Chapter Eight

The shock of it all had yet to wear off of Trent. Since everything happened he felt as though he were merely wandering around the world in plastic bubble that covered only him. Nothing could comfort him. Not the beers he drank, not the box in the corner of his apartment that held the junk from his desk, and nothing anyone had to say. None of the "Sorry, man's," not a one of the sympathy cards his family received could take away the crevice that been created when Tommy had been taken. He had caused that, he knew it. There was nothing he could do to make that go away. If he were Superman he would fly around the world backwards to save Tommy and stop this from happening.

Walker, Travette and Carlos were over at his apartment and his mother's house all of the time. He had not seen Gage since they found out that Tommy was dead. It seemed odd to Trent that Gage had taken the news worse than he had. Gage refused to believe that Tommy was dead. Gage seemed to breakdown when the news came in. Gage kept saying that Tommy was alive and that Biggins was playing a game with them. That Biggins was trying to break Trent's spirit by making him think that Tommy was dead. Though the ears that Gage was attempting to reach were not deaf, they were shocked. Anything that Gage said to try and make them see the ruse only made him appear to be crazy.

Trent found it difficult to make the arrangements for Tommy's funeral. Each time that he sat down to help pick the casket, or the floral arrangement, or the clothes for him to be laid out in, or to write the death notice, all he could do was cry and feel as though it could not really be happening. Things had progressed greatly when Walker offered to help make arrangements.
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Biggins still had to have a place in the city. A place that would be the last place anyone would look for him. Of course it had to be the club Biggins had told him to go to for the fateful meeting back when he was undercover. That had to be the place where he was keeping Tommy. There was no way Gage could bring himself to believe that Tommy was dead. Mostly because there was no way that Biggins would kill the one person who could allow him a clean get away.

As carefully and as quickly as he could Gage cleaned his boot knife and pistol. He made sure that all of the clips he had were fully loaded and ready to go. Carefully he strapped his knife inside his boot, making it as comfortable as possible. Holstering his gun, and shoving his cell phone into his pocket, Gage headed out the door of his apartment.