He was smiling. “Good work Lily. BJ, can you get it up on satellite.”
BJ nodded and slid over to his computer station. Thirty seconds later, they had a grainy image of the small cabin. “There is a car, but I can’t get in close enough to make out any license plate.” BJ was tapping on his keyboard. “It looks like it has been backed into a carport, and nothing but trees, and a stream behind it.”
Tony had a hunch. This could be the break his friend needed. “I’m calling Andreas. This could be it. BJ call in the team.”
* * *
“We’re on our way. Thank you, Tony. I owe you. I owe you.” Andreas’ heart hammered in his chest. Gio was already on another phone, making the arrangements for the private jet that would take them to Virginia.
“I am assembling my team now, and we’ll formulate a plan. We are getting the specs now as we speak. And we’ll figure out a way to get inside. We will pick you guys up at the Richland Airport. We’re gettin’ your girl back, and we are doin’ it tonight. We’ll have everything ready as soon as you touch the ground.”
Andreas ran his hands through his course black hair for the millionth time that day. He nodded at his two younger brothers. They understood the silent message. Blaze and Nikko ran upstairs to pack, and tell the women what was going on. As soon as Gio hung up the phone, Lucas was told to bring the car around. Their flight left from TIA in thirty minutes. They didn’t have a minute to spare.
Chapter 35
Home Sweet Beautiful Home
When Spiro pulled onto the dirt road leading to his mother’s cabin, he smiled. The long drive and the fear of being caught stayed with him throughout the entire day. He only stopped to refuel when he was sure Catarina would not wake up.
He’d allowed her to stay awake for the past two hours. But he took precautions. He tied her hands together with cord and they were also attached to her feet. He had done that at his last stop before he made the decision to allow her to regain consciousness. He did not want her to sleep all night. He wanted her company.
He also did not want to take a chance on her overdosing. She meant too much to him. He hated having to do it in the first place, but it had been necessary to keep her subdued for the long drive. But these last few hours, the long stretches of backroads that he took to get to his mom’s cabin would not be very well travelled, especially on a holiday. Just in case someone passed and noticed her, he covered her with a blanket.
Plus, the weather was much colder in this neck of the woods. He would have to see about getting her some warmer clothes eventually.
When she had woken up, she had been quite groggy and disoriented. When her eyes finally focused on him, he had seen the confusion, and fear. “Hush now, my beauty.” He smiled at her, eyes watering at seeing her grey eyes once more looking upon him. His heart constricted. She was really with him. By his side, where she was always meant to be. “You remember me. You know I won’t hurt you, right?” She nodded nervously and licked her dry lips, but the fear was still there.
He offered her a sip of soda. He purchased a fountain drink for her at his last stop. He was sure it was watered down by now, but with her hands tied he would need to assist her. He put the cup in front of her, but she was looking at it suspiciously. “It’s a soda, I’m sure watery by now, but it’s wet,” he offered.
She vaguely remembered a dropper being placed in her mouth before, and didn’t doubt that the drink might be laced. But her mouth was so dry, and parched, she risked it. She moved her head forward an inch and took a small sip making a face. “I have some bottled water and other things in the trunk. We are almost home, another thirty minutes.”
Cat swallowed down the lump of fear choking her, and wondered how Andreas was doing. She felt her ring lying between her breasts, the one he had given her that morning. She had put it on a chain this morning before her workout fearful of losing it. It had been slightly too loose for her slender fingers. The pain slammed into her. Dreams she had never dared to dream had come true today. She hoped she had the chance to hide it. She did not want him to see it, suspect what it was and take it from her.
She nodded. He was still staring at her. His birth defect was still noticeable despite the facial hair he sported now. He had died his hair an orange color, and it made him appear more clownish, but she would not show her distaste. She now knew what he was capable of.
“You are still so beautiful,” he whispered in the silent car. His breathing was erratic, and he gave another sideways glance. She kept her mask in place.
She cleared her throat. “Thank You.”
She would have recognized the voice instantaneously. He spoke softly and evenly. Every word enunciated with precision. She remembered that he had mentioned once his need to see a speech therapist for years as a child until his father refused to pay for it any more. He also had several surgeries to correct his deformity, but those operations had only been able to do so much. The cutting had left nerve endings damaged and had paralyzed his top lip to a great extent.
“You’re welcome,” he giggled despite his effort to keep it in. He felt glee. She was here, and she was talking to him.
“Spiro, what do you plan to do with me?” she asked respectfully, but he noticed her body receding into her corner of the car. He didn’t like that.
“I’m going to love you, Catarina. Take care of you. Just like I used to.” He was looking forward at the road ahead. It was beginning to snow and he needed to concentrate. The white flurries danced in the headlights and he did not want to miss the last turn. “Snow. It’s lovely. I missed it. Not the cold though,” he laughed softly looking down at her. “Please, Catarina, don’t be afraid of me.” He scowled.
Cat sat up straighter. “Spiro,” she paused looking for the right words. Terrified of making a bad choice in how she worded things. “You killed so many people. Why?”
He shook his head not expecting that question and a feeling of panic sent his heart racing. He glanced her way and noticed her eyes were looking on him kindly. He cleared his throat and would try to answer that. For her. “I really don’t want to talk about that with you. But, I’ll say this. They weren’t you. Their eyes were not kind.”
Cat remained quiet, taking that in. She knew she shouldn’t show fear, or revulsion of the things he had done. She was used to this. Not showing her feelings. She had plenty of practice in schooling her emotions.
“Where are we?” she asked after a minute of silence.
“Not far. My mother’s cabin in Virginia.”
She nodded. She remembered him mentioning his parents’ divorce and his mother once. She had lived across the state line from his father, whose primary residence was in Maryland.
Her mind spun. She did not want to press him, and she was fighting her fear of the unknown. Thoughts of Andreas and what he must be going through began to filter through her brain. God, she hoped he was looking for her. Had some lead to go on. Sadness for what he was going through threatened to make her mask slip. “Spiro?”
He glanced her way. His eyebrow arched up.
“I’m afraid.” She was honest.
“I won’t hurt you. I promise.” He winked and turned back to the word. The snow was falling faster. The road getting narrower, and the trees on either side of the road getting thicker.
Cat felt the tears begin to prick at the back of her eyes. This morning her life seemed so hopeful, and now she was a captive once more. By a boy who had been kind to her once. She choked back the sob that threatened to engulf her. She closed her eyes to keep the tears from coming.
Time passed, and she occasionally glanced out the window, but it all looked the same. Under her blanket, she tried to tug on the cords once more, but she could barely budge them. Escape would be difficult. She had not seen a light from a house for several minutes. She glanced at the odometer then. She would check it each time they passed a house to calculate how far she would have to go, if she could manage to escape. She just hoped Spiro did not plan to tie her up
permanently. She hoped and prayed he had nothing planned until she could think a way out of this.
Just then she saw a house, a small cabin, and glanced at the mileage. Spiro caught her looking. “Yes, Catarina. That should be the last house you see before we arrive. Its eight miles from my mother’s cabin. Very far. You do not have the proper attire to make it that far.”
She slumped further in her seat. Eight miles was not impossible though. Her anger was building. She needed to keep her wits about her, and figure out a way.
She heard him sigh next to her. “Catarina, please don’t try to run. I don’t want to be mad at you again.” His tone was menacing, and he could not meet her gaze.
The word came out before she could stop herself. “Again?”
“Marino. I saw you together several times. He looked at you the way I like to look at you. And you!” His voice was rising. “You looked at him the way I want you to look at me.”
Cat remained silent. She didn’t want to provoke his anger. He continued. “I saw that episode of Forty-Eight Hours. I knew you did not break up. It was a ploy to lure me out, force me to go after him. That bastard ruined my life once. I wasn’t going to let him trick me again.”
“He really ended it with me. I thought . . .”
“Don’t lie to me.” His head whipped her way, his nostrils flared stretching his face grotesquely. She saw she was treading on dangerous ground. “Don’t ever lie to me. I watched for his car every night after that. He went to get you. Took him long enough. Brought you back to his mansion on that god forsaken island that he thought was so impenetrable. But I outsmarted him in the end. I rented that boat. Every day for a week I drove it in the bay. Saw you exercising. Saw the house next door had no activity. I parked it there for three days after I knew your routine. Waited for you to be on the dock. It was perfect. And today is Christmas. Perfect.” In the blink of an eye his anger had turned to joy. He was like a little boy who got what he wanted after begging for it.
Cat felt the bile rising in her throat although she hadn’t eaten anything all day. Knowing he had been watching them for over a week, had followed Andreas to her hotel the week before, and the fact that they had all been unaware, made her stomach roll.
She heard Spiro sigh. He turned onto an even narrower dirt road and the snow fall made it difficult to see much of it. Only the wind blowing made parts of it visible from time to time. He took several calming breaths before he spoke again. “But that’s over now. You will forget about him. And love me. Maybe even tonight.”
Cat almost gagged. Tonight! He planned to use her body tonight. She had to think of a way out of this. Avoid his touch, or whatever else he had planned. She vowed to herself all those years ago, after testifying against this man’s father, that no man would use her body against her will again.
The silence stretched between them for a few more minutes. “There it is. Home sweet home.” His voice was like that of a child again.
Cat held back the emotion. She needed too. It was the only way she knew to get through what the future, and this night held for her. She willed her body and mind to become stone once more.
* * *
Spiro backed the car under the carport. It was nearly ten o’clock. “Stay here,” he said, and pulled on her cords, making sure they were affixed tightly to the steering column. Where was she going to go, she thought, grimly. He pocketed the keys. “It should stay warm in here until I get a fire going. No electricity, but there is a wood stove, fireplace. I’ll be quick. I want to uncover the furniture, and get it ready for you. I have not been here in nearly two years.”
He looked at Catarina and saw fear in her eyes. He didn’t like seeing it. He felt his anger rising. He reached for her face. Held it between his two hands. “Don’t look at me that way, Catarina. I really don’t like it. I want to see your kind eyes.”
Cat nodded fearfully and forced herself to smile. He was hurting her.
His smile softened. “Be right back, my love.”
As soon as he went inside the small cabin, she tried to loosen the ropes but her hands couldn’t move much. He had coiled the ropes around her wrists, and thumbs, and they also were tied to her ankles. She moved them as much as she could to get the blood flowing to her limbs. She glanced around the car to see if there was anything within reach, but she could only move about six inches. All she saw was trash from fast food chains littering the floorboards. She focused on her limbs, and slowly she felt the circulation improving in them. If she had to fight, or struggle, she would need to have use of them.
She stared ahead at the long stretch of road they had come from, and the snow was falling faster. Her aerobic sneakers would not protect her feet for long if she had to run, and her clothes would not weather these conditions well. The car was already beginning to cool from the outside temperatures. Again, she felt lost, almost hopeless. But thinking about Andreas, the man she loved, she prayed he would find her. The ring nestled between her breasts felt heavy, but it gave her the courage to not give up. To keep trying to think of a way out.
* * *
The first thing Spiro did upon entering his mother’s cabin was to light a few of her old oil lamps. Once the brightness illuminated the darkness, he checked the fireplace. Stacked beside it was some dry kindling he had left the last time he had been here. He hustled over to the rustic brick fireplace, and opened the flue. Then using the gas can squirted a bit onto the wood so it would light more easily. He had the fire started and soon the place would be warm. It was a small cabin. Just a single room, and a small bathroom off of the kitchen area with just a sink, and toilet. When he had been here as a boy, they swam in the stream out back, or boiled water and washed up in a basin. Next he began to pull the sheets off the sparse furniture being careful to fold it and not stir up the dust. Then he picked up his mother’s old straw broom and set to removing the cobwebs he could see clinging from the exposed beams. He glanced at his watch. Fifteen minutes work, and the cabin was nearly ready.
He went to the bed, which sat in the corner of the room. His mom’s bed. Now his. He had slept in the pull out trundle when they had been here. He pulled off the sheet covering it, then pulled down the bed spread. His excitement for tonight, and what he finally hoped to do with Catarina had his cock hardening in his pants. Not yet, he told himself, and tried to tamper his excitement. But soon. Soon.
He turned and went to the high boy dresser, and opened the top drawer. Inside were two pairs of pajamas and a nightgown. A simple white covering. Old fashioned, but it would do. He took it out, and laid it on the bed. It smelled musty, but it would do for tonight. For Catarina.
He began to feel the cabin warming. He would go get the supplies, bring them in, and then bring her in. His blood pumping in his veins, he hadn’t felt this alive in a very long time.
* * *
When Spiro opened the door for her, Cat was first hit by the musty smell, and wrinkled her nose. He noticed.
“Sorry, but it will pass. You will get used to the smell. Tomorrow we can open the window, and air it out some.”
Cat swallowed the lump in her throat. Tomorrow seemed like a long time away. He watched her as she glanced around the open area. She saw the bed in her peripheral vision; the white nightgown did not go unnoticed and she avoided looking in that direction.
“So, there is the stove, and table and chairs,” he pointed to one corner of the room and against the wall was a small window that looked out into the darkness. It was the only window she could see, and below it was a sink, and small counter top. “And I have a small sofa here in front of the fire. That was my mom’s rocking chair. She liked to knit in it. Then I have some books on this shelf. I could get you some more if you like to read. No electricity though. Sorry. The door by the kitchen area, that’s a bathroom. No tub, or shower. But we have a basin, and we heat water on the stove for it.” His eyes swept the room to see if he had forgotten anything. “That’s about it,” he ended.
Cat saw another door by the
bedroom. “What’s that door?”
He followed her gaze. “Oh, that’s a root cellar. Storage. And it goes outside too. But that’s locked. I always keep it locked.”
She just remained quiet after that. Glancing behind her once at the door to the outside; she knew it was the only way.
He saw her look at that door. “Oh, let me take care of this.” He turned, locked it from the inside. Slid the deadlock into place, and then pocketed the key.
He turned around and clapped his hands. “So, you must be hungry. I have some soup. Let me warm that up. You go sit, and relax,” he pointed at the sofa. She walked slowly towards it, but glanced at the rocker instead. “Or the rocker. That’s fine, Catarina. I want you to feel at home.”
She chose the rocker. Although he had untied her feet when he came to get her from the car, her hands were still tied together. As she sat quietly she examined the room more closely while she also watched Spiro put a few pieces of kindling in the stove. He opened up the cupboard under the sink, and took out what looked to be an old pot. He placed the pot in the sink and pumped water into it, rinsing it out. From a box on the table, he pulled out two cans of soup.
“Mushroom, okay?” he asked.
Cat shrugged her shoulders and nodded, never having tired it before. Her mouth was dry again. She would eat anything to prevent whatever he had planned next.
“Could I have a drink?” she asked tentatively.
“Oh, of course. Where are my manners?” He laughed nervously.
He pulled out a bottle of water from the same box. He brought it over to her, and then looked down at her tied hands. She saw a flicker of doubt pass his eyes. He looked away. “I’m sorry. I just can’t trust you yet.” He twisted off the cap and brought the bottle to her lips. She took a small sip. He smiled, and put the cap back on. “Just let me know when you want more.” Pivoting on one foot, he turned back to the kitchen to prepare the soup.
Opening up the pop top cans, he dumped the contents into the pot and placed it on the stove to warm, stirring it with a large wooden spoon. She watched as he set the table with two bowls, and two spoons, and he also put a bottle of water in front of one of them. He left hers beside her on the floor.
The Bounty Hunters: The Marino Bros.: Box Set Page 93