by Sweet, Izzy
Despite pulling every string he had at his disposal, my father kept hitting roadblock after roadblock in the investigation.
A few days later, when he was about to give up hope and was considering raiding Lucifer’s compound, Lucifer reached out to him and informed him he had located me and was in the process of rescuing me.
Two minutes after the call with Lucifer, Jacob Morrison called my father and told him he had a major breakthrough. That he had received an anonymous tip that a woman matching my description had been kidnapped and was going to be smuggled out of the country through Landow Airstrip.
Not trusting Lucifer, my father and Jacob Morrison immediately dispatched a team to the airstrip.
Ten minutes later, on the way to the airstrip, Lucifer called my father again and informed him I had been successfully rescued and was ready to be reunited with him.
Again, believing it was some kind of setup, my father sent Jacob and the team on ahead to the airstrip while he rendezvoused with Lucifer.
Much to his surprise and relief, Lucifer was in fact telling the truth, and we were reunited.
Reaching the end of the file, I lean back and give Amanda and Beth time to finish reading. My mind and emotions whirling at all the new information.
Memories… so many bad memories threaten to overwhelm me, but knowing now is not the time to break down, I hold them back.
During my captivity, at my weakest point, I became convinced no one was looking for me.
But my father was doing everything in his power to find me.
Once Amanda then Beth nods, signaling they’ve finished reading, we click to the next file.
Instead of opening in the word processor, this file opens in the image viewer, and at once I realize it’s a copy of the police report my father filed after I was safely returned.
“Close it,” I croak at Amanda.
I don’t need to see the file, I already know everything that’s in it. It’s my personal account of what happened and a copy of the medical examination I went through at the hospital.
Amanda quickly closes out the image without questioning me about it.
Moving her finger along the touchpad, she hovers the pointer over the next file and frowns at the screen.
“It will probably take us days to read through all of these,” she points out.
And she’s totally right. The folder is filled with dozens of files that span over the last few months.
Like I said, my father documented everything.
“We don’t have days,” I sigh.
Too much could go wrong before we make it to the end.
“I agree.” Amanda frowns.
“What if we just jump to the latest file and work back from there?” Beth asks.
“You, Beth, are a genius,” Amanda says and looks to me for confirmation. “I think that’s our best bet.”
I nod in agreement.
All the stuff in the earlier files, we probably already know. What we don’t know is why my father went after the Russians the way he did.
Scrolling all the way to the bottom of the folder, Amanda double-clicks on the file that’s dated the day before my father died.
The file opens up in word processor.
My eyes scan quickly across the first three sentences and I immediately feel sick.
My worst fear has come true. Trent is working with the Russians. I don’t know how I’m going to tell his father.
I make it about halfway through the rest, my father detailing how he secretly tailed Trent after Trent did something suspicious, before I have to run to the bathroom.
“Sophia?” I hear Beth call out, her voice full of worry.
I barely make it to the toilet before I start to puke my guts out.
Trent was working with the Russians…
Trent.
Fucking Trent.
And my father discovered it the day before he died…
Trent’s father, Jacob, was there when my father died.
Were they in it together?
Oh god.
My stomach clenches hard and I grab onto the toilet for dear life as I get sick again and again.
The boy my father wanted me to marry…
The man my father treated like a brother…
They betrayed him.
They betrayed me.
I can’t seem to stop puking, even when I feel Amanda grab my hair and hold it back for me. I can’t stop sobbing either as Beth rubs my back.
“What the fuck is going on?” James asks angrily from somewhere behind me.
I know I should do something, say something, so he won’t be upset, but I can’t.
I can’t because I’m in so much pain all I can do is get sick.
The very men my father trusted… the very men who were at his funeral and gave me their condolences… The fucking men who folded his flag. How many others are there? How many are complicit?
“Sophia…”
Big, warm arms wrap around me and pull me away from the toilet when my puking becomes empty dry heaves.
“Baby, what’s wrong? Talk to me,” James says as he brushes back some of the curls that fell into my eyes.
And there’s so much worry on his face and pleading in his voice, I finally find the strength to reassure him.
Croaking out three words before the sobs take control again.
“You were right.”
16
James
Why the fuck can’t we just have a moment to catch our breath?
Why can’t we have time to focus on each other and not have so many fucking shadows of death hanging over our heads?
Sweeping my eyes over the bathroom, I take in the gravity of the situation.
Beth and Amanda have tears streaming down their cheeks. Johnathan looks confused as shit. Charlie is hanging back, but I can tell he wants to comfort Sophia badly. It’s like his little heart is aching to be a part of the solution.
He’s going to be one of the good ones when he gets older, I guess.
Lifting Sophia up in my arms, I look at everyone standing in my way.
“Get out,” I growl loudly before walking toward the bathroom door.
If I have to kick every motherfucker standing in my path, so be it.
Everyone starts scrambling to get out of my way as I march past them all. When I reach the bedroom, I take in the surrounding scene.
What in the hell in this room caused this?
What element is so out of place besides the humans that populate it? I can’t for a second believe it was just Beth and Amanda that upset Sophia.
Cradled in my arms, Sophia groans as I turn in a circle, taking everything in.
The first thing I notice is the backpack that Amanda was wearing when she came in. Then I notice a laptop on top of my dresser that looks almost as old as the girl in my arms. It must be fucking ancient. It doesn’t match the décor of my home and it sure as fuck doesn’t match any of the electronics I use.
I’m willing to bet whatever is on that laptop is going to be good in the worst way possible for her.
I want to investigate it, I really do, but I can’t with the way Sophia is held in my arms.
Carrying Sophia over to our bed, I gently set her down and whistle quietly for Mitzy. Pointing to the spot next to Sophia, I wait for Mitzy to sit and start rubbing against my wife before I turn around to face the crowd in my room.
“Charlie, thanks for coming and seeing Aunt Sophia. I know she really enjoyed it. John, Beth, get the fuck out of my house,” I say, pointing to the both of them.
Then I pin Amanda down with my stare. “You. You wait for me in my living room.”
Not bothering to watch if they move, I pull out the gun that’s shoved down the back of my pants and walk over to the laptop. Laying the gun down as gently as I can, I wait for my hands to stop shaking before I look at the screen.
At first what I’m looking at doesn’t make much sense. Then I read names and dates. Names and dates that send
a cold spike of pissed-off surety through my heart.
Trent and Jacob.
Deciding to move on and finish the page that’s opened later, I minimize the window and check out the folder. There’s a fuck ton of files and a fuck ton of dates. I bet this is Sophia’s dad’s laptop, and I bet when I go through it, I’m going to see some shit I wish we knew seven fucking months ago.
Shuffling and movement behind me grabs my attention.
Everyone leaving the room.
Turning around, I look at Sophia. She’s trying to get control of her emotions and deal with a frightened Mitzy at the same time.
After taking three deep breaths, I quietly say, “Remember the words you made me promise, Sophia. No secrets. Ever.”
I want to go and comfort her. I want to pull her into my arms and never let go.
Instead, I head to the closet and grab a t-shirt. Yanking it over my head, I move back into the bedroom.
Fuck.
I really want to wrap my whole body around her.
I can’t do it though. I just can’t right now. I have to deal with this shit first.
Grabbing my gun off the dresser, I shove it back down my pants and walk out of the room, making my way to the living room.
I’m not mad at Sophia, not exactly, but I should have known about the laptop the minute she touched it. There’s no telling the kind of damage it could have done to her and the family had it connected to my Wi-Fi. Thankfully, the laptop is so old, it doesn’t even have Wi-Fi. At least none that I could find.
So that’s one worry off my mind.
The voices in my living room piss me the fuck off. There shouldn’t be a fucking sound beyond Amanda breathing.
When I turn into the room, I stare hard at Johnathan. He’s not the enemy, no matter what I feel at the moment. He’s family. The same with Beth and Charlie.
Amanda though… Beautiful, broken Amanda.
“Get out of my house. Get out,” I snap at them.
Fixing Amanda with my stare, I want to launch myself across the room and rip her throat out for even daring to do what she did under my nose in my fucking house.
Amanda stares right back at me and doesn’t flinch.
Long gone is the girl we rescued from the Russians. Long gone is the spoiled little rich bitch. I can see it in her eyes, they’re dark and dead. She’s seen too much, felt too much, and knows too much.
It would have been a mercy if we had killed her when we rescued Beth and Sophia.
That’s the fucked-up thing about mercy. Most think it’s forgiving someone or showing compassion to the poor and weak.
Mercy for your enemies and all that bullshit.
The real world mercy is when you kill someone before they become a danger to themselves and everyone else around them.
It’s too late for that now. She’s alive and breathing, thanks to us. She’s become a dark, twisted form of life that will eventually do something that gets herself killed.
Or worse.
Has she killed yet? I almost want to be there when she does it. I want to see how she does it, and if it breaks her carefully built tower or if it hardens her even further.
“How did you get the laptop?” I ask her.
Amanda looks to Johnathan and Beth for help before looking back at me.
It’s all for show though, and we both know it.
Beth is fooled, but I doubt John is.
She wants to play the game, I guess. Too bad she doesn’t have the training for it.
“Look at me, mega-bitch,” I snap at her.
“Excuse me?” Beth spits out, and I can hear Johnathan growling with anger.
Not taking my eyes off Amanda, I say to Beth and John, “Get the fuck out of my house.”
“Sophia gave it to us,” Amanda finally answers after a long pause of built-up tension.
Nodding my head, I say, “When?”
Amanda frowns. “Right after her dad died. She thought the guys sent to watch over her were snooping around too much.”
“Did you see the contents before today?” I ask and watch her eyes.
This is the real moment of truth. If she did and lies about it, I’m going to have to put a bullet through her skull.
And I’m more than likely going to have to fight Johnathan right afterwards.
“No, I only cracked the passwords,” Amanda calmly replies.
“How’d you crack them?” I ask.
“Look, you don’t need to interrogate us like this,” Beth says, trying to calm some of the tension down.
“There’s no us in this, Beth,” I say and keep staring at Amanda. “This about her, not us.”
John’s not stupid. He’s moved slightly in front of Beth and edged Charlie behind him. He knows Amanda will die before he even gets his pistol out of the holster on his hip. He also knows I’ll have a bead on him before he’s ready to pull the trigger on me.
It’ll come down to who’s a better shot.
Amanda shrugs her shoulders. “It was easy, I just used a couple of programs I wrote to crack them. I shouldn’t have even bothered though. The passwords were just a mixture of birthdays.”
She knows she’s on the precipice of death. It’s there in her eyes. She’s welcoming it, but she’s also frightened. She doesn’t know what waits for her.
Maybe she has done more than I originally thought. Maybe she’s already killed.
“What’s on the laptop?” I ask.
“Shouldn’t you be asking her?” Amanda asks me right back.
“I will be, soon. Sophia and I have an agreement. No secrets, no lies… But she’s not able to handle it right now, so you’re her proxy,” I say.
Then I nod to Johnathan, who has moved his hand toward his hip.
“That hand moves another inch, buddy, and we’re going have a lot to explain when it’s all over. Dad won’t be happy,” I smirk.
“Don’t really like the way this is playing out, brother. Think you can ease up and play nice?” Johnathan grumbles out through his thick beard.
“Sure.” I smile at Amanda and then turn my back to her.
Looking John in the eyes, I say, “Cronin found the links we’ve been searching for.”
“Fuck,” Johnathan growls and moves his hand away from his hip. Reaching up, he rubs his forehead.
“Now the question is, how deep is Morrison in with the Russians?” I ask as I turn to Amanda.
Smirking faintly at the corners of her lips, she says, “How would I know? I never looked into the files. I only cracked the passwords for Sophia.”
“Sure, sure…” I say and let it go.
She didn’t dig into the laptop, I know she’s being honest about that. She’s been following this shit from a different track though. I bet she’s been snooping around like Simon does. Which is funny to think because she may have gotten her hands on some information before he did. He’s got competition.
Simon hates competition.
“Alright, let’s wrap this up,” I say. “You guys get out of here. I need to take care of my wife and call Simon.”
“You know Simon’s going to want that laptop,” Johnathan says as he starts ushering Beth and Charlie toward the door.
“Yeah… well, I get to look first, then I’ll hand it off,” I say as I open the front door for him.
“Figured you would. Let me know if you need help or backup,” John says and walks out behind Charlie and Beth.
“Sure,” I say and put my arm across the door frame to stop Amanda.
Snarling at me blocking her way, Amanda starts to reach into her pockets but I shake my head at her. “Do you remember how to get here?”
Amanda’s voice drips with sarcasm as she asks, “Oh… is this where you try to be the big, bad scary guy and tell me to forget?”
“No,” I answer with a smirk. “When you leave here, pay attention to the turnoff about a half-mile down the road. It’s a long gravel drive. Four days from now, I want you to take that turnoff and drive to the house at
the end of the road. Wait in your car until a man named Oscar comes out.”
“Why? So I can hear dueling banjos?” she snaps at me.
“Oscar swings for the same team, Amanda. You aren’t in any danger,” I say and move my arms away from the door.
In another life, I could see Amanda in a different light. Smiling radiantly as she walked down the aisle to the man of her dreams. She’d have two kids and a husband who doted her. She’d have all the things a woman of means could want or ever think of having.
It would be a shallow existence, but safe and secure.
She won’t get that life now, and if she tried, it would kill her. She’d drown herself in a bathtub with a toaster.
“And if I don’t go?” she asks like I’m fucking putting her out or something.
“That’s up to you,” I say and smile at her mistrust. “I’m simply showing you the gate. If you want to close it… that’s on you.”
* * *
“Did you kick them out?” Sophia whispers when I finally calm down enough to head back into the bedroom.
“Somewhat,” I say as I lay down beside her.
Pulling the covers over us when she doesn’t push me away, I wrap my body around her curled up form and nuzzle my face into her hair.
“Why? They didn’t…” she starts to say but trails off, clearing her throat.
“Because I’m not in the right frame of mind to see my wife hurting,” I say honestly.
“You can’t just kick people out like that.”
“I talked to them downstairs before they left,” I say. “Specifically Amanda.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Is there anything you want to tell me?” I say as gently as possible.
I know she’s been through so fucking much, but I need to know what she’s thinking and feeling.
“They killed my dad… or are just as guilty of pulling the trigger as whoever did kill him,” she whispers.
“They did, and they’ll pay for it, my love. I’ll bring everyone one of them to their knees,” I say, kissing the back of her head.