Chapter 86

* Lyon *

“We’ve got sound.”

“What, they let you back on the island?”

“They don’t know we’re back in.”

“I’m pretty sure Russo had a hand in this.”

“You would be right; only he could pull off something like this. That’s why we need him on our side.”

Another ingrate. “You still haven’t told me how you found every one of us.”

“Well, I was doing your job.”

“I’m not looking for fuck.”

“You found Lorde.”

“He found me.”

“If you say so.”

“I’m not in the mood for your hoodoo bullshit.”

“It’s the law of attraction, Lyon; they’re all coming home. Don’t you find it strange that the kids in Cali all found each other without knowing about their ancestral past? We should talk to Catalina about this; I’d love to hear her take on it.”

“You talk to her. I ain’t saying shit to that kid.”

“You’re just salty because she’s your carbon copy but in a cuter package.”

“Kiss my ass. By the way, if she has those lions on that island, I’ll leave the whole lot of you there to get eaten, dumb ass.”

“They were taken back to where they came from.”

“If you say so.” I wonder when he’s gonna wake up and realize that my kid has been playing him for years. Kat doesn’t even bother because she’s scared shitless of the kid, so she plays him and me off against each other instead. If I say no, Uncle Hank will most definitely say yes, and vice versa.

I’ve known it all along and thought he did as well, but sometimes I’m not so sure. “So, where do you think she sent Arianna?” Now he’s asking me questions.

“She’s still in Cali because the plane hasn’t left, but other than that, I have no idea. Her murdering ass can’t be here for long, not that she left any evidence behind, but still, I don’t think she’d hang around here for much longer, which means we should be leaving in another day or so. Make sure everything is packed up.”

“What about the other kid? The one that we didn’t find?”

“I sent Lorde after her.”

“Ah! So that’s what you were up to with him. How do they like the bikes?”

“I don’t care. What the hell does she want now?” My delightful offspring was calling.

“What is it Lucretia Borgia?”

“Daddy, are you spying on me?”

“Why are you eating poison, little girl?” I didn’t bother answering her because she knew the answer to that better than anyone.

“It’s an ancient custom, daddy. I read it in one of your books.”

“Uh-huh, what do you want?”

“Speaking of books, Daddy, guess what.” I knew before she said it that I wasn’t going to like what came out of her mouth next.

“Speak!”

“The silk road.”

“What about it?”

“Nia was looking at some radar from the area, and we think we found something.”

“What the hell radar does she have that can spy all the way out there?”

“She made it. Anyway, we think we found tunnels out there. You wanted to know how they were getting the kids in and out across international lines without raising the alarm right. Well, we think there are lots of places like the catacombs that interconnect, and this might be one of them.”

“What does this have to do with my books? I don’t recall reading anything like this before.”

“Marco Polo Daddy, he went on a trip to Cathay, and it got me thinking about that route and what it was used for and the fact that it’s been pretty much nonexistent for a while. Why would they let a system like that that was in place for so long and served such a purpose become defunct?”

“Mengele, go read Mary Poppins or some shit.”

“You told me that fairy tales aren’t real, remember? And besides, sugar shouldn’t be used with certain medicines because it might offset the chemical balance.”

“Okay, okay, okay. The silk road, I’ll look into it.”

“I’m sending you the information now.”

She hung up the damn phone again. “Where the hell did she get that annoying habit?”

“From you, who else? She mimics every damn thing you do. Think about that.”

“Dafuq!”

“Later, what was that about the silk road?”

I started telling him just as the information came in. He got to it before me, and I watched as he all but jumped around the room. “Fucking genius, why didn’t we think of that?”

“Because nobody has the damn time. What does that say? And how did they get radar in the damn Orient?”

He went deaf, dumb, and blind at that one. “I’m warning you right now when they set off an international incident, I’m sending the asshole law right to you.”

“Calm down; it’s not illegal, exactly. People have drones all over that place. But this is…. damn, I gotta get them some new toys for their computers.”

“Who are we sending out there? I’m already sending Jace, Flanagan, and Zak to Lorde with their women because he’s taking his girl with him, and she’ll need to be protected once Flanagan finds his woman, that is. Who do we have left?”

“It might not be wise to send the SEALs out there, not yet; there might be questions if they go near the Gobi Desert, seeing as they’re military men. Talk about an international incident.”

“Xin still up to his shit out there?”

“Roger that.”

“So that’s why Lorde got spooked.”

“I didn’t catch that; why do you think he was spooked?”

“It was in his breathing; it changed when I mentioned the Gobi. He probably thinks I’m spying on him.”

“Are you?”

“That’s not my forte. My daughter, on the other hand.”

“She wouldn’t do that; she has more class than that.”

“That’s what I thought, but the chambers of her mind are beyond me sometimes.”

“Don’t stress Colt; she’s doing well, she’s doing very well.”

“Yeah, but she’s ten. She should be running on the beach with her little friends, not spending all her time in a lab eating poison.”

“She does, she has moments like that, and when we get back, we’ll all make sure they do.”

“You see, look. The three of them are heading out to have fun.” I looked at the screen, and my eye started to twitch.

“Are you fucking blind or stupid? What the hell do they have strapped to their backs, and where the hell are they going?” Instead of heading to the beach, they headed in the opposite direction into the woods that surround the private island with high-powered compound bows on their backs.

“We don’t have eyes back there, Mancini.”

“Um, maybe they’re just going to practice.”

“The practice range is in the opposite direction, and those are not the bows I got them to practice with. What or who the hell is my kid hunting Mancini? Where’s Russo?”

“Um.”

“Say um one more time. Find his ass.”

“I don’t think he’s the problem; look at the screen.” Flanagan’s Poppy, his father-in-law, and his uncle-in-law came out on the lanai looking like beach bums.

“When the hell did they get there?”

“I don’t think that’s what we should be worrying about right now. It’s who they brought with them.”

“Who?”

“I’m as much in the dark there as you are, but I get the feeling that this is why the island went dark. They brought someone in; I’ll put bank on it.”

“So you’re telling me that Mengele is giving orders to retired murderers now?”

“Not everyone in the mob is a murderer Lyon.”

“My ass. Find out what the hell is going on, and for the love of fuck, don’t let Flanagan know.”

“Don’t let Flanagan know what?”

“Well fuck!” His eyes went immediately to the screen, which would be hard to miss since it took up half the damn wall because Mancini have issues.

“What the fuck are they doing there? I should’ve known. Whenever she goes rogue, they’re around. What the hell is it this time?”

“Look at it this way; now we know why she hung around L.A. so long. She must’ve handed off someone to them to take back to the island, but who?”

***

* Andrews *

Why the hell can’t I get out of L.A.? It’s not lost on me the irony that I’d spent my whole life trying to make it out here without any luck, and now I can’t wait to put this place behind me. I should never have gotten involved with these people. Now was not the time for second-guessing myself, though; I needed to find a way out of here.

It’s not like I could just hitch a ride; everyone knows my face, something I would’ve relished before, but now it has put me in a bind. I haven’t bathed in days, and I’m starting to stink; my stomach has been rumbling since my last meal two days ago, and I have not one penny to my name.

I was too afraid to call my wife again because the last time I did, I could swear there was someone else listening in, and that scared me more than the prospect of never becoming famous. My stupid daughter, this was all her fault. She had one job to do and failed miserably.

I still don’t understand how it happened. We kept the kid drugged up and had all but served him to her on a silver platter. All the money I wasted on plastic surgery and paying my way into places I would never have been allowed all so she could get close to Ryder Sumner has been in vain. I wish I had that money now.

I’d gone to Mary because I had no other choice, but I knew from the way she reacted to my presence and the fallout from the reporters outside her door that things had gone bad. Janie had said some things in front of the camera that I knew spelled the end, and so I ran. I didn’t even have time to steal anything, which was my plan all along.

I can’t turn to anyone in the church because that would show my hand and my position. There might still be a way out of this, so there was no way I was going to let anyone see me in this lowly state. It would be a bad memory when I was back on top again.

Yes, I should think positively; there’s still a chance we could turn this thing around. My kid may be stupid, but she’s got one thing going for her. Her obsession with Ryder isn’t just going to go away. If she could hang in there, she might still stand a chance. The magic woman, yes, she does good work. But she’d need to be paid.

I was starting to feel deflated again at the thought of all that would have to be done. But first, I need to get out of here. I’d found a spot in skid row, hiding out among the city’s derelicts and hating myself for having come to this. It was time to move on, though, before someone recognized me. I’ve already stayed here too long.

I kept my head down as I walked down the once-gilded streets. These are the places that men like Bogart and Stewart walked in their day. The old Hollywood elite would turn over in their graves if they could see what had become of this place now.

A home for drug addicts and the dregs of society, and now I was one of them. No, no, no, it can’t end like this. Once my career bombed, I put everything into my kid and this marriage. It was supposed to be my way back into the circles that I had always been left out of.

For once, I was going to be better than my sister, that bitch that refused to help me after she made it. But where is she now? Facing charges and a long stretch in prison. At least I had beaten her there. I was still a free man.

I saw a dumpster down an alley and felt bile rise up as I realized that I had walked in this direction because I knew that this was where the homeless men and women went to find food from the restaurant that backed onto the alley. There’s no shame, I told myself; I can’t get very far being as hungry as I am.

It’s only for a time; once I get back on my feet, I’ll make sure I never find myself in this position again. Ryder isn’t the only man in the world after all, if things don’t work out between him and Janie, I can always find someone else.

She’d got her feet in the door at least, and if she had any sense, she’d have made contacts, people she could fall back on in a pinch. Yes, that’s next on the agenda, finding a replacement husband for my daughter. Maybe this time we’ll find someone weaker. Then again, I thought Ryder was weak and look how that turned out.

I pushed back the heavy metal cover and my mouth watered at the smell of day-old food and grease. I had my body halfway into the dumpster when I heard my name. My heart started racing when I saw the two well-dressed men standing just a few feet away.

“Mr. Andrews. No, don’t run; there’s no way out of here?” I couldn’t even if I wanted to because my feet had gone numb. Janie had said too much, I knew it. And now these men that Mary had dealings with were here to collect.

“Who are you? What do you want?” I didn’t recognize my voice. Fear had taken hold of me, and I was going to soil myself any second.

“You’re under arrest for the murder of Mary Hudson?” One of the men walked towards me with cuffs in his hands and it took a minute for his words to register.

“What? She’s dead; why are you fingering me? I didn’t kill anyone.”

“How well did you know Mary Hudson?” He was behind me now, clamping the steel around my wrists as I shook in fear and terror. “We were barely acquaintances; we hardly knew each other.”

“Oh yeah, then why were your fingerprints found at her place?”