In the company of her sister, Tara arrived at Joey's building at the very first sign of daylight. As they made their way to his apartment, it was all Tara could do to contain herself. She was feeling nervous, happy, worried, scared and a million other things at the same time. Lisha had assured her that Ben was very much alive, but nobody, except those bastards holding him, knew exactly what state he was in. Was he badly injured, permanently disabled or disfigured? Had he been lied to and brainwashed against her? Would he be willing to go ahead with their plans for marriage and living together? So many thoughts were running through her head and she was so scared and unsure that a small part of her just wanted to see him rescued alive and in good condition and then run away and hide from him forever.
Lisha rolled out a loud rap on Joey's front door and it took only seconds before the door was flung open. A wide-awake Joey stared at them, blinking rapidly in surprise. He had expected to see Lisha alright, he was used to her style of knocking by now, but he never dreamed of seeing Tara.
"Will you let us in or not?", Lisha demanded.
"Um.. sure. Come in."
He stepped aside and let them pass. The sisters walked in and took their seats on a couch. Joey closed the door and then came to join them, sitting on the opposite couch. Lisha had hoped to be the one to open proceedings, but her sister beat her to it.
"We're very sorry to disturb you at such an hour, but we couldn't wait any longer. By the way, where's Ben? Hasn't he been rescued yet?"
"Rescued?", Joey asked, clearly perplexed.
He turned to Lisha and found her making faces at him, suggestive of what? He had no idea.
"But Lisha said..."
"Don't mind him, Rana," her sister cut in. "He must have forgotten. Why do you have such a short memory, Joey? Have you slept away all I told you last night? Anyway, go get us some water or something to cool our throats with."
Joey obeyed, with the help of several facial urges from her. When he had gone out of earshot, she took her confused sister's hand.
"Don't worry, dear," she said with a sweet smile. "It seems they haven't started the rescue mission, but since we're here, they'll surely get to work. Excuse me, I think I need to pee."
With another affectionate squeeze, she got up and left behind an even more confused Tara. Moving as calmly and as quickly as she could, Lisha made her way to the kitchen and found Joey walking back and forth in a fit of indecision.
"What crazy game are you trying to play here?", he demanded as soon as he sighted her.
"Calm down. I'm not playing any game. I really know where your friend is..."
"Uh? Where?"
"I said, calm down. Now, all you have to do is call your police or investigator friend or whoever, so we can start work immediately, before Rana goes crazy. Now, hurry!"
With that, she left the kitchen and went back to her sister in the sitting room.
"Is everything okay?", Tara asked, clearly worried.
"Of course! Just calm down, I'm sure the boys have everything in hand."
"But when will they rescue Ben? Is he okay?"
"Of course, he is."
Minutes later, Joey walked in empty-handed and took his old place at the sofa opposite the girls. "Uh.. my friend will um.. soon be here."
"What friend?", Tara demanded, looking from her sister to Joey.
"I think it's the investigator one. Right, Joey?"
"Yeah yeah," he nodded eagerly. And they all fell silent.
It didn't take long for Clarke, the PI, to arrive. Joey had briefed him as best he could over the phone, so he walked in with some level of confidence that was aimed at reducing Tara's confusion. He shook hands with everyone present before taking a seat beside his friend and then asked Lisha to tell all the information she had. She cleared her throat and began with the summary of a story that both men tried to make look as if was not new to them, though Joey was not finding it very easy to hide his surprise. She talked about how, while receiving 'updates' from Joey, she had sighted someone that looked very much like Thansa and since he did not respond to her call, she went after him and stumbled on where Ben was being held. Clarke now asked her to give a layout of the place or describe it as best she could while he took notes.
"Will the police be involved?", Tara suddenly questioned.
"I don't think that's necessary for now," Clarke responded. "This is something we can handle, but if we need them, they'll always be within call."
"Okay. So when will he be rescued?"
"This afternoon, when he would probably be less guarded. Then we'll wait for the rest of the perps at night and grab them when they come."
"Okay. But shouldn't all this have happened yesterday? Why the delay? I was made to believe that you both have been aware of Ben's whereabouts for the last several hours. I'm surprised you didn't make any effort to rescue him."
She turned an accusing stare at Joey, but both men were short of words. So Lisha quickly came to their rescue.
"Oh don't blame them, Rana. It was all me. I asked them to wait until you were present to approve everything. That's why I was trying to bring you here as soon as possible. But as you know, Mother refused."
"Oh come on, Aaanlisha. That was wrong! I appreciate your finding out where Ben was being held, but why would you ask them to wait for me? What do I know about rescuing people? That was very foolish, Lisha."
"I'm sorry," Lisha apologized with a stiff smile. "I think it was a big error in judgment. But if Mother had... Anyway, let's just forget all that. Put on some music, Joey, and let's have some wine."
Joey was about to comply when Tara got to her feet.
"Sorry. I think I'd like to be excused. I need to rest a bit. Please call me when you're ready to go for Ben."
With that, she went off in the direction of the bedrooms.