Steph still cried, but he could understand what she said. "When I woke up this morning, my hands were tied. That crazy woman from the party last night stood over me, with a gun. She gagged me, then used my phone to call Alexis."
"What crazy lady?" Jack's grip on her arms grew tighter, but neither of them noticed. Stan lightly tapped him on the arm and gave a slight nod of his head. Jack immediately loosened his hold.
"I don't remember her name. The one Mase was with."
Jack felt his body go still. "Sabrina?" He asked.
"Yeah, that's it. Sabrina."
An officer walked up to Jack. "You know the kidnapper?"
Jack slowly nodded his head. "Sabrina Jackson."
"Sir, you need to come and tell us what you can about Ms. Jackson," the officer said.
Jack looked at Stan. "Pull up everything you can find on her."
Stan gave him a nod. "On it."
Jack went to the couch and sat. Steph sat gingerly on the seat beside him. He put his arm around her shoulders and she relaxed against his side. The officer, his name tag read Blake, gave him an odd look, but he didn't give a fuck. Steph was Alexis's best friend and he knew she was just as worried about her as he was.
"Tell me how you know Ms. Jackson." Officer Blake took out a pad of paper and a pencil.
"I've slept with her once." He felt Steph stiffen beside him. He gave her shoulders a squeeze and she relaxed again.
"So you dated Ms. Jackson?"
"No, I fucked her, once."
Blake gave him a sharp look. "And that was the end of your association with her?"
Jack sighed, "She was around a lot after that. She'd come up to me, try to start a conversation. I let her know I wasn't interested. She knew it was a onetime thing. She knew I didn't date or have relationships. After a few months of me blowing her off, she got the hint and went away."
"What kind of conversations did she try to have with you?"
Jack closed his eyes and thought for a moment. "It was awhile ago and I really didn't pay much attention to what she said, but it was always along the lines of wanting me back. Even though there was no back, to get back to." Jack paused for a minute. "I do remember one thing, because she sounded a little off when she said it."
"And what was that, Mr. Cole?" Blake looked slightly more interested now.
"She said we were fated to be because my first name was Jackson and her last name was Jackson."
Jack finished his interview with the officer then made his way to where Stan stood. "Anything?"
Stan looked up from his ipad. "We have the location of her residence. The police are on their way there now. I'm running a background check on Sabrina Jackson, but it's gonna take a bit longer." He typed something into his ipad. "We should head to Sabrina's residence, see what they find out."
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Stan pulled up in front of a single-story, tan, stucco house. The front yard had a desert landscape, mostly cactus and rocks with a small patch of lawn. Neighbors stood on the sidewalk, probably speculating on what was taking place inside.
Jack followed Stan and Steph up the walkway. The front door was open. They entered the cool interior and followed the voices to the back of the house. Jack looked around, his gaze sharp, looking for anything that would lead them to Alexis.
Every once in a while Stan would fiddle with his ipad. Jack gave him raised eyebrows. Stan shook his head. "Nothing yet."
Jack could feel himself growing impatient. He knew he had to stay focused, collect all the information, so they could figure out were to find her. But there was an animal inside him, dying to run free, ready to sniff out the scent of its mate.
They came upon a cluster of officers in a back bedroom. Jack peeked his head in the door and stopped cold at the sight before him. He slowly inched his way into the room, a growing sickness overtaking him.
One entire wall held hundreds of pictures of him and Alexis, but in every photo, Alexis's head was cut out and Sabrina's was put in. It must have taken her weeks of snapping pictures to get this many. He could tell where they were or what they were doing in most of the photos, by background location or the clothes they wore. But, some pictures looked random, with no clues, to where or when they were taken.
On a queen size bed laid two mannequins. One looked eerily like him, the other like Sabrina. The dolls were under a light-blue quilt and both appeared to be naked.
On another wall, painted in big red letters were the words DIE ALEXIS. Jack actually shuddered at the image, bile rising to the back of his throat. "What the hell is all this?" he asked, no one in particular as he stood stunned, trying to take it all in.
Officer Blake walked up to him. "Most stalkers have a shrine, per se, of their victim, or the person they're obsessed over. In this case that would be you."
Jack needed to sit down. He stumbled out of the room, found the closest chair and plopped down. Resting his elbows on his knees, he cradled his head in his hands. This was all his fault! Alexis was out there somewhere with a psycho who wanted to kill her and IT WAS ALL HIS FAULT! Rage built inside him. His vision turned red. FUCK! He wanted to shout, yell, smash and destroy things. He pulled at his hair, trying to block the rage with pain. But the rage was all consuming. It wouldn't be denied.
He always knew deep down inside, that the person stalking Alexis was connected to him somehow, after all, the threats didn't start until she met him. He'd rationalized it was a sick person doing this, something he had no control over. He selfishly kept Alexis near him, he had to have her, couldn't let her go. All he wanted to do was protect her, keep her safe but keeping her at his side, is what put her in danger.
After the attempt on her life, he should have whisked her away somewhere, where no one could have touched her. Instead, he threw money at it, hiring worthless bodyguards and extra security. All his millions would be worthless if he didn't have his Alexis. He needed her. He wouldn't know how to survive without her.
He didn't realize he was crying until he felt a light tap on his knee. He raised his head. Steph was kneeling before him. He couldn't even remember the last time he cried. Certainly not as an adult, maybe sometime as a child. He wiped his hands down his face.
"Hey, it's gonna be okay," Steph spoke so softly, he almost didn't hear it.
"I can't live without her." His voice was a deep rasp, unrecognizable even to his own ears.
"We're gonna find her. We'll get her back safe."
"Jack," Stan said, approaching them. "We've got a lead."
Jack wiped his face again and stood. Breakdown time over. Now was the time to act. "What is it?"
"There's a property just outside of Pahrump. A ranch house. It's been in Ms. Jackson's family for generations. It's likely she would take Alexis there. I notified the police. They're sending a team, but it will take us two hours to get there."
"No it won't." Jack pulled out his phone, thankfully, Becky answered this time. "Prepare the chopper. Tell the pilot to be ready to leave in twenty minutes."
* * * * *
Alexis had lived in Nevada her whole life and had never once been to Pahrump. The only reason she knew she was in Pahrump now was because she passed a sign welcoming her here. The town was old, barren, and dry looking.
Alexis glanced at Sabrina in the rear-view mirror. She was ever vigilant, watching Alexis's hands carefully. The gun was still digging into the back of her head, but the area had gone numb about an hour ago.
The first time she'd looked in the rear-view mirror, when they'd left Steph's apartment complex, she'd been very surprised at the face looking back at her. After further reflection, Sabrina being her stalker, made
sense. She always seemed to be around, and she seemed to have a strange fascination with Jack.
Sabrina didn't talk and Alexis, not wanting to set her off in any way, stayed silent as well. Which gave her a lot of time to think about her situation. She'd been terrified at first. Her hands had shaken so badly, she had trouble steering the car. But a person could stay terrified for only so long, oh she was still scared, but it was a functioning kind of scared, and that meant she could think.
She thought of many scenarios for when they reached their destination. Many of them included her overpowering Sabrina and taking away the gun. Unfortunately, she didn't know where they were going, thus making many of her scenarios unpredictable.
"Turn right, at this dirt road."
The sudden noise in the silent car, startled Alexis, causing her to bang her head on the barrel of the gun.
"Careful. You don't want me to accidentally pull the trigger."
Alexis shuddered at the thought. The dirt road was rough, moving the barrel of the gun to dig into new sections of her head that, unfortunately, weren't numb.
An old, weathered, ranch-style house came into view. The paint peeled and was so faded, the red, it probably once was, was now a light pink.
"Turn in to the driveway, then turn off the car. Keep your hands visible at all times."
So this was it. This was where she was going to die. Wait, what was she thinking. She wasn't going to die here. This is where she kicked ass by implementing one of her scenarios.
She heard the back car door open and Sabrina step out. Her door was thrown open and a hot wave of desert heat hit her in the face.
"Step out, slowly."
The gun was no longer pointed at her head. Sabrina stood a few feet away the gun aimed at Alexis, mid-body. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she recalled that gut shots were bad. They killed you very slowly. Killed being the operative word. She did not want to be gut shot.
Moving on.
She did as directed, getting out of the car slowly, hands raised in the air.
"Go to the front door. Open it. Step into the house. There's a chair in the middle of the room. Sit in it. Move, now."
There were no neighbors in sight. It looked as if this were the only house for miles. No one would hear gunshots fired. There goes that scenario.
The front door made a loud creak as she opened it. She entered a large, empty room that had a lone, straight back, wooden, kitchen chair sitting in the center of it. The room was overly bright. Large, uncovered picture windows looked out into an unkempt and overgrown backyard. The floors were hard-wood in need of refinishing, and the walls were a dingy white with nothing adorning them, but there were square patches of brighter white where pictures must have hung at one point.
Alexis's eyes were drawn to the lone chair once more. She knew that if she sat in that chair she'd be tied up, and then she wouldn't be able to save herself. She had to act now. Surprise would be on her side. Sabrina wouldn't be expecting an attack.
She quickly turned on the balls of her feet, then ran full out at Sabrina, head-butting her in the stomach, and toppling them both to the floor.
"You stupid bitch!" Was shrieked in her ear, right before she felt something cold and hard hit the side of her head. And that would be the gun, Alexis thought, right before she passed out.
Alexis came awake suddenly, her heart racing. It took her a few seconds to remember why. The stalker had her. Her head pounded and the bright light hurt her eyes. The angle of the sun hadn't changed much, so she knew she hadn't been unconscious long.
She was firmly secured to the chair— Alexis looked down at her ankles— with duct tape. Her arms were stretched behind her and attached to the chair's back. She tried wiggling them, but they were securely taped.
"It's about time you woke up."
Sabrina came into view. Alexis squinted, trying to bring her into focus. Guess that hit to the head did some damage. She also felt slightly nauseous. She swallowed a few times, hoping it would pass.
"Now what am I going to do with you? Should I make you dig your own grave or would that be too cruel?"
Was she supposed to answer? She didn't want to dig her own grave, then again, she didn't want Sabrina digging it, either.
Sabrina walked a circle around her chair, then once again stopped in front of her. "I honestly don't see what Jack finds so fascinating about you. I mean look at you. All that frizzy, brown hair, fat face, even fatter ass. You're simply hideous."
Alexis knew not to let Sabrina get to her, but hideous. Really? In a flash of foolish anger, Alexis sneered, "You're not so hot yourself."
The slap was unexpected and whipped her head painfully to the side. She tasted blood in her mouth.
"I'm perfection personified."
Alexis thought it best not to comment, but she did open and close her jaw a few times, to make sure it still worked.
"As soon as you're out of the picture, Jack will be all mine. He'll marry me and we'll live happily ever after." Alexis watched her pace a few minutes. "Now, how shall I kill you?"
Alexis really didn't want to answer that question.
"I don't want to simply shoot you. Where's the fun in that? I want to drag your death out, painfully and slowly."
Think. Think. Think. Alexis. In the movies, they always get the psycho killer to keep talking until helps arrives. Surely, Jack is out searching for her. She didn't know how much time she could stall, but she had to try. She needed to get Sabrina to talk about her fantasy life with Jack. Bet she could go on and on about that for hours. "Sabrina, what are you going to do with Jack once he's yours?"
Sabrina stopped pacing, an enormous smile filled her face, and her eyes took on a glazed look. She then proceeded to tell Alexis about her and Jack's future. In detail.
Alexis smiled inwardly. Perfect.
* * * * *
Stan got Jack back to the hotel in record time. Stan and Steph decided to stay at the hotel, checking other leads in case this one didn't pan out. Jack rushed to the roof and the awaiting helicopter. He willed the pilot to hurry. It seemed that too much time had passed since Alexis was taken. Surely, time was running short. He refused to believe he wouldn't make it in time. Hope was his only ally.
They were up in the air in a matter of minutes. The sun shone brightly through the helicopter's window, blinding him momentarily. He didn't have his sunglasses. They were in the Range Rover back at Steph's apartment.
The ride seemed ridiculously short, and for that he was grateful. The helicopter landed in an empty field beside an old, decrepit house. He jumped out of the helicopter and raced to the front door, losing all his usual finesse, in his haste to discover if Alexis was inside.
He stepped over the threshold. Alexis was tied to a chair. She faced away from the door, so he couldn't tell whether she was okay, but her body wasn't slumped, and he took that as a good sign.
Sabrina stopped herself mid rant as he walked through the door. Her eyes got wide and a smile lit her face. "Jack!"
Alexis turned her head. Blood was matted in her hair and dried on her ear. Her face was red and swollen. But she was alive and he thought she never looked more beautiful. The relief that swept through him was all consuming and he stood there a minute and simply stared at her, trying to convey to her with his eyes that everything was going to be alright.
Jack carefully shut the front door, then slowly walked farther into the room. He didn't want to make any sudden movements and startle Sabrina, who held a gun. Her movements were jerky and she had a crazed look in her eye as she watched him approach.
"I missed you, darling. Remember the kiss we shared last night? How special it wa
s? I knew you couldn't stay away."
Jack's eyes quickly darted to the gun in Sabrina's hand, then just as quickly back to her face. He desperately wanted to go to Alexis, touch her, make sure she was okay. But, he couldn't take the chance of doing anything that would cause Sabrina to harm her.
"I've been waiting years for you, darling. Two years I waited for you to notice me. Then you finally did. We had a glorious night together. Remember how magical it was?" She asked, stepping closer to Jack. "And then you ignored me for months and months. But, I figured you were sowing your oats." Sabrina tipped her head back and laughed hysterically. "That's what my mamma used to say, men got to sow their oats before they'll settle down to just one woman."
"So I waited, again. Waited for you to realize how much you love me. How special that night was." She turned to Alexis. "And then she came along," Sabrina sneered, spittle flying out of her mouth as she pointed the gun at Alexis.
Jack acted instinctively. He put his body between Sabrina and Alexis, blocking Alexis from her view.
Sabrina looked up at him, madness shimmering in her eyes. "I don't blame you. It was all her. She's a witch. The devil's spawn. She cast a spell on you, making you forget your love for me."
Jack stepped back a step bringing the back of his legs in contact with Alexis's knees. He felt better, instantly, with only that light touch.
"How was I supposed to compete with that? A witch doing sorcery. She needed to die, and I had to be the one to kill her. For only then would the evil spell be broken, and you'd remember your love for me, once more."
Jack's mind flashed back to the bedroom with the pictures all over the wall and the mannequins lying on the bed. This lady wasn't crazy, she was completely insane.
"Step aside, Jack. So I can kill the evil witch and you, my prince, will have me as your beautiful princess and we can live happily ever after."
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that."
"No, you don't understand. Your mind is clouded with her magic."
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