[B.S. #2] Bound to Cyn (16 page)

Chapter Seventeen

Angel picked up his ringing cell phone and looked at the display. He smiled, seeing the club’s number. Cyn was calling him, just as she had promised.

“Hello, Cinnamon.” He was relieved to finally have the chance to connect with her.

“Well I guess that means Cyn’s not with you?”

“No.” Angel’s mouth went dry at Lance’s words. He glanced at his watch. “She should have been at the club hours ago.”

“I haven’t seen her at all,” Lance’s voice sounded concerned. “I thought you were both spending a lazy day in bed. I could see the sparks between the two of you last night. So I assumed that you got together. When’s the last time you saw her? I trusted you to look after her.”

“I know. I’m kicking my own ass now. I saw her a couple of hours ago when she left in her car to go to the club. She wanted to go alone. She told me nothing had ever happened in the daytime, so not to worry. I didn’t feel good about letting her go. But, you know Cyn, she was determined to go on her own. She promised to call when she got there. Are you sure she’s not in her office and you just didn’t notice her coming in?” Angel was praying that Lance had been so busy he didn’t notice her arriving at the club.

“Just a minute, let me ask Bob.” Lance put his hand over the phone, but Angel could hear him yell for Bob asking him to see if Cyn was in her office.

Bob replied back as he opened Lance’s door. “She never came in today. I’ve been at the door since noon. I’ll check, but there’s no way she got around me.”

Seconds later Bob returned. “No, her office is dark. I checked at the vanilla bar. They haven’t seen her either.”

Angel could hear Lance thank Bob and the door closing.

“Angel, did you hear? She didn’t make it. We have to find her.” Angel heard Lance rising from his chair.

“Wait, there is no sense going off half-cocked. Give me a few minutes. I’ll have Grant hack into the cameras on the highway and see if he can spot her. Maybe she just stopped somewhere.” Angel tried to stay calm, though his first reaction was to race out and search for her also.

“OK, I’ll give you fifteen minutes. If you don’t find her, I’m going to her house. If she’s not there, I’m calling the police.” Lance slammed the receiver down.

Angel snapped his cell shut and looked at the guys, who were all staring at him in concern. “Grant, Cyn’s missing and she’s not at the club. Can you hack into the highway cameras and see if you can see her on her way to the office? I’m hoping she just stopped someplace and lost track of time like she did yesterday.”

Grant rose and swiftly made his way to his office, Angel dogging his every step.

Grant sat down at his computer and within minutes was bringing up the highway feeds. “How long ago do you figure? I’ll have to hack in their archives.”

“About two hours or a little more.” Angel was leaning over Grant’s shoulder, watching the screen as he pounded at the keyboard. Finally he had the feed from two hours ago showing the highway that Cyn would have had to take to the club.

After a few minutes of watching the feed from different cameras, Angel finally spotted her car and pointed it out over Grant’s shoulder. “There she is, right where she should be if she’s going to the club.” Angel watched the car speed along the highway, with relief. Seconds later his face changed to concern as suddenly her car veered to the left and took the ramp west onto another highway. “What the hell is she doing? That’s not the way.”

Grant quickly changed camera feeds and caught up with her speeding along the highway heading out of Detroit. They watched for a while and when she didn’t get off at any of the ramps that would take her back into the city, Angel stepped back from Grant’s chair. “I don’t have a clue where she’s going.”

Clay and Brad had come into the office and were standing on the other side of desk. Clay asked, “Tell us what you remember about this morning after you got up and before you left? She might have given you a clue as to where she’s heading.”

Angel turned to Clay and headed over to the couch on the back wall of Grant’s office. Shaking his head, he sat down and swiped at his hair that had loosened from the tieback. “I knew I shouldn’t have let her go alone this morning. My instincts were right. Something was off. I just let her sweet talk me into seeing things her way. I should have my ass kicked for allowing it.”

Clay turned toward Angel. “I can kick your ass later. We don’t have time for it now if we want to find out where she’s heading. What did the two of you talk about this morning before you both went your separate ways?”

“We didn’t talk much. We just sat on her patio having coffee and she talked about her garden. I thought it a little strange because she only has a backyard the size of a postage stamp, not really enough room for one. But she was very animated about some seeds she wanted to plant. Something she planted when she lived at the commune. I soon got her thinking of other things and didn’t give it another thought.”

“Well that does seem to be strange. But not something that would give us a clue to where she’s going,” Clay replied as he sat down in the chair in front of Grant’s desk. Brad had just parked himself on the corner of it.

Grant turned his chair away from his computer and broke in. “Hold on one minute. I think if my memory services me correctly that at the trial she would spout out every once in a while. She carried on about how her garden was growing and about some seeds that she had planted. Most thought from her outbursts that she had gone off the deep end. Thank God Lance was there for her. She really looked spaced out from the pictures of the trial that I’ve seen. Give me a minute to check something out.” Grant turned back to his computer and started pounding on the keys again.

Angel grabbed his cell. “I’ll just call Lance and tell him what we know so far. Maybe he can decipher this garden stuff for us.” Angel was just starting to dial when Grant turned back to them.

“I knew I saw something about seeds. Here it is. It’s in part of the transcript of the trial. She interrupted the trial a few times when they were questioning that Ward guy. She stood up and told the judge that her garden was safe and the seeds were growing. They took her out each time she had an outburst. When it was her turn to finally take the stand, she was calmed down and hardly said anything. If it wasn’t for those high-paid top lawyers and probably Lance, she would be in prison or worse, ended up in a mental institute. There are no other references to seeds or any garden in anything else.”

Angel listened to Grant and opened his cell and called Lance.

* * * *

Lance came on the phone sounding out of breath. “Angel, did you find her? I’ve been running around the club looking but no one saw her and there is no trace that she even made it here today.”

“Lance, take a breath. I need to ask you something that happened at the trial. So calm down and listen. This morning Cyn was sitting on her patio with me talking about a garden and seeds as she stared into her backyard. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. But now Grant has dug out that she interrupted the cult’s trial, with outbursts about her garden and seeds. You were with her at the time. Can you tell us anything? I know it’s a long shot, but we just watched the camera feed from the highway and she took off from her normal route to the office taking a ramp heading west. It’s our only clue right now.”

“What the hell are you talking about gardens and seeds at a time like this? We have to find her. If she headed out on the westbound highway, she could be heading anywhere. I’m getting in my car and seeing if I can catch up with her.” The desperation was telling in Lance’s voice.

“Wait a minute, Lance. Think. She could get off any ramp before you make it to the highway. I know it’s a long shot, but we have to know if her talking about her garden and seeds this morning and the fact that she brought it out at the trial means anything. It could help us determine her state of mind.” Angel’s impatience was starting to show. He needed Lance to settle down and think.

“OK….OK, you’re right.” Lance sat down. Catching his breath, he continued. “You say she was talking about a garden and some seeds this morning? Come to think of it, when I first arrived on the scene down in LA, they had her in a cell all alone. Every time anyone would mention Ward’s name, she would start to talk about this garden of hers and the seeds that she had planted. After I bailed her out of jail and got us situated at a hotel, I called in the best shrink in the business. He got her to talk about the cult and living there, but we never did find out why she thought her garden and the seeds she planted were so important. After a few months the trial was over and the shrink told me she could function OK, but that it would take time for her to get completely back to normal. That’s all I know. God, I hope her mind is not going back to that time in her life. What the hell would be causing it after all this time?”

Angel thought for a moment and remembered the strange phone calls she had received. “Lance, remember the call she got the other day in the office? She acted strange with you and took off from the club. Could those calls be triggering something in her? I think she received one late last night. I didn’t question her at the time as it was so late and she got back into bed and went to sleep. Did she seem to act the same way, when she first left the cult?”

“Now you mention it, she did walk around in a dazed state then and a lot of things set her off. It was the same way the other day. I don’t know why I didn’t see it sooner.” Lance berated himself. Maybe he did know in the back of his mind but didn’t want to acknowledge it.

“Well, we at least know that something is triggering her. Why don’t you head over here and we can go over everything with the guys?”

“Be there in a sec.” Lance dropped the call and Angel closed his cell.

“I don’t know if you caught any of that? But Lance confirmed that she did talk about her garden and seeds a lot at first. She has been getting calls. In fact she got a call in the middle of the night last night. If it was a trigger, she is acting the same as she did that day at the club, taking off without thought. I think it’s time we picked up that Howard and had a talk with him.”

“I’d like to help, but I have my hands full right now with Laura. I don’t know who is after her or who even would want to harm her. I think if you guys can handle this, I’m going to disappear with her for a while. I know Lance is my friend and I am asking a lot of all of you.” Clay got up from his chair as he spoke, looking directly at Angel.

Angel knew Clay was torn between protecting his woman and helping his friends. “Don’t worry about it, Clay, you do your thing. Cyn is my responsibility now. Lance is your friend, but Cyn is my woman and I will find her if it’s the last thing I do. Just keep in touch if you go under. And remember if you need anything we’ll try to help.”

Clay walked over to Angel and clasped him on the shoulder. “I know you will. It goes both ways. Keep me informed and if I am needed I will come. And don’t forget James, for all his gruff, is just upstairs and I know he will help also.” Clay walked to the door and saluted the guys then turned and left.

Angel watched Clay leave then turned back to Grant and Brad. “Grant, I would really like for you to see if you can find her further out on that highway. I know it’s like finding a needle in a haystack but indulge me and see if you can find anything. I’m going to see if I can round up this Howard.”

Brad stood from his chair. “I’ll go after Howard. You have to stay here. Lance is coming, don’t forget.”

Angel looked at Brad. “I can’t ask you to do that. You could get arrested for grabbing this Howard. We really don’t have anything on him yet. Not enough for the cops to look the other way if you get caught.”

Brad look at Angel with a smirk on his face. “Give me credit. No one is going to see me snatch this guy. Remember, I was more than a sniper in the army. This is a piece of cake for me.”

“OK, I know you were one of the best on a takedown. I really should be the one going, but—” Angel broke off. He didn’t know what to say.

“But nothing, you stay here and meet with Lance. He might be able to give us some lead we need to be able to find out where Cyn is headed. It’s more important for you to find that out than to go out and grab some scumbag off the street.” Brad headed to the door, his hand itching to grab the men that had eluded them at the club.

Angel stopped him before he made it through the door with the question, “Where Chase? He didn’t follow us in here.”

Brad turned with a grin on his face. “Last time I saw him he had his cell out talking to his lawyer and asking about a safe house. I guess with James piping in about Sam, he thought he should take it seriously. He probably thinks he’s safe, but my money’s on Sam. She can’t be more than one step behind him. He better watch his ass.” Brad left, going down the hall, whistling to himself.

Angel turned and grinned at Grant. “Sam must have taken a shine to Chase. She usually doesn’t come after deserters herself. She usually sends her second-in-command. Hope she’s gentle with him when she finally tracks him down.” Angel’s face lost the grin as his thoughts returned to Cyn and wondered where she was and if she was safe. He watched as Grant turned back to his computer and started watching the highway feed along the west lanes.

Chapter Eighteen

Angel left Grant watching the monitor and walked back to the conference room. Lance would be here soon. He knew Grant would tell him as soon as he found any sign of her. Sitting at the long table, Angel allowed himself to rest his head in his hands. He couldn’t get this close to his soul mate and lose her so quickly. He couldn’t bear the thought of her being out there alone, maybe in danger, maybe not in her right mind. It must have been some powerful mind fuck that the cult did on her if they could come back years later and with only a few words bring her back to the state she was in then. He went over everything in his mind that Lance had told him about the cult and all that Grant had learnt. The pieces just didn’t seem to fit together for him. Maybe he would just have to take up BDSM like James after he found her and tie her to his side in knots. Angel’s chest hurt. He felt useless. Hopefully Lance would be able to help.