Chapter 3 Help from the Mafia

In a dimly lit room, a man with a slicked-back pompadour answered his phone with a big grin on his face.

"Butcher, I've been waiting three years to hear from you. Just tell me what you need."

"After getting out this time, I ran into some trouble. My family's been kidnapped. It was done by a man named Jace Hyatt. On top of that, I knocked out a female cop. Once she wakes up, the authorities are probably going to come after me."

Listening to Jack's voice on the phone, Sonny nodded eagerly. "Butcher, don't worry. I guarantee I'll take care of everything within half an hour — get them to release your family, and I'll handle the police department too. Anyone from Tidewater who messes with you won't live to see tomorrow."

He then turned to his men. One of them, a tall guy in a suit, looked alarmed and immediately pulled out his phone, working every connection and contact he had.

Sonny leaned back in his chair and waited patiently, his eyes drifting to a prison uniform hanging on the rack nearby. It was from Tidewater County Jail.

He was a top lieutenant of the Sonnys, America's number one mob family, operating out of California. In California, he practically ran the whole show — even the governor had to show him some respect. But on orders from the family boss, he had swallowed his pride and gone to serve time in Tidewater County, all to get close to one particular man inside.

That man was Jack.

After years of trying, he had never managed to build a real friendship with Jack. When Jack got out, Sonny had no choice but to leave too. He hadn't expected that the moment he got back, Jack would be the one calling him.

"It took me years to get this king of spies to even consider us. Whether we can pull this off depends entirely on how well we handle this." Sonny jumped to his feet and started pacing, barely able to contain his excitement.

On the other side of town, inside the van, Jack put down his phone and handed it to Carol, who shoved it hard into her pocket.

Carol glared at him. "Jack, who did you just call? We're almost there. What are we supposed to do now?"

Jack took a slow breath. "I can handle this. I called a friend. He should be able to take care of it."

Carol scoffed. "Should be able to? What kind of friend? You really think whoever you know is capable enough to get my mom out? Someone you met in prison?"

Jack said nothing.

That Sonny — back in prison, he was always looking for chances to get close to Jack. Jack knew exactly what he was. The guy was a Sonny. During his time on missions outside, Jack had crossed paths with the Sonny family's don, Jayson, a few times and had even helped him out of a tight spot once. What he never expected was that because of that, the don had arranged for one of his key people to go undercover in prison, just to build a connection with him.

"I didn't really want to involve them. But if I called my own guys, I was afraid things might blow up too big."

Jack let out a long breath and clenched his fists. As the van bounced and swayed, before he even realized it, they had arrived at Jace's place.

Inside, more than twenty enforcers had gathered.

A heavyset middle-aged man came storming down the stairs from the second floor. "Son of a bitch, someone dared to mess with my people. I don't care if he's done time or not — if he wants to go back to prison, I'll send him there myself."

Jace stood in the lobby downstairs, cigar in hand, his face twisted with fury.

"Boss!" The room rang out in unison as all the enforcers lowered their heads.

A short while earlier, Jace had gotten word over the phone that the scarred guy working for him had almost grabbed Carol, but Jack had beaten him up.

He was furious and swore Jack would pay for it.

From what Scarface had told him over the phone, Jack was no small-timer — he'd done time in Ashland County and knew how to fight.

But Jace wasn't worried, because the real power backing him up wasn't something you could take on just by being tough.

Bang!

The front door was suddenly kicked wide open.

Scarface and a few of his boys rushed in first, then scrambled in panic to get to Jace. "Boss, we brought them." Scarface said in a shaky voice, pointing toward the entrance.

Jack slowly lowered his right leg, his face stone cold, and walked into the lobby.

Carol looked at Jace and swallowed hard. "That man," she said, her voice shaking, "is the one my mom warned me never to cross — a mob boss with blood on his hands. Jace."

She ducked behind Jack, trembling, her mind going blank. Looking at the lobby full of mob enforcers and feeling the cold menace coming off Jace, her legs were nearly giving out from fear.

She turned to Jack. "Jack, what do we do? Is it too late to call the police?"

"Don't be scared. I've got you." Jack gave a small smile, put a hand on Carol's shoulder, and moved her behind him.

At that moment, Jace stepped forward and jabbed a finger at Jack. "Kid, I hear you just roughed up one of my boys and beat up a cop. You've got some nerve."

Jack's face was unreadable. "You're Jace? Release Caroline right now. Otherwise, you'll regret it."

Jace blinked, and his men looked momentarily thrown off. It had been years since anyone had dared talk to their boss like that. This guy had no idea what he was walking into.

"Bold little punk, talking to me like that. Looks like you haven't learned your lesson yet." Jace's expression darkened, and he crushed the cigar between his fingers, letting the shreds fall to the floor. "You did time in Tidewater County — I know that place churns out some tough guys. But being tough in prison and being tough out here are two different things. Out here, you need connections and power behind you. I don't believe for a second you can walk out of here in one piece, all on your own."

As Jace finished speaking, he raised his hand.

Immediately, his men stomped forward in unison, the floor shaking under the weight of their steps like a minor earthquake.

"Trying to scare me?" Jack's eyes went cold and locked onto Jace.

Then Jace froze. Looking into Jack's eyes, he felt something he couldn't put into words — a killing intent that stopped him cold.

"Why does this kid have eyes like that?" Jace went pale. He'd only ever seen that look in the eyes of men who outranked him by a mile — men who, without exception, were forces capable of shaking the entire country. How could someone this young have a stare like that?

Buzz buzz.

Suddenly, Jace's phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID and went rigid, his legs trembling, his mind reeling — because the call was from the very person backing him up.

He answered immediately. "Hello, sir? What can I do for you?"

"Jace, did you kidnap a woman? If anything happens to her, you'd better end yourself. I'll make sure your family is taken care of."

Cold sweat ran down Jace's face.