Discovery

by Char Webster

  Alex was relieved to hear that they didn’t have Maddy.

  Both kids were stuffed into the back of another van, and their feet were once again tied to their hands. Another blanket was thrown over them to hide them from sight.

  Frank climbed behind the wheel of the van and waited for George to slide into the passenger seat.

  “Do you think you can watch them while I go find the third kid? I have a good idea where to look, but it may take me a while,” Frank told him.

  “No problem.” George wisely didn’t say anything else.

  Frank was ready to beat the crap out of George for screwing this up. He wasn’t joking about killing him if he hurt the kids. He needed them in good shape for his deal with Brooks; if he brought the kids in bad shape, Brooks would take it out on Kali.

  He needed to find the third kid. No one had come back to their house, and, as far as Frank could tell, the kids were not reported missing. That was a concern because it had meant Kate had ties with either the Division or the Association. That could cause problems. Hopefully, he could get the last kid and trade the three of them for Kali before anything worse happened.

  Frank decided that he needed to pay Dawn Johnson another visit.

  ~*~*~

  Kate woke up cuddled next to Nick on his bed in the same position as when she fell asleep. Neither of them had moved during the night, probably needing the comfort the other brought.

  She snuggled up closer to him for a second before deciding to get up.

  “Good morning, Beautiful,” Nick said with a smile, and hugged her tighter to him. “Ready to get moving?”

  “Morning.” Kate said, stretching. “Yeah, give me a minute to freshen up.” She jumped up and grabbed her clothes from her backpack.

  “There’s an extra toothbrush in the drawer you can use,” Nick told her.

  Kate said, “Thanks, but I did remember that.” She hurried to the bathroom with her bag.

  Nick watched her rush off and wished that she were there under different circumstances. He would love to show her around the city and spend the day exploring the unique Philadelphia culture. He wished Kate was not gifted and that the kids were safe, but that wasn’t the case. They had to track down the jackass who took their kids.

  Kate came back into the room a few minutes later with his T-shirt and shorts folded nicely on her arm. “Thanks for loaning these to me.”

  “You can wear my clothes any time. You look good in them.”

  Kate just smiled. Nick took the clothes and put them on the end of his bed. “I’m going to leave these here in case you need them again.”

  “You don’t think we’ll find the kids today?” she asked sadly.

  “I hope so, but I don’t know. We need to be prepared that it could take a few days, or longer,” Nick told her quietly.

  Kate looked panicked, but Nick continued. “We’re not going to give up. However long it takes, we’ll find them.”

  Kate nodded and muttered “Okay,” then said, “What are we going to do first?”

  He pulled her into his arms. “Let’s get our stuff together and get going. There are a few people I want to track down.”

  ~*~*~

  Brooks hated waiting for anything, and he usually didn’t have to. He had enough resources to make just about anyone do what he wanted, wherever he wanted it done.

  So, he thought, why the hell don’t I have the kids yet? He thought killing Frank’s girlfriend and keeping his daughter locked away would be motivation enough, but that was over twenty-four hours ago and he still didn’t have the kids in his custody.

  He picked up his phone and dialed. Frank answered with a “Yes?”

  “I want an update!” Brooks demanded.

  “I have two and I’m going for the third.”

  “Bring me the first two.”

  “Not yet. I’ll deliver all three at once,” Frank told him with a dead calm.

  “Are you defying me?” Brooks yelled.

  “I’m not the one who changed the game.”

  “Don’t forget I have your daughter.” Brooks was close to losing his temper.

  “That’s something I won’t ever forget. I’ll deliver all three to you and if I find Kali hurt anyway, you’ll be down three kids.”

  “DON’T YOU DARE THREATEN ME!” Brooks screamed.

  “It’s not a threat,” Frank said quietly. “I’ll be in touch.” Frank hung up the phone and silently vowed that Brooks would regret the day he decided to mess with him.

  ~*~*~

  Robert was getting very worried. He went by Kate’s again, and they had not come home last night. Her two cars were in the drive, so she didn’t drive anywhere. With a small child, Kate couldn’t just up and go somewhere. She was too good a parent to not keep to a nap and bedtime schedule. Something was definitely up.

  He swung his Jeep Cherokee by Nick’s house and noticed his SUV was gone, and had been gone all night. Maybe they were all together, but that didn’t make sense. He knew Nick liked her, but he wouldn’t get involved with her, at least not yet. Something had happened.

  ~*~*~

  Alex brushed tears out of her eyes. She needed to stop crying, but she couldn’t. She was so scared that she was shaking. She knew that Kate and Uncle Bud would want her to keep it together. She kept telling herself that but she couldn’t do it. Zach still hadn’t woken up yet. It had been hours and hours. He was breathing and she felt his heart beating, but why wouldn’t he wake up? She shook him and slapped him and shook him some more, but nothing worked.

  Alex began to pace the room. The men who took them had brought them food and some water bottles in the morning, but she hadn’t seen anyone since then. It must have been around lunch time. She kept most of her sandwich they brought and didn’t touch Zach’s. He was always hungry and she wanted to make sure that he had plenty to eat.

  The room they were in was better than the last one. At least there was a bathroom that offered a little privacy. There were no windows, so she couldn’t tell where they were. She walked around the room continuously, but never found anything that could help them.

  She had tried to zap the door a few times, but it didn’t do any good. Nothing happened to the door; she just got zapped back. That had hurt. She was getting better at using her gift. That’s it, she thought.

  She stopped suddenly and ran over to where Zach was lying. She grabbed his arm and zapped him with her gift. “OOWWWWW,” Zach yelled as he opened his eyes. “What the heck, Lex!”

  Alex threw herself across her brother’s chest and hugged him tightly. She was still squeezing the breath out of him when he tried to push her off and said, “Lex. What are you doing? You’re strangling me.”

  Alex squeezed him one more time and then got up. “Zach, I was so worried about you.”

  Zach saw the tears in his sister’s eyes and said, “I’m fine, Lex.” He liked that she was worried about him. He sat up and rubbed the back of his head. It hurt, but he felt fine besides that. “Where are we now?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t tell because there are no windows or anything,” Alex told him and handed him a bottle of water. “You should drink some of this”

  He took the water and drank half the bottle. “Thanks.” He looked around the room and asked, “Have they been back?”

  “Just this morning. They should be back soon, though.”

  Zach looked at Alex. “How did you zap me? You’ve never been that good at it.”

  “I’ve been practicing by concentrating and focusing on it. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.”

  “Well, it worked that time. Think you can do it again when they come back?”

  Alex shrugged. “Not if it’s that tall guy with the tattoos. That shield thing he has protects him.”

  “Yeah,” Zach agreed. “Show me how you learned to control your gift. Maybe I can practice, too.”

  ~*~*~

  Nick and Kate were in the third bar that day looking for a few of Nick’s old contac
ts from when he and Robert worked together. These contacts worked with various groups and knew everything that happened in their world.

  “I’m going to check in with Dawn again,” Kate told Nick before they settled at a spot at the bar.

  “You just called her two hours ago,” Nick replied shaking his head.

  Kate gave him a dark look, but continued over to a quieter area to make her call.

  Two minutes later she climbed onto the stool next to Nick. He looked over at her with a smirk.

  “So?”

  “She’s fine,” Kate mumbled, picking up the bar menu to look at the drink specials.

  “I waited for you to get back to order drinks. I wasn’t sure what you wanted.” Nick called the bartender over so that Kate could order first.

  Nick laughed at Kate’s girly drink, cherry vodka and club, while he ordered himself a Jack Daniels on the rocks. Nick purposely eavesdropped on a conversation between the red-headed guy next to him and the bartender. He hadn’t seen the guy’s face yet, but what he was saying was interesting enough to keep his attention.

  He swung around and pulled the man out of his seat and out the door of the bar into the alleyway. He looked at him and recognized him as one of the contacts Robert used when he needed information from the Division. Nick had never liked the guy, and didn’t much like him now, especially after what he thought he had just heard.

  Nick grabbed Tony by the neck and threw him up against the wall using the full force of his gift and directing as much energy as he could. The funny thing was, with Kate right next to him, he seemed to be able to control the energy much easier and with much more power than he had ever had. He didn’t have time to think about why that was.

  “What do you know about the kids?” Nick demanded.

  “I don’t know anything,” Tony said, slightly drunk, and half scared of Nick.

  “You were just bragging that you got well paid for their whereabouts. Tell me about that.”

  “Why do you care about some guy paying for foster kids?”

  Nick knocked Tony’s head into the wall again—this time harder. “Answer me.”

  “I’m not saying anything.”

  “Who paid you? How did you find them?” Nick demanded and punched Tony. “I want the information, Tony. We can stay here all day until you tell me.”

  “Okay. Okay. I’ll tell you.” Tony paused and spit out some blood on alleyway cement. “Robert told me where they were.”

  “That’s bull. Robert’s an ass, but he wouldn’t do that to those kids,” Nick assured him.

  He was just about to punch Tony again when he said, “I’ll prove it.”

  “How?” Nick demanded. Tony pulled out his phone and dialed Robert, who was on his way to Philly to see if Nick was at their old apartment.

  “Hey, man, do you have news for me?” Robert asked.

  “I’m actually calling to thank you for the information you provided,” Tony told him.

  Robert had a sinking feeling in his chest. He knew what Tony was going to say. “What information?”

  “If it wasn’t for your help, we never would’ve found the kids so quickly. My employers thank you for your assistance.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Robert demanded.

  “We’d been looking for the kids your woman friend had for a while, and you led us right to them. I’ll get you your cut soon,” Tony lied and looked at Nick challengingly, daring Nick to not believe him.

  “What cut? What did you do to them? What the hell did you do?”

  “Got to go, buddy. Thanks.” Tony cut off the conversation with a click. He quickly turned off his phone so Robert couldn’t call him back.

  Nick couldn’t believe that his friend had betrayed him like that. He was in shock, so much so that he had almost lost grip of Tony. Just as Tony was about to get away, Kate pulled Nick’s attention back to the situation. “Nick!”

  Nick slammed him against the wall again and punched him very hard. “That didn’t tell me anything, you bastard. You better tell me where the hell they are!” Nick demanded.

  “I don’t know. I just passed along the information.”

  “Who did you pass it along to?”

  Tony gave up the information about Brooks and Nick let him run off, but not before slipping a tracking device on him first. Nick sank to his knees and put his hands over his face. How could Robert do that to him and the kids?

  Chapter Seventeen

  Tony ran through a few streets until he knew he was a safe distance away from Nick. The guy had bought his story with little effort on Tony’s part.

  He pulled out his phone and called Ray.

  “Hello?”

  “I took Robert out of the equation just like you wanted. Nick was too easy. The idiot bought the story with very little convincing.”

  “We don’t have to worry about them teaming up against us?” Ray asked.

  “I don’t think so. Robert is a hothead, but he has way too much of a self-preservation instinct to not run and hide. He won’t be bothering us any time soon.”

  “Good. I’m staying at Brooks’ place in PA. I might need you here, so stick around.”

  “Got it.”

  Tony hung up and decided he needed another drink.

  ~*~*~

  Robert looked at the phone, unable to believe what had just happened. He tried to call Tony back several times, but the son of a bitch had turned his phone off. “DAMN IT!” he yelled out loud.

  What the hell was that all about? Tony took the kids from Kate and is now thanking me for helping? It doesn’t make sense . . . but wait, he thought. Nick must be helping Kate, and they had to have tracked down Tony, who had just made it look like Robert was helping the kidnappers. For whatever reason, Tony didn’t want Robert to be involved and help Nick find the kids.

  So, that was exactly what Robert was going to do. He was going to gather a few of the guys and help Nick rescue Kate’s kids, whether Nick wanted assistance or not.

  ~*~*~

  Nick and Kate were back at Nick’s apartment doing a little bit of research on Tony and any of Tony’s known associates. The Association had vast databases on numerous gifted individuals. They were hoping something had turned up. Nick hadn’t really spoken to Kate since the incident with Tony, except to say that they needed to come back to do research. That was two hours ago.

  They were seated on the couch together but nowhere near touching. Kate couldn’t take the silence any more. “Nick, Robert doesn’t seem like the type who would go after kids. Maybe there is another explanation.”

  “He knows these kids. He watched them grow up with me,” Nick said with devastation. “Kate, they call him Uncle Rob. How could he hurt kids he had always said he loved like family? How could he hurt me like this?”

  Kate moved closer and put her arm around him. She tried to help with his emotions but it didn’t seem to work. “There has to be more to this story. You’re taking the word of a guy who helped turn the kids over to an evil man over the word of your former best friend.”

  “Robert changed. He hasn’t been the same since Sam.” Nick leaned forward with his arms on his knees and put his head in his hands. “That screwed him up. He’s really sunk low this time. If I see him, I will kill him for this.”

  Kate’s gut told her that Robert wouldn’t do that, even though the facts said otherwise. Kate needed to figure out how Robert would be involved in this. For now, they needed to keep going.

  “Now what do we do?” Kate asked.

  Nick pulled out his iPad and clicked on an app. “Now we track his movements. Hopefully, he leads us to the kids or at least to someone else who can lead us there.”

  “Can’t we just go to Brooks’ house?” Kate asked.

  “And do what? Go up and knock on the door?” Nick said very sarcastically, bordering on nasty.

  “Nick!” Kate yelled and jumped up to look down at him on the couch. “I know you’re upset, but don’t take it out on me. I’
m not the one you’re mad at.” She wasn’t going to let him turn on her. She needed him levelheaded to find the kids.

  He blew out a breath and ran his hand through his hair. “I know, and I’m sorry.” He stood up and pulled her into a hug. “I feel like I’m losing everyone.”

  “You have me. I’m here, and I’m not going to let you fall apart,” she told him. “Call Robert and at least hear his side of the story.” Kate’s instinct told her this was the right thing to do.

  “NO!”

  “If he’s innocent, we could use his help.” Kate tried.

  “I can’t. I just can’t face him right now.” He stormed out of the room and into the kitchen. Kate watched him pull down a bottle of Jack Daniels and proceed to pour it to the top of a tall glass with only a few cubes of ice in it. He took a few big gulps and went to sit across the room in the chair by the window. He settled back and put his feet up on the ottoman.

  Kate knew it wasn’t going to do any good to try to talk to him anymore that night, and she also realized that they were not going to get any more work done. Without saying anything, she went to grab the shirt and shorts she had worn the night before and went into Robert’s old room. She changed quickly and grabbed the journal out of her backpack. Since it was still early and she was too wide awake to rest, she needed something to take her mind off of things. She settled on the bed with several pillows propped behind her and opened the journal.

  ~*~*~

  Dawn Johnson was relaxing on the deck of her friend’s house with her son and Maddy. The little girl was a pleasure to watch, but she could tell that Maddy missed her family. She kept asking for all of them. It was sad that she was missing them, but it also made Dawn really happy to hear how often Maddy asked for Kate. Dawn had done the right thing when she had placed the kids with her. They already loved each other. When this was all over, she would discuss making this arrangement permanent with Nick and Kate.