Title: Hello, Ryan
Chapter: 3
Author: Antigone11
Rating: PG-13 (language and violence)
Summary: Ryan gets an unwelcome visit from his father
Chapter 3
Ryan coughed softly, new blood mixing with the red already staining his split lip.
"Put him in the van," Dave barked at George. "Mike, gimme the gun and go start the van."
Once again, George grabbed Ryan by the arm, jerked him to his feet and dragged him out of the living room. Ryan stumbled over the potted palm next to the front door. Watching intently as Ryan was taken from her, Kirsten thought she saw something fall from his hand and into the leaves. Crossing the portal, he was swallowed by the darkness.
Dave hesitated at the door, the velvet bag swinging against his hip as he turned back to face the Cohens. "I'm serious. I see any suspicious cars following us, any roadblocks, any helicopters, and you'll never see Ryan again. We get across the border, no problems, and I'll drop him off at a gas station or somethin'." He waved his gun hand for emphasis. "Got it? Answer me!" he snapped when he got no response.
"Yes. Yes, we 'got it'," Sandy replied slowly. "Ryan will be released, unharmed, as soon as you cross the border into Mexico. As long as you get that."
Dave Atwood laughed harshly. "I got no beef with you people. Just needed somethin' for a new start. Once that's done, I don't need Ryan. He'll be back in no time." He paused, "Just...make sure he amounts to somethin', OK?" With that surprising comment, Dave left, closing the door firmly behind him. Muffled by the walls, the van's roaring engine and the squeal from abused tires were still clearly audible.
The Cohens sat in stunned immobility for a few minutes.
The silence was deafening. It was almost oppressive. Kirsten found it difficult to breathe. She couldn't believe he was really gone.
"Ryan…," she whispered.
That small sound shattered the stillness. Sandy stood up, extricating himself from Seth's tight grip.
"It's OK, Seth. I just want to see if….if they've really gone." He walked cautiously into the foyer and peered out the sidelight. "The van is gone. What are we going to do?" He stepped back into the living room and walked over to Kirsten, still sitting on the floor.
"I don't know!" Kirsten wailed, starting to shiver uncontrollably.
Sandy was startled by Kirsten's response. As a rule, Kirsten was very much in control of her emotions. She was usually the calm one in a crisis.
Kirsten continued, "We can't just do nothing! They took Ryan away. We have to do something!"
"I'm not saying we do nothing, Kirsten," Sandy said gently, "We need to talk this through. Is it safer for Ryan if we wait, like Dave said…"
"Don't speak that name in this house!" Kirsten snapped, surging to her feet and standing toe to toe with Sandy.
He looked at her helplessly. "Kirsten." He trailed off before continuing. "I have to say his name if we're going to discuss our options."
"Options! We're talking about Ryan's life, not a time share in Cabo San Lucas!" Kirsten spat, needing to strike out at something. Sandy just happened to be the nearest target.
"What's wrong with you guys?" Seth had finally roused from his terror induced quietude. "We need to develop a strategy, an action plan!" He started to count off on his fingers, "We need to secure the house, safeguard the evidence, track the van, save Ryan, arrest the criminals…Have I missed anything?"
As worried as she was about Ryan, Kirsten smiled. She was glad to have her Seth back. The silent child on the couch had been almost unrecognizable. This boy, arms gesticulating randomly as he paced the living room, was definitely Seth.
"We need to call the police." Kirsten had made her decision.
"You're sure?" Sandy was looking for affirmation. "As much as I want Ryan back as soon as possible, are we putting him even more at risk?"
"Sandy, he's hurt. It could be serious. He was in pain! We can't just wait, and, and trust that monster to keep his word!"
"Agreed. I'll call Mickey Harrison. He's FBI, but he doesn't have a John Wayne complex. I've worked with him before. We can trust him not to, well, make the situation any worse."
"We're trusting him with Ryan's life, Sandy." Kirsten reminded him.
"As if I could forget." Sandy held Kirsten's gaze for a few moments, needing her to trust him. If they were going to get Ryan back safely, if they were going to make it through this ordeal as a family, they needed to have a united front.
Seth, head bouncing back and forth between his parents like a tennis spectator, was impatient. "Dad! Phone! This is definitely a situation where the phrase 'time is a wasting' applies!"
After calling Mickey, Sandy wasn't sure what to do next. It would take 15-20 minutes before Mickey arrived. He gazed around the living room, absent mindedly reaching to pick up a magazine that had been knocked off the coffee table at some point during the evening. Seth snorted and restrained his father's hand.
"I know you're a defense attorney, Dad, and your first instinct is to destroy evidence, but this time, we all need to be on the prosecution's side. Don't you ever watch CSI? The Las Vegas one, not Miami. We need to protect every piece of evidence in this house so that when we catch those bastards, they'll be thrown into a jail so deep they'll never see the sun again. That's what they deserve for what they did….to Ryan, to us…to…" Seth stopped his frantic litany.
"Seth!" Sandy was shocked. "I would never destroy evidence! Kick it under the couch, maybe…"
"Sandy," Kirsten warned. "This is no time for jokes."
"I was just trying to lighten the atmosphere a little," Sandy muttered.
"Seth, come here." She motioned to her son, holding out her arm and putting it around his shoulders. "He's going to be OK. The police will find him and he's going to be just fine. We all are."
"The fortress has been breached, Mom. How can we ever feel secure here again? How about Rottweilers? I always wanted a dog, more a cute little puppy, but in light of recent events, a giant slavering Rottweiler could really do the trick." Seth knew he was babbling, but he couldn't stop the rapid churning of his brain and the words just tumbled out all by themselves.
Kirsten wanted to scream at the Fates for the damage Dave Atwood had done to her family. The brutality directed against Ryan had been bad enough, but physical wounds generally healed, eventually. The emotional injuries took far longer. She had to concede their blind faith in the security of Newport would probably never be recaptured. In the meantime, she needed to comfort her son.
"I know it's hard. I don't feel safe here anymore either, Seth. But we have to believe it's all going to work out."
"Why? Why do we have to believe anything? What kind of God would let this happen to Ryan? To Ryan, who's already had so much bullshit in his life? I just don't understand." Seth wanted desperately to be reassured.
Sandy observed the conversation with growing dismay. Seth and Kirsten were both losing their moorings. Neither had had much experience with violence, Seth's recent encounter with Donnie notwithstanding. Sandy's own childhood in the Bronx had, fortunately or unfortunately, better prepared him for dealing with this situation.
"Look, there's evil in the world. Violence is a way of life for some people. Yes, it's wrong. Yes, it seems especially wrong that it's affected Ryan again, after we thought we'd rescued him from that kind of life. And yes, we'd all like to believe things like this just don't happen in Newport. But it does. No, Kirsten." Sandy wasn't going to let her interrupt. "Seth needs to understand the world out there. So he can deal with it, handle it. Pretending it doesn't exist isn't going to help him. And it isn't going to help Ryan."
Seth stared at his father. He had been looking for reassurance, a panacea, really. Something to make him feel safe again. After a brief flash of anger that his father wasn't making him feel better, Seth was infused with an unaccustomed sense of pride. His dad thought he was grown up enough to handle it. And by God, he would be.
When the doorbell rang, Seth announced that he would get it, and marched confidently to the front door. After insisting on seeing Mickey's badge, Seth allowed the FBI agent into the house. The Cohens briefed Mickey Harrison on the evening's events, relieved that concrete steps could now be taken to get Ryan back.
"How sure are you that they're actually headed to Mexico?" Mickey asked.
"Obviously, he could have been lying, but it does make sense. Money will go a lot farther down there and they'll be harder to find." Sandy shrugged. "You know better than I do how porous the border is, especially for someone sneaking into Mexico."
"OK, in addition to the highway patrol, I'll alert the border patrol to be on the lookout." Mickey raised his hand to forestall any comments. "Observation only! They will be instructed not to approach the vehicle, just to call it in. We'll keep it low key, I promise. I'm going to take another look around, see if I missed anything."
Sandy and Kirsten sat quietly in the kitchen, content to let Seth show Mickey through the house. He not only needed to work off his nervous energy, but after his inertia during the home invasion, Seth was determined to make up for lost time.
"Do you think it's true?'' Kirsten said softly.
"What?"
"That Dave Atwood isn't really Ryan's father?"
Sandy brushed his hand through his already disheveled hair. "God, I hope so. That would be the one positive thing to come out of this whole mess."
"Sandy!"
"I know, I know. As bad as Dave is, I don't know that Ryan would be pleased to find out he's not his father. That no one even seems to know who his father is. On top of everything else that's happened?" Sandy turned lost eyes to Kirsten. "How do we even begin to fix this?"
"First, we get Ryan back, safe, in this house. We'll worry about the rest later."
"Mrs. Cohen?" Mickey poked his head around the corner. "Sorry to interrupt, but does this belong to you? I found it in a planter by the front door."
"Oh God, Sandy." Kirsten's eyes swam with sudden tears. "He saved it. Somehow, Ryan saved this for me."
A brilliant blue and white hummingbird sparkled in her palm.