The Law of Motion (Law Series) (12 page)

             
He was cut off when my phone rang, I answered it quickly. "Hello..."

             
There was silence on the other end, then a frantic "I want to go home!"

             
"
Juan
," I breathed, my heart stopping, because my godson sounded scared as shit.

             
Ross snatched the phone from me, turning the speakerphone on. "Alyssa Giselle Marshall...or
Neil
…if you prefer…," a voice on the other end started. It was neither male nor female. In fact, it sounded distorted, the pitch alternating between high and low like a malfunctioning robot. "Do I have your attention?"

             
"Yes," I breathed. "Who is this?"

             
"Oh, I'm sure you’ll figure it out," The fragmented voice chuckled.

             
The seven members of my crew that were there circled around my phone, staring at it like it was the Holy Grail or some shit.

             
Cam came next to me his face grim as he spoke low into his headset. "Margaux...trap and trace on Alyssa's phone."

             
"You won't catch me," the voice snapped over the line. "I just wanted to make sure Mrs. Marshall was paying attention."

             
Mrs.?

             
"What do you want?" I snapped, snatching the phone from Ross’s hand.

             
"That will come in time," the voice sighed dramatically. "I have a lot I’ll need from you if I plan to get ahead, but first, I plan to get even. Stay close to your phone Mrs. Marshall.”

             
The call ended, but everyone around me was still and silent. I looked to Cam, who was still on his phone.

             
"Throwaway phone," he muttered, nodding like he'd guessed that would be the case. "Trace it as best you can, Tink. Anything on the truck?" he asked her, sighing deeply. "Well, let me know what you get." When he hung up, he reported to us. "The car was stolen, but Tink is running a search for anything or anyone connected to you that may have a car lik
e
"

             
"
What about an Amber Alert?" Ross snapped, standing up from in front of me and starting to pace.

             
"Already done, Roslyn," Cam said calmly. "I've sent it out from here, to Canada, to Florida, all the way west to California."

             
"Is there anything else?" I asked, pointing to the bathroom behind us. "There's got to be something we’re missing." I turned focusing on him. "Did you see any-fucking-thing, Harris?"

             
He flinched at the use of his last name. "No, I'm sorry."

             
Cam nodded, turned to the officer standing next to him. "Get as many statements as you can."

             
"What about Mrs. Moretti?" the officer asked.

             
"I’ll take care of it," I sighed wearily. "I want Tawny and Ross back at their office. I want Tink there with them the next time these assholes call Chance?"

             
"Is everyone accounted for?" Dario asked, looking around the Expo, which was coming to an end. "You know, kids, teachers, and employees."

             
"The bus driver is gone," Adrian added, looking up at me when I spun to look at him. "The one that tried to pick up Juan...he's gone.”

             
“Did you
see
him in the bathroom?” I asked.

             
"No, I didn't fucking see him!" He growled. "I was too busy getting my head cracked open like an Easter egg.”

             
"Okay, okay," Macon stepped forward, placing a heavy hand on Adrian’s shoulder.  It wasn’t like him to play peacekeeper. "Let's get this shit back to the office."

             
"I'll find out the driver’s name and check into the company that hired him," Cam said softly, looking between us. "You two," he ordered, pointing to Jackson and Dario, "I need you guys under the radar until I can legally help. It'll be better than having to rely on my office."

             
"Got it," Jackson said, giving Adrian a strange look as he put an arm around me. "Let's go.”




             
"Sit down," Doc requested, pulling me into a seat in the conference room. "I already sketched a photo of the bus driver but I need you to describe the other guys."

             
I could see she was trying to get me to focus, but it was hard. I was riddled with guilt as I looked into her worried, but patient face. Why she wasn’t beating me up made no sense. This whole thing was my fault. I should've never let him out of my sight. I shouldn’t have let him go. Everyone blamed me, and the fact that no one looked me in the eye proved it.

             
“Was Juan wearing the watch I gave him for Christmas last year?” Tink called from the computer room.

             
Doc thought through it, “Yes… why?” She asked getting up with me following the sound of her voice.

             
She pulled up another program on her free laptop. “It was an experiment. I put a tracking chip inside; I was working on a chip that I could turn on remotely. You know, in case we were on a case and couldn’t activate them ourselves. Maybe I can turn it on.”

             
“You chipped my child?” Ross questioned unsure how she should feel about the secret.

             
“ No, the watch. I thought you’d be mad.” She answered honestly typing.

             
“Not if it works.” Ross relented with a new hope in her face.

             
“I’ll see what I can do, everyone else get back to work.” She promised. Doc and I went back into the conference room with a bit of hope ourselves.

             
My eyes went to Adrian, who was pacing back and forth near in the computer room, looming over Tink. "Chance...you have to focus for me. You have to."

             
I still felt lifeless, and just plain empty, but I took a deep breath and nodded. "Um...young, skinny. He was no more than our age. "I whispered. “I should have known something was up, Juan was so nervous around him. He knew something was wrong.”

             
"Of course he did," she agreed, a weak smile touching her face. "He’s smart." Tears welled up in her eyes again, and she paused for a moment, but forced the conversation. "Keep going."

             
"He was scruffy, unkempt, like he smelled bad if you got too close," I told her. "He had shaggy hair, like it had been a while since he'd gotten it cut, but like it used to be buzzed. Blue eyes, really light blue eyes. And he had ink on his arm."

             
"What kind of ink?" she asked, looking up from the paper.

             
"A bird of some kind but it didn’t look professional," I told her, looking over her shoulder. "His jaw was sharper, his eyes closer together."

             
"Good," she praised, but her sole concentration was on the picture in front of her. "Good," she praised again, her pencil gliding across the paper.

             
With a few more touches here and there, she got his face down on paper. She slid it to me, and all I could do was nod in approval, because it was perfect. “Why haven’t you killed me? I lost your son.”

             
She took a deep breath, her chocolate eyes finding her answer carefully. “I know you Chance. No one can hurt you more than
you
can hurt you. You will use that pain to get my son back.”

             
I locked eyes with her, nodding in understanding. “I will get him back, at
any
cost. Even if it kills me.”

             
"That’s why I made you his godmother.” she whispered, pinning the portrait to the bulletin board, which now held the drawings of; the bus driver, the mystery guy, the man at the wedding, and a map of the area holding pins in it where the last phone call was made.

             
We both jumped when Adrian’s booming voice reached a new level of pissed off. "I don't give a fuck, Tink!" Adrian barked from the other room. "There's got to be something on this guy that we're not seeing."

             
"I'm sure there is, Adrian, but you've got to give me time to look at it from all sides. I'm already working on the truck, the prepaid cell, and I'm waiting for Cam’s info. You have to wait," she flat out told him, almost without apology. "When Cam gets here, he'll be able to work with me, but until then, I'm all alone here. Okay?"

             
“Get it done.” He ordered as he stormed out of Tink’s computer room and into the office he shared with Dario, slamming the door for solitude.

             
“Okay, well, I went ahead and secured your house Tawn, we’re setting up a second base at Chance and Adrian’s since it’s closest to the office. Mainly so that some can get sleep since we will be working around the clock. Tink helped me change the code on the gate for the time being." Macon announced walking in with Cam behind him.

             
He went to Doc, hugging her, planting a kiss on her forehead. “Are you ok?” She nodded but didn’t verbalize anything, “Cameron has stationed some guys around your house, so don't panic if you see someone walking around. They've been told to keep their FBI vests on," he stated, “If you and Ross choose to go home we don’t want anyone getting to you.”

             
“Thanks, but this isn’t about me, or Roslyn.” Doc sighed. Everyone looked at her, waiting for her to explain where she was coming from. I knew she was going to say the one thing that I had feared. “This is about Chance.”

             
Kristen walked out of her office from putting the baby down. “What do you mean this is about Chance?”

             
Doc sighed, as Ross pulled her closer. “The guy Adrian saw at the wedding complimented him on his “family” when he saw Chance carrying Juan upstairs for us.”

             
Dario caught on. “And the guy that was holding the gun to Cedrick’s head called you, Mom. And on the phone
Mrs.
Marshall.”

             
“So they’re trying to get to Chance thru Juan because they think he’s her
son
?” Kristen scoffed shaking her head. “How would they get that impression?”

             
Ross sighed, “Who is Juan around the most next to us?”

             
“Chance. Bu
t
we all are.” She disagreed.

             
Macon shook his head, “Not as much as Chance, baby. If anyone had been watching, they would assum
e
”

             
I leaned against the wall, hearing what I already knew in my head broadcasted out loud. “I know, it’s my fault.”

             
Jackson adjusted what they were trying to say, “Well no.. not directly.”

             
“Directly or indirectly, it is my fault Juan is in this situation.” I countered.

             
Cam cut in, knowing how bad things could get if we started arguing amongst ourselves. “I think the question is more,
why
would they target Chance? What
made
her worth the trouble?”

             
“Cheating husband?” Ross suggested.

             
Dario added another reason, “An old assignment catching up with her from when she was in Special Forces?”

             
Kristen shook her head. “No, they would have done their research enough to
know
that Juan Carlos
wasn’t
her son. They would have been cleaner. From what Chance said, these guys weren’t even concerned with safety.”

             
“Which leads us to believe that they aren’t Mercs by any means.” Cam concluded.

             
“This wasn’t just a random kidnapping either.” Jackson added. “They have to have ties to her in some way.”

             
“Maybe not
her
exactly…” Tink thought aloud tapping on her computer. “What if these people have to use Juan, to get to Chance, but why? It could be retaliation from the Morgan case… or not about Chance at all. ”

             
I listened to the speculation around me, trying to follow Tink’s logic.  Jackson, who was usually always on the same wave length with her wasn’t following either. “So you mean like one of us? Her circle isn’t very large, Sugar.”