Rowena Beaumont was on her way over, she had told him, and he was not to go anywhere or do anything until she arrived.
He was not a man to bow down to anyone, but he found himself bowing down to Ms Rowena Beaumont.
Michael was not a man to sit idly by, and do nothing when a loved one was possibly in danger, but then he had never had a loved one quite like Laurie, and he was not sure of the best way to handle things; and so, he found himself waiting -- impatiently for the arrival of one Ms Rowena Beaumont.
He walked around his apartment, switching on lights and drawing the blinds, and then he half-filled a glass with whisky and squirted in a small amount of water.
He carried it over to his sofa and sat down on the edge, where he put the glass to his lips and drained its contents in one swallow.
He tossed the glass down on the sofa next to him irritably, and then stood up.
He did not know how long he would have to wait for Ms Beaumont to get here, but already he felt that he had been waiting for too long.
Michael stepped onto his balcony and stared out over the city and the early evening sky.
He fixed it all in his mind, and then he closed his eyes.
Laurie was there behind his eyelids, looking afraid, and earnest. It was a talent that he had developed years ago, with his parents, but he had not tried to do if for a long time. Michael had closed himself off after the death of his mother, and had kept his contact to mostly humans who had no empathic ability to note. He had never tried to link with a human, because the risks were too high. But Laurie knew what he was -- even if she didn't quite understand. And then there was the way that Laurie kept herself closed off from him, he was not sure that it would even work...
But there she was frozen in his mind's eye, and there was something in
her
eyes, it seemed as if she was reaching out to him too.
"Laurie!"
he called out silently.
Her shadowy form remained still, and unresponsive, but her eyes burned brighter.
"Laurie!"
he drew up himself up, and the hairs on his arms thickened, as the adrenaline began to pump into his system, burning away all traces of the alcohol that he had just consumed.
"Laurie
," he called out one more time, and the image behind his eyelids suddenly wavered.
"... Michael... Oh Michael!"
It was as if she was standing right in front of him, her little person gazing up at him and seeking his protection.
"Laurie, where are you?"
"... I... I'm not sure... they grabbed me... and shoved me into a van... and now we've been moving for ages, but I have no idea where we are!"
He realised that she could have already left London -- had more than likely already left London.
At this time of the day, traffic was almost at a standstill, so perhaps they had timed it to get out just ahead of it.
Michael wanted to know who 'they' were, he wanted to know quite desperately -- he wanted to grab them the way that they had grabbed his Laurie, and then he wanted to rip out their throats.
"Do you know which direction that you are heading in?"
"... I don't know... oh Michael I am so afraid -- I don't know what they want with me -- I... I thought I recognised one of them, but I don't know for sure who they even are!"
The sound of someone thumping on his door, reached his hearing.
"Laurie, I have to go for a moment -- but keep yourself open to me, I will come to you soon, I will find you!"
He strode through, and pulled open the door.
"Mr Richards," Rowena Beaumont nodded as she marched into his living room -- without even waiting to be invited.
He closed his front door and followed her quickly.
Rowena Beaumont was probably in her early forties, and at just over five feet in height, she was a small bundle of barely suppressed energy. Her fair hair had a tendency to frizz and stick out at all sorts of odd angles, and her blue eyes had a slightly manic glaze to them most of the time.
But behind that batty, eccentric image was one of the shrewdest minds that Michael had ever met, and he knew that it was that shrewd mind that had made her company a successful business and herself, an incredibly wealthy woman.
She was a woman who demanded respect even in their race, even despite her lack of height or elegance or physical prowess. She was energy in its purest form.
Rowena turned and looked up at him in what was almost an accusing manner.
"Talk," she snapped out like a bullet.
Michael sighed and dug his hands deep into his trouser pockets as he thought about what to say.
"We rode the elevator up together the other day," he said slowly. "Along with a woman from one of the lower floors... when I got in it today, that woman got in it also."
"Who is this woman?" Rowena demanded suspiciously.
Michael described her quickly and accurately. "On both occasions she got into the elevator from the seventh floor."
"Eileen Brennerman," Rowena thought for a moment and then nodded with certainty. "A nice enough woman -- pays her rent on time, and doesn't annoy her neighbours."
"Yes, well, whatever," Michael shrugged indifferently. "Any way she got in the elevator as well, and she mentioned Laurie, it was her who saw her being hustled into a van."
"What did she say? Did she give any sort of description? A registration plate... could you get her to say anything at all that could be useful?"
Rowena's pale blue eyes had turned to a dark almost metallic silver, and although she and Michael had instantly recognised what they were in each other, Michael was still taken aback by her forceful alter ego.
He felt his inner being stir in response to her animal presence, and a growl came from deep within him.
"I got her to tell me -- in minute detail exactly what she saw, a white van, two young strong men, with one of them holding her arm as she got into the back. She could not see the licence plate from that angle, and as it drove away a lorry pulled up and blocked her view... There were plenty of people around, and no one else seemed worried or even interested, but something about it bothered her."
"Could she describe either of them men?"
"Broad and heavy set. Strong looking, but they were too far away for her to get a very good look," he went on to tell her what else this Eileen had said, about her thoughts and concerns, and Rowena listened without comment until he had finished.
