NEARLY A QUARTER CENTURY AGO
DETROIT, MI

"Jesus H. Christ, Nails, what did I tell you about that?"  Joey's voice was a whip cracking through the air over his head.

"I'll break my damn teeth if I keep chewin' on 'em."  a twenty-five-year-old Neil said softly.

"Damn straight you will.  You wanna have no fucking teeth when you're my age?  Look at my mouth, Kid."  Joey opened his mouth to reveal a horrible slew of rot and decay.  

Neil winced and pulled the nail out of his teeth, "Sorry, Boss."  He muttered stuffing the nail into his pocket with the others.

"For the last time, I'm not your damn Boss.  The lady is the Boss.  If not her, then her Pops, Don Salvatore.  You call me Boss and someone's gonna take away any worries about your teeth.  They'll knock 'em clean out of your head, right after they put a bullet in me for reaching too high above my station."

Neil knew this, he was reminded often.  He looked down at the ground and nodded.  There was a lot of things to remember.  How to stand.  Where to stand.  Being quiet was the easiest part.  Don't talk til no one talked to you first.  Grandma said that one often too so he was sure he'd never forget that.  

Neil held real still.  That was what he was good at, holding still and hitting stuff really hard - sometimes even people if they wanted to hurt Miss Isabella - which happened surprisingly more often than he would have thought.  She was a real nice gal.  Neil thought she was the prettiest woman he ever saw.  She had perfect midnight hair and the most amazingly large brown eyes that a man could fall into and just never come out again.  She laughed and it lit up a whole room like the sun.  She was so kind and generous and...

Izzy Luciano strode out of the bar, a splatter of red blood across her brown jacket, wiping gore from the knuckles of her right hand which were torn open and bleeding... no doubt from some other person who hadn't done as they should have done for Don Luciano.  Isabella worked so hard for her father.  She was the most loyal and dedicated daughter he ever met. 

Someday she'd make some man the luckiest guy in the whole gosh darn world... and while Neil wished it would be him, he knew she'd never even notice the existence of a big dumb guy like him.  Not when she was surrounded by smarter, richer, and more handsome men than him.  What life could he ever hope to give someone like her?  She was already so far above him.  Nope.  The best he could hope for was that she'd let him be with her until the day he died.  His Pa died in the war.  Died for his country.  Died for something he believed in.  Neil believed in something.  Neil believed in Izzy Luciano and God willing he'd die for her someday.

PRESENT DAY
DETROIT, MI

Neil, leaned against the passenger side of the car, waiting.  Thinking.  Waiting.  Thinking more.  He drew a slow breath pushing away ghosts of his past.  No fear of misspeaking anymore.  The silence was, as they said, golden.  He'd learned to appreciate the power of not just hearing things, but listening.  And while sometimes he missed the ease with which he could converse, he never missed people assuming he was stupid because of how he spoke or what he said.  More than that he appreciated that he could understand things that folks smarter than he was, didn't.  Sometimes, he supposed, people just didn't listen to one another enough.  Sure enough, they'd hear the words but they'd miss the important parts - the things people didn't say.  

Gavin he supposed was lonely and, though he'd never say it to the man's face, he was pretty sure the Old Wolf was afraid. 

Aurora - that sweet lioness - she felt immense guilt for the events of the last year and clearly felt more and more it fell to her to lead the family a burden she never wanted but is far too honorable to reject for much longer. 

Will... equal parts his mother and his father's son, the wolf pup was a ball of fire and rage and while Neil wanted to stay with him ... it would have been too painful for them both.  Will could no sooner forgive Neil for not being there when Bella needed him than he could forgive himself.  The boy was chasing death in his own way.  Only God could help the man or woman in his path now.  That one... that one had too much of Salvatore in him.  Even if he claimed he was done with the life, Neil knew better.  The boy would have as much, if not more, blood on his hands than his sister before he was done.  Aurora was the one who wanted peace by preparing for war.  That boy... no, that man, had all illusions of peace torn out of his hand as his sister dragged him screaming from his mother's arms.  His life, despite his charming smile, would be an endless war.  Of that, Neil, was sure. 

And Billy?  The newest member of the Byrne family was worried he wasn't enough - not in the money he made, the leadership he gave, and so much more.  He'd won the heart of the princess, but he seemed to think that luck, as he counted all the successes of his life.  Would she ever convince him otherwise?  How many years would he waste this way - the same way he watched Isabella doubt herself?  

Children were so much easier to serve than adults, Neil noted.  Their needs were never secret.  Even those with complicated beginnings, they had a way of letting you know what they needed, what they wanted... and what they feared.

EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO
SOUTH PHILADELPHIA, PA

"TAKE IT BACK!  YOU TAKE IT BACK!"  Aurora screeched.

Neil ran as fast as his feet would allow, pushing past a small herd of children no taller than his thighs.  Grabbing the small flailing brunette by the scruff of her shirt, he pulled her off the much larger boy who was cry and bleeding from the nose.  The children were laughing, some shouting, others seemed horrified by the display and to her credit, the little she-wolf kept right on fighting though her fists and feet had no hope of reaching her opponent.  

Neil carried Aurora to the car, still struggling, and with one hand opened the door and with the other tossed the kindergartener inside.  He still had no idea what the fight was about but he knew one thing... no one messed with his girls.  Neil marched over to the crowd of kids who now had a teacher coming out to intercede - FINALLY.

"DID YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!?"  The scrawny man wasn't one of the people Neil was told was in charge and so, he did exactly what he would have done for Isabella.  He stared and through his eyes he tried to make the man hear the words, 'and who the fuck are you to ask shit about her?'

"SIR!"  The man was still shouting to be heard above the children.  "THIS BOY IS BLEEDING SIR, I NEED TO TALK TO THAT GIRL."

Neil crossed his arms and stared harder.  Two minutes later he was getting back into the car and driving away from the school.  

"Where's Kassandra?"  Aurora asked, pretending not to be crying.

Neil shrugged.  He knew.  Of course, he knew.  She was with Gavin, but that wasn't easily conveyed while he was driving and he wasn't going to give the skinny man a chance to reconsidered his very wise decision to letter matters with Aurora go.  Instead, he patted the seat next to him and Aurora scampered over from the back into the front.

He glanced down at her and arched an eyebrow.

"I don't wanna talk about it Neil."  she said stubbornly.

Neil raised both his eyebrows, pressed his lips into a thin line and nodded.  Aurora liked to play at being silent like Gavin, all brooding, but in truth, she was so much like Bella that you could forget that the woman didn't actually give birth to the girl.

"We had to tell somethin' bout us that made us special."

Neil nodded.

"I told them my Dad and Mom chose me."  she furrowed her brow.  "So stupid..."

Neil tilted his head to the side, unsure why she'd say such a thing.  It wasn't stupid.  She was right to feel special.  Bella hadn't though Gavin would ever want children and if the story was to be believed it was him who picked the girl up out of that crib at Marie Lucania's home and decided then and there it was his daughter.  That, he believed, was special as hell!

"They think my parents didn't want me and gave me away.  Or that they were too poor and sold me."

Neill looked at her sadly.  Of course, she couldn't tell the kids the truth - that her parents were two of the richest most powerful people in the world and that her father had killed her mother.  Even he knew that wasn't a story for a bunch of little kids.

He reached out a hand and touched the place above her heart and tapped it gently.

"I know they love me."  she whispered.  "I love them... but... but what if..."

Neil wasn't supposed to, but he pulled the car to the curb.  Gavin had taught him one thing in their years together - sometimes for your girls, you needed to be willing to bend the rules.

Neil looked at her and opened his arms.  Aurora lept into his embrace and began to cry unabashedly.  Neil wanted to tell her with words that her fears might be normal but unnecessary.  He'd seen more of her father and mother in her just today than any natural born kid might ever show.  He wanted to... but even if he could have, words were never going to reassure Aurora she was a Byrne.  That was something she'd find in herself one day.  Instead, he'd address the more urgent and fixable issue.  He stroked her long dark hair that so much looked like her mother's, and loved her.  He loved her as fiercely as if she was his own daughter.  He'd give anything for this kid.  Even his own life.  God willing, he'd get the chance to prove it one day.

PRESENT DAY
DETROIT, MI

The bell rang and Brigitte tore out of the school like a bullet fired from a gun.  Loud, fast, and all muzzle flash as she waved to other children she'd befriended.  Like Will, the girl had no troubles making friends.  People loved her, as they loved her Grandmother before her.  Her problems were different than her mother's were at the same age and though Neil hadn't puzzled them out yet - he knew there was still time.

He held open the car door and the wild mop of blonde curls with a giggling girl attached, climbed in.  Neil, looking around for danger, walked to the driver's side door.  Seeing no issues, he climbed in and began to drive his appointed route home.

"I made a picture,"  Brigitte said digging into her bag and pulling out a scrolled up sheet of paper.  Scampering over into the front seat as her mother used to do, Brigitte plopped down right beside Neil and smoothed out the crayon art so at a glance he caught sight of a group of stick figures and what was either a stick cow or stick dog.  He couldn't be sure but he suspected the later.

"This is Mama and Gav.  This is Papa and he's got a picture he drew of a new building he's making.  And that's Grampa Gavin and he's got an ice cream cone for me and a new dog with a red bow on him cause he's for my sixth birthday.  I'm going to name him Mr. Woofles.

Neil chuckled and reached over tapping the side of the paper where three more figures stood together.

"Silly, that's you, Charlie, and Oscar keeping us safe."  She smiled brightly.  Neil returned the smile and messed her hair up with his hand in response.

"I think Grampa Gavin will get me a dog if I ask him real nice every day.  Maybe if I play cards with him more too."

Neil glanced at the rearview mirror as he turned the corner and noticed a black car take the turn with them.

"He likes playing with the cards you know?  Sometimes we build houses with them but he's better at that than me.  I don't mind though.  Mama says if something is important you just need to keep practicing and never give up.  Winners never quit.  Quitters never win."  Brigitte nodded repeating her mother's mantra.

Another turn.  The car was still following.  Closer now.  Neil moved the car to pass someone, putting some space between him and the tail.  The tail stuck with him though.

"Also doing what's right is never wrong.  Doing what's wrong is never right.  See I remember."  She beamed up at Neil and then furrowed her little brow.

Neil reached over and grabbed the seat belt he never made the kid wear and wrapped it around her, locking it into place and tightening it snugly on her waist.

"Mr. Neil?"

Neil hit the accelerator and passed one, then two cars. 

This is happening.

The tail followed suit. 

This is really happening.  

Brigitte fell silent, gripping her picture of the family as the car increased in speed moving down the highway.  She knew things weren't right, and Neil knew that she was scared.  He wanted to tell her that it would be okay, but he had no way to talk to her.  So, he had to convey this to her with his facial expressions, his body language, and the brief glances he managed to give her while navigating the city streets.

The car behind them closed on his bumper and nudged his car.  Brigitte screamed.  Neil had to focus and yet, the kid, the kid needed him too.  If this went south, what would she do?  She wasn't like Aurora.  She had nothing, almost no real training of any sort, she was as vulnerable as any child could be.  Reaching into his pocket he dug out the long masonry nail.  He couldn't reach his knife that was on his leg, but in her hands, the nail was a long sharp dagger.  He passed it to the kid.

"Your Daddy's nail?"  She said sadly.

He nodded, he made an aggressive stabbing motion and put his hand back on the wheel just as the next impact came.  

Brigitte screamed out again and this time she sobbed.

He wanted to tell her to run as fast as she could, to people, to anyone she could see if the car stopped... but he'd have to trust that instinct would get the kid through if he couldn't make it home before things got worse.

And then - it did.

A large truck, with an enclosed trailer, pulled out from an alley into the street.  Neil cranked the wheel and hit his breaks, but he wasn't fast enough.  The last thing he heard was the squealing tires and Brigitte's screams of absolute terror.  Then a bolt of pain dragged him into the depths of oblivion.  

He wasn't sure how much time had passed, moments? 

"Laisse-moi partir! Laisse-moi partir!"

He blinked, blood was running down his face and into his blurred eyes. 

"TENIR BON! BON DIEU!"

He could make out Brigitte struggling as a pair of hands pulled her out of the passenger side of the car.  She was reaching for him but he as he tried to move forward towards her, he found he could not.

"Nothing personal ..."  A man's voice at what was left of his window. 

Neil looked at him first and then down to the large hunk of metal in his own chest which the man had been looking at.

"Rest in peace, Friend."  

With that, the man trotted away calling out "Someone call an ambulance, this man needs help!"

Neil tried to get the metal out but he was sure if he removed it, he was dead.  He was probably dead anyway.  This was not how Neil was supposed to leave this life.  He was supposed to help them.  He was supposed to protect them.  For a long moment, he stared at his own blood coming out of his chest around the metal and wondered if it was his heart that the object struck.  It felt that way.  And then, Neil had a thought.

Neil strained his vision.  He listened.  He used the only skills God had left him in this life and he did what he could with his final moments of consciousness to help his girls.   With the blood from his chest, on the dash in front of him, he wrote:

QLK-657    fren

Margaret Mary McCarthy ... better known around the household as the Nanny Mavis, paced with baby Gavin on her hip. Aurora was out shopping, picking up items for her family, Mr. Mastrosimone was at his office still and Aurora... well, Aurora should have been home five minutes ago.  

Maybe there was an issue at school.  Maybe a flat tire.  Maybe any number of very mundane and normal things... and yet, this was also a family that rushed to airports in the middle of the night leaving their whole lives behind with barely a word as to why.  One didn't take chances in a household like this, every oddity was worth noting.

Mavis walked to the phone and dialed up the direct line to her boss' office.

"Mr. Mastrosimone, I'm sorry to bother you but Neil is late in bringing Brigitte home and I thought you'd like to know right away."

Billy nodded into the phone.

"Thank you Mavis. I'm on my way."

He hung up the phone and swung his jacket on.

"Charlie!"

The bodyguard was at the door before Billy was.

"Hey bud, we gotta get home, get Oscar to get the car round, Neil was late in dropping off Brigitte. Nanny just called, means it must have been a few minutes. I'm going straight home, you take the other car and retrace from here to the school. Find a phone and call in if you see anything."

He pushed passed the man who nodded to him and turned to the woman at his desk.

"Olivia, I'm going home early today. You can leave whenever you want tonight, enjoy the rest of the evening, see you tomorrow."

He smiled and patted her desk as he made his way downstairs to the running car and then home.

When he walked inside things were, pretty much exactly as he predicted, except for one key factor. No Aurora. She must have been out somewhere, and when he asked Mavis, he was told she would be back shortly.

"Alright, then I will just sit and wait a minute. I already sent Charlie to go get Neil and Brigitte. Relax Mave, sit down with me."

The phone rang.  He'd only been home a total of three or four minutes when it did and Mavis stayed far from the phone as Billy grabbed it off the wall.

As soon as Charlie heard his boss' voice he began to speak in a practiced calm and professional voice, "Boss, write this down for Oscar.  15th and Cherry - park on Cherry, a block away.  I need you to come down here right away, I'll be waiting and explain when you arrive."

And without another word, the guard hung up the phone.

Billy turned and grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down

15th & Chr.

He left it by the phone and sprinted out of the house.

"Oscar, 15th and Cherry, park on Cherry and we hoof it. Whatever the fuck is going on I want to have been there 10 minutes ago."

While Billy hadn't heard anything in the background that would have given anything away, he still pulled out the two coal-black guns he kept on him and checked to make sure they were loaded.

"You stay with the car Oscar, keep it running, and be ready to leave any second."

Oscar nodded and threw the car into park, letting Billy's frame spill out onto the sidewalk and start toward 15th at a sprint. He was fater than he used to be, Aurora was making him run in the mornings nowadays.

The scene that Billy approached was a spectacle.  Fifty or so people, some police and some firemen, ambulance drivers - the scene roped off with tape already.  Lights flashing, the sounds, the smells... a truck having come out of an alleyway and one of his cars mangled into its side.  Charlie ran to meet Billy but the larger man was having none of it.

"Boss.  Boss you need to listen to me..." 

Billy continued past him, picking up pace.

"BILLY!"

Billy stopped, but he didn't look away from his car, smoke rising from the engine block.

"She's not there."  Charlie said flatly.  "She's gone."

Billy wheeled on Charlie then, he reached out and lifted the guy off his feet by his lapels.

"Then where the fuck are they Charlie?"

He grit his teeth and dug his heels into the pavement. It was a good ten seconds before he realized he had Charlie pinned so tightly against the wall that the older man couldn't actually answer him if he wanted to. He couldn't breathe in fact, and was trying to indicate the to Billy. Billy let him go then and stared at the wreck again, this time he sighed.

"Sorry Charlie, I just got real fuckin worried, but if they aren't there, then they got away. So just tell me where they are, or at least where you think they are and we can find em. Fuck the truck driver, we'll get him later."

Charlie shook his head. 

"That's what ... what I'm trying to tell you."  He caught his breath as best as he could.  "Neil... he's in the car."  The look on Charlie's face said it all, the way the firemen were looking at the car... not as men trying to put out a fire, but as if they were trying to puzzle out something less urgent.  And the police... the way they were shooing off onlookers.  

The onlookers... the expressions on their faces.  The tears in the eyes of women.  Mother's shielding their children from the sight.  How had he not noticed this before?  

Two men in suits lifted the tape and began walking towards the firemen as Billy watched.  One middle-aged and one about his own age, give or take a year.  The suits weren't onlookers, they weren't cops.  The cops were giving them glares and a wide berth.  

"I couldn't get close ... but I can see him in there.  It's him."

Billy shook his head.

"Couldn't get close my ass. I'll fucking bet you your next paycheck that's fucking Bob and his new boy wonder right now walking over to the car. If anyone can get me a look it's him. Get up."

He sprinted toward the car then and called out.

"Agent Smith?! That you? Mind if I have a quick word?"

"Let 'em in."  Smith called out as he walked towards Billy and Charlie.  His younger shadow kept close behind Smith.  Smith had a grim look on his face.  "Mr. Mitchell, I'm going to need you to stay here with Elijah while I ask your boss' help in identifying the victim in this accident."

Bob put a hand on his shoulder and leaned his head in to speak, "Three minutes.  Maybe five if I push things and act like you're helping on the investigation.  Was he involved in something else?  I know this is three miles from your kid's school, he wasn't..."  

Bob nodded - the look on Billy's face said it all.

"I can have the cops canvasing for her.  Start asking people questions, checking buildings and cars.  We'll find her."

Billy walked with Smith over to the car.

"No, he wasn't involved in anything else, like you said, this was...

Fuck."

He stopped walking then and shook his head. Neil deserved better than that. A lot better. As Billy got closer he realized how fresh everything was. The blood hadn't even fully congealed yet.

The blood... there was something off about the blood. It wasn't in a spray pattern behind him like it should have been. There was shit written on the dash...

Billy looked at it, and then at the truck. Then back at the blood on the dashboard and pointed. He remained as calm as he though was possible in the situation. But starting at his little angel's things, her drawing of her family, her books, her dreams were in that car. She wanted a puppy so badly that she drew it every time she could. Billy shook the tear from his eye.

"Bob. Can you come here please?"

As the agent moved in closer Billy lowered his voice.

"On the dashboard is a license plate number. It doesn't match the one on the truck. You want to find that shit, or do you want me to figure it out first. If you help me here, I let you come along. If you want to stop helping right now, that's fine too, but you know I'll find the fuckers myself."

"I'll get them on the plate ..."  Bob nodded,  "They're questioning witnesses.  Don't rush off half-cocked, okay?  I get this is your kid and you probably wanna call that wife of yours... but Billy we both know how that plays.  Let us do what we do first.  We're on your side on this one.  I promise you, if these fuckers harm a hair on your little girl's head .... trust me... even I have my limits."

He glanced over his shoulder at Elijah and Charlie before asking,  "Now ... what the fuck is FREN?"

Billy shook his head.

"No fucking clue man. No clue. And I get that you're on my side, but..."

His eyes went wide.

"Bob... I got bad news. I already told my wife."

His mind flashed back to the memo pad he left by the phone. Aurora knew the location of the crash. All it was going to take was for one of her own people to come out of the woodwork and tell her about a car accident. She was smarter than he ever was, she would put it together faster than he had.

"Well Bob. I think we have to get on this shit. You said the cops are looking into witnesses, you're gonna find the license plate. I know I can't take any of this shit with me, but I swear to god Bob when this is over I better get that picture back."

He stood and held out his hand to shake the other man's.

"I'm gonna have to head off my wife, unless you want to do that while I look for these bastards? Besides, I'm gonna need to make a few phone calls and get my own people on this. CHARLIE!"

As he called the other man ran over.

"Write it down, and we're leaving. Agent Smith and Agent...?"

Billy watched as the kid locked eyes with him and stared as he said one word "Garrett"

"Well fuck me Bob." Billy sighed. "Find my fucking kid and I think I'll owe you a kid in return." He nodded at the younger agent and started in the direction that Oscar was waiting at the car.

As Billy made his way back to the car, he could hear Bob saying, "Well, God damn it, Kid.  I hope you're happy our job just got a fuck ton harder."

Charlie wrote down the license and followed his Boss back to the cars.  Oscar began with a steady stream of questions but Billy cut him off with terse facts and the drive home was terribly silent.

Pulling into the parking lot, Billy could see that the Dusenburg just pulling in.  Aurora wore a bright smile as she got out.  Her blonde hair pulled back into a messy bun.  Reaching into the car she pulled out the grocery bag.  "Billy wait until you see this flat of strawberries I got for a song!  We're gonna have the best strawberry french toast tomorrow - help me carry this upstairs."

"Roar, leave the groceries. Oscar, please?"

He watched as the other two went down to get the bags and he took his wife into the living room.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush." He said as he opened a bottle and poured two glasses.

"You are going to need this first, and I need you to try and remain as calm as possible. We are going to take care of some things while we are home and there are other people helping us, not exactly the sort of people we would have expected."

Aurora's eye narrowed as she took the glass and set it on the coffee table. Billy sighed as he sat next to his wife.

"Neil and Brigitte were attacked on their way home today. She is missing, he did not make it."

He paused a second and set his own glass down, there was no reason to beat around the bush.

"He left us a message, a license plate number. Agent Smith and his counterpart have the police looking for the thing. I am about to make phone calls to everyone I know to get the word out that there's a bounty on the car with that plate. We don't know who, or why, or much of anything at all. Bob is going to give me information from the witnesses as he gets it, and right now I think we need to throw a net around the city and do what we can to hold things in place."

He paused another second and then gestured toward the kitchen.

"You might want to make a couple of calls too, see if you can get in touch with your dad, your sister, your brother's. I don't know if it was just our little girl they were after or if it's the whole family. I'm going to go over to Gavin's place and use his phone to start calling our guys."

He reached out and took Aurora's hands.

"Unless you need me here to stay with you for a minute?"

Billy spoke, "Neil and Brigitte were attacked on their way home today. She is missing, he did not make it."

The words didn't feel real. 

'More tea, Mr. Bear?  Neil?'  Aurora poured a cup of pretend tea for her mother's bodyguard in a bonnet.

She'd just seen Neil not even two hours ago. 

'It's just groceries, Neil.  I don't need a body man for every little thing.  It's three blocks away and who's going to hurt me?  The butcher?  No, you worry about picking up Brigitte.  I'll be back in just a bit.'  Aurora grabbed her keys, took one last look at Neil's smile and shut the door.

Brigitte ... who would?  A hundred enemies sprung to mind, all with the ability to do it.  

Dad's truth.  'We've been getting chased across the country, bouncing from place to place to survive.'

But, mobsters weren't supposed to... the Cosa Nostra had rules... 

Will's screams.  'Mom!  Mom NO!'

No one was supposed to involve non-combatants and yet, here she was again.

Billy continued, "He left us a message, a license plate number. Agent Smith and his counterpart have the police looking for the thing. I am about to make phone calls to everyone I know to get the word out that there's a bounty on the car with that plate. We don't know who, or why, or much of anything at all. Bob is going to give me information from the witnesses as he gets it, and right now I think we need to throw a net around the city and do what we can to hold things in place."

He paused another second and then gestured toward the kitchen.

"You might want to make a couple of calls too see if you can get in touch with your dad, your sister, your brother's. I don't know if it was just our little girl they were after or if it's the whole family. I'm going to go over to Gavin's place and use his phone to start calling our guys."

He reached out and took Aurora's hands.

"Unless you need me here to stay with you for a minute?"

She swallowed her rage and urge to rush out and hunt the beasts who put hands on a little girl even though it took ever ounce of strength she had left.  Even though she knew, without a doubt, it's exactly what her father would have done ... what he would do, if she called him.

"Did the crash kill him... or the kidnappers?"

If. 

Dad was helping Volkov.  If she called him he'd be on the first fucking plane back to the States and what about her brother?  She might be pushing her problems between her father and a son who had already lost so much time with him already.  Her father needed more people, more reasons to keep going ... not a call that told him he now had less to live for.  Did he really need a twelve-hour flight thinking about another person he loved being dead and a precious grand-daughter missing?

"I'll make us a home,"  Aurora whispered, far more confident sounding than she felt. "And when you come back... there will be something real waiting for you, with us.  I promise." 

Perhaps it was time to start doing what she promised him she could... what she WOULD do.

"The crash,"  Billy admitted.

"And Rora, it's not your job to make things stable for me." Her father emphasized. "Or for anyone else other than your children and your husband."

Aurora nodded and wondered, could she even handle that much?

"Be yourself." The memory of her dad urged. "Be unapologetically yourself, and do what you can. Then stop thinking so much."  

Aurora's gaze was distant as the Wolf and Dragon warred within her.  She wanted her guns.  She wanted to run out that door and down the street to wherever those cops were no-doubt fucking shit up.  She wanted to find clues and hunt those bastards and find her daughter.  She could do it.  She had the skills, she'd been training her whole life for this very sort of shit - the kind of dark days no one wanted but everyone prepared her for.

But a part of her was hesitant.  What if she was wrong?  What if, in her fear and frustrations and sadness she missed details or followed the wrong leads?  What if she mucked it all up with her hope to hunt prey she knew nothing about yet?  She knew it was possible.  She'd seen even well-meaning people fuck up and miss the most obvious details.  Was she thinking clearly?  Did she have a reasonable start point or was she just desperately not wanting to stand still.

She looked into Billy's eyes at last.

Was she trusting him to know what was best?  She wanted him to lead and here he was doing it.  Was she prepared to follow as she told him she could - like she promised she really wanted?

She wet her lips. 

"It could be about money.  Someone might call wanting to give her back in exchange for profit.  Maybe the kidnappers don't know who we are?  Just another rich couple who could afford drivers and protection for their kids at an exclusive private school for young children? Maybe they have no idea who they've crossed?  Maybe they'll call."  

Mom's wisdom.  "You, not the prey, set the pace.  Don't ever let fear drive you off the rocks before you're ready and NEVER alone.  Do you understand, me, Rory... this part is important... right now you have to remember, never EVER alone."

Aurora nodded slowly.

"I'll make the calls.  I'll be okay,"  she said, giving his hands a squeeze.  She had to be strong enough to endure this, this and every horrible thing that would come later in her life.  She would not be broken today.  This was not the end.  Heaven help whoever tested them this time because she and Billy would not.

She leaned forward and kissed him.  Keeping her head touching his and her eyes closed after the kiss ended, she whispered, "We'll find her.  Together."

Billy left and Aurora stood up and walked over to Mavis who was holding Gavin, tears were in the old woman's eyes.  Aurora kissed her son's head as he babbled happily in his nanny's arms.

"I'll stay as late as you need, Mrs. Mastrosimone."

Aurora nodded.  "Thank you, Mavis."

With that she walked to the phone in the kitchen and pulled out of her purse a small notepad.  She flipped first to the easiest.  Kat.  The call was short.  Promises to help in whatever way she could.  No nothing was wrong there.  She'd keep her guard up in case.  Call as soon as anything was known about her niece.  

The next call wasn't going to be so easy.

"Hi Will."  She said a lump already forming in her throat.

"Dad?"  He asked.  She could hear the terror in his soft tone.

She shook her head, though he could not see it before she finally worked up the courage to say, "Neil."

She could hear the air exit him and the sound of chair dragging across the floor noisily before he settled down to ask, "Do I want to know how?"

"Car wreck."

"Wow."  He said surprised.  "I ..."

"Brigitte was taken."

"What?!?"

"We don't know by who, but the cops are... helping."

"Jesus Christ.  I'll get a flight to Detroit ton-"

"No."  Aurora said firmly.  "There's nothing to be done right now Will.  We... we'll call when the funeral arrangements are made for Neil and... we're just..."

"Gav needs family with him.  Dad's out of the country, you call him yet?  You and Billy got to be out of your damn minds.  Let me help."

"We have a Nanny."

"She's not family."

"You're out." she countered.

"You don't know this is that... stuff.  Besides, sitting with my nephew can't be considered 'in' ... can it?"

Aurora sighed.  She didn't want to fight him.  She wanted him here.  She needed her brother, though it pained her to admit.  "Maybe."

"Good enough for me.  I'll call my professors, pack a bag and book a flight.  I'll be there before morning."

"Are you sure?"  Aurora asked softly.

"Never surer.  Besides, the kid and I need more time together.  I need more practice with babies.  It's a win for us both.  That and your Nanny can sleep some and spend time with her own kids.  We got this."

"I know it's just... I feel bad asking you to..."

"Meh.  We're family.  You just focus on finding my niece.  I got some sleight of hand to show her that she's gonna love.  Okay?  Focus on getting her back Rora.  I'll be there soon."

"I love you, Scab."

"Back atcha."

Will hung up first.

Aurora stared at the phone number.  There was no promise Gavin would be there.  It wasn't like they weren't being hunted after all.  A week gone now he and Volkov might have had to move - maybe they couldn't reach out to inform her of their new number yet?  Then again, maybe the Bratva let them sit for a bit, maybe they couldn't find them and her father would pick up the phone?

The phone rang twice and a man whose voice she didn't know answered.  Cautiously she stated, "I need to speak to the Wolf."  

Either of them will do.

"Who is this?"

Aurora hesitated.  "The Lioness."

"Your message?"

Aurora drew a breath, "Call home.  Urgent.  That's all."

The line disconnected.  No promise to get the message to Gavin, no polite farewell.  She hung up the phone.  Her Dad, when he called, would get either her or William.  It might be hours or days.  Who knew how long until he got the message.  Maybe everything would be resolved by then. 

Aurora hung up the phone and stared at it.  

How long would you wait to call if you were a kidnapper?  Had they been trying while I was on the line?

In the silence, Aurora began to think of what Brigitte was going through.  What the man who had her might be doing.  How afraid she was.  The longer she sat in the kitchen with nothing to do, the more the dark thoughts came.  She wasn't a lioness on her warm rocks waiting to hunt today.  This waiting, Aurora decided, was surely what hell must be.

The phone finally rang.

Billy snatched it up.

Bob instantly began speaking after Billy finished his greeting,  "We tracked down the owner of the car.  The car was stolen a few hours ago.  The owner reported it over in Utica.  Told us two guys pulled him out of it and left him on the side of the road.  We got descriptions of them... here's the thing, between what he told us and what the cops got from eyewitnesses, I think I know what the letters F-R-E-N means."

Bob could be heard flipping through some papers, "Your guy was trying to tell you they were speaking French.  The man said the carjackers spoke with a 'strange' accent and witnesses say the man who pulled your girl from the car spoke to her in some foreign language. People thought he was a relative or something, they thought the girl was upset over the wreck and the driver's condition... so they let them go."

"The description of the man who pulled the truck out into the street, and the man who pulled your kid from the car, they match the descriptions the owner of the car gave.  This wasn't an accident.  It was a trap.  We think these guys are pros so I've got Elijah calling Interpol about French criminals with a history of kidnapping."  Bob hesitated.  "Don't suppose you or your wife have pissed off anyone in the Milieu have you?" 

Billy shook his head at the phone.

"Not me Bob. I don't think the wife did either, but I'm sure you heard about what happened to her Aunt's little European enterprise over there. Never know what this sort of thing could be connected to. If she pissed off the wrong people doing business in France, well..."

Billy knew that wasn't the case. French meant one thing. French meant either his little girl used to be a somebody, or his little girl used to belong to a nobody.

"I'll look into it from my end Bob, let me know if you come up with anything."

He hung up the phone then and burst into the other room with his pad and paper.

"Mon Dieu!"

He yelled to his wife and then held out the pad.

"They were speaking French. Whatever guys took her, Bob thinks it was a job, not an accident. They stole two cars, forced Neil into an accident and took the kid. They knew what they were doing. He asked if we had pissed off anyone in the Milieu. I told him no, but if you think your brother might have, then you should head in that direction with this. Meanwhile I have a feeling one of two things is going on."

He held up one finger.

"Brigitte was a somebody once, or at least, her parents were, and, just like you, someone wants to take her in and raise her in the life. Took em a while to find her, but they did and so they sent me to get her."

His other finger went up.

"Her parents were nobody. You and I both know that if you got friends in low places there's always one or two that are looking to make a quick buck. I don't exactly hide how much cash or business I work with at any time. So If I were a nobody who saw one kid worth millions only guarded by one guy, I might be dumb enough to make that move. Just like you said, they might not even realize who we are, just that we have money."

He smiled a wicked smile then.

"On the bright side, either way this goes, now we know the kind of fuckwits we're looking for."

He reached out and took Aurora into his arms and kissed her on the head. He then held her out to arms length.

"Soon as someone gives me an idea where that fucking truck went, you and me are gonna strap the fuck in, you know that right?"