Chapter 25

Jarik's head felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it. He reached out to use the force to clear it, when he suddenly felt the emptiness.

"Sith. Freaking animals." He cursed the unseen, force-voiding entities that Cutter must have stashed around him. Jarik swore when this was over he was going to fly to Myrkr and kill every last one of those sithing things. Taking a few deep breaths, he slowly opened his eyes, happy to see that the light wasn't bright wherever they had dumped him.

He slowly moved his head to take in his surroundings and groaned. "What is it with bad guys and kriffing warehouses." He mumbled as he started to move his limbs to see if anything was broken. Surprisingly, he wasn't tied up. Whoever had taken him was either an idiot, or had no reason to be afraid of him. Of course without the force he only had this training from Jag to rely on. When he breathed in his chest felt tight, but it didn't feel like he had broken anything.

The sound of voices grabbed his attention and he swung his head to see who it was. Slowly, he kept his eyes on the new arrivals as he stood up to face them. This ought to be interesting. Two men out of the group made their way over to him, but the other three walked over to his left towards a chair and table that were bathed in the light of a bare bulb.

The two men coming his way didn't exactly make him feel very confident. They were built like Wookies and one of them had a grin on his face. Not good. They each grabbed an arm, twisting it back behind him to limit his movements. He didn't even bother to try and get away from him. It would be stupid to. Plus he was curious to know what was going on. He just hoped it didn't get him killed.

They half carried, half dragged him over towards the others, but didn't seat him in the chair as he thought they would. He was stopped in front of who he assumed was the host of this little party.

"What, no loud music, scantily clad serving girls or flashing lights? Man, someone needs to school you in the finer art of party throwing." Jarik snarked but no smile came to his face. Cutter simply narrowed his eyes then punched him in the stomach. Jarik stayed bent over for a few seconds, trying to catch his breath, before one of the behemoths holding him grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked him back up. Schooling his features to hide his pain, Jarik glared at the man in front of him.

"Just like your father." Cutter sneered, running a hand over his own chin. "Arrogant to the last."

"And how the hell do you know what my father is like?" He spat back, wincing as his stomach convulsed one last time before finally settling down.

"Oh I know all about the great Kyp Durron. Jedi Master extraordinaire. Miraculously reformed dark sider brought back into the esteemed fold of Grandmaster Luke Skywalker. Expert ruiner of innocent lives." He added the last part with a sneer.

Her steps moved her quickly up the steps to the second floor of the temple. Jared was practically jogging to keep up with her at this point, but she didn't care. She had to talk to Kyp. The door was open to Luke's office and not caring who was inside she walked in.

Four sets of eyes looked up in surprise at her entrance, but she only focused on one. Jade practically flung herself into his arms.

"What are you doing here?" He asked quietly.

"Missed you too, dear."

Kyp chuckled, squeezing her tighter. It had been too freaking long since he had gotten to hold her and he wasn't about to question why she was here. Yet. Luke beat him to the punch anyway.

"Jade, you shouldn't be here. If the police…"

She pulled back to look her husband in the eyes and took a deep breath. "Bela has asked to see me." She whispered, feeling his surprise and anger through their bond.

"Why?"

"I don't know. I just received the message from his lawyer. It didn't give specifics. Just said that he needed to talk to me and very soon."

Somehow her steps had brought her to the end of Industrial Row. There was no trail and she was trying very hard to keep her composure right now. She hadn't felt him in the force in a long time and tried not to think that it could be because he was dead. He couldn't be dead. She needed him too much. Karissa took a deep breath and centered herself. He was here somewhere, she just needed to find out where.

"Think Fel." She told herself quietly. "Where would someone take him." She scanned the buildings around her and started to move when her comm twittered. Not taking her eyes off the buildings she reached down and answered it.

"Fel."

"Where you at?" Micha's breathless voice came over the unit.

"End of Industrial Row. Where are you?"

"Stay there. I'm coming to you." He said, dropping the call and leaving her frowning at the place where his image had just been. She reached out and felt his presence growing closer to her. The sound of a speeder caught her attention and she turned to see one coming down the deserted street at a rapid pace. Micah stopped the machine in the middle of the road and hopped out.

"Have you found anything?" He asked as he finished strapping a second blaster to his thigh.

"No. I just got here when you had called."

"I'm assuming you can't feel him." He told her as he settled next to her. She could feel the turmoil of his emotions as he tried to keep them it together. He was pretty together for someone whose best friend had been kidnapped by a psycho that they now had a name for but still knew nothing about and who had just been betrayed by the person he loved. Later he would need to talk, but right now they were both focused on getting Jarik back.

Karissa shook her head at his question. Closing her eyes, she reached out to the buildings around her. This area was devoid of life. It had been deserted for about 10 years after a stricter set of pollution laws had been enacted and the corporations hadn't wanted to update their buildings.

"One of the victims was found out here." Micah whispered, not meaning to interrupt her concentration.

"That could be good." She responded, enlarging her search area and finding nothing.

"This could be his home turf." He added.

"I can't even find a kriffing bug here." She said disgruntled, as she started to cut off her senses. Then she stopped, grabbing Micah's arm in a painful grip.

"What?"

"There's a void." She said, her arm lifting to point to their right. "Over there, under the building."

Jade sat nervously in her living room as she waited for Bela's call. Seena had taken the children so she could be alone. Jared stood to her left, his arms crossed in front of him. He had insisted on staying while she talked to her former husband and she hadn't argued. It relaxed her at least a little.

Suddenly a chime sounded in the room and she came face to face with the man she had once loved. He had aged quite a bit since the last time she had seen him. His hair was grey now and longer than he'd probably ever worn it. He still had the same chiseled jaw and cold eyes that she at one time had found attractive, but now they didn't move her.

"Bela." She said simply, keeping her curiosity in check.

"You still look exquisite Jade." He told her quietly, a small smile coming to his face.

"Surely you didn't call me to comment on how well I've aged."

"No. Unfortunately I didn't."

"Then what do you want?"

"I had a visitor yesterday."

"And I should care--why?"

"An old friend came to see me. He told me a story I think you'll be very interested in."

"So let me guess." Jarik said. "My father wronged you somehow. You had family on Carrida?"

"No." Cutter offered, his face betraying nothing.

"You had him as a teacher and he yelled at you once?" Jarik said, quickly becoming tired of this game.

"He has nothing to teach me, so that would not be the answer either."

"Actually, my dad could teach you a few things about how to treat a woman." Jarik mumbled, wincing when the two men holding him squeezed his arms further behind his back. "Then what the kriff is your problem?" That earned him two more punches to his gut. Tasting blood, Jarik somehow managed to fight off the haze of pain that was trying to take a hold of him.

"My problem is that your father is alive."

Jarik's gaze shot up, confusion and anger mixed on it.

"But that will soon be fixed." He added, delivering a blow to Jarik's jaw that drove him backwards into the men holding him. "When he comes for you I can correct the error."

"Who came to see you, Bela?" Jade asked, feeling Jared's apprehension mix with her own.

"Edward."

"He's still alive?" Jared spoke before he could stop himself.

"Yes Obath, he's still alive. You're still shadowing senators I see."

"What did he want?" Jade said quickly before the two men started their verbal tirade against each other.

"To brag about his protégé."

"His protégé? Bela, what the sith does this have to do with…"

"Cutter has been molded by the bastard since he was four years old for one sole purpose in life. Revenge."

As soon as Jarik could get air back in his lungs and see straight, he found a laugh work its way up his chest.

"You think you can take my father? You're crazier than I thought." He told the man, a slight smile coming to his face.

"I'm not planning on taking your father on."

"Then how the frag…"

"I plan on trading his life for yours." Then he laughed. "Well, I should say I did plan on that."

"Cutter?"

"Yes, he's the lovely serial killer that's been terrorizing Coruscant for the last two years. Twenty-four years old, sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. Quite built from what I understand, if Edward is to be trusted with such mundane facts."

Jade stared at the former senator, confused. "He told you this?"

"Volunteered it freely. Like I said, he was here to brag."

"I still don't understand what this has to do with me."

Bela paused, looking as if he was composing himself for the next revelation. His eyes finally met hers and he swallowed visibly.

"He has your son. And he's going to trade his life for your husband's."