Chương 15: Gone Missing

Damon Pov

"How long has he been gone for?" Phraser asked. His voice trembling a little as he did so. He paced around the midiocre office we we're in mumbling incoherent words.

"I..i don't know." Maya, his new assistant replied not knowing how to act around five very angry, pissed off men. Phraser shot her a glare enough to send her out the door. I watched her struggle to open it until Ace relunctantly helped her.

"What do we do now?" Ace grumbled looking at an angry Phraser. I pinched the bridge between my nose and sighed. Jason, my dad's most trusted tactical team leader laid out a map under the dimly lit lamp and started pointing out all the fastest exits out of LA. Meanwhile, Asher, one of the most skilled tracker I know, was making calls in the far corner of the office and by the looks of it, he wasn't getting what we needed.

"They couldn't have taken him from the far North. It has our strongest out-posts and men as well as the East and South but I have doubts about the Western region. We don't exactly get along with the opposition." Asher said plopping on one of the mahogany chairs facing mine.

"They would never do that. Not unless they want a death wish." Phraser spoke still pacing around. I nodded my head agreeing with him. The Steels are smart enough to know not to mess with us.

"And besides:-" Ace spoke leaning against my office table.

"-we would have noticed their slackiness on the crime scene had it been them."

"This makes no sense." Phray plopped down on the other chair. He held his head whilst pulling his hair in frustration.

"How the fuck does an outsider enter our own territory and take one of our own all under our noses." He yelled angrily and hit his hand on the table. He looked at me expectantly but I only stared back.

"And you." He pointed at Jason.

"What the fuck we're you doing when all of this happened?" Phray stood up and enclosed Jason's space. He was dangerously close.

"Phraser..." I warned.

"I am sick and tired of you always slacking off and Dad covering you're ass." Phray pushed Jason and he fell down with a growl. I sighed and pushed my hair our of my face and groaned.

Fucking child.

"Phraser stop:-" Ace stepped between them and helped Jason up. Just then, Eric, Derrick's trusted security man barged in the office with a puzzled look on his face. He looked at everyone and rolled his eyes.

"The car that took him was a '37 Black on Black'. We just found footage on one of the roads in Doyers Street but that's all it could cover before it vanished. We got the number plate in the system, Jake is on it but uhm, Asher, go out there and help him." He nodded and immediately took off for the surveillance room.

"Jason, round up all of you're men and be ready. As soon as Jason gets their location we will move out." Eric said and he growled in response but left.

"Phray, I need you to calm the fuck down before you hurt anybody." I said standing to my full height. I walked around the office in confusion. Something doesn't add up.

"Derrick was kidnapped at 9pm and I found out at 10:-" I trailed off looking at Eric.

"Why is that?"

"I tried calling you but you didn't pick up so I had to do damage control before the cops found out." He explained occupying Asher's place.

"So it took you a whole hour for you to reach us? That is the most careless you've ever been Eric and that gave them time to disappear.:-" He opened his mouth but I cut him off.

":-every single second you wasted gave them an advantage and now we are an hour and a half late then you come here and tell me that all you have is a number plate that is obviously fake but you knew that already. So not only are you still wasting time, but you've also sent two best of the men on a wild goose chase while you sit here and act like everything is okay." I yelled at him in anger as I felt my beast on the verge of breaking out. His jaw tightened and he dared stare at me in anger. My being ten years younger than him no doubt fueling his anger even more.

"It is not a wild goose chase if we can trace them."

"We won't." Ace said shaking his head at him.

"What exactly did you see when you arrived there?" Phray asked more calmly.

"The tracker on the car he was in was damaged so it sent it's last signal to us that's when I knew something was amiss. I went there with our men and the car was trashed. Two of your dad's bodyguards we're dead and there was blood everywhere, now knowing Derrick I have no doubt he must've put up a fight. I called damage control and packed everything up. I tried calling you but none of your phones went through so I contacted your friend, uhm, Jake. The boys and I took the jet to here." Eric explained and by the time he finished, he was breathless and looked flushed.

"They bloodied the fucking car up because they want us to know they can get to us." Ace grumbled.

"Bloody limo:-" I mumbled walking towards the board in Derrick's office with all of his rivals on it. I smirked remembering the first I came here as a kid.

":-dead bodyguards." I pushed past stamp cards and pictures of different people whom, over the years, I've grown accustomed to in the business world until I landed on one.

"Overly dramatic car and clumsy get away." I smirked looking over an old, bold man covered in tatoos. He was wearing sunglasses with a dunhill on the corner of his lips. From the angle the picture was taken from, it looked like he was on a boat with other men.

"Vladimir Ivankov." Phray mussed following my line of sight.

"That's one hell of an accusation." Erick warned standing next to me with his brows furrowed.

"Then we better make sure Damon's right." Ace said moving closer to us. I stared hard at the man who must've taken Derrick.

"Get everything about Vladimir. What he has been doing for the past year and the last 48hours." I said.

"Why the last 48hours?" Eric asked looking over at me.

"They are the ones that determine whether or not a mission is successful. Knowing Vladimir, he must've left some slip up somewhere and we need to find it before he does." Phray replied going back to the table where the map was all laid out.

"We find the slip up:-" I grabbed a ruler and pencil and zeroed in on the most popular areas Vladimir likes to visit most while in the US.

":-we might actually know where Vladimir is hiding and eventually find Dad." Ace said pulling his hair in frustration. I sighed looking over at my baby brother. This whole situation must've taken a toll on him emotionally. The last thing I wanted was for him to get drained. I left Phray and Eric discussing tactics we need to use and took Ace on the side.

"Hey Ace! How about you fly to NYC and talk to uhm..." I trailed off not wanting to address that woman with a title she doesn't deserve.

":-mom?" He rolled his eyes.

"Someone needs to tell her about what happened to Derrick and you're the best candidate for it." I smiled lightly at him and touched his shoulder in comfort.

"Is that one of your anticts to get me away from here?"

"Yes but she needs her baby boy right now." He sighed and nodded his head. I gave him a side hug and he left. My head swirled with the worst possible scenarios.

"Hey Damon!" Eric called and I hummed in response.

"Ace is not the only one that needs to go to New York." I looked back at him in confusion. He turned the computer to face me and I frowned. Stone Inc. Had been sent an invitation to a ball happening a couple of days from now.

"Check who the invite is from." Phray grumbled. My eyes trailed to the bottom of the mail and saw Vladimir's initials on it.

"We can not go there. Vladimir will just use this to taunt you." Eric said. I looked at Phraser and he sighed.

"We're going." He and I said in unison. Eric groaned but agreed anyway.

"We're going to need suits." Eric said calling someone from Armani.

"And dates." Phray finished with a smirk. I folded my arms over my chest knowing exactly who I'm taking.