The jet was fueled and ready only a few moments after they arrived at the airport. In the private loading area, they walked, almost shell-shocked, but in a hurried pace, him holding her hand, and her fighting more tears, mascara running under her eyes. They had no luggage; neither one had thought to go home and get anything, and during the copter ride, she had made calls to Starr and Addie, and almost broken down to the point of him landing the copter to hold her. He said, "Blair..."
She turned toward him, and dropping his hand, said, "Don't even think you're going without me!"
"No, Babe. No more of that. We're in this together. We're both going to find him." He extended his arm, and she went into his embrace.
She said, "What about Little Ray, Todd? My baby..." she began crying again. He was worried about her; her emotional state was just getting back to a more regular and even path, and now this.
He wasn't sure how to answer her. "You can stay, if you want to."
"No, I can't be away from you, and let you do this alone. I just can't. Not after everything." She sounded small, childlike. As she became more and more upset, he began to become more and more concerned.
"What can I do, Blair? Tell me." He said softly.
"I want Ray with us. I need him near me, or..."
He thought, and said, "Trust me, Babe, I'll think of something. I'll find away. You won't be away from your baby for long."
She quieted, but then looked up to him, "What if we can't find..."
He put his fingers to her mouth to calm her. "No. We will. Now, let's go."
"You'll find a way for us to have Ray with us, won't you?" She repeated, in a pleading manner, taking his hand again and entering the gate that lead to his private jet. In that moment, she had noticed that it changed very little from the way it appeared when he left her, almost twenty years before, and she suddenly felt sick. Swaying a bit, he put his arm around her waist and held her from falling over.
"Whoa. Easy now," he said, gently, keeping her on her feet. "Lean against me."
"I felt dizzy for a minute."
"I know, come on." He guided her, in the crook of his arm, into the gate that lead to his private jet.
On the plane, he sat her on the leather couch that lined one wall, and sat by her, watching her. She closed her eyes, and he could see that she was fighting queasiness. He said, "Do you need me to get something?"
"No," she said, thinking that he needed her as much as she needed him. Get it together, now. "No, I'm all right."
He said, "It will be all right, Blair. I promise. Trust me."
She looked at him, knowing she had heard the words so many times before, but now, she had come to believe what he said with all of her heart. "I do."
"Can you calm down? We have a lot of work to do when we get there and I'm going to need you."
She nodded. "What time will it be when we land?"
"About eleven at night," he said.
"It will be dark. How will we find him? What..."
"Shhhh. Here, lean against me," he said, putting her head down onto his shoulder with his hand. She rested it there, and sniffled. "Trust me, Blair."
***
She took Jack's hand and said, "Come, this way."
He followed her, both of them looking side to side in teenage paranoia. "This way, a little further. There is the harbor, and that small white one is my grandfather's boat."
Jack said, "If we take your grandfather's boat, he'll find out it's gone, and then have an idea where we went. That makes no sense. Let's go rent a boat ourselves. Isn't there a place?"
Her English was not perfect, but from her time in the frontistiria, she was generally fluent. He found this to be on their side. She was beautiful: long, shining dark hair, very dark eyes, perhaps the darkest he had ever seen, and small in stature and feather-light. She wore a short, tiered skirt and a tank top. Her skin was very tanned, and smooth and clear. She said, "Yes, this way."
She lead him by the hand, into a small alleyway, and there was a boat rental store. Looking at it, he realized two things: how would he explain the late hour, and the fact that he was not yet an adult? He turned her to him and said, "Wait. No one is going to give us a boat. Not at this hour."
"This is not America, Jahck." From the first moment, she had called him 'Jahck' and he had let it go. It was the way her accent spun the word, and he rather liked it. It was different. It was from her. From the first time he saw her, he was completely taken in by her beauty and her smile. "I will talk, you will pay."
He checked his pocket, and his wallet was still intact, which meant his credit card and cash was there. He nodded, and they went inside. After a lengthy conversation in a foreign language, she pulled him to the counter. He took out his card, and handed it to the man. The man looked at it, and shrugged, running it through the machine, and then handing it back. Jack signed, and the man handed him a key. He pushed a paper toward him to sign. Jack signed it, of course not knowing what it said, but Orinia translated the basic idea. It was an agreement to return the boat. Putting the pen down, Jack awkwardly smiled, and they left, beautiful Orinia leading the way with him in tow, holding her hand, ambling through the streets of Greece.
***
It had only been two hours, and they had another eight to go. She nervously got up to use the bathroom, and he watched her go. This isn't good. Not good? It's totally fucked up. She can't lose another child, heck, neither can I. Where IS he?
In their haste to get out of the country and find him, they had not asked enough questions, and in trying to call Viki back, they had not been able to make contact. He would try again, via the Airphone, in a while, possibly when and if Blair slept, as not to disturb her more. As much as he was concerned about her, he realized he was just as fearful. He had searched his mind, as they sat together in silence, as to who could possibly have taken his son, what the motivation would be and why it would be now. He knew that Carlo was dead; he had no doubt in his mind of that, he'd seen the body himself. Now thankful for that fact, he moved on. Leona was dead; he assured himself ten or twenty times in the last two hours of that comforting fact. He went over, painfully, in his mind, the last moments of The Slice and Dice's life, and repeated it to himself to remember that his son was not in the clutches of the brutal rapist and masochist he'd spent more than eight years with.
So, who was left? The Thin Man. He hadn't really thought about him in such a long time, he lost the mental image of him. He just remembered him as pencil thin, and usually responsible for bringing him food, if one could call it that. Burly. He'd never do it; not really in his nature, unless ordered or threatened to. He'd always wanted to let Todd go. He remembered an instance when he almost had him convinced to free him, and the Slice and Dice had come in, midstream. He'd interrupted, sending Burly out, and bringing his blade out of his pocket. Pushing the memory away, his mind went to Baker and Kent. None of his fears made sense, for one reason: they all were still incarcerated back in the states and had been since their capture. He sighed. He'd not told Blair, at least not verbally, that his nightmares were back with a fury. He was too worried about her and her pain to mention it.
He had made his share of enemies over the years, but why they would emerge now was puzzling to him. She returned from the bathroom, looking somehow thinner, but her face was cleaned up and with that, the redness around her eyes was more pronounced. He put his hand out, "Mrs. Manning, it's going to be all right. I know it will."
She nodded, taking his hand. Sitting back next to him, she put her head back onto his shoulder, his arm securely around her. She said, "Todd, just we have to find him, is all."
"We will, we will find him," he said, wanting it to be that simple.
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
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interesting chapter...
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