Happy birthday to me, tra la la la! The big three zero, Yikes! So, here you go! Let me know what you think!
Chapter 29
The day of the arrival dawned clear and bright. 'Yeah, that's right Steph, concentrate on the weather,' I muttered to myself. Hmm, fist sign of madness.
I was up early, well, early for me. It was 4:30 and I just couldn't lie in bed anymore, I had all this nervous energy. I went for a run, then I had a shower, then I painted my nails bright fuchsia. Normally I'm not a fuchsia girl, but the brighter the nail varnish the better you looked, according to burg law anyway. I had at least five layers of mascara on, and I'd already tried on ten different outfits. With a sigh I gave up for the moment, pulling on jogging bottoms and one of Ric's t-shirts. I headed to the kitchen for some of Aunt May's food. Nothing like it. Except mom's cooking of course, but Aunt May's food comes guilt free.
The instant I stepped into the kitchen all conversation stopped. I checked to see if I was dressed.
Yup.
I checked to see if I had loo roll attached to my foot.
Nope.
I checked my hair in the shiny kitchen surfaces – scary, but they'd seen worse.
Finally I gave up the silent guessing game and asked pugnaciously, 'What?'
'Nothing.' Said Tank.
'Nada.' Lester muttered.
Bobby just shrugged.
Danny and Nick concentrated on not meeting my eye and eating their breakfasts; heads down, shovelling food in their mouths so they couldn't reply. I knew my Bro's, and there behaviour signalled louder than words that there was something they didn't want to tell me.
'What?' I repeated, my voice slipping up an octave. 'Is it Ric? Is he ok? Is it Aly? OMG! What if-'
'Angel!' Tank interrupted my increasingly hysterical rant. 'They're ok. We'll explain after you've eaten breakfast, ok?'
I nodded, not trusting my voice not to warble embarrassingly. I sat down next to my Bro's and copied them. Head down, shoving food in so fast that if I didn't get indigestion it would be a miracle.
'Finished.' I announced finally, like I had when I was a child.
Tank smiled at me, 'ok Angel. Lets go to the offices, ok?'
We trudged up to the offices and went into Ric's spare office. Tank gestured for me to sit in Ric's chair and he sat opposite me.
'You remember the head?' Tank asked. His lips twitched at the expression on my face, 'stupid question.' He said. I nodded agreement. Tanks expression turned serious and I had to suppress the urge to cover my ears and sing loudly so I wouldn't have to hear what he was going to say.
'The head belonged to one Mr Christopher Farelos. We got the ID from the cops – the day after you found the head actually – but Ric didn't want to bring the subject up with you until we had more concrete information as to why his head was left in your oven. Especially as you were having nightmares.'
I felt myself flush with embarrassment.
'Even big tough ex-soldiers have nightmares Angel, it's nothing to be embarrassed about.'
I smiled my thanks at him and gestured for him to carry on.
'Mr 'Weasel' Farelos is a known associate of Silvac. Which is where we got thrown. You hadn't met Silvac yet, hadn't escaped him. When you received the head, there was no reason for him to be after you. So we've been chasing that up, trying to work out why Silvac wanted you scared. This morning we got some information that explains a lot. Because of what later happened with you and Silvac, we focussed on Farelos' connection with Silvac. But as his nickname suggests, Farelos is a weasel with no firm allegiances. He was an associate of Silvac, but this morning we found out that he's also an associate of Nile Pedral.'
I swallowed. I had to sit on my hands to stop myself from covering my ears; I really didn't want to hear this.
'Pedral has been acting as a go between for Silvac and the terrorist organisation that was trying to buy the drug X-2. Farelos has been acting as the middleman for Pedral and Silvac; the more people between them, the easier it is to deny any affiliation with each other should they be questioned by the authorities. Our informant claims that Farelos and Pedral had a very uncomfortable truce, there was no love lost between them. And when Farelos was no longer needed, Pedral decided to kill two birds with one stone. He killed Farelos and left his head in your oven to scare you, to scare Ric.'
I felt the first tendrils of fear creep up and ensnare my heart. I could deal with psycho FTAs, but this was definitely Abruzzi league. Shit.
'Don't worry,' Tank said. 'He's just trying to scare Ric. It's Ric he's after, not you.'
'And that's supposed to make me feel better!' I exclaimed.
Tank grimaced, 'maybe not. Just try not to think about it ok? I know Ric wanted today to be a good day for you, he's excited about you meeting Aly.'
A small smile started across my face, 'so am I.' I said softly. I sighed, 'Ric knows about everything?'
'As of four o'clock this morning.' Tank said.
I nodded; I hadn't spoken to Ric this morning – it seemed superfluous and all too inadequate, especially knowing that I was going to see him so soon.
I eased myself out of Ric's leather chair and headed for the door. But as I walked past Tank I paused. Tank's face had just the slightest hint of tension in it, unusual for the man who invented the blank face. I leaned down and hugged him; I felt him tense in surprise and then slowly hug me back.
'Even big tough ex-soldiers need hugs sometimes,' I said to Tank. He looked at me in startlement and I left while he was still gaping like a fish.
I walked back to Ric's room and looked in despair at the mess I'd made in my whirlwind search for an outfit. I sighed and started to tidy. I'd been tidying for twenty minutes before I found it; my dress that I'd impulsively brought and never worn. I was surprised to see it here, but seeing as how Ric packed my stuff I guess he liked it. The summery dress reached to mid-calf and swished when I moved. The bulk of the dress was black, but it was embroidered with pink butterflies and flowers, it looked beautiful – and it matched my nail varnish! I pulled on some black casual sling back sandals and admired the effect. Cool.
Now that I was ready, the butterflies in my tummy had come back with a vengeance. God, I was so nervous! It couldn't be long until Ric and Aly arrived.
As if on cue, my cell rang. Kitten calling my screen read.
'Hey Aly cat!' I said, nerves disappearing instantly.
'Hey Stephie! We're at Trenton airport! Well actually, I'm in the ladies with Jeanne Ellen cos Daddy says I've got to have a woman bodyguard for a while because of Pedral. But don't worry; Jeanne Ellen said she wouldn't tell Daddy that I phoned you! So, I was thinking about how we should do this.'
'Do what?' I asked.
'Meet each other silly! We could go the classic route where I smile and say 'nice to meet you Miss Plum' and you say 'nice to meet you Alysha.' Or, we could go the rebel route I could just run in and say 'hey Stephie!' and give you a hug, and you could say 'Hey Aly cat!' and hug me back and then Daddy would be all, 'huh?' But it's up to you!'
I could tell she wanted to do the latter, and to be honest so did I. It wasn't often people managed to keep things secret from Ric – a small part of me wondered if we were fooling ourselves, and that he already knew. Time would tell.
'Rebel route.' I said, smiling inwardly at her turn of phrasing.
'Wohoo! This is going to be sooo much fun! I can't wait to see Daddy's face! Will you ask Uncle Tank to have a camera nearby? I can't wait to meet you properly Stephie!'
'Me neither, but I'm a bit nervous.'
'Me too,' Aly admitted 'it's silly though, isn't it? We've spoken loads! And I know I like you caboodles! But what if things are awkward?' she asked in a small voice, 'what if you decide you don't like me?'
'Oh sweetheart! Of course I like you! How could I not? And I definitely won't change my mind. And Aly?'
'Yeah?'
'No matter what happens with me and your Daddy, I want you to know that I would still love to speak to you.' and it was true, I'd honestly started looking forward to speaking to her, she was so full of life, so happy, and so warm hearted.
'I'd still love to speak to you too! I'd better go; Daddy'll be wondering what's keeping us. And besides, the sooner I go, the faster I can meet you!'
'Ok, take care sweetheart, see you soon!'
'Bye Stephie!'
Disconnect.
I smiled; I wasn't terrified anymore.
