The Becić Connection Read online

  Chapter EIGHT

  I TOOK A STUTTERING breath and became aware of the voices around us. Vinnie was patting Nikki’s head. Manny was shouting profanities at Colin, who rested his calming hand on my shoulder.

  I took another breath, disengaged from Nikki and took a step back. Pink immediately took my place, tucking Nikki’s head under his chin and holding her as if he was never going to let her go again.

  I shook out my hands as if I could rid myself of the intensity of this moment. I couldn’t. I was not only experiencing my own emotions. I was also registering Vinnie’s relief, Manny’s love which he masked as anger, and Colin’s worry about all of us.

  It would be so much easier if I could just give in to the shutdown pulling at me. Then I wouldn’t have to endure this internal turmoil. Yet my irrational need to reassure myself that this person in front of me was indeed Nikki and she was indeed alive kept me fighting my shutdown.

  More tears ran down my cheeks and I wiped impatiently at them. “Where’s Martin?”

  “He’s really hurt.” Nikki turned her head to look at me, but didn’t move out of Pink’s arms. “Those guys are looking after him. But he needs a hospital.”

  “Help is coming.” Pink rubbed her back. The stark relief on his face contrasted the continued tension in his body.

  I already respected, and liked, Pink. But when I compared his behaviour to the average neurotypical person’s reaction in stressful situations, my respect for him grew exponentially.

  He wasn’t displaying any resentment that Nikki had first run to me. That her need for my presence, my reassurance overrode her need for him. Neurotypical people almost never determined their own worth by the small and everyday behaviours of those who loved them. Instead they frequently derived their worth from anomalous behaviours in unusual situations.

  Nikki took a deep breath and looked up at Pink. “Is Eric okay?”

  “He’s still at daycare. Roxy will fetch him and then he’ll be with her and Francine. Phillip said he’ll also check up on them.” He rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. “I was worried.”

  “I know.” Her tone was gentle. She knew he was in more need of comforting than she was. “I’m here. I’m okay.”

  Pink snorted and lifted his head. “I don’t think I’ll ever be okay after this. I swear I lost ten years of my life today.”

  “All of us did.” Manny glared at Nikki. “What the hell did that Brassy idiot want with you?”

  “Wait, what?” Nikki stepped out of Pink’s arms, but moved back quickly to kiss him full on the lips. Then she turned to Manny. “Who’s Brassy?”

  “Florian Brasseur.” Colin shook his head at Manny. “We tracked your kidnappers and connected them to Martin. And to Florian.”

  Nikki nodded. “Florian. Yes. That was the name the others called the asshat who took us.” She blinked. “Wait. You connected the kidnappers to Marty? That’s not possible. Nope. They tortured him to get me to cooperate.”

  As if on cue, Martin came out of the ruined structure, flanked by Luka and Bruno. He was limping heavily and cradled his right arm as if it was broken. His face was badly bruised and as they came closer, I noticed the laceration on his cheekbone was still seeping blood. His off-white work shirt was completely ruined with dirt and blood. I shuddered.

  “Don’t listen to her.” He limped closer, his voice raw as if he’d been screaming. “I’m not dying. I’m just hurting a little bit.”

  “You are lying.” I pointed at his face. “Your depressor anguli oris and corrugator supercilii muscles tell me that you are suffering immensely.”

  “Oh, dammit, Marty!” Nikki rushed to his side and pushed her shoulder under his good arm. “Stop trying to be a hero. You know we won’t put up with it. You need to sit down.”

  Martin looked at Pink. “Help me out here, dude.”

  Pink glared at Martin, not at all amused by the other man’s attempt to lift the mood. “You look like shit, bro. Nix is right. You look like you’re about to faint like a scared little schoolgirl.”

  “Screw you, pretty boy.” There was no malice in Martin’s weak words. He allowed Nikki to lead him to the first SUV and leaned heavily against it. Someone must have pressed the remote, because the rear door of the SUV silently opened upwards. Nikki helped Martin to the back, and he sat down, the rear door screening him from the sun.

  It had taken Martin time and a few difficult conversations with Nikki before he’d warmed up to Pink. Nikki had been confused when Martin had stopped their bi-weekly dinners soon after Pink and Nikki had fallen in love and moved in together. When she’d started speculating about Martin’s motives, I’d told her to ask rather than guess Martin’s motivation.

  It had taken her a few weeks to build up the courage to address the distance he’d been putting between them. She’d been shocked to hear that fear had been behind his withdrawal. He’d considered Pink so much better in every aspect of his life that he’d been worried everyone, including his own son, would lose interest in him.

  Nikki had called a family meeting and only after Manny had shouted at him that he was a ‘bloody fool’ and Pink had used stronger language to express his irritation with Martin’s concerns had I seen relief in his nonverbal cues.

  The two younger men had since grown closer, and together with Nikki made an exceptional team parenting Eric. There was no longer any wariness in their interaction. As was evident when Pink took a step closer to Martin and inspected the lacerations on his face. “They did a number on you, bro.”

  Martin blinked once, a deep frown pulling his brows together. “Eric. Where is he? Is he okay?”

  “He’s fine.” Pink put his hand on Martin’s shoulder. “He’s with Roxy, Francine and Phillip.”

  Martin exhaled and winced. He favoured his right side and I wondered if he had broken ribs. I was about to ask him when Pink, Manny and all the Croatian men’s body language changed. As one they turned to the narrow road leading to our position. Zork and Bruno raised their weapons, Luka’s hand resting on his.

  A red Mercedes-Benz was very slowly making its way towards us, the driver carefully navigating the bumpy dirt road. Zork and Bruno moved to place themselves between us and the oncoming car. Pink pushed Nikki behind him and stood shoulder to shoulder with Vinnie. They reached for their hips the moment Zork and Bruno aimed their weapons directly at the driver.

  Vinnie snorted when he realised his weapon wasn’t holstered on his hip and put both fists on his hips, his eyes narrowed. Manny slumped against the SUV and lifted his phone to look at the screen.

  The red sports car stopped behind our vehicles and a man in his mid-thirties got out. It was most interesting to see his dismissal of the weapons trained on him. He was aware of it, but it didn’t intimidate him. He had an athletic build and long black hair that brushed his shoulders.

  “Good day.” He made his way slowly towards us, his body language confident, but non-threatening. “I’m here for the patient.”

  No one answered him, Luka’s team not relaxing their postures or lowering their weapons.

  “Oh, for the love of Pete.” Manny pushed himself away from the SUV, looked again at his smartphone screen and sighed. “Luka, you can stand down for now. This is our doctor.”

  He turned his smartphone screen for Luka to see. The latter studied the screen, then nodded at Bruno and Zork. They lowered their weapons, but didn’t relax. Manny snapped his fingers at me. “Doc.”

  I hated it when he did that. I hated it even more that I knew he wanted me to join him and to study the newcomer for any alarming nonverbal cues. It took immense effort to ignore the urge to berate Manny, Martin’s need for medical care keeping me focused. I swallowed and moved to stand next to Manny. Colin joined me, his hand resting lightly on my lower back.

  The doctor’s smile was genuine as he stopped in front of Manny, his hand held out. “I’m Doctor Leon Matavulj. Émile told me you would be waiting for me here.”

  Manny shook hi
s hand. “Colonel Millard.”

  “Pleased to meet you.” Doctor Matavulj looked around, his eyes coming to rest on Martin. “That my patient?”

  “Yes, please.” Nikki took a step closer, but Pink held her back with a hand on her shoulder. She glared at him, then looked back at the doctor. “He’s really hurt. I think he’s got broken ribs, so please check that as well.”

  Doctor Matavulj raised an eyebrow when Manny held out his hand to prevent him from moving closer to Martin. Manny turned to me. “Doc?”

  I nodded. “Doctor Matavulj is sincere. His nonverbal cues exhibit only concern—for Martin as well as himself.”

  “Call me Leon.” The doctor looked at me, his smile still genuine, but less confident. “And you are?”

  Vinnie moved in front of me, his chest pushed out. “She’s the doctor who will call you on your bullshit if you even think about stepping out of line.”

  “Would everyone just chill?” Nikki pushed Pink’s hand off her shoulder and looked at me. “He’s really okay?”

  I nodded.

  “Then ignore all these scary dudes and please help Marty.” She walked to the doctor, took his hand and pulled him to the back of the SUV where Martin was watching with wide eyes.

  Leon stopped in front of Martin, but looked at Nikki. “Are you hurt?”

  She shook her head. “No. The blood is his.” She pointed at Martin, but my eyes were glued to the red blotches on the sleeve of her green coat. I hadn’t noticed this before, but now that I had, my breathing stuttered and I had to remind myself that she hadn’t lied when she’d assured me she was unharmed.

  Leon smiled gently at her, then at Pink, who was standing behind Nikki, scowling at the doctor. “May I look at the patient?”

  Pink nodded and Martin shook his head, smiling. “You may look at me, Doc. My name is Martin and I’m not going to threaten you. I just need to stop hurting.”

  Leon chuckled. “They don’t worry me, Martin. They’re just protecting you. Hmm. It looks like your shoulder is dislocated.” He narrowed his eyes at the blood on Martin’s face. “Let me get my bag out of the car and we’ll have you up and running circles around these guys in a minute.”

  “That’s not realisti...” I pressed my lips tightly together when Nikki giggled and winked at me.

  Leon walked to his car and allowed Zork to open the passenger door and remove a large medical bag from the seat. Bruno moved closer, his hand resting on his weapon. Zork opened the bag and nodded after a moment. He handed the bag to Leon. “Thanks for understanding.”

  “Of course.” The doctor’s tolerance of the men’s suspicion and his acceptance of the oddity of this situation made me wonder if he was used to these kinds of situations. He walked back to Martin, placed the bag next to Martin in the back of the SUV and opened it. “Okay, let’s start with the most important.”

  He first checked for internal injuries. Once he was satisfied that Martin seemed to have no internal bleeding, he started cleaning the laceration on Martin’s face. I turned away. I didn’t want to watch the doctor stitching the skin on Martin’s cheekbone or putting his shoulder back into place. I wasn’t queasy when it came to medical situations, but I was learning that I wasn’t good at coping when someone close to me was injured.

  Colin took my hand and walked towards the SUV we’d used. Manny followed us. Vinnie and Pink didn’t. They didn’t even move their alert gazes from the doctor. Martin was safe. No sooner had we stopped at our SUV than Manny’s phone rang. The immediate softening in his features was as good as him telling me it was Francine calling.

  He lifted the phone between us and swiped the screen. “You’re on speakerphone.”

  “Hi, everyone.” Francine’s voice was back to her playful, light tone compared to the somber tone she’d tried to hide since we’d discovered Nikki was missing. “Um... who is everyone?”

  “Just Millard, Jenny and myself.” Colin’s smile was reflected in his voice. “Do you have something for us?”

  “Only a cutie.” A scuffling noise came through the phone. “Say hello.”

  “Dohgee, you there?” Eric’s voice sounded very close to the phone. It made me smile.

  “Good afternoon, Eric.” I was surprised at the emotion thickening my voice.

  “Dohgee, where Mommy?”

  “I’ll take the phone to her, lad.” Manny nodded at us and walked towards the others, asking Eric if Francine was being a good girl. Eric’s giggles felt like a cooling balm to the blistering distress in my mind.

  Colin held my hand as we watched Nikki’s face light up at the sound of Eric’s giggles and she rushed over to grab the phone from Manny. She ran to Martin and together they chatted with Eric. When the doctor pointed at Martin’s shoulder, Martin inhaled slowly and promised Eric he’d see him soon. Nikki swallowed and walked towards us, talking to Eric about the dinosaurs in his colouring book.

  A loud moan drew my eyes to Martin. He had lost all colour in his face and looked like he was about to vomit. His breathing came in shallow gasps, but he also looked relieved. After a few seconds, he straightened and nodded once at the doctor. His shoulder was back in place.

  Nikki stopped next to me, tears in her eyes, but talking brightly about a Brontosaurus’ long neck and small head. “If the Brontosaurus lived today, it would not be able to stand up straight in your bedroom.”

  “Is very high.”

  “Tall.” Nikki pressed against my side. “Yes, sweetie, the Brontosaurus was very, very tall.”

  “Like Pink.”

  Colin and Nikki laughed. “Pink is a little shorter than a Brontosaurus, sweetheart.”

  “Pink is tall.” He paused. “Big Vin is tallest.”

  “Yes, Vinnie is the tallest of us all.” Nikki called Vinnie ‘big punk’ and Colin called him Vin. At some point, Eric had combined the monikers and Vinnie now had a new name. Nikki pulled the phone closer to her mouth. “I’ll be home soon, Eric. Be good for Francine and Roxy, okay?”

  “I plotect Roxy.”

  “Protect.” Nikki blinked. “Why only Roxy?”

  “Francie says she kick butt.”

  Nikki snorted and Francine’s laughter sounded through the phone, followed by kissing sounds. “Okay, big boy. Let me say goodbye and Roxy will help you finish colouring your Brontosaurus.”

  “Bye, Mommy. Bye, Dohgee.”

  “Goodbye, Eric.” I blinked away the tears forming in my eyes.

  “I swear Roxy is having more fun colouring in the dinosaurs than the kid.” Francine’s tone was relaxed.

  “Guilty!” Roxy’s voice sounded far away from the phone, filled with laughter.

  “Sounds like everything is under control over there.” Nikki rested her head on my shoulder. “Thanks, Francine.”

  “You know we’ve got your back, girlie.” Francine cleared her throat. “Okay, let me get back to scouring the internet for everything I can on the names Manny sent. As soon as you have anything more, let me know. It will make searches easier.”

  “Done.” Colin leaned closer to the phone. “Don’t think twice about calling Daniel if something looks off.”

  “He’s on speed dial, don’t you worry your pretty face.” Her bracelets jingled. “Okey-dokey. I’ll be in touch, you wonderful people.”

  The call ended and Nikki lifted her head off my shoulder. “I think the doc is finished over there. Is he a mafia doctor?”

  Colin huffed a laugh. “I don’t think so.”

  “I think so.” She tilted her head, studying the doctor as he put his stethoscope back into the large bag. “I mean, he didn’t even blink when all those guns were pointed at him. Hmm. I’m thinking mafia doctor. Hey, where did you find him?”

  Colin chuckled. “Émile.”

  “I knew it!” Nikki punched the air with both fists. “He’s most likely one of Émile’s old friends’ sons or something.” Nikki walked back to the group to see off the doctor. I pushed myself closer to the SUV, but kept a close eye on the doctor’s nonv
erbal cues. They hadn’t changed. He was still displaying a heightened sense of alertness, but no worry and, most importantly, no deceit or overt interest.

  Only when his car moved away from us did we walk back to the others. Luka nodded at Zork. “Check him out.”

  “Don’t punish the doc, Luka.” Pink lifted his chin towards Martin. “He put Humpty Dumpty here back together.”

  “No punishment,” Luka said. “I just want to keep an eye on him. He’s far too comfortable with this. And who knows when we might need him.”

  There was a short silence. Then Bruno snorted. “Humpty Dumpty.”

  Everyone laughed. Even Martin, but he immediately groaned and pressed his palm against his ribs. “Oh, don’t make me laugh.”

  “Okay, little punk.” Vinnie turned to Nikki, his hands resting on his hips, a frown replacing his smile. “How the fuck did you get yourself taken?”

  Chapter NINE

  “ARE YOU FOR REALS BLAMING the victim?” Nikki stepped closer to Vinnie and punched him hard on his shoulder. She turned to me. “Did Francine not find any security video? Didn’t you see what happened?”

  “We saw.” I blinked when Vinnie cut me off with a sharp hand movement.

  “Look at me, little punk.” He waited until Nikki turned tearful eyes on him. “I’m not blaming you. Well, not completely. We saw the footage and I saw that you have zero situational awareness. Did I teach you that?”

  “No.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. Then looked at him. “I’m not you, big punk. I don’t want to always be ready for an assault or”—she hunched her shoulders—“being kidnapped.”

  “Enough.” Manny’s tone was as cold as the look he gave Vinnie. “We are not blaming anyone but the criminals. Or should I be putting you in that category? Again?”

  Luka’s eyebrows rose at Manny’s last question. He crossed his arms and, like the rest of his team, continued to quietly observe us.

  Vinnie’s lips tightened and he shook his head. His nostrils flared as he took a few harsh breaths. He turned back to Nikki, his expression contrite, his voice gentle. “I’m sorry, little punk. I was...”