Discovery

by Char Webster

The guys sat there for a few minutes and didn’t say anything. They were trying to process everything that had happened.

  Ryan frowned. “I think that’s the girl Nick was investigating. He had me install surveillance equipment around her place. I asked him about her and he told me she was just an assignment. He wouldn’t say anything else about her.”

  Robert got a slightly hurt expression on his face that he tried to hide, but Ryan noticed it.

  “Nick called you for help?” Robert asked, not really wanting to hear the answer.

  “Yeah, I was shocked. I hadn’t heard from him since all that went down with you and . . .” Ryan didn’t want to say the girl’s name who ended up destroying all of their friendships.

  “She who must not be named,” Jason joked, trying to provide some comic relief.

  Ryan glared at Jason. “Whatever. Anyway, he kept things very professional. I think we both felt a little awkward.”

  Robert still hadn’t said anything, so Jason wanted to steer things back to the situation they gathered for. “Who are these kids, and why do these people want them so badly?”

  “I don’t know. They’re just some kids that were in foster care. Kate works with troubled kids, and she decided to take them in. From what I gathered, she didn’t know they had gifts, and she also didn’t know she had any either.”

  Ryan laughed slightly. “That must have been quite a shock for her.”

  “Yeah, I imagine so,” Robert acknowledged.

  “How did Nick get involved with her and those kids?” Jason asked.

  “Nick was watching out for the kids for some reason. I’m not sure why. We’re still not really talking,” Robert told them. “I don’t think he knew Kate was gifted. You should have seen his face when I mentioned she had a gift. Now I’m sure he hates me, thinking I sold out the kids and Kate. You know I’d never do that.”

  “Nick wouldn’t think that,” Ryan told him with a frown. “What do you need us to do?”

  “We need to help Nick find those kids and take care of whoever took them.”

  “Sounds like fun.” Jason grinned. “I haven’t been having any fun lately. Working as a regular cop just isn’t the same.”

  “I thought you left the police force in Baltimore,” Ryan questioned.

  “Yeah, I did. Things got a little rough when we got a new chief who didn’t appreciate my wit and sense of humor.”

  Robert smirked. “Jay, I can’t imagine why.”

  Jason gave him a dark look, and continued answering Ryan. “So I went to work at that private security firm Robert told me about. The only thing was, they stuck me down in Dallas babysitting some spoiled oil heir who was running through his father’s money faster than he was making it.”

  “That sucks,” Ryan said, cringing at the thought.

  Robert laughed and turned to Ryan. “Are you in?”

  “I’m in,” Ryan agreed. “I’ve been looking for something to do as well. Building computer security systems for large companies was challenging for a while, but I miss all the trouble we used to get into.” Ryan didn’t mention to them that his software was now sought after all over the world.

  Robert looked at Ryan knowingly. “Have you found a system you couldn’t get into yet?”

  Ryan smirked. “What do you think?”

  Robert studied his friend, who looked like a harmless surfer but was really a lethal black belt in several different martial arts fields. He was going to need both of his friends for this rescue mission.

  “Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it,” Robert told them. “The first thing we need to do is locate Tony and find out why he tried to set me up.”

  Ryan smiled, reached down to a backpack, pulled out an ultra-thin tablet laptop, and started to type. “That’s easy enough.”

  Jason rolled his eyes and mouthed “nerd” to Robert.

  Within a few minutes, Ryan looked up and smiled widely. “Let’s go wake him up.”

  The three guys filed out the door and into Robert’s Jeep Cherokee. He looked over toward Ryan and Jason, who were pushing each other to fight for the front seat like little kids. Robert shook his head and started to roll forward. The guys broke apart and Jason jumped into the back seat. He had a wicked grin on his face. Robert knew that Jason would bug the crap out of Ryan during the entire trip. Wow, he had really missed these guys.

  Ryan whipped around and hollered, “If you don’t quit poking me in the back, I’m going to break your finger.”

  Jason just laughed hysterically.

  Robert ignored them and asked, “Where to?”

  Ryan gave him directions and soon they were in front of a very run-down building on the outskirts of Fishtown in Philly, on the edge of a not-so-nice block. Fishtown was the next up-and-coming neighborhood in Philly, but this building must have been forgotten in the push for remodeling and renovating.

  As they were circling the block looking for somewhere inconspicuous to park, they noticed Tony run out of the building and jump in the driver’s seat of a car that pulled up. The driver slid over to the passenger seat. The passenger was an Asian man that they all knew of but didn’t know personally—no one wanted to know him personally. When that happened, the person usually didn’t live to tell about it.

  “Dude. What have you gotten us into?” Jason asked.

  Ryan’s eyes got big and said, “That’s Ray Chang. He’s a known assassin for every high-paying crime family there is, with or without gifts. He is seriously bad news. What would Tony be doing with him?”

  Robert turned to look at the guys and said, “Let’s find out.” The other two guys grinned and said, “Oh yeah.” Their adventure was on.

  “I’m going to stay as far back as I can so they don’t see us following. Ry, how’s your sight these days?” Robert asked.

  ”Dude, you know I can see farther than those piece-of-crap binoculars you have there,” Ryan bragged. “Who needs Superman when you have Super Ryan? The only thing he has on me is X-ray vision. That would be a wicked thing to have.”

  “Yeah, you’re super all right,” Jason mumbled quietly under his breath. “A super pain in the ass.”

  “You know I can hear that,” Ryan called out.

  Jason copied what Ryan said by mouthing it silently to Robert in his rearview mirror.

  Ryan reached back and hit him in the head. “Dude, you know I can read your lips. Give it up. I’m awesome.”

  Robert laughed, thinking that nothing could get past Ryan.

  They weaved through Philly streets, which were still sparsely driven on that early in the morning. They moved through the city and closer to the Old City section. Robert got nervous when he noticed they were heading toward the old apartment he had shared with Nick. Going on his gut feeling, he turned off and took a different street to get to the apartment first. He knew of an alleyway where they could park without being seen by anyone. They watched as Tony and Ray parked on the street a little bit down from Nick’s place. They appeared to be watching the apartment.

  “What are they up to?” Jason asked. “Can you tell what they’re saying?” he asked Ryan.

  Ryan focused, but he shook his head. “There’s too much background noise and they’re too far away to hear. I can’t get a clear view of their faces, but I can tell they’re watching the apartment.”

  “Great observation, genius,” Jason teased. “I need more coffee.”

  “Why don’t you just go over to the other car and ask those guys if they want coffee, too?” Ryan shot back.

  “I’m not going to get some, even though there is a place right over there.” Jason pointed to the bagel shop on the corner. “I’m just commenting that I need some more, especially if we are going to do this stakeout for a while. Coffee is a definite must for stakeouts.”

  Robert sighed. It’s been a long time since he hung out with these guys, and he missed them. He had also forgotten how much they bickered with each other.

  They had been observing the other car’s occupants wat
ch Nick’s place when they noticed Kate stroll out of the main door. She was walking right over to the bagel shop. The guys were on high alert. They needed to see what the guys in the other car were going to do. It may be their only lead to get the kids back.

  “Hey, there’s Kate,” Robert told them, sitting up straight in his seat.

  They watched Kate go into the shop and come back out after a few minutes with a box that contained two large coffee cups and a bag with something in it.

  “See, even she got coffee,” Jason commented.

  Ryan actually ignored his comment.

  All three guys were shocked when Tony pulled out abruptly and Ray jumped out and snatched Kate. They hadn’t expected them to do that.

  “Holy shit!” Ryan exclaimed.

  “Follow them,” Jason yelled.

  Robert had to force himself to pull out slowly and follow at a distance. He didn’t want to tip Ray and Tony off that they had a tail. It took everything he had in him to drive cautiously and not give them away. He wanted to rush and get Kate. He knew that she must be terrified. He was going to kill those guys if they hurt her.

  The three guys were very quiet as they followed the other car into a section of the city that had lots of big warehouses and businesses. Thanks to Ryan’s vision, they were able to stay out of sight but still tail them.

  The guys watched Tony, Ray, and Kate pull up to a warehouse that looked abandoned and dilapidated but obviously still had electricity since the garage door opened automatically when they approached. The car disappeared through the door, which closed behind them.

  Robert parked behind the next warehouse down and out of sight so that they could formulate a plan. They needed to get Kate out of there before she was hurt, or worse.

  “Okay. Let’s go explore the outside of the warehouse so we know what we’re up against,” Robert said to Jason.

  “I’m staying here to see if I can find plans for the warehouse or any other information about it,” Ryan told them.

  ~*~*~

  Alex and Zach practiced their gifts until they had passed out from exhaustion. No one had come with dinner the night before and they were both starving the next day. They had not eaten since the morning before. Luckily, they had water from the sink in the bathroom.

  There was noise at the door, and both kids got ready to throw their gifts at whoever entered. Their gifts were still shaky and only happened when they tried really hard and only then for a few seconds, but they had to try. They couldn’t just sit around and wait for someone to come to their rescue.

  Alex hid behind the door, ready to touch the person who entered, and Zach was ready to throw the person into the wall. It was a great plan, but neither of them figured it would work.

  It turned out that it didn’t work. Frank threw open the door with such force that he threw Alex into the other wall. Slightly dazed, she couldn’t do much when he shielded her in. Zach tried to use his gift but lost concentration when Alex was thrown.

  Both kids ended up zip-tied once again. Frank laughed at the kids’ tries.

  “That was a good effort,” he told them with a laugh. These kids had guts, he thought. He had to give them that. It was a shame he had to trade them to Brooks. Kids like these didn’t deserve to grow up with someone like him.

  Frank decided he wasn’t going to mention their growing powers to Brooks. It would give the kids a fighting chance.

  “Here are a couple of bagel sandwiches. I’m leaving you tied so you don’t get into as much trouble.” Frank laughed and walked out. He had left their hands tied in front of them this time so they could at least eat. He didn’t want them injured too much.

  Frank left the two kids alone once again.

  “That worked out just great,” muttered Zach as he struggled over to the food.

  Frank heard the kids through the door and laughed again. Even zip-tied, they had spirit.

  George looked up from the TV when Frank walked out of the room that was holding the two kids.

  “Keep an eye out for anything unusual,” Frank told him. “Don’t go in there no matter what you hear them say.”

  “Why?” George asked.

  That made Frank angry, and he pulled George up out of the seat. “Are you questioning me?”

  George shook his head no.

  “I don’t want anyone going in that room. Do you hear me?” George nodded again. “Call me if something happens.”

  Frank walked outside and jumped into his “borrowed” van. He headed to the baseball game and to hopefully find some clue about where the third kid was.

  ~*~*~

  Nick watched the video footage three times, and he still couldn’t believe what he had seen. Things were way worse than he had thought. Ray Chang. He was sure of it. Why the hell is Ray involved, and why did they take Kate? He needed to find her fast or the guy would kill her. Ray would torture her and then kill her. Nick started to shake. He couldn’t think about that. He wouldn’t be able to function and save her if he let himself start to think like that. He couldn’t lose Kate.

  He was staring at the screen once again and watched the car with Kate speed away. He was just about to turn it off when he saw an SUV pull out to follow after the car that took Kate. He zoomed in on the footage and was once again surprised. Robert was driving, and he thought he saw Jason and Ryan with him. Were they in on it, too? Did all his friends turn on him?

  This was turning out to be a nightmare. He was losing everyone he was close to all at once. Bad enough Robert turned on him, but now Ryan and Jason were working with him? This might actually work out to his benefit. He had put a tracker on Robert’s SUV last week to keep an eye out.

  He grabbed his iPad and ran for the door. He would track them to where they took Kate.

  Fifteen minutes later, he found Robert’s SUV, and saw that Ryan was sitting inside with his tablet laptop.

  Nick parked around the corner of the warehouse and snuck up on the SUV. Ryan was looking down and wasn’t paying attention to what was going on around him. That wasn’t like his former friend. Years out of the Association must have made him lazy. Nick approached the back of the SUV and crawled up to the door. Ryan was leaning against the door with his arm out the window. Nick pulled a small gun out of his shoulder holster and slid it up to the door.

  Just when he was going to make his presence known, Ryan grabbed the gun out of Nick’s hand and pulled the clip out in a move that was almost too quick to see. Nick jumped back just in time for Ryan to swing the door open and tackle Nick. Damn Ryan’s martial arts training, Nick thought.

  Nick focused all his strength and punched out at Ryan to get him off. Ryan flipped him over and pinned him, but Nick wasn’t done. He focused his energy again and bucked Ryan off of him again. A few feet separated them, and they circled each other when Ryan started to laugh. “Man, I had forgotten how much fun it is to spar with you.”

  Nick looked confused for a second and then said forcefully, running up to Ryan and throwing him up against the car. “Where the hell is she? What did you guys do to her?”

  “Dude, relax. Jay and Rob are gathering info on the warehouse. We’ll get her back,” Ryan said quickly.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Nick demanded. “Why are you guys doing this? Why target Kate and the kids? Why are you guys after them?”

  “Nick, you need to chill and listen. We’re here to help. Robert called us in to help get those kids back. He was set up. We were trying to find out why he was set up, when we saw Tony get into a car with Ray Chang. We wanted to know what he was up to so we followed him, and it ended up being to your house. It shocked us to see them take your girl. We followed them here and were just checking out the situation when you showed up.”

  Nick ran his hand through his hair. He didn’t know what to think. He wanted to believe his friends hadn’t turned on him so badly. He needed help, and he really wanted to trust these guys. He needed to talk to Robert.

  “Say I believe you; why did Rober
t tell Tony the location of my niece and nephew?”

  “What?” Ryan said, stunned, “Are you talking about Alex and Zach? That’s who’s missing?”

  “Yes. They took my family!”

  “Oh my god, Nick. We didn’t know,” Ryan told him, clearly devastated. “I don’t think Robert knows the kids are Alex and Zach.”

  “He had to have known. He was around them.”

  “Listen, Robert called us to help get those kids back. I don’t think he would go through all this trouble if he handed them over. Let’s wait for him to get back and get a full explanation.”

  “I’m not waiting,” Nick told him and started to walk away.

  Ryan grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. “You don’t know which warehouse it is and you’re going to jeopardize Kate’s safety if you rush in there. We need to get info and form a plan.”

  Nick sighed and said, “Okay, but you guys have about five minutes to get back here and convince me that you are not working with them.”

  “Nick, we would never hurt you like that. We’re your friends, and we’d never turn on you.”

  Nick had just retrieved his gun and put it back in the holster when Robert and Jason jogged up. Jason came right up to Nick and pulled him in for a man-hug and a hard shoulder slap. “Damn, it’s good to see you,” Jason said.

  Nick was a little stiff, and Jason looked questioningly at Ryan.

  “He thinks we’re helping the bad guys,” Ryan told them.

  Robert walked up and said sadly, “I told you guys he thinks the worst of me.”

  Nick grabbed Robert and slammed him into his SUV. “Yeah, I do think you’re working with them.” He paused and gripped Robert harder. “How could you hand Alex and Zach over to Tony and his people?”

  Nick wasn’t in the mood to explain things and was getting all riled up again, so Ryan pulled him off Robert and tried to defuse the situation.

  “Rob, please tell me you didn’t know that the two kids that are missing are Alex and Zach,” Ryan asked.

  Robert reacted immediately. “Zach and Alex are missing, too? When did that happen? How did they get taken? When did you find out?”