A Trace of Him
What follows is total chaos.
Somehow the press learned that Loraine would be transported by ambulance and amassed outside the house within minutes. Fortunately, her garage is covered, allowing the ambulance to be ushered in and cut off from the outside world. This way we can protect her privacy as much as possible.
Meanwhile, Damian and Kenjal have arrived.
Kaylah and I ride in the ambulance with Loraine while the others follow with their own transport. The paparazzi follow behind us, it's a madhouse. “Kaylah, would we rather not have transported her per helicopter services? This is crazy!” I ask distraught. The paramedics gave Loraine first aid and placed her under anesthesia. She's pretty weak, she's been on the bed for days, the nurse said. I hit myself on the forehead, why didn't I act sooner? I never thought Aziel would leave, I thought he had the situation firmly in hand. Not so.
“We'll handle this, don’t worry. But where is Aziel, I've been asking that question for a while without getting an answer," Kaylah insists. “Why wasn't he at home? I tried to call him but his phone was turned off. What's going on here, Andre?” she demands to know.
I take a deep breath rub my face a few times. “They have some relationship problems. The stress of the last few days, on top of the loss of their children, became too much for them, I think," I explain. “I tried to talk to Aziel, but he was completely closed off. I thought he had the situation under control. But now I understand that he faced the hardest hit.”
Kaylah looks startled, she clearly hadn't seen this coming. “And then the trial is still going on shortly, and Clairy is about to give birth. Good heavens, this is a pressure under which any man would succumb.” My head gets tense as everything now dawns on me. I've been selfish the last few weeks, while my best friend desperately needed me, I devoted all my attention to my lover. “Kaylah, we've done a bad job here. We have selfishly abandoned our friends, immersed in our own lives. Antisocial attitude”, I blame myself more than her.
When I look at her now, I see tears in her eyes, she also has to deal with a large portion of self-reproach. “Yes, we expected too much from Aziel. It was only a matter of time before he’d collapse under this heavy load,” she sobbed now, stroking Loraine's face. "We're going to have to save them, we don't have a choice here, Andre."
When we arrive at the hospital the craziness is complete.
A television station turns out to bring Loraine's accident Live on air, the horde of journalists waiting there is unstoppable. Fortunately, the hospital has taken precautions. The ambulance drives into a closed parking, and when Loraine is taken to the treatment room, Damian, Archer and Kenjal rush in. “Did she say anything, Andre? Does she know where Aziel is?” asks Damian urgently. Devastated, I shake my head. “Good Mercy! How do we find him? It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. Where do we start?”
As Kaylah leaves with the medics, I take the men to the waiting area. There we can talk better and make plans. “The IT man at my company can trace Aziel's phone without it being on. Via the satellite”, explains Damian. "Let's hope he still has his device with him." He picks up his own phone and calls the man in question on speakerphone. We agree to meet him in the office at the automotive company because he has all the equipment there to assist us.
Kenjal, who is less technical, offers to stay back in the hospital with Kaylah, so the three of us leave for Winfield&Co in Damian's car.
In the ICT room, the man works accurately.
We look at how the contact with the satellite is established and all the codes he enters. All those Greek letters running across the screen mean nothing to me, so I wait patiently at the back for them to sign me when they've traced the phone.
And I don't have to wait long. "Here he is!" I suddenly hear Damian say breathlessly. I lean forward and indeed see a red ball moving. It departs from New York on the highway. Aziel seems to be skimming the road at high speed. We all hold our breath follow the red ball on-screen with wide eyes. Finally, we see it cross the border into Virginia, moving more slowly now towards the beach area. The ball comes to a complete standstill, we just stare at it, remain silent for some time.
“Is he at the beach? What should he do there?” I ask, bewildered. The ICT man types in some codes again and we see the ball move again. Now it stops at the end of the beach. once more, the man enters some codes. “This is his final destination. He didn't leave here. Just ask for the exact location”, he says more to himself. He's putting in again Greek codes and we see a map appear on the screen. The red label indicates a hotel's name, address and other contact details.
Archer leaps into the air.
"Awesome. We'll leave immediately," he decides. We all simultaneously dig into our pockets and each take out a five-hundred dollar tip. Fifteen hundred total, the man grins. “This journey will take you five to six hours at a rapid pace. I'm going home to freshen up and come back to see if he's moving. If he stays stationary, you won't hear from me, but as soon as he's only a kilometer from this address, I'll call immediately," the man says. We all thank him with a bro-hug.
We drive back to the hospital first to speak to Kenjal and Kaylah. We inform them of our plan. Kaylah is very excited about it and gives us her blessing.
We rush to the car, and within seconds we are on our way to Mission Rescue. Whatever happens, Loraine's light needs to be restored as soon as possible...
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
