Within a couple of hours Mira, Francis, and Lucinda had descended onto 256 Brewery Lane. Lucinda was busying herself making sandwiches and coffee while Mira, Francis and Leo were all making or receiving phone calls. Angie, meanwhile, was trying her best to hold it together but it all felt so unreal. Even Rick Sapien showed up. Angie disappeared up to her room to be alone for a while, away from the flurry of activity centered on Rollie Tyler's disappearance.
Alone, up in her bedroom, Angie put on one of Rollie's sweaters and sat down in the chair by the window, looking for her lost love. There was a timid knock at the door and she saw Mira peek in and slowly enter.
"Hey Angie, how ya' doing?" Mira asked softly.
Angie wiped away a tear and cleared her throat. "I'm okay," Angie replied quickly as she adjusted her position in the chair.
Mira smiled sympathetically. "It's okay to not be okay, you know?"
Angie looked into Mira's eyes and she felt her resolve breaking. "I'm scared Mira. I know that Rollie would come back to me if he could. I'm worried that the fact that he hasn't contacted me means that he's hurt...or worse." She cried. "I just....I just don't know what I will do...." Angie looked away and was quiet for a few moments. "Do you know that I told Rollie that I didn't want to have a baby?"
Mira shook her head.
"It's...it's true." Angie sniffled. "It's because of Loubar. I told Rollie that I didn't want a baby of ours to be used as some kind of pawn by that evil man but now— what if I never get the chance— if he's gone and I've lost him forever...." her voice quavered, "I'll never get the chance—"
"Hey, shhh! None of that." Mira gently cradled Angie's face in her hands. "Hey, you listen to me. Rollie is going to come back. You and Rollie will have that baby— you'll have tons of babies, and do you want to know why?"
Angie looked into Mira's kind eyes, searching desperately for something to hold onto.
"Because the two of you deserve it that's why," Mira answered without further encouragement. "You two have been through so much— even before I got to know you, and you always had each other to count on. I got the impression it was you and Rollie against the world sometimes and now you have discovered this wonderful love that compliments your friendship." Mira wiped Angie's tears. "You and Rollie deserve happiness and you are going to have it. You have to believe that. You have to believe Rollie is going to come back to you."
Mira was quiet for a few minutes as she let her words find a space in Angie's heart. "You need to be strong, Angie, I know it's difficult but you need to be." Mira gently shook Angie's shoulders and Angie managed a weak, yet somewhat hopeful, smile. Mira handed her a tissue and gently squeezed her hand. "You should eat something and get some rest. You look exhausted."
"I don't think I can sleep. I just want to sit here for a while." Angie squeezed Mira's hand. "Will you call me if there's any news?"
"You bet I will," Mira promised. She left to give Angie some time alone.
Angie came downstairs an hour later when she heard a flurry of phone calls and activity taking place. She saw everyone gathered around Leo, who was talking on the phone and was wearing a serious expression on his face. Mira and Francis were putting on their coats in preparation of leaving. Lucinda spotted Angie approaching and went over to her, wrapping her arms around her shoulder.
"Rollie's car has been spotted," Lucinda whispered.
Angie's hand went to her mouth nervously. She was going to say something but couldn't find the words. Leo got off the phone. He came over to Angie and took her hands in his, causing Angie's blood to run cold.
"Rollie's car has been found, just over in Jersey. There's no sign of Rollie. I'm sorry," Leo said softly.
"Francis and I are on our way to check it out," Mira assured Angie as she put on her jacket. "We'll check with the New Jersey police and the hospitals over there. This may not mean anything, Angie."
Angie walked away slowly almost in a daze. She was reeling from the news. Lucinda called after her asking her if she wanted some water or something to eat but to Angie her voice seemed so far away. The next thing Angie knew she was on the couch and Lucinda was patting her hand. There was a cool cloth on her forehead. Angie tried to sit up but was overcome with dizziness and she went back down.
"I'm okay. I'm sorry, I'm okay," Angie insisted.
"You were lucky. You hit your head on the coffee table on your way down," Lucinda told her. "You're going to have a nasty bruise there I'm afraid."
Angie sat up as she rubbed her head and remembered the news from earlier. "Is there any news?"
"Some," Leo replied. "This came while you were out. It's a ransom note." He handed it to Angie. It was wrapped in a baggie and ready to be sent for fingerprints. "The kidnappers are Delveccio's men. They are demanding his release in return for Rollie."
"What? That's crazy!" Angie handed the baggie back to Leo without even looking at it. She knew that there was no possible way for the Feds to give in to this kind of demand. "What is going to happen to Rollie?"
"There is an all out manhunt for him. All available resources have been allocated to this search," Rick Sapien answered. Angie turned around. She hadn't even noticed that he was there. "The police, the FBI, helicopters, dogs...they are all available for this search."
"Well, if Rollie's car was found in New Jersey does that mean that he was taken there?" Angie asked.
"It might not mean that," Sapien cautioned. "It could have been placed there to throw us off but on the other hand we can't discount it either. I promise you we are searching every possibility."
"Oh my God," Angie sighed heavily. "This is too much like looking for a needle in the haystack. Rollie could be anywhere." Angie walked away with her arms closed around her. She came back after a few minutes and stood in front of Leo and Sapien. "Look, I know that there is no way that the Fed's are going to hand over Delveccio for Rollie...." Her face held worry. "Do...do you think the kidnappers will kill Rollie?"
"Angie...." Leo shook his head and tried to reassure her. "We are going to bring Rollie back."
"I have...I have to do something," Angie announced as she paced around in circles. Suddenly, she snapped her fingers. "Rollie had his PDA, maybe I can pick up his signal like he did mine—"
"Angie, we told you; every available officer is on this. You haven't slept or eaten anything all day—"
"I don't care Leo! None of that matters." Angie cried. "I need to do this. Rollie would do the same thing and you know it. If I can pick up his signal...." Her voice trailed off.
"I'll go with her, Leo," Lucinda offered. "As long as you eat something." Lucinda challenged her friend.
"Fine." Angie acquiesced half-heartedly as she grabbed her jacket and half a sandwich. "Let's go!"
"Ugh! This is what I have to work with." Lucinda groaned jokingly. "C'mon, Angie. I'll drive."
It was hours later before Angie and Lucinda returned to the loft. Angie had
driven around parts of the East Side, West Side and Lower Manhattan and then
driven over to New Jersey around the area that Rollie's car had been found.
She found nothing. No signal showed up on the GPS tracker, not even a weak
one. Angie knew it was a long shot. The kidnappers could have just dumped
Rollie's car there to throw people off or the tracker could have died.
It was almost 10:30 by the time they returned to the loft. Mira was
there. Leo and Sapien were gone.
"Where's Leo?" Angie asked.
"He's gone to Midtown with Sapien," Mira answered. "The Captain pulled some weight to see if Leo could get Delveccio to talk. They may be able to offer him a deal if he's not aware of the kidnapping—"
"Do you think that it will work?" Angie asked, hopefully.
"Honestly, Angie, I don't know." Mira cautioned. She didn't want to raise Angie's hopes. Mira took Angie's hands in hers and led her over to the couch. Lucinda followed. "I don't want to give you false hope. Delveccio is a hard case. He may not go for any deal that doesn't give him and his son full immunity and there is no way that he is going to get that. I think the best we can hope for is to try to buy some time and try to get some clue as to who has Rollie and find out where he is being held." Mira's eyes showed her concern to Angie.
"Do you think that Delveccio's in contact with the kidnappers somehow?" Angie searched Mira's eyes.
"No. I don't think so."
Angie felt all her hope vanishing. She wanted to go out and search again but knew that it was almost impossible without more clues. Angie rose from the couch and walked around the loft aimlessly.
"Angie, you need to rest." Lucinda arms went around her shoulders. "C'mom, let's get you upstairs and you try to rest for a little while. I promise I will wake you if there is any news."
"How?" Angie's voice shook with emotion. "How can I sleep while Rollie is out there somewhere? He could be hurt." Angie tears started to come now. "He must be so cold. When he went out he only had on a light sweater and light jacket. It's gotten colder since yesterday. You know how he hates the cold...I just want him to come home! Why won't they let him come home!" Angie sat on the bottom steps leading up to the bedroom and sobbed. "Rollie!!"
Lucinda and Mira working together finally got Angie to go upstairs and lie down. They weren't sure if she would actually sleep, but they were happy at least that she did lie down. Mira was busy on the phone checking in with the search team and trying to find out what happened with Delveccio and Leo. There was very little news from either front.
Lucinda went into the lounge and attempted to cook up a batch of chicken soup but after she kept asking Mira for advice, Mira finally gave up and went into the lounge to help.
Angie lay on the bed her eyes wide open. Sleep just would not come. She wiped the tears away with a limp hand. She rubbed her forehead with her hand and coughed. "C'mon Angie! You've gotta be strong." She admonished herself. "You're not helping Rollie this way. Get your act together girl!"
Angie went to the bathroom and splashed cold water onto her face. She heard male voices downstairs and strained to make out who it was. Leo! Angie ran down the stairs.
Leo was surprised to see Angie bound into the lounge especially after Mira had told him that she had gone to lie down. Lucinda was lying on the couch, having fallen asleep.
"Well? How did it go? Is Delveccio going to cooperate?" Angie peppered him with questions. There was such hope in her eyes.
"Angie...it was a long shot," Leo told her straight. "Delveccio couldn't get the kind of deal he wanted even though a good lawyer can make it seem that he was in on the kidnapping and have that added to the list of charges." He led her to a seat. "Delveccio was bluffing, trying to hold out for immunity. If he knows where they took Rollie, he's not saying."
A gasp escaped Angie's lips. She looked at Leo with pools of tears in her eyes. She held on tight to Leo's arms. "No," she whimpered. Angie forced herself to breath. "What does this mean?"
"It means we continue looking everywhere we can for him. They gave us 24 hours, we still have 14 hours left." Leo tried to reassure her.
"But we're no closer to finding where they have him," Angie cried.
"That's not exactly true," Mira offered. "We've searched some known areas of Delveccio's and come up clean. That means we can cross them off the list—"
"What about Capriccio's territory?" Leo interrupted.
"Why?"
"Well, I'm just thinking that Delveccio took over his territory...he could be hiding Rollie in one of his hideouts." Leo and Mira locked eyes and Mira nodded her head in agreement.
"I'll get right on it." Mira opened her cell phone and then turned to look at Leo. "Are you going to stay here?"
"Yeah, I'll stay here with Angie," he assured Mira.
"Okay. I'll call if there's news." Mira squeezed Angie's hand. "Get some rest," she told her. Angie offered her a weak smile but no promises.
2:30 A.M.
It was after midnight. Stars shown in the crisp, clear sky, as Angie looked out over the city from the bedroom upstairs. She couldn't sleep even though she was very tired. Her mind would give her no peace. It screamed for Rollie. Angie wrapped herself in one of Rollie's sweaters and curled up into a ball on the bed. Her fingers absent mindedly played with the engagement ring on her hand.
"Rollie," she whispered tiredly.
A few hours later there was a knock at the door. Angie jumped from her bed and ran down the stairs, her hearing attuned for any new noise: a signal of a possible new development. Leo had already answered it. They were both curious as to who the visitor was in the middle of the night. Leo opened the door to see a very dark, somewhat short, smiling man standing before him.
"G'day. I'm—"
"Mangela!" Angie cried as she ran past Leo and into Mangela's arms.
"Rollie's in trouble." Angie sobbed on Mangela's shoulder. "He's been kidnapped. How did you know?"
"I had a feeling my Sonny boy needed me, and you too. There, there," Mangela shushed Angie as he stroked her hair, looking up to see Leo's curious eyes on him. "I'm a friend of Rollie's from his homeland. Rollie and I go way back," he offered as explanation.
Angie stirred from Mangela's shoulder. "This is Leo McCarthy, Rollie mentioned him to you before, remember?"
"That I do," Mangela agreed. "Weren't you dead?"
"I was." Leo smiled. "I'm better now. It's a long story. One we can get caught up on later."
Angie agreed. "Do you want some tea? How did you get here? Did you just arrive? How did you know that Rollie was in trouble? Did—"
"Struth! You ask a lot of questions!" Mangela laughed. "Tea first. Give an old man a bit of a break, then I'll answer your other questions."
Angie smiled and pulled away to go make the tea but she came back and hugged Mangela tightly. She went to the lounge upon her release of him.
Angie waited patiently until Mangela finished his tea before peppering him with questions.
Mangela started to explain his connection to Rollie. "Rollie and I share a connection, you might call it a bond...but it's much stronger than that. When you allow yourself to be opened up to them or you are trained to be attuned to these senses and are able to use them and learn from them, you can derive meaning from them. It can be like a telephone link or like an umbilical cord, a songline. Some people might call it intuition but that's just the tip of it really. I can sense when my Sonny Boy is near, or when he is in trouble and needs me. I can sense when he has troubled thoughts or happy ones." Mangela smiled at Angie as he patted her hand. "Rollie received training by my people when he was younger and his father left him with us after him Mum died. He can sense when I am near but he has forgotten or has chosen to ignore his teachings. But it's there within him if he chooses to remember and use it." Mangela took Angie's hands within his. "His songline is connected to yours. It has been since you first met and you forged an incredibly strong friendship. That was the first indication of your bond. But it is changing and growing stronger now that your songlines are intertwined by the love you share. Rollie can sense when you need him as he did when that evil Loubar kidnapped you. But whether or not that sense will grow into anything stronger or not is up to Rollie. You may even begin to sense when Rollie is in trouble." He smiled and patted Angie's hand. "It may feel, as I said, like very strong intuition but it would take years of training for it to grow beyond that. But the fact that you can feel each other's songline is an indication of the power you both possess, one that most people don't ever gain or take years of training to gain."
Angie wasn't sure what all of this meant but she was sure of one thing. "I'm so glad you're here Mangela," Angie smiled.
"This sense you have of Rollie, can it tell you exactly where he is?" Leo asked.
"Nothing that precise I'm afraid." Mangela shook his head. "I can sense his nearness." He looked at Angie who held hope in her eyes. "But it doesn't give me the exact location. I can feel that he is not near the loft...but he is not very far either. However, I feel that time is of the essence."
"Why?" Angie breathed deeply.
Mangela stared straight into Angie's eyes. "I feel that there is a deadline approaching...he must be found before this day's end."
Angie sucked in her breath now more worried than ever, although she felt a sense of underlying calm with Mangela here.
"Is there any way that you can help him Mangela?" Angie asked hopefully.
Mangela smiled. "There is a way that we can both help him, but not in the sense that you might think. You—"
The phone rang interrupting them. Leo answered it quickly. Angie and Mangela watched and listened as Leo spoke on the phone.
"That was Detective Sanchez," Leo announced. "They found where they were holding Rollie — he's not there, but they found the busted parts of his PDA in the corner. He was being held in the cold storage room of an abandoned restaurant Capriccio used to use as a front in Little Italy. That could be why you didn't pick up on his tracker."
Mangela squeezed Angie's hand. She was trying very hard to see the bright side of things such as; at least they found where they had been hiding him, but—
"If he's not there anymore why did they move him? And where?" Angie asked suddenly as her thoughts went wild with fear. "Leo?"
"I don't know, Angie. I don't know."
Lucinda woke around 4:30 after hearing the phone call. They filled her in and Angie introduced her to Mangela. Lucinda was still a bit bleary eyed so Leo suggested that she lie down on his cot in the garage. Leo took a chair across from the couch and stretched his legs out onto the coffee table. Angie sat with Mangela on the couch and although Angie couldn't seem to sleep Mangela's eyes were closed. Still, Leo thought, he was pretty sure that the old Aborigine wasn't asleep.
Angie got restless around 6:20 am. Putting her jacket on, she went outside for some fresh air. As she opened the door a letter fluttered to the ground. Angie's hands were shaky as she picked it up. "Leo!" she screamed as she went back into the loft holding the letter in her hands.
Leo awoke and ran over to Angie. He took the letter from her shaky hands, holding it by the edges. Mangela stood up and watched them.
It was made with letters cut out from the newspaper. It was addressed to Angie and said that Rollie Tyler was dead and to blame the NYPD and the Feds for not agreeing to the terms.
"NO!" Angie screamed again. "No! NO! NO!!!" Angie collapsed to her knees. Mangela went over to her and cradled her in his arms, much as he had done with Rollie only a few months ago.