~~~
Owen's POV
Location: Multiple Locations
Date: Day of The Escape
~~~
I had a hard time keeping my eye on the road as I was also attempting to burn holes into the van that had Ms. Sorenson in it.
Leninora Lockheart was a dead woman when I got my hands on her.
Mr. Coleman is having a panic attack next to me, but I have no idea how to help him right now.
The only thing I can do is assure him everything will be fine, over and over again, and keep us within sight of the ambulance van and the entourage keeping them separate from the rest of traffic.
There was no reason for Leninora Lockheart to run off like that, especially seeing how distraught we clearly were over seeing Ms. Sorenson.
She had to have seen us, and the only reason I can imagine she took off so quickly was because Ms. Sorenson had told her about us. Ms. Sorenson must feel like we let her down, and wants nothing to do with us.
I don't blame her.
I spent nearly every waking moment pouring over the information Mr. Ravenstahl had procured for us, but it just wasn't enough. We weren't enough.
We all worked separately to get as many different view points on the case as possible, and we met up a few times each month to go over leads, but there were too many that didn't lead anywhere. Not to mention, there wasn't much information about where the Mav family would hide so many people.
This was just as bad for us as when she disappeared. The hope that the Axel team brought to us fostered a sense of camaraderie, and it was a one that lasted barely a few days. I think we've fought more over these past weeks then we did right before we split up.
I hate to say it, but I sense more fights in the near future.
We've been working off a theory, my theory in fact, that the Mav's were holding the captives on one large property in the middle of nowhere; it had turned out to be several large properties, each within an established upper-middle class community.
I was wrong.
It seems like it wouldn't have mattered anyways, the victims have somehow found a way to save themselves, and now Ms. Sorenson will never return to us.
Or wouldn't, if I didn't get to her and beg forgiveness for not looking hard enough. For not continuing to look, after her house went up in flames, even when my team crumbled to pieces.
I should have continued to look.
She was a part of our family, and I let her down. She'll never forgive me, but she might forgive the others.
The potential rejection has my chest aching, and I imagine Mr. Coleman isn't doing so well right now either.
"The rest of the team is watching them, Mr. Coleman. She will not be taken from us again. I promise we will get her back." I tell him.
I'm assuring myself, just as much I am him. I don't know how to stop the inevitable, but I couldn't bear to lose her again. If she turns her back on us, after all this time, I don't think we'll survive it.
I'm not sure I can survive losing them again.
Mr. Coleman's breathing is still labored, but he looks over at me like I am an idiot and I realize my blunder.
Gabriel had corrected us numerous times these past few months, letting us all know we were not ever going to be a team again. We were merely all assigned to the same mission.
"I apologize, Mr. Coleman. I didn-"
Mr. Coleman waves me off with a violent shake of his hand, "Just don't. Keep you're fucking eye on the road. I don't want to lose her."
I nod resolutely and dutifully continue to do just so.
~~~
About an hour later, we arrive at a large older hospital.
I park in the lot and watch as a huge crowd of people converge around the van holding Ms. Sorenson. A group of uniformed officer's form a blockade and the doors are pulled open.
I see a flash of dark hair, and then Ms. Sorenson's unique shade of blonde hair winks at me, and then a wave of people block my view.
I pull out my phone and send a group message confirming the location of Ms. Sorenson and Ms. Winchester.
Almost immediately, the phone vibrates as the rest of the gentlemen send out their own location's and how far off each is. In the case of Sean and Mr. Griffin, they ask for updates as often as we can send them.
Victor is at the Toma safe-house with Doyle and Corey, monitoring us from his computer.
I jerk my head up as Mr. Coleman goes to exit the car and lean over to jerk the door back closed.
"You've already been compromised, and so have I. We'll have to wait until someone else gets here." I tell him, but he just shakes his head and leans down to rummage through the backpack he brought with him.
15 minutes later, and Mr. Lee, both Mr. Taylor brothers, Blake Coalter, Mr. Korba, nearly the entire Toma team, save Corey, and Wil Winchester are all parked around the parking lot.
Mr. Coleman had, during those whole 15 minutes, disguised himself completely.
His eyes are now a murky brown, his hair a disarming black that washes out his already paled pallor and he's tossed on a baggy hoodie and a distressed pair of old ratty jeans that hide the heeled boots he's jerked on.
They'll probably give him a few more inches to disguise his height.
It's amazing to see his talent, even after all this time.
What is not amazing is when he jumps out of the car after I compliment his use of colored contacts.
He jobs away, ignoring my demands that he get back in, and I watch helplessly as he sneaks right into the hospital.
I sigh. Nothing I can do about it now.
If anyone can get Ms. Sorenson to forgive us, it would be him. I would put money on Gabriel Coleman getting back into her heart before any of the rest of us.
~~~
Gabriel's POV
~~~
I walk around the Hospital for nearly half an hour before I find the room they put Sang in, and it's only because I spot Doc Roberts talking to Lorraine Lockheart right outside the room.
I read the files on Lorraine, and I even stalked her a bit when I read about her complicated relationship with her daughter. It's weird to see her in person, and so close.
She's an okay looking woman, with a sleek modern bob that's way too bleached and a tailored midnight-blue pantsuit does nothing for her skin tone.
Her face is okay, as far as faces go, with no makeup to ruin her skin. She could probably use a moisturizer, and a little less botox. It's a shame she doesn't use anything to emphasis her forest-green eyes.
Another waste of a woman who could be gorgeous, but holds no respect for her own image, I internally chastise.
I hide in an empty room nearby, while I wait for them to finish their conversation.
Soon enough, I watch them walk away, and I rush over to the door....But I freeze before I yank it open.
I don't think she recognized me earlier, but I'm older and I've changed; different hair, more time at the gym. Maybe the trauma made it harder for her to recognize me.
It doesn't really matter, I just don't want to scare her. I've dreamed of this moment for so long, regardless of the fact that it was more of a distant longing than something I thought could really happen.
Just because someone is dead doesn't mean you don't imagine them coming home.
I lean my head against the door as I imagine walking in there, and scooping her up into my arms. I imagine curling my fingers into her one-of-a-kind chameleon hair and gazing into her eyes as I tell her how much she means to me. How empty my life felt without her sweet blushes and soft smiles.
And then I'll toss her over my shoulder, and carry her to that fucking bubble North had threatened her with, all those years ago.
My mind takes it a step further, as I really get into the idea; I'll take her and her bubble, and squirrel her away in a nice comfy fortress in the middle of nowhere. I won't ever let anything happen to her, ever again.
She'll forgive me for believing she died. Eventually maybe I'll even forgive myself.
I growl at the thought of what I might do if she doesn't forgive me. I shove off the wall and pace. I can't think like that. I'll get her back. I have to.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and I stop my pacing to look around, unsettled at the sensation.
Someone's watching me.
My gaze falls on the devil herself.
Leninora Lockheart, with her evil eyes narrowed on my own.
I try to school my features, but this woman only inspires hate in my heart, and I'll be damned if I pretend to feel anything else.
She's a weird looking woman, too skinny and sharp to be pretty but too striking not to be beautiful.
It makes me hate her just a little bit more.
Leninora Lockheart is an alcoholic, a drug addict, and some even say she's an honest-to-god psychopath. Her business practices are scummy, to say the least. She's been known to socially attack and dismantle charities and nonprofit organizations, and everything I've ever read about her seems to just scream how manipulative she is.
I hate her, and I know Sang doesn't need someone like Leninora in her life.
A door behind me opens, and I jump at the sudden noise, effectively ending my staring contest with Satan.
I turn to see who's behind me and meet Doc Robert's disapproving gaze.
'You aren't supposed to be here,' his eyes say. 'Leave' , they tell me.
I consider making a break for Sang's door, but decide against it. I'll have to fight North and Silas and Sean and probably even Luke to get Sang out of here anyways.
I'll bide my time, and wait to get her alone.
I smirk as I walk toward the nearest waiting room.
I pull out my phone, and start googling bubbles and abandoned properties in other countries while I wait.
~~~
Kota's POV
~~~
"So, you just let Gabriel walk in there?" Luke asks Mr. Blackbourne again. For the third time.
"Yes, Mr. Taylor. I no longer have any say over what he does. I couldn't stop him." Mr. Blackbourne answers.
To me, it doesn't even sound like he really tried, but I keep that to myself.
I've bit my tongue for Owen Blackbourne a total of fifteen times. Even more for Luke. More still for Gabriel. I'm starting to think I should keep count based on a teams.
"If he gets his hands on her, he's going to run off with her. I hope you realize that," Luke grumbles.
"We need to focus on what we are going to do from here on out," I jump in, noticing that both North and Silas seem to stiffen at what Luke is suggesting. "We need a game plan."
Silas grumbles something under his breath, and North nods at whatever he says.
"We thought we were going to go in and pull Sang out. That's the plan, isn't it?" North inquires, with an edge of irritation in his voice.
He stares at me and then at Mr. Blackbourne and I swallow at the acrid sense of deja vu.
I glance at Mr. Blackbourne, and North's irritation makes more sense to me as I take him in.
Mr. Blackbourne is smoothing this hands down over his dark grey tie and looking slightly lost.
Great.
Perfect timing. Leave it to him to question himself, when we actually need him to be on task.
It feels like we're right back in South Carolina, and we're right back with him torching our team with his attitude.
Axel's the one that answers North, and thank goodness someone here has an idea of leadership.
I don't want to sound hypocritical, but I'm just as lost as Mr. Blackbourne.
I'm still reeling. I can't believe Sang is alive. I watched her house burn to the ground. With her in it, or so I'd thought.
From the texts Nathan has been sending me, she might be even worse than dead.
It takes me back to the helplessness of the first two years of her death.
Months of my life felt like days.
Shock pulled me under for so long, especially when it hit me that I'd kissed her, forced her to do something that terrified her, and then she was ripped away from us. It all happened so quick.
By the time I came back to myself, it was too late.
My family had imploded right in front of my eyes, and I didn't do anything to stop it. I even fed the disaster, with my stunt with the Ashley Walter's case.
My guilt about the shower was all consuming, and I did a few pretty fucked up things when I projected my guilt onto my team members.
Axel clears his throat, and I focus back on him.
"We need to allow Dr. Roberts some time to examine the girls before we run in guns-ablaze," Axel reminds North, and when he shoots a look at Raven, I realize it's not just for North's benefit.
"I want Silas to come with me. Dr. Robert's is already planted here, and has a room for us to set up some equipment. Wil, Luke, Blake, and Kota; walk around the hospital." He cracks his knuckles as he stares us down.
"Both girls are on the first floor, so we don't need to worry about casing the hospital beyond that. Focus on the exits. Keep an eye on Leninora, Lorraine, and Loretta."
We nod, and Wil and Blake walk off before Axel continues. Neither of them need to hear anymore. They're pretty close, and it's not the first time Wil's helped us work a mission.
"The best course of action is to pull the girls out of here in one of the more private corners of the hospital. From there, we'll try to get them into Academy custody. The Lockheart family might have connections, but so do we."
"What about the rest of us?" North asks. I grimace at his aggressive tone, but I stop myself from chastising him. That's not my job anymore.
Axel, like an immovable rock, meets North's escalating anger with a calmness to his expression that I wish I could emulate. Especially right now.
"Stay in your cars. If we need a quick getaway, it won't be easy getting all of us out. It also may come down to us needing to tail both the girls, and the Lockheart women. Owen had a hard time trailing Leninora, and he's the best we have at surveillance. It could very well take all of us to track the girls if we don't have an opportunity to extract them here. We can't afford to lose them."
North takes a moment to mull over it, and I am so grateful when he just nods his head in agreement.
This is too important, and the last the thing we need is North's temper taking center stage.
"Let's get to it, gentleman." Mr. Blackbourne commands.
We all split up, in our little groups, to our cars and on our own separate little missions. Not a single word is passed between us.
~~~
Silas's POV
~~~
Axel and I make our way to a conference room. It takes us a few minutes to set up some spyware on the computer in the room for Corey and Victor.
After, we stand in front of the room. It's not going to look strange, for two hospital security guys to be keeping their room safe, so there's no harm.
Or at least that's what we're telling ourselves.
Unfortunately, Dr. Robert's doesn't agree with us.
"You shouldn't be here," He chastises us. He'd been making his rounds when he found us in a guarding position at the doors.
"We're just going to stand here. They'll assume the hospital wanted some security for such an important family. We just want to see with our own eyes that it's really them," I argue.
It's been years, since I've seen Aggele mou. Even a glimpse of her will help me breath a little easier.
Axel agree's, "We also want to let the girls know we're here. That we know where they are and that we're still here for them."
"What if they don't want to see you? Both of the girls are assuming new identities, Sang is even going as far as impersonating Cyan Lavele, the missing Lavele heir. Either Leninora Lockheart is lying to her family about Sang being Cyan or they're working with her. Either way, they might not want to talk to you. I haven't been able to get a moment alone with Sang, but when I spoke with Kayli, she showed no recognition during our conversation."
Dr. Roberts stops and fidgets for a moment. He rubs his hand over his tuft of white hair, and looks at us with incredibly sad eyes.
Fear at that look in his eyes has me praying that everything is alright with Sang.
"Boys, I am so sorry but there are some things you should know. Normally, this information would be confidential, but I think you really should know...." Dr. Roberts audibly swallows, and for a moment he looks a little sick.
"Silas, Sang has endured severe physical and mental torture, and sexual assault of the worst sort. One of the nurses has ordered a rape kit, and I just got done filing a report on her injuries."
My heart drops, and rage boils up to rise it back up. Dr. Roberts tries to hand me a pile of papers, but I can't bring myself to take them from him.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" I shout at him. I push him hard, and Axel grabs my arm and shoves me back, just to replace me in front of the Doctor.
Grabbing the lapels of his white coat, Axel gets in his face.
While listening to their conversation, I pull out my phone and send out a text to the rest of the guys about what Dr. Roberts told me.
I need to share this with someone, as the information is burning a hole in my mind, coming up with all types of disturbing guesses at what Dr. Roberts means by 'the worst sort' of sexual assault.
Isn't sexual assault already the worst?
"What about Kayli?" Axel hisses.
Doctor Robert shakes his head, "I was able to document some of the scars on her back and across her chest, but when I started to ask about how she got them... I made a mistake."
Axel roughly shakes the older man and it appears that he's getting angrier at every word that comes out of Dr. Roberts mouth, "What type of mistake?"
"I tried to make Kayli angry," Dr. Roberts admits, refusing to meet Axel's enraged glare.
"Why in the hell would you do that?" Axel asks, confusion mixing into anger.
"I thought angering her would force her to drop the act," Dr. Roberts answers, "I remember from your team's reports that she had an anger issue, and that if you pressed certain buttons, she could rarely control herself. So, I pushed some buttons."
Axel lets go of Dr. Roberts lapels to run his hands through his hair and shakes his head.
"Did it at least work?"
"No. Someone clearly took our suggestion to go to some anger management classes." Dr. Roberts chuckles dryly.
Axel rolls his eyes, "Of course. All it took was her getting kidnapped to take someone else's advice." The levity in their expression clears almost instantly at that.
"How bad are Kayli's injuries?" Axel asks quietly, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms. I mirror his position on the other side of the door.
Doctor Roberts looks into his eyes and shakes his head, "I've already sent your team the report so you can go over it at your own pace." He looks over at me, "And I've also sent you and the others the one for Sang. Prepare yourself though, it's a lot worse than you can imagine."
I nod grimly, my mind whirling at the implication of what could be 'worse'.
Soft footsteps down the hallway have us looking over to see who is coming our way.
And there she is.
Like a radiant goddess, the light from the exit door causes a halo effect around her. It steals away my breath.
She looks amazing.
Her hair is long, even longer than it was when we first met her, and it's thrown up in an adorably messy and lopsided pigtail.
Her baggy outfit, that does nothing to hide her matured curves, still makes her look even smaller than I remember.
Despite how incredibly glorious I find her, she looks tired.
Her sad little raccoon eyes scrutinize both Axel and I. I smile, but looking into her eyes is like a knife to my heart.
She doesn't recognize me. Not even a little bit.
~~~
Axel's POV
~~~
Rage is fucking with my mind.
That must be why it feels like Kayli is looking at me like I'm a complete stranger right now. Even less than a stranger, actually.
Her gaze burns through me, like I'm not standing right in front of her. She and the little blonde walk right past us and I feel like I've been sucker-punched.
Either she's still pissed about the whole camp thing, or she's mad that she had to save herself.
I run through all the reasons why she'd be ignoring me and nothing makes sense.
Lorraine doesn't follow the small group into the room. She stops, closes the door, and faces Dr. Robert's. Her dark green eyes remind me of poison oak and algae infested water.
"I hope you remember that everything that you learned about those girls is protected under patient-doctor confidentiality. I'd hate for you to lose your license over something so easily avoidable."
Dr. Robert's bristles and his jaw clenchs but he quickly smothers it with a tense but professional smile.
"I take my professional reputation very seriously, Mrs. Lockheart. I also signed all the paperwork you asked of me and the other doctors here at this hospital. Including the Nondisclosure Agreement."
Lorraine sneers and looks him over before glancing at Silas and then myself. She completely brushes our presence off, even though we were in the same room with her, as hired guards, just a few hours ago.
What a stuck up bitch.
"I really hope you do, Doctor. And the NDA is standard procedure for anyone dealing with the health of my family. I'm sure you understand that we don't need anymore scandal bringing down our reputation." She rolls her eyes and mutters something under her breath that has Dr. Robert's eye twitching and his neck turning an ugly shade of red.
Lorraine barely tries to hide her smirk at his clearly deteriorating temper and puts her hand on the door handle, "Good day, Doctor Roberts. If you'll excuse me, I have another one of my daughter's fuck-ups to fix, and a niece to welcome into the mess that is our family."
Her callous and disrespectful attitude pisses me off, and I can see a tick in Silas's eye.
The door opens and closes behind the heinous woman and we all take in a calming breath.
"Mr. Coleman is right. That woman is the devil." I whip around to see Owen leaning out of a little alcove. His eyes look conflicted and his clothes had been changed out for a casual pair of jeans and a dirty t-shirt.
Dr. Roberts voice comes out strained and a little more harsh than it needs to be, "Owen, you need to get out of here. You said it yourself, you've been compromised."
Owen nods, but his eyes linger on the door. "All of the equipment you had installed went dark the minute they all stepped into that room."
Owen taps at an earpiece that's connected to either Corey or Victor, "The program you installed on the computer has just been compromised as well."
Shock consumes me. That's impossible. "That can't be right. No one could have decrypted Corey's program that fast?"
Owen levels a look at me and pulls out the tiny communication device out of his ear and I bring it to my own.
Corey confirms what Owen says, "It took whoever it was 3 minutes. Whoever it was, they must have some equipment of their own blocking our signal, or someone working close by. I'm working on bringing back some of the feeds, but something's throwing up some major firewalls."
I ask him to hurry and pass Corey back to Owen.
He seems to hesitate putting it back in, and instead tucks it into his pocket and faces Dr. Roberts with an unreadable expression on his face.
"And I need to get some clarification, Dr. Roberts... I read the report. All of it. Is it true?"
His eyes swing to Silas's and the sheer amount of pain and regret echo's my own.
"Did he really do all of those things to her?" The question comes out as a whisper and at Dr. Roberts hesitant nod, Silas's eyes go wild.
"What the fuck is in that report?"
Owen's gaze draws Silas's and he shakes his head. "I don't mean to sound as if I am giving you an order, Mr. Korba, but you need to wait. You aren't ready."
Owen looks off into the hospital, and his eyes lose focus for a moment before his attention returns to Silas, who is vehemently disagreeing and growing taller with every angry refusal.
Owen interrupts him, "I swear to you, on any trust you have remaining in me, you aren't ready. Wait until you have a moment alone, preferably with North, to go through it." He swallows and continues, "It's a lot to take in."
Silas looks down at his shoes, but after a long few minutes he lets out a loud sigh and nods.
"Okay, I'll wait."
Owen awkwardly pats Silas's tense shoulder, and directs his next words over to Dr. Roberts.
"I want her and Ms. Winchester extracted now. I've already told the rest of the teams. It has to be today, as soon as possible."
I clench my jaw, forcing myself not to correct Owen about Kayli's name.
I agree completely with Owen on pulling them out immediately and taking focus away from that will just be more time Kayli isn't with us. For a moment though, I think back on the name issue.
Kayli Ravenstahl, I want to say. Mrs. Kayli Ravenstahl. I keep it to myself, because it's such a small thing in the maelstrom of shit going on, but to Raven and my team it's a huge thing.
She was kidnapped on her way to the social security office, to get her name changed. She and Raven had argued about something stupid, and to make up for it, she was going to show him just how committed to the team and to Raven and Corey she really was.
Committed enough to all of us, to officially claim Raven's name. A promise to him and to all of us that she wasn't going to run off just because things got hard sometimes. I had given her my car keys with a proud smile on my face.
I still regret to this day that I hadn't just driven her myself. I might not have made a difference, but maybe they'd have taken me too.
~
I lose myself in memory for a while, and enough time goes by that when I finally come back to myself, I realize that it's just me and Silas in the hallway.
I realize that it's loud shouting that brought me out of my little trip down memory lane and I knock on the door quickly. I don't wait for them to open it, I push it open.
"Is everything alright in here?"
Kayli's eyes meet my own, and I get lost in the familiar pissed-off expression I had come to love from her, once upon a time. I hated fighting with her, but I loved making up afterwards.
"We are fine, but I think we need to visit the bathroom for a moment."
I look down at the painfully raspy voice interrupting the moment, to meet Sang Sorenson's steady gaze. She has Kayli in her grip and a determined expression on her face.
Before I have a moment to wonder what the fuck is happening, the little girl has shoved past my restraining hands, and Silas's too, and strolls down the hallway. Arm in arm with Kayli.
That easy.
The older woman of the group still in the room snorts and gestures at Silas.
"If you're here to watch them, I suggest you make a move on, Boy."
Silas nods and jogs down the hallway, but Sang and Kayli are already out of sight.
Fuck.
The door to the conference room slams shut behind me, and with it, I feel a pang of foreboding.
Instead of trying to find out anything from the nasty Lockheart women and the old lady, I pull out my phone and start toward where the girls and Silas ran off to.
I dial Corey's number and bring the phone to my ear. He answers immediately, tension in his voice thick,
"What's up?"
"You need to pull up the security camera's from the hospital and find Kayli and Sang. Now."
~~~
North's POV
~~~
"I have her... I have visual on Sang!" Victor's voice shouts into the earpiece in my ear.
I let out the breath that I feel like I've been holding for forever. My leg bounces as I force myself to stay in the car instead of running in there and fucking up the extraction that Owen called in about an hour ago.
It's been torture waiting, with no word on what's going on inside.
Silas texted me, telling me to wait for him to open up the file Dr. Roberts has sent me. I stare at the PDF. file, wondering what's on it.
Is it information on Sang? Maybe, is it a restraining order, or a list of all the reasons why she doesn't want to see us?
The wait is killing me, and then a message from Victor had me pulling out a spare earpiece and asking what in the hell was going on.
He confirmed my worst nightmare.
They lost her.
A-fucking-gain.
According to Victor, Sang and Kayli went to the bathroom, but when Silas went to shadow them he found that the bathroom was empty.
Axel called Corey to find them, but it seems like he's having trouble navigating the old hospital security feeds.
Now, everyone in the hospital is searching for the girls, while those of us in our cars have to wait in agonizing anticipation for them to find her.
I wish I'd fought to be the one to go with Axel. I wish I'd fought to, at the very least, go into the hospital to case the place. Especially because most of the guys in there have gotten a glimpse of Sang.
Luke even sent me a sneaky shot of her, and I'm so grateful to him for it. Even if her hair is covering her face, at least he's trying to give me something so I don't go crazy out here.
"Good job, Vic. What room?" Kota's voice rings in my ears and I grit my teeth at his aggravatingly calm question. Kota, always the calm, unaffected one. Just like Robot Blackbourne.
"Room 103. They ducked in there almost immediately after rushing off. Silas, you need to backtrack. Quickly!" Victor shouts out to him.
I wait with bated breath, but something catches my eye outside and I almost laugh.
Sang, from the looks of it, is hopping out a window on the other side of the parking lot with Kayli's help.
My crazy, beautiful girl. I smirk, amused as she drops out of the window and rolls when she hits the ground.
I pop open the door.
As soon as I get my hands on her, I'm taking her out of here.
Silas and I have a plan.
We agreed, years ago, that when we found Sang, we were going to get her on our boat and keep her there until we could get her to commit to only us.
I love the other guys, I do, but they gave up too easily. I don't think I really believe they love her. Not like Silas and I do.
Silas and I have spent years, searching for Sang. We took care of our commitments with The Academy while traveling, and he and I have gotten closer.
We made a pact, and I hope we can get Sang to understand it. I want it to be just the three of us.
And maybe a few of the other guys can hang around, if Sang wants them to.
But only if she wants them.
First though, we need to get her back.
"For fucks sake, they're climbing out of the window, guys!" I yell out. I watch as they both sprint across the hospital parking lot.
I shove the key in the ignition of my jeep, turn on the car, and slam my door shut.
Some of the guys in the cars around me hop out and run toward them, but it looks like the girls already have a getaway car all set up for them and I curse loudly.
Wouldn't you know it, something else goes wrong and an idiot in the car next to me starts pulling out, completely cutting me off and the guys keep the car from moving the fuck out of the way.
"Fuck, FUCK, fuck!" I smack the wheel, a little too hard probably, and call out to Owen to go the other way.
I hear squeals pealing off, and groan as I watch the green truck zoom off.
Of course, just our luck, but Owen gets stuck too, as a wave of nurses and patients cross the street right in front of him.
Some of the guys whip back around as it becomes clear on what's happening.
The car with the girls is gone.
Silas comes charging out of the hospital like a bull, and comes straight to my truck.
He jumps in, and we peal out. I head in the direction the girls went.
"I'm turning off all communication through the ear pieces. They've been compromised. I'll send out directions from our end through the emergency phones. Out." Corey barks out, before the line goes dead.
I pull the stupid thing out of my ear and toss it out the open window, along with the phone we'd been given earlier.
"How the fuck are we going to get her away from them now?" Silas asks, his attention glued to the emergency phone he's pulled out from the glove box.
"We'll come up with something. We've searched for too long, to find her, to give up now," I reply back.
"Can we really do this -turn off onto the highway- to the rest of them I mean?" Silas sounds guilty and I need to shut that shit down, quick.
"They gave up on her. Fuck, Nathan even moved on. The only reason they're working so hard to get her back right now is because of guilt. If we don't pull her out now, they'll eventually try to start a relationship with her again, but then realize the whole thing was just about the guilt and it'll get all fucked up. The plan would have never worked with all of us, Blackbourne was right about that. But you and me,"
I glance at him, ,my true brother, and we share a look of a camaraderie,
"we can make it work. Maybe someday we can come back, and we can make our amends to the rest of them, when emotions aren't so high, but I'm not willing to watch them hurt her."
Silas is quiet for a long while, every once in a while giving me instructions, but he finally sighs and nods.
"I don't ever want to see her hurt. She brought solace to my life during a time when guilt was deep in my heart. She IS my heart." He takes a moment and continues, quieter this time,
"But you and the others are my family. You all kept me afloat when I was still dealing with my issues with Theo and my mom's death, everyone played their own part in helping me adapt with coming here to America." He puts a hand on my arm.
"The other's are our brothers too, and I think we should stick near them and see how things work out. Sean was out of his mind, I think he still might be, about Sang. Victor went to jail for her. Kota, Owen, Gabriel and Nathan might seem to have moved on, but are we sure? Can we say for certain that it's just guilt? "
I try to interrupt him, but he lifts a hand for me to wait, and I do.
"Luke is your brother. Could you live with yourself, knowing he might really truly love her and that we took her away from him. Could you really do that to any of them, if their feelings are real? Especially knowing how it feels?"
I think on that. The pain of losing her so suddenly was unimaginable. I wanted to die, running into that burning building, fearing that she was already gone and I couldn't do anything about it.
The hope but devastation on hearing about The Kidnappings and not knowing if she died in the fire, or if she was somewhere out there, waiting for me to come find her.
"I'll give you time to think on it. Just remember, we're all human. Everyone makes mistakes. If things get messy, we'll pull her out. We'll go ahead and ship off into the sunset. But let's make sure we're not making a bigger mess by jumping the gun."
I nod.
I don't like it, but I'm not going to ignore what he's saying.
They are our brothers, despite the shit storm that followed Sang's disappearance the first time.
Maybe it is a little extreme to cut and run without considering everyone else's feelings too.
Nevertheless, I still need time to think it over, and I tell him so. Time will tell, if they really care for her.
"I wouldn't have it any other way." He replies.
We fall into our companionable silence, lost in our own thoughts.
Until the next fall of bad luck swipes the rug right from under our feet.
~~~
Corey's POV
~~~
One by one, our computers black out, and code takes over our screens.
Someone has remotely uploaded a virus onto my system, wiping out my tracking surveillance feeds and replacing it all with a mishmash of random codes.
This shouldn't be possible. My security packet on this particular hard drive is one of the most intricate pieces of coding I've ever created.
It should be fucking unhackable.
It should be, but it's like someone is waving a code wand and fucking everything up.
We're going to lose sight of Kayli and Sang.
Doyle's the first to react, as he tries to take back control of our technology but whatever he does makes it worse.
The whole grid dies.
A loud pop from the hard drive at his feet has him jumping up and Victor and I run over as it bursts into flames.
"How the fuck does someone do this?" Doyle shouts, "Just destroy some hapless sod's computer?"
Owen Blackbourne's voice rings out from one of the phone's, but I ignore him.
I go back to my computer, to see if I can save anything, but it's too late. It's all gone.
Something pops again, and suddenly everything is bursting in flames.
Victor appears with a fire extinguisher. I don't know why he bothers. Everything's gone.
"This is insane." I whisper in shock. My chest tightens. "Is this even possible?"
Victor looks up at me from kicking at his newly melted laptop and explains what I already know.
"I think someone just overloaded our computers. From what I saw it was forcing the computer to upload hundreds of thousands of applications and files, while pulling our files out onto a remote server....I've never seen something like that though." He picks up his cellphone and curses.
"Look at this!" He tosses it to me and I about fall over at what I see.
The emergency phone is doing the same thing.
I quickly pull my own out and dump both of them into the trash, and Doyle is just running over to grab his own when the damn thing pops and explodes.
Before any of us can say anything else, a loud noise from outside has us running over to the window.
A power line exploded. We watch as sparks rain down, and not even a second later, the lights turn off.
Doyle looks over at us with a terrified expression, "We pissed off a fucking maniac. I don't want anything else to do with this. That crazy bitch just took out this street's power. And killed my computer!" He huffs and glares at his computer.
"I don't even like the person we're tracking and she just got my computer killed."
I roll my eyes at him but freeze. We were the ones connecting the rest of the guys so they could coordinate on tracking the girls. If our call dropped, they're flying blind.
"Do we have anymore emergency cell phones?" I ask Victor and realizing the same thing I have, he rushes from the room.
I start picking up the broken remains of the computers and Doyle goes to help but I wave him off. The shock is wearing off and anger is taking it's place.
"Go take a smoke break, Doyle. I need a minute and I'm sure you do too," I tell him.
Doyle nods and walks out without a backward glance. I honestly have no idea why he's helping us, especially considering how much he hates Kayli. Blake must be blackmailing him or bribing him or something.
I spend the next few minutes tossing the hardware into the garbage with more force than is probably necessary.
Victor rushes in and the look on his face has me kicking the trashcan clear across the room.
"None?" I ask, throwing my arms up in exasperation. Why the fuck don't we have extras?
Victor shakes his head and yanks some stuff off the shelves from the living room.
"I can try and build something?" He sounds desperate, and his hands are shaking hard enough that I doubt he'd be able to build himself a sandwich, let alone something as tricky as a usable cell phone.
"Don't bother," Doyle says, breezing back into the room with a cellphone at his ear, "The girls are gone."
I jerk the phone from him and bark into the phone, "What the fuck do you mean they're gone?"
"We lost them. What the fuck happened?" Blake Coalter's thick southern accent grates on my nerves, but I remind myself that he isn't the enemy right now.
After Kayli was taken, Blake and I worked together for months, and I've learned that despite the way he goes about things sometimes, he really is a good guy.
I also learned he cares about Kayli a lot more than we realized, enough that even Brandon and Marc agreed that it would be cruel of us not to give him a second chance.
Everyone makes mistakes.
"Something fucked up our computers, and took out the power on our street. How did you lose them? North and Owen were right on their tails!" I shout into the phone.
"You are not going to believe what I'm about to tell you," he warns me with an incredulous tone.
"Just tell me, Blake."
"The car went invisible. No fucking joke." I blink. No fucking way. "They were in sight, literally on the open road, no other cars in site. And it just disappeared into thin air." He sounds like he doesn't even believe himself and I laugh.
"No really, what happened?"I bark at him, pissed that he's fucking around at a time like this.
He grunts and I hear a shuffle in the background. Marc's voice fills my ear, and his tone is much more believable.
He sounds positively irate.
"Its not a fucking joke, or a laughing matter, Corey. Find a fucking computer and figure out where they went." He shouts at me, and my own temper flares up.
Thankfully, Victor is a lot more calm and he pulls the phone out of my hand before I can say something I probably don't mean.
"Where did you lose them?" He nods at the answer and relays it to Doyle, who writes it down on a dirty napkin.
"We'll see what we can do." Victor hangs up and hands the phone back to Doyle before flopping down on the couch and sighing loudly.
"You both need to go to that internet café downtown. We have an Academy contact there that will help you get some better equipment than anything you can pick up from the store. I'll wait here." He rubs his jaw in frustration.
I shake my head, "You're going with us, man."
Victor looks up at me, with a fire in his eyes that I haven't seen in a long time, but it's the wrong type of emotion that's lighting them up.
He looks tired and pissed off, rather than focused like we need him to be.
"I'm still on house arrest. I can't help."
It's Doyle that puts a hand on his shoulder and shakes his head.
"You never needed to be. I don't know much, or anything really, about this Academy but I do know they would help you out of this if you just ask."
Doyle points at the Victor's ankle monitor, and then a device on the top shelf of the book case in the living room.
"I saw Dr. Roberts give that to you a week ago. It's the thing that turns off that thing on your ankle, isn't it?" Doyle asks. Victor looks at the device blankly and nods slowly.
"Then get off your ass and stop beating yourself up about something you can't change. You wouldn't have been able to find her, none of us could have. The Mav family was smart and kept them underground for nearly a year before moving them into the houses, that's what the reports are saying. The houses aren't in their names, they don't even know the people that own them. We would have kept running around blind." Doyle shakes his head at Victor.
"But right now, we can do something. We couldn't have before, but we can now. We know that Sang and Kayli have full intentions of using these new identities. We'll set up new, better equipment somewhere less target-able and when they surface, we'll find them. But we need you with us. Sang and Kayli need you with us." Doyle points at the device again, jabbing at the air.
"So, use that shit. We've got a lot of fucking work to do so suck it up and let's go."
Victor stares at Doyle, and it looks like something finally sinks in.
I've heard Axel say something similar to Victor, but maybe it's the fact that Doyle has nothing to gain, or his lack of connections to the Academy that make Victor listen to him.
Maybe he's just tired of being cooped up, but whatever it is, I feel nothing but gratitude when Victor heaves himself up from the couch and grabs the device.
He flicks a switch on the side, and fiddles with it for a moment.
The red light on his ankle monitor blinks off, the locking mechanism unclasps and it clunks to the floor.
Victor leaves it on the ground, not even looking at it, and walks to the door.
"Let's go then," he says as he walks out, just like that.
I share a look with Doyle, who smirks at me and we grab our go-bags.
We might have lost the girls, but we've got Victor back in the chase. Hopefully, it'll be enough this time.
All of us are a little more experienced and a little more grown.
I just hope we are enough.