sternly. ‘Ever.'

Sal had walked her to the front door and then they had an awkward goodbye. Jaz got the feeling Sal was scared to let her leave in case he never saw her again and it made her think of her mum. To have someone you loved just up and vanish.

‘I'll call you in two hours,' she'd said to reassure him before walking out. She'd snuck back to her Jeep, making sure she wasn't followed, and then parked in another spot, waiting to watch Sal who left half an hour later. She followed him from a distance, when he pulled in to Jamison's street, only then did she go back to the gym and her friends.

‘Do you think he can be trusted?' asked Tay, bringing Jaz back from her thoughts.

‘I honestly don't know,' she said before checking her watch again. ‘Time will tell.'

Time had gone fast with talking about Sal and their meeting. And as always, it was a relief to have it off her chest, no secrets with her friends, and they helped share the burden. Jaz pulled out Sal's card from her pocket and played with it while Anna went and got one of the untraceable phones from her special room.

Anna had spent the last week doing the room up with a fresh coat of paint, new carpet and fancy lockable storage cupboards. It looked fresh, modern and more like Anna's place. She'd also designed the special medical room and had Tilly and Cody on the job. Slowly they were gathering building supplies, which they stored in the gym ready for construction.

‘Time to call?' asked Tay.

He was as eager as Jaz. Tay had grown close to Ryan also; the training, the mateship. It was nice to know she wasn't alone in this crazy plan to get Ryan home safe. Both her friends backed her without a second word. Sure, they probably thought she was nuts but they truly understood Jaz and knew she'd probably do it without them if it came to that.

Jaz dialled the number and Sal answered after one ring.

‘Very prompt,' he said.

‘I try to be,' said Jaz, who felt relief at the playful tone in Sal's voice. Was it good news or was he just in a good mood?

‘Reece is alive,' said Sal, getting straight to the point. ‘Jamison has him at the port warehouse. He's unsure what to do. At the moment he's waiting for his men to finish their background checks to see if he is who he says he is. Jamison's worried he might even be working for another dealer. He asked me if he was one of mine but I swore he wasn't.'

‘You don't think they'll kill him?' Even saying the words made her stomach roll like the choppy sea.

‘I've kept my head with Jamison because I don't trust him. He's like a slippery snake. He could say one thing and do another. No one double-crosses him. The fact that Reece is still alive is only because of Jamison's daughter but he knows he has to make a decision soon. He has men sifting through Reece's flat and checking every detail. If that comes up clean then your man maybe safe. But like I said, I wouldn't trust Jamison.'

Jaz wondered how long before Jamison's men came across the fake details? The backgrounds made were never meant to withstand a deep check. If they called the schools or the police about his assault charge, anything like that could reveal the lies. It could be any moment. They had to act fast.

‘Jaz, let me help. Let me lend you some of my people,' said Sal.

‘No,' Jaz replied quickly. ‘I don't want to be in debt to you. I already feel bad about coming to you in the first place.' Then she realised she should be a little nice about it all. ‘Thank you, though, for finding out this information. It means a lot.'

And it did. If this whole thing wasn't some sort of trap, mind you.

‘The door code is 200634. Be careful, Jaz. Please think about staying in touch when you get Reece out. I'd like a chance to get to know you.' His voice was melancholy.

Jaz memorised the number before she spoke. ‘You'd have to go straight before I'd even consider it.' Then she hung up and relayed it all to her friends.

‘Do you think it's a trap?' asked Anna, while Tay called up Cody and Tilly. They needed all the help they could get.

‘I'm not sure.'

‘What's your gut telling you?'

‘It wants to trust Sal, but I don't know if that's just stupid foolishness. A small part of me hopes my drug lord father has some sort of a kind, loving side. Do you think I'm pathetic?' Jaz felt pathetic. More the fact that she didn't want to be hurt or made a fool of.

‘No, not at all, Jaz. You wouldn't be human if you didn't wish for that. We want our parents to be good people. Anyway, right now I don't think we have the luxury of not believing him. It's all we have to go on. Let's hope Cody and Tilly are on board with the plan.'

‘And what plan is that?' Jaz asked. From where she sat they hadn't planned anything yet.

‘The “get Ryan back” plan.' Anna slammed her hand down on the kitchen table.

‘Right,' said Tay as he put down his phone. ‘Cody and Tilly are on their way, plus Tilly is contacting the commander.'

Jaz winced. She hoped they all wouldn't get into trouble for this.

‘Don't stress,' said Tay. ‘Tilly said the commander wouldn't want to miss it.'

Just how much trouble would she be in with the agency, Jaz wondered. But this was Ryan, so she didn't care how much hot water she got into.

‘We have to go about this right,' said Jaz when Cody and Tilly turned up. They all sat huddled around the kitchen table. The boys leaned forward on their elbows as they tried to work out the best plan of attack. ‘I don't want anyone hurt. Everyone must come home safe.' Ryan wouldn't like it if someone ended up dead because of him.

‘I agree,' said the commander as he walked in the back door of the house. Anna had let him in.

‘Sir,' said Jaz. She was a little starstruck and momentarily forgot his name was Ian.