The Missing Pieces

by H. S. Strickland

  “We made a deal. Ryan’s life for mine. You let him walk out of here and when I know he is safe, you can do whatever you want to me.” I finally let my eyes fall on Ryan’s. He was pleading with me not to do this. I tried telling him with my eyes that everything was under control. He seemed to be physically okay. He had a few bruises on his face that I was sure Dexter put there when Ryan undoubtedly tried resisting.

  “He knows the whole story now. He knows how I killed your mom and dad right in front of your eyes, so why would I let him go? You know how this works, which is the reason you are here right now. You knew eventually I would find you. I can’t have you or him testifying against me. I really don’t think prison orange is my color, don’t you agree?” He leered, stopping a few feet in front of me. His gray eyes were ones that I would never forget. Age had not done him a favor. His hair line was receding and what was left of it was white-gray. He had wrinkles or smoke lines, I wasn’t sure. He had gained a lot of weight since I had last seen him. He was an ugly man on the outside and even uglier on the inside.

  “I think prison orange would look fantastic on you,” I smiled.

  “Now Boss. Keep a gun on the girl,” I whispered into the headset that was invisible to Dexter.

  I heard the pounding footsteps of over 20 men surrounding us.

  “FBI put your hands up!” Boss yelled, almost busting my eardrums.

  I pulled my weapon out of my jeans and trained it on Dexter, but also kept my eye on Farrah. She had her gun aimed at us, but hadn’t made a move.

  I stepped forward, keeping my gun trained, but speaking. “Now you see, I have a little story for you. When you ran after me that night, I hid in my parents’ bedroom and found an FBI agent waiting there for me. They had been building a case against you for a long time. They had also been watching you for just as long. They followed you to my house that night. You probably thought I just climbed out of the window and ran away, right?” I waited for the stunned nod of his head before I continued. “Well you were wrong. Those men put me in Witness Protection Program and when I got old enough I wanted to be an agent. I had a good man looking out for me that pulled some strings and made that happen as long as I did undercover cases only. Luckily this one led me straight to you.” I winked at him, showing him just how much of a dumbass he truly was.

  “No! Stop!” Farrah screamed, moving the gun off us and pointing it at Ryan.

  “Farrah, if you don’t put the gun down I’m going to shoot you,” I told her calmly.

  “I ain’t putting this gun down. You are going to let me out of here. I’m not going to jail over your stupid ass,” she said, snarling at me. I swear I saw a flash of yellow from her baring her teeth to me.

  Stupid bitch.

  “Farrah, look around you. You aren’t getting out of here. Why don’t you put the gun down?” This came from Ryan’s mother. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I had never expected her to be the voice of reasoning. She subtly started to move in front of Ryan, blocking him from the gun.

  What happened next shocked me to my core. I had taken lives while working for the FBI, it was part of the job and I knew I had to do it. If it came down to my life versus someone else’s, I would gladly ensure my safety.

  “NO!” She roared, firing off a round. We were trained that if the subject we were trying to save was in danger then we had to shoot. Especially if a shot was fired at said subject. My immediate reaction was to fire. It felt like minutes after I fired my gun when Farrah fell over with a bullet hole in her head.

  My ears were ringing from the noise of the gun. I stood in the same spot, while my gun was still hot from being fired. I couldn’t even move to see if Ryan was okay. As much as I wanted to run to him my feet stayed glued to the floor. I had never taken a life that had been close to someone I loved. I felt like I had just taken something away from Ryan. I also felt like with that bullet being fired something inside me cracked. A part of my amour had been destroyed. A piece of myself stolen.

  Finally, my hearing came back to me, the ringing long gone. I heard a woman screaming and slowly looked to Ryan’s mother. She had taken the bullet that was meant for her son. Ryan was fighting against his chains, looking down at his mother with wide, horrified eyes. Mace moved out from behind me and ran to Ryan. Boss was already on his way to Dexter, reaching for his handcuffs with the hand that wasn’t holding his gun. I still couldn’t move, rooted to my spot.

  Zane came up behind me, softly touching my back and scaring the shit out of me.

  “It’s alright, it’s me,” he rumbled, somewhat softly. I wasn’t sure it was possible for Zane to do soft, but he could.

  “I shot her,” I mumbled, mostly to myself.

  “You did it to protect Ryan. She shouldn’t have fired her weapon,” Zane told me vehemently. He placed his hand on my arms and applied pressure, lowering my gun. When my gun was down he took it from me and tipped his chin up to Boss. He took an evidence bag out of his back pocket and placed my gun in it. He left it on a crate that was to the left of us, and wrapped his arms around my shoulders.

  Zane tried guiding me out of the warehouse, but I resisted. “I need to make sure Ryan is okay!” I protested, struggling to wriggle out of Zane’s hold. I had just shot his ex-girlfriend trying to protect him. His mother had been shot. I needed to make sure he was okay.

  “Lottie, stop fighting me. He’s okay. We need to take care of your right now, you’re in shock.” He wrapped me tighter against his body and I finally gave up the fight and sagged against him.

  Ryan

  I paced the plain white floors, frustrated that I hadn’t heard any news yet. My mom had been in surgery for a few hours, trying to remove the bullet from her chest. She had taken a bullet for me. Over the years, we had had our differences. I disliked the woman because of her poor choices, and the backlash those choices had. I hadn’t talked to her in so long, so it came as a shock to me that she would actually take a bullet for me.

  Finally the doctor came out. “Mr. Huntley?” She asked. I nodded my head yes and moved a little closer.

  “Your mother is out of surgery. She got here at the right time. Any more bleeding and we would have had to do a blood transfusion. The bullet didn’t hit anything major, and luckily didn’t splinter. She’s in a room right now. She probably won’t wake up for a while. You could probably go home and get some rest. Come back in a few hours and you can visit her.”

  I nodded my head, but drug my feet when I walked out of the hospital. I knew what was waiting for me at home. Sloane or rather Charlotte, and not Mace’s daughter but Mace’s sister. The sister that was supposed to be dead.

  When my mother took me she gave me a little bit of the story. The loan shark, Dexter, went to kill Sloane’s parents and didn’t anticipate a kid being there and witnessing it. He tried to get to her in time to kill her, but she had run away. That was the only part of the story I was told because that was what my mother knew. Turns out she didn’t only run away, but had been in Witness Protection Program. I didn’t get that part of the story until Sloane had told everyone, though.

  I wasn’t quite sure how to feel. I felt like the entire duration of my relationship with Sloane had been one giant lie. The only reason she was in Florida, with me, was because I was part of her case. I wasn’t anything more to her, only a case. A paycheck. What I didn’t understand was her emotions when we were together. They felt real, more than just a case. She had every chance to tell me the real reason she was in Florida, but she didn’t. I understood she really couldn’t say anything, but had she trusted me she would have known I wouldn’t have said anything. I wouldn’t have blown her cover. Fuck, I would have helped her.

  I drug my tired ass out of the hospital and into the parking lot, trying to remember where Mace said he had parked my car. I looked around for a few minutes then finally gave up the search and pushed the alarm on my key fob. My SUV immediately starting blaring, I jogged over to it and climbed in. I didn’t want to disturb any
one that was in the hospital with my blaring horn. I sat in the driver’s seat for a minute, not moving, barely breathing. My whole world had come crashing down around me just a few hours ago.

  My relationship with Sloane was built purely on lies. After finding out the truth of her I couldn’t trust a word she had ever said to me. Fuck, for all I knew her love was a lie. She probably only told me she loved me to get closer to me.

  I started the engine and took off down the street. I wanted to go home and sleep. I couldn’t bare being in my thoughts anymore.

  The elevator rose higher and higher, closer and closer to my bed. I was so ready to crash. I stepped off the elevator and found my door. I stuck my key in the lock and turned. The door opened and the person on the other side of it was the last one I wanted to see.

  “Ryan, I’m so sorry,” she told me, rushing to me.

  “Sloane, stop. I don’t want to talk to you,” I said, deflecting her hands that were trying to wind around my waist.

  She took a step back and lowered her chin to her chest, not before I caught the look of hurt on her face.

  “Why?” She mumbled, voice cracking.

  “I think that is the most stupid question someone has ever asked me,” I laughed, moving around her and into the kitchen. I found a water bottle in the bottom of the fridge and choked most of it down.

  “You don’t have to be an asshole!” She yelled.

  “Do you seriously think I don’t have the right to be an asshole right now? You lied to me this entire time. Stupid Ryan to think he had finally found the girl of his dreams only to find out the whole thing was a lie. The only thing I was to you was a case. You got close to me because I had the information you needed,” I said eerily calm.

  Her face drained of color. She took a few steps back, and clutched her chest, where her heart was located. Her face was pained, but I didn’t have the energy to give a fuck. She hurt me, it was about time she felt the same pain.

  “I may have lied to you, but my feelings for you have never been about the damn case. I fucking love you!” She screamed, throwing her arms out.

  “You don’t have to lie anymore, case is over!” I roared, leaning back and taking in deep breaths of air.

  At my words, a tear leaked out of her eye and rolled down her cheek. She walked closer to me and sucked in her own breath. “Look at me. Tell me if you honestly didn’t feel my love in everything I did, then I’ll leave. If you honestly don’t believe that I love you, I’ll leave.” Her voice was shaking, as was her body.

  The problem was I wasn’t sure what I could fucking believe. I didn’t know. Every fiber in my body told me she loved me, but I couldn’t forgive her for lying to me. For keeping such a secret for so damn long. The reason she had gotten with me in the first place was a lie. Our whole relationship was built on one big lie. She was Charlotte Jones, not Sloane Bennett. She was an FBI agent that got close to me so she could close up her case.

  “I don’t believe you,” I held my chin up and gazed into her eyes. I watched as her once mysterious green eyes went wide and filed up with more tears. They spilled over and dripped down her chin.

  “Okay,” she whispered. She stepped closer and wrapped her arms around my neck. She inhaled sharply then I felt her warm breath hit my ear. “I do love you; I hope you realize that someday.”

  She dropped back down on her feet and turned, walking out of my front door.

  Why do I feel like I made the biggest mistake of my life?

  Chapter Fourteen

  Mace – 3 months later

  “Honey, do you mind checking the mail? The letter about my application should be coming soon. I would do it myself, but Charlotte is eating right now,” Araylia yelled from the living room.

  She was too damn excited about that response to her application. After having Charlotte she decided that she didn’t want to go back to the emergency room, she wanted to be a gynecologist. She had put in an application a few weeks ago and had been waiting for the response. I was hoping she would get it soon.

  “Yeah, I’ll go out and get it.”

  I set down the onions I was chopping and walked out of the door. I walked to the end of the driveway and opened the mailbox. Pulling the mail out, I noticed a few bills, a piece of mail with Aryalia’s name on it, and a manila envelope with my name on it in cursive scroll. I wondered who could have sent this. There wasn’t a return address or even my address. Someone had to have put this in the mailbox themselves.

  I walked into the living room. Araylia was leaning back on the couch, she had her shirt pulled down and Charlotte was feeding on her. I couldn’t help but stop and stare. Watching my woman give the nutrients our daughter needed was beautiful. I was so glad she had decided to breastfeed Charlotte. She wasn’t able to get the chance with Liam, and she was so happy with her decision to do it now.

  “I think you got the letter,” I told her softly. Charlotte’s eyes were beginning to close and I didn’t want to wake her up.

  “Are you serious?” She yelled.

  I placed my fingers on my lips and titled my head to Charlotte’s closed eyes. She glanced down, and nodded.

  “Can you help me up so I can lay her down?” Araylia whispered.

  I bent over the couch and kissed Ray’s forehead. “I got it.” Charlotte had stopped suckling and was just latched onto Ray’s breast. I placed my pinky finger on Ray’s breast and wedged it in between the corner of Charlotte’s mouth to break the connection.

  When Charlotte was born and Araylia was learning to breastfeed the doctor had told us not to pull Charlotte off. The doctor had told us that it could cause some damage to Araylia’s breast or it could just hurt like hell. She taught us how to properly unlatch Charlotte, hence the pinky finger.

  Charlotte started stirring when she came off her food source, but quickly closed her eyes when I cradled her to my chest. I walked her down the hall to her nursery, singing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. I laid her down in her crib and stayed for a moment to make sure she didn’t wake up.

  I walked out and shut the door softly. I strode into the living room and saw Araylia tearing into the envelope.

  “You couldn’t wait, could you?” I smirked.

  “Well, what do you think?” She laughed, pulling the letter out.

  While she was reading her letter, I pulled the envelope out with my name on it. I tore into it just like Ray had done. I guess we were both antsy to see what was inside. I pulled out the contents of the envelope and my breathing quickened. I knew by the handwriting who had written this letter. There were several pages and I wasn’t sure if I had the courage to read it.

  Finding out three months ago that my dead sister wasn’t actually dead was quite a shocker. For 16 years I had believed that I was the reason for her death. I had believed that if she were still alive she would hate me for not protecting her. I didn’t cope with the news very well. And to top it off she left immediately after I found out she was alive.

  I took in a deep breath and began reading.

  Mace,

  I know it is unlikely that you want to hear from me, and I completely understand, but I would like to give you some answers that you deserve. I know you heard a little of the story when we rescued Ryan, but you only got a little bit of it. I would like to explain.

  That night, when Mom and Dad were murdered, we were sitting down eating, having a good night. Well as good as it could have been without you. Mom and I were doing the dishes when Dad yelled for Mom. He was out back smoking his nightly cigarette. When Mom and I walked to the back door there was a man standing there with a gun to his head. Dad asked me and mom to go hide. Mom wouldn’t leave him. She bent down to my level and told me to go hide. I didn’t want to. I knew something was wrong. I was so scared though. And when you’re young you do what your parents tell you. I ran up the stairs, but didn’t hide. I stayed at the very top and watched as the man brought them inside and sat them on the couch. I could see them whispering to each other ‘I love you�
��. My heart broke. I watched as that man with the gun shot our parents in the head. Both of them dead. They were holding each other’s hand. They died together. I had started screaming, because really what else was I supposed to do after witnessing my parents’ death? The guy with the gun saw me at the top of the stairs, and came after me. I ran, all the way to Mom and Dad’s room. When I got in there I started panicking. I didn’t know what to do. I loved Mom and Dad to death, but I didn’t want to die either. I wanted to stay. To be there for you. I backed farther into the room, and met a hard chest. I thought it was another guy with a gun, ready to kill me. Luckily, it was the FBI. They helped me get out there safely. I will forever be grateful for them. That’s how I met Boss. I had to crawl out of Mom’s window and fall into Boss’s arms. I was terrified that it would be another bad guy. It wasn’t.

  A few days later I was told the reason the FBI was there that night. They had been following the bad guy for a while. They told me his name was Dexter. They also told me that he got away that night. I was put into Witness Protection Program because I was the only one that could identify Dexter as the guy who shot our parents.

  Now, I know this is where it’s going to get hard to read. You’re probably wondering, why was that guy at Mom and Dad’s house in the first place? I hate to be telling you this, but you deserve the whole story. Dexter, at the time, was a loan shark. Dad was having trouble with money. He had been demoted at work, so the pay wasn’t as good as it was before. They had so many bills to pay, so dad went to Dexter to borrow a lump sum of money. Dad was given several months to pay everything back or else. I suppose the ‘or else’ meant his and Mom’s life. So Dexter came to the house and killed them. Dexter wasn’t expecting a kid to be there. He had intended to kill me as well, but luckily Boss was there.

  Now, on to the reasoning Boss was there. He had gotten a case several months back dealing with a mob. He had seen Dexter there several times and figured Dexter was working for the mob. He was. Boss decided to follow Dexter to the house on the night of the murder.