by Dale Cadeau
“Good luck, buddy. If I can do anything from my end, just call.” Grant watched as Angel hurried out of his office and to his truck in the parking lot.
* * * *
Angel arrived at the airport in just under two hours. He had packed two bags. One with clothes, he didn’t know how long he would be gone, and the other with all the tricks of their trade. Having their own plane meant that he could take what he would need without the hindrance of a commercial flight. Pulling both large duffel bags from his truck, he walked to the airplane and up the steps to the open door. It sounded like a party on the inside. There were voices arguing and the tinkle of glasses. As he went through the door, Angel’s eyes swept the seating area of the plane. He couldn’t believe his eyes. There sitting in the seats, were James, Clay, Grant, and Brad with Lance beside him. Looking further pass them, he also noticed Chase at the bar, pouring himself a drink. What the hell?
All of the guys just stopped talking and raised their glass like a salute at him.
“What are you guys doing here? James, what about Avery? Clay, I thought you were with Laura?
“I guess Avery needed a rest. I have been keeping her awful busy since we got married. She told me to go and back you up.” James just took a sip of his drink with a satisfied look on his face.
“Laura’s hidden. She’ll be OK while I’m gone. We can’t let you go into the trenches without the whole unit having your back,” Clay added, also taking a sip of his drink.
Grant just looked up from his computer. “I can help better if I’m on site. The club is in good hands and being monitored by the baddest Doms that you would ever want to meet, thanks to Lance.”
Chase, who had returned to his seat, said, “I’m hiding from Sam. What better place than with you guys? She would never think of looking here. She would think that you would rat me out to her. You won’t will you?” Chase glanced at the guys sitting around him.
“No, we won’t rat you out,” James added with a laugh. “But you should man up and go back. Sam’s not that bad after you get to know her. Brad should know. He’s still walking around and he put a slug in her.”
“You can laugh, James. You have a nice sweet woman in Avery. Sam’s a she-devil,” Chase defended himself.
James just laughed more. “You think Avery is a sweet woman. Your radar must be off. Better stay away from all women if you’re thinking is that skewed.”
Clay rose from his seat and grabbed one of Angel’s bags, storing it under his seat. “Angel, sit down so we can get this circus off the ground. The brothers are going at it again. I swear, the next time, I’m bringing their dad, maybe their Mom, too.”
Angel took his seat. He was humbled that the guys would back him up on such a personal mission. “Thanks, guys. Cyn means the world to me. I just can’t forgive myself for not sensing that something was wrong this morning.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over it. Sometimes we miss the clues from the people closest to us. Let’s just go find your woman and keep her safe.” Clay nodded at the pilot and the door of the plane closed. All quieted down as they fastened their seat belts and the plane started to taxi down the runway.
Chapter Twenty
Arriving in California at the small airport in Acta, they were greeted with sunny skies and two black stretch limos waiting. Angel turned his glare to Chase, who was bringing up the rear.
Chase held his hands up. “Not me this time. I’ve been away undercover, remember?”
James, who was right behind Angel, patted him on the shoulder. “I decided after our last mission that I kind of like riding in style. So I order the limos. Let’s go.” James brushed past Angel and led the way to the limos and climbed in the first one.
The others followed with a silent Lance bringing up the rear. Angel took his arm and led him away from the limos and the others. “What’s the problem? You didn’t talk all the way here and now you seem hesitant to join us.”
“I just think that with all of us and the limos showing up that it will spook Cyn if she gets a look at us. We could make it worse. We don’t know where her mind is at right now and I don’t want to overwhelm her. I think it might be better if you and the guys take a room and I go in alone.”
“Lance, I know you don’t know our firm well, except for Clay, but we are good at our job. We do this every day for a living. Cyn will never see us, only if we want her to.” Ushering Lance toward the limo, Angel herded him in. It just happened to be the limo with James, Chase, and Clay. Brad and Grant were in the other with all their equipment.
Clay spoke up as the limo pulled away. “What’s our plan? I’m sort of out of the loop.” Angel was just going to respond, when James piped in.
“As soon as I knew our destination, I pulled a few strings and got us an apartment almost overlooking the commune. It’s public housing, so for a few bucks I have a base for us. I knew Angel would think of it sooner or later, but I know how it feels to have your woman in danger. You don’t think of all the small things.”
Angel looked at James. “You’re right. My mind is taken up right now with how to find Cyn and rushing in and making sure she’s safe. I am grateful for the help.”
* * * *
After about an hour of travel, they arrived at a downtrodden building that had seen better days. Piling out of the cars, they gathered their gear and made their way in to the elevator just inside the front door. Angel, who was in the lead, pressed the button for it, only to find that it didn’t work. Turning to James, he asked, “Well, where are we based? Hope it’s not the top floor. It looks like we’ll be taking the stairs.”
“Damn, I got us on the fifth floor. I wanted to have a good overview of the commune. I didn’t think about the elevator not working. I think I’ll call the management and get it fixed even if I have to pay for it. We can’t have our path hindered by stairs if we need to move fast.” James just grabbed one of the duffel bags and walked to the side where they could see stairs behind a steel door. “OK, we had worse training in the army. We have all gotten soft. Let’s go.”
All the men arrived at the apartment door, breathing a sigh of relief. It wasn’t the stair climbing as much as the garbage and a few drunks that they had to maneuver around that had them glad they had finally reached the fifth floor.
James pulled out a key and opened the apartment door and looked around. The apartment was a surprise after seeing the conditions of the rest of the place. The apartment was as neat as a pin and smelled good. The furniture was well worn but looked after. “Well, this is a surprise. It looks like it’s not the tenants that are running down the building. The management must be at fault. Chase, I think this would be a good place to invest in.”
“James, this is public housing. You just can’t buy the building. The people are here because they can’t afford anything else.”
“I understand that, Chase, but it doesn’t mean that they have to put up with a building manager that doesn’t give a damn.” James put his bag down and walked to the glass sliding doors and looked out over the neighborhood. “I want to buy it. When we set up the office in the slums of Detroit, they all said we were nuts. But if you go down to the area now, they seem to be cleaning it up after the fire. The tenants in that area seem to be taking pride in their surroundings now. After we settle in, see what you can do.”
Chase, who had walked over to stand beside his brother, said, “You know that it’s going to lose you a lot of money?”
“That’s OK. We can always use a tax write-off. Don’t you always say we pay too much tax? Well, this way we can maybe help a few people and invest in them instead of the government that doesn’t do much.” James, now that he had the thought, liked it more and more.
James turned back toward the room where he found the others sitting. Grant had already confiscated the kitchen table and was setting up his computer and printer. Brad was in the middle of the living room, unloading the bag of their tech equipment. Angel was standing beside the still open apartment door, arg
uing with Lance.
James walked over to the two and caught the end of Lance’s angry words. “I’m going. I think the best place to be is at the commune waiting for her.” Angel was holding onto his arm, not letting him leave.
“Lance,” James spoke up. “I know we don’t know each other, but to rush into the commune and wait is the worst thing we could do. There might be people that would tip off the person responsible for bringing Cyn here. If they get a hint of us being here, we might never find her. Let us do our work. What you could do is give us information on the commune from the time that Cyn lived here. She must have had a hut or cabin that she lived in. If we know that, we can concentrate on that area and not try to cover the whole place.”
Lance listened to James and grudgingly agreed with what he said. Angel had tried to tell him the same thing, and with both saying he was being stupid with his thoughts of rushing in, he backed down. Closing the apartment door, he took a chair at the kitchen table, watching Grant pound away on the computer keyboard.
Angel pulled high-powered binoculars out of one of the bags and walked up to the balcony doors in the living room that faced the commune. Scanning the area, he could see that not much was going on. Just a few people walking around and some were working in a garden at the centre of the commune. Why would anyone want Cyn to come back here? The Feds had confiscated all the values that Ward had accumulated. The rest the Feds figured that Ward had blown on gambling and women. What could this commune be hiding that Howard would go to the trouble of stalking and bringing Cyn here? It just didn’t make sense.
James walked into the centre of the room and loudly clapped his hands. The noise around him stilled. “I know this is Angel’s mission, but we know by now with all the years we’ve been together that we work better as a team. So let’s take a minute and work out some angles. We know that by taking the plane here we have arrived before Cyn and have time to plan this out.” Nodding at Angel, James waited for him to give the go-ahead. James was their leader, but he didn’t step on their toes when it came to a mission. Angel knew that James’s forte was planning. So, Angel nodded at him to continue and took a seat on the couch next to Chase.
“Grant, have you found her on any of the traffic feeds?”
Grant looked up from the computer. “It seems like she disappeared shortly after leaving Michigan. I’m working on trying to pick her up in the next state, but she could have left the highway and taken any of the back roads or she could have went into one of the cities along the way and grabbed a plane. I just don’t know right now. But I’ll keep looking.”
“OK, we don’t have a timeline of her arrival. Since we don’t, it is more important that we work fast and get into place.” Turning to Lance, still watching Grant at the computer, James asked, “Lance, what can you tell us about Cyn’s place in the commune and where it is in relation to the view we have from here?”
Lance put his elbows on the table in front of him. “I hate remembering that time. Cyn was so lost.”
Angel spoke up. “I know it’s hard, but if we are going to save her, we need to know everything you can tell us.”
“OK.” Sitting up, Lance looked at James. “She had a hut. You couldn’t call it a cabin. It only had the bare necessities, a bed, table, and a few chairs. Ward didn’t believe in his clan having any downtime, so he made sure that their places weren’t comfortable. They didn’t even have running water or an inside bathroom. If you look toward the back of the commune, you will see a community bath and washrooms. Cyn’s place was next to the main garden in the centre, the last place on the left. I thought I saw it on the aerial view that Grant had. But I would have to look closer to see if it’s still standing. It wasn’t in great shape the last time I saw it.”
Angel stood up from the couch and walked back to the sliding door leading out to the balcony. Opening the door he gestured to Lance to come outside. When Lance joined him, Angel handed him the binoculars. “Can you pick it out from here?”
Lance took the glasses from Angel and scanned the commune. “That’s it.” He pointed with his hand. “I can’t believe it’s still standing. It’s the one that has smoke coming out of the chimney. Cyn must be there.” Lance shoved the glasses back at Angel and hurried back through the sliding door into the living room. Angel followed him.
“Lance, stop for a minute,” Angel shouted out at him.
Lance paused near the closed door of the apartment. “You’re not going to stop me, Angel. She has to be there.”
“Lance, there is no way that Cyn is in that hut. She couldn’t have gotten here before us, even if she would have grabbed a plane. We’ve only been here a couple of hours ourselves,” Angel tried to reason with him.
“You could be right, Angel, but I have to know who is in that hut. I’m going to find out.” Lance turned back to the apartment door once more
James spoke up. “I agree with Lance. We have to know who is in the hut. It might be someone waiting for Cyn. But you can’t go, Lance. People might recognize you from five years ago. No, someone else is going to have to go and take a look.”
Angel stepped forward “I’ll go, they won’t know me.”
“No, Angel you can’t go either. You would gather too much attention. At six foot five and Native American, you don’t fit the profile of most cult members. No, I think out of all of us it has to be either Brad or Chase.” James looked Angel up and down as he spoke, then turned his gaze on the other two.
“Thanks for thinking I fit the profile of a cult member, James. But remember, I’m in hiding and I don’t trust Sam enough not to find out about me being here with you. No way am I going.” Chase sat back in his seat and glared at James.
James turned to Brad, who was sitting on the floor with his gun case open and wiping down one of his sniper rifles. His blond hair fell in his eyes as he did the task.
Brad carefully put the rifle back in its case and looked up at James.
“Sure, I can do that, dude.” Grabbing the tie holding his too-long blond locks back, he shook them out and glanced at Angel. “Ya, I fit the profile. Either beach bum or cult member, almost the same thing.” Getting up, Brad walked to his other duffel bag and drew out a pair of jeans filled with holes and a faded pink T-shirt. Holding them up, he made his way down the hall to the bathroom. “I came prepared just in case.”
“I hope you agree with us, Lance. Brad is the best and he is trained. We don’t know what he might encounter, living or hiding in that hut. Brad will scope out the area and come back and tell us,” James told him as they all watched Brad disappear to change.
“Yes, I agree. But I don’t like it. I want to find Cyn ASAP. I hate feeling helpless.” Leaving his stance besides the door, he went back and resumed his seat beside Grant. Grant had paid no attention to the conversation between the men, but just kept pounding on his keyboard.
Chapter Twenty-One
Clay arrived just then at the apartment. He had stayed behind to scope out the building. He wanted to know all the ins and outs of the building. Walking through the door, his first words were, “We have to get the elevator working. We’re sitting ducks here if we have to move fast.”
Clay heaved his heavy bag on the coffee table in front of the couch and opened it. He grabbed a can of soda and opened the tab. “This place is nice after the stink I found around this building. Someone should complain.” Taking a long sip, he sank into the worn lazy boy that faced the couch.
“Glad you could join us, Clay,” James spoke up. “We were just firming up some plans.”
“So, what did you come up with?” Clay took another long draw of his soda.
“God, Clay you could share.” James watched Clay take another drink of his soda and walked over and dug in the bag. He handed out sodas to all the guys.
“Hey, I’m not the maid around here. It’s every man for himself.”
Brad walked out the bathroom, looking every bit the surfer dude with not too much upstairs. He had perfected his cover on their m
any missions. No one ever took a second look at him. Often, passing himself off as someone that wasn’t too bright or stoned, he had gathered a lot of intel with people shrugging him off as not being a threat.
“I’m ready. Hey, Clay, glad you’re here. I’m parched and you had all the drinks.” Brad dug and grabbed a soda for himself.
Angel walked up to Brad. “I hope you know I really appreciate this. James is right. I would stick out like a sore thumb.”
“No problem, Angel.” Taking a last sip of his soda, Brad crushed the can and threw it in the trash. Walking to the door, he saluted them and left.
“Shouldn’t he be armed? You just said we don’t know who he will encounter,” Lance asked as he and the rest of the guys watched Brad leave.
“Brad is armed. He wouldn’t go anyplace without having a weapon of some sort. He’s just very good at hiding it. Don’t worry, no one will get the jump on Brad,” James explained to Lance.
* * * *
Brad arrived at the gate of the commune to see a hippie guy smoking a joint and lost in a haze, standing guard. Brad knew he could have gotten past him without the guy being aware that he did, but that did not go with their plans. “Hey, man, do you live here?”
“What’s it to you?” The guy took a drag of his smoke.
“I heard in the valley that this is a good place to hang. I’m a little down in my luck and was wondering if I could stay for a while?” Brad stuck his hands in the front pockets of his jeans and slouched.
“We just don’t take anyone in.” The guy blew smoke in Brad’s direction.
“I was told this was the Church of Lost Souls. I just want to join and find myself. Howard…” Brad let his words drift off. He didn’t want to give the guy too much information.
The guy perked up. “You know Howard? Well that’s different. Go right in. You’ll have to pull your weight while you’re here. The first building you come to, you’ll find Brenda. She will sign you up and assign you a place to stay and tell you your duties.” The guy dismissed Brad, no long interested in the subject, and resumed drawing on his smoke and staring off in the distance.
