Chapter 199: The Search: Roman
As soon as I hung up the phone from my call with Hannah, I rushed over to the club.
It didn’t matter that I was mad as hell, I still cared about her. Even though she said she would come home, I wasn’t taking any chances. So I had Miguel, one of the bodyguards, rush me over to the downtown club - the Roundhouse - in my car.
By the time I got there, I could see flashing red and blue lights, the strobes of several police cars blinking in the darkened street. Small bunches of people grouped in clumps along the curb.
When I saw Lori, clearly distraught, with Lauren next to her, talking to two policemen, panic rose up in my chest. It felt like a cannonball being forced through a cannon that was a bit too small.
I jumped out of the car once the bodyguard had slowed down, before we even came to a full stop, and ran over to Lori and Lauren.
"What happened? Where’s Hannah?" I asked.
Lori couldn’t even look in my eyes, and I knew something was wrong.
"Lauren," I turned to her. "Where’s Hannah? What’s going on?"
"We don’t know," she said, a worried look on her face. "You don’t know what? What’s going on?"
I turned around, looking in the crowds, hoping to see a glimpse of fiery red hair and know that Hannah was safe.
I heard Lori talking to the cops. "She just stepped out for a minute. It was so loud," Lori held her hands to her head. "She couldn’t hear, and she was on the phone with someone."
"It was me," I yelled. "I was on the phone with her. I told her to come home. Maybe she got a cab? Or a rideshare or something?" I suggested, hoping.
Lori shook her head, and I could tell she didn’t believe my alternate narrative.
"Did you hear anything?" the cop asked.
I stood in a foggy haze, looking out across the street. Where could she be? Where had Hannah gone?
"What?" I asked, my brain catching up.
"Did you hear anything or anyone in the background?" he asked.
"No. No. It just sounded... like this," I said, extending my hands to indicate the soft noise of the street with people mumbling about.
"Kristin," I called, seeing her with Ed in another small group of people. I waved, trying to get her attention, but for some reason she seemed reluctant to acknowledge me. Not one to let someone just brush me off, I stomped over to her and Ed.
"Have you seen Hannah?" I asked.
She looked sad, almost frightened, as she shook her head. She started to sob, and Ed wrapped his arms around her to try to console her.
"We just wanted to have some fun. We were all having a good time until..."
"Until what?" I asked, still trying to piece together a timeline of events.
"I was with Ed. We were dancing. I saw Hannah go to the door with her phone. I just... We were having such a good time I didn’t realize."
"Realize what?" I said. Couldn’t anyone just spit it out, tell me what they thought happened?
"That Hannah was gone."
She scanned the crowd as if daring me to pick Hannah out of the line-up of people as if we were playing a grotesque version of Where’s Waldo. "We looked everywhere," she cried. "In the bathroom, behind the DJ, in the back of the bar - everywhere. That’s when we concluded she must have been snatched by someone."
"No, no, no, NO..." I couldn’t think what else to say.
"We told the bar staff, and they called the cops and closed the place up in order to find her," Kristin said.
"And where were you?" I singled out Ed, pointing my finger at him. As an FBI agent on this case, I thought the least he could do was keep an eye on where Hannah went. He promised he’d help to protect us.
"Hey," he said. "Easy." He put his hands up in surrender. "I was watching her, but I just took my eyes off her for a second."
"Yeah, well, a second was all it took. You shouldn’t have let her out of your sight."
I came up closer to Ed, showing my dominance. I was just so upset and worried about Hannah that I wanted to throttle someone - anyone. It was easy to blame Ed. It was partly his job, after all. I puffed out my chest like a raging bear.
"Hey, just back off a little," Kristin said. "He has a life, you know."
"Hannah did, too. I hope it’s not over because of this jack*ss." I pushed Ed’s chest a little with my finger.
I didn’t really think Ed was a jack*ss, but I was looking for someone to blame. It made sense that Ed should take the heat. He had the skills and the training, plus he knew Hannah could be in danger.
"I asked you to help her. I relied on you, and this is what happened?" I started to become angrier, shouting in Ed’s face.
Marcus and Lori heard our squabble and came over as I was getting in Ed’s space. Marcus pushed my shoulder back and squeezed between me and Ed.
"What’s going on here?"
"I think you know." I gave Marcus a stern look. "You’re just as guilty." Lori was holding his arm back, as I could see Marcus making a fist. "You were supposed to come here to help Hannah, not cavort with her sister." I turned to Ed. "And you, same thing. I hope you got what you wanted - having fun with a party girl."
"Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?" asked Kristin.
They all disgusted me in that moment. They’d convinced Hannah to go out and ditch the bodyguards. Then the two people who were meant to protect her let her be kidnapped.
"Ahhhhh!" I grabbed the hairs on top of my head and pulled.
When I saw Marcus looking at me strangely, I pressed my palms to his chest and pushed him. I could have taken things further if it hadn’t been for Lauren who stopped me.
"Hey," she said, taking one of my hands. "I know you’re upset." She tried to use a calm voice that was kind of patronizing, but at the same time soothing. "This isn’t going to help find Hannah."
I lifted my hands from Marcus’ chest. "I know, but these two pricks let her be abducted right under their noses. And then it was how long before you figured out Hannah was missing? Aren’t the first minutes crucial? I mean, how can you even call yourselves FBI agents? You claim to be competent at your job and you can’t keep your eye on one known target?"
"It’s more complicated than that," Lauren protested.
"Look, I don’t know what you’re getting at," Marcus stepped toward me, the tension coiled in his hands. I could tell he wanted to hit me, and I was ready.
Lauren stepped between us, again, holding out her arms to keep us apart.
"We need to regroup. Think about Hannah. Blaming each other isn’t going to get the job done," she said.
"Yeah, if only he could keep track of his wife, we wouldn’t have this problem," Ed smiled.
That was the last straw.
I grabbed his collar with both hands and held him up. His eyes widened in surprise - maybe because of my strength or maybe because he was surprised that I was brave enough to threaten him.
I didn’t care. I wouldn’t be blamed for Hannah’s disappearance. I had only wanted her to be safe, and I couldn’t understand how she could have just vanished out of thin air.
"I did everything I could," I roared.
Other people around us started to turn around, looking at me holding Ed.
"Roman, let go," said Lauren. "We can’t fight. We need to concentrate on locating Hannah."
I looked at Lauren, her face expectant, eager for me to stop fighting.
"I can help. We can get information. We’ll find her," Ed said.
I wasn’t sure if he was right or not, but I had no other choice. I wanted to find her.
"Fine," I said, and put Ed down.
"Thank you," Ed straightened his collar and looked at Lauren and then me. "Now if you’ll let me do my job, I should go talk to those cops over there."
I watched him walk away. It was dawning on me that the real reason I wanted to push him around was because of how helpless I felt.
I hadn’t been there to save Hannah. We lost her, and somehow, it felt a little like my fault.
Even though I thought she was as beautiful and lovely as the most magnificent and precious princess with her luscious red hair and green eyes, I couldn’t keep her locked in the tower forever.