The Doll Collector's Son

Chapter 18: Jordan

"Jordan, driving like a maniac will not get us there faster." Annalise said, gripping the 'oh shit' handle.

"If we get pulled over, we flash our badges and that's it." I replied, keeping my eyes on the road.

There wasn't too much going on in Bakersfield, so the cops had plenty of time to watch out for speeders. I was certain that we'd see the blue lights in the rearview soon. Annalise sighed and pulled out her phone, making a quick phone call to her friend at the local police station. Within a few minutes, everyone would know that we were speeding our way to Cambria.

Marina had planned this all so well. How had she managed to get Luciana all the way down to the Cambria project without any of us noticing? Sure, traffic wasn't bad at all, but Marina had done all of this under the radar.

I handed my phone to Annalise to monitor the live stream while I drove. There was obviously nothing I could do sitting behind a wheel, but I was entirely inclined to know what was happening on the stream.

"She won't kill her." Annalise said, suddenly.

"You don't know that." I replied tersely.

"Jordan, she's waiting for you. I hate to say it, but she's not going to do real damage until you're in the room. She's banking on the fact that you'll side with her. So maybe you should."

I almost hit the brakes, but a piercing glare from the driver's seat would suffice.

"Relax, Jordan. Obviously I'm not telling you to let your sister die, but if Marina wants you to be there, you should. Going in gun's blazing will not help. Marina is mentally unstable and who knows what she is truly capable of. But you, you can get in there and talk her down enough to give us a chance to bring her down." Annalise explained, giving me her own piercing glare.

I didn't think I'd be able to hold my composure if I was in a room where my only sister was tied up and wounded. But maybe if we met somewhere else.

"Her biggest complaint is that you never told her who you were. Maybe that was Marina the fake girlfriend talking, but maybe it was Marina the obsessed fan. If she wants to be close to you and be the one to bring you into the darkness, then you have to give her that chance. She will not hurt you, but she will hurt the ones you love if you aren't cooperating."

I kept my eyes focused on the road, letting her words sink in. She was right, but it was also risky. Maybe if I could get her in another location so that she wouldn't have access to Luciana. I asked Annalise to call Marina and also text SAIC Sherwood of what the plan was going to be. He and my mom weren't going to like it.

The line trilled over the Bluetooth as sweat began to make my hands slick on the steering wheel. So much was riding on this one conversation. The best course of action was to pretend that we hadn't figured anything out, but would she believe that? We were supposed to be finding my sister, would I really care to explain to Marina at that very moment?

After ten rings, I figured she wasn't going to answer, but then her voice came over the speaker.

"What do you want Jordan?" She asked.

I gripped the steering wheel. Here she was pretending to be the angry girlfriend, but she was the cause of all of this.

"Marina, please don't hang up." I quickly said. "Listen, I know you're angry with me for keeping my lineage a secret, but can you blame me? I wasn't ready for you to leave. Maybe that's selfish, but I didn't want to you leave my life yet. I knew eventually you'd find out and would resent me, but I didn't want it to be now. I owe you an explanation. Everything is going to shit, but you've always been the one good thing in my life."