Page 84 of Nothing to This
How long had it been now?
How long had her little girl been out in the world without her protection?
It wasn’t right.She’d failed.Her one job was to keep their little people safe.That was a mother’s reason, a mother’s purpose.How could this have happened?How could she have been so distracted?So selfish?So complacent?
Kye had stopped crying, but he looked no less distressed sitting under his grandmother’s arm.Was what people said true?Could one twin feel another’s pain?What her babies must be going through, and all because she’d neglected her duty.
Someone knocked.
On the front door.
Her shoulders went back.Since the troop of investigators had arrived, no one had knocked… Oh, God, was it a good sign or…?
One of the S.I.S.guys went to answer it.JD still spoke to the head guy.They’d been introduced, but his name wasn’t in her head.
The S.I.S.guy stepped back and a woman came in.A stranger.Short, blonde, beautiful.
Head S.I.S.guy immediately stopped talking to go around JD, though the latter was close behind.
“Rox?”the head S.I.S.guy said and accepted her hug.
“I felt so much better when I heard you were on this,” the blonde said and landed her focus on JD.“The coffers are open and the water’s on.We’re pumping it out as far and wide as we can.Lilya and I are doing the rounds of anyone with any pull.Jane’s Knox’s ears at the CollCom block here in Seattle.He’s working flat out, him and Caspian, to put your daughter’s face in front of as many people as possible.Dyce will send out an alert on all devices as soon as you give us the go ahead.We’ve opened phone lines, email, live chat, and staffed it out.There’s a million reward in the pot, but we’re keeping that on the down-low, we don’t want the kooks jamming the lines.Gauge is flying into New York, he’ll take over CollCom there and is pulling in favors with Whey.Our LA troop don’t have a lot of sway there.If you—”
“Wait a second,” JD said, raising a hand.“Have we met?”
The blonde smiled.“No, I’m—”
“I know who you are, Ms.Kyst.Me and the rest of the planet.You and your boyfriend are on the fast track to owning the world from how I hear it.”
“I hope that’s true,” Ms.Kyst said.“Because the more people listening, the faster we get your daughter back.”
JD took a step toward her, his eyes narrowing.“Why would you—”
“We’ve been introduced…” The voice of another woman rose before she entered the apartment, a hand on her pregnant belly.“Mr.Dawes.”
“Ms.Kearns,” he said.“Or is it Mrs.Kintyre now?”
“Not yet, but soon.”
The pregnant woman went to her cohort’s side.“This is why you dropped out of the Gramercy race.Because you know there’s nothing more important than family.You let me sit there and lecture you when… It doesn’t matter.What you did was for my family, for my child.Let us do what we can for yours.”
“Whey tried to play hardball.”
“He’s ruthless,” the pregnant woman said.“But I’m biased.”
“You’re right.We came to an understanding.”
“And we have some dirt in our back pocket.If need be, we’ll own Ricardo Whey.”
What did that mean?She didn’t care who he owed favors, she’d pay them herself if she could.Anything to get Sky back.These women might have come from nowhere, but if they could help…
She descended the stairs from the living room to go to his side.“JD?”
He gestured at the women in turn.“Roxanna Kyst and Lilya Kearns.”
“They know our daughter?”
“We don’t know your daughter, ma’am,” Lilya said.“We just want to help.”
