The Law of Motion (Law Series)

by Di'Nisha Robinson

Doc shook her head. “No, nothing in his medical history would suggest that. It has to be a new player.”

  “A woman.” Kristen determined.

  Dario looked at her, “How could you tell?”

  “She called Adrian, a ken doll. Not to mention calling us bitches.” Kristen explained. She had a point.

  "What about the money? Because I can..." Ross fidgeted a bit, but shut up when Cam held up his hand.

  "I know you'd pay anything at this point, and I don't blame you, but I really want to see what theirher next request is, Ross. If a trade can be made for those two boys, then we do it."

  "Listen, listen, listen," Tink requested, her demeanor much more subdued than normal, because I was pretty sure she hadn't slept. "We ran a check on David Grubbs, his parents are fucking loaded. He did a lot of petty crimes in but pretty much walked away with a slap on the wrist. The longest he ever did was a month for an aggravated assault charge. And can you guess who his cellmate was? ”

  "Myles," just about everyone in the room stated blandly.

  "Exactly," she sighed with a nod. " David Grubbs should have gotten a year in Richmond for an extortion charge alone, but they didn’t stick. Next," she said, spinning in her chair and pointing up to the two drawings on the bulletin board. "Myles Thompson... This guy is a bottom feeder. He's done more time in jail than anyone at the age of twenty three should have, and it's everything from assault and battery, to domestic violence and public drunkenness."

  "So is Terry Windsor the mastermind?" I asked, looking at the last picture “because these other two can’t be more than stooges.”

  "They are only stooges," Tink concurred. "I’m still working on Terry Windsor. That will take me a bit."

  "I need to know if you can get a hold of the that money, Ross. I don't want to pay a ransom...ever. But having it on hand...to show them...well, it could be beneficial."

  "I can have it," Ross nodded, Doc still not saying much from the corner, her arms holding a couch pillow a bit too tightly. "when the banks open..."

  "Not yet," Cameron said softly, his eyes flickering between the two of us. "I just want to make sure it's accessible. I'll give you plenty of notice when we need it. I'm waiting on a few things." He spun around in his chair, pulling up a few reports. "I want more info first.”

  “I have a question," Jackson stated from the back of the room. He'd been quietly listening to everything, "Do they have any idea who Chance is? Who we are? Who we really are I mean?"

  Cam smiled, though it was sad. "That..." he started, pointing his finger. "That is our key, right there. I'm damn sure that they have no idea what she and the rest of you are capable of. I think they just see her as a PI, nothing more. There is shit that I didn’t even know until you told me. They would have picked a different kid if they did."

  “What if this isn’t about money?” Alyssa asked getting up, not being able to just sit anymore. She had been sitting unusually quiet since the last phone call.

  Cam cleaned his glasses as he spoke, “Most kidnappings are about the ransom.”

  She nodded but stuck to her line of thought, “But why only a fifty grand? That’s something that all of us probably keep stashed for emergencies in a duffle bag. Hell the safe in the back alone has about eighty.”

  “They don’t know that though baby.” I added.

  “Like Tink said, I was just handed a multi-billion dollar corporation. In their eyes I’m a fucking heiress, and that’s all they want?”

  Doc nodded, thinking about it, “She has a point.”

  “Well we need to see what they want in the next call.” Macon agreed. “ I think we should order some food and prepare to burn the night oil.”

  

  “Any news on that chip?” I asked looking over Tink’s shoulder, a slice of pizza hanging out of her mouth as she used both hands to type. She changed into a pair of pajama bottoms from the overnight bag she kept in her office closet. She did all-nighters when things were normal and she was inventing new things, of course she would be prepared.

  She took a break from typing long enough to take the pizza slice from her mouth and drop it onto her plate. “It’s fried.” She stated simply after trying to activate it again.

  “What do you mean fried?” Doc repeated unable to take anymore bad news.

  “It’s not working, it must have short circuited somehow.” She mused focusing on another task instead. “I need to focus on Terry.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, our main lead was officially a dead end. “So you’re telling me that there is no way to find Juan through that watch? How could you let that happen?”

  Tink looked up at me. “I didn’t let anything happen. It was a prototype. Not all of my inventions are perfect. So we will find him another way.”

  “We’d better.” I released, a bit harsher than I meant it to, but I didn’t apologize, I just went back to looking over the criminal records of Myles Thompson.

  "Hey Adrian?!" Jackson snapped, his southern drawl rising to the surface. "Why don't you fucking direct your attitude toward the right place? Not my wife, okay? The enemies out there. I've heard just about as much nastiness from you I can handle today. You're acting like this is her fault."

  The truth is, I wasn’t really even mad at Tink. She was the brightest of us all, I was just so used to her perfection that I forgot that she was human. “I’m sorry Tink, it’s not your fault. You didn’t let them get taken.”

  “So it’s my fault then?” Alyssa asked standing in the door way. A statement she shouldn’t have heard. “Because I let them drive away?”

  Dario cut in, “We aren’t going to play the blame game, we’re just going to get what we need done to get Juan back.”

  Alyssa shook her head and before I could tell her that I was referring to myself with that comment she continued. “No Dario, he thinks it’s my fault so let’s get it out. I let them drive away. He didn’t check the bathroom but I let them drive away.”

  “Thanks Alyssa, for finally verbalizing how you feel; because for the past thirty-six hours you’ve done a pretty good job of showing me. I admit it, I didn’t check , I fucked up. But you can’t even admit the reason you let them drive away.”

  She scoffed in disbelief, her accent becoming more pronounced. “I had no choice! They would have shot Juan, or Cedrick”

  I shook my head raising my voice over hers, “No, no, no Alyssa, that is bullshit. You don’t miss Chance. What happened to you taking on ‘your odds’? You’ve done it for everything else. Why can’t you admit it? You froze. ”

  Her green eyes were wild as she threw up her hand in the air rushing words, her hands moving as she talked. “ I can admit things, unlike you. At the wedding, you could have easily corrected that guy, and told him that I wasn’t your wife, he wasn’t our son, and then maybe he would have came at me directly instead of involving a four year old kid he thought was mine. You were so focused on that family feeling you wanted that you couldn’t even assess a potential threat.”

  “I can admit I like the sound of being with you and having what comes with that. I don’t freeze when it comes to things I care about!” I snapped venting things I didn’t even know I was upset about until they poured from my mouth.

  She was stunned her voice dropping lower. “No I don’t.” I should have backed down, because that was her tone of retreat, but I was still fuming.

  “Yes you do, you froze with Juan just like you freeze every time I tell you I love you. That’s why you never say it back!”

  “Fine, it’s my fault then.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry ok, I’m sorry guys.” She stressed looking around at everyone. “You’re right, ok?” She dismissed walking back towards her office.

  She was shutting down again, and I hated it when she did that. I didn’t like the feeling of being placated. So instead of backing down my anger escalated. “I am right Alyssa. The truth is, if you weren’t such a bitch to people that care about you, your fath
er wouldn’t feel the need to do something as extreme as signing over his life’s work to win your love. This shit wouldn’t be happening at all!”

  “SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Doc demanded, slamming her hand on the table. “You’ve gone too far Adrian.” She was right, I wanted to take the words back as soon as I said them.

  Alyssa was frozen, her back to me, and I was thankful that I couldn’t see her face.

  Dario and Macon hauled me into Jackson and Macon’s office, it being the closest, “Cool off man.” Macon warned before walking back out front and closing the door. I could hear everything still.

  “Now isn’t the time to fall apart.” Cam mediated.

  Tink agreed, “We don’t need this right now guys.”

  The sound of Chance’s foot steps should have passed where I was but they didn’t. She was heading out the front door.

  “Chance?” Jackson called after her but got no response.

  Dario tried too, “Giselle…”

  “Come on Chance.” Kristen called exasperated.

  But it was Doc’s voice that got the response, “ Alyssa Giselle, where are you going?”

  “Home.”

  Chapter 6- Adjustments

  My world was swimming in red, the same fucking red that I'd seen when I realized someone had bashed me in the head, taken Juan, and I wasn't good enough to stop any fucking bit of it. I hated myself for all of it. I just felt so useless and out of control, and all I could see was just....red. I was angry.

  I fucking knew this shit wasn't completely Alyssa’s fault, but it was easier to be mad at her than break down and fall at her feet, though neither of those things would get Juan and Cedrick back. Mad, I could do. Mad, I was used to and I fed off of it, to make me focus on what I needed to do.

  Something in me snapped the very second I knew that a part of her was blaming me. The soldier in me wanted blood, wanted revenge, wanted someone's head on a stick, for Tawny and Ross’s sake, but I had to wait, and it was a conflict that I couldn't reconcile. I was at odds with myself in so many ways, I was practically spinning. I was just...treading water to stay afloat. I was trying to help, but nothing I said or thought of could work unless we knew all the information, and in order to get the information, I had to rely on...well, everyone.

  I was angry at Alyssa for not taking the shot, but to be honest I wasn’t sure if any of us would have been able to do it. I was mad at Tink for not getting information fast enough. I was mad at Cam for not taking the men down on the spot. And mad at every single other member of our team in some way that I already knew was stupid.

  But I was mad at myself the most, for not checking the fucking bathroom. Or keeping an eye on the bus driver that freaked Juan out. I needed to do something, and I couldn't, and that led to the explosion in front of everyone with the one person I needed the most.

  The very second we got back from Paul’s office, I wanted to grab her, pull her to me, beg her to just...let me hold her, but her emptiness, her lack of fight pissed me off. I knew she was hurt that someone wanting to hurt her was the reason Juan was gone, not to mention she had to be beating herself up for letting them go.

  I know I wasn't helping by letting her shut herself off. I should've been forcing her to plan and plot and focus her hurt into anger, like she always did. Instead I chose to push her past her limit.

  I don't know why I'd said the things I had. Why does any couple fight? Why is it when you're angry, you want the rest of the world to suffer, too? And why, when you need that one person the most, do you try your damnedest to sabotage everything that was fucking perfect? The only answer I could come up with was that I snapped.

  The very second the words were out of my mouth, I regretted them, because I broke her. And it wasn't fucking fair of me, because I'd sworn ages ago never to hurt her again, and I just hadagain. Hell a week before, I swore no matter what, she would have me and I would be there for her.

  “What in the hell am I doing? I need to go after her.” I was cruel and wrong, and I needed to make it right. I spun out of the office and started down the hall, but before I could find her and apologize, my ass was snatched up from behind and thrown back inside. When I spun around to see who had grabbed me, a fist connected at full speed and force to my face, and I fell to my knees with a grunt.

  "Fuck!" I snarled, holding my nose, only to pull my hand back to see blood on my fingers. "What the hell?" I sneered, looking up and flinching back when my father pulled his fist back again.

  "I told you in Russia," he warned, his voice eerily calm, but laced with a threat, "that if I ever heard you talk to a lady like that again, I'd break your nose, son. What the hell is wrong with you? We could hear you all the way out to my car."

  "Dad," I breathed, though it wasn't easy, because I think the asshole really had broken my nose. "I don't know!" I admitted. "I just snapped."

  "I can see," he sighed as I just utterly lost my shit, "but you can't blame her, Adrian. It's not her fault.” he stated, his voice thicker, raspier than I expected. "Do you honestly think she let those boys go on purpose?"

  "No," I mumbled but he waited, giving me a dangerously raised eyebrow. "No!"

  "But look what you've done," he groaned through gritted teeth, pointing toward where the scene went down even though technically he was pointing at the wall. "Do you have any idea what she could possibly be thinking, because she's been there?" he growled, gripping my chin and forcing me to look up at his pissed off face. "She's got to be thinking the very worst case scenario, and it's probably scaring her to death. That is not the way to treat the woman that is going to be your wife.”

  I didn’t even think about that part, and it made me sick that I had done what I had. I had just destroyed that trust, that perfect thing we had, because if anyone knew what those boys could possibly be going through, it was Alyssa, and I'd been so wrapped up in my own anger that I hadn't even given it a thought. Her time in captivity had been the worst weeks of torture, blood, abuse, and just plain hell, so her mind would automatically associate her experience with this. I knew that she'd rather die than let Juan even know about those things, much less experience them. “She said no.” I explained when he looked at me “To the proposal, she said ‘no’.”

  "For good reason it seems.” My dad muttered, “You're supposed to work together, son," he started, his voice a little softer as he pulled me up onto my feet, "not tearing each other apart. If you want to find those kids, then you have to work with everyone, not against them."

  "We can't do anything until we hear from them, or until Cam brings us something," I told him, and even to my own ears, my voice sounded dead, but a touch whiny.

  "I know," he said with a nod, looking back at me with a hard look, "and I'll talk to Cameron in a moment, but first...I'd like to see the woman that is going to be my daughter, if you haven’t scared her too far away."

  I grimaced at the tone he was using with me, like if I lost my temper again, I’d just to give him a reason to punch me one more time. No thank you. He might be retired and have a touch of gray, but the man had a helluva right fucking hook.

  "I should..." I started to say that I needed to apologize, but he held his hand up.

  "Don't. First thing you're going to do is have Tawny put your nose back, because despite how upset Alyssa probably is with you, she'll be put out with me for messing up your face," he ordered, gesturing towards the door and rolling his eyes. "Go, and then we’re all going to sit down. Victor and I want to know every-fucking-thing."

  I stepped into the lobby, avoiding the glances Jackson, Macon, Ross, and Kristen were casting in my direction, and I didn't fucking dare look at Victor, who was looming just behind the doorway, because I knew he'd kill me for hurting his "little one." Only one person dared to walk up to my face.

  "I love you like a brother, kid," Dario swore, shaking his head, "but get your shit together. Capisce?"

  I nodded, looking away from his livid face into the bathroom, where Doc was leaning against th
e counter.

  "Come here, " she instructed softly, pointing to the chair she put in there. Normally she would fix me up in her office, but I suppose since she shared it with Ross it wasn’t really a safe place. "Sit," she ordered, taking a deep breath. Her face held disappointment, weariness from everything that was happening, and a sadness that seemed to be contagious around this place.

  I did as she asked, only after watching my dad disappear down the hall. "This will really hurt," she warned me.

  "I deserved it," I sniffled, closing my eyes when her hands gently cupped my face. Her thumbs braced on either side of my nose, wrenching quickly to the right. The resounding crack of my cartilage snapping back to where God had originally intended it to be echoed through the place. Groans from the other room, along with my own long growl of pain, followed right behind it. "Damn it!" I hissed, squeezing my watering eyes shut.

  "Don't move," she commanded, taking two pieces of rolled up gauze and shoving them up each nostril. She wasn’t as gentle as she would have been if I had received it any other way. “Chance isn’t answering the phone. Macon is going to the house to bring her back.”

  "I’m sorry that I made this about me and her. I love Juan too, and I want to get him back just as much as everyone else. I was just so mad.” She didn’t say anything as she worked. “I need to get the team back together…I need to see her," I resolved, now sounding all stuffy and nasally.

  "I forgive you, and you will," she assured me, wiping my tears and blood away, only to continue to hold my face. "I know you didn't mean it, and I know you’re angry, but everyone’s angry.”

  "I fucked up," I murmured, finishing her thoughts for her and looking away from her heart shaped face that was filled with forced patience. How she could have empathy for me when her child was missing, I couldn’t understand.

  "Yes, you did." She sighed cleaning the counter. "I love you, Adrian. You were the first member of Bravo that I connected to; but I've told you before, and I'll say it again. Anger isn't always going to help you. Patience is what you would need with her. Tilt your head back for a minute, 'til the bleeding slows," she instructed, and I found myself gazing up at the bathroom ceiling. "I’ve watched you both find your own way together. You've done it from the very beginning. When things were crazy with Lorentz, even when you two disagreed you pulled the shit together for the sake of our teams.”