by Sadie Jacks
I almost dropped the phone in the toilet when it came to life in my hands again. UNKNOWN NUMBER scrolled across the top.
I hit the connect button. “Yes?” I asked softly, my hand cupped around the mouthpiece.
“Cupcake?” Ryker said. “Where the fuck are you?”
Tears gathered in my eyes. “I’m in my old house that I shared with Ethan. Ryker, you have to come. You have to bring the Amatuccis and you have to come get me now. Please. Please, goddess, you have to come now.”
I heard the distinct jiggle of the key in the lock of the main door. I stuffed the phone, with the line still live, under the edge of the toilet base between the wall. Hopefully they could track me if the line stayed on.
I grimaced as the water in my belly tried to make its way from my tired body once again. A heavy knock came on the door of the bathroom. “Willow?”
“Just a minute,” I called. I dropped my pants again and sat to pee. Thankfully I’d been asleep long enough that I had a full bladder. He must have removed the catheter pretty quickly after I lost consciousness.
The dry burning ache came back to mind. I pushed it away. I didn’t have time to investigate every weird feeling in my body right this moment.
As soon as I was done, I stood up, fixed my clothing and washed my hands. Ethan knocked on the door again as I was drying them. “Coming.”
I opened the door and stepped into his personal space. Anything to keep him from inspecting the bathroom.
He had eyes only for me. A disgusting softness entered his gaze as he petted his hands down my hair. “How are you feeling, love?”
A sick smile tugged at my mouth. “I’ve been better.” I didn’t mention the cut or the deep burning of my ureter. He wasn’t actually interested in my wellbeing beyond the fact of how it could impact his experiments.
With my head caught between his hands, he leaned forward and whispered, “And your phone call?”
Oh shit.
Chapter 42 – Ryker
“Fucking now,” I shouted at the computer, thankful I’d had the wherewithal to put my end of the phone call on mute. When the ping had come back as her phone being on, I’d prayed like I’d never prayed before.
Listening to Willow pee had been a unique experience, but if hearing her tinkle was the least of my problems, I could live with that. A hysterical laugh built in the back of my throat.
I squelched it with ruthless control. No. I still had a job to do. A woman to find. My woman. The blinking blue dot on the screen turned a solid blue. “Got her.” I pushed from the desk, ignored the sharp piercing pain in my side. I sent the location to my phone and deleted the results.
These fuckers weren’t leaving me here while they went in and rescued her. No. This was mine.
“Give it to us,” Domenico snarled as he got in my face. “You’re staying here. With Massimo.”
“No.” I pushed by him, limped as fast as possible to my elevator. “You’re more than welcome to join me, but you’re not leaving me here. And good luck getting from here to basement without my new codes.” I hit the button to open the elevator doors, stepped inside.
I stabbed the CLOSE button and watched with grim satisfaction as all four Amatucci brothers leapt into motion.
Domenico got pinched by the doors on his way over the threshold. His light brown eyes held the announcement of my impending death. “If she’s not where that says, you die. Today.”
I nodded. I couldn’t take any more of this waiting and hoping only to have them crushed with no Willow at the end of any particular rainbow. “I’ll hold my shirt open for you.”
His smile was a hard slash on his face. “You won’t have the time.”
The elevator slid to a quick stop at the garage floor. We piled out and headed for my SUV. I kept the keys as I jogged/hopped towards the huge vehicle. I pulled my phone from my pocket as I slid into the driver seat. I nestled it in its integrated cradle and started the car.
“Call Talia,” I ordered.
“Tell her what’s happening, you die right here,” Massimo said in his damaged voice.
I cancelled the call. “Fine, then I want it on record that I tried to call her and was threatened with death. When she hears about it from Willow, you’re all going to wish you’d let me make the call.” I stomped on the gas and we went flying.
“Take next left,” the car’s nav system said. “Arrival in twelve minutes.” I smashed the gas pedal into the floor. “Recalculating…arrival at destination in five minutes and thirty seconds.”
I blanked everything else from my mind except listening to the electronic voice of the navigation system. We’d found her. I’d found her.
I’m coming, baby. Stay alive.
Chapter 43 – Willow
My knee smashed up into Ethan’s balls as soon as the words registered in my brain. Using one of Tali’s favorite tricks, I elbowed him in the throat and pushed him away as he tried to figure out which injury to nurse first.
I raced from the room. Nothing was the same. I wasn’t in my old house. I’d told Ryker the wrong place. I was on my own.
I shot forward, cursed the rough flooring and Ethan’s habit of stealing my shoes. I gathered the pain in my feet, held it close to me. Nurtured it in my brain as I darted around corner after corner.
He’d built a maze. And I was his rat.
I ran and kept turning corners. As long as he couldn’t get his hands on me, I would be fine. I could hold out until Ryker came. Until that grouchy, bossy bear found me. I was going to slap him silly. Make him hold me through the nightmares that would undoubtedly keep me awake for the foreseeable future. His fault, he could help clean up the mess.
“You can’t run from me, Willow.”
That long, low welt on my leg burst to vibrant life as electricity shot through my system. I crumpled against the wall, slid to the floor. Inhaled the pain, let it buffer the fear. Mute the residual effects of the sedative.
He might have done some new things while we were apart, but so had I. I could handle the pain. The sharp shock to the system. I welcomed it, breathed it in.
Doing just that, I pushed to my feet. I pulled the agony into my lungs with each breath. Exhaled the glorious sensation of being alive.
I dragged my body forward. Another turn. Another shot of electricity. I stuffed a fist into my mouth to keep from making any noise. If we were going to play cat and mouse, I needed to find something to give me an edge.
Right now, Ethan thought I was debilitated by the pain. That was my single advantage right now. I needed something else. An equalizer.
As I turned another corner, I kept my eyes peeled for a board, a length of rebar. Anything I could use to force him to keep his distance. To hit him with.
“What happened, Ethan? Get a little too excited about the pain you inflicted?” I called out as I turned another corner. If I could goad him into anger, maybe he’d make a mistake. I didn’t think it was very likely, but I was out of other options at the moment.
“What happened to the righteous doctor who just wanted to understand the brain and how it could be forced open to its full potential? Lose your way? Get caught up in the killing of innocent women?”
“They weren’t innocent! They were predators,” he spat.
“Right. Because drugging them and stuffing them in your dungeon makes you the innocent in all of this. How many, Mr. Errington?”
I bit my lip as I imagined the steam that was likely filtering from his ears. He hated being called mister.
“Seventy-three. And they’re all your fault.”
I snorted loudly. “You couldn’t make me believe that shit when I was under your thumb, I’m certainly not going to start believing it now.” But I did. Somewhere deep inside, I believed I was at least partially responsible for their deaths.
“If you’d just done what I’d told you, expanded your mind, you could have saved them.”
“Just like my actions saved the last girl, right? You stabbed her through the
head with a piece of metal, you sick fuck. No. You can try to defer blame as much as you want, but I know exactly who you are, Ethan. Poor little boy who didn’t fit in with his family.”
I curled around another corner as bright sparkling pain danced through my body. I got my voice back. “Boo hoo. He was too young, too smart to have friends in his classes.”
His laugh was high pitched and brittle. “And I was too smart. Smart enough to kill their chances of succeeding. Smart enough to not get caught in all of these years. Smart enough to land Winslow Chase’s daughter in marriage.”
I gave him an imaginary point for that one. He had been smart. Debonair. Sophisticated. Down to earth. Funny.
Too bad all of it had been a thin mask.
“Yup, got me on that one, Mr. Errington. Way to go. You conned a baker into being your wife and accomplice. Congratulations.” I gave him a slow clap.
I stopped. A small circular room held nothing but blank walls. There were no more turns available. No more options but the way I’d come in.
I gritted my teeth, headed back into the maze.
“How did you end up this way?”
He laughed. The sound too close for comfort.
I scurried around the next bend and tried to remember which way I’d come through the first time.
“I’ve always been this way. My experiments have kept me company since I was twelve years old. No one understood me. No one bothered to reach out. To try to befriend me. If someone had, I wouldn’t be like this. It’s societies fault for everything that I’ve done. It made me do it.” He choked on a sobbing breath.
I struggled not to feel sorry for the little boy he’d been. But even at twelve, he’d known right from wrong. He’d chosen wrong.
“Sure, of course. If only smart people were treated better.”
“We’re treated like we have the plague, you bitch. You wouldn’t know because you’re normal. You got to live in ignorance your entire life. Boxed in by mediocrity. Destined for mundanity. You have no idea what greatness requires. What excellence demands.”
He sent another stream of pain through my body.
I stopped, leaned against the wall. Sweat beaded my forehead as my legs shook. I awkwardly slid down to my ass. I didn’t know how many more of these shocks I could take.
As if he’d heard my mental crisis, he answered, “I placed the electrode next to your femoral artery. If I press the button long enough, it could cauterize that nerve branch. How would you like that, Willow? Would that be a good enough experiment?”
Another bolt of lightning danced along my insides.
Fuck.
Chapter 44 – Ryker
“You have arrived at your destination. Your destination is on the left,” the car announced.
“What the fuck are you playing at, Penn?” Turo demanded as we searched the empty field. There was nothing here. Not even a hint that there had been. The ground was yellowed and undisturbed.
Rafael slid up between the front seats. A glint of metal in his hand.
“Stop.” I slapped his hand away. “For fucks sake, you guys don’t really know how to do business do you? What the fuck is wrong with you?” I grabbed my phone and limped from the car.
I pulled up the feed from my geosynchronous orbiting satellite. I scrolled back through the seventy-two hours of footage. Prayed that asshole had come back here within that amount of time. If he hadn’t, if he’d somehow managed to clone her phone and lead us off on another goose chase?
I shook my head. Forced those thoughts out. No. I couldn’t think like that. I had to find her. Had to hold her in my arms. Tell her I was sorry.
The driver’s window lowered behind me. A dark head popped out and stopped next to mine. “I won’t apologize,” Rafael said softly.
“I don’t expect you to. But damn, you do business in weird ways.” I hit the 2X speed button. Watched the last few days slide by with zero movement on the screen.
“Welcome to mob life,” he said softly as he watched the small screen on my phone with me.
“No, thanks. I prefer business rooms and conventions. There!” I stabbed at the NORMAL speed button. On my screen, a car drove out into the middle of the field. Stopped. A tallish man exited the car.
Rafael growled low beside me. The sound was feral. “Errington.”
“That’s him?” I squinted. I couldn’t make out his features from the height of the satellite, but I would go with Rafe if he thought the man on the footage was the guy we were hunting.
“I’d know that swagger anywhere. That’s the fucker.”
“Where is he?” Domenico demanded from the passenger seat. “I want his blood on my hands.”
Get in fucking line, man. That bastard was going to feel my hands rip into his belly and crush his heart. “Give me a fucking minute.” I hit some buttons on the screen, pulled up split view. The satellite footage dropped to almost unusable as I tried to access the GPS coordinates of the object on screen.
I finally found them. Took a screen shot and sent it to Domenico. “Here. Start looking. I’m going to watch the rest of this.”
All three doors opened in unison. Amatuccis unloaded from my car like it was an Italian convention.
I backed up the footage, blew up the picture so I could see it more clearly. He’d stopped in the middle of the field. For what? What possible reason could he have.
“Call Nik back. I need her eyes,” I told Rafael.
He growled but completed the call. “Don’t bitch at me, woman. Your boss needs to talk to you.” He handed me the phone.
“No questions, Nik. And whatever you do, don’t dig into what I’m about to tell you. I need you to pull up the data packet you sent me. See if there’re any property records, bills of sale, receipts, anything that could point to Errington owning property on the northeast outskirts of town.”
She inhaled noisily.
“Not right now, Nik,” I said softly. “Please.”
She blew her breath out in a huge gush. “Fine. But as soon as, boss man. Or I’m kicking your ass, too.”
“Understood and appreciated.” I gave her the coordinates I’d been able to snag. “Look in this vicinity first.”
I backed up the footage. The car had disappeared as if it had never been there. “What the fuck?” I hit the backup button again. Played it in half-speed. “Rafael, look at this.”
I angled the screen so he could watch it with me. I didn’t think I was getting woozy from blood loss, but that was about the only logical explanation I had at the moment.
The car was there, the man was digging in the trunk of a dirty white POS sedan. I tried not to think of Willow being stuffed in that trunk. Or any other person for that matter.
“We’ve got something over here!” Turo yelled. He was about half mile in from where I’d stopped the car.
“We’re walking, Nik. Anything yet?” I asked as Rafael and I continued to watch the footage. The car just disappeared. “There. Did you see that?”
“What the fuck?” he breathed.
“What’s up, boss? And no, nothing yet.”
I told Nik about the disappearing car. Sent her the footage timestamp. “Pull it up on your system, see if you can dig it up for me.”
“Data mining or footage, boss. Not even I’m that good.”
“Fuck. Footage. He was here not even two days ago. We need to find him. ASAP.” I slid the phone into my pocket, hooked the earbud into my ear.
Rafael and I moved over to join his brothers.
I felt my mouth drop open as I looked down. “What the actual fuck?”
Chapter 45 – Willow
Sucking in a deep breath, I set my nails to my skin and pushed. Sliced. Clawed. Anything and everything I could do. I had to remove that electrode. I wouldn’t let him win. Not like this. Not when I was so close to freedom.
For myself. For those other women and girls.
The pain suffused my mind as the white noise of blessed overstimulation curled around me.
I broke the skin. Kept digging.
My fingers slipped and slid over my skin as blood rose to the surface. I breathed through my mouth to keep any sounds from drifting. From pulling the monster any closer to me.
Head starting to spin, I pushed my fingers deeper. I just needed enough space to hook my nail under it. Grab a wire and yank.
A shoe scuffed the floor near where I sat.
I bit my lip as my middle finger grazed the foreign material. I sank my nail under the edge of the wire and pulled up.
Bright, brain-scorching fire shot through my finger as the electrode went off as I was trying to remove it. My vision went fuzzy as my entire arm went numb.
Another shoe scuff. He was close. So close. I had to get this out of me. Had to. Had to. Had to.
Lifting my other arm, I traced my way down to where my finger was caught under the electrode wire. There was barely any space for my second finger. Using my shoulder, I flung it back and out of the way.
A dull thunk sounded as my numb arm hit the wall that supported me. Shit. I didn’t have time to worry or whine about my fate. I dug my other finger in, hooked that wire and yanked it out.
Warm, gushing blood rose up around my fingers. I must have torn something. Using what strength I had left, I grabbed my numb arm. Curled the dead fingers into a fist and pushed my fist down into the hole I’d dug in my body. Folding my leg up around my fist, held it against my body. Hopefully that would slow the bleeding. I didn’t have a lot of hope, but I was going to hold out as long as I possibly could.
Everything slowed down around me. The world around me gooped and bubbled through my vision, like watching it through a thick glaze of melted frosting. I blinked, trying to clear my sight.
I lifted the hand with the electrode in it. It was so small, roughly the size of a lima bean with enough arms to make a spider jealous. As I watched, it heated in between my thumb and fore finger. I smiled when no pain came.