Lost and Found

Chapter Forty-Nine

Roy's POV

After I finished fuming from my conversation with the guys and explaining what had happened to Orion, I realized Trubel still hadn't come down to the basement. It had been a while. What was she doing?

Orion and I were debating on whether or not to go looking for her when I heard the door at the top of the stairs open. Sure enough, it was Trubel. I was unsettled by the expression on her face; she looked nervous.

"You good?" Orion asked.

Trubel hesitated before responding. "Everything's set," she announced.

"What happened?" I asked her.

Trubel looked between me and Orion. "Nothing that matters to you guys."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked. I hated it when she implied I didn't care what happened with her. She knew I did, and we were supposed to be honest with each other.

"It means I'm tired," she said frustratedly. Her tone didn't sound quite right, but I would confront her about it later. "Let's get some sleep," she said.

The house wasn't the largest in the world, but it was still a decent size for just having one guy living in it (usually). There was a bedroom with a king bed which Andre reserved for himself, a guest room with a full sized bed and another couch which the other guys fought over, and two couches in the living room which the guys also fought over. And, of course, there was the couch in the basement that Trubel and I took turns on every night. Tonight was my night to sleep on the couch. Anyway, everything was pretty cramped. Even with two beds and four couches, it left eight people with some other place to crash; they either slept in the beds during the day while everyone else was awake, passed out on the loveseat in the living room, or on the floor in the bedrooms.

I could tell by the questioning look on Orion's face as he looked at the couch that he was probably one of the people who go a couch upstairs. He was risking a lot by joining Trubel and I, so I decided to give my night on the couch to him, and he thanked me.

I walked over to the closet by the bathroom and grabbed out some extra blankets and pillows since Trubel and I would both be sleeping on the floor tonight. I threw her stuff to her and set up my bed while Trubel went to town on the snacks I had grabbed earlier.

Orion was asleep before we even shut the lights off. I decided to go over and talk to Trubel while she made her blanket bed across the room from mine.

"Orion's asleep. You going to tell me what actually happened earlier?" I whispered.

"I talked to Cash to let him know the plan, and then Andre and I had a little chat," she whispered with a tense expression on her face.

"And how'd that go?"

"I can't afford to let the North End plan get screwed up," Trubel told me. The worry in her eyes was something I had seen before.

"Did he mention Nick?" I asked.

Trubel nodded sadly before looking at me sternly and saying, "We have a lot to do tomorrow. Go to bed."

"Okay," I said. I shut out the lights and woged so I could find my bed in the dark.

*************

Nick's POV

I jumped out of my car without waiting to see if Hank got out behind me. As fast as humanly possible, I ran into the warehouse, ready for anything.

Anything except what I saw.

"Trubel!" I yelled.

She turned to look at me and wore a smile on her face as she saw me for the first time in what felt like forever.

"Look out!" I yelled.

Andre, standing behind her, raised his gun and fired three shots into Trubel's back. Without thinking, I ran to her. I watched her fall to her knees, and then got to her in time to catch her before she fell completely flat on the ground.

"You're okay, you're okay, you're okay," I promised her over and over again, though I could see the life draining from her eyes.

"You thought you could outsmart me?" Andre yelled to me. He was grinning as he watched me hold Trubel in my arms. "She's dead."

"No," I cried. I felt Trubel's wrist for a pulse, but there wasn't one. "No, no, no!"

"You have to wake up, Nick," Andre said, sounding concerned. Why would he be concerned? I looked up again, but he was gone.

"Nick! Wake up!" I heard a woman's voice echo through the warehouse.

"Adalind?" I asked in my dream.

Before I could even process what was happening, I was staring at the bedroom ceiling of the loft. Adalind was standing over me with a worried look and had both hands on my shoulders.

"Adalind?" I asked, awake this time.

"You were having a nightmare," she explained, letting go of me. I groaned as I sat up, hoping the position would help me wake up a little more and forget my awful dream.

"What was it about?" she asked me.

"Trubel," I admitted. "I couldn't save her." Just the mere thought of not being able to help her made me feel sick.

Adalind sat on the bed next to me and rested her head on my shoulder. "You're not going to let that happen in real life," she promised me.

"I hope not," I said.

Adalind pulled away to smile at me reassuringly. "You won't," she said confidently. She kissed me quickly and added as she rose to her feet, "I have to go to work now, but if you need any help at all, call me."

"I will," I told her. I got to my feet, too, and kissed her one more time before she grabbed Kelly and Diana and walked into the elevator. Adalind yelled that she'd see me tonight and Diana said goodbye before the elevator descended.

When they were gone, I immediately pulled out my phone to make a call.

It rang twice before someone picked up.

"Detective Larkin," a woman's voice said.

"Hello. This is Detective Burkhardt, and I wanted to ask you a few questions regarding the homicide that I'm investigating."

"I remember," she said. "How's it coming?"

"Not as fast as I'd like it, so the usual," I said, trying to sound casual.

She laughed. "What do you need?" she asked with a friendly tone.

"I need to know where I can find some North End members."