Take Her to HeVan (Nephilim Book 6) (28 page)

“Jake O’Brien, it has to be him,” Karlo blurted out and then seeing the look in Charl’s eyes, immediately regretted it. They had lost their opportunity to take Jake and question him themselves. Now the human police would prevent that. He needed to get himself under control.

Worse, the officer, wanting to make up for his earlier remarks, pounced on his words. They spent the next half hour going over all of the incidents at the ranch, culminating in the proxy marriage and the annulment that took place earlier that day. Had it been only that day? It seemed so long ago.

One of the warriors in the hall made his way to the door and, leaning over, said something to Markus in a low voice. He spoke in Nepha to prevent any of the humans from hearing. Ishme and Nyal, who had been standing on either side of Markus, which was as close to Becky as they could get at the moment, listened in.

Nyal poked his head in the door and called out. “Becky?”

Becky looked over at the door. She knew her
Ankida
were anxious to see for themselves that she was unharmed. At the same time, they would not have interrupted if it weren’t important. Heaving herself out of the chair, she squeezed her way to the doorway where Nyal quickly explained to her, also in Nepha.

“Amy has had a vision. Charlotte is trying to latch onto it. We need to get back to the hotel,” said Nyal.

Becky went back and interrupted the officer in his questioning.

“My husband wants me to go back to the hotel and rest. He’s worried about our babies. Tammy’s husband also wants us to leave.”

“You can go. Before you leave, what was that language they were speaking?” he asked her. All of the men had slight accents; they obviously weren’t from around the Boulder area.

“It’s a dialect of Greek,” she said, giving the standard line.

“They’re aliens? Are they legal?” he asked.

“They are all either citizens or Permanent Resident Aliens. Their status has no bearing on this case, officer. We’re going now. I suggest you find this O’Brien person as soon as you can,” she said adding her own two cents. She didn’t mention her years with the CIA to the putz; it would send him off on another tangent.

Karlo and Charl, immediately understanding something was up, told the officer they were done answering questions. The police could come back to their hotel if they had more. For now, they wanted to check on the other women, making sure they were okay.

The officer was reluctant to let them go. Something about these guys set off all his instincts. Still, he had no reason to hold them. They clearly weren’t involved in the bride’s abduction, at least not directly. Until he figured out what about them set off all of his cop radar, he’d keep them in his sights. For now, he’d do as suggested and check out Jake O’Brien.

Jake O’Brien was home in his sweats when Deputy Sheriff Tucker rang his bell. He’s taken a quick shower and his hair was still a little damp but nothing he could do about that so he ignored it. When he answered the door, he was bare-chested and holding a glass of whiskey in his hands.

“Jim, what can I do for you? It’s a little late to be out collecting for the widows and orphans fund,” he said, putting a little bit of a slur into his voice.

Jim took in every bit of Jake with a sharp eye and a suspicious mind. “Have you been off your ranch this evening, Jake?”

“I took a little bit of a drive earlier. I wanted to get away from people for a bit. I got a paper in the mail from my mom a couple of days ago. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you Jim?”

“When you went on this little drive, did you happen to go into Boulder? Did that paper anger you enough to do something about it?”

“Why would I have done something? It’s too late; my time to contest the annulment was gone more than five days ago.”

“Jake, can I come in? I’ve got a few more questions for you,” said Jim.

“Naw, I’m not feelin’ too kindly about you after what you pulled serving those papers, Jim. My lawyer says it wouldn’t do me any good to make a stink about it now. We both know what you did, serving me by giving those papers to my mother. Now get to the point. Why are you here? It’s the middle of the night and I’ve still got drinkin’ to do.”

“Marla Jones has disappeared from her bachelorette party this evening. Someone took her.”

Jake O’Brien laughed. He let himself fall forward so Jim Tucker wouldn’t see the absolute glee in his eyes. “She dumped him, too? Oh, that’s rich; it’s priceless. Why’d she dump his ass; did she catch him cheating?”

“She didn’t leave under her own steam, Jake; she was kidnapped. And right now you have the best motive for making her gone. Are you going to let me search your house?”

Jake stepped back and waved his hand. “Sure thing, Sheriff. Go right ahead and look. She’s not here.”

Jim took him at his word and looked all over the house from cellar to attic. When he came across Jake’s dirty clothes on the bathroom floor, he turned to Jake and looked his question.

“I thought I’d shower, sober up a little, and go to bed. The plan didn’t take. When a man loses the woman he loves, he’s entitled to get drunk. As you can see, Marla’s not here so why don’t you skedaddle and leave me in peace. Why don’t you ask that foreigner she’s shacking up with where she is? I bet he’s done something to her.”

Jim left the house but he didn’t let Jake close the door without getting permission to search all of the outbuildings. Jake had given him permission so fast; he knew he wasn’t going to find Marla on the property. Still, he had to look. As he walked toward the nearest barn, he wished he could have bagged up Jake’s clothes. Any particulates found on them might help pinpoint where Marla was. Because like Karlo and Charl, he believed Jake knew where she was and he prayed she was still alive.

*****

In her hotel suite in Boulder, Becky was using her laptop, she never went anywhere without it, to compile a list of possible locations for Marla. Amy had only been able to give her minor details. She was going to try for another vision, only she had been so shocked by what she saw that she went into labor. They had not taken into account how linked they were to their unborn infants. So it wasn’t so much her shock as the combined shock of both her and her baby. Now she and her
Ankida
were being treated in the hotel room by Markus.

He was doing his best to halt the labor. It looked like he would succeed.

“Okay, I think we stopped it in time. No more visions for you, Amy,” Markus said with a smile. Turning to her
Ankida
, who were very anxious for her, he gave them a smile of reassurance. “I think a nice massage would help Amy to relax and sleep.”

He packed up his medical bag and left the bedroom. The massage would help Amy and have the added benefit of helping her
Ankida
get over their anxiety by taking an active part in seeing to her care.

Markus then went to check on Tammy and several of the other women to make sure they were all okay. Most of the women were sleeping in their rooms with one of their
Ankida
watching over them. The other men were all gathered in Karlo and Charl’s suite waiting to begin the search. They only waited on Becky to give them locations. Tammy was just hanging up the room phone when he came in.

“I’m sorry I can’t give you more information,” Charlotte said, looking around at all the warriors’ faces. She had connected with Marla only briefly with her astral projection. “Let me rest for a short while and then I’ll try again. I’m just so tired from the long night and Marla is also unconscious. Once she’s awake, I’ll have a much better chance of connecting now that I have the thread.”

Both Karlo and Charl made a point to thank her for the information she had given them and then sent her off with both her
Ankida
. They wanted to make sure she rested. After seeing them to the door, they rejoined the others.

Nyal and Ishme were concerned for Becky’s health. She was carrying twins, but they both knew she would not accept any recommendations to rest and she wouldn’t stop looking.

An hour later, she leaned back from the tiny portable keyboard she was using and groaned. Nyal instantly put his hands on her back to massage her sore muscles. Ishme turned her and lifted her feet into his lap.

“I’ve marked all the locations I could find that fit the criteria we have so far. It’s a lot of them, but at least you guys can go out and look. While you do that, I’ll rest up. By the time you get back, I’ll have some more ideas,” she said.

“Thank you, Becky; we’ll coordinate a search right away. Now go with your
Ankida
,” said Karlo.

Ishme and Nyal exchanged a look. Markus had been there for them when Becky had been hurt and they wanted to pass that forward. “Nyal will stay with Becky. I will help search.”

Charl nodded his thanks and turned to Markus. “Stay here with Tammy; you can take the extra bed. One of the other women may need you.”

“Don’t worry old friend; I have faith you’ll find her.”

When the men left the hotel, they were surprised to see both limos standing outside. “I’m sorry, did we forget to pay you?” he asked the two drivers.

“No, we’ve been paid. Actually, we overheard you were planning to search for the bride. We don’t understand how you found out where she could be but we’re willing to drive you wherever you need to go,” said one of the two men.

“Thank you. We have a list of addresses throughout the city. If you could drop us off in groups, it would speed up the search,” said Charl.

“We can do that,” said the driver.

“We can help, too,” said a voice coming from the left. The warriors turned as a group and saw Brad, Gary, and another three men from the gay bar in Denver standing there.

“I called the hotel to check on you guys. You seriously overpaid on your tab. I spoke to a lady named Tammy and she filled me in, so I rounded up some friends to help. We each brought a car,” Brad told them.

He wasn’t a fighter, he was a waiter. Gary was a landscaper, and the others were a florist, a chef, and a hairdresser. But paired up with Nephilim, they could help.

“Thank you, my friend. We accept your help gladly. All of your help,” Charl said, looking each man in the eye. “Each of my friends has a list of addresses that have been texted to their phones. We’ll split up geographically and cover more area that way,” said Charl.

That said, they were quickly split into groups and pairs and were on their way in minutes. It was past three in the morning; they didn’t know how much time they had to find her.

Jural and Gary approached an abandoned office building. Reading the sign on the fence, it was due to be demolished in a few weeks. A broken lock on the gate meant someone had been there. He approached the building with caution. No longer did they charge into the unknown. Ishme and another warrior had discovered a drug lab in one building and had to fight their way out. They were out of the search dealing with the police and the aftermath of their actions.

Gary stayed glued to Jural’s side. After hearing about what had happened to two of the other searchers, he was re-thinking this whole situation. They quickly cleared the first two floors of the office building. When they approached the third floor, Jural detected the faint glow of light coming from under a door along the hallway. He approached the door but couldn’t hear anything coming from the other side.

Motioning Gary to the top of the stairs, just in case, he raised a foot and kicked the door in. Rushing into the room he barely looked around when a form covered in rags flew at him from the corner brandishing a knife.

As soon as the form made contact, he realized it was female. But it was too late to stop his defensive move from dropping her to the floor. There was another scream and a small child ran over and kicked him in the leg, and kept on kicking him.

“Don’t you hurt my mama! I’m not going to let you hurt her!” yelled the child. Jural quickly subdued the youngster, he didn’t want to hurt him or her, he couldn’t tell.

“I’m sorry, I’m looking for a friend who was kidnapped. I apologize for hurting your mama. I’m going to let you go now so I can make sure she’s alright.” Jural looked up into the corner of the room and could see the frightened eyes of a second child.

When he bent over the woman, she was just becoming alert. She had knocked her head against the floor.

Linda Samuelson looked up at the huge man and wondered if she had escaped her stalker only to be killed by a thug from the streets. She pushed herself across the floor and gathered her children under her arms. “Get out, mister, leave my children alone,” she said bravely.

Jural was impressed with the woman. But this was no place for them, it wasn’t safe. Still, like the other warriors, he had been trained by Sarah, Becky, and Tammy on what to say. Each of the Nephilim always carried with them a pack for such situations. While the search for Marla was crucial, so was saving this woman and her children. All women were important.

He pulled out a small tablet computer, an extended battery, a charger, and lastly some protein and candy bars. He laid them down on the floor in front of the woman. Then reaching into a pocket, he pulled out a roll of money, peeled off ten one hundred dollar bills, and added a business card to the pile.