That’s the thing about all of this. We had been having a great time, hanging out and creating music. We didn’t want this problem to come in and ruin this feeling of community. I decided we weren’t going to let it. I was going to take everyone out to dinner, crew included, so we could go over all the security measures we were implementing. I wanted everyone to understand what was going on and get on board with our plan.
Security was going to be tight.
But there was that small voice inside of me that wouldn’t let go. I was upset that someone was out to get my girl. More than that, I was furious. Someone wanted to hurt her. That just made me so fucking pissed off. I just couldn’t bear anything happening to Callie, if someone hurt her, I’d go postal on their asses.
Nothing would stop me, nothing at all.
Chapter 53
Callie
“Hunter, wake up! Hunter get up! I can’t find Gaby or Tenny. What the hell?” I was totally freaked out first thing this morning, I had gotten up early and gone down to Tenny’s area. It wasn’t very big, a sort of ‘shelf bed’. And every night up to this point Gaby had slept with us in the bed back here. We normally got rooms to stay in, but this one leg of the trip, we all decided we didn’t want to stop. Lip had driven through most of the night. He took turns with our new driver, Sean, so he could catch some shut eye, too.
I didn’t know much about Sean, he was an older roadie, and he looked like the road might have been rough on him. At 5’10” or so he was tall and lean as fuck. His face carried scars from all those years beating the road back. He had dark, greying hair, and crystal blue eyes. I was planning on spending some time with him today, just to get to know him a bit, but right now I was out of my mind with crazy fear. I was scared to death.
When I woke up, I went up to get Gaby and give Tenny a break, but her area was cleared out. I went to the community section where we gathered on a regular and found it empty. I was totally flipped by the time I had checked the bathrooms and searched every single place I could think of in my quest to find Gaby.
I started yelling, “Gaby! Tenny! Where are you?” Screaming frantically, my voice screeched throughout the bus. I could feel panic rise quickly in my throat and my heart went wild, beating a weird irregular beat like a hummingbird’s hammering wings. I needed to find my brother. Oh my god, was Tenny hurt? My eyes were bugging out and I bellowed until my voice went hoarse.
I dragged everyone out of bed, “get up!” frantically running up and down the center of the bus. Sweat poured from every crevice of my body and I felt like I was going to throw up. I was going completely mental, feeling fear crawl over my entire body like fire ants swarming all over my legs. This was too much to bear.
What the hell happened? How had someone gotten on board the bus and snagged both of them?
Lip was driving now, and I went to stand to the right of him. I begged,
“Lip, I can’t find Gaby or Tenny. Where are they?” Tears formed behind my eyes, and I could feel my emotions roaring inside. I was about to break apart but desperately held on in hopes that Lip knew what the hell had happened.
“I don’t know. I just got up.” Lip took the next off ramp and parked the bus. He stood up and turned towards me. His eyes were still droopy from waking up just a few minutes ago. He awkwardly rubbed at them and looked over at me. I could see the fear strike him right between the eyes.
“Where the hell could they be? Find Sean, wake his ass up. What happened last night?” Lip started shaking, “Hey, Everyone, Wake UP!” he roared. Hunter came running up, looking totally wrecked. His hair stuck up on end, and his clothes were rumpled. He looked like he grabbed the clothes straight off the floor where he left them last night.
“What the hell is going on Callie?” He yelled, so I explained what happened. We made sure everyone was up banging repeatedly on their ‘bed.’ Heads began popping out of curtains, drawn closed for privacy.
Even the new driver, Sean, jumped out, “What’s going on?” he grumbled, still not grasping our dire situation.
“Sean! Wake up dude, what happened?” Lip demanded. Dude was trying hard to keep up, but he looked confused and bewildered.
“What do you mean?” Sean said, stark realization striking our hearts.
Lip explained the situation carefully, but boy was he pissed. “What the fuck happened last night?” he demanded harshly.
“I stopped at a gas station a few hundred miles back. I filled up and got back on the road.” He stuttered, snapping fully awake. “But I didn’t see anything.” HIs voice was filled with a grumbling sound, cold reality hitting him hard.
I shoved some coffee in his hands, “Drink up, shit just got fucking bad. We need you to remember every detail.” My heartbeat slammed inside my chest, rapidly banging against my ribs. Sweat broke out across my forehead and I started crying loudly. “OM MY GOD! Where can they be?” I took a long stuttering breath and cried, “Ohmygod.”
I looked from Lip to Hunter to Sean, then cruised Ted and Marko. Everyone had this bewildered, stunned look on their face, and no one knew what to say. None of them had seen or heard from Tenny or Gaby since last night. We scoured every inch of the bus, from top to bottom, and they were nowhere to be found.
“No, no, no, NO.” I screamed, I couldn’t stop. This just couldn’t be fucking happening!
My stress was off the charts. I couldn’t think, I couldn’t even form words. My baby brother was missing, and Tenny, was gone like a puff of smoke, just gone into the ethers. Would I ever see either of them again?
How was I going to go on like this? I looked into Hunter's eyes, and I was sure he saw exactly how I felt, desperation bleeding from my eyes.
“Okay, listen up everyone,” Hunter roared, “we have to go back to that gas station. Maybe she forgot her phone?” It was a desperate plea from the depths of his soul.
If we didn’t find Gaby, I would never be the same.
I would die before I lived in this world without my beautiful baby brother. He was the light in my parents' life. And he was the joy in mine.
We just had to fucking find him!
We had to.
Chapter 54
Hunter
Life just went from fantastic to fucked up, in a moment’s time. We had a wonderful night together, we made love as the bus cruised down the highway.
But now, in the light of day, we knew Gaby and Tenny had vanished. The new security guards looked stumped. Lip was losing his cool and the new driver Sean, was about to lose his shit. I couldn’t believe they were gone, and poor Callie was grief-stricken, crumbling to the floor as she desperately searched for our missing passengers.
“Where are they?” Callie screamed., fear dripped off her like a wrecking ball. She was stripped bare, crying so hard her shoulders shuddered with the recognition of this harsh reality.
Lip got back in the driver seat and headed the bus back south. We had travelled many miles during the night. Sean was scouring a map, trying with everything in him, to remember where we stopped. Guilt was stamped on his forehead like a neon sign. And he wasn’t ‘one of us’ yet, so trust was in rare supply.
“Hey Sean, why you acting shady? What the hell is that about?” I demanded, teeth gnashing.
“I was driving, and I didn’t see anything,” he shrugged, his voice sounded hoarse, “I’m sorry, I wish I had paid more attention to the off and on of the bus. All I was focused on was getting you to the next show on time. I feel responsible somehow. Sorry, brother.” Sean whispered that last part, and I could tell he was looking for forgiveness. “I’m really sorry.”
If Tenny got off the bus with Gaby and got snatched, that’s where it happened. I kept trying to make sense of it all. Why would she take Gaby off with her? I guessed she didn’t want to bother us last night. She must have decided to take him with her. Leaving him alone on the bus was definitely not an option. HIs crying would have woken up everyone.
But why? Why get off the bus at all?
How did the
driver not even notice, though? That’s what you get when everyone was as exhausted as us. I was wrecked beyond measure, I knew in my heart of hearts, if we didn’t find him and Tenny soon, we wouldn’t have anything left...Callie couldn’t be expected to carry on without him. I wanted to scream and rant, where were they? We had to find them now.
We HAD to! I loved the little guy. He was so adorable with his big phat smiles. His chubby arms and legs, his chubby cheeks came into focus in my mind's eye. My heart shrank. I made a quick executive decision and called the police in the area.
“>>>police department. How can I help you?” I tried my best to keep my cool, and explained what was going on, but I was falling apart. She said, “hold on” and as I held the phone to my ear, my mind was travelling down roads I should never allow it. Gaby stolen, kidnapped, held for ransom, held for what, I didn’t know. All these horrific thoughts came tumbling out, making me crumble to the ground.
Finally, I heard, “Detective Joon here,” I told the detective everything, and he said he’d be right out to meet us at that gas station. As I hung up, I was thinking I wanted to kill Sean. What the hell was he thinking? How could he let this happen? It was all his fucking fault.
“Sean!” I screamed his name, my eyes bugging out. How did he lose track of two passengers?
“Yeah, here Hunter,” Sean walked quickly up to me, and I could see he was shaking in his boots, Sweat was pouring down his face, and he looked totally freaked out. Honestly, I didn’t know this dude like I knew everyone else; he was Lip's hire. That’s pretty much all I knew. I regretted not asking to meet him before we put him on our bus.
“Hunter, man, I’m so sorry. I found the station on the map and told Lip where to go. This has never happened to me in all these years. I’ve been in the game for over twenty years, dude.” Yeah, I didn’t give a shit, but it made me wonder, did Tenny do this? Was she responsible for this crap fest?
“Did you see Tenny or Gaby last night?” I pleaded he’d say yes. I didn’t know why, but I thought maybe this would give us a tiny clue at least.
“I did. Tenny came out with Gaby and sat at the table up front. We talked for a bit while I drove, she was friendly. We didn’t talk about much, just where we were from, get to know you shit. But she didn’t say a lot, Gaby was with her, and she was giving him a bottle. She did say one thing...” I tried to be patient, but I just couldn’t find it in me,
“What! What the fuck did she say, dude?” I about pounced on him. I grabbed his shirt. dragging him to me, looking into his eyes, rage simmering just below the surface.
“She said something under her breath, I didn’t pay a lot of attention to it, but now I think it meant more than I realized.” Sean whimpered; he was terrified.
“What the FUCK!” I screamed. My patience had run out.
“She kind of whispered to herself that this would be over soon.” he hesitated for a moment then, “yeah, it was weird. I didn’t know what she meant, maybe she was tired of riding the bus? That's how I took it, anyway.” Sean spoke with a bit more confidence. “Like she was saying the tour was going to be over soon.”
“Okay, okay, let’s take a breather.” I let Sean go and grabbed Callie holding her tight.
“We’re going to find them honey, I promise!” Callie broke down, bawling into my shoulder. She was falling to pieces, and I knew we were in for the fight of our life!
We were going to have to find all our strength to get through this shit show. I had to be the one Callie leaned on. I would, goddamnit, I would be a pillar of strength for her.
“I promise, honey, we will find them.” I whispered and held back all the tears I wanted to shed.
“We will find him!”
Chapter 55
Hunter
We’d been backtracking, driving back to that gas station Sean said we stopped at. Callie just froze after that. She hadn’t moved or talked for hours. Her unseeing eyes just stared out the window. I didn’t know how we were going to survive this, but I didn’t stop praying as the miles whizzed by. I prayed that somehow Tenny was at the station and was hoping against all odds that we would return. As unimaginable as it sounded, I held onto that pipedream as we sped through the miles.
“It’s going to be okay, honey, really we’re going to find them.” I said shit like that every so often. I guessed I just wanted to hear myself say things I couldn't really guarantee. It was going to be in the hands of really smart police officers soon. They would track down our little guy. Gaby had become part of us, we loved him with all our hearts. Marko and Ted had known him since the day he was born. And of course, he’s Callie’s brother. But he’s mine now, too. My heart fluttered when his image popped into my head.
Hours later, Lip took an offramp and we finally pulled into the gas station. Callie ran to the door, ready to jump off the bus as soon as we came to a stop. She looked like she was about to leap out of her skin, as she took the bus steps outside and into the bright, sunny day. The clouds had lifted, and the fog rolled back to the horizon. As I stepped off the bus, I could smell the gasoline and dirty oil. There were no other cars sitting at the rusty pumps except the one lone police car and a nondescript unmarked car.
“My name is Hunter, I called you guys.” I stretched my hand out to shake hands with the detective and took in his solid, stern expression. He was a man in his forty's, with graying dirty blonde hair and a firm shake. “And you are?”
“Detective Joon. Sir, can we sit over here so we can talk?” The detective pointed to a small beat-up picnic table situated to the side.
“I don’t think any of us feels like sitting, Detective, can we just get on with it?” I felt like punching him in the face, I was just so fucking stressed out. I had no patience to spare. Callie stood silently next to me, looking completely numb.
“Sure, after you called, I got in touch with the head of the FBI’s Serial Crime Division. SCD is here. I know it seems like a missing person report, but after looking over her background we felt the SCD would be a better option. This is Detective White, and he has a lot of knowledge about these kinds of situations. He’s going to take over the discussion, sir.” Detective Joon looked over at the new man walking up towards us. I hadn’t noticed him.
This was the most serious situation I had ever faced in my entire life. I could only hope they would know what to do. Tenny and Gaby had disappeared without a trace. They disappeared ‘poof’ like the wind. It felt like no one was listening to my prayers, no one at all.
FBI agent White had us retrace our steps, we told him every single detail we could remember, especially Sean. By the time the whole story was laid out, he continued telling everything he could remember, as he wept. Tears stained his cheeks, and his eyes were blotchy red. His shoulders slumped in on themselves, he looked like a defeated man, on the verge of destruction. I sort of felt sorry for him, sort of. He said, “I don’t know what happened. One minute they were there and the next just gone. Agent White what did I do wrong?” The whole entire situation had gotten to all of us, and we were crumbling in the face of losing Gaby.
One of the FBI experts took out a map of the area and with a black marker, blocked out 10 square miles, “They couldn't have gotten much further than this in the time they had. If they had been picked up, of course, they would have gotten further, but we’re going to go on the assumption that they’re on foot.” Made sense to me, and at least we had something to focus on.
The Team, headed by Special Agent White, was made up of four additional agents. They seemed efficient, taking notes and conferring with each other. Each had a specialty and spoke softly to put the entire story in perspective.
They had done this comprehensive background check on Tenny, a much more thorough examination that brought up more information than the one I had access to. They found out details we didn’t know about her.
“Hunter, did you know she was on mood elevating drugs?” Detective White asked, leaning. He was reading something from his tablet.
&nb
sp; “Um, no sir, that didn’t show up on the background check I did. And I paid for the largest package they had. But what does it mean?” I was confused.
“It could be nothing, but I’ve seen these drugs before. They keep a person calm and centered. If they go off of their meds though...” White looked at one of his teammates and raised his brows.
“It means if she went off them, it could be bad news for your baby brother, Callie.” The second agent finished White’s sentence. Boy, he sure didn’t mince words. He didn’t sugar coat the harsh reality facing us. My heart squeezed tight for Callie. “Basically, we have about 48 hours to find them.” the second man said.
I was so worried about our little guy now that this officer pointed out the obvious. I didn’t know how to handle this. We were on the clock, now.
“What happens after that?” I asked, I placed my arm around Callie’s shoulders and pulled her closer to me. She wasn’t crying, but held on tightly to my shirt, so tight I could see her knuckles had turned white.
“Patients think they’re being clever, you see. They think they’re doing okay, followed their docs orders and everything’s cool,” The third officer added.
“But really they’re just fooling themselves. Says here she’s bi-polar. If she’s off her meds she may be delusional.” The fourth officer chipped in.
“And by delusional, she could think Gaby is hers or she wants something from you, Callie. We need to know more about her, while Detective White makes some phone calls, why don’t you tell me about her job. Don’t leave anything out including your relationship.” He spoke gently, like he didn't want to spook her. “Maybe she had a crush on Hunter here. You just never know what might have been the stressor that pushed her into taking action.”
I didn’t believe for one minute that Tenny would hurt Gaby. She had been so loving and helpful. She never said no to taking him and I knew he loved her, no doubt in my mind. He always held his arms out to her and giggled when he saw her. But I knew deep down, I didn’t have a real clue about her, did any of us really know her? Did one of us take the time to get to know the real her?
Rock Star Page 20
