Chapter 3 Echoes of the past

Ryan DeMarco's POV

In the living room I passed back and forth, nerves close when I looked at the phone.

The call dropped again.

I tried to address my informant in New York, but the connection was constantly cut.

We spoke earlier, but I didn't understand half of what he was trying to say. Something about my mother's hostility. It was all skilled.

Frustration glued me to me, every unanswered ring contributes to the growing tension in my chest. What the hell is going on?

Just as I was about to fit the phone on the couch of inconvenience, the screen lit up. Call.

I immediately jumped. "Ryane," he said, barely for a second after the line joined.

"Talk to me," I murmured, passing my hair and still stimulating.

"These are your mother's enemies, Ryan," the voice continued, and every word is urgently clear. "You have to act quickly. MasterMind is in New York as we speak."

My heart skipped the rhythm. "Are you sure?" I asked a low voice and tried to calm down.

"He confirmed," he confirmed.

Without getting lost for a second, I killed my fist against the counter and I was already planning my next step.

I book the earliest flight from there, my mind raced.

Before I knew it, I was on the plane heading straight to New York with my PA, James ..

**********

Ryan's POV

I checked in my hotel, my mind was still racing from flight.

The urgency of my mission hardly weighed on me, but I needed to clean my head for a while.

I got into the sharp New York air and decided to walk around the block quickly.

The city was alive by movement .. so many people, so much noise .. but I was lost in my own thoughts.

As I walked past a nearby park, I noticed that a mother and a child played near the pitch.

The little boy was running around, laughing, full of energy, while the woman was watching an easy, protective smile.

I didn't think much about it until suddenly, a boy, maybe five or six, threw a snack on me.

A handful of mashed food hit my chest and I stopped dead in my footsteps, surprised by a sudden attack.

"What the hell?" I murmured, more confused than anything else.

The boy did not seem to be silent and just ran, laughing. I looked at him and frowned when I wiped my shirt, still amazed by an unexpected attack.

"Hey, boy, it's not funny."

I was about to say more, but then I heard my voice.

"Let him go," she said, sharp and protective.

My head came out. And the sight of the woman who owned her voice caught my breath in my throat. She was there.

It was her .. the same woman from that night. The one who chased my thoughts ..

But she seemed not to remember me. She was too focused on her son and I was nothing but a stranger.

When she got between me and the boy, she stepped forward, her attitude was defensive, her eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"Do you have a problem with my son?"

I was still stunned, my mind raced when I was size. Her eyes .. those same eyes .. didn't hold recognition. When she looked at me, she didn't suffer.

"No problem," I said, trying to keep his voice calm. "I just didn't expect to be hit by a sandwich."

She gave me a hard look, her tone colder than I expected.

"Well, maybe you should have watched where you went."

Her words were sharp. I felt my pulse speeding up, but I didn't answer right away. Instead, I looked down at a boy who was still giggling, not knowing about the strange energy between his mother and me.

Sophie's gaze threw back to me, her eyes still careful, her protective instinct is clear.

"Just stay away from my son, okay?"

She didn't say another word, she just turned away, her hand grabbed a little boy as she started to leave ...

**********

When I walked into the hotel room, James welcomed me, my righthand man.

His face was opaque, as always, but in his eyes I saw tension. "It's time," said his voice low, commercial.

"We have a place."

I nodded and pushed the thoughts of the woman on the back of the mind. That wasn't the time to distract.

We left the hotel and got into the black SUV, the engine was screaming to live when James drove through the streets of the city.

The route was a quiet, kind of terrible silence that has always meant a business. I knew we were heading to a place where my mother's enemies should hide.

The word on the street was that it was a place to go down, and I couldn't afford to waste time.

In the industrial part of the city, we pulled ourselves to the tapered building tucked.

The air was thick when we were James and I exchanged.

"It looks like the right place," I murmured, scanning the area.

But something didn't feel good.

We got out of the SUV and carefully went to the entrance. Every step felt harder, as if we were trapped. And the hair on the back of my neck rose.

I turned to James. "I feel," I said, and the hand was instinctively moving to the housing weapon on my side.

Before he could react, the silence was breaking the sound of the tracks that was approaching, and then by an unmistakable click on the weapon that is stretched.

I stiffened.

Several men appeared from the corner, all armed, all looked at us with the intention.

It was a set up.

I didn't have time to think. Just as I reached for my weapon, the shot rang .. loud, deafening.