Big Easy Escapade (31 page)

Daisy’s knees buckled and she collapsed onto
the step. She pulled the burqa from her face, tucked her head into
her knees, wrapped her arms around her legs and started to cry.

Cars screeched and there was more yelling.
Daisy never looked up, just stayed in her cocoon, except when she
heard the click of handcuffs. Her kidnapper was still on the ground
but now on his stomach and handcuffed.

Footsteps sounded on the staircase and a calm
voice said, “Daisy?”

Exhaustion prevented her from raising her
head.

A soft touch fell on her shoulder. “You’re
safe now. I’m Antonio Robichaux with the New Orleans Police
Department. We have an ambulance on the way.”

She looked up at him, his soft brown eyes
relaying concern. She nodded and buried into her knees again. She
raised her head once more and asked, “Can I borrow your phone?”

***

Vivian lowered the binoculars. “They’re
loading Daisy in the ambulance!”

The girls, Al and Adrienne cheered. Vivian
high-fived Adrienne. “Way to know where he was going!”

Adrienne smacked her hand. “Way to find out
who it was!”

“They’re probably going to leave soon,” Lucy
said. “Al, let’s follow them. I’m going to go put the radio back.”
She turned to the hangar.

“They’re not going to let us see her,”
Adrienne said. “No way.”

Vivian ran after Lucy and gave her the
binoculars, then said, “We can at least see Jason.”

Al pulled the keys out of his pocket. “Let’s
go.”

Everyone climbed into the SUV and Al pulled
in behind the ambulance as it left the airport.

The lights and sirens helped them zoom
through town, and they ended up at the same hospital Simone and the
other kidnapper had been taken to. Al dropped the girls and
Adrienne at the ambulance bay and left to park the car.

The ambulance backed into the emergency bay
and the girls stood just outside the sliding glass door to the
emergency room. The driver hopped out of the front, came around and
opened the back doors. The two men gently pulled the stretcher out,
and the wheels ratcheted down.

As they pushed Daisy by, she was almost
unrecognizable with her black hair. Vivian leaned over. “We’ve been
looking for you and are so glad you’re okay.”

Daisy was covered by a white sheet to her
chest, her arms out, still wearing the burqa. She barely lifted her
hand and looked dazed. “Thanks.”

The girls, Adrienne and Al lingered in the
waiting room. Five minutes later, a pair of police officers, one a
female, spoke to the receptionist and then went through the secured
door. Another five minutes and Jason, his parents and Daisy’s
parents were at the sliding glass doors.

Jason hustled to the reception desk. “I’m
Daisy Easley’s husband and these are our parents. She’s been
brought in by ambulance.”

The receptionist clicked on the keyboard.
“She’s in Signal Five. Only two visitors at a time. I’m fairly
certain the police are with her now.”

“What is Signal Five?” Jason asked,
wide-eyed, panicked.

“It’s where we take care of victims of abuse
or a crime. The rooms are specialized for collecting evidence that
can be used in court.”

Jason turned white and leaned on the counter.
“Jesus.” Vivian thought he might pass out. “We need to see
her.”

“Let me check with the police and make sure
it’s allowed. One moment, please.”

Vivian approached Jason and touched his arm.
“Thank god she’s safe. We saw her when they brought her in. She’s
going to be all right.”

His eyes teared up and he gave her a hug.
“Thank you so much. Truly.” A buzzer sounded and a nurse opened the
door, and Jason and Daisy’s mom practically raced in.

Vivian made introductions to the family and
everyone talked for a few minutes. The waiting room started getting
crowded because Jason’s band showed up, along with a host of other
people.

Vivian gave Jason’s mother a big hug. “It was
really nice meeting you. I wish it was under different
circumstances, but at least Daisy has been found and will be
okay.”

His mom squeezed her back, then said to the
group. “I know all of you played a role in this. We can’t thank you
enough.” Her phone rang. “I’m sorry, family’s calling. I need to
take this.”

Al, Adrienne and the girls left the hospital,
and although they were emotionally drained, they had to celebrate.
It was the girls’ last night in town, Daisy was safe, and Wendy was
about to be hitched.

“I know just the place,” Kate said as Al
valeted at Hotél Versailles. “They have Jell-O shots in great big
syringes.”

Gary, the doorman, opened Adrienne’s door and
the back door. His left eye was an ugly reddish purple.

Lucy got out. “You didn’t get the day off
after getting punched out?”

Gary laughed. “I’m all right. I told them it
looks worse than it is.”

Al slipped him a business card and a bill.
“You ever need a job, call me.”

Gary expertly slipped that in his pocket and
said, “So what happened to Mr. Surendran?” The girls got him caught
up on the events from decoy to Daisy. “I need to buy y’all a
drink,” Gary said at the end of the tale.

“We’ll be at the Funky 544,” Kate told him.
“You and Lea should join us later.”

He smiled. “I may just ask her to do
that.”

Kate led the way to Bourbon and the Funky
544. A band played downstairs, but she took everyone up the narrow
staircase to a lounge and another bar that was pulsing to the sound
of “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke.

“I love this song!” Vivian said and started
dancing, then stopped. “Oh, I almost forgot.” She reached into her
purse and pulled out Wendy’s battered bachelorette sash. “I brought
this along, just in case!”

Wendy smiled. “Okay, one last hoorah!” She
put it on and did a little shimmy.

The bartender gave everyone two strands of
beads, except for Wendy, who got three, and told them that drinks
were three-for-one and the giant, plastic syringe Jell-O shots were
$2. They commandeered the balcony and Kate bought the first
round.

Adrienne, Lucy and Wendy lined up, backs
against the railing, heads tilted and mouths open like baby birds
as Al, Vivian and Kate played nurse and squirted the red goo into
their mouths.* They switched places and everyone got thoroughly
medicated.

Vivian scanned the crowd and saw a familiar
face walking up Bourbon. She pulled off her beads and chunked them
his way. Antonio snatched them from the air and put them around his
neck. Then he walked in, downstairs.

Adrienne gave him a big hug when he walked
onto the balcony, tired but looking good. His wrinkled, white dress
shirt was untucked from his jeans and his cuffs were rolled up.

Everyone congratulated him on the day’s
events. Al shook his hand and gave him a beer.

Antonio walked up to Vivian. “What can I
say?”

“About what?”

“Everything. Y’all are the ones who broke
this thing wide open. We couldn’t have done it without you.”

Her cheeks flushed and she waved him off. “It
was a team effort.”

He leaned down and kissed her, then held up
his beads. “Not sure I did anything to deserve these.”

The space between them seemed to heat up.

“There’s still plenty of opportunity, you
know.”

He grinned down at her. “I like new
opportunities.”

T
he
girls, Al, Adrienne and Antonio stood on the balcony of the Funky
544 talking about Daisy’s return.

“She’s really lucky,” Antonio said. “That guy
was an absolute narcissistic lunatic, but he didn’t sexually
assault her. Daisy told us Sonu and a couple of his guys threw her
around a few times and she’s got some bruises from where Sonu
kicked her.”

“That asshole!” Vivian said.

“Evidently, Sonu was infatuated with her and
became convinced she would grow to love him. He had his guys drug
her with Rohypnol and planned on taking her back to Kuwait.”
Antonio took a long draw of his beer. “Apparently his father is
some big-wig politico, but that’s not going to save him. You can’t
kidnap people in America and expect to get away with it. I don’t
give a shit who your daddy is.”

“Is she staying overnight in the hospital?”
Kate asked.

“Yeah, because she was drugged. They’ll run
some labs and stuff and she’ll talk to the behavioral health folks.
She’s been through a traumatic event but should be released
tomorrow mid-morning or so if everything checks out okay.”

“Thank goodness he didn’t rape her,” Lucy
said. “That’s my worst fear.”

“That’s pretty much all women’s worst fear, I
think,” Wendy said.

They chatted a bit more about Sonu on the
stairs of the plane. Antonio explained how he tripped and fell on
the burqa Daisy was wearing. Everyone cheersed and had a good laugh
at Sonu’s clumsiness.

“He fell down before he could be taken down,”
Lucy said. “I love it!”

Adrienne pointed to Antonio with her vodka
and cranberry. “How were y’all going to capture him without hurting
the hostages?”

“The plan was to apprehend the bodyguard and
intercept Surendran before he got to the other plane. Womack and
Warner would have been able to pull it off. They’re some of the
best.”

The group cheersed again to Womack and
Warner.

“And one more thing, the undercover you saw
everywhere was the problem in investigation. He stole the
surveillance video of the club off Leffall’s desk before a copy
could be made, and he worked to steer the investigation off-course.
If you hadn’t alerted me to his random appearances, I may not have
picked up on that.”

“What are they going to do to that
double-crosser?” Al asked.

“Internal affairs is on it, but I think
they’ll find a large amount of cash in his house.”

“How much cash we talkin’?” Wendy asked.

“Twenty grand. And that’s just the up-front
payment.”

Lucy pointed her almost-empty syringe at
Antonio. “We knew that guy was up to no good, even if he was cute.”
Her finger slipped on the plunger and a blob of red goo squirted
down the front of Antonio’s shirt.

He looked down and groaned. “Great, now I
look like a crime scene.”

Everyone laughed and Al ducked inside. He
emerged a couple of minutes later with two bags of beads. “Let me
show you how it’s done.” He tossed Lucy one of the bags and ripped
open the other. He pulled out several strands and leaned over the
railing, twirling them on his finger.

Immediately a group began to form under the
balcony.

“Ya gotta earn it!” he yelled down, dangling
the beads over the balcony.

A woman flipped up her floral top, showing
her black, lacy bra.

“I’ll let that slide,” Al said, grinning, and
tossed her a strand.

This spurred a flurry of shirt raising and
boob sightings. Al went through his bag quickly, so Lucy ripped
open the second one and everyone grabbed a few strands.

“I don’t want boobs,” Vivian yelled to the
crowd. “I want boys!” She smiled at Antonio, then focused on
Bourbon. She pointed to three guys walking behind the crowd.
“Whatcha got?”

One of the guys lifted his shirt. His belly
was more like Silly Putty, but she threw him a strand for the
effort.

Antonio came up close behind her. “Wanna know
what I got?”

Vivian turned around to face him and ran her
hand down his chest. “I think I like what you got.” She put the
remaining beads in her hand around his neck. “You will definitely
need to earn these.”

Al bought another round of giant syringes,
and the girls took turns snapping pictures leaning over the balcony
shooting their “medicine.”

Vivian texted Jason a picture of everyone
celebrating Daisy’s freedom. The Funky 544 sign shined brightly
behind them.

He texted back:

More cause to celebr8. We r gettin married
2moro! Workin on plans, will let you know.

Vivian:

Congratulations! We leave tomorrow evening,
but we’ll try to be there.

Jason:

You HAVE to be there.

Oh, u have a crowd comin ur way. Next round
on me!

Vivian smiled and tucked her phone away.
“Jason and Daisy are getting married tomorrow!” This got another
round of cheers.

“Where?” Adrienne asked.

“He said they’re making plans.”

“I know just the place. Give me his
number.”

Vivian did and Adrienne went inside the
bar.

The girls danced on the balcony, flirting
from afar with men on Bourbon. Al bought another bag of beads, and
they got tossed to worthy flashers.

Twenty minutes later, four of the guys who
had been in the ER waiting room came onto the balcony. One of them
looked at his phone, then walked up to Vivian. He flashed his phone
at her and the picture she had sent to Jason, the one of her taking
a Jell-O syringe.

“Though your head is back in this picture,
I’m fairly sure it’s you.” He smiled. “I’m Paul. This is Eric, Will
and Thomas.”

Vivian stuck out her hand. “Nice to meet you.
I’m Vivian.” She introduced everyone else. “Y’all are in Jason’s
band, right?”

“We are,” Paul said. “I hear you girls are
the reason Daisy is safe. Thank you.”

Lucy nudged Kate. “This one here’s
practically a psychic.”

Kate smiled. “We just got lucky. Antonio and
his team did all the work.”

“Whoever did whatever, we’re grateful,”
Thomas said, and he shook Antonio’s hand. “I hear Jason owes y’all
a round.” He held up a credit card. “I think, since the drinks are
on him, you deserve two!”

That got the group rowdy again, and they
celebrated in true Bourbon fashion. Gary, the doorman, and Lea, the
housekeeping manager, showed up, as did Jonathon, which made Lucy
extra giddy.