Thank you all for your condolences and well wishes, I really appreciate it. Ok, I am back with Chapter 7 and as always, I am eager to know what you think! Enjoy!
Chapter 7- The Genius, The Samurai, and The Kidnapper
The day was going great for Michonne and Abigail. They started their day with breakfast at a small café and was now halfway through their spa pedicures. Next on the list was a little shopping and then lunch. Abigail seemed to be having a fun time with her mom. Michonne noticed her smiling more throughout their time together. It seems like Abigail really needed this time with her mom without the interference of her siblings. Michonne wanted to talk with her about how she was feeling being in the middle of all the bedlam in the house and to make sure she was not feeling ignored within the family. So she made it a priority to have this conversation with her daughter at lunch. Michonne made reservations at a fancy tea house that she thought her daughter would enjoy. It was specially designed for parent and child luncheons. It was a cute idea and the atmosphere was lovely. There were mostly mother/daughter combinations, but there were some really cute daddy/daughter, mother/son and dad/son mixes too.
"So Abby, how have you been dealing with all the unruliness with your siblings?" Asked a tentative Michonne eyeing her daughter for any signs of distress.
"I tend to ignore their behaviors, I am usually concentrating on my hobbies," said Abigail nonchalantly.
"Hobbies? What hobbies?" Inquired Michonne now very interested in what her daughter has been up to.
"Ummm, let's see I have a few of them." Abigail smiled excitedly, "I like learning new languages, so I am pretty fluent with Spanish and now I am learning French."
"What? You know Spanish and French?" Gawked Michonne as she eyed her daughter.
"Si, Quería ver como funcionaba la tostadora. Ese es mi nuevo pasatiempo," articulated Abigail.
"What?" Questioned a confused Michonne wondering who in the hell was sitting across from her.
"I answered your first question in Spanish to answer your second question." Grinned Abigail who noticed that her mother was still confused. "What I said in Spanish was, Yes, I also wanted to see how the toaster worked. That is my new hobby, seeing how things work, so I took it apart and put it back together."
"Is that why the toaster was missing for a week?" Grilled Michonne. "What else are you doing?"
"Hmmmm," Abigail hummed as she placed and tapped her finger over her lips with eyes up and to the side obviously thinking of her answer, "for now that's it, unless you count fun with math. But that is just a game I play."
"How do you play," asked Michonne looking at her daughter like she was from a different planet.
"Well it depends on which math discipline I am working with. If it is geometry, sometimes I create puzzles where you have to figure out the angles to get the object in the hole, or if it's algebra, sometimes I create equations that correspond to life situations." Smiled Abigail to a stunned Michonne.
Michonne looked at Abigail and thought what a bad parent she was that she did not notice any of this about her daughter. Then she did a mental fist bump in the air that she gave birth to a genius and then stepped a few feet away and called her husband.
"Rick, guess what?" Michonne whispered into the phone excitedly as she jumped from one foot to the other. "We raised a genius!" She spit out before he could even guess.
"What are you talking about Michonne?" Doubted Rick, he knew his kids, and although they were smart, they were no prodigies in the group.
"Abigail! She is a genius!" Michonne yelled and Abigail just smiled after overhearing her mother and shook her head.
"I am sure she is, so what time are you coming home, I miss you." Begged Rick.
"Rick, pay attention! I am serious! She taught herself Spanish and French Rick! She knows advanced math! She took apart our toaster and put it back together!" Shouted Michonne into her cell phone, people in the restaurant now staring in her direction.
"The toast has been unusually good for the last few days, I mean the toast is perfect, no burnt parts," Reflected Rick.
"Rick, do you know what this means? It means we are geniuses cuz we gave birth to one!" Stated Michonne incorrectly.
"Michonne are you serious?" Rick asked confused.
"Yes," Michonne shrieked with excitement. Little did each other know that they both were doing a little dance quietly celebrating their genius child. Abigail watched her mother do her little diddy both amused and confused.
"Alright Michonne, we got a good one!" Proclaimed Rick.
"What?" Michonne said stopping her dance while closing her eyes in frustration from her husband. "They are all good Rick!"
"Well, one is obviously better than the rest, right?" Asked Rick.
"NO RICK," Michonne tried to whisper into the phone so that Abigail could not hear, but she was very loud. "You have got to stop; all of our kids are perfect. Equally perfect."
"Whatever," murmured Rick plotting in his head how he was going to secretly show Abigail she was his favorite.
"I know what you are thinking Rick, you are thinking that she is your favorite and you better not show it or else!" Michonne rolled her eyes at Ricks total lack of parental fairness or parental anything. "Jesus," she muttered under her breath and disconnected the call and went back to the table with her daughter.
Michonne and Abigail finished their lunch, paid their bill were currently on their way out of the restaurant. Michonne was so excited talking to Abigail, she did not notice the old beat up blue van with the three men watching as she walked by. Had she not been distracted, she would have noticed it as soon as she walked out of the restaurant. Rick taught her to be aware of her surroundings and what was and what was not suspicious. And that van was suspicious. She dialed Rick again to tell him they were on their way home.
"Rick, we are on our way….," Michonne did not have a chance to finish her sentence when she felt someone grab her by her waist and lift her from off the ground. She screamed when she and her daughter were grabbed, and she was fighting and throwing punches trying to get her and her daughter free. Rick was listening and panicking, yelling out Michonne's name.
"RICK, WE ARE BEING TAKEN, BLUE VAN, THREE WHITE MEN, ONE BURNT FACE!" Michonne yells as she holds on to the door to keep from getting put in, but when she noticed her daughter was already in the vehicle, she stopped fighting and got in the van with her daughter. She was not going to be separated from Abigail. Her phone was pulled out of her hands and thrown by one of the guys onto the sidewalk. As soon as she got in the van, she immediately started to look for something to arm herself with. She noticed multiple items and thought, "These guys must be dumb, they left all kinds of weapons. These are amateurs, they didn't even zip tie us up. I can use this to my advantage," she thought. Being with Rick for so long, Michonne learned how not to panic in stressful situations. If she were alone, she probably could have gotten herself out with minimal damage to herself. She would have picked up the pipe laying on the floor and beat the guy up-side the head that was next to her in the back of the van, then moving on to the driver then the dumb looking one in the passenger seat and then break free. Through her stick fighting, and sword handling classes, she learned how to strike hard, fast and with precision, but her daughter was with her, she had to cooperate and wait for her chance strike. There were too many of them to try anything with her daughter present. She did not want to chance her daughter getting hurt or killed.
Rick was beside himself, he called 911, then Shane, then the guys at his old and new precinct and told all of them me meet him at the location of the kidnapping. He grabbed his keys and sped towards the restaurant. All kinds of thoughts raced through is mind, were his wife and child hurt were chief amongst them. The thought of them being hurt or killed devastated him, but he needed to pull himself together so that he could get them back safely. First thing he thought about on the way to the scene was kidnappers were usually always someone that you knew. Most times it was not random. Rick ran though his list of people who may want harm his family. Negan. Next thing he thought about was motive. Him taking Michonne and his job. Negan. What he could not figure out was the end result. What did Negan, if it was Negan, want? What was his end game? Negan was the only lead he had, and that is what his gut told him to start with. He always trusted his gut, it never let him down.
When Rick got to the scene, it was packed with his men. He looked and saw Darry bagging the phone for prints, Shane talking to people in the restaurant, Glen talking to the manager of the restaurant to get the video surveillance. He also was somewhat surprised to see his new crew there. Abraham taking pictures of the possible skid marks from the blue van. Noah, Rosita, and T-Dogg were canvassing for witnesses on the street and trying to get a license plate number. When Abraham noticed Rick, he ran over and informed Rick that the Chief has already set up a command center and every available unit in both his new and old precincts are working the case. It was top priority. Abraham informed him that Mayor Monroe and Governor Blake were both informed and ready to do whatever is necessary. When Abraham mentioned Blake, they both stared at each other wondering what the Governor was up to. Before Rick only heavily suspected that the kidnapper was Negan, now with Blake involved so quickly he was sure of it. The Governor was trying to do some damage control and most likely trying to save his own ass.
"So what are you thinking Boss, said Abraham." Rick, looking at Abraham, Shane, Darryl, and Glen said one word. "Negan." The all looked at each other and nodded, "Makes sense," said Shane.
"Look, I am about to share some info that needs to stay between a small group of us, so Rick, tell me now cuz I don't want no shit, you trust these people?" Shane asked as he looked at the outsiders.
"Look," Proclaimed Abraham. "I know we started off on the wrong side of a donkey's balls, but you ain't got to worry about counting us in on this. We are all with you come hell or high water. We will do whatever it takes to get your wife and kid back from that MotherDick pile of honey badger shit." "WHATEVER IT TAKES."
Everyone nodded, then Shane went on to fill-in the rest of the crew what he told Rick about Negan weeks ago after he completed a background check on the unstable former officer. Negan had some assault charges filed on him in college, but it was covered up by the college president who did not want the assault to ruin the good reputation of the college. The college president was also good friends with Negan's family, so they were able to bury the charges. There were some minor disruptions during his time in the police academy, but nothing that would have sent a red flag and got him kicked out. After becoming an officer, Negan was sent to see the department shrink after an incident.
"And don't ask me how I did it, but I got access to his records," glared Shane who used to sleep with the psychiatrist long before he met Andrea and she still had a huge crush on him. Huge enough to get her license revoked if anyone found out she was sharing information without a warrant. When he shared with her the circumstances, she unlocked her file cabinet and walked out of her office leaving Shane alone to get what he needed. "This does not go past this group." They all placed their hands on their hearts and held their two fingers up and said at the same time, "Scouts Honor."
Shane went on to tell them the specifics. Negan became obsessed with a female that he met out on a domestic violence call. He went above and beyond trying to help her get out of the relationship, and it ended up becoming an obsession. The female became uncomfortable, and asked Negan to kindly back off. Negan became enraged and accused her of using him to get out of her situation and then kicking him to the curb. Negan made demands telling her that she owed him and that she would need to comply with his needs, just like he "helped" her with her needs. He would not take no for an answer and continued to harass her until the higher ups had to set her up with a new life.
"And guess, who covered it up?" Said Shane to the group of shocked individuals, "Governor Blake."
"Well shit, he has friends in high places," said Darryl not privy to the any of the conversations earlier about Negan's connections.
"And that ain't all," said Shane.
Shane continued sharing the background information concerning two more incidents of obsessive behavior and Negan was eventually put on anti- psychotic medication. His profile listed him as a classic narcissist who has issues with authority. He has a need to dominate and has a superiority complex. He is very intelligent, but his delusions of grandeur turn his extreme intelligence into a dangerous weapon. He is bi-polar but refuses to accept the diagnosis. The only reason he took the medication he was prescribed was because that was a condition agreed upon by his commanding officers, who were obviously on the Governor's payroll.
"How was he even allowed to be an officer, much less move up the chain of command!" Hollered Glen.
"Friends in very high places, that's how, and he probably knows about some shit that will blow the roof off of said friend's cozy little houses, so they do whatever it takes to keep Negan quiet I bet," Said Darryl.
"Ok, so we have a profile of who we are dealing with, now we just need proof that it's him that actually kidnapped my family. They are not going to move forward with this without evidence and we need that evidence like yesterday, and I think I know how to do it." Said Rick. "See if we can get information on who owns the van and any fingerprints on the phone, see if we can connect them to Negan. Let's go!"