Fighting Conviction by Greer Rivers

Chapter Thirty-Seven

“Come on, Snake, do you have the location or not?”

“Been working on it since you asked me to hack into Virginia’s phone and pinpoint it two minutes ago, Devil. You know this shit takes longer in real life than in the movies.”

“He’s got it, man. We’ll find her,” Hawk murmured to Devil as they and Phoenix ran to the parking lot where Hawk had parked the BlackStone SUV. Snake was on Hawk’s speakerphone while Devil checked his own phone every fifteen seconds to see if Ellie had called him from a different number.

When the car was in view, he raced ahead to the driver’s side. He wrenched the door open only to have Phoenix slam it closed.

“Fuck no, dude. You’re in this too deep. I’m drivin’.”

Devil growled and opened his mouth to object.

“Get in the passenger seat, Devil. Phoenix drives,” Hawk’s command came out as he hopped in the back, and Devil followed out of habit before he knew what he was doing.

He rounded the SUV and hopped in just in time for Phoenix to peel out of the parking lot.

“Why the fuck didn’t I ever ask for Virginia’s number?” He shook his head and punched the glove compartment box.

“If you make the airbags go off and slow us down, Jaybird’s gonna kill you,” Hawk warned.

“Does he know?” Phoenix asked, looking up at the rearview mirror.

“I texted him. Told him to go to BlackStone ASAP and we’d meet him there until we figured it all out,” Hawk answered.

“He just walked in. Devil, how sure are you she’s with Virginia?” Snake asked over the speaker.

“Zero percent sure. It’s just a hunch because Virginia’s been driving her everywhere since her bike got stolen.”

“Copy,” Snake responded. “Let’s see… huh… looks like she’s near that park again.”

“What the fuck?” Jaybird’s voice was loud and clear. Like he’d grabbed the phone from Snake. “Why the hell is she there at night again?”

“I don’t know,” Devil growled, wondering the same thing. “She wouldn’t go there at night. Not again.”

“How do you know? If she was that careless the first time, why not this time, too?” Jaybird asked, obviously fuming.

Devil bristled at the accusation. He would’ve thought the same thing at one point, but it wasn’t a fair assumption anymore. “That was weeks ago. She wouldn’t do that again. Besides, last time was an honest mistake.” Ellie had worked hard and Devil felt the need to defend her. She’d earned the benefit of the doubt in his eyes. “She’s smart. Whatever happened, it was either out of her control or she fought like hell.”

Jaybird grumbled on the other end, obviously unconvinced. But he didn’t know Ellie like Devil did.

“Directions to the park, somebody?” Phoenix prompted. “I haven’t been on a swing in fifteen years.”

“Already sent the location to the SUV GPS system,” Snake replied.

“Turn right in… two miles,” a robotic female voice commanded over the speaker. “With traffic, you will reach your destination in… twenty minutes.”

“Twenty minutes? Goddamnit.” Devil scrubbed his beard. A lot could happen in twenty minutes. “Snake, do we know if she’s at the park exactly or are you still pinpointing her location?”

“It keeps narrowing down to that location… oh, wait. I read it wrong—”

“What the f—”

Snake cut Jaybird off. “You’re going to the Hatcher Gardens Neighborhood, approximately one klick from the park.”

Devil grimaced at the update. “Why the hell would she be there?”

“Remember, this is only Virginia’s location,” Snake answered. “They might not be together.”

“They’re together,” Devil said before muttering to himself. “They have to be.”

“We’ll find her.” Hawk’s declaration was said with such conviction it felt like a command to the universe. Devil didn’t usually believe in that shit, but if it would listen to anyone, it would be Hawk.

Hawk leaned forward between Phoenix and Devil in the front. “Who lives in the neighborhood. Do we know anybody there?”

Everyone answered Hawk’s question in the negative before Snake spoke. “Well, we know they were likely at that party. Naomi and I looked up every single person on the guest list. I’ll cross reference the locations we have for them.”

“Good idea,” Hawk said. “Is there any other way we can figure out ASAP who lives there?”

“Not quickly enough,” Snake groaned. “Fuck, from my files no one who was invited to the party lives in Hatcher Gardens Neighborhood.”

“Makes sense,” Phoenix grumbled. “That neighborhood’s like a shit place now, right? The party only had rich jackasses and high school girls there.”

“Can you drive any faster?” Devil’s temper was electric on his skin and he tried to calm it down before he lashed out. “This town is an inch wide on a map, it shouldn’t take us this fucking long to get across it.”

“Dude, chill. You heard the lady, it’s Friday night traffic. What do you want from me? We’re already farther than the bitch said we’d be.”

Devil huffed and leaned back in the seat, studying his phone like it had all the answers.

If Ellie wasn’t with Virginia, if this was a wild-goose chase, he didn’t have any other ideas. What if he couldn’t find her this time?

No. I can’t lose her.

Devil closed his eyes and tried to think of anything useful, but all he saw was her smile. How she lit up every room like the goddamn sun.

He’d shut everything out years ago. His world had been dark for too long, but Ellie made him realize how much better life could be if he let the light in.

“If I lose her…” he whispered.

“I know, man. I know.” Hawk clapped him on the shoulder.

“So… it’s like that, huh?” Jaybird growled over the speaker and Devil shook his head.

Fuck, guess everyone knows now.

“Dude, so not the time.” Phoenix groaned.

“No, I want to know. It’s my sister and I need to know why Devil’s getting to call the shots.” There was silence before Jaybird sighed on the line. “Are you in love with her?”

Devil swallowed. “Yeah, man. I love her.”

Jaybird sighed again. “Devil, she just turned fucking nineteen. What the hell, man?”

“Weren’t you like a billion years older than Jules when y’all met? Wasn’t she nineteen?” Phoenix reasoned, and Devil raised a brow. He hadn’t thought of that.

“Exactly, and I fucked up big time with Jules. I’m lucky as hell she forgave me after the shit I put her through.”

Phoenix tilted his head in a nod. “And now you’re happy as a blue jay… havin’ a baby with her. A whole goddamn life right?”

Devil wasn’t sure why Phoenix was coming to his defense, but his own emotions were all over the place, so he didn’t mind the reprieve. He hadn’t let himself feel so much in a decade. It was fucking overwhelming.

“Yeah, and you have no idea how lucky I am with that in particular,” Jaybird mumbled and Devil wasn’t sure if they were supposed to hear, or what he’d meant, but Phoenix kept talking.

“Don’t you want that for your boy? Your sister’s an adult and Devil’s a few years younger than us, bro. He may look like a thirty-five-year-old and act like he’s a thousand, but he’s still only twenty-seven. Half-plus-seven rule, my dude.”

“That’s not a real rule, Phoenix,” Jaybird grumbled.

“Plus, math, idiot. He’d have to be twenty-four for that to work with a nineteen-year-old,” Snake reasoned and Devil snorted.

Phoenix shrugged. “Meh, same difference. Trauma ages you. With what we’ve all been through, including your sister, we’ve got much more important shit to worry about than numbers.”

Devil sighed and closed his eyes. “I love her, I’d live for her. Die for her. And I would’ve killed for her today if she hadn’t saved Strickland’s life. What more could you want from someone who loves your sister. Isn’t that enough?”

There was silence on the other line and Devil waited. Normally he wouldn’t give two shits about what any of his friends thought, but Ellie adored her brother, and if Jaybird didn’t approve, Devil wasn’t sure she’d give him a chance.

Fuck, Devil didn’t even know if she was going to give him a chance after the way he’d talked to her at the party. He’d gone about everything all wrong. Hadn’t even officially taken her on a date. And to top it all off, now that he’d told Jaybird, Ellie was truly the last person to know how Devil felt about her. He shook his head. He’d fix it all as soon as they found her.

I’ll find you, angel.

He sent it out as a prayer and hoped Ellie could somehow know. Meanwhile, he’d wait to see if her brother would doom them before they started.

“You’re emotionless, though. I’m not sure I want that for her.”

Phoenix and Hawk both barked out laughs, making Devil jump in his skin.

“What’s so funny?” Jaybird demanded.

“Man, the boy is gone for his girl,” Hawk managed to explain through his chuckle. “He doesn’t have emotions at work, but goddamn the man is a fucking sap for Ellie.”

“Really? I haven’t seen it…”

“‘Cause you’ve got pregnancy brain, my dude,” Phoenix joked.

“That’s only for the woman, asshole.”

“Sure it is.” Phoenix laughed and Hawk joined in again.

A resigned sigh came through the speaker. “Fine. You can date her. But I swear to God, if you hurt her I will hunt you down. Friend or not.”

Devil shook his head but smiled as he spoke. “Man, I wasn’t asking for your permission, but glad to have your blessing. It’ll make it easier to convince Ellie to go on our first date.”

“You haven’t even been on a fucking date with her yet?”

“Shut up, Jaybird,” Snake interrupted. “I’ve got something.”

“What is it?” Devil sat up farther in his seat, clenching his fists to the point of pain.

“I’ve pinpointed the house down to a cluster of addresses from Virginia’s location. Do you want the good news or the bad news?”

“Cut the shit, Snake, just tell us,” Devil growled.

“I think you’re right and Ellie’s with Virginia. But you’re not gonna like who else they’re with.”

“Okay…” Devil waited for the shoe to drop.

“Investigator Burgess’s house is dead center of the cluster.”

“What the fuck? That shitty house on the screen is his?” Jaybird yelled on the other side.

“We don’t know yet, but we always thought he was a shady fuck,” Hawk answered. “Whatever’s going on can’t be good.”

Devil closed his eyes in agreement, trying to push every worst-case scenario out of his mind.

“Send us the exact address, Snake. I’m about to turn into the neighborhood.”

“Already did.”

The SUV told them where to go and they weaved around the neighborhood until they pulled up to a small dilapidated house. It didn’t look as bad as the ones around it, at least Burgess’s house had all its windows and the door was still on its hinges. There was also a light on whereas the other ones were pitch black.

“Looks like Burgess is the only one home… in the whole fuckin’ neighborhood.” Phoenix joked and Devil would’ve punched him to shut the hell up if he hadn’t seen something that made his blood freeze.

Tendrils of smoke were escaping through the roof of the house, and there was an eerie glow behind the blinds. Devil worked against the icy paralysis and opened the door, nearly falling out before going into a sprint.

“Dude, what the—”

As Phoenix yelled for him, the windows on the house exploded. Devil fell back and covered his eyes from flying glass and blistering heat. When the cloud of fire dissipated, Devil lowered his arm to see the house in front of him engulfed in flames. Strong hands gripped both of his biceps and Devil kicked and tried to dig his heels in to keep from being pulled away.

“Stop, we’ll get her, alright?” Hawk yelled over the crackling wood. Devil had forgotten how loud a fire can get. “Not like this. We weren’t trained for this.”

Neither was Ellie.

The thought sent icy shards of panic through his spine, and he had to fight the paralysis and his teammates. “No! I have to get her! Let me go!”

Hawk and Phoenix held him at bay as his whole life evaporated into smoke. His breath came in spurts and the pain in his lungs had nothing to do with fire.

“I can’t… I can’t… just watch… her die.” The words were ripped from his chest and he collapsed to his knees. The fire licked at the tops of the windows, lighting up the night.

“She’ll… she’ll… be alright.” Phoenix struggled to comfort him, but Devil shrugged off his hand.

A cool wind drifted over his body, making Devil shiver. All the air around him that wasn’t coming directly from the fire felt practically chilly.

“I have to go. Let me go.”

“No.” Hawk’s voice brooked no argument, but Devil didn’t give a fuck what his leader said. “We can’t let you go in there. It’s not safe and we can’t go in to save you if you do something stupid.”

Sirens reached out to them from the distance but Devil couldn’t stop the urge to get up. To do something.

Another blast from the house brought on new heat and Phoenix and Hawk let go of him to shield their eyes, but Devil widened his. A hazy figure stood on the right side of the house, but the fire was too bright to see if it was Ellie.

“There she is!”

He leaped up and sprinted to the side of the house. Footsteps tried to match his speed, but he’d been running with Ellie in the morning. The girl could run like the wind, and he harnessed that energy to get to her.

More flames exploded around him, but he didn’t care. Ellie had been right there at the side of the house. He’d seen her. Devil didn’t know why she wasn’t running to meet him, but he knew she was there.

When he got to the place he’d seen her, he backed up and did a three-sixty with his hands on his head. He scanned the length of the house and backyard. But there was nothing.

When Phoenix and Hawk caught up to him, they tried to pull him away, yelling at him about getting burned, but Devil shook them off. The cool breeze in the night added a thin layer of protection against the heat.

“Don’t touch me again.” His growl vibrated in his chest and for some reason, they listened and let him go.

The heat licked at his face and he kneeled down, following the cool air, hoping Ellie could feel it wherever she was.

His teammates yelled behind him, but he ignored them. The heat was a wall he had to fight against and he covered his eyes as he followed the inexplicably cool air leading him closer to the house.

I’ll find you, angel.

He said it over and over again, hoping she somehow heard him.

Something inside the house thundered so loudly it cracked his eardrums. The walls collapsed inward as the roof crashed in. Devil flattened himself to the ground to avoid the burst of hellfire.

No one could survive those flames. The house fell in on itself and every hope Devil had collapsed with it.

That was it.

It was done.

She was gone.

He fell to his knees. What was he going to do without her? She’d become everything to him in such a short time. If his words hadn’t been so mean. If he’d trained her differently. If he’d trusted her enough to tell her about the party. Would they be at BlackStone right now? In his apartment?

Fuck.

This one would break him. Every death he’d witnessed had taken a piece of his soul, but Ellie’s death would kill him.

Devil roared and slammed his fists down on the ground. He laid there, breathing in the dirt, not caring anymore that the world burned around him. What did that matter when everything he loved was already ash?

His chest pounded and his breaths came in spurts. It had to be his tie strangling him. Devil tore at the fabric until he was free, but it wasn’t enough. He shredded his dress shirt, hoping the pain would stop once he was free. It didn’t. He kept clawing at his chest until the thin fabric of his thin tank top ripped under his fingernails. But it was no use. Without Ellie, he knew the ache in his chest would never go away.

Something inside the house banged and rattled and he knew he needed to get up. The fire was consuming the house just feet in front of him, and he didn’t know what direction the walls would fall when they finally did.

But his muscles wouldn’t listen. The grass brushed his face. Tears stung his eyes just before they watered the ground. The chilly night breeze lifted his hair in a gust—

“In here! In here!”

Muffled shouts electrified his limp body. They were so faint, Devil wasn’t sure if what he heard was real or the hope of a desperate man. He lifted his head and swiveled around but couldn’t see where they came from.

Cool wind buffered him from the heat and cleared away smoke with the breeze. As he blinked back the sting from his eyes to see better, his gaze caught on something in front of him. He stared at the ground in confusion for a moment until it finally registered that he was witnessing a miracle.