Moonlight: The Next Chapter

Chapter 4, Gestures

Intro Song: Adventure of a Lifetime, Coldplay

Beth followed Mick's lead back to his penthouse on Drexel, carefully watching the car ahead for signs that he might be weakening again. Mick was doing the same thing with her, his sharp gaze trained on the rear-view mirror to make sure she was in no danger. As he drove, he glanced at his phone and realized that he had missed two calls from Josef while he was...incapacitated. He sighed. Damn it! Josef would be having a cow by now and he did not feel up to dealing with another round of the Kostan paranoia hit parade. Well, may as well get it over with.

Mick hit his speed dial and hadn't even gotten the phone up to his ear before Josef was shouting at him.

"What the hell happened to you, Mick?! The last thing I heard from you was that you and... Beth...were taking care of the situation. I've been calling for the past hour! What's going on?!"

"Everything's fine, Josef. We got everything and got out of there before Talbot showed up – but it was close. Without Beth, we would have been in a world of hurt."

"Aren't we supposed to have super–crafty vampire powers?" Josef's tone was sarcastic. "I would have thought that would make things easier for you."

"Yeah, well, I need some freezer time, so I was a little slow on the draw."

"Don't tell me, let me guess. You and Beth stopped off for a 'quickie' on the way over to Monaghans'"

Exasperated, and in no mood for banter, friendly or otherwise, Mick snapped at his friend. "Josef, the situation is taken care of. That's as far as we need to go with this discussion."

Change the subject. "Have you heard back from Logan or Ryder?"

"Actually, I've talked to both of them. For once, Logan has been some help." This admission was made reluctantly. He went on to explain that Ryder had been briefly trapped in a collapsed building after the massive earthquake devastated the Chilean area, losing his phone in the process. "If he hadn't been a vamp, he'd probably be dead – he was on his way out of the building when it hit."

It's a good thing vamps have a 'sixth sense' about that sort of thing...

"It took him half the morning, but he found another phone and got hold of Logan."

Josef didn't add that Ryder had called Logan – and him – from the air. When he heard that Ryder had chartered the private jet – using his, Josef Kostan's, emergency account – he had been speechless, a condition that did not often afflict the elder vampire. The conversation had not been a pleasant one.

"I tried to call you, but there was no time..." Ryder had begun, adding lamely, "I didn't think you'd mind! It was the only way I could get back! The major airports here are all damaged from the quake; nothing is flying in or out."

Kostan had sighed. Why did all these problems seem to be landing in his lap? "I forgive you, Ryder. I'll take it out of your paycheck for the next 20 years or so, but I forgive you. Just get your ass back here."

Returning to the present, and his conversation with Mick St. John, he continued, "I don't know what they did or how they did it, but the two of them have created the electronic trail to make it look like Emma and Jackson fled to Chile. Ryder got to the hotel and planted some physical evidence. As a matter of fact, that's where he was when the earthquake hit. The building that fell down on him was the Hotel Diego De Almagro in Los Angeles." Josef stated dryly, "I've actually stayed at that hotel. It has the misfortune of being right next to the Antuco Volcano – not someplace you want to be when an earthquake hits."