Chapter 8: A Traitor Among Us
AN: Thank you to all who reviewed! Hugs and kisses to you all.
JASPER
"Hello?" a gruff voice said on the other end of the phone.
"Hi. I'm looking for Lonnie," I said unsurely.
"One minute." I heard footsteps, someone call for Lonnie, and a phone being passed.
"This is Lonnie," a deep voice said.
"I was told to contact you. I need some business taken care of."
"What're the deets?"
"The deets?" I asked.
"The who, where, when, why and how," he said in a bored voice.
"Oh. It's my new boss, David Granger, and his family. He has a wife and two kids. One girl, one boy."
"Do you want the entire family or just the guy?"
"The whole family."
"Okay. Where are they?"
"They live at 1131 Sycamore Avenue in Santa Fe. It's a big house with a big tree in the front yard. Hanging from the tree is a tire."
"Okay. When do you want this done?"
"Thursday at night. The usually go to bed around10, so any time after that."
"Do you have a preference for how?"
"Make it painful."
"Any reason why?"
"David got a promotion I deserved because his wife and the president's wife are sisters. It's not fair. I bust my ass every day, working hard, and I never get any rewards for it. Well, I'm sick and tired of it. David Granger is going to pay for this."
"Do you want my guys to say anything to them before they finish the job?"
"No, I don't care. Just make sure they suffer."
"Got it. As soon as the money is wired into our account, we'll do the job. It's a pleasure doing business with you, sir." He hung up the phone and I sunk down into my chair. That job was mine now. Once the Granger's were out of the way, there was nothing stopping me from taking control of the company. After all, Henry wasn't going to last much longer as president. Once he was gone, it would all be mine.
********
JPOV
"Okay, explain this to me again," I said, sitting down next to Alice. I still didn't understand how a girl's nails could determine how long she had been here.
"Jas, she has acrylic nails!" Alice hissed, glancing back to make sure Eva wasn't listening to us. She was still in her hut, probably taking a nap.
"Alice, I have no idea what that means."
"Yeah, me neither," Emmett piped up.
Rosalie sighed. "You guys are so stupid. Acrylics are fake nails. They only last about 3 weeks before they fall off. If she has acrylics, she couldn't have been here for eight years."
"Is there any way she could have maintained them here?" Edward asked, trying to give Eva the benefit of the doubt.
"Not unless there's a nail salon on this island," Cynthia said, looking at him as if he was stupid.
"Well, what are we supposed to do about this?" Leah asked. "If she hasn't been here for the past eight years, then obviously she came back for a specific reason. What if that reason was us?"
"Leabug, that seems a little ridiculous. I mean, how would she even know we were here?" Mike said.
"What if she's working with the person who took our kids," Alice said quietly. I looked at her, unable to believe Eva, the woman who had rescued us from this island, could possibly be behind our children's disappearance.
"I don't know," I said. "I mean, we know Eva. She rescued us from this island!"
"Do we really know her?" Rosalie asked. "I mean, she brought us to a ship where they imprisoned and tried to kill us! Eva said she had no idea, but I don't believe that. I guarantee her getting beat by the men on that boat was an act. She was probably working with them, trying to eliminate us and the members of her team so there weren't any witnesses to what really happened on the island."
"Rosie, that's ridiculous," Emmett said, putting his arm around his wife.
"I just can't believe this!" Leah huffed. "I mean, we named our son after her! And now it turns out she's a backstabbing, manipulative bitch!"
"Well, what are we going to do about this?" I asked. We knew Eva was lying. The next thing to do was confront her.
"What do you mean what are we going to do? I say we take her into the woods…" Emmett trailed off, cracking his knuckles.
"Not helping, Emmett," Edward said, shooting his brother a look.
"Why not? I say roughing her up a bit could help us out."
"Emmett, please," Rosalie sighed. "If we attack her, we'll never find Charlotte and Gisele. I say we confront her and try and get her to tell us where the kids are."
"And when that doesn't work," Emmett said, "We beat it out of her."
"Emmett!"
"Sorry, baby."
"Edward," I said, ignoring Rosalie and Emmett, "What should we do?" Everyone turned and looked at Edward. Since he had been our unofficial leader last time, I thought it would be best if he made the decision.
Edward looked at Bella, then sighed. "I saw we confront her nonviolently." He turned and gave Emmett a look. "I say we go from there. Maybe if we're calm about it, she'll tell us where the kids are."
"Why would she do that?" Leah asked, seething. I think Eva's betrayal was hitting her harder than the rest of us since she had named her son in honor of her. "She's probably feeding information to whoever took our kids as we speak. I mean, she led us to the east side, and then we were attacked. If that doesn't scream traitor, then I don't know what does."
"Leah, we have to try," Edward said calmly. "If there's a chance she'll turn on her employer, we have to try. If she doesn't tell us where our kids are, maybe she'll tell us who took them."
"And why," Bella added.
"Ugh, I hate this feeling of not knowing what's going on," Alice groaned. "I want to know if David is okay."
"I know," I said, kissing her on the cheek. "I want to know too."
********
"Lonnie's Custom services here. You pick 'em, we whack 'em. How can I help you?"
"Tony, it's J."
"Oh, hey. Do you need to talk to Lonnie?"
"Immediately."
I could hear Tony's footsteps as he went to find Lonnie. I had urgent news her needed to hear.
"J! So good to hear from you. To what do I owe this phone call?"
"I found him," I said.
"Found who?"
"The kid. The kid your guys failed to kill 10 years ago when they took out the Grangers."
"Really? Well give me his location and I'll send Tony and Leo over to finish the job."
"It's not that easy. He's a well-known celebrity now. His murder would spark a big investigation, incriminating not only you, but me too."
"Who is this guy?"
"Jasper Whitlock."
"For real?
"Yes. I saw him on television yesterday, and I recognized him instantly. He's got that same goofy smile he's always had."
"So, what do you want to do?" Lonnie asked.
"I have a way to permanently get rid of Jasper Whitlock, and a few other people, without getting our hands dirty."
"Okay, I'm listening."
"I know this guy, a former business partner of mine, who lives on this island. It's an uncharted island that's impossible to get to unless you know how. He has something there that can bring down a plane. I can give him a call and tell him to take down Jasper Whitlock's plane."
"Okay, but what if he gets off the island?"
"That's where you come in. You and your guys take a team of my people on a freighter to this island. Then, once you get there, kill anyone remaining on the island."
"How am I supposed to get to this island if no one can find it?"
"I know how to find it. I'll send my assistant, Eva, with you. She'll have a group of people with her. They need to recover something of mine from Aro, anyways. Eva has instructions to kill any survivors once the mission is complete. If she, for some reason, decides to be noble and bring them on board, kill her along with any of the survivors."
"Okay, tell me if I'm missing something, but how are you going to ensure Jasper Whitlock is on some plane?"
"He has a movie premiere coming up in Japan. It just so happens the woman who killed one of my best friends will be in Japan for a photo shoot. This will be the perfect time to take them all out."
"Okay," Lonnie said. "I'll get my men together. We'll be ready whenever you are."
"Perfect." I hung up the phone, smiling. I would finally be able to exact the revenge on all the people who wronged me in life.
********
"Okay, so when Eva comes out, we ask her about everything, agreed?" Edward asked everyone.
"Agreed," I said, squeezing Alice's hand.
"Do you really think we can get her to tell us where our kids are?" Leah asked.
"I have no idea. Well, if she tells us anything, it will put us ahead of where we are now. I mean, we have no idea where they are. They could be anywhere on this island, and we've only checked one area."
"And that one area was a trap," Cynthia reminded us. I nodded in agreement.
"Eva knew the kids weren't there. She took us there to fuck with us."
Bella sighed. "I know. It's just frustrating that we trusted this woman, and here she goes and teams up with someone who wants to harm our kids. I wonder who this guy is."
I thought about that too. It was obviously someone who knew about us and the island. It was someone who knew what had happened here, and it was someone who knew Eva. Suddenly, it dawned on me.
"It's her boss!" I hissed.
"Huh?"
"Her boss took our kids. It all makes sense now! I bet they were never here to rescue us. I guarantee they were always planning to kill us, no matter what Eva said."
"If you feel like explaining yourself, it would be a big help to all of us," Emmett said sarcastically.
"Okay, so whoever took our kids knew we were lying about the island. The only way he would know that is if he knew what happened here. Eva's boss sent her here, so he knew what was going on. He knew what island we were really on. He knew that there were more than ten that survived the crash. He knew everything. He was also the one who sent the freighter here and told those men to kill us."
"Oh my god," Alice gasped.
"I know. I think Eva knew about the plan to kill us from the beginning, but the other people from her team didn't. I think the only reason she brought us on the boat was that she wouldn't be able to explain to Savannah and the others why she was going to kill us. I mean, it would be a little odd. She knew the men on the boat would kill us anyways."
"That bitch!" Rosalie shrieked. "I knew from the beginning we never should have trusted her! See, I was right all along. She never wanted to save us. She's just a cold, heartless, miserable excuse for a person."
"My idea for beating the location of the kids out of her still stands," Emmett offered. I sighed.
"Now what are we going to do?" Bella asked.
"I say we go and grab her and force her to take us to our kids!" Mike said.
"I agree," Seth said. We all looked at Edward.
"Given the circumstances, I say that's the best option."
"All right!" Emmett cheered. "Let's go get us a bitch!" We all got up and stormed over to Eva's hut. Emmett, who was in the front, tore her door down and gasped.
I looked in, and saw it was empty. Eva had gone.
********
James Howard carried the little girl back into the room where all the other children were. She was unconscious after what had just happened. He opened the cage where Evan was and laid her on the ground. She didn't move.
"What did you do to her?" Evan yelled.
"We just had a little fun," Jim said, laughing. This plan was going perfectly. He had the kids here and their parents were on the other side of the island, being fooled by Eva. Nothing could go wrong.
Suddenly, the door to the building burst open and Eva rushed in.
"Eva? What are you doing here?" Jim asked, confused.
"They know," she whispered.
"Who knows what?"
"Bella, Edward, all of them. They know I'm lying. They know it's you. They know we took their kids."
Jim sighed. "Oh well they know. Nothing we can do about it now. At least they don't know where we are."
"I think they might," she said quietly.
"What do you mean?" he growled.
"Bella had been talking about checking this area out, but I told her it was destroyed and there was nothing left. Now that she knows I was lying to her. I think they might come over here and check it out. When they get over here, they're going to see the buildings were rebuilt. We need to move."
"Eva, this is the best area to hold the kids. Where else on this island are there giant cages?"
"But J—"
"Besides, we are well protected here. I say let them come. Let them try to defeat me. I'm going to get the revenge I've been waiting for years to deliver. They will rue the day they ever crossed James Howard."
"I still don't know what they all did to you," Eva said, looking at her boss.
"Here, come with me and I'll explain it to you," Jim said, taking Eva's hand and pulling her into the next room. Once they had disappeared from sight, Evan Newton turned to look at Charlotte Cullen. Her eyes were still closed.
"Charlotte, wake up!" he whispered, grabbing his friend by the shoulders and shaking her. Charlotte opened her eyes.
"Evan? What happened?"
"Mr. Butthead took you into the other room for awhile." Charlotte giggled at the name Evan had given their captor. "He brought you back out and you were sleeping. Charlotte, you're bleeding!" Evan said suddenly, pointing at Charlotte's face. On her cheek, a gash was trickling blood. "What happened back there?"
"I don't really remember. I remember him bringing me in the back, then pulling at my clothes. When I bit him, he hit me, and that's the last thing I remember." She looked sadly at Evan.
"Why is there blood between your legs?" he asked, pointing to her. She looked down and saw the inside of her legs were bloody. She couldn't remember how it had gotten like that.
"I don't know." Charlotte began crying.
"Shh, it's going to be okay," Evan said, putting his arms around her.
"I just want my mommy!" she sobbed into Evan's chest. "I miss her and Daddy. I just want to go home."
"We're going to get out of here, I promise," Evan said, patting her on the back.
"How can you say that?" Charlotte asked, looking up at Evan with her big blue eyes.
"I have a plan."
Over in the cage next to Charlotte and Evan, Olivia and Emily were lying on the ground, crying.
"I want Mommy," Olivia cried.
"I want Daddy," Emily cried. The two sisters held each other's hands until the fell asleep, still crying for their parents.
Next to them, Ryan and Bryant were staring down at their cage mate, Gisele. The three-year-old hadn't said a word since she had been taken from the hotel room in California. Ryan was beginning to worry about her.
"Bryant, is she okay?"
"I don't know." Gisele had been lying on her side, sucking her thumb, for the past day. She just stared straight in front of her, not acknowledging anyone.
"Gisele?" Ryan said softly. She didn't appear to have heard him.
"I think she's in shock," Bryant said.
"Emmett is going to kill us if something happens to her."
"Not if this guy kills us first."
Okay, so I know this chapter was kind of boring. It's going to get much much better after this chapter right here since this was basically all the characters talking and not doing anything _ I'm sorry, but it was sort of necessary. Prepare for action next chapter!
