AN: We're heading for the end now. Only one or two chapters left
Thanks to MeteorOnAMoonlessNight for beta'ing this hefty chapter. Unfortunately, when I did a read through, I found a few bits not quite to my liking so if there are any mistakes, they are all mine.
Disclaimer: SM owns the lot!
Chapter 43
Edward
Home Grown Justice
My body went cold and my heart leaped into my throat. I knew leaving her without my protection was wrong. I swore under my breath and swallowed hard. "Emmett, I'm on my way now and I'll be in Sydney at eight am your time. Can you meet me there?"
"Sure, Edward, I'm already here. Rose is in the hospital for observation so I'll wait around here. Anything else you want me to do? Should I call the AFP? I'm sure they can help."
I shook my head, knowing that Emmett wouldn't see it. "No, I don't want to do that for now." I could almost hear Emmett's protests and quickly plowed on. "I know they'll have procedures to follow, Emmett, but I don't—no, can't risk them getting in the way. This has Black written all over it and we can't afford to waste valuable time, and that's what the AFP will do. They'll want to do this their way and that might get her killed—or worse. Right?" His silence told me he wasn't too happy about it. I thought quickly, while the intercom over my head blared out the final call for the flight, trying to work out how to deflect him. "How's Rose doing? Have you called Charlie and Renée?"
I breathed a sigh of relief when he next spoke. "She's doing okay and yes, I called him already while I waited for you to land. He's on his way, too, though he won't be here for twenty four hours after you." A short pause came before he gave me the answer I'd been waiting for. "Okay, Edward, we'll play it your way for now, but we'll revisit the discussion when you get here."
"Okay, Emmett, thanks. I gotta go, so I'll speak to you as soon as I get to Sydney. Don't worry, if you can help it; we'll get her back."
"Right, Edward, see you soon." Emmett hung up, and I tucked my phone in my pocket as I headed through the security desk and onto the plane. Taking my seat, I called my voicemail service, listening to the message Bella must have left me around noon today. Her tone of voice said it all; she was furious and rightly so.
"What the heck, Edward. Why haven't you called me back? I miss you and I need to see you, so I've booked a flight back to the States for tomorrow. It lands in Chicago at five o'clock Sunday. Can you pick me up, please?"
The next few seconds filled me with terror as I heard Bella's scream echo. The other voice I could hear was that of Jacob Black's, followed by the sound of what was probably her phone hitting the ground, and then the call ended abruptly.
"Fuck," I muttered just as the stewardess walked past and motioned for me to end the call now that the doors were closed and we were taxiing for take-off. There was nothing I could think of that I could do right now; reluctantly, I switched it off.
The rest of the flight time crawled slowly. I picked at the meal that was served, unable to stomach it. While I would've liked a drink, I wanted to stay stone-cold sober; I would be no use to Bella any other way.
The fifteen-hour flight was excruciating. Trying to sleep was an exercise in futility because each time I drifted off; I was pulled awake by nightmares that left me in a cold sweat. I knew exactly what Jacob Black was capable of and what he wanted from my Bella, and he wouldn't really care if she was willing.
By the time the plane was descending for landing I was a wreck, having drank more coffee than was good for me. I'd really wanted a whiskey, but I knew I needed to be on top of my game if I was to figure out how to get Bella back safely. Eventually, after what seemed like a hundred different delays, I caught sight of Emmett waiting for me in the arrivals lounge. He was pacing back and forth, glancing up to the board and back to the entrance doors. Relief crossed his face as his gaze caught mine, and I pushed my way through the passengers milling around looking for their rides.
"Edward." He grabbed me in a one-armed hug, and I could almost feel the relief pouring off him. "Fuck, am I glad you're here. I have no idea what to do or even where to start looking. Rose is really upset and wanted to be here but the doctor told her she had to rest; you know with the baby and everything."
"Hey, Emmett, congratulations. I didn't know you were even trying for a baby." I stood back and clapped my hand on his shoulder. "I know it wasn't her fault; she has nothing to blame herself for, and we'll figure it out. Come on, where are we staying?"
"Thanks, we were keeping it quiet for a bit longer; she's only ten weeks along, right? Have you heard from Bella? Or from this Jacob Black?" Emmett was all over the place jumping from one thing to another, rubbing his hands over his face and fidgeting.
"Yeah, I got a voicemail, from Bella. She must have called me while I was en route from Chicago to LA." I sighed heavily, rubbing my hands over my face and raking them through my hair. "Nothing from Black himself. Oh God, Emmett. She called to tell me she'd booked a flight and was on her way to Chicago; to come to me. I know it was his voice I heard, and then a scream from Bella. I think she must have dropped the phone because I heard a bang and then nothing. I've been going out of my mind for the last fifteen hours, wondering what the fuck happened. Tell me what you know?"
"Fucking hell," Emmett swore. "Rose said she got a call from one of her clients, and she asked Bella to go with her to help out, I suppose. Something showed up on the dashboard, and Rose thought it best to check it out. She had to land at a small airfield, which is completely normal out in the wilds. While she checked it out, Bella went inside the hanger out of the sun, and the next thing, Rose was waking up flat out inside the plane and Bella was gone. That's when she must have made that call; someone was waiting for them. Come on, let's get out of here." Emmett turned and led the way out of the doors into the morning sunshine.
"Did Rose see or hear anything that might help us?" I asked when I caught up with him.
"Nothing. Whoever hit her came up from behind. It was definitely planned because the air traffic controller was found with his head bashed in. He's okay, but he doesn't know anything either." Emmett sounded as frustrated as I felt. "Rose wasn't able to start the plane―some sort of damage―and called me to let me know what happened. That's all we know for now. "
We'd reached the parking lot and Emmett's jeep. He unlocked it and swung himself up into the cab. "Are the local police involved? Have you called Charlie?"
"After Rose spoke to me, she called them. Deputy Waylon Forge— you remember him, yeah? He and his partner, Officer Denali came by the farm often to check on Bella. He's over at the airfield right now checking the scene out; not that there's much to go on; the air traffic controller didn't see anything either. Mom and Dad are on their way back and should be here tomorrow morning. I've booked a hotel room; I'm guessing we'll need some sleep while we figure out what to do and wait for them to get here. Someone'll call, won't they, Edward? They have to want something, right?" There was a silence in the car as we both got lost in our thoughts.
Emmett pulled the car out into traffic and headed west out of the airport grounds while I turned over what we knew, looking for a clue; anything that might tell me what to do next. Emmett pulled into the underground parking lot of the same hotel they and Bella had stayed at previously, although the room we were given when we checked in was a different one. I wasn't sure how I'd have handled the same one. There was nothing to do but wait now until Charlie and Renée, who'd refused to be left in the States, arrived. Even though I hadn't slept on the plane, I was unable to relax enough to take a nap and we spent the next couple of hours watching sports on the television.
The rest of the day passed in much the same way, trying to sleep, watching television and pacing up and down, and discussing ways in which we could both find and rescue Bella. Half of me was willing the phone to ring and the other half wanted to call Shane. Unfortunately the latter wasn't the best idea. I needed to be at least one step ahead of the AFP because if they got wind of this, I was pretty sure they wouldn't allow me to get involved and there was no way I would be staying back, with Bella clearly in danger.
Eventually, I retired to the bedroom shortly after midnight when I just couldn't keep my eyes open. I woke to loud voices coming from the other room and the bedroom door slammed open against the wall, jerking me from sleep. Charlie burst into the room, and immediately launched on the offensive before even getting fully into the room. "Where the fuck is my daughter, Edward Cullen? It's your fault she's missing."
"Charlie." Renée stepped in behind him, dragging on his arm. His murderous look, told me he would have loved to tear me limb from limb. "Let him speak, please."
"Hold on, Dad." Emmett stepped between us as Charlie was preparing to lash out. "We don't know anything yet so back on up there until we explain the situation. Right now, we're waiting for Aro Volturi or Jacob Black to call, and before you say anything you might regret, yes, we are pretty sure either one or both of them will."
The silence hung in the air until Renée took Charlie's arm and urged him to calm down. "Why don't we order some room service while we wait for this Aro to get in touch?" She took charge, leading Charlie out of the room and before long breakfast and coffee arrived at the door. I took a seat on the sofa, attempting to eat, but everything tasted like ashes in my mouth, and I went back to pacing the room, throwing back cup after cup of coffee that I didn't even taste and tugging on my hair as the frustration mounted.
Right now, we had absolutely no idea where Bella was, though I would bet that it was Aro and Black that set this up. I don't know how they knew where she was or got to that plane, but I had a horrible feeling that there were more hands in this than just those two bastards.
Emmett left to pick Rose up from the hotel, arriving back within an hour. He settled her on the end of the sofa and ordered tea from room service, fussing over her like an old mother hen. Longing gripped my heart as I realised that was exactly what I wanted with Bella and inside I was terrified that I'd never get the chance.
When the harsh ring of my phone echoed through the room, I froze as all eyes landed on my phone on the coffee table, Bella's name flashing across the screen. I grabbed at it, swiping to answer. "Bella. Are you alright, sweetheart?" I was hoping to hear she was well away from Aro, but that hope was squashed as the whiney tone of what had to be Aro's voice greeted my ears.
"Well, well, Edward Cullen. I've been trying to get ahold of you for a while, now. It's so nice to hear your voice. I have someone here who wants to speak to you."
I put the phone back on the coffee table and quickly put the call on loudspeaker, taking a seat close to it. The sound of Bella's angry voice in the background doused me with relief, knowing that she was at least still alive. "Get your hands off me, fucker, or I'll break your fingers." I almost laughed at the words that proved to me she was in fine form. "Edward, I'm okay. Not happy, but okay. Don't you come here, do you hear me? I won't be responsible for something happening to you." She shrieked as the phone was snatched out of her hand and Aro was back. Renée's hand covered her mouth and her eyes filled with tears as she heard Bella's voice, although she said nothing. Rose's gasp of horror was loud.
"Take no notice of that, Edward. We won't harm her"—Aro stopped for a second, sounding gleeful at the situation—"if you do exactly as I say."
"Don't you touch her, Aro, and I'm warning you to keep Black away from her, too. If you harm one hair on her head, no place will be safe for any of you. I'll find you and wipe you and your fucking hangers-on out in a heartbeat, if it takes me a lifetime to do it."
"Now, now, Edward. So dramatic," Aro practically cooed at me and my skin crawled at the sound. "Nothing is going to happen to your Bella. I'm not after revenge; my brother was an asshole, but he was good at his job, and that was procuring money. Now I know you have plenty of that so if you follow my instructions everything will be absolutely fine and everyone will get what they want." He was definitely a little unhinged, but he seemed to be confident that I would do as he said and I could use that to my advantage.
"Where and when?"
"Wait for my call. Oh, and Edward"—Aro's voice hardened, no longer acting the genial, laughing man from a second ago—"no police or authorities of any sort. If I get even a sniff that you've called anyone, you'll never see her again." The dial tone echoed as he hung up without another word.
I turned to face Emmett, who'd been leaning over the back of the sofa, listening. "That's even more reason not to call in the AFP, Emmett; I can't risk Bella's life. I'm pretty sure that wherever Aro is, Black will be there, too, so we have to come up with a plan right now."
Emmett nodded. "I'm with you on that, Edward. From all you and Bella have told me about Black, I don't even want to think about what he might do, and I don't like the sound of that Aro, either. What do you want to do?"
"I want to help, Edward." Rose had shifted closer to me, putting her hand on my arm. "I feel like this is my fault. I should have known something was wrong." I shook my head in denial, knowing that there wasn't anything she could have done differently. "Tell me, what can I do?"
Before I could formulate a reply to either of them, Charlie's roar of outrage blasted through the room. "What the fuck? You can't be fucking serious. We need the AFP, hell, even Interpol, on this. You're gonna get her killed." He rose from the armchair opposite where I'd been seated, the coffee table between us where the phone still sat. "Who is this Aro? What does he want with our Bella?"
It seemed that both Bella and I had been a little cagey with how much information we'd let Charlie have, and although he knew about Black and his part on the island, neither of us had told him about Aro and Caius.
"Dad, calm down." Emmett pleaded with Charlie while both Rose and Renée were trying to stop the situation from escalating. I held up my hands to stop it.
"It's okay, Rose. Neither Bella nor I have been totally forthcoming. Some of the things that happened on the island were pretty bad. Aro Volturi is Caius's brother, the man I killed on the island. If I hadn't, it would have been so much worse for everyone there. More people would have died."
I glared at him as he leaped to his feet and paced the same route I had done minutes earlier. "I knew you were bad news, Cullen, I just knew it." He almost seemed to be talking to himself until his glare settled on me. "It's your fault she's in this situation so you can just get back on that plane and butt the fuck out. Me and Emmett will deal with this; we don't need you." He jabbed a finger in my direction.
Renée was tugging on Charlie's arm again, and Rose had made her way to stand in front of him. It was Renee who spoke. "Charlie, none of this is Edward's fault. You have to know that. Please, sit down and listen."
While I understood his anger and pain, there was no way I'd be going anywhere unless Bella was the one to tell me to. A wave of veracity washed over me as I realized that I'd done just that, and walked away without really actually asking her what she wanted. At no time had she told me to go, and I'd been too afraid to come outright and tell her that I was staying, thinking that I had to let her make her decisions without input from me. Right from the beginning I should have left her in no doubt about what I wanted, and that was her. I fisted my hair between my fingers, mostly in frustration and an attempt to calm down before I said something I'd regret. He was her dad and had a right to his say, but she was mine now, too, and I would not be backing down.
"Sir, with all due respect, I know you're hurting as much as I am right now, so I'm going to excuse you pushing me away. I also know you're a law-abiding man and will always want to do the right thing. But"—I stopped to take a breath—"I'm going nowhere until she tells me to. Again, with respect, you know fuck-all about men like Aro Volturi or Jacob Black. Aro doesn't give two shits about the law. He's worse than Caius, his brother, and he was insane as far as I can tell. You can forget ideals or morals; both Aro and Black have none, they're in it for the money. Bella is just a means to an end for Aro."
Charlie opened his mouth to speak, but I bulldozed on. "As for Jacob Black; you do understand just what he'll do to Bella, don't you? He's wanted her from the first time he laid eyes on her, and whether she wants him or not, eventually he will take her—by force if necessary." Both Renée and Charlie paled. "Right now, Aro is the only one who's holding Black back; that, and the promise of money. I'm taking no chances with her safety, and as soon as I know where we need to go, I'm off." I looked over at Emmett who hadn't said a word since Arohung up. "You're with me, Em, right?"
Emmett looked at his dad a little sheepishly, but then squared his shoulders. "Sorry, Dad, but Edward's right. He has the expertise, and I'm not willing to put Bella's life in danger by going against what Aro's said."
I breathed a sigh of relief that we were on the same page. "Look, Charlie, I know you don't like it, but it's happening my way. If you don't want to know what we're going to do, then you and Renée should get a room, and Emmett and I will make some plans while we wait for Aro to call. Rose you should go with them so you're not on your own. And before you ask; no you can't come with us. You need to keep yourself and that baby safe and we have no way of knowing what will happen once we find them."
Rose's eyes held mine for a minute before she closed them and nodded just once in agreement. I looked over her head at Charlie. "If you choose to stay here, you have to agree to stay quiet. I mean it—not a word to anyone outside of this room." I stopped speaking and watched while Charlie struggled with his decision, his eyes flicking from Emmett to me and then over to Renée. Her gaze was the one that made his shoulders slump as he let out a long breath and gave in.
"Okay. We'll do it your way for now." He took his seat again without another word, and Renée slid into the small space beside him, lending him her strength. She mouthed 'thank you' at me, accepting my nod of appreciation.
Emmett walked around the sofa and took a seat at the opposite end to me, pulling Rose down and tucking her under his arm. "What's next then, Edward?"
After refilling my coffee cup for the fifth time, I glanced quickly over at Charlie, deciding that if he interfered, Emmett and I were out of here without telling him anything more.. "Okay, call me a paranoid bastard, but I installed an app on Bella's phone which tells me where it is. It's a simple thing and I'm hoping Aro isn't clever enough to work it out, though Black might. It doesn't matter whether they know or not, now that I have a location. Up until the call, her location has shown as the airfield where she was taken, so I figured out that either her phone was damaged when she dropped it, or someone had deliberately turned it off. Unfortunately, it only works when her phone is switched on. Once it's off it holds the last position in memory."
I rubbed my hand over my face, feeling over-tired now that the adrenaline rush had worn off. Everyone's eyes landed on the phone on the table, which I picked up, selecting the app that would show me the location of her phone. "With Aro's call it shows that she's somewhere in this area." I pointed out the large green circle showing on the phone. "I think Aro made a mistake using Bella's phone, but I can't bank on him doing it again so we need to get out of here now, just in case he decides to move."
"That's a large area, Edward. How are we going to find her, short of a door-to-door search?"
"Not right away, Emmett, but it might come to that at some point. It's a small seaside town, and we're heading out of season now so we might get lucky. I have no idea what information Aro is going to give us, but I'd bet it's not clear-cut, so I think we should head back to the airport and get ready for a flight to Melbourne. Can we do that?"
"Sure thing, Edward. Should I put in a flight plan, or should we wait until Aro calls again before we head out?"
"Caius was the brains, if you can call it that, so I think Aro won't be quite as clued up as his brother. I reckon it would be safe enough to get out of here so we can touch down later today and lay low. He's gonna want to leave me to suffer but I don't think he's stupid enough to leave everything to chance so my guess is he has someone watching us."
There was a clamor of questions from everyone as I voiced that thought. I raised my hand. "Hold on! Before we start running around chasing our own tails, we need to get out of this room and we need to lose whoever is watching us. I have no idea who or how, but I would bet that whoever it is, they are fully aware of where we are right now, even if they aren't privy to our conversation."
Deliberately ignoring Charlie was childish, but heck, he'd pissed me off. "Renée, you haven't checked in yet, have you?" When she shook her head, I continued. "Can you make a performance out of getting a room? I don't know; insist on an upgrade, tell them you booked a room and they're stupid for loosing your booking. Anything to draw attention to yourselves."
"I can help with that," Rose smirked. "I can pretend to faint. That should be enough. Why do you need us to do that?"
"Emmett and I are going to slip out through the kitchen and pick up a ride a few streets away. We'll leave the jeep and almost everything here." I looked over at Emmett. "Do you have a gun of any sort?" At his nod, I asked, "Where is it?"
"There's a locked box in the plane with two handguns, a rifle and ammo. I didn't know if we'd need anything, but I thought it best to be prepared."
"Thanks for that. I resigned from the service, and of course, handed my gun ID, I couldn't bring another with me. Stupid, I know," I said, "But I didn't know I was walking into this. With hindsight, I should have just taken a leave of absence again. But what's done is done. Let's get a move on."
"We could call Waylon and see what information he has." Emmett's suggestion was a good one, and I pulled up his number on my phone.
"Waylon. It's Edward Cullen."
"Hey, Edward. I'm sorry about Bella. We're doing the best we can to find her, but Australia's a big place and we have nothing to go on. You heard anything?"
"Nothing. I was calling you for the very same thing. What did you find at the airfield?"
"The place was clean as a whistle. Unfortunately for us, the fingerprints we managed to identify gave us no leads at all. Turns out Mrs. Robinson wasn't having the baby, nor did she call the station. They just logged the call and passed it onto Dr. Swan; Rose. Looks like that was a setup to get them out of the house. Sounds like someone made detailed plans." He stopped for a minute, but I could hear that he wasn't finished; he had more to add.
"What is it, Waylon? Is there something else?"
"Funny thing, though; the day it happened, Tanya just up and left."
"What do you mean, she just left?
"Well, it's not unusual as such. A lotta people can't take the life out here; it's kinda borin' most of the time. We get the occasional breakin' and enterin', domestics and the like, and for some, it don't prove to be a problem. Usually, those that don't like it complain a lot, and start lookin' for transfers elsewhere, but not Tanya."
"What was different about Tanya, then? She seemed to be happy enough with the life before I left. What changed?"
"That's what I don't understand; nothin' changed. Just one day she was here and the next—gone. I can't help but wonder if there's some sorta connection with what happened to Rose and your Bella. She dint even resign; just up and left." He repeated his first sentence, sounding confused.
"Nothing you could've done, Waylon. Have you spoken to the AFP about it?"
"What's to say, Edward? It's a shade odd, but all I got is a gut feelin' that somethin' ain't right, ya know?"
"It's okay,
We'll find out." What I didn't say was that I was beginning to think that Officer Tanya Denali wasn't at all what she seemed." We chatted for another couple of minutes and then ended the call.
I narrowed my eyes and glanced at everyone in turn, thinking as I spoke. "I'm not liking the sound of that. It makes some sort of sense if we link Tanya to Black, and though I don't know where Aro is in all of this, I'd bet that he and Black are in it together. It was definitely Black's voice on that phone call, so how did he know where Bella would be on that day? He had to have known where we were staying somehow. Someone watched me leave; they knew she was unprotected. I know Waylon did his best, but he was only one man, or one team." I turned over the events in my mind before continuing, almost talking to myself. "Not many people knew we were staying with you guys. Waylon, Tanya, Marcus, maybe his boss, you and Renée, Charlie."
"What about the AFP guys? Could they have said anything? I don't know this Shane—"
I shook my head slowly. "Not his style, Emmett. He was frustrated at how Aro had gotten free and it was he who brought up the idea of a leak in the department. George, the other officer in on the interview, wouldn't have said anything, either; I'm sure of it. Marcus wouldn't have discussed anything outside the need-to-know circle, though I suppose it could be someone in the team back in Chicago." I shook my head. "No, my gut says it's someone much closer than that."
"We can guess all we want, Edward, but we won't know for sure unless we catch whoever the fucker is." Emmett eventually broke the silence that had descended for a few minutes. "I've filed a flight plan for Melbourne, so let's get out of here and go get our girl."
Emmett and I grabbed our backpacks and headed for the door. As we stepped into the hallway, the elevator bell sounded, telling us that someone had arrived at our floor. Not wanting to be seen in the vicinity of the hotel by anyone, I urged Emmett in the opposite direction to the elevator. "Come on, let's take the stairs." I kept my voice low and thanked the gods that the bank of elevators was around the corner from the door to the room we had been in a few short minutes ago.
When we reached the landing at the base of the stairs, Emmett hugged Rose and kissed her lips and then her forehead before she, Charlie and Renée split away from us, heading for the reception desk where they would be causing a ruckus, while Emmett and I carried on down the stairs toward the lower ground floor where the kitchen was situated. Walking through the kitchen, we got a few odd looks from the staff who were preparing meals, but no one really took a great deal of notice as we walked quickly and purposely toward the rear doors. Behind us, I could hear Renée's raised voice doing as she had promised; creating a scene to attract a watcher's eyes.
I pulled a baseball cap from my backpack while looking both ways. I could see that the small access road behind the hotel was totally empty, both of people and vehicles. That meant we would have to go further afield to find transport, making it difficult for us to stay out of sight. I really hoped that Renée kept up the show longer.
I knew that the hotel stretched right to an intersection to the left of where we were standing. "Which way, Edward?" Emmett had donned a baseball cap, too, and while they wouldn't make us disappear, we would hopefully fade into the crowd. Clichéd but effective nonetheless. I had no idea who might be watching for us. It couldn't be Black, as I was pretty sure he wouldn't leave Bella's side, nor was it Aro, although I had to acknowledge it might be him. I was pretty sure he thought of himself as important, and would have delegated one of his minions. That left Riley, Demetri or Tanya. It also could be Jordan; I didn't trust that fucker further than I could throw a piano.
I shook off the thoughts for now; speculation would get us nowhere, although I hoped it wasn't Demetri or Riley, who would be more vigilant than anyone else. "To the right it's a short distance to a fairly major road, I think, so we should go left. I don't want to risk finding a ride in too public a place." I turned and started jogging along the rear of the hotel, past a few other businesses. "We need to find a reasonably nondescript vehicle; one that won't stand out easily in a crowd."
At Emmett's shocked look, I added, "We're only borrowing it, Emmett." He shook his head and said nothing, following me without question. We'd come a long way since that first meeting and I knew we were well on our way to being great friends. We reached the end of the road without finding anything suitable and crossed the road to continue the search and it wasn't long before we lucked out, finding a jeep similar to Emmett's at the rear of a small café, and even the engine was still running. In seconds, Emmett slid into the driver's seat, accelerated toward the end of the street, and out into the traffic. I waited for the shouts from behind us, but there were none; I hoped it bode well for what lay ahead.
There wasn't much conversation for a while as we headed out until Emmett broke the silence that had filled the interior of the jeep. "I have a really nasty feeling about Jordan-fucking-Harding." He shook his head and breathed in deeply. "He already admitted to hanging around to wait and see if Bella got a payout, and the little runt was never going to give up easily, especially after both you and Bella decorated his face." He smirked at me, obviously remembering the punch Bella gave him, followed by mine. "What sticks in my head is that Jordan may well have found out about the possible payout Bella could get, but there's no way he has enough brains to pull all of this off."
"Would he have known where you live, Em?"
"Probably. He and Bella were together for a long time and they had to have spoken about Rose and me and what we do for a living. He might not have known where we were exactly, but it wouldn't be hard to find out; it's not like we were hiding." He shook his head. "There's someone else involved; someone who knew when you left for the States. Someone close to her that knew exactly where she was at all times."
"Tanya Denali," we spoke the name at exactly the same time.
We made good time to the airport and through customs, climbing into Emmett's plane fifteen minutes before take-off. As I fastened the safety belts and settled into the seat beside Emmett, my phone rang. A quick glance at the screen showed Charlie's name and number, and I braced myself for more antagonism from him. We would have to learn to get along for Bella's sake if nothing else.
"Charlie," I said. "What's happening?"
"I've just hung up on Jordan."
I drew in a breath, suddenly sure that I knew where this was going. "What did he have to say?"
"You were right, Edward. That little fucker is in it up to his neck. He knew you'd gone back to the States, and that you were back here with Emmett. I'm guessing he knows a lot more than that."
"Don't tell me, Charlie. He wants money, and in return he'll tell us where Aro has Bella."
"That's about the strength of it. He didn't seem to know you weren't here so I'm sure Rose's pretend faint and Renée managed to make enough of a fuss to hide your leaving. We had a chat and he bragged about watching you and Bella at Rosemist and that he was Jacob Black's right-hand man." Charlie snorted at that, seeming to have finally understood what an asshat Jordan actually was. "I think he came here expecting an easy hand-out."
"Where is he now, Charlie? Tell me you didn't let him walk away?"
"I'm not stupid, Edward, no matter how I've behaved over the last few weeks. In my defense, I was scared that Bella was getting herself into something with you because of the circumstances you both found yourself in on the island. I jumped to conclusions about you and worse still, I didn't trust my daughter. I let that fucker Jordan back into her life and ignored my gut instinct. For what it's worth, I'm sorry, and I'll do whatever I can to support both of you. This is one way I can help you. Right now, he's trussed up in the bathroom, and he's not likely to get out of those ropes any time soon; I've tied up animals worse than him."
"Thanks, Charlie." I managed to croak out the few words, shocked at his apology. "We'll stay in touch and let you know what's happening. I'll get her back; you have my word."
"It's me who should be thanking you."
** Skyjacked **
