The Law of Motion (Law Series) (17 page)

             
I held her, letting her cry in my arms, releasing everything that she’d been holding in. When she was done, she pulled away, looking drained. “I’m going to let you get some rest ok? I’m down the hall and there are guys all outside the house.” And with a thank you from her I let her try to sleep.




             
The office was quiet again. There had been no word from Myles and the others, no phone calls, and most of my crew and friends were taking advantage of either a few hours sleep or the chance to go home and freshen up. Doc, Ross and Tink were here, the latter of which finally took a break, let me feed her, shove her in a shower upstairs, and force a nap on her. But she didn't stay down long, launching herself up from the sofa to go back to her computers.

             
My Dad and Kristen were on their way back from his house, taking Makenna to a safe place until this was all over. Victor and Dario had gone to the airport to pick up Jeff and Danny. My Dad called them as soon as he got the word, but with them being the only two that weren’t retired from the Merc life, they took a little time to get here. I shook my head at that thought, Gravity was turning into a military base. So much help was pouring in, an
d

at this momen
t

there was nowhere to direct it.

             
Cam split his time in the office with us and out in the field. He paid a visit to Mrs. Moretti, to check in and to show that he was investigating Cedrick’s abduction, but he didn't give her much information.

              It was early, but Cam had decided to pay David’s parents a visit himself. He was having a chat with Dr. Grubbs about his so
n

Davi
d

and his friend Myles, and I was pretty sure he wasn't going to be kind about it, because he was nothing if not pissed about this whole fucking case.

             
I walked straight out of my office, and into the computer room finding it almost empty, except for Tink and a snoozing Jackson in one of the conference table chairs. His feet were up on the table and his head was back, a low snore escaping him every other breath.

             
"Wake him, and I'll cheerfully beat you," Tink snickered, handing me a cup of coffee. "He rarely sleeps as it is."

             
"Yeah, I know what you mean," I told her, following her back into her office. "Anything?"

             
"Cam just checked in. He's at the Grubbs house," she said, pulling up a spreadsheet on her screen. "I'm still looking into hotels around the Baltimore and D.C Area. I'm not having much luck, because if one person checked them in and someone else snuck the boys into the room, then no one is going to match the descriptions I'm sending the
m

which is the dead end I'm running into." She took a sip of coffee and sighed. "Are you okay?"

             
"Yes," I told her. "I just..."

             
"Lost it," she finished for me her slanted eyes full of knowledge. "It's understandable, really."

             
I sighed, “I’m sorry I got so mad at you.”

             
“Forgiven,” She promised, still working. The woman was a machine. Her phone rang and she looked at it shaking her head and smiling. “Figured.” She put it on speaker so that she could continue working as she talked. “You’re
late
.”
              “Traffic is a bitch.” Alyssa’s voice broadcasted, and my stomach dropped. There was music playing in the background, and the sound of driving. She had yet to call me, or return any of my calls.

             
Tink shook her head even though Alyssa couldn’t see it. “Excuses, excuses, excuses. Hurry up and get here so that I can fill you in on what you’ve missed.”

             
“I’m looking at another hour tops.” She promised.

             
Tink frowned. “Did you get what you needed?”

             
“Yep, and a little bit more than I was expecting.” She revealed, her voice holding a hint of a smile. It made me curious because I didn’t know
how
to take it. “See you in a few Tinky, and let the others know that I’m coming with some help.”

             
The light was bright when someone turned it on, and I jumped and covered my eyes with my hands.

             
"Get up, you brats," the mean man yelled. He was the man from the fieldtrip, the one that said mean things to my
Tia
Awyssa when he took us. He wasn't nice at all.

             
I tried hard not to cry, because the last time Cedrick and I did, it made the mean man so angry at us. He yelled and took away our dinner and the lady had to make him put away his gun.

             
Guns were dangerous. I knew that, 'cause my family always said so.

             
"Jesus, Myles, could you be more of an ass?" the other man asked, pushing him away. He closed the door after saying bad words. "Go pack your shit."

             
I sat up in bed next to Cedrick. I was still sleepy, because I didn't like strange beds. I liked it when my
family
woke me up or when I could wake them up. I missed them.

             
Cedrick wiggled away from them, closer to me. "Don't touch!" I told him, because Mommy always told me no one could touch me if I didn't want them to.

             
Myles went back to the room next door and left us with the man with black hair like my Mommy Roslyn, Aunt Tink, and Tia. This man wasn't as mean as Myle
s
I didn't like him at all. This man was nicer.

             
"Fine, I won't touch," he said, holding up his hands and rolling his eyes. "But we gotta get going, so up. Outta bed."

             
Cedrick tugged my shirt. "Bathroom," he whispered. He was super scared and wouldn’t talk to anyone but me.

             
“We have to go to the bathroom.”

             
"Ok," the man said. "Go on...the both of ya."

             
We ran to the bathroom and closed the door. He was my buddy, and we couldn’t get separated. Unca Adwien and Tia Awyssa told us to stick together no matter what. I was keeping my promise.

             
Cedrick used the bathroom and then whispered, "I wanna go home."

             
"My family will come," I whispered back. "'Cause I'm not suh-posed to be away from home, except at their house. And none of them are here."

             
“Where are they?” Cedrick whispered. “I’m scared.”

             
I handed him my lucky four leaf clover coin that Poppy Harris gave me when I was scared to meet new friends at school. “Here. Poppy Harris gave me this to make me brave. You can hold it, until they come get us, if you want to.”

             
He put it in his pocket and nodded.

             
“Can you keep a secret?” I asked him.

             
He nodded. “You know I can.”

             
“My Uncles and
Tia Awyssa
aren’t soldiers no more, but they still have
guns
,” I whispered really quiet so the man outside wouldn’t hear. “My Mommy said that they stopped when they got me so that they could keep me safe. They promised that they wouldn’t let anything happen to me, and you’re my bestest friend, so they won’t let anything happen to you eaver.”

             
That made Cedrick happy. “Well I hope they get here soon and they have their guns.”

             
“They will.” I nodded sure. “And I’m going to tell them about the mean man.”

             
We washed our hands in the sink and came back out into the room. The black-haired man was eating a doughnut.

             
"Ready now?" he asked, after taking a great big bite.

             
"Don't talk wif your mouth full," I told him. "You'll choke."

             
"God, kid, gimme a break, will ya?" he sighed, kneeling down in front us. "I don't like this shit any more than you do, okay? Hang in there for me."

             
The big man that drove us away was smoking a cigarette and watching TV. He was the stranger that tried to pick me up,  “Smoking is bad for you.” I told him sitting next to Cedrick.

             
The big man made a mean face at us and kept smoking. I didn’t like him either. He was tall like my Uncle Macon, ‘cept he was fat.

             
My coin was making Cedrick brave because he said, “You can’t do that, Juan has asthmar.”

             
But the big man kept smoking.

             
The dark haired man took the cigarette from him and threw it out the window. “Did you not hear what the kid just fucking said? He has asthma. They’re no good to you guys dead.” He yelled turning on the fan before sitting back at the table with us. “Do you have an inhaler or something Juan?”

             
I shook my head. “My mommy has it.”

             
“Ah hell.” He sighed. “This shit will be over soon.”

             
"I want my
Tia
,” I told him, folding my arms across my chest, because my
Tia
would never like these people. "And you said a bad word."

             
"Believe me, much longer with Zoe and Myles, and I'll want your Tia," he chuckled, holding out two doughnuts to me and Cedrick. "We have a place we gotta go, kids. Just...eat for me. It'll be over soon." He stood up when we took our breakfast. "How I got into this, I'll never know."

             
"Mister..." I said, tugging on his shirt until he knelt in front of me again.

             
"Juan, it’s Kris okay? You can use my name," he sighed, shaking his head. "It won't make a difference."

             
"Kris...where are we going?" I asked.

             
His nose wrinkled kind of funny. "We're going to see if your family thinks you're worth a lot of money, but it's a long car ride to get there."

             
I smiled and turned to Cedrick. "We are going home soon. I know it, because my Mommy says I'm priceless."

             
Kris snickered and nodded. "Sure, kid. Let's hope so."

              He was right, had it been a member of my crew, or even Adrian, I would've fought, would've aimed my fucking gun and pulled the goddamn trigger, because my crew and my guy would have been able to fight
with
me. But not my four year old godson.

             
The odds were stacked against him, because I couldn't have a bullet go
near
him, I couldn't let an innocent like Cedrick die, and there was no way in hell I could calculate getting to either of them before the man in the car fired his own weapon. I couldn't take the chance, but the waitin
g

the mother fucking, tortuou
s

waitin
g

was killing me. We had to do what this crazy dude said to the letter, or I could lose Ross and Doc’s child and someone else's.

             
But I couldn’t sit idle anymore. I told Doc that I would do anything to get Juan back, and I was more than prepared to go to war. So that was what I was going to do, prepare to go to war.

             
My phone rang the song that could only belong to Tink. I didn’t feel like dealing with everyone and had sent them all to voicemail. I did the same with her. Not even a second later a text message came through that I couldn’t ignore. It was from Kristen.

            
 
You better answer your phone or I will have Tink shut down your car!!!

             
“I knew that it would happen sooner or later.” I sighed waiting for the call.

             
It took her less than two hours to figure out that I wasn’t going to the home Adrian and I shared. I needed to be alone, and I couldn’t do that with FBI lurking around. Tink was a genius, and it wasn’t beyond her abilities to hack into my car’s ONSTAR and shut it down. So when Tink’s ring tone played again, I didn’t hesitate to pick up.