Chapter 5 FIVE

TRRIIIIIMM!! TRIMM! TRIM!!

TRRIIIIIMM!! TRIMM! TRIM!!

Ellis stared at the loudly ringing phone in the living room. There were only two possibilities hovering in her mind at that moment. The first, which she considered obvious due to the hour, would be Officer Smith contacting her to check if Jason was at home. The second, the men her brother had gotten involved with in the past were calling for their money. There was still a third possibility that Ellis had deemed so unlikely that she couldn't even allow herself to imagine it: Jason had been kidnapped.

Whichever option it was, Ellis had no choice but to answer, which she did:

"BARKER, I told you to answer on the first ring!" Smith shouted from the other end of the line.

"Officer Smith, this is Ellis Barker..." Ellis replied, apprehensively.

"Miss Barker?" Smith questioned, surprised. He took a deep breath and then continued: "Miss, could you please call your brother?"

"I'm sorry we didn't answer earlier... We had a very tiring day and ended up falling asleep..."

"Understood, now call your brother..."

"Officer Smith, he's very tired and so am I, could you call us back in the morning? I'm sure we'll be much more alert..." Ellis requested, pretending to yawn to make her version of events seem more believable.

"Miss Barker, call your brother immediately, or I will send the patrol to your residence!" Smith threatened from the other end of the line.

"Officer, as I explained, my brother is sleeping and I assure you he's sleeping like a rock. There's no need to send a patrol." Ellis argued while looking towards her brother's empty room.

"For the last time, miss, either put your brother on the line with me right now, or I will send the patrol, understood?"

"Then send the patrol, Officer." Ellis replied before hanging up the phone.

She knew that her audacity had further complicated her brother's situation, but it was the only thing she could do. From what she knew of the police in her neighborhood, they would only do their rounds in the morning, giving her a few hours to find Jason.

Ellis took a deep breath as she thought about the next steps she would take in the search for Jason. The first would be...

***

Ellis' car engine remained cold as the young woman parked a few blocks from her home in front of Troy Lamar's house. She approached the entrance and rang the doorbell so intensely that she managed to wake up the neighbors around. The entrance lights turned on, and then a black woman with the same features as Troy appeared, leaving only the protective door closed.

"Ellis, what are you doing here?" the woman asked, adjusting her old suede robe against her body.

"Troy is here?" Ellis asked back, very nervous.

"Yes, he is," the woman replied, not understanding.

"Could you call him, Mrs. Lamar, please?"

"Troy is sleeping. He has an early class tomorrow, and so do we all," Mrs. Lamar argued, already closing her door.

"It's a matter of life or death," Ellis blurted out, approaching the door. "Only your son can save my brother."

Mrs. Lamar stared at Ellis, not understanding, then she sighed and let her in reluctantly.

"Troy!" Mrs. Lamar called, entering the house while Ellis sat on the couch waiting for the guy. "Troy, get up, Ellis is here."

The time between Mrs. Lamar's disappearance seemed infinite to Ellis, who nervously swung her right leg while trying to remain calm. Even the family Lamar's living room clock's hands seemed to go slower than usual, and the noise was louder. The slow steps caught Ellis' sharp ears' attention, and soon they turned out to be Troy's, adjusting his glasses on his crumpled face.

"Ellis, are you okay?" the guy asked, confused.

"Troy, I need to know. Did anything happen at home today?" Ellis asked, squeezing her fingers together.

"No, nothing happened...What did you and my brother do today?" Ellis questioned.

"Nothing, we played... Jason said he was tired, so I came home. Did something happen, Ellis?" Troy answered, not understanding.

"No," Ellis denied, opting to lie. Smith would probably reach Troy at some point, so she couldn't ruin her brother's alibi by revealing that Jason wasn't home. "It's just concern, you know... Today is the first day back home."

"You woke up my son for that?" Mrs. Lamar asked, crossing her arms, annoyed.

"Well, you know, an overprotective sister thing," Ellis replied, embarrassed.

"Okay. Well, everything went well," Troy said, standing up and smiling at Ellis. "Tell him I'll stop by later and we'll play."

"No, sir, don't forget you need to do that college project," Troy's mother said, which seemed like another lie, as Ellis observed the surprised look on the guy's face.

"You should rest," Ellis concluded, getting up.

The brunette walked towards the door, thinking about the next step she would take now that this one didn't bring the expected result. She was already close to her car when she heard a voice calling her.

"Hey, Ellis," Troy called, walking towards her. He looked both ways, seeming very concerned, and then said, "I didn't want to talk in front of my mother because you know how she is... But when I left your house, there was a black car parked a few meters away on the sidewalk."

"A black car?" Ellis asked more to herself than to Troy. She tried to remember any neighbor who had a black car around.

"It's not the type of car people around here drive. It's the type of car... the type of car those guys drive, Ellis. The guys Jason was hanging out with," Troy said, bringing the direction Ellis sought for the next step.

***

Luciano "Lucky" Conti, that was the name of the man who snorted a line of cocaine through one of his nostrils while watching his dancers seduce customers in his strip club, the "Lucky Gentlemen's Club". Surrounding him were at least four huge, heavily armed men, as he himself made a point of saying he was a capo, a mafia boss. However, all of that mafia scene didn't scare Ellis, who doubted that Luciano had ever set foot in Italy. The brown-haired young woman entered the room with blood in her eyes and went straight to the space reserved for Lucky, who showed no surprise at her arrival.

"Miss Barker, long time no see," said Lucky, smiling with his glazed eyes.

"Where's my brother, Lucky?" Ellis asked without any fear, showing all her anger. "I paid the debt, where's my brother?"

"Vacci piano, Signorina Barker," Lucky pleaded, raising his hands toward the young woman.

"Don't speak Italian to me, Lucky!" Ellis shouted while hitting the table, scattering the remaining drugs all over the place.

Lucky's men quickly moved toward Ellis, who didn't budge from where she was. One of them even pointed a gun at the brunette, who just stared back at him, serious.

"Ragazzi, tornate alle vostre posizioni... è tutto sotto controllo," Lucky continued, smiling at his men. "Attenetevi al piano, avete capito?"

Lucky's men moved away and gradually returned to their posts. The one who had aimed at Ellis's head still kept his gun close to the brunette's temple. He smiled at her, cocked the gun as if he expected Ellis to flinch, but she continued to stare at him without blinking.

"Ezio," Lucky called out, very concerned about the tense atmosphere. "Leave her alone."

"Do what your boss says," Ellis said, staring at the guy.

"Lucky girl," the man said before taking the gun off Barker's head. He approached her ear and said, "I want to see how long your luck will last..."

"Ezio, please," Lucky pleaded, raising his arms and shaking them in the air. "I won't say it twice..."

"Sarai anche il proprietario del quartiere, Luciano, ma non sei il mio padrone," the man spoke in Italian as he returned to his place. He turned to Luciano, held his shoulder and smiled, saying, "Sono qui solo per vedere se riesci a seguire ciò che è stato determinato."

Ellis watched the scene, and despite the smiles exchanged between the men, it was clear that things weren't as they seemed. Something was wrong. Lucky turned to Barker and said, "Come, let's go to my office."

He and his guards went ahead, followed by Ellis, who already imagined the worst.