24. Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Four
S wiping the copy of the key card he had for Tate’s room, Balthazar rushed in, Jesse right behind him. At the door he heard Vanessa telling the bandmember’s who’d been having dinner when he’d gotten the call to stay back.
It took seconds for Balthazar to assess the situation and take over. He hadn’t been a field doctor, but he’d received some basic medical training which would be useful. North was having a seizure and Tate was desperately trying to hold him down, sobbing as blood spilled over North’s lips.
“Let him go, Tate.” Balthazar gently eased Tate away from the bed, his gaze locked on North. The way he was positioned would keep him from hurting himself on anything and he was on his side, so he wouldn’t choke. He’d likely bitten his tongue, but that wasn’t their biggest concern. “How long has the seizure been going on?”
Hugging himself, his whole body trembling, Tate shook his head. “I-I called you right away. I d-don’t know. I didn’t look at the t-time. Just help him, Balthazar. Y-you have to help him.”
Jesse stepped up behind Tate, rubbing his arms. “He’s got this, kid. The ambulance is on the way.”
A glance at his phone as North’s jerking motions began to subside showed Balthazar it had lasted almost five minutes. That wasn’t a good sign. It also looked like Tate was going into shock.
Had both of them been doing drugs? Fuck, he’d hoped that between the tests and things running more smoothly with the bands, the guys would stick to weed and drinking now and then. Probably foolish of him, but Brave and Connor had been the focus of everyone’s concern and they were doing better. Things had been looking up until Tate had stopped communicating with anyone.
Once he’d passed the drug test, Balthazar assumed the issues were more personal and simply made himself available if Tate needed to talk about them.
But he’d never opened up to Balthazar.
He damn well would now. “Tate, what were you and North taking? If this seizure was triggered by drugs the doctor needs that information.” He frowned at Tate’s blank look. There was no mistaking it, Tate was zoning out, and not just from fear. “Tate!”
Tate cringed and pressed back against Jesse. “I don’t know. There were gummy bears in the package and North took a handful. He was drunk, but he made himself throw up. We thought he’d be okay.”
The reaction could be from the mix of drugs and alcohol. Or from something else entirely. Balthazar inclined his head, then went to the bathroom, wetting a facecloth and returning to clean the blood from North’s face.
North was slowly coming to, completely disoriented, but other than his tongue, seemed unharmed. Balthazar kept him lying down, speaking with his tone low and even, since the young man looked absolutely terrified, like he wasn’t quite sure where he was.
“The paramedics should be here any minute, North.” Balthazar folded the cloth to hide the blood and used a clean edge to wipe the sweat from North’s brow. “Is there someone you want to come with you?”
He really hoped North didn’t say Tate. The boy would be going to the damn hospital, but Balthazar planned to take him there himself.
Unfortunately, North’s gaze immediately sought out Tate and he relaxed a bit when Tate approached the bed. “If you’re stuck with me, he can’t get you.”
“Jesus, North, he’s not important now.” Tate knelt by the bed and took North’s hand. “I’ll won’t leave you, I swear.”
Retreating from the bed as the paramedics were lead in by Vanessa, Balthazar considered the two young men. He’d been dealing with bands for a while, but this didn’t look like partying and getting wasted had gone too far. There was more to this situation.
And he would damn well find out every detail as soon as he knew they’d both be okay.
The paramedics loaded North onto a stretcher and rolled him into the hallway, Tate never letting go of his hand. In the hall, both bands were lining the walls, various expressions of shock on their faces.
He paused to check on Annette, squeezing her hand when she reached out to him from where she was wrapped in Connor’s arms.
There were tears in her eyes, but she gave him a brave smile. “I’m okay, babe. Take care of him.”
Okay enough to call him ‘babe’? He smiled back at her. Yeah, she’d be fine. His woman was tough.
Connor’s strained smile wasn’t as convincing, but he nodded when Balthazar touched his cheek, letting him know he’d be all right too.
Leaving the other bandmembers to care for one another, with the extra security there to keep an eye on them, Balthazar motioned for Vanessa to come with him.
“Talk to me. What do you know?”
Vanessa’s lips thinned. She shook her head. “This shouldn’t have happened. One of the guards saw Tate leave his room and come back from the front desk with a package from his grandmother. North went into the room not long after, clearly wasted.”
“And what aren’t you telling me?”
Stopping in front of the elevator, Vanessa face him, eyes narrowed. “I had every intention of telling you at our meeting, but you were radioed that Connor and Annette were in the restaurant and we agreed to resume our conversation later tonight.”
He ground his teeth, but quickly nodded. Nothing would be solved with him and the head of XVI Hours’ security at each other’s throat. Vanessa wasn’t to blame for him being in the dark. “I apologize. This isn’t your fault. I should have been on top of the issues Tate was going through. He’s not your responsibility.”
As they got on the elevator, Vanessa put her hand on his shoulder, her grip firm as she forced him to face her. “We’ve been combining our efforts to keep them all safe, Balthazar. You’re not infallible and neither am I. Tate was keeping things from everyone. He wasn’t ready to ask for help. Hopefully he will be now.”
“Whether he is or not, Oakley learned something about what Tate’s hiding in that forum, didn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
The question seemed to take Vanessa off guard. She checked her phone, typing a message as the elevator stopped, keeping pace with him with her eyes on the screen. She almost walked into a pillar and he tugged her arm just in time to prevent a collision.
Still, she didn’t look up. “He hasn’t looked at any of the messages I’ve sent and he’s not answering my calls.”
“Could his phone not be charged?”
She shot him a look that told him Oakley wasn’t the type to ever let that happen. Then her pace slowed. She made a phone call, holding up her finger for Balthazar to wait as they reached the parking garage where the rental van was waiting.
“No, I haven’t seen him, Detective. And I haven’t been able to reach him—how long ago was this?” Vanessa’s lips thinned. “Yes. I’ll be in touch.”
The expression on her face told Balthazar things were about to get much worse. Her next words confirmed it.
“Oakley was on the phone with the detective for the case and suddenly ended the call. He’d transferred all the information over and the tech expert working on it flagged a new post that might have caught Oakley’s attention.” She inhaled shakily, shoving her phone back in her pocket. “Long story short, Tate was being blackmailed by a man from his past. That’s where he’s been these past few months. His name’s Ray, but he goes by ‘The Provider’ on the forum.”
Lips parting, Balthazar stared at her. “Fuck.”
“Yeah, well it gets better. North was able to fill in the blanks about what Ray was using against Tate.” She raked her fingers through the tight braids pulled back into a neat bun, her composure slipping a little more as she rushed to get him up to speed. “A video of Connor beating the shit out of Ray, looking like he planned to kill the man. North and I may have discussed…alternative ways to eliminate the threat.”
“I’d probably have done the same, but that doesn’t explain where Oakley is?”
“Yes, it does.” Vanessa swallowed hard. “He believes that I would kill Ray and insisted we find another way.”
“And the post Oakley saw—”
“Was Ray, delivering the package, then taking a selfie in a café across the street so he could watch Tate through the window when he retrieved it.” Vanessa let out a bitter laugh. “The bait couldn’t be more fucking obvious. What the hell was he thinking?”
She clearly meant Oakley, not Ray. Ray seemed to know exactly what he was doing. What Oakley had planned when he’d gone out to confront the man was anyone’s guess. That he hadn’t returned was cause for concern.
“How long ago did he talk to the detective?”
“It’s been an hour. You have to go to the hospital and make sure Tate doesn’t leave. Ray has Oakley and if the threat of the video isn’t enough to get Tate…” She shook her head as though to stop herself from visualizing the worst-case scenario. “This fucker has to be stopped.”
“Vanessa.” Balthazar moved to block her path, not sure there was any use to trying to reason with her, but knowing he had to try. “There’s a whole task force on this. They know Oakley is in danger, they must be searching for him already.”
“They are.” Vanessa’s eyes took on the cold, hard look of a soldier about to take on a deadly mission that required all emotions to be put on ice. She pulled out the gun that he knew she always kept concealed and was licensed to carry, but didn’t give him any comfort, seeing it now. “And Ray better hope they find him first.”