Chapter 12

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A marylis woke up on the bare floor, a headache pounding through her brain. She groaned at the agony, wondering who the hell was rattling the drums inside her head.

Then a man laughed and said, “You haven’t seen nothing yet.”

She groaned and shifted in the dim lighting, so she could put a face to the voice. She didn’t recognize him, yet she did. She frowned. “I don’t even know who you are.”

“Good,” he replied in a genial voice. “I was hoping you wouldn’t recognize me.”

She tried hard and stared at him, but recognition just wasn’t coming, yet something about his face was familiar. She sagged back and closed her eyes. “Did you have to hit me so hard?”

“I didn’t have time to weigh out whether you needed a hard conk or a light conk,” he explained, with a chuckle. “I only had so much time to kidnap you right out from underneath someone close by and not have anybody notice.”

She opened her eyes and nodded, remembering now. “You walked into the temporary office I was using, supposedly to show me another place to work because a meeting was happening.”

“That’s right, and you saw a part of the meeting.”

“Yes,” she agreed, “I saw a bunch of people in the office.”

“There were, indeed, so I needed to get you out of there.”

“Why?” she asked, looking at him intently and wishing her brain would cooperate. She closed her eyes as the pain kicked in again.

“Got a headache?” he asked.

He couldn’t seem to speak of her discomfort without chuckling. “I do, and, seeing how you caused it, I highly doubt you’re interested in helping me fix it.”

“Ooh, feisty, aren’t you?”

Something about that voice reminded her that she’d heard it before.

“Still trying to figure it out? You would be smart if you didn’t,” he told her. “Then I can keep you alive a little bit longer.”

“A little bit longer?” she repeated, frowning at him. “I don’t think you intend on keeping me alive at all.”

“Intent and planning are two separate things. It would be nice if we can keep you alive, but I don’t think that’ll work out so well.”

“Of course not,” she stated, with a nod. “That won’t suit your plans, will it?”

“No, it sure won’t, and it’s good of you to understand.”

“It’s difficult to understand when you haven’t explained anything,” she murmured, hoping he would at least share some of it, though she doubted that he would. Guys like this, they were just ego-tripping, but maybe she could use that to her advantage.

“You see,” her kidnapper continued, “the one prisoner they brought through the main room, they’d had picked him up the other night. He hired a whole pile of us to get that damn key. If we couldn’t get the key, we were supposed to at least get you.”

“Why?” she asked, twisting slightly to look at him, “I don’t have the key.”

“No, but you do know something about where it is.”

“No,” she countered, “I don’t. I knew where it was, waiting to be processed with the rest of the crime scene evidence at the lab, but it was picked up by the investigators.”

“So, it is here then,” he pounced.

“No, it’s not,” she stated pointedly. “It was deemed too dangerous to keep here, deemed too much incentive for somebody to go off half-cocked and decide they should have it instead.”

He stared at her and nodded. “That would be the smart thing for them to do, but I don’t think they’re that smart.”

“That’s just too damn bad,” she said. “I don’t have any control over what you think or over what they did, but I can tell you the key is not here, and I don’t know where it is. Yet, no matter how many times we tell you, nobody wants to listen.”

“That’s because nobody believes you.”

“No, that’s because nobody wants to believe us. You all seem to think that just because you want it to be here, it is, therefore, here.”

“I don’t give a shit regardless,” he snapped, “but, now that I’ve got you, I will get paid anyway.”

“And yet you just told me how the guy who hired you is being held by the navy investigators. So how are you getting paid if he’s sitting in jail?”

“Because he works for someone else,” her captor said, with a smile. “You don’t think this is a closed case, and it’s quite so simple as that, do you?”

“It would be nice if it was,” she noted, “considering that multiple murders have been committed over some stupid USB key. Right?”

“I would think you would want the murders to stop,” her captor said. “Why don’t you want it to stop? You’re one of those nice people who think everything should be sweet and kind and that nobody should ever suffer.”

“I don’t know where you got that idea,” she shared, wincing at her pounding headache, wishing to kill this bastard herself. “Considering the way my head is feeling, you are definitely out to lunch because there is nothing I would like more right now than to cause you a little suffering.”

He laughed. “Ha, now you want to make it sound like you’re some tough person,” he suggested, “but you’re not. You’re nothing but a pushover.”

“ Right, just a pushover .” She groaned as the pain shifted with her movement again.

“If you didn’t keep moving around, it wouldn’t hurt so much.”

“ Great ,” she quipped. “ Who knew? ”

“You’ve got some spirit. I like that,” he declared, looking at her with interest. “Maybe if you’re good, I’ll keep you.”

“What, as a pet?” she asked, turning to stare at him. “Is that how little respect your mama raised you to have for women?”

“Oh no, you don’t get to bring my mama into this,” he said, with a hard smile. “Besides, that woman was a damn bitch. She didn’t teach me nothing.”

“I can see that,” she said. “When you start talking about keeping a woman as a pet, obviously your mother didn’t teach you anything.”

“Nothing worth knowing anyway,” he stated. “Besides, you’re nothing but trouble, so no way I want you around.”

“Great, so let me go.”

“No way, I’ve got to deliver you and get my money.”

“Then what?” she asked, curiosity in her voice.

He laughed. “Then I’m out of here. Time for a new job, a new area, a new identity. The whole nine yards.”

She frowned, a sudden worry taking over. “Is he paying you that much?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“He is,” he agreed, smiling at her, “because they think you have the goods.”

“But I don’t. I already told you that,” she repeated, trying to figure out where she was. She was in a small windowless room, but she couldn’t tell what it was used for. No furniture was here, no boxes, no nothing at all. She was sitting on the floor, apparently waiting for someone to show up. “I gather he’s coming here to collect me?” she asked.

“Yeah, he sure is. Promise to be good for him, won’t you?”

“ Yeah, sure ,” she said in a mocking tone.

“He won’t care if you aren’t. He won’t. I guess he’ll probably just pop you one if you’re too much trouble, just like I had to.”

“If you keep beating up on me, won’t you have a hard time getting your money?”

He turned, giving her a hard expression. “You do anything to jeopardize my money, and I’ll make sure you never get out of here, no matter how much he’s paying me.”

“Right, so in other words, you’re all about money and nothing else.”

“That’s right, and don’t you forget it,” he snarled. “Now we have to get moving, so get up.” She rose slowly, slightly wobbly on her feet. He grabbed her by the arm and steadied her. “No funny stuff.”

“I couldn’t even begin to do any funny stuff,” she said, as he shoved her forward. “I can barely walk as it is.”

“You better suck it up and do a better job of it than you are right now,” he snapped. “Don’t think I will carry you either. That isn’t happening.”

He shoved her forward, causing her to stumble. He grabbed her before she fell, holding her steady for a moment while she regained her balance. “I will tell you this once. Keep moving or I’ll dump you to the ground myself.”

Enough force was behind his words that she believed him, yet he wouldn’t get any money by bruising and battering the merchandise. So she was pretty sure that no matter what he threatened, it was all just a boast. She didn’t challenge him though. “Look. Unless you want me to puke, you have to give me a chance to adjust to that blow to my head,” she shared. “You shouldn’t have hit me quite so hard.”

“I’ll hit you a hell of a lot harder if you don’t get moving,” he snarled, as he kept pushing her forward. She tried, she did, but she was dizzy, and her head was hurting even more with every step. When she started to flag, he cried out, “What the hell is wrong with you?”

She whispered, “My head…” And she started to fall again.

“God damn it.” He pulled her upright, swung her up into his arms and partially onto his shoulder and proceeded walking down the hallway. As soon as he did, she unhooked an earring and dropped it behind them. As soon as they turned a corner, she dropped the next one. They went through a set of double doors, and she groaned as he dropped her onto her feet again. “Now, see if you can walk.”

She took a couple tentative steps.

“Good, that’s better.”

“It is better, yes,” she whispered, “but it sure as hell isn’t good yet.”

“This is as good as it’ll get for you,” he snarled. “Christ, I can’t believe they even want you.”

“Who said they did?” she asked, closing her eyes. “As far as I’m concerned, this is just a fishing expedition, trying to find that damn USB key.”

“Maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t. That’s not my problem,” he said. “They told me that you were worth big money, so I’m bringing you in.”

“ Great ,” she muttered to herself. “I’m worth big money . Who knew?”

“You’re not kidding. If I would have realized that earlier, I could have picked you up a hell of a long time ago.”

She stiffened at that, then turned to look at him.

He caught her gaze and shook his head. “If you figure out who I am, you’re in even more trouble.”

“ More trouble? You’re already going to kill me.”

“No, I’m not, but these guys will.”

“ Nice ,” she muttered. “Nice people you hang out with.”

“Not so much but that’s not my problem. Now keep walking.”

Nodding, she turned and moved stiffly in the direction he pointed.

“Pick up the pace,” he snarled.

She glared at him. “What’s the matter? You worried you might miss your deadline… for selling your kidnap victim?” When his expression turned furious, she realized she was in danger of getting her head smacked again, but putting up no resistance seemed completely wrong as well. So she would certainly not be a compliant victim.

He growled at her. “I don’t want anybody catching up with us.”

She stopped. “Oh, you mean somebody coming to rescue me? You mean, like Tristan?”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I mean,” he stated. “I don’t need Tristan interfering.”

“I hardly think interfering is the correct term,” she clarified, with a smile, “particularly when it’s my head on the block.”

He sneered. “If you weren’t sleeping with him, it wouldn’t be such a problem. I might not have even done this.”

She shook her head and cried out, “Jeez, I’m not sleeping with him.” She stared at her captor. “What is this, some misguided jealousy?”

“No, of course not,” he replied, with a wave of his hand, “but anything to get back at that asshole suits me.”

And, with that hint, it clicked, and now she knew where she’d seen her captor. She desperately tried not to let it show on her face, but he took one look and nodded.

“I wondered if you would figure it out.”

“Once you said that, it was a little hard not to. That jealousy is hard to hide.”

“I’m not hiding it at all,” he argued, with a grin in her direction. “I’m quite delighted to realize he’ll pay and suffer for this one.”

“Ah, but doesn’t it matter that I’ll also pay and suffer?”

“No, it doesn’t. Sorry about that,” he said, with a cheerful grin. “I can’t be bothered feeling sorry for you. I have to be focused on saving my own ass.”

“When Tristan figures it out, he’ll come after you in a big way.”

“He might,” the man admitted, “but, if I’m not here, he can’t do anything.” Then he shoved her again,… hard. She toppled to the ground, as he started swearing again.

“Get your ass up and get moving.”

She struggled to her feet, but the fall had her head hurting, and it wasn’t hard to make it seem like she was a little worse off than she was. If he kept knocking her around like that, she wouldn’t make it very far, and that’s what she told him. “Keep hitting me like that, and I’ll end up so damaged you won’t even get your payday for me.”

“Come to think of it, nobody ever told me that there would be no payout if you were dead.”

“But they want the damn key, and, if I’m dead, I’ll be no help at all in that regard.”

He shrugged. “Why the hell they even want that freaking key, I don’t even know.”

“Because it’s full of blackmail material,” she stated. “I’m surprised you would even hand it over.”

“I don’t have it, remember? You have more pull than I do in that direction,” he said dismissively.

“Jeez, I don’t have any pull,” she cried out. “Where did you get that idea?”

He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”

“The hell it doesn’t,” she snapped. “You’re delivering me to somebody who expects me to have something, but I don’t have it, and I don’t have access to it.”

“Maybe so,” he conceded, “but what you do have is the ability to lie and to charm your way out of this, so I’ll trust you can do that.”

“Otherwise you’re totally okay with selling me out to the butchers, is that it?”

He hesitated and shrugged. “Under normal circumstances I would never do something like this, but this isn’t normal circumstances. I need to leave town, and this’ll be the only way I can get out. Sorry, but tag, and you’re it.”

She stared at him. “You did something wrong in your job, didn’t you?”

“No, I sure didn’t,” he snapped, “not that I would tell you anyway—just on the off chance that Tristan does find you again, and you would blab your damn mouth right off.”

“I sure would,” she stated, with a smile. “Everybody would. Here is a guy who’s supposedly in a position of trust, but look at you. Look what you’ve become. Your mama would be very sad.”

“You leave my mama out of this,” he snapped, glaring at her.

“Why? You think she won’t find out about it?”

“Doesn’t matter if she does. She wouldn’t think anything of it.”

“Oh, so her little boy can do no wrong, is that it?” She sneered. “Just a nice little mama’s boy, so the whole world owes you a favor, and it doesn’t matter that you are now a piece of shit. Nothing but the best for her little boy.”

He glared at her, right before he cuffed her hard across the head. She dropped to the floor. He swore again. “Get up,” he roared. “Get your ass up.” Panic was starting to set in as he realized how much time had gone by.

When a shout came from behind him, he froze and turned. “You fucking bitch,” he roared.

She groaned, still on the floor. “What have I got to do with this?”

“You couldn’t even walk fast enough to get out of here and to save your own ass, could you?”

“You mean, save your ass,” she corrected, giving him a hard gaze. “Sorry if I didn’t understand the rules of prisoner 101,” she snapped, glaring at him.

“The rules of being a kidnapper allow me to do a hell of a lot more than your fucking rules would,” he roared again, as he bent down to grab her. When he tried to pick her up, she sagged like a sack of potatoes.

“Stop that,” he cried out in frustration. “Don’t you understand they’re coming?”

“Yeah, of course I understand they’re coming.” She snorted, looking at him in disbelief. “Why the hell do you think I’m not being very cooperative? You think I want to go to your highest bidder?”

“No, no, no, you don’t understand. I can’t get caught.”

“Yeah, right,… just imagine if your poor old mama found out,” she said in a mocking tone.

“Stop that,” he growled. “Just stop it.”

“Right, as if I’m supposed to help you out.”

He dragged her down the hallway, and she let him. It was a whole lot easier to be dragged than to be carried with her head throbbing like it was. However, he wouldn’t get very far pulling her like that. When another shout came, this time sounding closer behind them, Amarylis suggested, “You probably should just run. Leave me where I am and go.”

“No way. You’ll give me up in seconds.”

“Of course I will,” she retorted. “It’s not as if you’ve treated me well or that I have any sympathy for you.” She laughed. “And you also know how Tristan will feel when he finds you.”

He nervously looked at the exit door.

“You better go,” she urged. “You know the guys on the other side might have something to say to you too.”

He glared at her. “Why couldn’t you just cooperate?”

She carefully shook her head. “Because I want to live, and you? Well,… obviously you want me dead.”

“No, I don’t.”

“You must because you got into this bullshit, and no way you did it without knowing what the game truly was. Now you get to choose. You get to run and have a chance to get away, or you don’t run in time. I hate to say it, but Tristan will take one look at me and… he won’t leave any revenge for anybody else.” Her captor stared down at her, and she nodded. “He doesn’t like it when people mistreat me.”

He roared suddenly, frustration and anger flooding through him. “Don’t you understand that man’s psychotic?”

“Tristan? No, he’s not psychotic at all,” she argued, “but you are. You’re the one who’s taken all these chances and made a mess of your life.” She grimaced. “He’s not responsible for this. You don’t see him kidnaping a doctor, dragging her down the hallway.”

He stared at her, looked down at his hands, then back at her. “God damn it.”

“Exactly. Look at what you’ve done. Look at what you’ve become.”

“No, no, no, no, no,” he wailed. “I can’t fail at this. You don’t understand.”

“Oh, I do understand your personality,” she stated, determined to drive home the points that were obviously helping. “Yet it doesn’t matter what I believe because your mother will find out too. The whole base will eventually hear about you. Once Tristan finds out, absolutely no way he’ll let you off.”

Her captor shuddered. “He’s nuts.”

“No, he’s not, but he might be a little bit more… concerned with certain things, like people who mistreat me,” she pointed out, with a wry smile. “I have to admit it is nice to have somebody who gives a shit and not just some Neanderthal who drags you down a hallway.”

He stared at her in shock and shook his head. “Just get up, get up, get up!” She slowly got to her feet, as he half picked her up and half dragged her into an upright position. “Now walk, do you hear me? I will hit you until you walk.”

“Do you honestly think hitting me will help me walk?” She stared at him in amazement.

Immediately he belted her across the face again. Her feet fell out from under her, and she collapsed back down again. She stared at him. “That was productive.”

“Get up,” he cried out in frustration.

“No, I can’t get up right now. As soon as I do get up, you will hit me again,” she shared, “so I will stay down here.”

His frustration boiled over, and he started screaming at her. “Get up, you stupid fucking bitch! Get up!” She just stayed there on the floor, watching the man come completely apart, knowing that Tristan was on his way.

As she refused to cooperate, her captor got more and more out of control, hitting and slapping her. She waited, enduring the pain—leaning into the hits or whatever the hell Jasper had shared with her before—as she watched her captor unravel further and further, to the point that she almost felt sorry for him. When the door opened behind him, and somebody raced to them, she held up her hands, looked at her kidnapper, and said weakly, “I guess it’s time to stop now.”

He looked at her in shock. “You will get up and walk now then?” he asked hopefully.

“No, I won’t get up and walk now,” she replied. “Tristan and Jasper are here, and they will take you away now.”

He looked at the two men and cried out, “Don’t hurt me. Don’t hurt me.”

Tristan came to her side, the fury in his gaze slowly growing as he studied her face.

“You are the better man, remember that,” she whispered to Tristan.

*

He swallowed and took another look at her marred face. “I’m so sorry, Amarylis,” he whispered.

She stroked his cheek and gave him a small smile.

Tristan turned the man in front of them. “Morgan, I didn’t want to believe it. Of all the people here, I didn’t want to believe it was you.”

“That’s because you wanted to believe it was Sam.”

“I did,” he confirmed.

“Sam makes it easy to hate him. He’s all temper and stupidity,” Morgan whispered. Sitting on the floor now, he wrapped his arms around himself and whispered, “I’m not like that.”

“Not usually, unfortunately you crossed the line tonight, and that won’t go well for you.”

Slowly standing up, he nodded. “It’s her though,” he said, looking at Amarylis. “She wouldn’t cooperate.”

Amarylis looked over at Tristan and nodded. “He’s right,” she stated philosophically. “I wouldn’t cooperate. He planned to use the money he sold me for to get out of town. I can see why he might want to leave, but I don’t think anyone is outside waiting to pay him.”

Morgan frowned at her. “Why not?”

“Because I’m pretty sure whoever is out there has a bullet with your name on it, not any money.”

“No, no, no, you don’t understand. He’s just outside this door.” Morgan walked closer to the door. She cried out for him to stop, and he just held up a hand. “I hear you, but I can prove it.”

“If you go out that door, you will get shot,” she repeated. “And I’ve got five dead bodies in the morgue to prove it.”

“No,” he argued, regaining some of his bravado of earlier. “You don’t understand how this group works.”

“I sure don’t,” Tristan noted, glancing at Jasper in disbelief. “And the fact that you’re even caught up in it is upsetting enough. Did you ever figure out who’s behind it all?”

Morgan shook his head. “No, they approached me about getting the damn key.” He waved his hand in the general direction of the jail cells in their department.

Tristan nodded. Tony, aka Terry .

“I didn’t know anything about where the key went, but I had access to her, and that was good enough for them. I even hired someone to get after finding the key, to look for it, but she was always the backup plan. They figured, in the end, she would tell them.”

“She won’t tell them where it is because she doesn’t know where it is,” Tristan stated.

Morgan was stunned. “You don’t know?” he asked Amarylis.

“I told you that very clearly.”

He looked at her and nodded, almost a formal acknowledgment of defeat. He walked toward the door. “Maybe you can catch them, Tristan,” he said, suddenly looking fatigued. “Maybe you can put a stop to all of this.”

“Did they blackmail you?” Tristan asked, trying to figure out why Morgan would do this.

“They didn’t blackmail me,” he stated, shaking his head. “I just wanted out, out of it all. When you and Jasper and the others showed up, I knew the handwriting was on the wall.” And, with that, he suddenly walked to the door and opened it. He smiled back at them. “See? No bullet.” And stepped outside.

And then came a pop , and blood burst from his head. He slowly sagged against the door and slipped to the ground.

*

Tristan walked back over to where Amarylis was sitting up now and talking to Jasper. She looked up at him and smiled. “I’m fine, and he didn’t hurt me, not that much. He was mostly frustrated and angry because he wasn’t a killer at heart,” she shared.

Shaking his head, Tristan gently picked her up and wrapped her up in his arms. “But it could have gone the other way.”

“It could have,” she admitted, “but it didn’t.”

“From now on,” he promised, “I will bundle you up in Bubble Wrap and keep you there for the rest of the year.”

She laughed. “How about you just find the guy who hired Morgan? Well, the big boss behind it all.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice?” he quipped.

“You’ve still got those three in the jail cell,” she reminded him, “so you are way ahead. From what Morgan told me, he was the one who was after me, so I should be safe now.”

“I can’t take that chance,” he muttered. “We still have too many unanswered questions, so you’re going into protective custody.”

Patting him on the cheek, she smiled. “Do I get to have a say in this?”

“No, you don’t,” he declared, as he stared at her, the horror of what could have happened still evident in his face. “I couldn’t take it if something had happened to you,” he whispered, as he clutched her tightly against his chest.

She melted into him, holding him close, after seeing the depths of his fear and panic. Jasper had a team already racing toward them. “I should work the scene,” she muttered.

“You can’t,” Jasper declared, looking at her with half a smile. “I get that you want to, but that won’t happen, and it’s not something that Dr. Cox would even allow.”

She groaned. “No, he wouldn’t, and you’re right. My work on a crime scene involving me would compromise the case.”

Jasper nodded. “Thank you. Now I’ll get you a ride home, and, yes, as Tristan has already told you, you’ll be under protection for a while, until we can get to the bottom of this, but the good news is we’re slowly unraveling the data to date.”

“Are you?” she asked, with an odd look.

He smiled and nodded. “Yes, we are.”

“And what about Mason? How is he doing?”

“He’s been conscious a little bit, although I haven’t managed to catch him while he’s been awake.” Jasper sighed. “We do have several women under protective custody right now, and I know that you don’t want to hear this, but you will need to join them.” She glared at him, and he nodded. “My partner, Master’s partner, Gideon’s partner, and now you, Tristan’s partner,” he shared, with an exasperated tone.

She was gearing up to retort, but Jasper held up a hand. “No arguments. Tristan will take you there himself, after we get you checked out at the hospital, then back at your place to pack up whatever you need. Make sure you take enough for a few days.… That’s not negotiable.”

When she growled in frustration, Jasper nodded. “Your job will keep, and, in spite of all this craziness, we’ll make sure you’re still alive at the end of it.”

She groaned again. Then Tristan snatched her up in his arms again and held her close. “Fine,” she whispered, “but I’ll have you know it’s not my normal way.”

Tristan faced her and grinned. “We saw that today. Now let’s run by the hospital, then get you packed up and on the road. We’ll take a pit stop at my place to eat and relax.”

“I wish I could stay at your place.”

“If we could find a guard, then that’s possible. As it is stands right now, we need to maximize our manpower and resources, and gather our people under a shared guard or two.”