“Shit. Alright, give me some time. I’ll see what I can find out. It may take me a few days to get away. You should see the chaos around here.”
A few days. That wasn’t good enough. “You’ll get your ass out here now or I’ll come for you. This is my wife we’re talking about,” I shouted into the phone.
“I know that, but everyone’s being watched. Do you want me to lead them right to you? I’ll get there as fast as I can, but you need to lay low.”
I gritted my teeth in frustration. I needed all the resources I could get right now, but if the FBI showed up again, it wasn’t just me I had to worry about. It would blow my cover and put everyone that helped me in a horrible spot.
“Just hurry up.”
“Knight, you gotta see this,” Cap said, jerking his thumb for the lobby. I followed him out there where a guy no older than twenty stood. “Tell us why you’re here.”
“Uh, I was just asked to deliver this letter. Made a hundred bucks,” he grinned.
“Who was it from?” I asked.
He shrugged. “No idea, man. The guy just handed it off and asked if I could get this to his friend.”
“His friend?”
“Yeah, some guy named Garrick Knight.”
My blood ran cold as I stared at the envelope in front of me. Without another thought, I snatched it out of his hands while I heard Cap and Hunter trying to figure out what the guy looked like. I stared at it, my hands shaking slightly as I turned it over and opened it. Pulling out the photograph, I saw Kate being shoved into the back of a blacked out SUV. It was taken outside her clinic. This didn’t mean jack shit anymore. It gave me no information, since I knew they had switched vehicles.
“We could trace the SUV they were in,” Hunter suggested. “Maybe we’ll find somebody that matches the profile.”
I shook my head slightly. “It’ll be a junker or stolen. It’s not going to tell us anything. Besides, when they switched vehicles, they would have wiped it down.”
“You’re going off the assumption that these are professionals.”
I flipped the envelope over and showed it to him. “It’s addressed to Garrick Knight. A person with enough power to know who I am isn’t going to be sloppy. The only thing this tells us is that Kate was actually kidnapped.”
“What do you want to do?”
“We wait. They’re showing this to us in the hopes that we’ll back off. They’ll call to negotiate.”
“What are you going to do?” Cap asked.
It wasn’t in me to sit back and wait for something to happen, but I didn’t have much of a choice right now. I had no leads and nothing to do. I was drifting.
“We wait.”
Chapter Two
Parker
I was taken directly to prison. At least, I was pretty sure that’s where I was. I had been blindfolded until I was inside. Who the fuck had the authority to send someone directly to prison? I didn’t get processed or read my rights. This was the most fucked up arrest of my life. I was shoved into a room without so much as a single word spoken to any prison officer. I asked several times to speak to a lawyer, but everyone ignored me. I thought maybe this was just the FBI’s way of intimidating me, but as the hours passed, I was pretty sure there was nothing about this that was right.
I chuckled to myself. I knew that there was every possibility that I would end up back in prison. I just assumed that it would be done legally. I thought I would have a chance at bail, talk to an attorney. Hell, I even had the very weird idea that I would have any fucking rights at all. It was clear that whatever was going to happen in this room was supposed to be kept locked down.
The door opened and Agent Dennick stepped in, walking around like a fucking peacock showing off its feathers. He thought he was the big shit, and maybe he was now, but he wouldn’t be forever. If there was one thing I learned over the years, it was that the corrupt always fell eventually. And it might not be a complete fall from fame, but the little guys, guys like Agent Dennick, they took the big fall that ended their careers. The important people had protection. They could spin things and make themselves come out looking like they had made minor errors. But the Dennicks of this world were blamed for everything, and they were the ones that paid the ultimate price.
“Michael Parker, take a seat.”
“I’m good,” I said, shaking my head slightly. I could see the confusion in his eyes. He wanted to know why I wouldn’t sit. He fidgeted, because it made him uncomfortable. From over here, I wasn’t on his level. He couldn’t stare me down in the same way. He was beginning to see that his interrogation tactics wouldn’t work on me.
“Mr. Parker, let’s cut through the bullshit, alright?”
“Sure,” I said with a smile.
“You broke into a private lab and took something that wasn’t yours. I want it back.”
“I don’t have anything.”
“We know you took something. You and your friend, Agent Collins.”
“Ex- Agent Collins,” I reminded him. “You’re her boss, right?” His jaw hardened, but he didn’t say anything. “You fired her because she was looking into something that you didn’t want seen. You actually got rid of the documents, right? But you didn’t get them all,” I grinned.
“Where is the journal?” he said slowly.
“If I had to guess, I would say that it’s buried in the pile of rubble where your helicopter attacked us.”
“We didn’t attack you. We were trying to get back private property that you illegally took.”
“You shot a fucking RPG at our vehicle. If that’s not an attack, I’m not quite sure what is. Maybe you and I should head over to Iraq. We can hang out with the troops for a few weeks. I’m sure you’ll see some action. Then you can tell me if that was an attack or not.”
“Listen, you son-of-a-bitch, you give me that journal or you’re going to rot in prison for the rest of your life.”
I leaned back against the wall and scratched at my jaw thoughtfully. “Tell me, Agent Dennick, how is it that you got me into a prison without any due process? You know, I may not have the connections you have, but eventually, I’ll get out of here, and when I do, I’m coming for you and all the assholes that work with you. But since you’re so fucking special, I’ll make sure to save you for last. I’ll make sure that you know I’m coming for you. And when I sneak up behind you and press a knife to your throat, you’ll realize that today was the day you fucked up the rest of your life. And you’ll be wishing that you had made a different choice.”
He shoved his chair back from the table and stood. “You can daydream all you want, Parker. We both know you’re never getting out of here. Let’s see how you do when you’re put in with a few other inmates.”
He smirked at me and walked from the room, nodding to the guard, who then stormed into the room and grabbed me by the arm. I was dragged down the hallway to another room where five guys already stood waiting. Agent Dennick walked into the room and smiled at them.
“Boys, I know you’ve all been eager to unleash some of that pent up energy. This guy is in here for rape, and then kidnapping his rape victim. Who knows what he would have done if we hadn’t gotten to him. Have fun.”
He walked out and the door closed behind him. I stood there and stared at the men in front of me. They were all in shape and bigger guys. It wouldn’t be the easiest takedown, but I should be able to hold my own. The biggest problem was the set of chains around my ankles. It would make things…difficult.
“So, boys,” I grinned, pretty sure they didn’t like being called boys either. “How do you want to do this? Tag Team? One on one?”
They started circling around me, all coming closer and closer at once.
“So, five on one. Got it.”
The first one came at me, throwing a punch that had me stepping back to get out of the way. That put me right into the arms of the guy behind me. He grabbed me around the biceps and held me back as the first guy came at me. Another came from t
he right, his legs bent to attack. I pushed off the ground and then off his bent leg to give myself leverage. I twisted my body and wrapped the chains around the back of the neck of the first guy. My weight pulled him forward, and I used that momentum to snap my head back and knock out the guy behind me. When I jerked my body out of the other guy’s grasp, I slammed the first guy’s head into the ground and he stopped moving.
Another one landed a hard kick to my side. I dropped my elbows to protect myself and caught another fist to the elbow. As much as it hurt me, it hurt him more. Three guys were left, circling me and waiting for blood.
“I can’t believe you guys listened to that douchebag,” I taunted. “You should know by now that these assholes only tell you what they want you to know.”
One of them chuckled. This was the guy I wanted. He was the one I could convince. I could tell that he wasn’t some hardened criminal. He was the guy that was put away on false charges. He was just doing whatever it took to survive.
“Nice try. Like we’d believe anything you have to say.”
“Like nobody would believe you?” He stopped moving, his fists still raised, but now he was looking at me in understanding. “Yeah, you think you’re the only one that got a shit deal? You think you were the only one that was set up? I lost my military career over a false accusation. I’m just trying to get by now.”
The air seemed to still in the room, and the few guys I had taken down were rousing, but moving out of the way.
“You’re saying you’re really innocent?” the guy asked.
“I’m saying that not only am I innocent, but all of this is just a big fucking show. I was taken into custody and brought directly here. I haven’t been processed, and I sure as shit haven’t spoken to a lawyer. That fuckhead that brought me in here is trying to get information out of me.”
“What kind of information?”
“Proof that he’s crooked. Proof that the people we’re supposed to trust to have our backs are fucking us all over for their own personal agendas. And if he doesn’t get it from me, this is just the beginning.”
“So, give it to him,” another guy said. “Watch your own back, man.”
I scoffed at him. “I was a Marine. Our core values were honor, courage, and commitment. They’ve already tried to take away my honor with this bullshit, but I will not give in to those assholes just to save my own skin. Men like that are cowards, anyway. As soon as they have the information they want, they’ll kill me just so there’s no one to talk.”
“So, what are you going to do?”
I thought about it for a minute, and a plan formed. “We make it look real.”
I only trusted the one guy. His name was Marshal Goodman, in prison for murder. He told me what happened and I believed him, not just because he said so, but because his body language and the look in his eyes told the story for him. He was the only one I could tell was innocent. He was the only one that had hope he could still get out. I promised him if he helped me, I would make sure that Reed Security looked into his case. He agreed and then proceeded to beat the shit out of me. I had to make it look believable for Dennick.
I wasn’t sure what the other guys thought, but they didn’t want shit coming down on them when Dennick returned. They participated and took their turns beating me up, and I didn’t fight back too much. I passed on to him what I wanted him to tell Reed Security. It wouldn’t be easy because everything was monitored, but if he called, they should be able to figure it out. If Dennick found out that he talked to Reed Security, he could probably figure it out too, but by then it wouldn’t matter anymore.
I laid in a heap on the floor, taking small, shallow breaths. I was pretty sure one of them had busted my ribs. It didn’t matter though. I had a plan in place, and a few busted ribs, cuts, and bruises weren’t going to stop me from seeing this through. I had no idea what was going on outside, but I could do my part from here, even if it was small.
A good two hours passed before the door opened and the others were taken out. Marshal didn’t bother to look back, which was good, because Dennick would be looking for any sign that something wasn’t right. He walked over to me and knelt down, resting his arm across his knee with a cocky grin.
“So, now that you’ve had a chance to see what’s in store for you, how about we revisit our conversation from earlier?”
I spit out the blood that was pooling in my mouth and grinned. “Go fuck yourself.”
His face turned red and the veins in his forehead popped out. He stood quickly and snapped at the guards. “Get him out of here. Put him in the hole and don’t let him out until I come back.”
“What about his injuries?” the guard asked.
Dennick glanced back at me with a look of disgust. “Let him rot.”
I was yanked off the ground and dragged down a long hallway. I wasn’t as weak as I seemed, but the less the guards knew, the better it was for me. I let them drag me around and toss me into a dark cell, slamming the door behind them. Only then did I take my first full breath. It wasn’t exactly the best place to be, but it could have ended worse. Now I just had to hope that Marshal got the message to Reed Security.
Chapter Three
Blake
A bag was shoved roughly over my head, practically suffocating me with how tight it was. My wrists were still cuffed to a railing, but I kicked out, hoping to at least inflict some pain. I heard a grunt, and received a punch to the face for my effort. Asshole. Dennick had it in for me, and he wouldn’t give up until I was dead. I was a loose end, but he couldn’t kill me until he had the information he needed. If I gave up the journal, there would be no reason for him to keep me alive.
The van jerked to the right and I fell hard against the wall of the van, slamming my face into the panel. I tried to work the ache out of my face, but behind this bag, it was nearly impossible. I wasn’t sure how long we drove, but when the van stopped, I was rushed out and into a new building. Only once I was inside did they take the bag off my head, which meant they just didn’t want me to see where they were bringing me. That was either a good thing or a bad thing. Good, because it might mean they were planning on keeping me alive. Bad, because I couldn’t identify where we were.
Looking around, I could tell this was not an FBI office of any kind. They were taking me here because they wanted information. I wasn’t giving it. I knew that whatever happened in here not only wasn’t legal, but would most likely test me in ways I hadn’t dealt with yet.
Dennick was on a rampage, eager for information. He didn’t care about the law right now or the fact that I was an agent. That was clear the moment we stepped out of the SUV. He had plans to torture the information out of me, but I wouldn’t break. There was too much on the line. I would never give up Parker, and everyone at Reed Security had taken me in when I had no one to help. They had trusted me when no one else had. I wouldn’t betray that trust now, no matter what they tried to do to me.
“Hey,” I snapped at the agent when he grabbed my arm a little too roughly. “I want my lawyer.”
He didn’t say anything. I didn’t expect him to, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t try.
“Have you ever read the law books? You can’t just take me to a warehouse and hold me. I have rights.”
“My orders were to bring you here.”
“By who? Dennick? That fat ass would tell you to do anything illegal without any thought for your life or your career. Are you really going to put yourself in the position to be prosecuted later?”
He glanced at me with a bored expression as we walked through the warehouse. There was minimal security, but it was clear that everyone here was doing their job, no questions asked.
He brought me to the end of a long, dark hallway to a door at the end. After unlocking it, he shoved me inside and slammed the door shut. There was very little light in the room that peeked in through a grungy window. A chair and a table sat in the middle of the room. I took the seat grudgingly and waited.
Ho
urs passed before the door finally opened and a burly man walked in, hauling me out of my chair. “Boss wants to see you.”
“Boss? What, are you mafia or something?”
He didn’t say anything, just dragged me down the hall to another room. It looked the exact same as the room I had just been in. Dennick was leaning against the wall opposite me.
“The last room wasn’t good enough? I was comfortable there.” I walked over to the chair and pulled it out. “The chair was more comfortable.” They were the same exact metal chairs, but Dennick seemed a little pissed that I wasn’t cowering in front of him, so I pushed a little further. “And you weren’t in there.”
His lips thinned as he took me in and then he nodded. I felt arms wrap around me, then I was hauled out of the chair and shoved up against the wall. My face was pressed hard into the concrete and then a hard fist hit my kidneys, sending a sharp pain through me. I coughed hard, gasping for breath, and tried to curl in on myself, but the man held me in place. Two more jabs to my kidneys and my legs collapsed. The man let me drop to the floor, but he didn’t leave it there. I caught another foot to the ribs and one to the face before he let up.
I rolled to my side and spit out the blood pooling in my mouth, but I refused to give in to them. I painfully shoved up to a sitting position and leaned against the wall. I stared Dennick down, keeping a lookout on the man standing beside me.
“I want that journal,” Dennick growled.
“I don’t have it.”
“Obviously,” he said, clenching his jaw in anger. “Where is it?”
“If I knew that, I still wouldn’t tell you. Go ahead, have your guy hit me a few more times. It won’t change anything. I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”
He stormed over to me, grabbed me by my hair and dragged me to my feet. “You’d better think harder,” he shouted, spit flying at my face, “and tell me what I want to know, or I’ll come up with more creative ways to get the information out of you.”
GoodKnight: A Reed Security Romance Page 2