The Cabin

*Jospeh*

I practically ran down the stairs to find the others. I rushed them all into my office and closed the door. "She has a cabin, far north, past the territory." I paused "In the peak." They all looked at me stunned. "Don't you think he could have gone there when he left Big? He may have gone to find her cabin, and got it ready for when he took her?" I had hope for the first time since I realized she was gone. "What do you think Z?" no one was responding to me. "We can check it out boss, but we didn't find anything like that in her name?" I smiled at him telling him that because it was in her name that I knew her by in 2008. Henry went out and brought back a huge map of New York. We looked over it and found that her cabin was basically in the middle of nowhere. "Boss, isn't that area off limits to the brotherhood, Wont that starts a war?" Zeus was concerned. When I came back from Ohio, We were at war for years with the other kingpins around the state. It took years of war and a lot of blood for me to gain control of what I had. The worse one is Luca. He was ruthless, between the two of us we either ruined or killed most of the other leaders. We split territory. His men aren't allowed to cross my lines and vice versa. Sandra's cabin sat in the middle of it. I am sure Ryan knew that. I looked at Zeus walking closer to him, "I don't care." I said coldly. "This will probably start a war between our territories, I will go by myself if I have to, But if I have a chance of finding her. I will go." I started to walk out the door. They all followed.

We gathered gear. Vests, weapons, and comms. I looked at Jay as he put his vest on. I wanted to ask him if he was okay to go but I didn't want to bruise his ego. He nodded at me seemingly knowing what I wanted to ask. I nodded back. My adrenaline was pumping. I was going to save her. I was going to get her back. When we walked out of the door my heart started racing looking at the Suv we were heading for. Henry was looking down, he hadn't said anything. "Are you okay bro?" he looked up at me and his eyes were blazing. "I am ready, Smoke." I smiled at him. I was trying to focus on the fact that we might find her and not what shape she might be in when we did. We all were worried about it but none of us spoke it. I asked another guard to drive so Jay would be ready to jump out when we needed to. I grabbed my phone and called Ark. He answered on the second ring, "Yes boss?" I told him I needed safe travels through the North to the peak, which is what we called that part of Luca's territory. "Boss if you go through there it will start a war, you know we are always fighting over the line as it is." I knew he didn't know how dire it was that I went so I didn't say anthing. I just told him to tell me what the safest path was to the peak again. He sighed and told me to take the road behind his office building. He said it would take me a back way into the peak. I hung up. "We are going to have to put him in his place." Zeus didn't like that he was questioning me. "Leave it to Z, my most loyal advisor," I said shaking my head. We all laughed nervously.

I told them all to rest while we drove, the north territory was a good three-hour drive from the city house. When we got there we would stop and visit Ark, using his maps to find a good path to the cabin from the road he told me about. I looked over and everyone was wide awake. "I know this is above and beyond what the brotherhood requires, and I know it could cause hellfire on us all. I understand if you want to stay with Ark when we get there. You are not required to go with me to save her." They all looked angry at what I said. Zeus and Henry tried to speak at the same time, and eventually, Zeus won. "Listen Smoke, this is exactly what the brotherhood does. We protect the weak and take from the strong. Even if it wasn't, you are our family we will stand beside you always." Henry was nodding in agreement the whole time, then he spoke up, "We care about her too." I shook my head and thanked them. Jay didn't speak, but we both already know how he feels. It was quiet after that while we waited to get to our destination. I looked up towards the sky watching the passing clouds. I can't lose her. He had to of kept her alive, he wanted to keep her, not kill her. What is he doing to her? I closed my eyes. *please God keep her safe until I can find her* I opened my eyes and felt a tear falling down my cheek. I tried to hide it by running my hand across my face. It didn't work. I felt a strong squeeze on my shoulder. It was Henry, he also had tears in his eyes "We are going to get her back Smoke, She is okay. She is strong. She lasted years with him and survived, she can survive two days."

When we pulled up to the building that Ark uses as his office. I put on my monster face and got out of the car. When we got to the door and walked in Ark was waiting for me to enter and ushered me into his meeting room. It was strange how he was rushing us, but I would have to deal with that later. When Ark shut the door Zeus was in his face. He slammed him into the door and put his hand on his throat. "Zeus, let the man go." He did as he was told but was glaring at him from about two feet away. "Excuse Z, He is a little angry as he feels you disrespected me in our earlier phone call." His eyes got wide, "No sir, I didn't intend to be disrespectful." I told him to get us all something to eat and leave the room. I told him to knock and not just walk in. When he left I looked at the map of the northern territory. I looked at the peak and felt my heart start pounding. We started mapping a trail to the cabin. We decided we would need to walk some of the way so Ryan didn't see us coming and hurt her. I know she is probably appeasing him, she knows how to survive. Which made me sick again. When Ark returned I could tell he didn't like knocking. He brought some subs and I told him to gather us some winter wear with an extra set. I also asked him for a warming blanket so I knew I could keep her warm when I carried her out of there. I looked at the clock it was just before 6:00 am. She had spent a whole night with that monster. It was time to leave, time to go get our girl back. We said our goodbyes thanking Ark for his hospitality. I told Zeus and Henry when we got back to the vehicle that I could feel Ark was up to something and they agreed. We decided to figure that out after all of this was over.

We started towards the peak. The sun was barely up so the roads were quiet. I knew Luca's men were watching but they didn't make it apparent. I would contact him after and let him know why we had to cross, he should understand the dire circumstance. It took about an hour to get to the pull-off where we had chosen to start on foot. We started in the direction of the Cabin. I carried a book bag with everything I should need to get her back to the SUV safely. We were almost there, almost close enough to get her. I felt myself walking faster. It's time for Ryan to die, and for Sandra to come home.