“They still won’t talk to them, even if they have food. They’ll deny it because the food is just for tonight. If they found anything, they could probably get a good price for food for the week, maybe even warmer clothes, with winter coming. Even these alleyways get really cold with the air no where to really blow when it comes through.”
“What if I can help with the food, shelter and the clothes, blankets, or whatever else they would need?” Pratt offered, looking over at her husband.
“Aye, we can definitely assist with that. Especially since ye are a SEAL..” Joe started to say.
“No, no special treatment for me, damn it. I don’t care about me. I only care about those in this section. Take care of them, and I’ll help you.” Jonsey said adamantly.
Highlander sighed heavily before nodding. “Okay. We will still help ye and ye friends out. What can ye do to help us?”
“Do you have a photo of the girls?” Jonsey asked the three people standing in front of him.
“Yes” Shane said, taking out her phone quickly and pulling up a photo of the two girls. “This is my sister-in-law Tina and her best friend Dakota. My husband Pattrick and my father-in-law are both SEALs, active. Dakota’s father was killed when she was younger during an op. He was also a SEAL.”
“Shit on a stick. Damn SEALs coming out of the woodworks today.” Jonsey grumbled.
Highlander laughed and nodded. “Aye that we are today, sir. Ye have my team, Pattrick’s team, Eddie’s team, Wolf’s team and Rocco’s team all here helping my wife and sister-in-law find Eddie’s daughter.”
“Dunno who this Wolf or Rocco are, but I’m glad to hear that SEALs still stick together to help get shit done. Lost most of my team to war, illness or whatever mother nature decided to throw our damn way through the years.” Jonsey said, exhaling sadly, as he shook his head.
“I’m sorry” Pratt said, looking from Jonsey to Highlander with a sadness in her eyes that had Highlander moving closer to his wife.
“You didn’t do anything, so no reason for you to be sorry kid. Now, let’s go talk to the others since I know for a fact your friends aren’t getting anywhere, even with food.” Jonesy chuckled.
The four walked to the end of the alleyway where the rest of the group was standing, talking to each other. It was obvious on the faces of the others they had not fared well when the small group arrived. Pratt, Shane and Highlander walked towards the others as Jonsey walked over to his friends and pulled them into a huddle.
“Any luck?” Wolf asked the three approaching figures.
“We’re about to see in a few. It’s going to cost us, but I’m willing to pay the price, whatever it is.” Pratt said, looking over at Jonsey and his group.
“He feels it’s his penance to be here because his wife died. He feels strongly about that. But like all SEALs, he’s only thinking of the others here, making sure they are taken care of. That’s all he’s wanting, to make sure they have food, shelter and warm clothing.” Highlander told the other SEALs.
“Damn prideful fool.” Dude murmured.
“Aye that he is, but that pride may help us here this evening.” Highlander said, looking over at Jonsey as well.
“Several minutes later, Jonsey and several others walked over to the group. This is Bones, Monster and Blue. They were here before we came back. They’ve agreed to talk to you guys, but only if you can guarantee they won’t get into any trouble with the police.”
“Okay, as long as they didn’t do the kidnapping or aide in the kidnapping of the two girls, I can promise they won’t face any charges or get into any trouble.” Pratt said, looking at the others with a firm look in her eyes and a nod.
Jonsey looked at his two friends and nodded. “I-I-I saw two guys carrying a girl each out the back door over there. A woman followed behind them, grabbing their bags and stuff, threw it into the dumpster there.” The one called Monster said, shaking slightly. “They weren’t big like you boys, but they still had some muscle on them. Tall, maybe 5’11’ or so, maybe 160 lbs, give or take.”
“What about the woman?” Shane asked softly, smiling at the man.
“She was a mean looking one, that’s for damn sure.” The one called Blue answered, making a face as if she tasted something sour.
“Why do you think that?” Raso asked, curiously.
“Honey, I’m in my seventies, not my twenties, that woman was mean looking. I’ve seen plenty of uppity women who can be sweet looking, but this woman, she has a black heart, that one. She had on them spike shoes that would make my damn feet cringe, causing me to fall and break my fool neck for wearing them. Fancy clothes, hair all done and make-up fancy like. Women like that don’t shop in these here malls. They go to the fancy one out by the marina.” Blue said, smirking at Raso, as if she was a child.
“That doesn’t mean she’s a black heart by looks.” Diesel said, backing Raso up.
“Maybe, but she had no emotions in her eyes when she looked around to see who was here. The three of us stayed in our dark area so they couldn’t see us. I honestly think had she seen us, we’d be dead right now.”
“Blue is right. That woman wouldn’t have hesitated to kill us. Those boys were her minions. They may not have been yellow with one eye, but they definitely were yellow bellied where she was concerned.” Monster said, shaking his head.
“She t-t-t-threw t-t-t-the purses in the d-d-d-dumpsters.” The shy one, Bones said, stuttering.
“Did you go and get them? I promise you won’t be in any trouble if you did. We need them to see what is on there. Make sure the girls hadn’t made arrangements to meet with someone that was stalking them or whatever the case may be.” Shane asked, hope in her voice.
