Murder in the Magic City: A Micah Brantley Story, G.P. Sorrells [reading comprehension books TXT] 📗

all away by saying something he would regret. He opted, instead, to grip the sheets of their bed tighter and tighter as the conversation drifted further into a territory he hoped never to deal with.

“Anyway, I finally decided to just go to the bar and have a drink or two. That’s it. I had every intention to come back here right after. But I never got to set up the ride share.” Her gaze returned to the floor, purposely avoiding the pensive stare of the man who cared for her more than she realized was possible. “A van pulled up next to they pulled me inside.”

“What?” Micah dropped all pretense of anger at what he thought may have been Valerie’s infidelity, and shifted immediately to a different, more feral sort of fury that would need to be unleashed to avoid unwanted consequences.

“I never heard it; I just felt their arms pull me in.” Valerie sobbed once more. “I thought I was going to die.”

“I’m glad that didn’t happen,” Micah said. He placed his hand on hers and gave a light squeeze. “Did you get a good look at the people who kidnapped you? What did they want?”

“I didn’t really see either of them. There were two guys in the back with me, but it was dark, the only light was coming in from outside as the van drove along. They, they…” Valerie choked up, the reality proving difficult to wrestle with. “They raped me.”

“Motherfuckers!” Micah knew in that moment that he should have done everything in his power to console Valerie in her time of need. To let her know that all would be well, and they would find a way past this unfortunate moment in their life together. Make certain she knew it changed nothing between him as far as he was concerned. But he could do none of that. In that moment, a switch flipped, and rage consumed him. “Where does Jimmy fit into this all?”

“I think he’s the one who sent them after me.” Valerie shifted uneasily, working up the courage to continue. “When they were bringing me back home, tossing me to the curb like garbage, one man said something about calling Jimmy to tell him that the job was done. They left before I could hear anything else.”

Micah’s blood pressure was rising to dangerous levels. He had done everything asked of him by Medina and Castillo, without question, and this was the way Jimmy had deemed worthy of paying him back for his loyalty? It didn’t add up, but he would be lying to himself if he said he thought it was something outside of Jimmy’s wheelhouse.

“Say something, please.”

“It’s going to be okay, sweetheart,” Micah said, lightly grabbing Valerie’s hands and kissing her forehead. “I need to pay Jimmy a visit, but I’m going to straighten this all out.”

“Micah, wait,” Valerie said, trying in vain to prevent the situation from escalating much further.

“Val, I have to do this. What those men did to you,” Micah shook his head in disgust, “what Jimmy ordered them to do… it can’t be allowed to stand. I have to do something about this.” He started for the door, stopping to look back at Valerie. “If I don’t make it back, I stored the information for my all my personal accounts in some hidden files on your work computers. The access code is the date we met. You’re the only person with access to those accounts if I don’t come out of this in one piece.”

Before Valerie objected further, Micah vanished.

Chapter 49

Micah stormed over to his car, trying desperately to prevent the fury he felt from taking hold of his mind, driving him down a road for which there was no safe return. He needed his head to be clear, or close to it, if he was going to come out ahead. Castillo had betrayed his trust, and that wasn’t something he could tolerate when it involved the safety of the woman he loved. Shit, I still haven’t told her how I really feel. Where I see this going, he thought to himself. The engine roared to life and Micah dialed Castillo’s number.

“Yo,” said Castillo. His voice sounded distant, as though he would rather do anything but speak on the phone.

“Hey, Jimmy, can we meet up? I’ve got to run something by you. Think I may have found another, uh, opportunity for us.”

“Can’t right now.” Strange voices, their words drowned out by ambient noise, discussed something in Castillo’s vicinity. Micah couldn’t put a finger on who the voices belonged to, but he felt certain it wasn’t anyone they ran with. “I’ll call you later. Set something up.”

“Where you at?”

“Downtown. Don’t worry about it.”

Before Micah could push further, the line clicked. He stared at the phone incredulously before setting it in the cupholder. He sat for a moment, listening to the calming hum of the idling engine, considering his next move. Then, for reasons unknown, he picked the phone back up and dialed a number that he didn’t immediately recognize. Foreign though it may be, the numbers lit up the screen as though he called it once a week. It was as if his subconscious were making a call, but he wasn’t privy to the specifics of the contact.

“How can I help you, Mr. Sheridan?” The voice on the other end was strange, though not nearly as much as the name she had referred to him by. Suddenly all the dreams Micah had been having made sense.

“I need you to tell me Jimmy Castillo’s current location. We spoke on the phone a few minutes ago. He shouldn’t have moved much.” The conversation felt natural, despite his brain screaming at how surreal it all felt.

“Okay, just give me one second.” Micah could hear the click-clacking of a keyboard in the background, swirling about with the absentminded humming of the woman on the other end. “He’s in a building on the corner of Brickell Avenue and 14th Street. Mr. Sheridan,