Chapter 129

Three of their children? Katya's stomach dropped. Katya knew that Ryan was crossing lines, but this was ridiculous. It was like the man had become unhinged.

"I…I don't know what to say," Katya stuttered in reply. "What-what can I do to help?"

"We need information," Anna replied. "We don't have any leads. Do you know where Ryan might be holding them? What he might…do…to them?"

"I…I'm so sorry. I haven't been in contact with Ryan for weeks now. As I said, once I knew more about you I couldn't in good conscience continue to work with him," Katya picked at imaginary lint on her pants, not making consistent eye contact."I know that Ryan's goal is to prove the existence of mermaids. How he will do this now? I don't know. The reason I was involved was to write an academic paper proving the existence of mermaids– because of my credibility in the scientific community. Now that he has lost my support…I think he'll go the brute force way and just directly show mermaids off as real,"

"So you don't know where they are?" Cleo asked, trying to hide the extent of her disappointment.

"I don't" Katya admitted, "But, I might know where to start looking,"

All the adults in the booth looked at her with expectation.

"Initially, we discussed another site to hold and study the mermaids, before we picked the one where you found Jenny," Katya swallowed, "Again, very sorry about my involvement,"

"Go on," Cleo encouraged.

"Ryan mentioned a cousin's shipping warehouse up town – one that has recently gone out of business. We didn't end up going with that one because it was further away from the water and we would need to figure out transport. I don't actually know if that's where they went, but aside from Ryan's own house, it's what I can think of,"

"Thanks Katya," Anna replied. "That's more than we had before,"

Katya wrote down the addresses – both of the shipping warehouse and Ryan's home. Ryan's house was on a street she knew well, so it had been easier to remember. She handed the tissue paper with the addresses over.

"Have you contacted the police?" Katya asked, frowning. "Surely they could help?"

"No – besides, how would you explain that the three kids got kidnapped while swimming in open ocean? We will find the kids ourselves," Rikki replied.

"And if you can't?"

Five pairs of angry eyes glared at Katya. She swallowed again.

"Sorry," she apologised. "Genuinely, I hope you find them,"

There was a murmur of appreciation and then the group started to stand to leave.

"Thanks Katya, but we better get on to it," Anna said.

"Yes, I understand," Katya replied. "Oh, wait," she interrupted.

"Wait, before you go, I would really like to chat to you about something," Katya initiated.

"Katya, nothing takes priority over finding our kids," Rikki responded sharpy, "We need to go now,"

Katya nodded,

"Of course, I'm sorry. But it's about your secret,"

Rikki paused, "Make it quick,"

"We don't need to go into the details now," Katya started, "But the summary is: I have a draft paper here of a research article on mermaids,"

There was an obvious murmur of discontentment.

Katya bravely raised her hand to stop them, "Wait, before you get upset – there is no way I will publish this without your consent, especially considering how the information was obtained. However, I have a proposal. If we publish this article in a way that you consent to, e.g. anonymous participants or whatever your terms, it would stop future people like Ryan from risking everything to prove the existence of something – since it has already been proven! Yes, it might mean more people looking for you, but if we normalise it, there won't be such a bounty for proof of the mythical, and you won't be so scared of others finding out what you are,"

The mermaids appeared to look at each other intently. Katya faintly wondered if they were able to communicate that way.

"We don't know what to think about that," Cleo said with a frown, apparently the nominated spokesperson of the topic.

"All I am asking," Katya started again, "is for you to think about the possibility of making mermaids known as real, so that those who have this ammunition against you won't have so much power, and won't keep you scared of going to those who can help you like the police,"

The sincerity of Katya's words appeared to touch the group – at least into actually considering it.

"Thanks for your time Katya, let's go find our kids," Rikki said quickly, moving to the exit.

"We will discuss it at another time," Cleo said quietly to Katya as they all walked to the exit. "Bye,"

"Bye," Katya echoed as the mer-party locked up the café and moved quickly to their vehicles.

Katya prayed silently that they would find Ryan.

OoOoO

Cleo's brain was whirring about the possibilities Katya had opened up. Surely it was a terrible idea to go public with research on mermaids. But what if it meant their kids wouldn't need to live in fear of being outed as mers in the future? Probably too good to be true. Focus! Cleo thought. They first needed to rescue the children.

The tension was tangible as the crew drove to the warehouse address Katya had given them.

Ash checked his phone. Battery was still good. He had decided to take photos and audio recording of whatever they found at that warehouse. Although the mermaids didn't want to involve the police, Ash believed that in order for Ryan to face justice for what he had put their families through, he would need to get in trouble with human law – police. He hadn't called the police yet, but he was seriously considering it.

Via mindspeak the team had told the mers on Mako where they were going. Ben and Will were also now on their way to the address. They met up halfway there and all jumped in together in the larger van.

OoOoO

Ryan wasn't taking chances this time, and without Katya there to be the voice of the good angel, Ryan was all in with a singular focus. No room for error.

He kept the three juvenile mers sedated so that they couldn't cause any problems. Ryan had been on the receiving end of mer-powers before and didn't want a repeat performance.

At the entrance to the warehouse, Ryan had stationed two employees to ensure that there were no unwelcome interuptions. There were stretcher beds at the east side of the room – the three unconscious children each had their own. On the west side of the room, Ryan had a stand-up board – half whiteboard, half corkboard. The whole thing was covered with his planning – surveillance photos of the mainland house, Rikki's café, the schools, and notes on refill pad and post-it notes everywhere. He had obviously used this warehouse as his staging ground. The notes detailed everything Ryan knew from possible swimming routes to powers to planning ideas to obtain his mermaid specimens. Ryan was setting up a few different tripods with cameras. Once they were ready, he would do a livestream and publish it everywhere he could find. When he was finished with his video and displaying the evidence of mermaids, noone would be able to doubt him again!

Ryan considered the 'what-ifs' briefly – the what if someone interupted now, what if the mermaids got revenge, what if people still didn't believe him? No. Ryan quickly pushed these thoughts and doubts from his mind. He was committed. He would put the other scientists who had laughed at him to shame.

The cameras were now set. Ryan signalled an employee to move the mers into position and start waking them up. All going to plan, the mers would be awake for the video, but still be drowsy enough to reduce the risk.

OoOoO

Ash let the group out of the vehicle closer to the warehouse, but still at a distance so that they would be able to arrive with an element of surprise – assuming of course that Ryan and the kids were there. Ash then drove the van a bit further away to park.

The others snuck closer to the warehouse. They saw a burly guard through one of the few windows on the warehouse building.
'Look' Rikki pointed. Ryan's now familiar car was parked around the corner – easy to miss if they weren't looking.

'Alex? Jay? Andy?' Rikki called out desperately, trying to reach the minds of the kids.

Nothing.

She tried again, this time Cleo and Anna joining in also. Still nothing. Maybe they weren't here after all.

Suddenly, Rikki started feeling an odd pressure in her mind. Wait, could that be?

She focused all her mind power on that sensation.

A feeling of wooziness washed over her and she tipped forward onto her knee from where she had been crouching.

'Kids, is that you?' she projected towards that wooziness.

'Mummy,' Jay's faint mind voice replied. Joy washed through her and she gripped Cleo's hand with cautious excitement.

"They're here, I can feel them close through mindspeak," Rikki whispered quickly.
"They must've been drugged," Cleo replied quietly, "I just felt Andy but she is not communicating coherently,"

"Let's get them out of there," Anna smiled.

OoOoO

As Ash was walking briskly to meet the others, his phone buzzed.

There was a text from Zane:

'Girls feel the kids close- kids here in the building,'

Ash felt joy and nervous excitement – this rescue needed to go well. He didn't want to think about the possible consequences with the girls up against a madman. It had almost been Eric in there with Alex, Jay and Andy. Anger filled him again. Ryan needed to be brought to justice. Proper justice.

Almost without thinking, he dialled 000.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you are enjoying. Work has been hectic, so sorry for the long wait! There was a bit more to the chapter (not finished yet), but this feels like the most natural break point (and also you get an update sooner) - so sorry for the cliffy again XD. Let me know your thoughts, I love reading your comments.

Thanks especially to YaleAceBella12, myem , CrazyHayniac, and Guest for your reviews. I appreciate it :)

See you next time!