Chapter 4

Itohan stepped out of the bedroom, her shoulders dropping with relief when she spotted Eliav down the hall. "I'm so sorry. I know you're having a busy night looking for Benny. It's just he won't sleep."

Eliav waved a hand, unbuttoning his jacket. "It's okay. I'll go talk to him." He tossed the coat onto a nearby chair, took a slow, heavy breath, and cracked open the door. "Hey, kiddo."

Jarel looked tiny in the middle of the queen-sized bed, buried to his chin under a mountain of quilts with a stuffed giraffe tucked under his arm.

"Daddy! Where is Mummy? She told me I could sleep here today. She wants to tell me a story."

"Jarel." Eliav crossed the room, the mattress groaning softly as he sat on the edge. "Mummy... Mummy might not make it home tonight, but tomorrow, I promise she will be right next to you."

"But where is she?"

"She is somewhere far right now but she will come back."

"Did she go give birth again?"

Eliav chuckled. "No. Want another one already? We have Rosie."

"Rosie is so cute, I want another one."

"She is not a toy, she is your baby sister. Rosie is one of a kind and you have to take care of her." He smiled. "And if you have other brothers and sisters later, you take care of them too. You are their big, big brother."

"Just like you are?"

"Yeah. Just like me."

"Okay. I will." After a beat. "I wanted to ask, how did the baby get in mummy's tummy?" Jarel stared up at Eliav, blinking.

Eliav rubbed his forehead, a grin breaking through. "I have no idea, kid. Mummy said its a secret."

Jarel gasped. "A secret even to you?"

"Yup. But wanna know what I think?" He pulled Jarel against his side. "You know your mother is an angel, yeah? Well I think she gets her big beautiful wings all set and she flies into the sky. She finds the brightest stars and because she has no bag, she has to put it in her tummy. And when she gets back, the star becomes cute little humans, just like Rosetta and you." He bopped the kid's nose.

Jarel giggled. "Mummy says you're the angel. You and uncle Faris, Uncle Oma..."

"Yeah, yeah. But me and the guys are make-believe. Your mother is the real deal."

"That's so cool... you think mummy is in heaven now?"

"No!"

"..."

Jarel’s face fell at the sharp tone. Eliav gathered the boy into a tight hug.

"I mean, Mummy wouldn't worry us okay? She is just somewhere on earth now. Moving about. She'll be back, don't worry."

"Yeah, okay." Jarel offered a fragile smile. "Thank you, daddy."

Eliav stood up, leaning down to press a kiss against the top of his son's head. "You need to sleep now, Ja."

Jarel squeezed his giraffe and lay on his side, burying himself deep in the blankets.

"Not over your head, kid." Eliav pulled the sheets from his face.

Jarel nodded. "Okay. Good night, Daddy."

"G'night."

The moment Eliav stepped out into the hallway, his posture collapsed. He leaned his head against the wall, dragging a palm down his face.

Itohan was sitting on the corridor bench, her face illuminated by the glow of her phone. "Oh you're out."

Eliav nodded, grabbing his jacket from the back of her chair. "Yeah. I just tucked him—"

"That's great. Look, I saw this DM from a few minutes back." She thrust the screen toward his face. "They mentioned Benita."

Eliav took the device, his jaw hardening as his eyes scanned the text.

"This 'Chams'." Itohan stood up. "They just said they found a woman named Benita. She's at this hospital because she's suffering memory loss and we can talk to them through this number... should I call?"

Eliav shook his head. "We will, but not on your line." He pulled out his own phone and punched in a direct extension.

On the other side, Karama sat in a dark room illuminated by three glowing monitors, her headset catching her voice as she answered. "Boss."

"Karama. I need you to trace a call. I am sending you the number. You call and hook me up. I wanna hear everything."

A string of digits pinged across Karama's center console. "Alright. Received. Who do I say I am?"

Eliav handed Itohan's phone back, jerking his chin toward the child's bedroom to signal her to stay put. She nodded, sinking back into her chair with a quiet sigh.

His leather shoes clacked against the marble stairs as he hurried down to the foyer. "Don't give away anything. Ask if they are 'Chams' and get to work. Stall them as much you can."

"Alright. Ready, sir?"

"Yes."

Karama fired up the outbound spoofer and routed the call. "Hello?"

Two terminal diagnostic paths bloomed across her desktop.

The first window lit up with Chams’s driver’s license profile and a list of registered vehicles.

The other was a map of the state.

There was silence on the end of the line.

"Hello, anyone there?" She dragged her cursor across the grid, tracking a pulsing green node.

"Who's this?" A male voice asked.

Karama laughed. "Uh, who's this? Where's Chams?"

"She's not available right now."

"But I'm her friend. She—"

The line went dead.

"D@mn it. Still there, boss?"

"Yeah. Did you get the location?"

"Signal bounced too fast for a lock," Karama said, her fingers clacking against her mechanical keyboard. "But based on the hospital cell tower ping, I've got a three-block radius. I'm dumping the sender's full dossier into your system now. Her address, family ties, everything."

"Good enough. Thanks. Forward it to me and the others."

~•~

Thick silver duct tape sealed Abby and Chams’s mouths, their arms pinned brutally behind their backs with zip-ties.

The supposed husband, or rather Hez lowered Chams’s phone from his ear. "Untraceable number. It has to be one of Eliav's." He looked to the siblings. "Was that the first call from them?"

They nodded.

Hez pointed the gun at Abby. "Or they're checking up on y'all. You told Benita to go hide somewhere, and now they're asking for you! Am I right?"

They shook their heads.

He slammed the butt of the pistol across Abby’s temple.

"MMMMH!" Chams shook her head, glaring in protest.

Langa leaned against the van's sliding door, picking at his fake police badge. "Think they're really innocent?"

"If they were, we could just waste them. They've got no use."

Abby and Chams froze, the color draining from their faces.

"But I just have this feeling they're with Eliav. They probably communicated before. That's why their persistence to not let Benita go."

"You think she remembers?"

"Yeah. The drug is wearing off. Let's check around. She might be trying to get a phone or waiting for these two."

Hez and Langa slipped out into the darkness with a guard, slamming the van doors shut and leaving the siblings trapped inside with two armed watchmen.

~•~

Benita's lower lip trembled as she stumbled down the deserted avenue, the dark pavement lit only by the flickering neon signs of a few late-night storefronts.

She looked left, right and over her shoulder, pressing her cold palms to her cheeks.

*"If you can't find your way home. Remember to call this number, sweetie."*

A memory.

"That number... 521..." She gasped, lunging through the glass door of a brightly lit 24-hour diner.

An elderly couple ran the place. The husband was wiping down the greasy counter while his wife pushed a broom across the floor.

"Hello, excuse me please, can I borrow a phone here? Please, I'm kind of stranded."

The woman looked at her husband and shrugged.

"Here." The man offered her the phone.

"Thank you." She took the device with trembling fingers and punched in the only sequence of digits left in her head.

The line clicked, ringing twice before a woman answered. "Hello?"

"Hi... um, do you know Benita?"

"That's my daughter, who's this?"