GoodKnight: A Reed Security Romance

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  “Alright, I’ll go after him. Have Becky work on tracking him. He just pulled out of the motel and headed east.”

  “I’ll have her text you when she knows something.”

  I hung up and got in my truck. This was going to suck. I really hoped that Kate was alive and well out there. If we were wrong, if she was dead and I brought this to him, he would most likely kill me too. Friend or not, there was only so much shit that Knight could take. And with the pain he was feeling, he was too close to the edge to keep pushing.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Kate

  I sat in the cabin, staring out the window as it rained. I wondered if I would ever see Hudson again. I wondered if I would ever see my kids. Barret had saved my life and I was grateful for that, but I wasn’t sure how much longer I could stand this. I knew that Hudson was going crazy right now, if he hadn’t already done something stupid. And what about my kids? Who was watching them? Had someone told them already that I was dead? Had they already mourned for me?

  I closed my eyes as a shiver ran through me. I could still feel the barrel of the gun against my head. I could still feel the fear snaking down my spine.

  “Just got the call,” Adam grinned. “It’s time. Who would like to do the honors?”

  “I’ll do it,” Barret said, getting to his feet and pulling a gun from the waistband of his pants.

  Oh God. I was going to die. They were going to kill me right now. This was the end. Tears filled my eyes and panic built so deep that I couldn’t breathe.

  “Please,” I said quietly. A tear slipped down my face and Barret slowly brushed it away with his thumb. “You said to trust you,” I said, keeping my voice low.

  He nodded slowly and leaned in to look me right in the face. “I also said unless I found a reason to kill you.”

  He racked the slide and stepped up to my side, pressing the gun against my temple. I squeezed my eyes shut as tears streamed down my face.

  “Wait,” Tristan said. “We need to get this on video. The senator said he wanted to watch.”

  I glanced one last time at Barret, hoping that I had it all wrong. Maybe they were only pretending. Maybe this wasn’t really the end. Barret glanced down at me and I just barely caught the wink.

  “I’ll connect the call. Let’s do this.”

  Barret swung suddenly, shooting Tristan in the forehead. He dropped to the ground just as I heard a second shot ring out. Snapping my head to the side, I saw Adam fall to the ground right beside me. His blood spilled all over the ground.

  “Listen to me,” Barret said, yanking my jaw to look at him. “You will do exactly what I say if you want to stay alive. Am I clear?”

  My mouth opened, but nothing came out. No, nothing was clear. I was terrified. I was disgusted. There were dead bodies all around me and Barret was demanding something from me.

  “Hey, snap out of it and listen to me.” I focused on him, blinking rapidly to stop the tears spilling from my eyes. “Good, now you do exactly as I say. There aren’t blanks in this gun,” he said, holding up a second gun. “I know you don’t trust me, but you’re going to have to. We need to make this look real for the camera. At least, as much as I’ll film. I’m going to tape a pint of blood to the back of your head. I’ll fire and you just do your best to look like you’re dead. You’re a doctor. You know what will happen if I shoot you in the head. I want you to fall out of the chair and land on your side. You stare straight ahead, and whatever you do, don’t fucking breathe or move. Do you understand?”

  He was going to shoot a bullet at my head? This was insanity. What if he missed? What if…oh God, I was going to be sick.

  “Don’t lose it on me now, Kate. Tell me you understand.”

  I nodded along, but I didn’t understand at all. I watched as he dragged Adam’s body away. I would have to land in that blood. It was perfect really. It would sell it for whoever was watching. It would sell it for Hudson. He would think I was dead. But better he think I’m dead than for me to actually be dead. I felt the pressure from where he was taping the pint of blood to my head. Then he was positioning me and then the phone.

  “Are you ready for this?”

  I shook my head. I was going to throw up.

  “Alright, get ready, Kate. Make it look good. You need to beg me for your life. I’m about to shoot you.”

  He nodded and pointed the gun at me. It wasn’t hard to fake the tears. I was losing it. I had no idea if he was actually going to shoot me or not. He could be lying. I had no reason to trust him. But I had to do this or else he would shoot me. He mouthed for me to make it real and then the camera connected.

  “Don’t do this,” I pleaded, not sure yet if this was fake or not. “Please, you don’t have to do this.”

  “Look at the camera,” Barret said. “Tell your husband this is all his fault. He could have saved you.”

  I slowly turned back to the camera, sobs filling my chest. I couldn’t do this to him. I couldn’t make him think that I was gone. It would destroy him. I didn’t want that for him. I didn’t want him to go back to that place in his head. Barret grabbed my chin and forced me to look into the camera. I could hear arguing on the other end of the phone. I could see Hudson staring at me with tears of anger in his eyes. I had to give him something, anything to hold onto.

  “Garrick,” my voice wobbled. “This is not your fault,” she rushed out. “I love you. I love you so-”

  I heard the shot and immediately stopped talking. In fact, I just stopped moving. I held my breath and fell sideways like I had been shot and landed with a painful thud on the ground. The camera wasn’t on me right now, but that didn’t mean anything. I had to stay like this or it could ruin everything. Barret brought the camera over in front of my body and then lowered it right in front of my face. I made sure not to flinch or move my eyes in the slightest.

  “Good job, Kate.”

  Barret grabbed me by the arm and hoisted me to my feet. “That’s it?” I asked shakily.

  “Did you want to do more?”

  I shook my head slowly. It just felt so weird. One minute, it was all so dramatic. I was going to be killed, then we were rushing to set the scene, and then I was dead. I glanced down at the phone in his hand. The screen was off. It was over. Barret reached around me and gently pulled the tape from my hair.

  “I think I gave you a slight haircut, but you’re alive.”

  I nodded, staring at the blood sticking to me. “Why?”

  “That’s for me to know. You should go take a shower. We have to move out soon.”

  I nodded. My brain was so sluggish right now. I couldn’t think, let alone move my feet to take me to the shower. My husband thought I was dead, but then so did the senator. What did that mean for me? Would I ever get to go home?

  “Kate, I need you to do this. I’m going to take care of the bodies, but you need to go get cleaned up. There are clothes in the closet for you. Put them on and be ready in a half hour. Okay?”

  I nodded and finally moved for the bathroom. I could do this. Just one foot in front of the other. I made it to the bathroom and then my stomach revolted. I barely made it to the toilet before I threw up. I thought about staying down, but Barret was doing this for me, he was helping me stay alive. I needed to pull it together and do as he said. Steeling my spine, I stood and got into the shower, washing all remnants of blood from my body.

  That had been weeks ago, and I still thought about it every day. The pain in Garrick’s eyes haunted me every night. I wanted so badly to pick up the phone and call him, let him know that I was alive, but Barret had removed any opportunity for me to use a phone. I wasn’t even sure where we were. We had driven for hours when we left that first cabin. Now, it was like we were living someplace out of the movie Deliverance. There was no television, no phone, no luxuries of any kind. Not that I needed them, but it would have been nice to have some kind of distraction.

  The worry and anxiety over what was happening was keeping me up at night. Mo
st days I worried myself until I was sick to my stomach. I needed this to be over. I needed to get back to my family and let them know that I was still alive. I wasn’t sure how much more of this I could take.

  I had thought about running a time or two, even planned it all out, but it was like Barret knew what I was thinking at all times. The first time that I tried to sneak out, he was up waiting for me, hiding in the shadows. I made it as far as the porch when he caught me. He was sitting in the rocking chair, just waiting for me to come outside.

  “Going somewhere?”

  With no explanation for what I was doing, I decided to try and get some answers. “Why are you doing this?”

  “Saving your life?” He shrugged. “I happen to think your head looks better attached to your neck.”

  “But you already saved me. Why not let me go home now?”

  “Because the job’s not over yet.”

  “What’s the job?”

  He smirked at me. “Your husband knows the answer to that. When it’s over, we’ll both know.”

  “And then I can go home?”

  “I really hope so,” he said quietly.

  There was something about the way he said it. It was almost like he knew what was going on and he was somehow working with Garrick on the whole thing. But that couldn’t be possible. He would never put me through something like this.

  “Do you want to go on a walk?” Barret asked.

  My head jerked to his in surprise. This was the first time that he had offered anything like this to me. Most of the time, we just sat around the cabin. Barret spent most of his days sharpening his knives or cleaning his guns. He chopped wood for the fireplace, even though it was too hot to need a fire. He went into town once a week to replenish our supplies. The first time, he had tied me to a chair. After the second week, he just locked the door behind him and warned me not to go anywhere. He almost seemed surprised that I was still there when he got back. I guess part of me trusted him. If I ran, how far would I get? How long would it be before someone figured out who I was? How long would it be before one of Hudson’s enemies came after me again? No, somehow it seemed safer to be in the arms of the enemy I knew. He hadn’t hurt me or done anything to make me not trust him. In fact, I was beginning to think of him as a friend, a very silent friend, but still a friend.

  “Uh…sure.”

  I stood quickly and slipped on some shoes, following him outside. He had a rifle with him, which should make me wary, but instead, I found myself feeling even more protected by that. Surely he wouldn’t try to kill me with a rifle when a handgun would work just as well. We walked for a few moments in silence before I finally decided to talk.

  “How much longer are we going to stay hidden?”

  “Until it’s safe.”

  “How much longer will that be?”

  “Your husband should be almost done with his work by now,” he said cryptically.

  I paused, stopping him with my hand on his arm. “Wait, you know what he’s doing?”

  “Of course, I do. Did you think I was just holding you out here for fun?”

  My brain spun rapidly, trying to piece together everything I had just learned. “What….What job is he doing?”

  He sighed and motioned for me to sit on a fallen tree, then he took the seat next to me. “He’s taking out everyone responsible for hurting you.”

  “Everyone? I thought that was you and your team?”

  “We were the ones that took you, but we were just hired for the job. In order to eliminate the threat against you, he needs to kill off anyone that was involved in the job.”

  I ran that over in my mind, but one thing stood out to me. “Wait, you said to eliminate the threat against me. Does that mean that he knows I’m alive?”

  He looked at me sadly and shook his head. “No, if he knew you were alive, there would be nothing stopping him from coming after you. He’s eliminating the threat I know is after you. He’s just taking his revenge, but he’s protecting you, even if he doesn’t know it.”

  I studied the man that was guarding me for a moment. Something just didn’t ring true. Why was he protecting me? Why was he risking his life? How did he know so much about what was going on with Garrick? It felt to me like he had some stake in this, but I couldn’t figure out how.

  “How did you happen to be on the team that took me?”

  He laughed slightly. “I knew Adam from a previous job. The guy you killed in your office, he was the third man for the job, and when he died, Adam called me up and asked me to step in.”

  “So, it was all a coincidence?”

  “Pretty much. If you hadn’t killed that guy, you would be dead right now.”

  Well, there went my theory that he was somehow involved. It was all pure luck that this man was here with me. When Adam told him about the job, he must have just decided he didn’t like the way it was going down. There was no bigger conspiracy here or anything.

  “Would you tell me your name? I feel weird calling you Barret.”

  “How do you know that’s not my name?”

  I rolled my eyes. “I just picked a random name.”

  He stood suddenly, slinging his rifle over his shoulder. “We’ll stick with Barret for now. Come on, let’s walk a little further before it gets too hot.”

  I didn’t understand his motivation, but I guess that didn’t really matter. He was helping me and I just needed to be grateful for that. One day, I would make it back to Hudson. I glanced up and caught Barret staring at me. It was weird, not in a creepy way, but in a way kind of like the other guys at Reed Security stared at me. Like they knew me and were going to protect me. He shook his head and turned away from me, continuing our walk.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Knight

  I had been on the road for about two hours when I caught the first sight of a tail. It was Hunter. He was following me. I thought I made it pretty damn clear that I didn’t want him to follow me, but apparently, I needed to do something more drastic. I pulled over on a country road and waited for him to stop behind me. When his truck stopped, I stepped out of my truck and pulled my gun from the back of my jeans. I fired repeatedly at his truck, taking out his tires and his headlights. I could see him cowering down in his truck, making sure he didn’t get hit by any bullets. When my magazine was empty, he finally stepped out of the truck, hands raised in surrender.

  “Feel better?”

  “Not yet. But once I get on the road and I know you’re not following me, I’ll feel a lot better.”

  “Knight, I didn’t just follow you for the fun of it,” he said as I turned to leave.

  “Yeah? I don’t give a shit.”

  I yanked my truck door open, ready to leave his ass behind. He had a phone. He could call for someone to pick him up.

  “Kate’s alive.”

  My foot was on the running board when my chest started seizing. The pain was overwhelming. How could he be so cruel? How could he say something that I knew wasn’t true? Sadness ripped through me and tears sprung to my eyes. I had done a good job of holding it together, but one cruel comment and it brought back all the heartache and pain.

  I swallowed down the bile rising in my throat and shook my head. I couldn’t do this with him. I couldn’t play his games. He was just trying to trick me, trying to get me to go home with him. I wasn’t falling for it. I had seen her die. It replayed in my mind every fucking minute of the day. It was the driving force that kept me going.

  “Knight, I’m serious. I’m not fucking with you right now. Kate’s alive, and she’s out there somewhere, waiting for us to find her.”

  Anger surged in me and I stomped away from my truck, right for Hunter. I grabbed him by the collar, tossing him up against his truck. “Don’t fuck with me. You may have been my friend, but that won’t stop me from putting you in the ground if you keep this shit up.”

  “I know you don’t want to believe it, but I’m telling you-”

  I didn’t wait for him to
say anything else. I slammed my fist into his face. His head snapped to the side, but when he looked at me, all I saw was determination.

  “You can hit me as much as you want, but I’m telling you the truth. I know you don’t want to believe it, but you have to listen to me.”

  I hit him again, twice in a row. I was pissed and growing angrier by the moment. If he kept this up, I would lose control. I would pull my gun out and shoot him.

  “Don’t fucking talk to me about her. I saw the video with my own eyes. I saw her die! I saw her fall on the ground,” I choked out, tears filling my eyes. “I saw her lying in a pool of blood. She’s dead. There’s no way she survived that.”

  I broke, my whole body struggling to stay upright at this point. I had been shoving it all aside for days now, but it was bubbling to the surface again, threatening to overtake me. I couldn’t handle it. My knees gave out and I collapsed to the ground. Sobs tore through my body, making my muscles ache from the intense release. I felt Hunter’s hand on my neck as he tried to calm me, but there was nothing left to calm. I was dying inside. Little by little, every second of every day was killing me. I didn’t want to live without her. I wanted to go back to that night in the motel and end it. The thought of chasing down one more person was suddenly too much. I just couldn’t take the pain anymore.

  “I know, Hud. I know you don’t want to hear this, but I wouldn’t lie to you. I’m not trying to trick you to get this to stop. She’s alive.”

  I slowly looked up at him. His words finally having the intended effect. It couldn’t be true. I knew it deep in my soul, but part of me hoped what he was saying was right.

  “Prove it,” I said with a deadly calm. “But I swear to God, if you can’t, if this is all some ridiculous attempt to get me back home, I will kill you and I will make it painful.”