Forsaken (The Found Book 2) (24 page)

“We’ve got a huge problem, Scotty.” Sierra said.

“I’m going to stop answering the phone if you keep calling me that you little wench.”

“Get off your high horse and listen.”

“I’m listening, my lovely.”

Seth explained the situation, and Brice didn’t ask a single question during his entire recitation. It was disconcerting.

“You done?”

“Yep.”

“Who’s the head of the Vargas organization? I mean if Soto wants to know something, wants info, or wants to intimidate someone, who is he going to go after?”

“Luther, the father. No question.”

“Is there any indication he had anyone other than Ricardo followed?”

“No. Labado would have mentioned it.”

“Sierra, how good was our surveillance on Seth when he was in Mexico with Labado, Benitez and the skank of a wife?” Brice asked.

“Pretty good. Nothing admissible in court, but a lot to help build a case.”

“Lovely, do you remember how often he was separated from his one true love?”

“Easy, Scotty. Much more of this shit and I’ll be throwing
your
ass in front of a van,” Seth ground out.

“They had adjoining rooms, but Seth kept his side locked. I didn’t keep an eye on her. When they were at a party, she’d try to get Seth to pay attention to her, when he’d ignore her, then she’d make a beeline for the dance floor never to be heard from again.”

“And Soto? Where was he?”

“Fuck me,” Seth groaned.

“Nope, it’s not who she was fucking mate.”

“So you’re saying she hooked up with Soto while we were in Mexico.”

“Yep, and she’s also doing the deed with Vargas Junior, it’s the reason for the murders.”

Seth wanted to hit his head against the edge of his desk. It couldn’t be right.

“Your problem mate is Soto’s trying to track down her sweet little ass here in Miami, but he can’t find her because you have her on lock-down. This all comes down to Portia, trust me.”

Seth did and didn’t believe it. Not that she wouldn’t have sex with them, but he had missed it. Hell. He had been operating on two hours sleep a night during the trip to Mexico, and truth be told he hadn’t paid one iota of attention to her. He wouldn’t have cared if she stayed in Mexico.

“You need to say you’re bringing your lovely wife to tomorrow’s festivities and you’ll have both boys come running. End of problem. Anything else?” Seth stared at the phone. He still didn’t believe it. He’d had his suspicions about Ric, but Soto? Well, Labado would know.

“Thanks Scotty, I think you rocked our secret agent’s world enough.” Sierra gave him a look of sympathy.

“All right then, let me get back to my mind numbing job of watching this closed door.”

“No movement?”

“Nope, nobody has gone in, nobody has come out. The girls are in there either talking or sleeping. They aren’t being abused. Anton doesn’t seem interested in them. He’s just a businessman.”

“That’s good.” Seth looked at his watch, and realized he needed to call Labado back. He hung up and handed Sierra her phone, and punched in Labado’s number.

“So when were you going to tell me Soto was fucking Portia?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Labado stuttered.

“My wife, the woman you didn’t want me to divorce. How long has she been having relations with Soto?” Seth enunciated every word very clearly.

“I confronted her. He means nothing to her. It meant nothing to her. She promised me.” The last was said with much hope and conviction.

It clicked. “Are you fucking her too?” Seth asked incredulously. There was nothing but silence. “Jesus, you are.” Seth thought his head might explode.

“She came onto me, it wasn’t my fault.”

“Of course it wasn’t,” Seth’s voice dripped sarcasm. It wasn’t like he cared, but how had he missed it? And he wasn’t missing the significance of Labado’s concern about Portia’s time with Soto. Labado cared, he cared a lot. Seth let the silence draw out.

“What are we going to do? I can’t afford to have any fighting blocks away from me. I need to get the distribution settled, and everybody friendly for just another week, then Soto can take down Vargas. I just can’t have it this week when everything is in such a state of flux.”

“Well you should have thought of that when you brought Soto into the mix.”
You stupid bastard.
Seth wondered if Labado could hear those last three words, even though he hadn’t said them aloud.

“One more week. I need one more week, and I’ll have everything out of Vargas’s hands. In the meantime, they can’t be warring, they need to be friendly at tomorrow’s party. Have you figured out a way to get them both there?”

“Portia, she’s your draw. I’ll bring her on Saturday, apparently everyone wants her, so everyone will show when they know she’s coming.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

Of course he didn’t.
“Do you have a better idea?”

Again the man was silent.

“Thiago?”

“No my friend, I don’t,” his voice was thick with regret. “I’m so sorry.”

“Save it.” Now he needed Rolaids
and
aspirin.

Seth hung up, and looked at Max.

“Okay, now you need to explain yourself. This has to be pretty bad shit for you to have shown up.” Seth watched the tall man walk over to the big window overlooking the Miami shoreline.

“After talking to Noah, it seemed like you could use some help.” Seth got a God damn tickle on the back of his neck like ants were taking up residence.

“What were you doing in LA, Max? I thought you were my guardian. So you showing up here because you were bored and wanted to help me isn’t cutting it.”

The office door opened, and Annie came in freshly showered holding two cups of coffee.

“Oh, I didn’t know we had company. Hi Sierra.” She grinned at her friend. “There’s coffee in the kitchen. I was going to fix some breakfast after Magda woke up. I didn’t know if she ever had Eggos, and I saw some in the freezer. I love those. But seriously Seth, Eggos
and
Hot Pockets?”

Seth wished he could be soothed by her teasing, but the tickle became a shiver. Something was so wrong about Max showing up. He knew his guardian showing up was epic. This wasn’t about the operation either. If it had been, he would have come straight to Miami.

“Let’s do the Skype session with Grandmother, shall we?” He gave Annie a forced smile as he took the proffered coffee cup out of her hand.

“Oh, that would be great. Nell’s always up early. I can’t wait for you to see her.” Annie fairly bounced over to the office chair. “What’s your password?”

“Annie.”

“Yes?”

“No sweetheart, my password is Annie. At least that’s how it starts.”

She gave him a beautiful smile. “The password to my computer is SethNell.”

“We don’t have time for this. Don’t you have to contact Tomas about Portia?” Sierra asked. Seth wasn’t surprised at Sierra’s comment. There was something so wrong. He looked at Max who looked resigned.

“Max, do you have anything to say before we make this call? Something you’d like to clue us in on?”

Annie’s head jerked up.

“What’s going on?” There was panic as well as steel in her voice. “You tell me right now. Is something wrong with Nell?” Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she entered the Skype address to video connect with his Grandmother, while she continued to look between him and Max.

“Make the call Annie.”

As her peered over Annie’s shoulder, he saw the face of his grandmother for the first time in over two years, and she looked every one of her many years.

“Thank God. I’ve prayed you would call. When can you come home? Nell needs you.”

****

The world narrowed, she couldn’t even see the full computer screen, only Shilah’s black eyes. Her mouth was moving, but she couldn’t hear what was being said. She heard the anguish, and the words Nell needed her. She tore her gaze away from those soundless lips and looked back up to the beseeching eyes, and then heard more words.

“…for days. Sarah and Max promise she’s okay. She dream walked, but she’s safe.”

“What did you say?”

Seth crouched beside her. His arm around her shoulder, they were both looking into the screen.

“Noah and Kali tried to reach her, but they weren’t as powerful as Max and Sarah. They found her safe in an impenetrable bubble.”

“Did you say she’s in a coma?”

“It happened when you were unconscious Annie. We think she went looking for you.”

Annie clutched the edge of the desk so hard she felt two of her nails break before Seth pried her hands loose and held them in one of his.

“Let me see her,” her voice was so low nobody heard her. But Seth did. Or he read her mind.

“Grandmother, bring Nell, we need to see our daughter.” Annie felt something odd on her shoulder, it felt heavy, and she tried to shrug it off.

“Stay with me sweetheart.” It was Seth’s arm around her. She didn’t want it, she wanted her baby. She needed Nell. She wasn’t going to take any comfort when her baby was in danger.

Sarah and Shilah came on screen. Shilah was cradling Nell, who looked like she was asleep.

“Nell, honey, it’s Mommy. Oh, you’re wearing your pretty red sleeper. You look beautiful. Can you wake up?” Annie watched as Shilah stroked her knuckles down Nell’s soft cheek. Her baby didn’t stir. Her little bow mouth barely moved. Annie choked out a sob, and Seth’s arm squeezed her tighter.

“Nell,” she said in a loud firm voice. “It’s Mommy, time to wake up.” Nothing, there was no response at all, not a twitch of an eyelid, nothing. She reached out and touched the screen, smearing it with fingerprints.

“My baby.” She turned to Seth. “My baby. We have to go home. We have to go home right now.”

“Annie, it won’t help if you go home.”

She whirled and looked at the man who was talking. All she saw were gray blue eyes, looking at her with compassion.

“What do you know?” She wrenched out of Seth’s arms and dashed to the door. “Annie,” Sarah called. “Listen to Max. Let him show you.” She was in the hall pushing past Magda when strong arms pulled her to a stop, and warm breath grazed her temple.

“Wait sweetheart. Wait. We need to go back and listen.”

“No, I want to go home. I need to get to my baby.”

“Annie, we need to help her.”

“They’ve lied to us. We can’t trust them. We can’t even trust Shilah. I need to get to Nell.” She sobbed uncontrollably. She would have been on the floor if it hadn’t been for Seth’s strong arms holding her up.

“I know they lied. We have to go back and listen and try to understand. We have to find out what’s wrong. They said we can help her. We need to listen. We can help her. We have to listen.” She tried to focus but it was so hard. When she could see, Magda pressed up against the wall of the hallway looking at her in pity and horror. She didn’t care.

“Help me, Seth.”

“Always.”

He took her weight and guided her back into the office. Sierra was shell shocked. Sarah and Shilah were still on the computer screen, Sarah now holding Nell. Annie didn’t want either of them touching her daughter. They were both liars.

“They’re not. They love your daughter very much.” It was the man again.

“Who are you?” So tired. She was so tired.

“I’m Max Lawrence, I’m a friend of Seth’s.”

“He’s my guardian, Annie. It’s a long story, but I think he can show us some things about Nell, right?”

“Yes.” He stood from where he had been leaning against the desk, and walked over to them. “Can I hold your hands?”

Annie was so hollow, but maybe he could show her something. She looked over at the screen, wanting to touch it again. Perhaps this time she could somehow feel the soft skin of her baby. “Annie?” Both men were holding hands and extending theirs to her. She wiped hers down her jeans and looked beseechingly at Seth.

“Max is special sweetheart.”

“I trust you, Seth.”

“And you should.”

She looked at the man named Max again. She put her hand in Seth’s warm clasp, sighing deeply at the connection. Needing it. Then she grabbed the hand of the other man fast, getting it over with like you would some bad tasting medicine.

She stiffened like she was jolted with electricity, and immediately she was taking a wild ride through the cosmos, winding through stars and clouds, until she could see something shining in the distance. Closer and closer, until finally she saw a large oblong shape filled with liquid. Inside was her baby. Asleep. She felt Seth’s hand grip hers tightly, she looked to her right, and there he was, looking back and forth between her and Nell.

They broke apart and floated towards the capsule, softly touching, not wanting to disturb and harm their child. She looked peaceful, asleep. Just as she had in Shilah’s and Sarah’s arms. Finally Annie couldn’t stand it a second longer, she pressed hard, trying to get through. She had to hold her baby. The bubble pushed in with her hand, not allowing her access. She poked, she tried to tear it open with her fingernails, with her teeth. Nothing.

“Annie, Nell needs to come out, you can’t go in.” She looked to her left and it was the man.

“Who the hell are you? If you know so much, make her come out.”

“Let’s go. You see she’s safe. We need to go now. We’ve been away a long time.”

****

It was up to him and he was failing. It was the third time he had centered himself and tried to dream walk, and he hadn’t been able to coax Nell out of her protective barrier. This last time though. This last time. The stinker had rolled over and smiled in her sleep.

“Seth, you need to stop.” Max was sitting cross legged in front of him. He had been providing his strength as well, but it hadn’t been any use. He pushed the base of his thumbs in his eyes, trying to stop the pain and the tears.

“Seth, you saw what I saw, she’s responding.” Annie was curled in the fetal position on the couch. She was cried out. Sierra was long gone. It was two in the morning, and he still had to get Portia’s ass to tonight’s party. He didn’t trust that Isaacson was actually going to come through. Brice and Nate called, there had been more girls who were brought into the office park building.