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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Chapter 14




It would have been easy if it had been Becky. Cody had pictured the reunion in her mind a hundred times on the brief drive to the airport, heard her niece elatedly calling out to them and jumping into his arms, making them a happy family again, making everything alright. It would have been better than getting to the airport, walking through the mostly empty, cavernous terminal behind a row of men armed with semi automatic weapons, nerves on edge, torn between hoping for the best and expecting the worst and finding out that it hadn’t been Becky, that it was just a little girl that had wandered away from her mother. A little girl that had had stick-straight strawberry blonde hair, not golden curls and had already been re-united with her own tearful family.

Now Cody had retreated into herself and was sitting in a nondescript grey chair near arrivals staring at petrified piece of gum on the floor. She could hear people talking around her, could even pick out Sid’s worried tone near her, but all she could really hear was her sister’s voice in her head reminding her that she’d promised to look after Becky, that she’d let her down, let them both down.

“I suck,” she berated herself, sitting on her hands because she didn’t know what else to do with them.

“You don’t suck.” Sid’s hand was on her shoulder, his fingers dug into the stiff muscles causing her to wince. The most talented masseuse in the world would not be able to work the knots out of his shoulders right at this moment. “And don’t....”

“Don’t tell me not to blame myself,” she hissed menacingly at him, turning one scornful eye up to meet his gaze. “I do, and so should you.” Those full lips that begged her to kiss them were suddenly pursed and his forehead creased as his eyes got dark.

“We’ll find her,” he told her and it was clear to Cody that he meant it when he said it. She wished she could believe it but the fact was she didn’t.
“You all keep forgetting one thing,” she muttered, turning her attention back to the bright pink wad of gum on the floor, “they don’t want her alive.”

“We aren’t dealing with child killers,” Gordon sat down beside her and reached for Cody’s knee. Unable to escape, she leaned away and crossed her legs in the other direction leaving his hand hanging in mid air. “They’re only hoping to gain control over the situation. Harming Becky is only going to make things worse for them and they know that.” Cody nodded but his words didn’t erase the darkly disturbing images in her head. “In fact, I’m willing to bet that Becky will suddenly turn up somewhere,” he continued in the same, low, soothing voice that she knew was supposed to keep her calm. She felt so calm she felt like she could stick a knife in his throat without blinking. “This is probably just their way of ramping up the pressure on you.”

“Well colour me intimidated then,” Cody replied quietly. “At this point if they return her to me, unharmed, I’ll get fully tatted up and ride around on the back of a Harley holding onto some fat guy with one of those t-shirts that says ‘if you can read this the bitch fell off’,” she added caustically.

“I don’t think it will come to that ma’am,” a deep, warm brandy tone of a voice snagged her attention and Cody turned in her chair towards its source. “I found this one in the duty free asking for ice cream.”
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“Sidwheee!”

Falling to one knee, Sid held his arms out just in time to have Becky launch herself into them, teddy bear and all. Hugging her tightly to his chest he felt his eyes fill with tears of relief. He hadn’t wanted to let himself go to the dark side, but he’d felt the same disappointment when they’d arrived at the airport to find out that they’d been on a wild goose chase. Looking over Becky’s head at Dakota, the palpable disbelief mixed with love and relief made his heart swell in his chest. Cody did a great impression of a mama bear.

“I think somebody else missed you too kiddo,” he whispered into her golden curls as he got to his feet and walked around the bank of chairs to put Becky into Dakota’s lap. “We were so worried about you,” he added as Becky turned to wrap her arms around her Aunt’s neck as Dakota buried her face in her niece’s hair. He stood back, just watching them for a moment and then Cody held one arm out toward him. Telling himself not to sob like a girl, Sid fell to his knees and wrapped both of his girls up in his arms.

He pressed his lips to the top of Becky’s head and then to Dakota’s tear stained cheek. He’d thought losing game six in the Igloo had been the worst night of his life. If this wasn’t worse it was a damn close second he thought as he held onto two people who had become his whole world in what seemed like a very short time.

“Who took you?” Cody’s trembling voice finally asked the question he knew that all the men who were doing their best to give them some privacy while keeping a close and protective eye on them wanted to know as well.

“Cathy,” the little girl answered as she knelt on Cody’s lap and reached for her bear which had fallen on the floor when she’d made a grab for Dakota’s neck.

“That b...,” Cody managed to censor herself and take a deep breath before she cursed. Sid admired her reserve in that moment. “I’ll kill her with my bare hands.”

“It’s okay. Nice man tell her me and teddy not go on plane without you,” Becky explained, leaning forward to wipe away some of Dakota’s tears. “Don’t cry Aunty Cody.”

“A man? What man?” Sidney asked quietly, his hand steadying her as she turned and reached for him again. He felt her little arms slide around his neck and Cody nodded as Becky slid back into his arms.

“Him,” Becky pointed to a dark haired man who was standing not far away, his arms pinned behind him, held between two Bahamian police officers.

“Oh my god,” Dakota hissed, “it’s the guy from the pool."
______________________________________________________________


The first thing she wanted was her gun in her hands so she could put a bullet in his face. It was her first and entirely visceral reaction. It took a moment for her to fathom what Becky had actually said.

He brought you back...here?” Cody asked quietly, searching her niece’s face for any sign of fear as she looked up at the big man with the skull tattoo on his neck and the ‘Ride it like you stole it’ t-shirt straining across his obviously well built physique. Becky nodded and smiled up at the man whose whole appearance, at least to Cody, screamed shaggy haired stranger. He was exactly the kind of guy she’d been warning Becky to run from on sight. “Why?” she asked the stranger as she put Becky down on the floor and, keeping a tight hold on her hand, walked towards him. She noted that he wasn’t struggling and the relaxed way he was standing suggested that his two guards weren’t keeping a particularly tight grip on him, which meant they didn’t think that he was going to try and escape.

“My name’s Ken and I’m a friend of Bri’s,” the man said quietly. “When I heard what happened...when I went to see if Becks was okay...if she was going to go into care...well, let’s just say I wasn’t going to let that happen.” Still wary and still keeping her guard up, Cody had to admit that she was already mentally awarding this Ken guy brownie points.

“How did you follow them?” Gordon asked, motioning for the guards to let him go. As they unlocked the handcuffs and Ken rubbed at his raw wrists, Cody tried to read his face, his body language. Was he a threat? Was he lying?

“I saw you leave one morning with the cops and you were pretty easy to follow from there,” he told Cody directly. “I’m sorry, by the way, if I scared you at all but you don’t know me and I wasn’t sure you’d believe me if I just walked up and offered to be your guardian angel or whatever.”  Cody nodded. She was pretty sure that she would have called the cops if he’d done more than just stand around and watch them.

“So when you followed them...?” Sidney asked, taking a protective stance behind her. Cody turned to look up into his face to see that he was not just wary but angry.

“Yeah, well...I guess I wasn’t ready to believe that just because you’re advertised as a good guy that you were,” Ken shrugged and then held his hand out towards them. “You’ve definitely proved that you have their best interests at heart.” Cody looked at Ken’s hand and then back at Sid who was likewise staring speculatively at the outstretched appendage.

“So is that why you weren’t around when that guy came busting in the other night?” Sid asked quietly, his glance sliding slowly up from Ken’s hand to his meet his gaze with an expression that held a clear warning; give the wrong answer and he’d be breaking that hand, not shaking it.

“Yeah, I figured between the agents parked across the street and you...she was in good hands. Sorry ‘bout that.” As Cody watched the two men shook hands, grudging smiles on both of their faces.

“Wait...so you knew this guy was watching me?” she asked, turning to look at Sid.

“Well I thought he was stalking you actually,” Sid owned up with a shrug. She wanted to stay mad at him, mad at them both, but the little display of male hormones had made that almost impossible. “Thanks for bringing her back,” Sid added more softly, placing his hand gently on top of Becky’s head. She looked up at all of them and beamed.

“Yeah, well I wasn’t there for Bri...I guess it was the least I could do,” Ken shrugged. Cody was about to ask him what he meant by that when the consulate’s agent reappeared.

“We’ve got some questions for you about the people with Becky,” he said in a tone that said it was serious but he didn’t want to scare the little girl. “And we’ll send a detail back to the hotel with you two.” Ken gave them both a smile and then followed the police and the consular officer away. Cody watched them go and then felt Sid’s arms slide around her waist.

“I think we could both use some sleep right about now,” he whispered in her ear.

“Mmm,” was her only answer as she leaned back into the width of his chest and blew out a long, slow breath of relief.

“Can I have my ice cream now?” Becky asked, tugging on Cody’s hand.

“I don’t know, what do you think?” she asked, without looking back at Sidney. “Do you think there’s any place open this early in the morning for ice cream?”

“I guess we’re about to find out,” he chuckled as he pressed his lips to her temple and then unwound himself from her to reach down and swing Becky up onto his shoulders. “What kind do you want squirt? Bubblegum or Rocky Road?”

“Liquorice!”

7 comments:

  1. YES, they found her! I can't believe they had to go to the airport, and she was almost gone. And then I was mad that Cody was mad at Sid and blamed him and I was, like, ARGGHHH NOOO. I wanted it to be all rainbows and butterflies and live happily ever after. I like these twists though, very riveting. It's a good distraction from the Hawks/Canucks game tonight that I'm super anxious for :)

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  2. This has too be the cutest chapter ever. I cried, and you are becoming very successful at making me cry lately lol Im soo happy she's safe

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  3. Nice details, filling in some of the question marks but the plot thickens!
    Their little family is adorable and hope they have a few more fun adventures on this forced "vacation".. Thanks for keeping us going here with 14. Trying to wait patiently!

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  4. So glad that they found her!!

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  5. It is great to hear that they found Becky! Great work with the chapter..can't wait till 15! :)

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  6. OMG i can only imagine what is going to happen after this. i hope to god that nothing happens to the both of them!!!
    and secondly, what the heck are they going to do abt those agents???? or at least when is the court dates for those thugs????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

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  7. you do not know how happy I am that they found Becky. STUPID "AGENTS". ugh. wow. who would think that the creepy stalker was actually a good guy. love the male hormones too. nonetheless. great update. can't wait for the next one!

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