“Did he tell you to wear it?”
“He didn’t have to. It is how he works—a lecture, a threat, a goodwill gift. Punishment, another gift. Sometimes it’s the other way around, a gift and then the price for the gift.”
I didn’t like the way her eyes changed as she spoke about him. It was as if with each word or memory, another cloud settled, dimming the vibrant green.
Madeline came a step closer, still with bare feet. “Why did you ask?”
“It contains a tracker. Not only does the signal tell him your location, it also has an audible function. He’s heard everything you or anyone around you has said until I took it away.”
Her arm wrapped around her midsection. “Oh my God. That means that he knows you’re Ruby’s father.”
“You never told him?”
“No, I told you I hadn’t.” Her expression darkened with what could only be described as unadulterated terror. “And you’re part of the Sparrows, the organization he wants to take over.” She didn’t say it as a question, more like a play-by-play as the pieces fell into place. “He now knows that he has the daughter of one of the men in the Sparrow organization.” She collapsed into the chair near the table. “We need to get to her.”
“Do you think she’s in danger?”
“I honestly don’t know if this knowledge will help or hurt her.” She looked up. “If you give me my phone, I’ll show you your daughter, your beautiful daughter. Once you see her, I know you’ll believe me.”
I offered Madeline my hand. “We have time for that on the way to the plane.”
“Plane?” she asked as she stood.
Her small hand fit perfectly into mine, just as it had nearly two decades ago. I gave it a squeeze. “Madeline, I can hate you for not telling me about her while at the same time, I can love you because you’re you. And damn it, I never stopped. When it comes to Ruby, I don’t need to see the pictures, though I want to. I believe you.”
“You do?”
“Yes, and now you need to believe me.”
“Okay.”
“Ivanov hasn’t left Chicago. We’re going to save our daughter. After we do, you will need to make a choice.”
“My choice is and always has been Ruby.”
“She’s not one of your options.”
Ruby would never return to Ivanov with Madeline. I would make sure of that. I wasn’t under an illusion that a sixteen-year-old girl would want to leave the life she knew. I also wasn’t expecting a happy home in some suburb with a white picket fence where Madeline, Ruby, and I live out a happy ever after. No, my life had taught me that fairy tales didn’t exist.
Madeline’s choice wasn’t if she’d stay with Ruby. It was if she’d help us take down Ivanov.
A knock came from the door.
“We’ll discuss this later,” I said. “Now, we need to get out of here.”
Patrick
Garrett drove the SUV toward the airport as Madeline and I sat silently in the back seat. She was still wearing the oversized sweatpants and shirt. On her feet were tennis shoes that Garrett found in Veronica’s office. I imagined Veronica changing out of heels and into the more comfortable shoes when she wasn’t on the club’s floors managing events and employees, things she’d no longer do.
When Garrett handed me the tennis shoes, he promised to have appropriate clothes on the plane. I knew from experience that he’d made a call to the pilot or perhaps one of the flight attendants. Even in these uncertain times, the Sparrows had trusted employees who were capable of providing whatever we asked.
Two capos who Garrett chose to accompany us, Christian and Romero, were in an SUV driving behind us. I’d worked with both of them over the last seven years. They’d shown their allegiance to Sparrow time and time again. There’d been situations where I’d trusted them with my life. Now I had to trust all three of these men with Madeline’s life.
In reality, it worked both ways.
I also had to trust Madeline.
It’s a trap.
Mason’s words lingered in my thoughts.
Was our destination a trap? Was Madeline setting the three Sparrows on this assignment up for an ambush?
A half hour ago back at the club, after Garrett gave me the shoes, I’d again closed the door on the conference room. When I turned, I was met by a more determined Madeline.
“What choices are you talking about?”
“First things first.”
“First, you said Andros is still in Chicago. You also said we were going to save Ruby. We need to hurry. I know where she is.”
“In Detroit?”
“Ann Arbor. She’s in a boarding school not far from the university.”
The university was the University of Michigan, Sparrow’s alma mater.
“My daughter is in a boarding school?”
Madeline nodded as she began to pace. “She lived with me—with Andros—full time until she was in second grade.” She turned toward me, her eyes filled with pride. “He had a tutor who worked with her...where we lived. Having her in a public school was too much of a risk. Oh, Patrick, she’s so smart. Too smart.
“I tried to keep things hidden from her young mind, but she’d ask questions. Believe me, even with her living there, I’m with her or she’s with me as much as possible. The truth is that having her go away to school was my idea. I begged Andros to let me move her away from the bratva. A little girl doesn’t need to hear...” She brought her hands together as her eyes momentarily shut. “...or see. Our apartment was separate for the most part, but she was a child, curious and adventurous.
“He thought he could speak in his native language and keep her from understanding. When she was very young, he’d say things in her presence...horrible things...orders to his men. I didn’t understand much of it then, but I detested the way his words felt. He dismissed my concerns, saying she didn’t understand.”
“But she did,” I said.
Madeline nodded. “She was around five years old and he said something mundane. It wasn’t bad—my Russian had improved. I remember, Andros asked for something from one of his men, speaking in Russian. His man replied that he didn’t know where it was. Ruby chimed in speaking fluent Russian and telling them where it was.”
“What happened?”
“After that he was more careful.”
There were so many questions I wanted to ask. The Sparrow side of me wanted to know more about the apartment and where the bratva was housed and operated. The newly found parental side of me wanted to know more about Ruby.
“Sir, the cars are ready,” Garrett called from the other side of the door.
“I want to know more, but first, do you have an address in Ann Arbor for the school?” I asked Madeline.
“Yes, but it’s late.”
“It’s early,” I corrected. “There’s always someone at a boarding school, correct?”
“Yes.”
Taking Madeline’s hand, I led her out of the room, through the hallways and to the back of the club. The hallways were mostly quiet. I wasn’t certain what had transpired while I’d been with Madeline or what had been done with Beckman’s body. The lack of knowledge confirmed my new reality. My concentration wasn’t on Sparrow, the man, but on my wife and daughter and how they fit into this Sparrow puzzle.