Écarté (Lost Birds Book 4)

Part 31 Waiting

"What are you doing?" Sab's gruff voice made me jump and spin around. 

When I'd left him he was getting ready to leave for Saint Josephs and Cameron was typing away at his computer trying to find any sort of camera footage about what had happened. So far there was nothing and the kid in the hospital hadn't woken up. Stephan was our only lead and our only theory. So, naturally I was getting ready to go as well. Sab couldn't go alone, and I couldn't sit here and do nothing when all of this was my fault in the first place. He'd just happened to walk in when I was checking the safety on the gun I'd chosen.

"If we're going into reaper territory then we should probably be armed right?" I asked thinking back to the last few times I had seen Adrian. We had been the ones without guns and I didn't want to do that again.

"You don't carry a gun unless you're willing to use it." Sab said pointedly. I knew he meant on someone and for some reason that didn't sit as heavily with me as the thought of watching Tao getting beat to pulp again or of one of my guys getting shot. Carrying a gun seemed like a damn good idea the more I thought about it.

"I am." I told him.

Sab's jaw ticked and he shook his head. He didn't believe me but he didn't argue.

"What is it?" I asked. I didn't want him holding back whatever he was thinking. If he wanted to argue I was ready and willing to explain why he was wrong, why I wouldn't hesitate to use this.

"I never argue with a woman in Kevlar especially if she's holding a loaded weapon." He smirked and nodded toward my gun.

"so... I can go?" I asked stunned that he wasn't going to tell me otherwise.

Sab sighed and nodded before turning to leave.

I tucked the gun back into it's holster and walked quickly to catch up with him. He slung his arm over my shoulder and dropped a quick kiss against the top of my head.

"Easier to watch you when you're right here anyway." He said.

"Did they call?" I asked.

Sab tilted his head and gave me one single nod.

"And?" I asked with a gulp. We'd been waiting for them to call back again.

The first time had been a lot of yelling and arguing about involving Adrian in the first place. Apparently after he'd hung up on me, he had turned around and called Aydan for "more reliable information". Despite being angry and on edge Aydan told Adrian everything he needed to know. We'd been getting ready and waiting for Aydan or Adrian to let us know if they'd even managed to find Stephan or his car.

"They have him. Tao will meet us." Sab shrugged.

"No!" I said quickly. Tao couldn't go back into reaper territory not after everything they had done to get him out, to get him free.

Sab huffed, turned around, and began walking away without responding. I chased after him with a light jog just to keep up.

"Tao can't go back, he's not even allowed there is he? Won't they... what if they..." I couldn't even get my words to form properly. The images of Tao being beat unconscious were taking over every inch of mind. I couldn't think past it to speak.

"You call him." Sab answered tossing me a phone. "Tell him not to come and see how angry he is when he realizes I'm letting you come along in the first place."

My steps faltered as I caught the phone. Making Tao angry didn't sound like something i wanted to do. Maybe calling him wasn't such a good idea. He couldn't make me stay if i was already there. 

 Sab slid into the driver's side of his newly repaired Dodge charger. The engine started up with a furious roar. I jumped into the passenger seat before Sab could change his mind and leave without me.

____________________________________________________________

Tao beat us there. I could recognize the all black Camaro almost anywhere and thanks to Tao's teaching skills I could even drive it.

Sab didn't give me anytime to dwell on how angry Tao was going to be that I was here or even look around to see where he was. He pulled me along with him inside of what looked like an abandoned house. Just inside we turned sharply, opened a door, and followed a set of stairs down to another the door. After the second door there was a dingy hallway and two more doors. We stopped outside the first and Sab turned on me.

"Stay back, stay quiet, and when I say out you leave." Sab warned.

I squirmed under the seriousness of his glare but forced a nod. I was luck he'd let me come along at all and I'd already learned the hard way how important their orders could be.

Through the third door was a fairly large basement laundry room. It had a washer and a tipped over dryer but neither of them looked like they'd ever worked. There was a broken sink, an old hose, and in the middle of the room was a rusty metal chair. Stephan was in the rust chair with a bag over his head and his hands tied behind his back.

The cold damp air of the basement made my stomach flutter with memories of the wine cellar. I had to clamp a mental block down over the feelings and focus. 

No matter how hard I focused on the man in the chair I couldn't feel anything but a flicker of disappointment. Disappointment that I had ever looked twice in his direction. Disappointment that I'd never realized how similar he and my parents were, how disgusting and awful they were. Most of all disappointment that after everything we'd both ended up here in this cold and musty basement.

I caught a flash of movement off to the side. Someone was moving toward us, but I couldn't take my eyes off of the man in the middle of the room.

Sab stepped in front of me to meet the approaching person. His steps blocked my view which seemed to snap me out of the weird trance I'd been propelled into. I turned my eyes to Sab just as he met Tao halfway.

Sab tilted his head in question but didn't speak.

Tao shook his in reply.

Stephan hadn't said anything important yet.

"You shouldn't have let her come." Tao hissed.

Sab shook his head and stepped past Tao toward Stephan.

Tao caught his arm.

"I'm serious. This pendejo stars in enough of her nightmares. She doesn't need any more." Tao practically growled.

"Exactly." Sab replied. "For once she's in control and he's the one tied up."

Sab jerked the bag off of Stephan's head. His head immediately jerked around to check his surroundings and the people in the room. His eyes turned to me last. Anger and amusement took over his face and he let out a chilling laugh.

"So you're fucking a gang now?" He laughed.

Tao shifted forward so fast that I wasn't even sure what he was doing until Sab caught his arm mid swing.

"No marks." Sab warned pushing Tao back.

"Where is she?" Sab asked turning to face Stephan.

There was a raised eyebrow, a slight tilt of his lips, and a flare up of amusement as Stephan said "Who?"

Sab turned back just slightly to look at Tao. He glanced at me, then Tao, and then me again. This time I couldn't figure out what their silent communication was until Sab spoke.

"Out." Sab ordered.

The amusement faded from Stephan's face but as I turned toward the door I caught a flash of a smirk from Tao.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting to drown you." Tao said just before the door closed behind me.