Chapter 11 #2
I sigh, I can’t with him. “I’d definitely get mutilated for you, you doofus.”
“Me too!” Sari exclaims.
“Awww. I love you too, guys.”
Brrrzz. The whirring and grinding from the blender put a stop to Lori’s sugary words. Noodle forgets about the cushion and jumps back on my shoulder.
“Is that a ferret? Aw, so cute.” Sari smiles at him, as he scratches his little ear.
“Can I put a tutu and red lipstick on it and post the pic on Insta?” Lori asks with excitement.
“No,” I bark.
“Sheesh.”
“Is Michael making frozen margaritas? Drink one for me, too.” Sari takes a sip from his mug. I can see the lab behind him—some kind of big machine, bottles, and beakers lined up on the left—all white and sanitized-looking.
Michael brings the tray to the coffee table and sits next to me on the sofa. He fills three glasses with the cocktail and then hands them to us. I guess age doesn’t matter during tough times like this.
I take a tentative sip. My eyes widen. I know they sometimes meet up for a yoga session, which turns into an alcohol fest—Ollie and Rami also take part. But I have to admit it paid off.
“Good, right?” Michael bumps my shoulder with his. “But only one for you, Sully.”
I nod while some spills over my hand—the glass is really full and my hand is slightly shaking for some reason. It’s not my first time drinking a cocktail, but I’ve never tried a margarita before.
“You should stick to the drinks when in the kitchen,” Lori tells him with a wink.
Michael rolls his eyes. “I love cooking. It relaxes me.”
And gives the rest of us diarrhea.
“Talking about love. It’s also true that when you love someone, it’s normal to fantasize about their murder.
” Lori’s hand tightens around his glass as he grits his teeth.
Maybe he isn’t that fine with being left behind either.
“A few times now I’ve thought about using one of my fiancés’ knives as a drumstick on their chest.” He makes a stabbing movement.
Oo-kay.
“Push him off a cliff is my go-to fantasy for Raph,” Michael admits, pouring himself a second glass.
“Pillow over the face!” Sari suddenly exclaims. His cheeks instantly turn red and an embarrassed chuckle leaves his lips.
“Smothering…nice!” Michael praises him.
“Gently, of course,” Sari adds.
“How about you, Sully-doo?” Lori is sending me a Cheshire Cat look.
The memory of Ezra keeping me underwater pops into my head, and I quickly say, “Drowning him in the bathtub?” The truth is that my fantasies about Ezra are strictly dirty. No killing whatsoever—being choked on the other hand…
“Lie detector in motion. Beep, Boop, Badoop.” Lori is making a robot voice as he moves his hand near my head. Then he outstretches his arm to get more booze into his glass. “You are not in that stage yet.”
“I approached the killer stage quite fast with Raph, actually.” Michael snorts, making Lori almost choke on a laugh.
“Love ya, Bones.”
“Right back at ya, Gremlin.”
“When the fuck did we become so mushy?” Lori snaps.
“It has to be the margaritas. How much tequila did you add to the mix?” Sari asks. Lori has set the phone in a vertical position on the coffee table.
“Tripled the dose.”
I look down, realizing I almost finished my glass. But I feel fine.
“Like this is our first show,” Lori tsks. “I’m totally sober. Pour another one.”
As they keep chatting, the gnawing feeling in my gut doesn’t fade.
It makes me feel restless. I leave a sleepy Noodle on the sofa and move toward the glass wall.
The view is even prettier at this time. Today, the sky is covered, but the sunrays still poke through the clouds, illuminating small fragments of life far down on the street.
“Still worried?” Lori asks from behind me. He sounds serious. “It won’t have any effect on what happens.”
I spin around to look at him, apparently too fast for my feet. My hands reach back and find cold glass to stabilize me. That margarita was strong. “And what is going to happen?”
“We don’t know.” I hear Sari’s voice. “But they will finish this one way or another.”
“And while they do it, we’ll just sit here, drinking alcohol and doing nothing?”
“If you keep pacing, my eyes will come out of their sockets.” Lori huffs.
“You look too calm!” I clip.
“I’m very good in crisis, always have been. Especially when I was the crisis.”
“You are always part of the crisis,” Michael states.
“You’re getting on my nerves,” Lori counters.
“That’s more like it,” he banters back.
“Hey, sexy skyscraper, stop that and come here,” Lori orders me, brushing his fingers over Noodle’s sleeping form.
Are they so used to having their partners in danger that they don’t worry much anymore?
“Do you want to hear the plan or what?” Lori huffs at me.
Plan?
“Shouldn’t you wait for Linda?” Even Sari knows?
Wait, Linda?
Serena suddenly announces the arrival of Linda Bear-Stone—Ramiel installed the AI as a security system in all the bros’ places. The elevator chimes, and Linda steps out wearing all black, tight pants, sneakers, and a down jacket. Her hair is up in a topknot. Eyes observant as always.
“Are we going?”
“Linda!” Lori greets her.
“How’s Meg?” Michael asks her.
“No changes, which is good news, but I don’t know how much longer she is going to hang in there.”
“Your wife is strong, and I’m almost there.” Sari’s words of encouragement make her smile a little. From what I’ve heard, even if Sari successfully creates the antidote, that doesn’t mean that Meg will magically wake up.
“She certainly is. Are you guys drinking?” Linda asks.
We all nod—Sari too. He’s so cute sometimes.
“I gotta go back to work. Please be careful and keep me updated…about Uri.” Sari sounds as worried as I feel.
He waves goodbye and disappears from the screen.
Uri placed thirty bodyguards around Sari.
It’s a little over the top, but we are up against a terrible enemy.
I just discovered last night some of the horrifying things Nine did.
“Are we going somewhere?” I ask.
“Yes, unless you want to stay put because my sons told you to?” Her challenging tone fires me up.
“No.” I swallow the reflexive ma’am at the end.
“Good.”
I might be skittish—and with good reason—but I’ll never back down from helping my loved ones.
“Do we know what lead they are following?” Lori turns to Michael.
“Did the seduction work?” Linda asks him.
“Nope. I’m a slut for my husband,” Michael replies. “But he told me everything I wanted to know afterwards.”
“Just like that?” I squint at him.
“He can’t resist my cuddly chest.” He shrugs.
Lori’s nose scrunches up. “Gross. I dig it.”
“Mendez, the Cartel’s drug lord,” Michael starts.
“Raph paid him a visit with some of the others. Rami was able to restore his daughter's X-rated video. They used it to make him talk. He was pissed at first, also because they killed more than a few of his men. But when he heard why they were there, he changed his tune. He hates Nine, since she stopped him from killing Jacob. But after Hunter told Mendez someone took care of the fucker he talked. He didn’t know where Nine is, except he’s sure she is in Chicago and that she has around fifty men with her. ”
Fifty? Damn, that’s a lot of firepower. And she could be anywhere around the city.
“I overheard Gabe’s call this morning,” Lori admits.
“Eavesdropped, you mean.” I raise a brow at him.
“Like I’m ashamed of that.” He smirks before continuing.
“Remember what the poisoner said about Nine and the strawberry-sweet artificial smell? Well, Ezra suddenly remembered seeing a storage room filled with Red Vines candy—strawberry, artificially flavored—when he was kept at the facility. The scientists started giving the subjects sort of a prize when they followed their orders.” He makes a disgusted face.
“His was M&M’s,” I muse. And he still likes them.
“He talked to you about his time inside?” Linda looks relieved about it. Ezra’s decision to share his past with me must be good.
“Which means that those Red Vines were hers. I mean, they were the only two subjects there,” Michael states.
“Bingo!” Lori exclaims loudly, waking Noodle up.
“That’s why Ramiel and Dare have been looking into recurrent and large orders of Red Vines all around the city,” Linda interjects.
“I’m sure they found more than one. Hunter, Raphael, Gabriel, and Uriel have been going around the city all morning, probably to check the different locations where the orders were sent.
They divided themselves into two groups. ”
“How do you know?” I ask her.
“Ezra is not the only professional around here. I was a field operative for forty years,” she reminds me.
“Was?” Lori’s laugh sounds incredulous. Is she not retired?
“Are we going to pull a Lori?” Michael asks. “And stalk them?”
I snort. Pulling a Lori. Funny.
“Yes we are,” Linda replies, looking at her phone.
“Classic Lori move. Love it.” It sounds weird when Lori says it.
“Lori and Sully will follow the twins, Raguel, and Oliver. While Michael and I will go after Gabriel, Raphael, Ramiel, and Hunter. Here are earpieces with a mic incorporated for each of you. When you have eyes on the boys, push here so that we can keep in contact.” She shows the top of the earpiece where we need to press to activate it.
“Now, go get changed. Put on comfortable clothes.”
“I am comfortable.” Lori looks down at his high stiletto shoes, leather skirt, and turtleneck sweater. “Okay, I see what you mean. I’ll get my stalker kit from Michael’s car. I have some specialized clothes in there.”
“I encourage readiness, but if you try to sneak another kit inside my Jeep, I’ll make you eat it in its entirety and defecate it the same way, Lori.” Linda smiles sinisterly at him.
“The way you said it sounds very nice, but your words are forcing my testicles to take cover in my abdomen.”