Bound in Blue

by Jessica Ingro

  “You at Sibley Memorial?” I asked him. My heart beat erratically as I weaved in and out of traffic trying to get down there as fast as I could.

  “Yeah. It’s not good, man.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Remember Megan Huntley?”

  I sucked in a breath at the mention of her name. No, was all I could think. No. This could not be happening. He had to mean someone else. Life could not be this cruel. It just couldn’t.

  “Mack. I’ve got to get going. They need me. You heading down?” His voice held an urgency that made my stomach retch violently.

  “Who has her?” I finally choked out. I needed to know. The suspense would kill me if I didn’t get that answer.

  “Ted Yates.”

  “What?” I exploded. “That fucker is in jail. How is that possible?”

  “He made bail last night. John is on vacation so he didn’t know. He’s on his way back to town now.”

  “I’ll be there in ten.” Sirens on, I floored it. Megan needed me.

  * * *

  Megan

  “Why are you doing this?” I asked my captor yet again. And yet again he chose not to answer me. “Martha wouldn’t want you to hurt me, Ted.” Any tactic I could use to get him talking was worth it, in my opinion. The mention of his estranged wife might make him more amenable to talk, or it might make him angry. I was desperate for the former.

  “Shut up, you stupid, stupid cunt,” he yelled loudly.

  Through the small, rectangular window in the door, I could see police officers converging on us. My heart sank knowing Mack was going to hear about this. After watching his wife die, I didn’t want him to have to endure whatever was about to happen. He didn’t deserve that. I couldn’t even warn him I was okay because my phone had been stripped from me and promptly shattered into a million pieces.

  “It’s a shame really,” he said conversationally after a long bout of silence. “You’re much prettier up close than I had imagined. Too bad I’m going to have to kill you.”

  “You don’t have to kill me.” My whole body trembled at the prospect of dying at this crazy man’s hands. I wondered if Rachel felt this way before she died or if she was lucky enough to have it go quickly. I had already been in here for at least three hours, if not more. Each second that passed was pure torture.

  “Yes, I do. It’s all your fault. Even my own brother hates me now. You shouldn’t have stuck your nose in where it didn’t belong. I have nothing. And now you will too.”

  It was then he punched me, and I flew from my chair, landing on the ground on my hands and knees. My reading glasses that I used for work had fallen off my face and crunched under the weight of his boot.

  Shit, he had power behind him. I gingerly touched my lip and found blood there.

  “Get up!” He demanded harshly. I crouched on the floor to stand. It wasn’t fast enough for his liking though and his hands fisted in my hair and dragged me up the rest of the way. It was then I found myself against the wall with his body pressed into mine. I tried pushing against him, but he was too strong for me. I tried kicking him, but he subdued me with a kick of his own that made me want to double over with pain.

  My mind flipped through the different defensive moves I had learned over the years and was about to employ them, when he produced a six-inch utility knife and held it to my neck. I turned my head to the side, both to hide my fear and to escape his bad breath. It was a mixture of stale beer and cigarettes. His fingers gripping my chin forced me back to facing him.

  “You’re going to watch while I fuck you, first with this.” He pressed his erection into my stomach. “And then with this.” The knife pressed deeper into my throat. His head dipped and still holding the blade to my throat, he began kissing my neck. My stomach roiled with revulsion at his touch. When his hand slid down my body and into my scrub bottoms, the tears began pouring down my face. When he roughly invaded me with his fingers, I screamed out in pain. It was then I realized we were in front of the window in the door, and I was staring into Mack’s tormented eyes.

  * * *

  Mack

  When I arrived at the hospital, I plowed past all the uniforms who thought they could hold me back. Joining Jacob in a large room, I made him get me up to speed.

  “He took out hospital security with a taser when they tried to stop him. We’ve attempted contact through the pager system in the room, but he won’t answer. We have reason to believe he’s disconnected the system now.”

  “What does he want?”

  Jacob gave me a look that I knew too well and didn’t answer. He wanted Megan to suffer.

  “Where are they?” I asked.

  “In the room across the hall.” He motioned towards a door on the other side of the room from where I entered. I stepped closer and peered out to where my heart was. Through a window in the door, I saw tears falling from her beautiful, brown eyes while it appeared that the sick bastard was forcing himself on her at knifepoint.

  At first I stood there dumbstruck at what I was witnessing. How could any of this be possible? How could we have not known he was out on bail? How could he have possibly afforded bail?

  It was when she screamed right before her eyes opened and locked on mine that I lost it. The fear, the shame, the sadness—it was all there for me to see.

  “Megan!” I shouted and charged for the door. Six feet from the door, I was stopped by multiple hands clamping down on my arms.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” Jacob yelled at me when we were out of the line of sight of Megan’s room.

  “Let me go.” I pushed past them and kicked a table at multiple officers blocking me from the door. “We have to do something!”

  “You need to settle down. Why are you so upset? You know better than to become a liability at a crime scene.”

  “I love her,” I announced on a strangled sob. The look of utter shock and surprise on Jacob’s face might have been comical if I wasn’t punching the person, who was trying to hold me back, in the face. “I need to get to her.”

  From there a fight ensued with four other officers and me. I broke free of the last one’s hold and threw a chair, screaming like a banshee. I was so damn frustrated. I needed to be with Megan. Couldn’t they see that? I needed her to know I was there for her. I needed her to know I loved her. And that I would do anything to make her safe.

  I needed to kill that fucker.

  “You need to sit the fuck down, son.” I looked up to see that our Captain had now joined the fray. Knowing I wouldn’t stand a chance fighting him, I gave him a defiant look before storming out of the room the way I came.

  The emergency room was empty now. Code Silver had been called, and all patients had been taken upstairs or to other hospitals while the staff was evacuated. It was now the perfect setting for me to completely lose what little control I had held onto.

  I came upon some vending machines and took my anger and frustrations out on them. It was when my fist made a crack in the glass on one that I finally realized I needed to calm the fuck down. Losing it wasn’t going to help Megan. And it sure as fuck wasn’t going to help me.

  Angrier than I had ever been in my life, I found myself crying. The look on her beautiful face through that window broke my heart as it stayed on repeat in my mind. I felt so damn stripped in that moment. My future with her was hanging delicately in the balance. One small move would send us careening down a black hole of nothingness. The same black hole I had been hiding in for nineteen years before Megan shined her light on me.

  Desperate to be near her again, I resolved to pull myself together and be the man she needed.

  After channeling some Zen fucking energy I didn’t know I was capable of, I went back to the room determined to make it through this—if not for me, then for Megan.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Ahhhh!” Megan’s screams echoed into the room we were in. I was not ten feet away from her yet there was nothing I could do to get to her. The hours pas
sed by so slowly and each minute that ticked by frayed my nerves even more than the last one.

  “Someone needs to fucking stop him!” I roared and kicked the chair against the wall. It was the third distinct cry that came from her in the last hour. Each one was more ear splitting and blood curdling than the last. I was crawling out of my skin and not a single fucking one of my brothers was doing a goddamn thing to help her.

  “You need to settle down,” Jacob said calmly while our Captain looked on with a disapproving look. I knew I was breaking protocol by being here. Only SWAT was allowed this close to where a hostage was being held. And if that wasn’t enough, me admitting my relationship with the hostage was grounds to get my ass tossed out of there.

  “He’s fucking hurting her!” My voice caught with that statement.

  “I know.” The sympathy in his voice couldn’t be missed. Deep down I knew this was hard on him too, given what he went through with Kara not much more than a year ago, but he wasn’t there listening to his girl being attacked in the next fucking room while he sat back with his hands tied.

  “He’s fucking hurting her,” I repeated dejectedly.

  “We’re going to get her out of there,” Jacob promised. “Captain wants them to take you down to the station and lock you up until this is over. He knows he won’t be able to control you if you go gonzo again. Do yourself a favor and settle down. You don’t want to be all the way over there when this things ends. You’ll want to be here, with Megan. Keep your eye on the prize, man.”

  “I don’t know if I can take hearing her in pain if it happens again. And I sure as shit am not going any further from her than I already am.”

  Jacob took that as my tacit agreement that I’d behave as best as I could, which was all any man could ever expect from another man in this situation.

  He went back to his SWAT huddle on the other side of the room. I knew I needed to stop diverting his attention from Megan—he was the lead hostage negotiator and the only one I’d trust trying to get her out safely—but it is so damn hard not to lose it. I’m a man, and men do not like to feel powerless. We are hardcoded right down to our DNA to protect the ones we care about. When we fail to do our job, it takes a chunk out of our souls, making us feel helpless and worthless. It’s a bitter pill to swallow.

  Slumping into a chair in the corner of the room, I forced myself still and waited. Low murmurs were occasionally heard from the negotiation team as they strategized. Jacob eventually left to replace the negotiator stationed outside the room Megan was being held in, and I took in a deep breath, putting all my faith into him.

  I couldn’t help my thoughts from straying to what Megan was feeling right at that moment. Was she terrified? Was she angry? God, I hoped she wasn’t back talking him like she loved to do. I didn’t want her doing anything that could jeopardize her getting out of that room—alive.

  Surprisingly, a smirk formed on my face imagining her attitude in all its glory. My musings were quickly followed by the thought that I loved how well I could get her to submit to me when she was all fired up. It was a gift really.

  Memories of our romantic Valentine’s Day came to surface and made my smirk turn into a grin. Megan had been so filled with joy when we roller skated together. Her smile grew more brilliant with each surprise I gave her. It was one of the best Valentine’s Days that I could remember. The way she controlled herself from orgasming during dinner sent a rush of heat and pride through me. She was a work of art. My work of art. She had done the impossible and made me love her. There was no way she would leave me now. She would fight death knowing I needed her with me.

  My happy thoughts were shattered when loud whimpers drifted in from the hallway. “No, please!” She begged. My body stiffened, and I had to force myself to remain seated. Every instinct in me was screaming to get up and run into that room, taking whatever that fucker had to offer, in order to save her.

  I caught my Captain eyeing me from across the room. A look of pride and relief crossed his face when he saw I kept myself in check—just barely.

  Taking a deep breath, I clenched my fists and closed my eyes tightly. And then I waited. I waited for more sounds. Even though each one slayed me, at least I knew she was still alive.

  * * *

  Megan

  My heart shattered when Mack screamed my name. The horror in his face when he saw what was happening to me was too much for me to bear. A sob left my throat, and I pinched my eyes together tightly, needing to block everything out that was currently happening between my legs.

  Thankfully the shouting and pounding outside the room, caused Ted to stop violating me. It was a slight reprieve to his violence, but a much needed one. One that I knew was thanks to Mack. If it hadn’t been for him taking Ted’s attention away from me, I have no doubt he would have followed through with raping me. Instead of his member or the knife being forced on me, it was just his hands. I would take any positive in that moment. And that was certainly a huge positive.

  When Ted eventually forced me to my knees with the blade pressing into my cheek, I knew I needed to do something. He wasn’t listening to the police, and while Jacob’s presence outside the door made me feel calmer, it had the exact opposite effect on Ted. My body ached and was covered in bruises from his torture. If I was going to die, at least I would die knowing I fought; knowing I did everything I could to get free and back to Mack.

  Shoving his penis into my mouth, I chose that moment to take control. I bit down on him hard enough for him to retreat. His shock and pain allowed me to yank my head back. The blade nicked my cheek, but I was able to scramble away. At the door, I wrestled with the handle. It started to open albeit too late, because Ted yanked me back by my hair and with eyes filled with anger he sank his knife into my side.

  I’ve heard it said time and time again that right before you die, your life flashes before your eyes. That all of your life’s regrets run through your mind and your loved ones’ faces appear before you. That didn’t happen for me. My mind dissected every milestone of my life in the hours Ted Yates held me hostage—hitting me, threatening me, and molesting me.

  When the blade sank into my skin the first time, I remembered the way my mother smiled. The second time the blade pierced me, I saw the way my father’s eyes lit up whenever he saw me. The third time he stabbed me, I remembered the way my sister and I could finish each other’s sentences. The fourth time, I saw the way John laughed whenever we were horsing around. And the fifth time, I was haunted by the memory of how Mack looked when he was moving inside me the night before.

  Ted Yates was far from dumb. He spaced out each stab to maximize my pain. His choice of where to place the wound was also carefully planned. He knew where to go and how to deep to plunge in order to avoid any major organs. He didn’t want me to die quickly; he wanted to prolong my suffering for as long as possible.

  When I felt the cold steel of his blade against my throat right before I felt the flesh tearing open, my only thought was that karma really was a bitch, and I was getting nothing less than I deserved when I died the same exact way my sister did. It was such a strong thought, that I almost didn’t feel the pain.

  Almost.

  The subsequent jolt my body took when Ted jerked back forcefully was what ultimately saved my life, causing the knife to stop midway on its path across my throat. With his hold tight on me, we tumbled to the ground with me landing on top of him. The blood seeping from my throat made me choke.

  It took several seconds before I realized his hold had loosened with the hit he sustained from what I believed to be a single gunshot. I rolled away from him as best as I could, but it wasn’t far enough because he grabbed my hair and gave it a vicious tug, pulling me back to him. I tried to cry out, but I couldn’t. Not with the gaping wound in my neck and the heavy blood loss.

  A sudden flurry of movement began around me, and his hold on my hair tightened. I struggled to stay conscious—I knew I needed to—but the loss of blood was too much and my eyes
closed. Within seconds, the pain blissfully faded away.

  * * *

  Mack

  Everyone’s sense of urgency seemed to ratchet up a notch or ten after her last scream. I had no idea what was happening, but my imagination was running wild with horrid scenario after horrid scenario. I wanted to ask and get the answers necessary to put my mind at ease, but I was afraid to move from my perch on the edge of the plastic chair. I knew nothing they said would help alleviate the angst building inside me, especially if what was actually happening was far worse than what my mind conjured up.

  Adrenaline racing through my veins had me pumped. My leg bounced, and my fists clenched over and over.

  “Drop the knife!” Jacob’s raised voice filtered into the room. “You don’t want to do that, Ted.”

  “Take your positions,” I heard someone else say.

  “Wait for the sign,” another one commanded.

  I slowly stood from my chair in that instant. This was coming to an end. How explosively was to be seen, but I knew it was ending now. Please, God let Megan be okay.

  The instinct cops have when something big is happening, kicked in. I was poised to strike. It was second nature.

  “Now!” Jacob shouted and the sound of a gun firing had my hand on my gun and my feet moving quickly towards the door. Captain Zimmerman’s hands clamped on my shoulder halting my movements.

  “Wait son,” he spoke into my ear. “Wait.”

  My muscles stayed tense as we waited. It took every ounce of self-restraint I could muster to keep myself in place. Shouts and movements escalated. I braced myself for the worse. My body was still poised to take flight, just as soon as the Captain’s hands moved from my shoulder.

  “Get the medical team in here. Now!” We heard shouted. Not wanting to wait any longer, I shrugged out his hold and raced into the room. Jacob was on his knees next to Megan’s prone body. His hands were on a wad of paper towels trying to staunch the blood flow from her neck. Another officer’s hands pressed against a wound in her side. Both were kneeling in a pool of her blood.