by Carmen Faye
There was no time to think. There was a reason why “they say better safe than sorry.” I was ready to be certain I was safe again.
“I’m leaving now before he gets off his call and comes out,” I said into the receiver.
“See you soon,” Graham said before I heard a click.
I laid the phone back on the base as quietly as I could manage and paused near the door of the office for only a moment to confirm that Tarek was still on the phone. His conversation didn’t seem as heated now, but he was definitely still talking to someone. This was my best chance.
I made my way to the door as hurriedly and quietly as possible. There was a creak as it opened, but I couldn’t wait and see if I was caught. I stepped out into the hall and closed it behind me without worrying if it made a sound.
Once I was in the hall, I realized I should still be somewhat cautious. Whether or not he was right about Hamilton, it was still possible someone was watching us and would see me without Tarek to protect me. I was an easy target.
I continued to move quickly, but I tried to be less conspicuous. I wanted to look like I was in a hurry, but not running away or being chased. I was certain I just looked scared and awkward. Even though Tarek and I had purchased new outfits, my garments were certainly posher than my typical style. That alone would have made me feel out of place even in my own elements.
The woman working the desk smiled at me, and I smiled back. As I passed, her smile remained, but she raised a questioning eyebrow. The doorman was silently standing at the door, which was propped open. His job had been reduced more to that of a greeter, but he did it nevertheless with a flair.
“Enjoy your day, ma’am,” he called, tipping his hat at me.
“Likewise,” I said, giving him a firm nod as I continued on my way.
I felt relief once I was out in the air, but after a few deep breaths, I had to stop and lean against the wall. A new wave of fear washed over me. It was easy to put my faith in rugged Tarek to keep me safe, but on my own, I suddenly felt helpless. I didn’t see anyone, but I felt like every window and rooftop had a sniper waiting to take me out and mount my head as some sort of prize after claiming their hit fee.
“You okay, lady? You look kind of pale,” a man asked me.
“I’m fine. Keep moving,” I said, standing upright suddenly and walking away hastily.
He was probably a nice guy, but I could only imagine him grabbing me and taking me into an alley.
I needed to get to Lucky Strike Bowling Alley. I needed to get to Graham. I wanted to go home. All I could do was keep moving; keep walking until I reached my destination and found him.
I managed to cross 11th avenue, so I knew I was close. The bowling alley wouldn’t be far after I passed river place. Unfortunately, I wasn’t going to make it there.
“Annie,” a voice called from an SUV called. “Annie, over here. We were on the way to meet you.”
He had shades on and was waving happily. I assumed Graham must have been with him. Maybe he was driving or on the other side and this guy had a window seat. He had probably dropped everything when I called, and a friend or two was with him.
I stopped walking toward the bowling alley and made my way back toward the intersection, but the vehicle crossed lanes and parked beside me facing the wrong direction of traffic.
“Annie,” the man called again, opening his door and stepping out with his arms stretched wide.
He looked happy and ready to hug me, but when I leaned forward to see if Graham was in the car it was only filled with three other strange men that I didn’t know.
“Where’s Graham and how do you know my name?” I asked, beginning to step backward, away from the smiling man.
His expression was still a smile, but this one was far more sinister and malicious.
“Come on now, babe,” he said, stepping to match my own movements. “Don’t give us a hard time.”
He lunged at me on the last word, and I turned to run, but his stride was longer than mine. He caught me in a matter of steps and had me in a tight bear hug. I couldn’t use my arms and my legs only kicked the air, useless in my struggle.
Another man, who had been sitting opposite him in the second row of seats in the SUV, grabbed my legs and clamped my ankles together in his hand, making it easier to load me in the car. I was too in shock to notice if there was anyone else nearby to report anything or try to help. If there were, they didn’t seem to care either way.
***
Tarek
“You have not called me by my name in a long time,” Ali replied after a long silence between us.
I wasn’t sure he was still on the line until he inhaled deeply.
“I haven’t called you by your name since I grew to understand the terms of our relationship, since the loan you gave me,” I said, for the first time out loud.
“I honestly can’t remember the last time you didn’t refer to me as boss. I could never tell if it was in humor or respect,” he replied in a tone I couldn’t read. “I guess now I know.”
“Things changed between us once money was involved, once you decided to think of yourself as my benefactor and in control of me,” I said, feeling myself wanting to release anger I had never realized was building.
He didn’t respond right away, but when he did, I wasn’t sure if his words were meant to soothe or ignite my temper.
“Shouldn’t I encourage optimum growth for my investments?” he asked, almost innocently. “I have invested in you in more ways than one, from my time all the way to my pocket. I should have some say in what you become. I made you, but you are flawed. I still need to shape you. When I feel that is complete, then you may be free of any debt you may have to me. It is not about money or protection. It is about the man you have been, become, and need to be.”
I was silent. I did not know what response to give to Ali. He always had a way of seeming wrong and right at the same time. He made me feel more wrong no matter what the situation, but that somehow he was pulling me through it.
In reality, he had always pulled me through. He more than anyone had saved my life. The only one who had sacrificed for me the way he had was my mother.
“Yes, Ali,” I said weakly.
I heard him hmm slightly. I didn’t want to push the conversation any further. It was clear it would not go in my favor, at least not in any way that I could see.
“Now, is there anything else before I return to my meeting? Any other interesting news?”
“No,” I replied flatly. “I have detained you enough. We will meet you tonight. Thank you again for your help.”
“That is what I am here for,” he replied.
He hung up immediately, without saying goodbye. I cursed and had to hold myself back from throwing the phone at the wall. Instead, I kicked the desk. My steel toed boots proved a formidable opponent, leaving a deep impression in the antique wood.
I folded my arms and rested against the furniture I had just attacked when my phone rang again in my hand.
“Yes, boss,” I said, knowing it was the only person who ever calls me.
“I hope your lady friend proves to be all that you think she is. A solid relationship with a woman of the opposite sex would be a great improvement for you,” Ali said. “I would be very happy to hear that news. I would be very happy to see you happy.”
I gulped audibly, taken aback by the admission.
“I would like to see you happy as well,” I replied.
“I don’t think that kind of happiness comes to the sort of man that I am, but that is a nice thought,” he replied coolly.
He hung up again as easily as he had before, again without a goodbye. I lingered in the office a moment. This time, I was just reveling in having a nice moment with Ali again.
There wasn’t really time for that at the moment. I needed to make a few more calls. I needed to arrange some other means of transportation for one thing. I hated to ride or drive anything but Sheba, but the safest move would be
to leave behind any known form of transportation, at least temporarily. I also needed to touch base with a few connections I had around town that might be able to give me a little more information on Annie’s boss, Graham Stevens. Maybe she didn’t know much about his ties to Perry Hamilton, but surely someone did. Men like Hamilton don’t affiliate themselves with just anyone.
As I made my remaining calls, I took a closer look at some of the photos on the Internet where Perry Hamilton and Graham Stevens were both pictured or referenced. Though I did not have a face to go with Hamilton’s name until recently; it wasn’t the most pleasant face. Everything about it seemed out of place and as if it had been pieced together. Looking at Stevens, I wouldn’t have known him from any other kitchen worker. He was average in every sense of the word. The only thing that really set him apart was his job, and apparently who he had met because of it.
I started to notice that there were more and more people in common at the events he catered. Many were in the cosmetic side of the medical field, accounting for Hamilton’s face. Stevens was always in chef garb, accounting for his presence.
Ali had many products in a wide array of medical categories. He had researched even more. I searched the pictures thoroughly for several minutes looking for any other connection, but I could venture no better guess into the specifics of what he could have found now that Hamilton seemed more than ready to kill for. I also needed to know how Ali could have missed what he was planning. He rarely needed more than me at any job because he was always not one step ahead, but several.
I made another call. This time, it was to Ali’s secretary. We had a thing once, secretly, but it was all too clear that her heart truly belonged to her employer. She had always said she owed me one for keeping her secret. Now was the perfect time to cash that in.
“Hello, Catarina,” I half purred into the phone.
I still enjoyed ruffling her feathers. Despite her feelings for Ali, we had passed a night or two together, even after I learned of her true feelings and ended things. We understood the balance of needs.
“Tarek,” she said in a playful yet professional tone. “He’s back in his meeting. I can take a message or put you through to his voicemail.”
“I’m actually calling to speak to you,” I said, hoping I sounded friendly and sincere, but I doubted it.
“Tarek, it’s been over a year. We can’t keep using each other to fill a void,” she scolded. “Now, if you don’t mind. I’m flattered you called, but I have work to do.”
“I’m flattered that you’re flattered, and you know it would be hard to turn you down if the offer were on the table,” I replied honestly. “I’m calling about a different kind of favor, though. One that makes some things between us past and forgotten.”
“Oh,” she said, coming to understand my meaning. “What can I do for you?”
I liked that she didn’t hesitate about keeping her word. I was glad she was willing to do her best when I needed her no questions asked. At the same time, I was beginning to understand that sometimes, questions mean you care.
I thought of all that Annie would have said to another man or even myself under the circumstances. I imagined she would have been just as helpful, but filled with questions. She wants the details to everything. Part of me wondered if Ali was right and she was pumping me for information. Another part of me believed that was just Annie.
“Tarek? Are you still there?” Catarina’s voice called softly over the line.
In another life, we probably would have been good together.
“Yes, I’m here,” I said, coming back to reality. “I wanted to see if you could send me Ali’s calendar. I don’t know how it is set up, but I need his recent history all the way up to a few months in the future.”
“That’s it?” Catarina asked, clearly surprised. “You just want access to his calendar?”
“That’s it, doll,” I replied. “Well, that and for you not to mention this call or favor.”
“You got it,” she said without hesitation.
Moments later, I received notification that new calendars had been synced to my account. When I accessed the file, everything from about a year back and going forward was in my hands. Cat had even provided a small legend to explain the schedule as it was color-coded.
There were many green instances that Catarina’s notes explained were events he actually attended or would attend. I had been at most, if not all of these, keeping an eye on him in some form. I would probably be asked to attend the future dates as his discrete protection as well.
There were also a handful of blue instances, including the TRU Body Gala, that were events I had been requested to attend even though he would not be present. There were no blue dates after the gala.
Chapter 11
Annie
“Come on, Annie,” one of my abductors was cooing into my ear. “We seem to have a mutual friend who thinks it would be good if we make friends. You don’t seem interested, though.”
“You don’t want us to tell the boss the woman we rescued refused to place nice,” another added.
The look in his eyes as he said the words didn’t seem like he only had the interest of his boss’s desires in mind.
“What do you want from me? I’m just a catering server. I don’t know anything!” I yelled. “Where is Graham?”
I wriggled and squirmed as best as I could, hoping to free myself somehow, but the men had zip-tied my wrists together. An attempt to do the same at my ankles had landed one a bloody nose from the heel of the new shoes Tarek had purchased for me.
“There’s a lot of things we might want from you, but the boss’s orders come first,” the man in the driver seat said.
It was the first time he had spoken. He had not turned to look at me or even looked at me in his rearview mirrors as far as I could tell. He seemed to be the only one that wasn’t already having his way with me in his mind. The two men I was sandwiched between in the back seat seemed to enjoy my hand restraints and our seating arrangement too much for even him as he continued.
“If we get her to the boss and any of you has so much as laid a hand on her, you know we are going to hear about it,” he said, locking eyes with me in the mirror for the first time. “She probably isn’t worth the trouble, boys.”
“I’d be willing to risk it and find out,” said the man in the rear passenger seat to my right.
The man in the rear driver seat to my left nodded his agreement and chomped his teeth at me. A few were missing.
“You seem to be the only one here worth talking to. What does your boss want with me? I promise you, I am no one. He will be really disappointed when you show up with a worthless, nameless girl like me,” I said, hoping I was persuasive.
He shook his head and kept driving in circles silently. After turning the corner rounding the block again, he parked a little way from where they initially picked me up. He left the engine running, but unfastened his seatbelt and angled himself to face me.
“Annie,” he said, looking at me with his hands folded and placed in his lap, “you seem like a nice enough girl. You are probably smart, although I would question the intelligence of anyone who would twice take off with a man they didn’t know.”
“Twice,” I said, mentally counting.
“I guess we should have been clearer. Aside from a mutual friend, we also have a mutual concern,” he said, waiting for some sense of recognition on my face.
“Tarek,” his companion in the front passenger seat said, filling in the blank.
“Shut up,” the driver said calmly.
The rest of the men shifted and sat more upright and settled their behavior.
“Look, Ms. Beckwith, we just want to know where Tarek was when you left him and if you think he might still be there,” he explained. “Our boss would like to speak with him as well. Right now, he is playing for the wrong side. We just want to give him the opportunity to change teams. We want him to work for someone who will appreciate him like our bo
ss appreciates us.”
I was still recovering from the shock of him knowing my last name. I was in too deep now to get out even if I wanted to.
I didn’t have a response, or at least, not one that I thought this man or his friends would want to hear.
“The clock is ticking,” the man in the front passenger seat taunted. “Think of yourself. Things will certainly go better for you from this point if you give us what we want.”
“Before we decide we want something more,” the driver said in closing.
I continued to weigh my options. These men had that rugged something that Tarek possessed, but somehow it was far more menacing in them, even when they weren’t speaking. I also didn’t like that they were a pack. Whatever they needed from me, it seemed unrealistic that I would require four kidnappers, or whatever they would be considered.