Page 100 of Peaceful Chaos

Doppelganger

Raven

Phones ring all the time.There's nothing particularly ominous about the trilling sound signaling an incoming call. Unless of course you're waiting for news. When you're waiting, the sound of a phone threatens change. Change can be good or bad, but you never know until you take the call.

Javier grabs his phone and puts it to his ear. "Hello," he answers.

I can't make out what the person is saying on the other end of the line, but it's clear whoever it is is screaming.

"David, I can barely understand you. I need you to stop yelling and talk to me."

Javier listens for a moment, then the color drains away from his face, and the phone slips out of his hand.

Arthur steps up and puts his hand on Javier's shoulder. "Javi, what's going on."

He shakes his head several times. His mouth opens and closes, over and over, but no sound comes out. He slouches against the wall, then drops to his ass.

Arthur bends down and picks up the phone. "David, this is Arthur Whitmore. Can you repeat what you told Javier?"

He listens for a minute, then clears his throat. "We're on our way."

Devastation. That's what I'd call the look on his face. My stomach churns, and whatever he's about to say, I don't want to hear it.

Natalie walks into the room, and a sob escapes Arthur's mouth. "It's happening again," he whispers.

"No!" Natalie screams, somehow understanding before the rest of us what is happening.

Sensing a threat, Sin moves behind me and wraps his arms around my waist.

"Damien and a few men ambushed David on his way to the airport. They knocked him out. They took Tempest," Arthur explains.

"Oh God!" I cry out.

His dark eyes fall on me then flick up to Sin's. There's an apology there. "He said he'd give her back if we give him Raven."

Natalie sobs and starts to fall, but Lucien holds her up. "How can he expect me to give him one daughter to save the other one? How can I make that choice?”

I straighten up and wipe off the tears I didn't realize were rolling down my face. "I'll do it."

"No," Sin shouts and spins me to face him. "We'll get her back. You are not sacrificing yourself, especially because he won't give her back anyway."

"He's right," Javier agrees, pulling himself together. "Tempest is too close to his obsession. He's not going to turn her over."

"Then what?" I demand. They can't tell me to sit still, be safe behind their ever-present guard, and do nothing.

"We follow the plan," Holbrook says. "And we end this once and for all."

* * *

The long planeride back to Playa Pacifica is tense and quiet. Sin sits next to me the entire way, never letting go of my hand. I can feel a desperate fear humming under his skin. I wish there was something I could say to ease his distress, but I’m not sure I wouldn’t feel the same as he does if the situation were reversed.

I wish Sin’s parents were with us. They seemed to be reconnecting while we were all together, but we all decided Arthur and Carina should stay behind in Illinois. There is still the matter of the DA to handle, and keeping the governor far away from the take-down of Damien is essential.

We tried to convince Natalie to remain with Carina. She's been through the same experience, and the Whitmores can keep her safe. But she wants to be present the moment we rescue her little girl. I can't blame her.

David is on the runway waiting for us as Javier's plane taxis toward the hangar. The staff rolls up the stairs and we descend to talk to him.

Sin is radiating tension, and I know he's ready to blow. He steps between me and David. "How do we know you aren't going to double cross us? I understand you want to do anything to get your daughter back. I'd want to do whatever it takes if it were me. How can we trust you won't work behind our backs and turn Raven over to him?"

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