She could hear mumbled voices outside the bedroom door. Glancing toward the windows, she could tell it was late morning. She looked at the clock by the bedside table. Ten forty-five. Damn, they wiped me out last night. Why did they leave me alone? Since the night of the attack, none of them ever left her alone and especially in bed. She had that uneasy feeling again. She was about to get up when the door opened. Gustave was there and he didn’t look happy. He walked further in, followed by Johnny and now Franco who closed his cell phone then ran his hands through his hair. They looked shocked, upset, and she felt the tears reach her eyes.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” she asked, trying to hold the sheets up to her chin and grip them for support.
Gustave sat down on the bed and licked his lips before he spoke. He was clearly shaken up.
“There’s been a situation in Lafayette,” Gustave began to say.
She covered her mouth with her hands. “Louis and Julien? Are they okay?”
“Julien’s been shot,” Franco stated.
“No, oh God no!”
Gustave pulled her into his arms and held her close.
“He’s alive and in surgery as we speak. We need to get dressed and get to the hospital.”
She pulled away and scrambled out of bed.
“I’ll call Michael and let him know we’ll be leaving shortly,” Franco stated then headed out of the room.
Illeanna rushed through washing up and brushing her teeth. She was frantic and filled with fear.
“Here, sugar, I brought you some clothes.”
She looked at Gustave as he set her bra, matching panties, jeans, and blouse on top of the counter. Quickly she dressed then ran a brush through her hair.
“Ready?” Gustave asked and she nodded.
As they headed out the front door, Franco’s phone rang and he answered it as they hurried toward the truck. Johnny got into the driver’s side of the sheriff’s patrol truck. They piled in, Franco in the passenger seat with her and Gustave in the back seat.
Gustave grabbed her hand and pulled her against his side.
“Julien is tough, Illeanna. He’ll pull through. Don’t you worry.” He tried to reassure her, but she couldn’t even focus on the reality of what was happening. Julien was shot, he was in surgery, and they didn’t know much more.
“So who is the surgeon and what is the plan?” Franco asked into the cell phone.
The one-sided conversation was making her crazy. She wanted to know more. She needed more information.
The call lasted a bit longer, and then Franco closed it up and glanced at Johnny. They exchanged nonverbally, and Illeanna tightened her grip on Gustave’s hand.
“He’s been in surgery for a couple of hours,” he began to say.
“A couple of hours!” she yelled, and they all looked at her except for Johnny, who remained focused on speeding out of Orchidea and onto the highway.
Gustave took a deep breath as if he was uncomfortable or something.
“We didn’t want to inform you too early. We knew that it would take awhile once Julien went into surgery. The calls have been sporadic,” Franco stated.
“We needed to know what was happening first, Illeanna, and about the incident they were caught up in,” Johnny added.
They didn’t inform her immediately? They’d kept her in the dark? Why? She mulled their words over as Franco continued to talk. She couldn’t help the feelings of distrust. Why wouldn’t they tell me immediately? I love them, damn it. What the fuck!
“He was shot in the shoulder. The bullet has to be removed to prevent lead toxicity and they need to see the full damage. He lost a lot of blood. The hospital was far and he had to be airlifted. Michael took care of him, Illeanna. He’s getting him the best treatment. Once they’re inside, they’ll be able to see the damage,” Franco told her.
The thought of Julien suffering such pain made her heart ache. She felt numb. They left her out of the loop. She swallowed hard and stared out the side window watching the landscape pass by quicker than her eyes could follow.
* * * *
They arrived at the hospital, and as soon as they entered the lobby, she saw that Louis was there. He looked tired and scared. He ran to Illeanna, and she opened her arms to him. He squeezed her tight and the tears began to fall again.
“Oh God, baby, I’m so glad to see you,” he whispered as he inhaled against her hair and nuzzled her neck.
“Are you okay? How is Julien?” Illeanna asked.
He slowly pulled away and wiped the tears from her eyes. She swallowed hard.
“He’s been in surgery for hours. He lost a lot of blood and was unconscious before the ambulance even arrived on the scene.” He hugged her back against him and spoke over her head to Franco, Johnny, and Gustave as they hugged him around her. She felt a little out of place as she sensed them whispering above her as if not to share what was going on with her. She clung to Louis and the scent of his cologne.
They headed toward the elevators and to a waiting room outside of where they were operating on Julien. She sat in the far corner of the waiting room surrounded by CIA agents, FBI, and other people she could not care less about. Julien had been in surgery for hours. She was tired and still upset with them for not telling her. They kept whispering to the other agents. Was it because she was civilian and not law enforcement? She struggled to not be angry with them, but she couldn’t help the feelings. Suddenly there was movement by the entrance to the waiting room. Her sisters had arrived. Her heart pounded inside of her chest. Ellena made it through the security team first and embraced her.
“Oh God, Illeanna, are you okay? How is Julien?” she asked as Angelina and Mikayla entered and hugged her next. Over Mikayla’s shoulder she saw Angelique, along with Armand, Marcel, Remi, and Eloi. The men exchanged handshakes, and she noticed that Eloi also knew Michael Fromm.
When they’d first arrived, Michael Fromm had been there explaining how this had happened that morning. They had gotten the call at nine thirty. It was now after twelve in the afternoon.
She listened as they spoke.
“We’re not a hundred percent sure that Luther, Jacque, and Allen were killed by the same person. We do feel that the same person called for the hits. Finding him will help solve this case. Our agency is working with other agents to identify who is selling the military weapons to terrorist groups. Julien and Louis were on to something with their investigation into Phillips. The information you uncovered helped us out. I have men tracking cell phones and some bank transfers we believe were possible payoffs. I hope to receive word on those shortly.”
“I’m glad I gave everything we had to you, Michael. Agent Barkley and Agent Mertoff wanted nothing to do with our files when they came to interview Illeanna,” Louis stated.
“Yeah well, that was stupid on their part. They didn’t want some private investigators solving a case they were working on. Don’t worry, they were taken down a few notches by the higher-ups,” Michael told Louis. He nodded his head but didn’t look too thrilled with the information. He glanced over at Illeanna, and she shyly turned away. She feared that they wouldn’t want her eavesdropping or knowing what was going on. She was unsettled and frazzled with worry for Julien and worry about this barrier in their relationship.
“How’s Pettro doing?” Franco asked.
“He’s in surgery but looks like he’ll make it. It may be a few days until we can speak with him. It depends on how quickly he gains consciousness and can handle it. But in the interim we may have a lead on the hit man.”
“How’s that?” Johnny asked.
Michael looked toward Illeanna, and once again she was taken aback at the attitudes. Why were they being so secretive?
“What is it, Illeanna?” Ellena asked as she sat beside her on the couch.
“I don’t know. Something is going on. They didn’t tell me about Julien being shot until nearly eleven. This happened this morning at nine.
I don’t know when or if they were planning on telling me about Julien.”
“What? Why?” Mikayla asked.
“I don’t know. They kept me out of the loop. They don’t want me to know what’s happening.” She felt the tears fill her eyes and her head was beginning to ache.
“I need to use the restroom. Excuse me a minute.” Illeanna rose from the couch and headed toward the men and the only way in and out of the waiting room.
She smiled and said hello to Armand, Marcel, Remi, and Eloi as each of them hugged her and told her that Julien was going to be okay. They were so good, and she was happy for Angelique. She looked over her shoulder as they joined her sisters by the couch.
“So the chef was in on it, and his brother. They’re both dead.” One of the agents was speaking with Gustave about the case. The chef? Was he talking about Jacque?
Gustave caught her by the hand and held her gaze. She pretended that she hadn’t heard a word.
“Where are you going, baby?” he asked.
“Ladies’ room,” she whispered then pulled away from him to get by security.
They were definitely protecting Julien, and there was security by the entrance to the surgery ward. Both Julien and that guy Pettro were in there.
Illeanna headed down the hallway to the nearest bathroom. There was a sign outside the door that said it was closed for cleaning. She saw a nurse and stopped her.
“Excuse me, where’s the nearest restroom?” she asked, and the nurse saw the sign by the restroom door and exhaled.
“I’m sorry that this one is being cleaned. There’s one down one floor you can take the stairwell over there.”
Illeanna said thank you then headed that way. Her mind was on Julien, and she prayed that he would be out of surgery soon.
She took the stairs, feeling a bit of relief to be out of that waiting room and surrounded by all those government agents. She wondered about Jacque as she exited on the floor below and searched for the bathroom. Did she hear them right? Was Jacque involved with the case? She was taking care of her needs when she thought about the situation at the restaurant and about Julien and Louis. They said that they were no longer involved with the Phillips case. Had they lied to her? Did they not trust her either? She wondered as she walked over to the sink and washed her hands. She exited the bathroom and walked back down the hallway toward the staircase. That was when she saw the older man hunched over by the door. He looked ill as she moved closer.
“Are you okay, sir?” Illeanna asked, and as she touched his shoulder, the man turned and stabbed her with something. She felt the sting to her neck, and then she saw his face before she fell to the floor. “Walter?” she whispered, wondering why the maître d’ from Carlile’s was there and just stabbed her. She felt dizzy and began to fall as Walter grabbed her and pulled her along with him. She could walk, but she was in a daze. “What’s going on? I don’t feel right at all.” Everything around her remained moving and jiggling. She couldn’t focus no matter how hard she tried.
“Quiet, Illeanna. Just be quiet so we can get out of here.”
“Why? Where are you taking me?”
“Don’t worry. I’m sorry, Illeanna, but I need the money, and he killed Jacque and Luther. He said he was going to kill my family and me if I didn’t bring you to him. I’ve been waiting for days and finally none of those Boudoux men are around you.”
“What are you talking about? Who wants me? Who is going to kill your family?” Illeanna was trying desperately to follow the conversation but her body felt so weird. She wasn’t sure she was even walking. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she didn’t know how she was continuing step after step.
“Walter, who is it? Who killed Jacque and the others? Who hurt Julien?” she asked.
Walter didn’t say a word as they exited through a side door. There was a limo waiting outside, and Illeanna tried to stop Walter from making her go further.
The door opened and two men step out. “Good job, we’ll take it from here,” the one guy stated then pulled out a gun and shot Walter.
Illeanna screamed, or at least she thought she did as one man picked her up and shoved her into the back of the limo. She heard yelling and then shots ringing out as the limo took off.
* * * *
Michael was speaking into his phone as he called over Louis and his brothers.
He hung up.
“We got a lead on the importing business that was shipping the weapons to the terrorists. A group of our agents discovered a connection between the business owner and a known criminal named Flores. Plus, the cell phones we confiscated from the hit man led to some overseas bank accounts. There were a series of deposits we believed to be payoffs. Through further investigating, they led back to an account in Columbia under Bennitto Flores’s company name. It looks like Bennitto Flores is behind the killings and the attempt to frame Senator Pierre for treason and selling US weapons to terrorists. The Feds are raiding his homes. He has multiple,” Michael stated then squeezed Louis’s shoulder.
“It’s gonna work out. We’re going to get him,” Michael stated as the news flowed through the room.
Louis looked at his brothers and then for Illeanna.
Just then there was a commotion going on in the hallway. Louis followed Michael and the others out to see what was happening. One agent was speaking into his wrist mike.
“There was a situation in the back parking lot of the building. Shots fired, two agents down,” the agent stated.
“Where’s Illeanna?” Louis asked, and his brothers looked around.
“She went to the ladies’ room,” Mikayla stated and looked right at Michael Fromm.
“Shit!” Johnny shouted as they headed out of the room. They were running alongside the agents as they reached the bathroom. The cleaning staff was taking down the signs.
“Is there a woman in there, long black hair, thin, wearing a T-shirt?” Louis asked.
“No. It’s been closed for twenty minutes while I’m cleaning. The next bathroom is down a floor,” he informed them, and they headed down the hallways to the staircase and next floor. On their way Michael was talking into his wrist mike.
“What? Are you sure?” Michael yelled as they exited the stairwell and Louis, Gustave, and Johnny ran into the bathroom. They returned a minute later.
“She’s not in there,” Louis yelled. Franco headed down the hallway, and he stopped dead in his tracks.
Michael yelled to Franco, “Bennitto has Illeanna.”
“What?” Gustave yelled, and Franco banged his fist into the wall. “Look at this.” He pointed toward a syringe on the floor.
“Fuck! Tell me you have men following that limo. Michael,” Franco yelled.
Michael held up his finger for them to wait a moment.
“They lost them three blocks from here.”
“I’m sorry, Franco. We didn’t find out about Flores’s involvement soon enough. Who would have known that he would go after Illeanna?”
“He’s pissed because Julien and I botched his plans and so did Illeanna when she tackled the hit man outside the restaurant and then evaded capture in her home. He’s pissed and now desperate because he’s on the run,” Louis told them.
Michael was on the phone as they all headed back to the waiting area.
Louis looked at Illeanna’s sisters, who were now hovered together surrounded by Angelique’s men.
“There’s a situation,” Michael began to say.
“Illeanna’s been taken,” Louis stated, and the women gasped.
“What the hell do you mean taken?” Mikayla asked as she looked at Michael.
“We didn’t know that Bennitto Flores was behind this whole thing. As news came in, the Feds raided his home, but he must have caught wind of it. He got out and headed here. He had someone help him. Walter Marcus, the maître d’ from Carlile’s restaurant, is dead. He was shot after he got her out of the building,” Michael explained, h
olding Mikayla’s gaze.
“She didn’t fight him?” Ellena asked.
“No, she was injected with something. We found a syringe downstairs in the hallway. At least we think that’s what happened,” Franco added.
Michael spoke into his wrist mike.
“I have two down in the surveillance room. They’re going over the camera footage from outside where Walter was found,” Michael informed them then listened a moment before he spoke again. Everyone was quiet.
“Yeah, she was injected with a syringe by Walter,” Michael confirmed.
“Oh God! He’s going to kill her isn’t he?” Mikayla stated.
“No, not if we can get to her in time. We’ve got the license plate and a description of the vehicle. I’ve got helicopters up and searching. All local authorities have been informed. We’ll find her I promise,” Michael stated but Louis feared the worse.
“We need to decide who will go with Michael and who will remain here to wait on Julien,” Louis stated.
The room fell silent and the surgeon walked in.
“Michael?” The surgeon looked at Michael, and Louis swallowed hard.
“This is Dr. Antoine Fromm, my brother,” Michael announced, and everyone but Franco was surprised.
“Hi, Doc.” Franco shook Antoine’s hand.
“Hi, Franco. Well, your brother did fine. Julien was very lucky. The bullet wedged into the shoulder bone. It’s a clean fracture. There were no tiny splinters or any shattering of the bone. The ligaments were reattached and any cartilage and muscle. His recovery will take a bit of time and some physical therapy down the road. He really was very lucky that the bone didn’t shatter and that the bullet didn’t hit lower. He’ll be in recovery shortly and then you can see him briefly.”
“Thank you so much, Doc,” Franco stated as he shook Antoine’s hand. Louis followed, then Johnny and Gustave and lastly Michael.
The doctor began to leave the room, and Louis spoke.
“Okay, you all stay here for Julien. Gustave, you come with me and Michael,” Louis stated.
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