Captured

by Humphreys, K. L.

  “I had too, he was evil. I don’t know what happened, I looked down and the gun was in my hand.” She starts to sob as she stares at her dad, the man she just shot and killed. He deserved it but I wish she had let me do it; she doesn’t deserve to have his death on her conscience.

  Chapter 26

  Lucy

  What just happened? How could my father do this to me? Did I just kill my own father?

  Wiping the tears off my cheeks for the millionth time, I don’t even think I’ve stopped shaking. I have no idea what happened, I can’t even remember picking up the gun, the whole moment is a big blur. The only thing that I do remember is Cash coming up to me and taking the gun from my hand.

  Argos called Cash, telling him that he wanted us back at the lair, and that's all I know. I see Cash talking to me, but all I hear is the ringing in my ears. I remember this from the last time I fired a gun, but this is so much worse this time.

  I stare out the window at the street lights as we make our way back. Cash told Argos that he wanted to wait until the early hour before we left. He kept telling me to go to sleep but I ignored him, how the hell am I supposed to go to sleep? I just killed my father.

  He hasn't said anything to me. I don’t think he knows what to say to me, I don’t know what I want to hear from him. Nothing anyone says to me is going to make me feel better. I sense Cash looking over at me, but my eyes are on the street lights or my shaking hands. Cash has tried to grab them a few times to help ease the shaking, but I don’t want him to touch me at the moment.

  I look around as the street lights disappear, and I see that we have come back home. “Lucy, you have to say something,” I feel Cash’s hand on mine. But I pull away and exit the car. I make my way to the house, waiting for Cash to open the door for me. Argos has put so much security stuff on this place that I have no idea which button to press first, he has told me, but it’s a lot to remember.

  “Hey, if you don't want to talk, don’t, but can you at least look at me?” Cash lifts my face with his hand, and our eyes lock for the smallest moment before Cash lets my face go. I don’t know what he saw in my eyes, but at the moment I feel lost.

  Opening the door, I walk in and see Argos standing up, “Lucy…” he stops as I walk past him into my bedroom, “Cash, this is fucked up.” I hear Argos.

  “Even I wasn’t going to kill him; I mean that’s her dad. The look in her eyes Adam, I don’t think she will come back from this.”

  “I’m stepping out, be as quick as I can,” I hear Argos as I shut the door and fall to the floor, my knees hitting the hardwood floor.

  Taking in a deep breath, I close my eyes and let the tears escape. The question I’m asking myself is: why am I crying? Killing my dad, or finding out my dad was one of them? These men that have made my life a living hell, the people I faked my death for, and he’s the reason they knew I was alive. He knew the moment he told them that my life was in danger, and anything could have happened to me.

  The man that was my world. The man that was my hero, the man I trusted with everything, hurt me the most; hurt me to the point I killed him.

  Running to the toilet, I throw up just reliving that moment. I look at my hands as if they are foreign; they start to shake but I just keep staring at them. Hearing the footsteps behind me, I sit on my ass as Cash sits behind me and wraps me in his arms.

  “I can’t promise you that it will get better. But I can promise you that I will be here to help you every day, to make this better.”

  “I killed my own father, Cash. How...how can I ever be normal? I…” I start crying out loud, the pain is over taking my body, the pain running through my body is hurting to the point I don’t want to feel anymore.

  “Babe, I never wanted you to feel this pain. Killing someone you loved is something you should never have to do, never,” pulling me closer to him, “Lucy…”

  “Stop, please stop. At the moment, nothing you say to me will make me forgive myself.”

  Pulling away from me, Cash turns me around to face him, “You listen to me Lucy, I love you. I love how strong you are. I love how you’re not scared to tell me to fuck off. I love that you have the biggest heart and I love that you are a fighter. I know that you will fight this, maybe not you yourself, maybe not for me. But for our baby, our child, I know that you will fight this, and you will come out stronger than you are already.”

  Leaning down Cash gives my forehead a kiss, “I’m with you Lucy, until the day I die, I’m with you.” I hear him whisper to me as I put my head on his chest and cry, I didn’t think I had any tears left in me but I’m crying again.

  ***

  Cash carried me to the bed, and kept telling me to go to sleep; there was no way I could sleep, but just listening to his heartbeat was calming me down a little. I jump as I hear the door outside open, and within a second Cash has his gun pointed to the door, and pulls me behind him.

  “It’s Argos,” I let out the breath that I’ve been holding on to, the moment I hear Argos’ voice, “and I got something for Lucy.”

  I look over at Cash, he shakes his head to me, and he doesn't know what Argos is talking about either. I follow Cash out of the bedroom, and my heart leaps to my throat. As I push Cash out of the way and run over to Ruby, wrapping my arms around her tight.

  “I should be mad at you,” Ruby starts crying into my shoulder, making me cry too, “I’m so sorry Lucy, about your mom, your...dad,” the last word comes out in a whisper, I don’t blame her. How is she supposed to say it? I mean if anyone is going to know how close I was with my dad it’s her. Finding out what he did, how he betrayed me, saying sorry would be hard for anyone.

  “I’m just happy that you’re here, even though these two were here, I still felt alone.” I didn’t want to tell Cash that. I’ve lost all my family, of course I’m going to feel alone. Even though Ruby is not my sister, we’ve always been close. She is the closest thing to family that I have.

  “Argos said I can be here for the night then back to the safe house, I wish you would kill the crazy bastard already,” she turns to Cash as she says the last part, “tonight I want a night with my friend, she needs a night where there is no fucked up crazy man after her, so movies and junk food it is. Are you both okay with that?”

  “I will pop out and gets some food in a few minutes,” Argos says looking at his laptops. I know that he’s doing something on there to find the crazy asshole, but he's keeping quiet on it for a moment. As much I want them to find him and kill him, I need just one night where I feel even five percent normal.

  “And you,” Ruby points to Cash, “Now I don’t mind becoming a godmother, as we all know I will be the godmother, but could you not have waited until all this crazy shit was over?” Ruby stands with her hands on his hips, and Cash looks behind her at me.

  “So, this is what it’s like when the two of you are together?”

  “I’ve not seen my best friend in a very long time. I thought she was dead, and now I find out she is about to me a mom, of course this was going to be like this. When we are together it’s a lot of fun.” Ruby turns back around and gives me a smile.

  After what happened I needed this, I need someone to act normal around me, and I know that this is hard for her to do. She wants to cry with me, she wants to ask me a million questions. But she knows I just needed a normal day, and she is putting on a brave face to give me one.

  I walk over to Argos as he types on the laptop, “Thank you, for bringing her here,” I give him a kiss on the cheek.

  “If she’s godmother, then I’m godfather. You both know that, right?” Argos looks between me and Cash.

  “Well I need someone to build bulletproof everything for him or her.” I tell him and walk over to Ruby, who is watching me.

  “It’s a girl,” moving closer to me, “and you don’t have to fake not hurting to me you know.” She tells me as she squeezes my hand.

  “I know, but tonight I really just want to sit and watch movies with my best
friend,” I tell her. I was going to sit in the bedroom, and replay the whole night with Raphael and my dad. I was going to go crazy thinking I heard the wrong thing or I could have done something different, so Ruby being here is what I needed.

  “Movie night it is.” She declares giving me another hug.

  I hear Cash and Argos talking quietly behind us, I try to avoid Ruby’s voice so that I can hear what they are saying but I can only hear a few words here and there. Raphael, tracking, cars, cameras. That’s all I can hear and Ruby looks at me, and shakes her head at me.

  “Lucy, a few hours. Forget for a few hours…”

  “I will, sorry.”

  “I’m going to get food, anything else you two want?” Argos shouts at us, as he walks over to the door, “Pizza, Chinese, or a bit of everything?”

  “Bit of everything,” Ruby tells him.

  Feeling Cash standing behind me, I lean back against him, “Nice to see you feeling a little normal,” kissing me cheek, “I love you,” he whispers.

  “I love you too.”

  ***

  I watch Cash and Argos at the table talking as they look at the screen. We watched a few movies, had food, but I could see that they were both itching to get up and see what they could find; so I told them both to go.

  “Now that they have gone, are you going to tell me the truth about how you’re feeling? He loves you, but he is still getting used to your habits.” Ruby moves closer to me, rubbing my arm softly.

  “True, I don’t know. I feel numb, I feel like I’ve lost everything, and I’m alone in the world now…”

  “Lucy, you’re not alone. I’m here, Cash is there for you, and trust me Argos loves you like a sister. But most importantly, you’re having a baby that needs you to be strong,” I look over her shoulder and I can see Cash and Argos both taking looks over at me.

  “I know Ruby, but…” I wipe the tear from my tear leaving my eyes, “I killed my own dad. How do I move past that, how do I live with myself for that?”

  Ruby leans closer to me, “I wish I had the answers for you Lucy, I really do, but all I can say to you is: no matter what time, I will always be here for you.”

  Giving her a nod as no words are leaving me at the moment, I have no idea what to say to her, I know I have all the support around me. But I think this is something that I need time to get over, I need to do this alone.

  “Call Tanner, I want to know how the fuck this happened!” Cash shouts, and his pissed off about something, Ruby and I walk over to them and look down at the laptop screen.

  “What?” I pull the screen closer to me, making sure that I’m reading the breaking news correctly.

  Vice president found dead in prison cell.

  As I read more of the article, it says that the guard found him hanging from the ceiling, with his own belt. Why the hell was he still wearing a belt?

  I hear Argos on the phone, and I sit down reading another article on what’s happened, “It says that they are moving the president to a federal prison, that has twenty-four hour surveillance on him. They are even giving him the padded cell, to make sure that he doesn’t do anything stupid,” I look over at Ruby, as Cash and Argos talk on the phone to Tanner.

  “I can’t wait for all this to be over, so we can live a life without looking over our shoulders,” Ruby tells me, giving her a nod I watch the guys walking back over to us.

  “I’m taking you back,” Argos tells Ruby.

  “What did Tanner say?” I ask.

  “Nothing, everything the media is saying is the truth.”

  “They aren’t our fight anymore that is behind us. It’s time to finish the fight that is ours.” Cash looks over at us, “So, Argos is taking you back. And this time next week, if all goes to plan, Argos will get us underground for a while. Then we can all be together.”

  “I’m already halfway there with a plan. Ruby let's get going, so I can get back and find the bastard,” Argos and Cash walk away from us and I turn to Ruby.

  “Once this is over we are going on vacation,” Ruby points to me, “and I want a hug, a hug that screams we won,” Ruby wraps her arms around me and gives me a squeak, “I love you so much.”

  “I love you too.”

  Chapter 27

  Cash

  Sitting in the car, overlooking this neighborhood is making me antsy. Argos has been watching this place since Raphael came back here, after we found out about Lucy’s dad. This house is run down and doesn’t stand out, unless you were sitting here looking at it as we are, you wouldn’t even know it was here.

  There are six men around the perimeter. They’re walking around the neighborhood but they stick out like a sore thumb, dressed in all black, including heavy leather jackets. Their jackets are bulging, no doubt to the semi-auto’s they have attached to them. They must think they're in the Matrix or some shit with the way their dressed. Hell blacked out glasses on too, I'm curious as to why the cops haven't been called. We're in a decent neighborhood, you'd think having weird guys around would freak some people out?

  “Argos have there been any reports about suspicious men in this area?” something doesn't sit right. Why are they out in the open? Argos starts searching on his laptop. Meanwhile, I see six men on the grounds of the house hidden from view, along with someone stationed at every window of the house. Stupid fucks, I can see not only their outlines but also how impatient they are; they keep moving the curtains to have a better look, they're waiting for something.

  “No, nothing.” Argos informs me. But he's not giving up, he knows I asked for a reason and he’s going to find something.

  Lucy's been extremely quiet; she's kept her hands clasped and her eyes down. She's hurting, there's nothing I can do to ease that pain. There is not one thing I can do to help her. I plan to end the torture she’s been in, I’m fucking looking forward to it. The sooner Raphael is out of our lives the better. We’ll be able to go underground, start working from the bottom up and make sure that if this were to ever happen again we’d be more prepared.

  Argos lets out a low whistle, one that gets my attention, “There’s a reason why the cops haven’t been called. Four months ago, everyone in this neighborhood received two hundred and fifty g’s.”

  Makes sense, you want to infiltrate somewhere and have your base, you buy everyone onto your side. “He’s sure planned this, this isn’t about Lucy, he’s after something else. We need to figure what the hell it is.” We’ve missed something. He’s had this planned a hell of a lot longer than four months, he’s after something and I want to know what it is.

  “Find out everything. He’s in the states for a reason,” I pause for a second, “You know what; get everything you had on Luis too. He was his brother, if he’s up to something no doubt Luis was involved too.” My gut is screaming, I hate being in the dark.

  A black SUV pulls into the driveway and the six ‘bodyguards’ that were patrolling the perimeter follow behind, forming the guards at the back. I have no doubt in my mind that it’s Raphael in that car. He’s being cautious. I don’t like this, I fucking hate being in the dark. Pulling out my rifle, I look down the scope, the bodyguards are easy pickings right now. I know for a fact that if I were to take them out, the SUV will be gone. Once the SUV comes to a stop, the bodyguards form a protective ring as the back door is thrown open. There’s no way I’m getting a shot, they have Raphael surrounded, seems the only way to get to him is up close and personal. Good, I want to see his eyes when I take his life, I want to watch that arrogance he has drain from him.

  “How the fuck did I miss this?” Argos is talking to himself, yet again.

  I may need to have him looked at, “You do realize that talking to yourself is the first sign of going crazy?”

  He gives me a look that tells me to shut the fuck up, “Hades, I should have found this before now.”

  “What?” I bite out, that’s not good. If he should have found it before why the hell didn’t he?

  “Luis owns a building two
blocks away. I’ve got Tanner on it already.” He’s what?

  “I’m sorry, you’ve what?” I take a deep breath; Lucy’s head pops up and she stares at Argos in confusion. “What on earth possessed you to do an idiotic thing like that?”

  “What? We need to find out what’s in that house!”

  “Argos, having the cops there doesn’t help us. Raphael could find out that the cops are there and leave. Or if Cash goes into that house and guns are blazing the cops are only two blocks away, they could hear it.” At least someone has brains, I watch as Argos’ face goes blank at Lucy’s words.

  “We’ll just have to wait and see what happens won’t we?” He’s mad that he’s in the wrong but he won’t admit it, “We’ll see what Tanner finds and see if Raphael is informed. If he is where the rat runs too.”

  “Fine.” I’m so fucking pissed, it wasn’t his call to make, but I sure as fuck can’t do anything about it now.

  ***

  Two hours later, Argos gets a phone call from Tanner. There's been no movement from inside the house but Raphael’s bodyguards are keeping post, the only way in is to take them all out.

  “Yeah, I’ll let him know. He’s not going to be pleased but at least it’s been shut down.” Whatever Argos and Tanner are talking about doesn’t sound good and I know that I’m going to be pissed off. “Thanks, talk to you later.” Argos hangs up and starts typing away on his laptop.

  I cough and wait for that fucker to turn around and tell me what the hell has happened. I’m sick of waiting, two fucking hours I’ve been waiting for the all clear after Argos’ mistake and now he’s making me wait even longer.