Crow - The Awakening (59 page)

Sally shook her head. "No. Not this. It doesn't feel like it."

Jonah looked at her thoughtfully then back at the road. Sally did have a strong intuitive side.

"Oh, Jonah. We should have looked for him sooner." Sally was wracked by guilt and she bit her lip as she looked out into the city.

"How? He dropped off the grid. Even Brandon didn't know where he was," Jonah said. They never stopped looking for Steven, but had no idea of where to focus their search.

"Maybe he..." Sally stopped. "No, Brandon wasn't lying. But why didn't he go to Brandon's?"

Jonah shrugged. His wife was a walking lie detector, too. But Brandon's would have been the logical choice if Steven was going to stay in Seattle. He was always welcome there. "Maybe he thought we'd look for him there."

"He didn't take his medicine with him. Jonah, maybe he crossed over!" Sally gasped. She had no idea what sort of reception he would receive from the others if he went to Asherah. If Lohet was intent to terminate him here, she was certain he'd be in danger over there, too. "What if it's already too late?" she cried.

Jonah was silent. It seemed so far fetched. And yet, Steven had hundreds of drawings of Asherah. He was obviously very smitten with that girl. If Penipe is right, he is also bonded with her. Some sort of marriage, but closer and in the brain. From her description, Jonah wondered if it was some sort of natural form of entanglement. Regardless, it would only be natural for him to try to get to her if he could. He would in Steven's place.

"Listen, let's not cross that bridge until we get to it, okay? As far as we know, he's in Seattle and we'll find him here." Jonah squeezed Sally's hand, only half believing what he said but trying to sound confident.

Sally wiped her eyes and nose and looked in the mirror to fix her hair. They were almost at their destination, and this Sarah better have some answers for them.

"Hey, he's back!" Laurence sat up in his chair. After half a full day, a blip was finally pinging on his satellite scanner, and it was moving. He hit his bluetooth, "Wake up guys, he's on the move. Wait for him to come to you. Let him get stationary then move in and find him." Without the radioactive isotope, they couldn't narrow in on the fly and now had to wait for Steven to stop so they can move in and search for him in that general area. The satellite was only so accurate. However, it was better than using a hand-held device because buildings interfered with the signal and produced false positives. The hand-held device could be used to refine the search when closing in; but the isotope method proved easier to deploy. Laurence was beginning to think that hand-held transceivers would have been a smart move as a backup.

He checked his dart magazines, forgetting that he had already checked them at least a dozen times before while waiting. Darts were in and ready to go. They looked like regular bullets but instead of lead, they were lighter and tipped with a sharp needle with a tiny salt plug. As soon as they hit their target, momentum forces the fluid to pop out the plug and enter the blood-stream. Laurence got up and patted his rear holster where his regular gun was and thought for a second. The aliens interfered the last time, destroying their drone and they seemed completely impervious to their bullets and their darts. Steven had proven to be at least partially resistant to sedatives so they are now running with a triple dose strength. However, having a suitable defense against the aliens may prove handy. Laurence pulled his regular pistol out and pulled out the magazine. He dragged a case from under his desk and opened it, moved his palm weapons to the side and lifted out a couple of magazines that were loaded with darts containing a heart attack causing toxin. If they interfered again, Laurence fully intended to bring a body back to the lab for dissection. If nothing else, that should help restore his boss's confidence in him and would be a lot more substantial than the burned husk they were having to deal with currently.

Laurence loaded a magazine into his pistol, chambered a round, and holstered it. He then put the other magazine in his belt pouch and headed for the door, rushing back just long enough to get his thermos of coffee. There were perks for Seattle operations, after all.

Feeling elated at finally having a target, Laurence jumped in his car and followed several SUVs out. He mounted his scanner on its dash mount and tweaked the angle so he could see it better. No mistakes this time, he thought to himself. One way or another he was bringing a trophy back to his boss and restoring his reputation that had become tarnished because of the hunt for Steven.

As he looked at the scanner, he could see the net starting to tighten around the traveling blip. There were times when it would slow down and his people would begin taking strategic positions when it would start moving again. Patience was key. He hit the highway and started toward the side of town that the blip was headed toward. As he started getting to that side of town, he started to see buildings that were familiar to him. "Wait a minute," Laurence said to himself as he looked around and hit the exit ramp. "I've been here before." Then it hit him. He was in this area when he was tracking Brandon.

"I know where he's headed," Laurence said into his bluetooth device. He marked the destination on the tracker and hit 'Send'. "That's the mansion where Brandon's parents live. We don't want him to make it in there. The parents are high profile lawyers with big cartel enemies. Set up a roadblock here and here," Laurence tapped on his scanner a couple of times, marking two possible intersections that they could use to head him off and collect him. "Get him to turn down this road and we'll collect him there." He circled the road and hit 'Send' again and sat back. If he makes it to the house, they would have to deal with the best trained and armed guards that money can buy. Not impossible given that his men are the best trained soldiers that money can't buy, but not preferable either.

Anticipating failure, he set up teams closer to the residence and he himself headed to park by the residence itself. He pulled up schematics of the residential block trying to look ahead and make sure escape avenues were covered. There was no room for mistakes and redundant contingencies for failures were the only way to turn the tide of their previous failures. Rubbing his eyes, Laurence opened his thermos and drank deeply. It was still very hot, but he needed the shock to wake him up. He was running on thirty six hours without sleep and was already feeling it at the restaurant. But how could he even think of sleeping when his prize was so close? They were ready to spring the trap and his mouse was not getting away this time.

As he rushed to Brandon's location, he listened in on his men preparing the trap. One of them purposefully ran a red light and t-boned a car at an intersection with their armored SUV. The damage to the car was extensive and it stopped traffic altogether even as they drove off. Another team found a city truck parked near their intersection and quite simply grabbed a bunch of cones and set up a detour. Not quite as flashy as the wreck, but just as effective. He watched as yet more of his team took up flanking positions in their kill zone, ready to move in when the car passed and box it in. They would have to either box in several cars or get eyes on their target, so some of the team took up observation positions at the detour points to see if they could spot Steven and identify the car. Laurence smiled. They were going to get him this time with little fuss and then simply disappear and no one would know better.

"Honey, that is... a red painting." Charley drank a beer while looking at what Sarah had just produced. Lots of bold strokes with various shades of red, emphasizing her frustration and fear. Her work was definitely an emotional piece and she wiped paint off her forehead as she surveyed it.

"Yeah, it turned out that way, didn't it?" She wasn't sure this would be one for the gallery, but then all of her paintings were charged with emotion so maybe so. It didn't help her mood, however. It was getting dark and Steven was still missing. Every time she stopped painting, she had to swallow back a panic attack, wondering where Steven could be.

"Maybe he..." Charley hesitated, "...well, he is a young man and single," he offered. Sarah looked at him for a moment. "Well, he is!" Charley insisted. "He's getting more familiar with town, meeting people and... you know."

"And he just happened to leave his wallet and phone home?" Sarah asked, skeptical.

"Hey, it happens! Especially if you're in a hurry to get to a hot date." Charley sat down on their couch and beckoned Sarah over. "Stranger things have happened." She sat down next to him and snuggled, considering the possibilities. It was only natural for her to assume the worst, given her history. She allowed herself to entertain the possibility that Steven was just out being a boy and would come home soon.

"Oh, she had better be worth it," Sarah said, grinding her teeth. Charley grinned.

"Did you make your deadline?" She looked at him, feeling a little guilty distracting him from his work.

"Barely." He smiled at her and moved a strand of hair out of her face. They may need to stop partying on the roof so late if these deadlines keep up.

He was going to say something else, but there was a knock at the door. Sarah jumped, surprised. She looked at Charley. "Steven still has keys, right?" Charley nodded so she got up and looked through the peephole. A pretty, short blond woman stood in the hallway, flanked by a stocky man who looked to be at least part Native American. She looked back at Charley then opened the door a crack.

"Hello?" She wondered if these people had gotten the wrong address. Sarah has had to redirect lost people before. Or perhaps it was someone wanting a private viewing of her art. She frowned on that, however. Far better to view in the controlled setting of a show than in the discombobulated cluttered apartment.

"Are you Sarah?" the woman asked curtly. For an instant, Sarah go the impression she was looking in a mirror as she squinted at the woman.

"Yes." Okay, so these people are not lost. Sarah got ready to tell them she didn't do private showings.

"I'm Sally. This is Jonah," she introduced herself. Sarah had her mouth open to respond when she stopped and her eyes went wide and she opened the door all the way, stunned.

"THE Sally?" Sarah asked, her voice trembling. Her legs suddenly felt weak as she looked at the mother of the boy she had taken in and come to consider a part of her family. With Sally's son missing and Sarah feeling guilty about it, this could not be a worse time for Sally to show up and Sarah went momentarily blank.

Sally looked in behind Sarah, automatically performing an evaluation based on how the apartment was kept. It was full of paintings. An artist, Sally noticed. That was a plus. Cluttered. Sorta like Jonah. Likes red. Will have to ask her about that. Sarah was always barefoot when she painted since feet were easier to clean paint off of than shoes, so she didn't have that to judge yet. And now, Sarah was gaping in complete shock.

"We got a call that our son was missing. We're here to find him," Sally stated simply.

Sarah blinked and suddenly came to her senses. "Oh my God, you're really here! Please come in!" Sarah stepped aside and waved them in. Charley stood up and waved timidly as they walked in.

Sally smiled and they entered the apartment and looked around. Sarah closed the door and turned around to face her guests. She opened her mouth again, but was completely lost for words so she rushed into the kitchen instead. "Tea? Beer? Chai? Water? Coffee?" Sarah fumbled around for glasses.

"Sarah," Sally said. "Sarah... Sarah!" Sally tried to get her attention and Sarah looked up appearing like a deer caught in the headlights, glasses in hand. "We're fine."

Sarah turned around, leaning against the counter as she wiped her eyes, looking very nervous. She put her hand on her chest as she looked at Sally. "We... uh... don't know where he is," she said, as if confessing to losing something very precious. "I am so sorry. I've looked everywhere." She looked at Charley who nodded in agreement.

"That's why we're here," Sally said calmly. She found it interesting that Sarah was nearly hysterical about her missing son and suddenly wanted to get to know this woman better.

"Charley thinks he might just be out being a boy." She tried to smile, though not convinced herself.

"Why do you think he is missing?" Sally stepped further into the apartment, looking around. A lot of the clutter was relatively recent. She caught a glimpse of a bedroom and instinctively knew Steven would have slept in there. Largely because it had piles of clothes on the bed and floor. He had really been here, Sally thought to herself.

"Well..." Sarah collected herself. "He missed work today, and his wallet and phone were left in his apartment." She wrung her hands, looking scared. "He never leaves them laying around. Ever." Sally nodded, well aware of how obsessive Steven can be. Sarah wiped her eyes again as she looked up at the ceiling, trying not to cry. "I've called the police and the hospitals and he's not in any of them and no one seems to be interested in helping."

Sally looked at Jonah. "If he went to Asherah, surely he would have taken his stuff with him," she said quietly. Jonah looked at her then back at their hosts. "Do you think they've taken him?" Sally asked her husband, starting to fear the worst. Jonah didn't answer.

Sarah looked at both of them. "Who?"

Sally looked down for a moment, wondering just how much this couple needed to know, then looked at Sarah. She was so scared for Steven and it touched Sally's heart that Steven had found her, that he wasn't truly alone while he was there. "There are people who might be interested in Steven."

"What? Why?" Sarah was at a loss, her hopes of the boy having fun and being irresponsible fading.

Sally looked around. "Can we sit down?"

"Oh, sorry!" Sarah rushed, clearing paintings off one of their love seats and brushing it off. "Here you go."

Sally, with Jonah in tow, navigated through the apartment and sat down. Charley went and grabbed a couple of beers and handed them to their guests. Sally nodded to him and waited until they sat down, Sarah on the edge of her couch.