Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
SLOANE
"You want to do what now?" Nyx sounded appalled by my suggestion.
"I want to kidnap Benjamin."
Now that I said it out loud, I could understand her disbelief. Kidnapping wasn't the right way to go about my plan, but over the years, that was how we handled problems, and it became second nature.
"Respectfully, I'm going to have to vote no.
And yes, I understand the irony of that considering I'm always up for a good kidnapping, but in this case, I need to put my foot down and disagree with you.
There's trying to help the boy and then there's traumatizing him.
Kidnapping falls heavily on the traumatizing side of the line. "
"What else would you have me do?"
"Honestly? Anything else. How do we even know he needs rescuing? No offense, but from the sound of it, he has a very privileged life."
Nyx would think that. From the little I gathered, she came from a middle-class family who loved her deeply.
If her parents hadn't been brutally murdered in front of her when she was sixteen, she likely would've lived a very different life right now.
She couldn't fathom the pressure Benjamin was under.
"It might seem like that to you, but I've lived that life. It's not all it's cracked up to be. I don't want this for him."
When I found out I was pregnant, my only concern was getting as far away from the reminder of what happened that I didn't do my due diligence. I jumped at the first opportunity to give the baby away. Guilt now ate at me for my hastiness.
You never would've known had Hawk not forced it on you.
The thought bothered me as well. What kind of person did it make me that I spent a decade purposely doing everything I could to avoid thinking about the baby I gave up.
Was this my way of seeking atonement for my actions?
"I get you believe that, but there has to be another way. Kidnapping can't be our first line of defense in this situation. We need to make sure we're doing the right thing before we turn this kid’s life upside down."
"Nyx is right," Beckett chimed in. "We need proof."
I threw my hands in the air. "Hawk gave me the information. That should be enough proof. They've never steered us wrong in the past."
"Have you asked Hawk why they gave you the information?" Nyx questioned.
"Yes. And nothing but radio silence," I grumbled.
It was Hawk's MO and honestly the only frustrating thing about working with the anonymous person.
Any time something personal came up, they conveniently stopped answering.
"We said we needed a way to infiltrate The Givers. This could be a perfect opportunity."
"Did you forget you signed away your parental rights when you put the baby up for adoption?" Anita added her two cents. "There's no way in hell those parents are going to let you back into Benjamin's life."
"Maybe not, but they are out of the country right now, and Benjamin’s with his au pair. I checked her financial records, and the young woman is paid shit. I'm betting she would be willing to give up some information on her employers."
I was suddenly desperate. Call it mother's intuition or a gut feeling. Either way, the pull to get eyes on the boy I gave birth to was strong, and I refused to ignore it.
My teammates shared a look. Beckett kept his eyes on me, and Hayes was conveniently quiet over in the corner. I would ask him later what that was all about. He'd barely spoken since I told him the baby was a boy.
"Say we did agree to go to Minnesota. What would you say to the au pair?" Nyx carefully asked.
"I'd tell her the truth. She's been with the family since they adopted Benjamin.
There's no way she agrees with how he's being raised.
She spends all of her time with him, and they see him maybe ten percent of the time.
She's practically his mother. We just need to play on that and see what we can learn about the Astors and their relationship to The Givers. "
Nyx appeared to be digesting my words. For some reason, Anita was letting her take the lead on this one.
"Can you promise kidnapping will be used as a last resort?"
I nibbled on the side of my mouth and apparently took too long to answer. Nyx threw her hands in the air and grumbled, "Wes is going to kick our ass when he has to bail us out of jail." Then she pointed between Anita and Beckett. "You're as bad as Anita when she merely wanted to talk to Beckett."
"We did talk." Anita tried to defend herself.
"Forcibly." Beckett coughed, and Anita gave him a dirty look.
"See!" Nyx exclaimed. "We're going to have a repeat of Anita and be forced to have Wes on standby. We promised a long time ago to stop putting ourselves in situations like that."
"Fine, then I'll go myself. This is personal anyway. Not team business."
"I'll take you," Lilith was quick to add.
I gave my teammate a chin lift. It was always the quiet ones who surprised you.
"That's not what I'm saying," Nyx huffed. "Fine, we'll all go."
"Actually, I'll stay here with Krista, but the rest of you can go," Beckett corrected. "Unless you want to stay?" He looked at Hayes.
Hayes didn't answer at first. He looked down to where his one leg was crossed over the other. I wished I could see his face. I wanted to know what he was thinking, but it was clear he was hiding from me.
Finally, he looked up and cracked his neck from side to side. "No, I'll go." He cleared his throat. "Besides, Krista doesn't know me all that well, and I think she would prefer someone she knows."
"Then it's settled. We leave within the hour." I walked past my teammates and stopped next to Hayes. "Can we talk?" I whispered.
"Yeah. I'll be there in a minute."
I exited the room, thinking I would know what was bothering Hayes before we left, but as it turned out, he had other plans.