by Anna Blakely
“Whoa. Back up,” Derek ordered. “The woman jumped?”
Jeff finally spoke up. “It was crazy. She just opened the car door and jumped.”
“So they’d pulled over to the side of the road?” Derek asked, trying to paint a better picture.
“No!” Both boys shook their heads, practically shouting in unison.
“That’s the thing,” Ronald went on. “The car had slowed down for the curve, but it was still probably going forty, fifty miles an hour when she jumped out.”
Youthful excitement filled Jeff’s young eyes. “It was like something out of a movie!”
Derek turned and walked a few steps away. With his hands in fists at his side, he closed his eyes and forced more air to move in and out of his lungs.
The scene the boys just described left him shaking. Worried he’d lash out at the kids, Derek took a minute to compose himself.
Thankfully, York kept them talking.
“What did the woman look like?” she asked calmly.
“It was hard to get a good look,” Ronald began. “When she hit the ground, she screamed like she hurt herself. I’m guessing she probably did, taking a dive out of a moving car like that.”
Derek stormed back. “Tell us exactly what you saw.”
With a trembling voice, Ronald nodded. “O-okay. Um...she had brown hair. Sort of longer.” He licked his lips nervously. “And she had on jeans and a long-sleeved, white shirt.”
The other boy chimed in. “The man yelled her name. I think he said Charlotte or something like that.”
“Yeah!” Ronald nodded his head in agreement. “That’s what he said.”
“Fuck!”
Derek spun on his heels and began pacing. His jaw was clenched so tightly he thought his teeth would shatter.
The thought that Charlie had been so scared she’d jumped from a fucking moving car made him want to vomit.
“What else can you tell us?” Jake asked the boys. Derek glanced back over and listened.
“She hit the ground and screamed,” Ronald told them. “I think she may have hurt her arm because when she got up to run, she was holding it against herself like she was trying not to move it.”
Sonofabitch. Derek’s entire chest hurt, and he had to dig his fingers into his jaw to keep from hollering out.
“What happened next?” Mac asked. Derek could tell she was shaken, too.
“She got up and ran into the trees right over there.” Jeff pointed to an area they hadn’t reached yet. “We were going to go see if she needed help. Honest, we were. But then the car backed up, and the guy got out. He was yelling and running toward her. And he had a gun. I couldn’t see real well, but when the woman tripped and fell, he caught up to her. She was begging him to stop, but then she said something I couldn’t hear, and the guy lost it.”
Derek didn’t know if he could stand to hear any more. Had the man shot her? Was she dead?
He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Charlie hadn’t given up, and neither would he.
“What do you mean he lost it?” Derek asked.
Jeff looked up at him with regret. “He hit her.”
Derek let out a breath. “So, he didn’t shoot her?”
“No.” Ronald shook his head. “He punched her in the face. Knocked her out cold.”
Jeff scowled. “That jerk hit her really hard. She tried to fight him off, but with a bum arm, there wasn’t much she could do.”
Derek’s blood was acid. He wanted to find the bastard and torture him slowly. Painfully. Until he was begging for death.
“Then what?” Mac asked Ronald.
“Once she was out, he picked her up and carried her back to the car. We didn’t dare move, so I couldn’t see anything more. We heard the car drive off, and we just sat there for a minute. We...we didn’t know what to do.”
“How long ago was this?”
Ronald shrugged. “Probably about an hour ago. We started to go back home, but then thought maybe we could find something. You know, like evidence. We thought maybe if we found something that could help the police find her, then....”
The two boys looked sheepishly at each other and Jeff admitted, “We thought maybe there’d be a reward.”
“Can we go home now, Riley?” Ronald looked up at York, his young eyes pleading.
With genuine concern for the boys, she nodded. “Yeah, Ronald. Get on home. For now, I want you to keep this quiet. Not a word to anyone. Is that clear?”
“Yes, ma’am,” the boys answered in unison.
“I mean it. Not your parents, your friends. Not even your dogs. Your mouths stay shut. And believe me, I’ll know if you talked.”
“Don’t worry, Riley,” Jeff assured her. “We just want to go home and forget it ever happened.”
The boy’s comment enraged Derek, but he understood. They were young, and they were terrified. He couldn’t blame them for that.
They started to walk away, but he stopped them. “Wait.”
They turned to face him.
“Show me where it happened.”
“Which part?” Jeff asked.
“Show me where the man”—he swallowed hard—“hurt Charlie.”
The two boys didn’t hesitate, clearly ready to get it over with and get home. When Ronald stopped, he turned around and looked back up at Derek.
“Here. She tripped over that branch there and landed here. This is where he hit her. Then he picked her up and took her back through there.” He pointed toward the direction Derek and the others had come from.
“Thank you,” Derek offered sincerely. “You’ve both been a big help.”
Without another word, Ronald and Jeff ran off through the trees while Derek began looking at the ground around them. There, in the collection of dead leaves, he saw it.
A fist squeezed his heart. “Jake.”
His team leader came over to where Derek was standing and followed his gaze. Drops of blood splattered the foliage near their feet. In the center of it all was Charlie’s locket.
On his other side, Coop ran his hand through his hair and down across his jaw. “Damn.”
Losing all emotion, Derek picked up the necklace. Closing his fist around it, he vowed, “I’m going to find him. And when I do...” his eyes locked with York’s. “I will kill him.”
Derek turned and walked woodenly back to the truck. The others had stopped at the edge of the road when Coop noticed a spot in the gravel shoulder that had recently been disturbed. Coop and Mac walked farther up the road. Looking for what, Derek didn’t know.
Thanks to their two eye-witnesses, they already knew what had happened. Charlie had tried to use the dangerous curve to her advantage, but it hadn’t worked, and she’d been beaten for her efforts.
When the two snipers returned to the group, Coop shared what they’d found. “There are skid marks that start just a few feet up that way and signs that the driver spun the tires again as they backed up in a hurry. She must have jumped ship here.”
There were several murmurs of disbelief, but Derek couldn’t speak. Knowing what was about to come, he left the others and made his way around the front of Jake’s truck. Just in time to start puking his guts up.
Bent over at the waist, his stomach continued to convulse until there was nothing left. When he was done, Derek stood straight and wiped his mouth with the back of his forearm.
He fought to think clearly, knowing it was the only way he’d ever be able to find her. It was no use.
His mind whirled with thoughts of mistakes and regrets until he simply couldn’t take it anymore.
Raising his fist, Derek brought his knuckles down onto the truck’s hood, leaving a large dent in its place. The skin on his hand split open and started to bleed, but he didn’t care.
It’s nothing compared to what Charlie’s already endured.
Derek drew his fist back, ready to hit the truck again but was stopped when Eric grabbed hold of his arm.
“Save it, man.”
“I know.” His brother spun him around, looking as though he were fighting his own tears. “I’m pissed as hell, too, but this isn’t going to do you or her any good.”
Derek continued struggling to break free from his brother’s tight grip. “I have to find her. I have to—”
Eric got into his face. “You need to calm your shit.”
With his chest heaving and nostrils flaring, Derek stared back into his twin’s eyes. Normally Derek would take his brother on, but his emotional state suddenly left him weak and damned near defenseless.
Shoulders slumped, he didn’t even bother to fight Eric when he pushed him up against the truck’s grill.
“Listen to me, Derek. We. Will. Find. Her. But you can’t lose it. Not now. Charlie needs you too much.”
Derek’s eyes and nose burned. He blinked back more tears as he spoke.
“She jumped from a fucking car to get away from the bastard, Eric. Do you know how terrified she must have been to do something that crazy?”
“Bullshit.” Mac walked up to them. “Charlie might be scared, but it wasn’t crazy to jump from that car. It was smart, and it was fierce. Just like her.”
His teammates and York surrounded him now, the look in their eyes familiar. Derek was struck with a strange sense of Déjà vu, the scene eerily similar to when Olivia—Jake’s wife—had been taken.
Coop stared him down. “Mac’s right, D. Charlie’s tough. She’s not going to give up, and neither are you.”
“She needs you, Derek,” Jake added. “Trust me, I know it’s hard, but you’ve got to put your emotions aside and get your head in this.”
There was a haunted look in the man’s eyes, and Derek knew he was thinking of his wife.
Trevor put a hand on Derek’s shoulder. “We will get her back, man, but you’ve got to approach this like a mission. It’s the only way we’re going to save her.”
Derek looked at his teammates. His brother. Even Detective York. They were all here, ready to fight. For Charlie. For him.
His gaze slid back and forth between Trevor’s and Jake’s. Both men had gone through hell to get their women back from evil. He would do no less for his.
Grateful they were willing to set his ass straight, Derek rubbed his face and cleared his throat.
“You’re right. You’re all right. Thanks.”
“No thanks necessary.” Jake gave him a look. “Now come on. Let’s go get your girl back.”
Coop looked to Derek for direction. “What do you want to do? Should we keep driving or what?”
“No,” he answered his friend. “We don’t have time to drive around aimlessly. We need a plan.” Derek looked over Coop’s shoulder to the road. “They were clearly going that way, so I don’t want to waste time backtracking. I’ve got the computer, so let’s go down a ways and find a side road to pull onto so we’re not parked on a curve known for killin’ people.”
As they got into their vehicles, Derek felt very grateful, knowing these people had his back. No matter what.
****
Chapter 23
Charlie tried opening her heavy eyes, but couldn’t. There was a throbbing in her head and her jaw was sore and achy. But even more prevalent was the pain she felt in her right shoulder.
Her thoughts were muted as though she were floating through a dense fog. She struggled to understand why.
A memory flashed beneath her closed lids. She and Derek were making love. The next image that came to her was of him in the kitchen and a table full of food. Everything after that was a blur.
When Charlie was finally able to get her eyes to cooperate, her surroundings slowly came into focus.
She was lying on a bed, but it wasn’t hers. She turned her head sluggishly to the other side, the slight movement causing her to become dizzy. Squeezing her eyes shut, she waited until she felt a little steadier before opening them again.
A bedroom. Charlie blinked. She was in a bedroom, but whose? Nothing she saw looked familiar.
The walls were covered in dark, wood-like paneling, and she could see what appeared to be a small bathroom through a door to her right.
Working her way through the dissipating fog, Charlie saw a wooden dresser against the wall facing the foot of the bed. As the minutes passed by, she became more alert and began to remember.
Oh, God! Panic set in, but as she tried to sit up, her shoulder protested fiercely. More memories began to assault her as everything came back all at once.
Derek had been arrested for murder. For Caleb’s murder. Only, Caleb wasn’t dead. He’d taken her and brought her here, to wherever this place was.
Charlie remembered feeling desperate and jumping from the car while it was still moving. She’d tried to get away, but he’d caught up to her.
She sat up too quickly and barely made it to the bathroom before vomiting in the toilet. When the heaving stopped, she flushed the toilet and rinsed her mouth out in the sink.
Legs wobbling, Charlie slowly shuffled back to the bed. The woozy feeling was lingering. It reminded her of the time she’d been given pain medication by their private doctor after one of Caleb’s ‘incidents’.
That bastard.
She wasn’t just injured. She’d been drugged.
Another horrifying realization hit.
The clothes she’d been wearing were gone. She recognized the short, white dress as one of Caleb’s favorites, and when she realized she wasn’t wearing a bra or her panties underneath it, she nearly hyperventilated.
A million thoughts ran through her mind, and before she knew it, she’d stumbled back into the bathroom. Her empty stomach lurched with another series of painful convulsions.
Through the renewed pounding in her head, Charlie struggled for a memory. Anything to tell her what he’d done to her while she was out cold.
With sudden urgency, she quickly took note of her overall physical state.
The entire left side of her face ached and felt swollen. Her shoulder hurt like a bitch, and the palms of her hands and her knees stung from the scrapes she’d gotten from the gravel.
What she focused on most was that she didn’t feel sore between her legs. It was a comforting discovery; however, she still felt utterly violated.
Having been married to the man, Caleb had obviously seen her naked before. Even so, knowing she’d been completely at his mercy gave rise to a whole new level of rage.
Staring at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, Charlie studied her battered face. It was a look she’d become all-too-familiar with.
There was a dark bruise on her left cheekbone, the center a reddish-purple. She ground her teeth together knowing that last blow had damned near broken the skin.
Her jaw was also turning dark, her bottom lip was swollen and split, and she had the flittering thought that she could be the poster child for domestic abuse.
This wasn’t supposed to happen again. I was supposed to be free.
When she caught her reflection again, something else struck her as odd.
I’m clean.
She remembered tasting blood, but there was none dried on her face. Charlie held her good arm out in front of her to inspect all of the smaller cuts and scrapes she’d collected from both the jump from the car and the woods. They looked red and angry but were otherwise clean.
She brought a thick lock of hair to her nose. It smelled of strawberries. Her gaze shot to the tub where she found small puddles of water still resting on its bottom.
Charlie’s stomach threatened to rebel again when she realized Caleb hadn’t just changed her clothes; he’d also bathed her.
Horrified by how truly vulnerable she’d been, Charlie stumbled back into the bedroom. When a whimper escaped, she pressed a hand to her mouth to keep the screams from escaping.
What am I going to do?
She squeezed her eyes shut, images of Derek in
stantly filling her head. She’d give anything to be with him right now. To have one more moment to tell him how much she loved him.
You won’t get that chance if you don’t get off your ass and do something.
That tiny voice was right. Charlie needed to take a proactive role in her own rescue. She was on her own here, and if she didn’t come up with some sort of plan soon, Charlie knew she was going to die here, too.
Giving herself a mental shake, she wiped her cheeks dry and looked around for a way to escape. Feeling more clear-headed now, Charlie studied the room with fresh eyes.
There was the window, but it was much too small for her to fit through. Noting its high position, it finally dawned on her that she was in a basement.
Something else she was just now seeing was a door in the far right corner of the room. Determined to get the hell out of this place, she went to it and turned the knob. It was locked. She was trapped.
Charlie felt light-headed. Her breathing picked up and more tears threatened to fall.
Thankfully, her anger toward Caleb began to take over, pushing away the helplessness she’d almost given in to.
She was stronger than this. Derek had helped her see that. A new wave of determination stormed through her as she thought of a future without him.
To hell with that.
Their story was nowhere near done, and she would be with him again.
Charlie’s mind raced to come up with a plan. With no way out, her only chance would be to fight.
She had no idea how she was going to manage it, but she would. For Derek. For their future.
With a sudden burst of energy, Charlie rushed around the room, looking for something she could use as a weapon. After a thorough search of the dresser and bathroom vanity, she’d found nothing but a bunch of empty drawers.
She’d have to use her hands. Charlie glanced down at her injured arm and for a second, her resolve started to waver. But only for a second.
One good arm was better than nothing, and if that’s all she had, that’s what she’d use.
Just then, she heard the door being unlocked. Charlie stood back, ready to take him on. But when Caleb entered the room, she caught sight of the gun in his hand.