“Feck all! We probably wouldn’t need the Chosen One if these secrets weren’t...secret.”
Jerry smiled.
“I know you’re probably ten times older than me, but damn boy, you are adorable.”
“Feck off! I’m keepin’ that bottle I said I owed ya. Now, who’s doing what for my girl?”
“Sebastian called me when he couldn’t reach you, and I texted him as soon as I found you. By now his team is looking into the charter and pilots, and Sebastian is probably on his way here.”
“We should look inside the ladies toilet. Lila and the pilot who took her never exited where I could see.”
Jerry nodded and they walked back to the terminal building.
“Mind telling me why you’re not completely losing your shit?” Jerry asked.
Evan sighed. “I did for the first two hours, and it got me nowhere. Now that I can move, I’m trying to make the most of it.”
Evan’s phone pinged, and he looked at the message from Adam:
“Sebastian and I are en route to you, I’m rallying the troops. Any ideas who dunnit?”
Evan wrote back:
“Pilot has a wife with cancer. If he’s the same as flew down, he’s ex-ESF, chummy with Bastian.”
“Shit. I’m on it,” came Adam’s response.
Then a few minutes later Adam texted again:
“Go to security office and ask for the boss. I’ve already called and warned them of your status and credentials. They may be able to help.
“DO NOT ACT LIKE A CRAZED VAMPIRE WHO’S JUST HAD HIS WIFE KIDNAPPED!”
Easy for you to say, thought Evan as he and Jerry re-entered the building.
Chapter 16
November
Lila felt groggy as she started to wake.The low drone of an engine insinuated itself into her consciousness, sending a steady hammering into her brain. What the fuck?
Slowly she realized that the low drone was similar to that of an airplane, and that she was lying on a hard floor of some kind feeling the vibration. She tried to focus her sight and look around her, but her vision was blurry. It looked as if she was in some kind of aircraft that had been stripped of its seats. There were holes in the floor regularly spaced, and individual light and air vents above as if the seats had been taken away to make one large storage space. Except that Lila was the only thing being stored. Most of the lights were on, allowing Lila to see the space. It looked to her like this was only the back half of the plane, and not a very big one, though bigger than the private jet she had been on with Evan. She could see a door in the wall to the front. There were probably lots of comfortable seats beyond that door with lots of bad guys sitting in them.
Well shit, and fuck, and piss. Choking down tears of anger and frustration, she began to breathe as if she was preparing for meditation. There was nothing she could do for herself while she was on a plane, and crying about it would only stuff her up. She needed to follow the lessons her teacher had given her, and find control. Control the emotions and control the outcome, that was her mantra. Measuring her breath brought her calm and allowed her magic to surface. Or at least it usually did. At the moment, Lila could not feel her magic at all, or rather, she could feel it but she couldn’t reach it. She felt as if there was a heavy curtain between her and her magic. Maybe it was because of the sedative the kidnappers had given her. Not good. Lila took another deep calming/not really breath and reassessed.
She was on a plane, and recently left Tampa. Her educated guess said that she was no longer flying over US soil. She was probably headed south. Central or South America, it didn’t matter, both were too big and easy to get lost in. So how was she to get out of this? Well if it was just the drugs blocking her magic, she’d just have to wait until they wore off enough to use her magic. She refused to panic, so what to do to pass the time? There was no way she was going back to sleep at the moment.
Lila thought about Evan. He must be insane with worry now, and certainly he’d already called the team and had them headed to Tampa or en route. She wondered how they would find a clue. Were there security cameras in bathrooms? She didn’t think so. Maybe just outside the bathrooms, but that still meant they’d never see her being taken. She had been jabbed in the neck, probably with a needle, and as her consciousness faded she’d seen the pilot open the window in the bathroom to reveal the outside of the building.
How was she going to escape this without her magic or her team? How could she fight with her hands bound? For the first time she paid attention to her bindings. Metal handcuffs. She could work with that; she just needed a tool small enough to insert into the lock. She looked around her for detritus. The space was not clean, but neither was it littered with small bits of metal that could be used for a lock pick. This was going to take time. Lila began to inchworm her way around the edge of the wall looking for any bit of loose metal.
By 10pm, Evan had reviewed the security tapes and found the footage of the pilot in the lounge area of the charter terminal. He saw the man approach, shoot the stake into his neck, bend over him, and then enter the ladies room. That was all there was.
Sebastian and Adam had arrived, and together they spoke with the head of air traffic. They found out that the pilot had changed his flight plan early Sunday morning, and intended to land in Texas. The pilot had also called Sebastian to let him know that there were long delays because of holiday traffic, so the alarm had not been raised until hours after the original arrival time. A phone call confirmed that the jet did indeed fly to Texas, but a half hour later it took off for the west coast.
Now they were trying to decide what to do next. The only clue they had to follow, was Evan’s certainty that Lila had started out heading southwest from Tampa. The question was, if she was taken to South America, where in South America? Evan had lost his sense of her an hour ago, and it had been faint for the hour before that. His best guess had her heading for the west coast of Central or South America.
Sebastian could feel Evan’s tension tighten the longer it took to devise a plan of pursuit.
“Adam, we need to move,” Sebastian said urgently.
“I know, Bastian, I know.” He paused, and then said, ”We’ll go to Houston. I can get a unit to meet us there.”
“What then?”
“I’ll work on the rest of the plan en route.” He said.
Adam began mobilizing his ISF unit for a rescue mission. Three human and four immortal soldiers would meet at Houston airport and stand by with an airplane and pilot ready to go anywhere they were needed. They were even prepared to parachute into a jungle if necessary. Adam then contacted an ISF unit in Chile to stand by and assist if a jungle rescue was needed. The military aspect of this operation was Adam’s forte, and it showed in the conversations he was having. Adam was quickly earning more respect from Evan as he spoke with unit members about what weapons and gear they needed to bring with them, anticipating all kinds of terrain and logistical issues.
Once the decision was made to go to Houston, the pilot filed an emergency flight plan, and was bumped to the head of the line for take off. Adam, Sebastian, and Evan were on board the jet that had brought Adam and Sebastian to Tampa, and it was being prepped for take off.
Meanwhile, Sebastian was on a conference call with Alexander and James. Evan overheard James speak of a South American shifter faction suspected of illegal logging and gold mining in the Peruvian jungle. If the rumors were true, the shifter group wanted control over all shifters in South America, making them the largest immortal group worldwide, thereby giving themselves more power and control politically. Their leader was a notorious panther shifter named Ricardo Esteban Ramirez. He allegedly controlled the drug trade and shipping industry on the western coast of South America.
“Why would this guy want or need Lila?” Evan interrupted Sebastian’s conversation. Sebastian hit the speaker button so that Adam could hear.
“More power, presumably,” answered James having heard the question. “Whether or n
ot he’s a believer, if he controls the Chosen One, then he can assume control of the prophecy.
“I’ve been looking at the other council members since we introduced Lila to them. Only councilman Robur has any ties at all to South America, but he’s so outspokenly against uniting the races, I can’t see him aligning with shifters.”
“Unless his prejudice is a cover.” Said Adam.
“He’s been actively campaigning for race separation for two hundred years,” commented James.
“He wouldn’t be the first immortal to play a really long game,” said Alexander.
“I’ll start digging into Robur’s South American contacts to see if I can connect him to Ramirez even tangentially,” said James, and hung up. Sebastian ended the call with Xander, promising regular updates.
“Prepare for take off,” the captain’s voice came over the intercom, and without any more fanfare, the plane accelerated down the runway.
Buckling his seat belt, Evan leaned his head against the headrest, closed his eyes, and pictured Lila in his mind. Worry crowded his thoughts and he opened his eyes in order to not see what his mind was about to conjure. Adam was sitting across the table from him and staring at him.
“Are you afraid of flying?” Adam asked.
“No,” answered Evan, confused by the question.
“You’ve got a death grip on the arms of your chair,” Adam explained.
Evan looked down to see that Adam was right. He was gripping the arms of his chair so tightly that he might rip them off if he didn’t stop. With an effort, Evan loosened his grip and tried to relax his muscles, but the tension in his neck and jaw refused to leave.
Adam watched Evan’s throat swallow and a vein pulse at his temple. He had let go of the chair, but now his white knuckles were pressing his own knees.
“I thought vampires were supposed to be really good at standing around and doing nothing,” said Adam with sympathy, “But you need a bottle of something strong.”
“She’ll be all right, Evan,” interjected Sebastian. “She’s strong. She’ll survive this. We’ll get her back.” He said it as much for himself as for Evan.
“And as soon as we level out, I’ll get the whiskey,” he added with a slight smile.
Evan said nothing. He couldn’t. His worry and fear for Lila was beginning to consume him now. He tried closing his eyes again and taking long slow breaths. Lila. His heart ached for his mate. My mate. Evan never even considered having a mate, and now he wasn’t sure if he could go on without her. Stay alive and come back to me. Please.
By the time they landed in Houston, Adam had the outline of a plan. They would fly south to Lima and meet with the South American ISF leader. He already had people monitoring the airports for unusual activity.
“As long as they aren’t in cahoots with the kidnappers, we might get a lead on where they are headed,” Adam said.
“How are you holding up, Evan?” Sebastian asked.
Evan just shook his head and rubbed the spot on his chest over his heart. Sebastian watched the movement before following Adam off the plane. A flicker of emotion went through the mage. Was it envy?
As the three men walked across the tarmac towards a military plane, Sebastian considered the vampire. He would never have guessed that Evan was even capable of love. But there he was, pained by the loss of his mate, worry etched on his face. By the time Sebastian had met Evan, he had already hardened into an unemotional mercenary. An assassin for hire, he killed without conscience or remorse. Seeing the vampire distressed over his missing mate was shocking. Yet, if Evan’s callused heart could be cracked open to allow love in, perhaps there was hope for himself. Sebastian shook the sentimental musing away and shook hands all around as Adam introduced them to his ISF unit.
Chapter 17
November
Lila spent hours crawling around on the floor of the fuselage searching for any useful scrap of metal to pick a lock with, but found nothing. Defeated and exhausted, she’d fallen asleep. She had dreamt of Evan. It had been wonderful to see him. God, she missed him horribly. Now she was disappointed that it had only been a dream.
Blinking, she sat up awkwardly and leaned her shoulders against the wall to wait for whatever came next. She felt dry and a little sore. She looked inward for her magic, but it was still veiled and unreachable. Maybe the drugs she’d been injected with would keep her from reaching her magic permanently. If that was the case, she would have to find a way back to Evan without the help of magic. She could live without her magic, but she had no intention of living without her mate.
Intention.The word had been used a lot during her training. Magic needed intention to be controlled. Maybe she just needed to focus on her intention to get her magic back. Lila began to meditate, something that came more easily these days than it had at the beginning, or had before she was kidnapped. Now she seemed to have trouble concentrating. Lila felt the nose of the plane tip downward. Were they descending to land? Wearily, she leaned her head on her knees and waited.
Her ear worm came back to her…..” Time, time, time, time, time…” It reminded her of the night she slow-danced with Evan in the living room. It made her smile in spite of her present circumstances.
Fifteen minutes later, she heard the loud motor of the landing gear, and ten minutes after that, the plane landed and braked hard. Lila was thrown forward and slid into the wall that separated her space from the rest of the plane. The impact hit her back and shoulder, and she moaned from the impact. She laid there as the plane stopped and the engines died.
A few minutes later she could hear the noise of movement outside of the plane. There was a bump somewhere. The door leading to the front of the plane opened and two men entered, wearing fatigues and carrying rifles across their backs. One was short and Latino with dark hair and dark swarthy skin, and the other was tall, blond, and anglo. Her feet were untied. Without a word they each grabbed an arm and hoisted Lila to her feet, ignoring her protests of pain. They had to turn sideways and sidestep through the narrow doorway and up the center aisle of what looked like business class. The door at the front of the plane was open and sunlight flooded in through it. Lila squinted at the brightness as she was manhandled out and down the rolling staircase to the tarmac.
The air was hot, humid, and the sound of insects was all around them. They had landed on a small airstrip, surrounded by jungle. Two more men dressed identically to the two who held Lila approached them. One of them shoved a cloth bag over her head and spoke in Spanish to the two who held her. Lila had no idea what they said. Her knowledge of Spanish extended only as far as ordering her burrito the way she liked it, with black beans instead of pinto, and the extra spicy hot sauce. She could also ask for directions to a library.
She was led away. Behind, she heard the sound of footsteps on metal. She wondered if they were leaving or being joined by others coming out of the plane. With her sight and sense of smell impaired, (the sack on her head smelled moldy,) Lila tried to use her other senses to gain information. The only sounds were their footsteps, the insects, and her breathing. The tarmac under her feet baked through the soles of her Chuck Taylors, sticking a little so that her footfall sounded more like rubber peeling away from the ground. It saddened her to think that these were the shoes that Sebastian had bought her on her first day as a mage, and they would be ruined. Then she was struck by the absurdity of being sad over a pair of sneakers.
A choked bark of a laugh slipped out of Lila, then a giggle. Then hysteria took over and she began to laugh uncontrollably. One of the arms holding her shook her, but she could not stop her hysteria. It slowed her steps and the men began to drag her along.
“Callate puta!” the one on her right growled.
“No Hablo Español.” Lila answered, trying to calm herself.
“Cono!”
Lila’s nose was running and tears streamed down her face. She finally got control of her laughter only to hiccup loudly. When the hiccupping continued, the hysteria ret
urned, with more laughter.
“Esta perra está loca.”
“Por qué demonios quiere una perra loca de todos modos?”
“Ella es una perra mágica fuerte.”
The word ‘magica’ caught Lila’s attention, and she sobered. Did these soldiers know about her magic?
“Es ella peligrosa?”
“No, ella lleva el collar.”
Lila tuned out the rest of the conversation she couldn’t understand. She licked the snot and tears that had dripped near her mouth. She was thirsty and exhausted now that the hysteria waned. Another minute of walking and she was pulled up short in the shade. Two new sets of hands pulled her off her feet from above. She cried out in surprise, but then her feet were set down again and she was made to sit on a bench. One set of arms let go of her and fumbled at her neck. Lila struggled, trying to get away from the hands.
She heard a frustrated curse in Spanish and the sack was pulled off her head. She looked into the golden eyes of the blond man. He was a shifter, she realised, and handsome. His gold eyes held her for a moment before he clamped a meaty hand around her neck and she stopped struggling. Then she felt something she had not noticed before. She was wearing some kind of collar. The shifter reached behind her head and she heard the click of metal on metal. Lila felt the pull of something hanging from her neck collar. They had chained her to the inside of a truck. They had leashed her, like an animal. Control. I am being controlled. The thought sent fear careening through her. Tears sprang up and leaked down her face. She looked at the blond shifter beseechingly, and thought she saw a flicker of remorse in his eyes.
“Que pasa, ya no hay nada de que reirse?”
A man laughed.
Her handcuffs were removed. Lila looked down. The cloth sack was on her lap. She wiped her face with it. Then she raised her hands to the collar. It was flexible and strong, but also hard, like a combination of leather and metal. It sat so snuggly against her skin that she could not get even a fingernail under it, yet it was not uncomfortable.
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