Chapter Seven

There was noise outside the door of the little room Len had been locked up in. He could hear feet on the floor. He'd been sitting in that room for a day and a half, with Sev occasionally visiting him. She would call through the door, ask where Faon was, how he had escaped, and demand the Angels' assistance. Len wouldn't answer. He just sat where he was. He used to pick himself off the floor an sit himself on the stool, but after the fourth time of those three guys beating on him, he just let himself stay where he'd slumped down against the wall after they left.

The door handle turned, and Len squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to know if it was the three men who seemed to enjoy their job. When he only heard one pair of shoes walk in the door before it clicked shut, Len opened his eyes and looked up at Sev Marinas' face. She wore a glare that might have scared all the kids to hiding if she had been in a playground. Len just emulated it, standing up slowly.

"This could go on, Ginta," muttered Sev. Len shrugged, tilting his head to one side like she seemed to hate. "Answer one question with a good enough reply, and I won't have Robert and his boys come in." Len had found that Robert was the bald one who did the punching while the others held Len still. "Where is Faon?" Len shook his head.

"I don't know," he growled. "I don't know where he could have gone. He's probably long gone, out of Liverpool by now. Hell, he could be out of England for all I know!" He was sincere. He had no clue where Faon could be. The damned bounty hunter could have gotten a hotel room and hid there or gone to his father again - unlikely, but for all Len knew, the two of them were catching up on old times. He could have found a friend and stayed with them, though anyone dumb enough to ever help the man.

Xav. . . he thought suddenly. Maybe he went to Xav. . . The boy's helped him out before, why not now? Len muttered a quiet curse, avoiding Sev's eyes, looking at the floor to the side and behind the accursed woman. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he flinched and put a hand over his abdomen, where he was sure there must definitely be bruises. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Sev's own eyes narrow slightly.

"You know where he is, don't you?" It was not exactly a question. "You didn't before, but you've thought of something . . . Where is he?" Len was thinking quickly, eyes darting around the room as if in search for an answer. He could tell Sev what he thought, and avoid a new round of punches. Faon had started this whole mess. He had helped Shaw escape in the first place, to attack his own gang, and then Faon ran out on him. The man deserved to have Sev catch him again.

"I don't have a clue," he said, making his voice sound pleasant. Sev frowned, muttered something crude, and turned on her heel, storming out of the room. Len watched the door close behind her, listened to the lock click, and edged over to sit on the stool in the corner.

At least Sev didn't know he had a fiancée. . . Or that Les was his sister.

You had better be worth this, Faon . . . he thought, as the door opened again to admit Robert and his buddies.

--

"It'll take two days for us to get all of the Angels gathered in one place," said Faon, sitting at the kitchen table. Across from him was Naomi, looking at a list of numbers in her address book. She had already called them all, and the Angels were packing up and heading back. On the table was a map of Liverpool. It was the only one that Naomi could find in the house, and it was at least twenty years old, and the city didn't look at all the same. To Faon, it looked like a whole different place. It was too close to the water, and the major roads were odd. Leeds? Where the hell had that gone? They had changed it all around.

Well . . . There was Pall Mall . . . It was still there. And a few other places, as well. Frowning, Faon tried to make sense of it. There was no way he could figure out where Sev's new place could possibly be with this map, and he said so.

"If you could get me a computer, I could get you a map - one that doesn't belong in a museum. And probably find something about where the hell Sev would be . . ." Les sat beside Faon, arms crossed over her chest, glaring through her round glasses. She had snuck away from the Blue Angels warehouse by the fire escape, she said, and she had grabbed Faon's sunglasses on her way, which hung off his shirt collar.

"My laptop was stepped on by Xav last week," said Naomi, "and my other one isn't hooked up. It's old anyway, and nobody wants to use an old, slow computer."

"I do," Les growled. "Where is it? I'll hook it up myself." She stood, looking around as if expecting the computer to jump out of a closet for her.

"Hey, it's my computer and even I can't set it up. We would need to call someone in to get it working." Naomi spread her hands as if saying that settled the matter, but Les glared daggers at her.

"I can hook it up," she said in a low voice. Faon raised his eyebrows at the two of them, blinking. Naomi just sighed exasperatedly and stood up, walking out of the room with Les in tow, both women sending out waves of hate for each other. Naomi was smart, in politics and things like that, but Les was even smarter in technology and medicine. They seemed to clash somehow.

Turning his thoughts back to more important things, Faon tented his fingers, resting his chin on his thumbs. Tapping his nose with his index fingers, he frowned, wondering how Len was faring. He could take care of himself, Faon was sure, and he didn't think that Sev knew very much about Len. The boy normally kept things about himself under wraps; relations, age - even Faon didn't know quite how old Len was. He thought he was about eighteen, but he wasn't sure. And since they had called Alice, Len's fiancée, they knew that Sev didn't have anybody to bargain with Len for. Alice was safe at home, with Rei - the trainee medic for the Blue Angels had come along with Les - and Les was right here with them. But Faon didn't know exactly what Sev did to try to convince somebody if she didn't have anyone the person loved.

Looking out the entrance at the sound of Les and Naomi's voices raised in argument, Faon sighed and stood up, sticking his hands in his jeans pockets, walking out into the living room where Les had plugged the computer into various sockets. The monitor sat on the coffee table, and the tower was on the floor beside it, with Les sitting on the couch, typing away, telling Naomi that it was okay. What, Faon had no clue.

"It's fine," she was saying. "If I can just get into the Police Records, they might have something on Sev's location. If they do, we're home free."

"But it's illegal to hack into someone's database!" Naomi whined. Faon rolled his eyes.

"Like anyone's going to catch her," he muttered, sitting down beside Les. Naomi threw up her hands in frustration, babbling about not going to jail for Les using her computer for illegal doings. Faon peered at the monitor as Les typed away. It seemed like she was getting somewhere.

"All I have to do is look her up. They'll have a file on her, no matter what she does. . ." Les shrugged. Faon leaned back on the couch, yawning and stretching his arms above his head.

"Hah!" Faon sat up at Les' exclamation. "They have a running file on her, Faon. She's as good as ours." Faon grinned, nodding, and Les looked eager. "We're going to get Len back."