Breaking The Rules_ A Novel Part 45

Ouch.

He tried to imagine how awful it must've been, to have survived all that Eden had-the hurricane, the flooding, her courageous quest to save Ben, and her a.s.sumed failure despite all of her sacrifices-and then have her own mother believe Ron's lies.

"She's damaged," Dan told Eden now, talking about Ivette.

"I know."

"I'm damaged, too," he admitted. "But...I'm getting better."

"Is that an apology?"

He forced a smile. "I kind of feel like I should start every sentence I ever say to you with I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He sighed. "I know it's lame to make excuses, but growing up in that house, with Sandy? I used to go out, looking for her, late at night, so she wouldn't spend the entire night pa.s.sed out on the neighbor's lawn-or worse, in the street-"

"You don't have to explain," Eden said. "I was there, too."

"You were so much younger."

"But I knew what you were doing."

"I am am sorry," he said. "Because you were right when you said...what you said. You're sorry," he said. "Because you were right when you said...what you said. You're not not Sandy." Sandy."

Eden nodded. "And you're not Dad. I know that, too."

She was talking about his accidentally hitting Jenn, and he had to look away so she didn't see the tears that leaped into his eyes. Or maybe it was okay to let her see. "Thank you," he said.

"Thank you, too," she whispered back. "Although, for a while, I thought I was. Sandy. After...I think maybe I tried to be just like her, since everyone thought...And I made a lot of bad mistakes, I'm well aware of that. I also owe you a lot of money-I want to pay you back-I've got most of it-"

"From stripping?" he asked, looking at her, and she didn't disagree. "Like that's that's not a mistake?" not a mistake?"

"I quit," she told him. "Working at the club. Izzy asked me to, so..."

"Good," he said. "Because you have plenty of other options."

The look she shot him was not one of agreement.

Dan sat forward. "You do," he said. "You're good with kids-weren't you working as a nanny for a while?"

"For a single mom," she said. "But the women with the husbands? They don't want to hire me. Believe me, I've tried."

"You know, Jenk and Lindsey are having a baby," Dan told her.

Eden's face brightened. "I know. Izzy told me. That's so great."

"Jenk was telling me that there's such a baby boom going on, over where Lindsey works, at Troubleshooters, they're talking about setting up child care, right on the premises."

"Seriously?" Eden asked.

"One of the pregnancies is Tommy's wife, Kelly," Dan said. "And since he owns the place..."

"Well, that's really great," Eden said.

"Sophia's pregnant, too," Dan said. "You remember her, right?"

"The Sophia you have a mad crush on?" Eden lowered her voice to ask, her eyes wide.

"Had," he corrected her, glancing toward the kitchen. "Past tense. Very, very very past tense." past tense."

"How did that that happen? By immaculate conception? While she was flying around on her perfect angel wings?" happen? By immaculate conception? While she was flying around on her perfect angel wings?"

Dan had to laugh. "No, I'm pretty sure it happened the good old-fashioned human way. She's married now. To Dave Malkoff."

"What?" Eden said, her mouth dropping open. "Wow, I missed a lot. It's like I went away for a while, and came back to some kind of weird alternate universe where Princess Sophia married married the grumpy troll." the grumpy troll."

"Dave's not so grumpy anymore."

She laughed. "I bet."

"If you want," Dan said, "I could check with Tommy, maybe get you a job interview. If they're actually gonna go ahead with the child-care thing..."

She was silent, so he quickly added, "Unless it's too soon, you know, for you to work with, um, infants. And I'm sorry if that's a touchy subject-"

"No," Eden said. "No. It's not. I just...need to think about it a little bit, before..."

"Just let me know," he said. "Okay?"

She nodded and they sat in silence for a moment, but then Dan had to ask, "Do you, I don't know, want to press charges? Against Ron? I don't think it's too late. Statute of limitations and everything. We could-"

She was shaking her head. "Ron's already in jail."

"But not for what he did to you," Dan pointed out.

"You and Izzy are so much alike," Eden told him. "Always ready to rush in and slay the dragons. Ron's in jail-he can't hurt anyone else. And me? I'm...okay."

"Are you?" Dan asked.

She didn't answer him directly. She just said, almost wistfully, "Do you think maybe things would've been different? If Charlie hadn't died?"

"Maybe," Dan said, smiling as he remembered the one man that their mother had hooked up with that he'd actually liked. Loved, even. "I don't know, Eed. Ivette seemed to be the happiest she'd ever been when she was with him, so...Yeah. Maybe."

"He was teaching her how to be human," Eden told him, using close to his own words. "But he ran out of time." She laughed, but it wasn't because she thought anything was funny. "Do you know he was the only only person who told me that I was going to be okay, after John Franklin dumped me? Everyone else told me I was going to h.e.l.l, that person who told me that I was going to be okay, after John Franklin dumped me? Everyone else told me I was going to h.e.l.l, that you reap what you sow you reap what you sow, but Charlie told me that making bad choices was a part of growing up. I'd made the mistake of believing John, and...Live and learn, Charlie said. But then, just a few days later, he was gone. And then Katrina happened, and the thing with Ron, and...I started making bad choices on purpose. Because I didn't think I deserved anything better."

"Is that why you were fighting with Zanella?" he asked her quietly. "Because you don't think you deserve to be happy?"

"No, actually, I'm good with being happy these days," she said, and she looked away, but not before he saw the misery in her eyes. "Izzy, um, told me he was leaving. For good."

s.h.i.t. "Eden, he sometimes drives me nuts, but he's..." Dan laughed and rolled his eyes. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but...beneath his outer a.s.shole, you were right. Zanella is is a good guy. I mean, tonight? When he went off? a good guy. I mean, tonight? When he went off? f.u.c.k you and f.u.c.k you! f.u.c.k you and f.u.c.k you! That was pretty beautiful. And if there's one thing that I have absolutely no doubt about? Even when he's p.i.s.sing me off? It's that he loves you." That was pretty beautiful. And if there's one thing that I have absolutely no doubt about? Even when he's p.i.s.sing me off? It's that he loves you."

"Yeah, well, great. He's got a funny way of showing it." She stood up, clearly not wanting to talk about this. "We need to focus on finding Ben. If he is is at Crossroads, the stress is going to be intense. When Izzy calls, we should be ready to meet him with this"-she held up the meter-"and some insulin." at Crossroads, the stress is going to be intense. When Izzy calls, we should be ready to meet him with this"-she held up the meter-"and some insulin."

"Maybe he's not there," Dan suggested. "Maybe he went out looking for his freaky little friend. Neesha. Or...maybe...Do you know if Ben has a, you know..." He cleared his throat. "Boyfriend?"

Eden shook her head. "I don't think he does, no. He really hasn't had any friends at all, since Deshawndra. Seriously, Dan, Neesha's the first person his age that he hasn't shut out."

"Are you sure?" he asked. "A boyfriend might be different. Maybe he wouldn't tell you. I mean, I don't think I told anyone about my first girlfriend..."

"There's this h.o.m.ophobic kid, Tim," Eden said. "At school. And this boy, Bo, he's got a crush on. Ben, not Tim. But Bo's so far in the closet...How did Ben put it? He can't even see the door."

"Maybe Bo turned on the closet light," Dan said. "Jenn said Ben spent a lot of time earlier today doing something on Facebook."

Eden didn't look convinced. "I think he was trying to track down the boyfriend of that kid he met at Crossroads. Peter something, from Connecticut. He wanted to make sure Peter's friends knew he was at the facility here in Las Vegas. I didn't quite get it when Ben first told me-how could this boy's friends not know where he was, you know? But now it makes sense. If they ship kids across the country..."

"It's twisted," Dan agreed.

"It's worse than twisted," Eden said. "Jenn said she thinks it's illegal. Transporting minors across state lines...? She's going to talk to Maria and that other lawyer, Linda Thompson."

It was then, before Dan could say, that's good that's good, that it happened. There was a knock at the door.

They were both startled, and they both looked over to check the time on the VCR. It was 0213.

"Maybe Ben forgot his key," Dan suggested. "Maybe all the drama is going to end-right now."

"Please, G.o.d," Eden said as she stood up.

Dan stood, too, relentlessly cautious. "Don't just open it-check the peephole first."

Eden pointed to herself. "Female, living alone?" she said, shooting her brother a you better believe it you better believe it look as she went to the apartment door and peeked out through the peephole. look as she went to the apartment door and peeked out through the peephole.

She'd expected it to be Izzy, but there was no one there. Or rather, there was no one there of his height. But when she looked down toward the concrete walkway...

"It's Neesha," she said to Dan and to Jenn, too, who'd come to stand in the kitchen doorway. She pulled the door open and it was, indeed, Ben's freaky little friend, as Dan had so aptly called her.

The girl was a mess. She was still wearing the clothes she'd had on when Eden had spotted her near the Starbucks-a T-shirt beneath which the sequined straps of a hot-pink halter top peeked out, and a pair of black pants that were dusty and torn at the knees. Her hair was a matted, sweaty mess, and she had dirt mixed in with the streaks of perspiration and tears on her face.

"Oh, dear Lord," Eden said. "Get in here."

The fact that the girl came swiftly inside, and even helped Eden close the door securely behind her was telling. She was terrified and exhausted. And had probably been running, full speed, since Eden had seen her last.

In the living room, Danny had gotten to his feet, but he sat back down as Neesha eyed him nervously.

Jenn, meanwhile, had gone back into the kitchen and she now brought Neesha a gla.s.s of water. "Honey, here," she said, handing it to the girl. "Drink this. You're okay now. You're safe with us."

But Neesha looked up after taking only a sip from the gla.s.s. And as she looked from Jenn to Eden and over to Danny in the living room, she said, "But I'm not. And you're not safe here, either. They know where you live. They were here, in the courtyard."

"Who was?" Jenn asked as Eden glanced over at Dan. Like her, he already knew what Neesha was going to say before she said it.

"The men who are chasing me," Neesha said. "They were here here. Four hours ago. I saw them. They took Ben."

Danny snapped instantly into Navy SEAL mode, getting very decisive, very quickly, after Neesha told them, in pretty specific detail, what she'd seen and heard-and a condensed but no less horrific version of precisely why those men were chasing her. a condensed but no less horrific version of precisely why those men were chasing her.

The man from the mall, whose name apparently was Jake, had been in the courtyard with two other men-one of them named Todd, whom Neesha knew not only because he'd worked as a guard at the brothel where she'd been a slave, but because he'd also been one of her "visitors," or clients, for years.

Jenn didn't want to think about what that meant. And there really wasn't all that much time to focus on that aspect of the nightmare-because Neesha had overheard Jake telling the other two men to shoot and kill Dan and Izzy on sight. He had somehow known they were in the military and therefore a threat.

The girl had also overheard Jake telling his cohorts to wear masks-so their abductees would believe they would survive their kidnapping.

Which meant that the men who had taken Ben had every intention of killing him-no doubt immediately after he divulged Neesha's location.

Except Ben had no idea where Neesha was hiding.

And this time, Danny didn't need his uniform to become larger and commanding.

"Get your things," he ordered both Jenn and Eden, "your handbags, whatever. Grab Ben's insulin, too. We're leaving. In about thirty seconds."

"I need to call Izzy," Eden said, her phone already out in and in her hands.

"You can call him from the road," Danny told her, checking to make sure he'd put his own cell phone into his jeans pocket.

"I'm calling him now," Eden told him.

"Kill the light in the hall," he said as Jenn stayed over by Neesha, giving the girl what she hoped was a rea.s.suring smile as the light went out so that Dan could go into the bedroom and look out the window and into the courtyard without being seen.

"He's not picking up," Eden said. "Come on, Izzy...Answer your phone!"

"Doesn't it seem really unlikely," Jenn said as Dan turned off the bedroom light, "that they'd come back here? They got what they wanted, right? When they took Ben? I mean, I know it's not safe for us to stay here, but to have to rush away?"

Dan stopped there in the bedroom doorway to grimly say, "If they've had Ben for four hours, they know by now that he's got no information that'll help them find Neesha. So yes. They'll come back. To get Eden, who helped Neesha escape. They'll think she knows something, and they'll come while it's still dark."

"Oh, my G.o.d," Jenn said as he went into the bedroom.

"Eden, s.h.i.t, come here," Dan called in a rough whisper, and Eden followed him.

"Oh, c.r.a.p," Jenn heard Eden say. "That's him. The man with the gun, from the Starbucks. Izzy, where are are you?" you?"

"Oh, my G.o.d." Jenn said again, her heart in her throat. "Are you serious?"

"Keep watching them," Dan commanded Eden, adding, "Jenni, put the chain on the door and throw the bolt." He limped out of the bedroom and over to the window in the living room-the one that looked out over the street-as he dialed his cell phone. "s.h.i.t. There's a van idling on the street. That's not good. Neesha, were you followed? Did anyone see you come here?"

The little girl was shaking her head, terrified. "I was careful. I waited and watched-even after I saw you come home."

This little chain on the door wasn't going to keep anyone out for long. Not if they wanted to get inside. Jenn turned back to Dan.

"There are two men in the courtyard," he told her, even as he held his phone to his ear, "and one of them is the man Eden tried to run over earlier tonight. They look like they're waiting for someone. Whether they're here for surveillance or...something else, they're sure as s.h.i.t not even attempting to be covert-No, I can't hold-G.o.d d.a.m.n d.a.m.n it." it."

"If we try to leave," Jenn started.

"They'll see us," Dan confirmed, holding out his phone and glaring at it. "There's no way we're sneaking out without that happening. And with my f.u.c.king leg, we can't outrun them-"

"Yeah, sorry," Jenn said, looking around for something to push in front of the door, since leaving wasn't an option. "But I'd bet big money you can still still run faster than me, even with your 'f.u.c.king' leg. So we hunker down. Shouldn't we call the police?" run faster than me, even with your 'f.u.c.king' leg. So we hunker down. Shouldn't we call the police?"