Chapter Seven: Blood Isn't Always Thicker Than Water
String and Dom stood in Michael's office waiting on him to say why he summoned them. It couldn't be good news the way Michael was stalling.
"Michael why don't you just say what's on your mind so Dom and I can be on our way."
Michael set the bourbon down that he had been nursing sine they arrived. "It's about Cait."
String felt the blood leave his head. He didn't want Michael to say another word but he had to know. "Just tell us if she's alive." String asked afraid to hear the answer.
"Yes as far as we know."
Dom cut in. "What do you mean as far as you know."
"I received word today that Cait is missing. She left her hotel yesterday afternoon and never returned."
The room was spinning. String couldn't comprehend the words he had just heard. His heart refused to accept them. Michael continued to tell them the details that he knew.
"The photographer that she works with said he went to her room at noon when she had failed to show up for the shoot. She had a bruised chin. She told him that she was trying to break up a fight between two men and was hit in the process. When he left her she was going to lie down and get some rest. That was the last time he saw her."
Michael poured another bourbon. String picked up on it immediately. "What is it you're not telling us Michael?"
He took a long drink before answering. "Cait called me before she went missing. She wanted my help. She did try to help a man that was being beaten by another man. In doing so she offended the man she was trying to stop. It caused a group of men to turn on her. She was able to escape with the help of an American that pulled her to safety."
String was getting impatient. "Then we need to talk with that man. Maybe he knows where she is."
"That may be easier said than done. String, Cait recognized the man that helped her." Michael braced himself for Strings reaction. "She said it was St. John."
String was standing; he felt his legs give out from under him as he fell back into a chair. Dom sat with his mouth open not knowing what to say.
Michael continued to tell them the rest of what he knew. "She said that he took her to a place to hide until the crowd dispersed. That's when she recognized him. When she confronted him he…"
String looked up. "He what Michael?"
"He hit her knocking her out cold. She woke up in her bed the next morning. I sent her a picture of him. She was going to go back to where she saw him and ask if anyone knew him. That's the last I heard from her."
The anger started to build inside him. "Why the hell didn't you let Dom and me know?"
"Because Cait didn't want to tell you anything until she was sure it was St. John. And we still don't know for sure if it was."
String sat for a few minutes with his face in his hands.
"String, I'm sorry. I didn't want to jeopardize the possibility of you finding St. John."
Taking his face from his hands he looked up not believing what Michael had just said to him. "Do you honestly think that I would take getting my brother back over Cait's safety or her life?"
Michael looked as sorry as he felt "No, I know what she means to you. I should have instructed her to leave it for the FIRM to investigate."
Dom stood up. "This isn't getting us anywhere. And let's face it Michael. You know our girl, if she thought she found Sinj then no amount of instructions would have done you any good. She would have looked for him anyway."
String stood up quickly. "Michael Send me all the information you have and get me clearance at the closest Military base in Saudi Arabia." String said as he walked toward the office door. Dom right behind him.
AVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAV
String was quiet as they flew to find Cait. Dom knew this had to be tearing him up inside. This is not how he expected String and St. John to reunite but worse than that Cait was missing. They didn't even know if she was alive.
String was silently trying to work out everything he had just learned in his head. He thought he knew Sinj, the brother he loved would never hit a woman. All these years he wanted to find him but that was not what was on his mind now. He couldn't stop thinking of Cait. Something happened when Michael said she was missing. The pain he had been feeling the past few weeks over losing a friend that he loved was different then what he was feeling now. He realized it was pain from losing someone he was in love with. He was in love with her and probably had been for a long time. His only hope was that Sinj had her. Michael had hinted several times that he thought it was possible St. John could be working for a covert operation. That would explain why they never found a solid lead or body.
AVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA
The two men walked up to the desk at the hotel. Michael had arranged for them to be at the same one Cait was in. They landed the Lady at the closest U.S. military base where she would be safe. They wasted no time dumping their things and heading for Cait's room. String took out the key card they had convinced the desk clerk to give them. It was small with only two rooms. Dom went into the bath as String went through the dresser drawers where her things were. Nothing seemed out of place. Sting pulled her luggage onto the bed to go through it. He hoped maybe she left some kind of a clue as to what she had found out. Feeling in one of the zippered pockets he pulled out an envelope thinking he may have found something. It was a picture of Him and Dom on one of the sets at the studio. He turned it over; on the back she had written "My Guys".
"What's that?" Dom said as he took the picture from String. Dom smiled. "I remember that day. I looked up and Cait was taking our picture."
String abruptly stood up putting Cait's things back the way he found them. "I think we should start with the desk clerk that was on duty when Cait was brought in."
"Good thinkin kid, I'm right behind you."
String was holding a picture of St. John in front of the clerk that was there that night.
"Yes I am sure that's the man that carried Miss O'Shannessy to her room. Like I told the authorities earlier, he said he worked with her and that she had too much to drink. I had no reason to doubt him."
String thanked the man as they headed out to the location Cait gave Michael when she called asking for his help. Knowing Cait the way they did she would have thought like the ex-cop she was and staked the area out hoping St. John would have shown up. The location and picture of Sinj was all they had to go on.
AVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAV
The room was cold at night and hot during the day. Cait figured she had been there for about a day and a half. There were no windows so she lost all sense of time. She remembered what the terrorist had told St. John, he had three days to deliver the weapons. She allowed herself to think about his kiss. That was the second time he had kissed her. She wondered if he did it to give the terrorist the impression they were together but then she thought the first kiss was when they were alone. She wasn't so much concerned as to why he kissed her she wanted to know why she felt something when he did. This was a man she had never met but felt safe with. She reasoned it was because he was so much like String. He had kissed her before but not in the way St. John had. Her heart ached for String. She wished things would have ended differently. If only she had kept her feelings to herself she would be at Santini Air flying Airwolf missions and still friends with String. She was startled by the sound of the door being unlocked. A man appeared with her meal and a bottle of water. The food was nothing more than fatir a flatbread that they had been giving her three times a day. She gladly took it. It wasn't much but it kept her going. St. John was right, they did not touch her and as long as she did as they said they left her alone. She hoped and prayed that he would return to get her out of there as he had promised.
AVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAAVAVAVAVAV
St. John walked towards the small building he rented. He needed the laptop he had hidden in the wall. It was his only way to communicate with the special ops group he worked with. They needed to know the deal was going down tomorrow ahead of schedule. What he wasn't going to tell them was why. There was no reason to bring Cait into this if he didn't need to. For now he had to make this happen and get her out of there. How he was going to explain it he didn't know.
AVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAV
String and Dom took the same path Cait had leading them to the intersection of the two streets Michael gave them. String stood still looking around. In his mind he played out what Cait had told Michael." She was here probably trying to fight her way out, Sinj grabbed her." String turned and spotted the nearest building he could see and pointed. "That must be it Dom." Both men took off toward it.
Inside they found the same oil lamp and lit it looking around. There was not much to the room. To String it looked familiar. He also had run missions. This looked like somewhere Sinj would come when he wanted to contact someone or be contacted. Dom took the stairs to check out the upstairs. String was feeling along the walls knowing there had to be communication equipment somewhere. He suddenly sensed he was not alone. Turning around he can face to face with the nose of a gun.
"Turn around and face the wall." The man said pushing him toward the wall. String did as he was told. The lamp offered very little light. He couldn't see the man that was holding him at gun point.
The next voice String heard was Dom's. "Ok buddy, I suggest you drop your gun because this ain't no toy I have poked in your back.
St. John recognized the voice of the man that had raised him when his parents died. It was a voice he hadn't heard in years but he would know it anywhere. If this was Dom then he was pointing his gun at String.
"Dom, it's me Sinj. St. John said as he lowered his gun slowly.
String spun around. He tried to make out the face that was before him. A face that he had etched in his mind for the past six years. Neither man said a word as they searched each other's eyes waiting on the other to speak first. St. John made the first move reaching in pulling his brother to him