Bitten (Book 1 - Book 4) novel Chapter 112

“Well, then. Looks like you’ll be needing me.”

Natalia jumped at the voice. Grazie spun on his heels.

“Harold,” Grazie said. “What brings you to Hell?”

“Is this the old bank?”

“Yes,” Grazie said.

“I’m thinking of giving the Bank a run for its money and starting my own bank,” Natalia said to Harold.

Harold laughed, then sidled up to Natalia and took her hand.

“I had a chat with Uri,” Harold said. “He said you were over here. I stopped at your shop, and they directed me over here.”

“This place needs a whole lot of cleaning,” Natalia said.

“Uhm…” Grazie said, staring out the door.

Natalia turned.

There were ten women led by Yiggy. They were all carrying mops, brooms and buckets.

“I don’t even know if the water is turned on here,” Grazie said.

Yiggy stepped into the building.

“We throw all trash in back. You get dumpster,” she said, pointing at Grazie.

He nodded, looking subdued.

The women went instantly to work.

“I’ll send the locksmith over here,” Grazie said.

“Show me the rest of the building first,” Natalia said.

Harold released her hand.

The building contained three floors and a basement. There was one vault upstairs that contained the safe deposit boxes as well as a secured area within that Natalia figured was for the daily cash requirements. Downstairs was the other vault.

“Combinations?” Harold said.

“We’ll have to crack them,” Grazie said.

“We have people that can do that.”

“I have money that needs to go into one of these vaults,” Natalia said.

“That reminds me,” Harold said. “Is this yours?”

He pulled out a bundle of money.

“Becky had it. She said Victoria gave it to her.”

Natalia looked at it and smiled.

“You get me a cracked safe today, and you can keep that.”

He smiled and pocketed the money.

“I also have something else of yours.’

He had a large satchel. The strap was over his head on one shoulder. He opened the flap. A head popped up.

“Someone said you needed her. She was very insistent.”

Meerup.

Tail leaped out of the satchel.

“You have her?” Natalia said, almost crying.

“She’s safe. She showed up unexpectedly at the park where Becky and I were rabbit hunting.”

“Alone?”

“Well, she had the kitten with her. I take it she escaped her snatchers.”

Natalia knelt to pet Tail.

“Let me make some phone calls, Nattie,” Grazie said. “And I think it’s time you got off that leg. You’re really limping.”

“I’ll get the vaults cracked,” Harold said.

Natalia felt relief when she sat in the golf cart. Tail sat in her lap.

Grazie drove the cart back to the shop while he was on the phone. She was reminded of the hurried drive to the hospital when Anpu drove with one hand. At least this time, there was no speed involved.

Bonnie shook her head when she saw her.

“You look ready to keel over. Might I suggest you and Mag go to a hotel and rest? We have everything else under control. And alternatives in case we can’t put things into the safe.”

Natalia nodded.

“Get into the limo. I’ll drive you over.”

“Okay.”

Natalia felt as if she barely made it into the limo. Mag was stretched out on one seat.

She hardly remembered the ride to the hotel, but she did notice they didn’t stop in the front. Bonnie took them down a back way. A hotel employee met them with room keys and led them to a private elevator.

Natalia knew as soon as she saw the room that this was a luxury hotel. It was like a large apartment with multiple bedrooms, a kitchen, and living room area.

“I figured we could splurge a little,” Bonnie said.

Natalia sprawled on a bed. She felt herself covered. That was the last thing she remembered.

Big gold eyes were staring at her when she woke.

Meerup.

Natalia rolled over.

‘Do I need to feed you?’

‘She’s already taken care of,’ Bonnie said from the doorway.

She was barefoot and wearing one of the hotel robes.

‘We have breakfast if you’re up to it.’

‘How’s Mag?’

‘Stuffing her face.’

Natalia rose and used the bathroom. When she stepped out of the bedroom, Mag, Zena, Bonnie, and Kate were picking through a buffet of breakfast foods on the table. They were all barefoot and wearing robes.

‘Just because you know I’m made of money, you decided to go whole hog?’ Natalia said.

Bonnie laughed.

‘Complimentary,’ she said. ‘I didn’t randomly pick this hotel.’

Natalia zeroed in on a platter of bacon.

‘Why this hotel? Out with it.’

‘Julia Decantor owns it.’

‘She runs the Sisters of Fayth group that took over the Church. She gained that much money from the Church?’

‘No. She had the hotel before. A lot of the nuns, once they were properly clothed and had some time to recover were housed here or hired on. I’ve heard rumors that she’s had bad luck dealing with the Bank. She might be an ally.’

‘The Council is keeping everything that’s happened to you and Uri under wraps,’ Kate said. ‘Which means, everyone knows.’

Natalia eyed her.

‘You’re forgetting that there is an unnamed group that wants less Council. They’re the ones that helped us get Sherri,’ Kate said.

‘I was never fully told about the group. I think I was only told what I needed to know,’ Natalia said, pouring herself some tea.

‘Uri and all of us are part of that group,’ Kate said. ‘Bonnie joined in after that Driver’s Guild attack.’

Bonnie nodded.

‘Julia is part of that group. Moralis. Sophie. Mirren. Tia. The whole gang, despite, some of those people have ties to the Council. We had hoped those ties would keep the Council in line,’ Kate continued.

Natalia suddenly had the feeling Kate was more involved than she would have ever guessed.

‘We think, however, that despite the new blood on the Council, some old ideas are still there. And we also know that the Council is hardly including you on many issues. Even Tia and Mirren are finding themselves excluded. Tuesday isn’t the only night that the Council meets.’

Natalia sat and stared at Kate.

‘They’re having meetings without us three?’

Kate nodded.

‘We’ve found them meeting on Thursdays. We’ve been recording these meetings.’

‘And you haven’t told me?’

‘We couldn’t have you going around with information that the Council knew you shouldn’t have known. We have to keep a lot secret.’

‘Victoria. You knew they were going to take Victoria.’

Natalia felt a little anger.

‘We didn’t know that until it happened. We think they met out in the parking lot of the hospital and decided what they were going to do. However, I think they decided a few things before Mirren and Tia showed up. Tia was under the impression that they were taking Victoria in order to make Uri know the seriousness of his actions. Just a temporary thing to make a point. But they didn’t say they were going to take her from Tia. Tia thought she was to take her to a safe house for the day.”

‘At the moment,’ Bonnie said. ‘My tracking app shows no sign of Victoria.’

Natalia saw her look up at her.

‘That means only one thing. Harold has her,’ Bonnie said.

‘Why do you say that?’ Natalia said.

‘Harold doesn’t like the Council. He’s rarely been given a fair deal, even though he’s done work for them. He said there have been times where he wasn’t paid for his work. Who do you complain to when it’s the Council who is doing the wrong? No one.’

‘That doen’t explaining why Harold would have Victoria.’

‘He has blockers. Devices that block the signals. If you’re a tracked person and you want to disappear. You either remove the tracking device, or you go into Harold’s building. Proof. You’re invisible.’

‘So what do you know, Nattie?’ Kate said. ‘You’re not as distraught as you were before.’

Everyone was looking at her.

‘I only learned toward the end of the day that Harold has her. He brought me Tail. Victoria said I needed her.’

‘How did he get her?’

‘Victoria found him and Becky at the park. He thinks she slipped her captors.’

Mag laughed.

‘Definitely a Uri kid.’

Everyone laughed.

‘Okay, why is this meal complimentary?’

‘Julia knows your plight,’ Bonnie said.

‘Word certainly gets around.’

‘We’re sorry that we haven’t included you in a lot of the information we have. We’ve needed you to be… our decoy,’ Kate said.

‘Decoy?’

‘Everyone watches you, Nattie. They watch you so much that they are neglecting to watch everyone else. They’ve even stopped watching, Uri.’

‘And I’m getting pissed with everything.’

‘Yeah, I think it’s time for that. Your bank idea is probably the best idea I’ve heard. The word has spread and people are willing to invest if it helps the idea,’ Kate said.