Angel

Chapter 30

Sean

"Axel and Raven are doing well and should wake up soon," I told Marc and Brandon, then "Corey's surgery was touch and go for a bit. He won't be awake for a while, but should make a full recovery as well." I looked through the one-way glass to where Violet and her grandmother sat coloring. "Victor pulled the traffic cams. Raven managed to hit three of them, killing two, before they shot him. You can clearly see them taking Mattie. She wasn't conscious, but it didn't look like she was injured either. He thinks they triggered the light to separate the two cars."

"Fuck! That means they knew she was in that car," Marc swore. "How the hell are they getting all this information?"

"From this," Kota said, walking into the room. He held out a small bug. "We found it in Mattie's purse. Someone has been tracking her for a while now according to what Vic pulled off of it. Unfortunately, it cut feed fairly quickly once he started digging, but we already know who has her - and where."

"How long?" Brandon asked.

"At least three months," Kota replied.

"Trish," he growled.

"Who?" I asked.

"A paralegal that we fired for treating Mattie poorly, well, and being a shit paralegal. They had a run-in shortly after she was fired. It would have been the perfect time to plant it. No wonder she tried to get her so flustered that day, but why the hell would she be working with the cartel?" Brandon explained.

"I don't know, but that solves Corey's mystery as well. This bug was connected to the same system the minicams were. Makes sense that she would have planted those as well, but like you said - why," Kota said.

A knock at the door interrupted us. "Dr. Green, Dr. Fischer wanted you to know that Mr. Toma is awake," a red-haired nurse informed me. Thanking her, we all quickly made our way to his room.

"Where the hell are they," Axel was yelling as he tried to rip out his IV line.

"Ax, stop," Brandon said as he pulled Axel into his arms. "It's okay, love, it's okay." Marc stepped next to them both and joined the embrace.

"Where are they?" Axel croaked.

"Both Corey and Raven are going to be fine, you just woke up first, Axel," I explained.

"Mattie," his voice was barely a whisper.

"They took her," Marc answered, sounding defeated. A low groan left Axel's throat as he sobbed, clinging to both men. Kota and I stepped out of the room to give them some privacy.

"So what do we do?" he asked.

"We get them all back to Charleston and then we figure out how to save their girl because I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to explain to my brand new niece that her mama is gone," I told him.

"North and Silas should be here in a few. I thought some help restraining Raven might be needed when he finds out," Kota said. I nodded thinking that even that might not be enough. I've never seen Raven care about anyone other than Corey as much as he loves that woman and her daughter. Between Corey being shot and her being taken, the Russian was going to lose his mind.

"Ahem," a voice cleared their throat behind us. Turning I saw Mrs. Theriot holding Violet in her arms. "She wants to see her Daddies, please."

I motioned for her to follow me and knocking, slowly opened the door to Axel's room. The three were sitting close as they talked in hushed voices. "You have a visitor," I told them as Vivian brought the girl in.

She held her arms out and Marc instantly took her. "I'm scared Daddy," she cried.

"I know Flower, but we need you to be brave and strong, okay? It's okay to be scared, but we have to stick together," he told her.

"Hey Princess, can I get one of those hugs?" Axel asked her.

Marc lowered her to him gently as she wrapped her arms around her neck, then peppered his face with kisses. "I'll kiss your owies better, Daddy Axie," she told him, making us laugh. His face lit up as he hugged her again.

If anything was going to help hold them together, it was this little girl.

Nate

I threw the headphones onto the desk, sliding down in my chair and groaning. "Anything?" Luke asked.

"Nothing we don't already know," I said, blowing out a frustrated breath. "Cardoz ordered the kidnapping, but no one is talking. It's like she just dropped off the face of the planet. I mean, I gotta think he'll take her to his compound in Mexico, but I can't find out if she's already there or not." I'd spent the entire week pouring over everything I could find - documents, wiretaps, cartel chatter - hell anything, but nothing was helping. I gladly took the cup of coffee Luke offered and complained, "Okay, new rule, everyone needs to fucking learn Spanish. Hell, I'll even learn French and Japanese, or even damn Russian so that we never have this situation again."

Luke chuckled, "Yeah and you thought all those Spanish classes were a waste of time." I just rolled my eyes and took a big sip of coffee.

I gagged, "How much sugar did you put in this?"

Luke grinned, "Enough."

"Stick to baking, man," I said, handing the cup of sugar with a drop of coffee back to him.

Author's Notes: Please comment, vote, and follow!