by Barbara Gee
Tucker raised his face to the sky, thinking of Madison Harper and breathing another prayer. Please, God, protect her. Help me find her. Give me wisdom and strength because right now I don’t feel like I have either one.
Dan stuck his head out the door. “It’s started,” he said shortly.
“Welcome, Agent Simon.” Jimmy stared into the camera, his evil visage causing Tuck to literally shake with rage. “I can tell you’re online. I bet you’d like to choke the life right out of me, huh Tucker? It would be even better if I had your sister, but this little gal will do okay for now. More than okay, wouldn’t ya say?”
Jimmy stepped back and the camera moved to a girl tied to a post, her arms stretched up above her head, her ankles bound to iron rings screwed into the floor a couple feet apart. A strip of duct tape was over her mouth and her wavy blonde hair was partially covering her face, but Tucker could see enough of her to make his heart sink.
She was beautiful, breathtakingly so, and Tucker knew Jimmy would make her pay for that. Tuck stood and moved away from the table once again, going to the back of the room where he could pace and try to dispel some of the tension that stiffened his body.
The other agents at the table were silent and still. Emma looked back to give Tucker a sympathetic look before returning her attention to the images being projected on the wall.
“So here’s what we got,” Jimmy continued, walking over to the girl. He reached out and moved the hair out of her face. She tossed her head, rearing back to avoid his touch. Her eyes flashed an angry blue in the bright lights the videographer had set up in order to capture everything clearly.
“Aw, come on, baby doll,” Jimmy crooned evilly. “What’s the matter, you don’t like being my guest of honor? You got something you want to say to the big scary FBI agents watching us right now?”
The girl continued to glare at him and Jimmy reached up and violently ripped the tape from her mouth. She winced but didn’t make a sound, even though Tucker knew the tape had hurt as it peeled away.
“What ya wanna say to ‘em, baby doll? This is your big chance.” Jimmy stepped away from her and crossed his arms. “Maybe if you beg hard enough Agent Simon will cut me a sweet deal and save your purty little hide.”
Madison’s eyes moved to the camera, flicking slightly upward to glare at the man doing the taping, then back to the camera lens. Her lips parted and then she spoke, her voice surprisingly strong, her words coming quickly to get them said before Jimmy stopped her.
“Whatever it is he wants you to do, don’t. He’s a terrible man and he’s going to kill me anyway, so no deals. Just get rid of him—”
Whatever else she was going to say was cut off by a vicious backhand to her face from Jimmy. It snapped her head to the side and a trickle of blood showed at the corner of her lip before Jimmy slapped the tape back across her mouth.
Then he looked at the camera and grinned, showing his ugly yellowed teeth. “This is gonna be fun. You hear me, Agent Simon? We’re gonna have all kinds of fun here.”
Tuck watched helplessly as Jimmy moved to stand in front of the incredibly brave girl. He clenched his fists when Jimmy motioned for one of his men to approach.
“Got your knife, Henley?” he asked, smiling when the man placed a wicked looking serrated blade in his hand. He reached out and slid the blade under the hem of Madison’s tee shirt.
“Let’s see what we got here, Agent Simon. I know you’re wondering, just like I am.” Jimmy tugged the sharp blade slowly upward, cutting easily through the thin fabric of the shirt all the way to the top. “Mmm, mmm, mmm. Looks promising, huh, Tucker?” Jimmy moved the blade to the sleeves. “Kinda like skinning a squirrel,” he cackled.
Madison’s shirt fell away, leaving only a lacy white bra. “Hard to look away, huh, Agent Simon?” Jimmy said, continuing to torment his nemesis as he put the point of the knife blade beneath the center of her bra. “Real hard to look away,” he repeated before making a quick upward swipe, splitting the bra and baring Madison’s breasts. The unseen men surrounding Jimmy hooted their appreciation.
The FBI agents watching were tense and furious, none more so than Tuck. His anger felt like a living thing, and his breathing became tortured. When his vision began to turn black at the edges he knew he was no good to the team at that moment.
“I can’t do this right now,” he said. “If you get anything that can help, let me know. I’ll review the tape later, but I can’t watch it live. I’m sorry.”
He left the room and went to his office, trying to get control of the fury that threatened to overwhelm him. Never in his life had he felt so angry, so helpless, teetering so far over the edge he wasn’t sure he could pull himself back. His fear for Madison Harper and his hatred for the slime that was Jimmy Callahan burned white hot through his body and he struggled for control. He sank stiffly into the chair behind his desk, leaving the lights off, alone in the darkness.
Madison, he breathed softly, I’m sorry, Madison.
A light tapping finally penetrated the blackness.
“Tuck?” This time it was Dan who had come to him.
Tuck slowly pushed himself to his feet, feeling like he’d aged a decade since he left the conference room. He opened the door.
“Is it over?” He checked his watch and saw that fifteen minutes had passed, a lifetime for poor Madison Harper.
“Yeah.”
Tucker swallowed, forcing the words from his suddenly dry throat. “How bad?”
“She’s alive,” Dan said softly. “For now at least. She’s one of the bravest people I’ve ever seen, but that probably made things worse. Jimmy prefers cowards, as you know.”
“Did you get anything that can help us find her?”
“Not on the first pass. We’re getting ready to watch it again. I know you’re too close to it, Tuck, and I feel for you. But we need you to do this, to watch it. You know Jimmy Callahan better than any of us. You might pick up something that we missed.” Dan cleared his throat, emotion roughening his voice. “We need to get the bastard, Tuck. He’s going to kill her.”
Tuck nodded and strode past the other agent, once again joining the others in the conference room. Emma looked at him and raised her brows questioningly.
“Play it again,” he said. He took a seat, his hands clenched tightly around the armrests on his chair. He tried to tell himself this was nothing new, he’d seen other innocent people who had been tortured and beaten and killed, and it was a big part of what motivated him in his job.
Yet he was too close to this particular case, too aware that it could be Libby in the video, too aware that Madison Harper had unwittingly taken his sister’s place. Too aware that Jimmy should already be behind bars.
Tucker had to atone for that, and the best way to do that was to watch the video. He had to lock his emotions away for now and do his job. When the case was finally closed, and this time he would close it, his demons could come out to play. But not now. Now he had to save Madison.
Emma started the replay of the video. Jaw clenched, Tuck forced himself to watch and listen carefully, employing all the observational techniques he’d been taught and had practiced so many times over the years. He watched again as Jimmy cut off Madison’s shirt. Jimmy then approached the girl, leering at her and reaching out to fondle her. As soon as he got close enough, Madison reared her head back and then head butted Jimmy with blinding speed, her forehead connecting with his nose so hard that blood spurted instantly.
Tuck wanted to stand and cheer, but he knew she was going to pay for that. Emma paused the tape.
“I understand her wanting to fight back, but she should have realized that embarrassing Jimmy in front of his crew is going to backfire on her. She should be stalling for time, not racheting things up.”
“She knows what she’s doing,” Tuck said. “Remember what she said when he took the tape off. She knows Jimmy is trying to use her to make some kind of a deal, and she doesn’t want him to succeed. She believes she
’s going to die anyway, so she figures she has nothing to lose.”
Dan nodded. “Those were my thoughts exactly.”
“Shall I start it back up?” Emma asked.
Tucker held up a hand. “Give me some idea of what I’m going to see. It might help me to know before I see it played out.”
Leaning forward, Tim rested his forearms on the table and looked at Tuck earnestly. “He breaks two fingers first, in punishment for the head butt, and then he beats her. He only uses his hands, and it’s bad enough, but not as much damage as a bat or a pipe would cause. When she passes out he gets in a few more licks, then says he’s too tired to go to the trouble of raping an unconscious girl.”
Tucker exhaled an angry breath. “I wondered what his excuse would be.”
Dan cleared his throat. “That wasn’t quite the end, Tuck. One of his men volunteered to do it, saying he wasn’t tired at all and would be glad to take care of it.”
“Dammit!” Tuck roared, shooting to his feet. “Did he do it? Did that bastard let the guy rape a girl he’d already beaten unconscious?”
“No, Tuck,” Dan said quickly. “Not this time. Another guy stepped up and said he thought the girl might already be hurt too bad to survive, and what good is a dead girl going to be to them in cutting a deal. That seemed to calm Jimmy down enough to end the abuse for now. He said he’d send us another link tomorrow, if we don’t agree to his terms before then. And if she dies before then, he said he’d send us her body.”
Tuck took a shuddering breath. “Does the camera ever pan through the room, or does it stay stationary?”
“It stays with the close up view until he starts hitting her. Then it zooms out so all the other guys in the room can be seen cheering Jimmy on during the beating. There are nine others, not counting the camera man.”
“Start it up, Emma,” Tuck ordered. Determination flooded though him now, pushing the emotion aside and giving him the steely control he was known for. His eyes were hawkish as he watched the images on the wall begin to move again. This was what he did, and he was damn good at it. If there was a clue to be found, he would find it. If he had to watch the video a dozen times, he would do so. Madison deserved his best effort, and God willing, he would find the strength to give it to her.
And so he watched as Jimmy reached up to her bound hands and snapped both of her pinkie fingers, careful to stay far enough away so she couldn’t repeat her head butt. Madison closed her eyes, but she didn’t make a sound. Jimmy swore and punched her in the stomach so hard she lost her breath. Her face reddened as she fought for oxygen, and he once again ripped the tape off of her mouth.
Just as she finally gasped in a breath he struck her across the face again. And again. Then her stomach again, then her side.
Still, Madison didn’t make a sound other than soft grunts when the blows fell. Tied up as she was, she couldn’t defend herself in any way, couldn’t curl into a ball to try to protect herself. Tuck was sure she already had multiple broken ribs, and he hoped desperately the bones wouldn’t puncture a lung. The pain had to be intolerable, but still she took it in silence.
“Hang on, Emma. Go back a few seconds. Her lips are moving, is there any way to know what she’s saying?”
“We can’t get audio on her, there’s too much other noise,” Emma replied, replaying the portion Tucker had requested.
“I noticed that the first time. I think maybe she’s praying,” Tim suggested. “Her eyes are closed and she looks almost peaceful.”
Tuck nodded. “You could be right,” he said softly. What a girl, this Madison Harper. They had to save her. Had to.
When she finally passed out, Tuck couldn’t be sure if it was due to pain or a concussion from the repeated blows to her head and face. Jimmy hit her a few more times, then landed a horribly vicious kick to her right shin with his heavy boots.
“That’s probably a tib-fib fracture,” Marcus said, shaking his head. “Those boots are lethal and he put a lot behind that kick. Thankfully that’s the last blow. I’m glad he didn’t start with the kicking when she was conscious.”
Tuck kept his eyes on the video as Jimmy approached the camera and spat out his demands. He wanted the FBI to look the other way so he could return to North Carolina, where he promised to live on the up and up from now on. He claimed he had already made enough money to last him a lifetime, and now he just wanted to come home and live the good life without worrying about being arrested for anything he’d done in the past.
Dan threw his pen across the room in frustration. “I believe every word he says about cleaning up his act, how about you all?”
“What’s not to believe?” Emma said sarcastically. “Just look how sincere he is about being a model citizen.”
“He’s sincere as hell, ten seconds after beating an innocent girl to a pulp,” Tim added.
“He’s not looking for a deal,” Tuck said wearily. “He’s just using that as an excuse so his men will think the beating is justified, in case any of them are queasy about hurting a woman for no reason. This is about tormenting me, plain and simple. I dared him to come back, and he did.”
They watched as Jimmy finished his spiel and then walked back over to Madison, cutting the rope that held her hands, letting her drop into a heap. Another man released her ankles, and the two of them drug her over against the wall.
Jimmy gave the camera one last leer. “She’ll be fine there until tomorrow. I’ll see you back here again tomorrow evening, same time, same place. Then you can let me know if you’re ready to deal. Sound good?” With a maniacal laugh, he reached out and shut off the camera.
“Go back to the beginning, Em,” Tuck demanded. “Start it over.” Now that he knew what had happened to Madison, he could concentrate on the extraneous parts—the other men and what they were saying. It was no use trying to scope out the room, as there were no windows and the walls were bare cinderblock. No distinguishing markings whatsoever.
The video began again and Tucker’s eyes flicked quickly across the images, absorbing everything, studying every person, straining his ears to hear what was said.
“Again,” he said when the video ended. Emma obliged, and they all remained silent, knowing that Tuck was fully focused, putting his emotions aside in order to do the job he was so gifted at.
“Go back to where the camera zooms out and shows the other men in the room,” he said, sitting forward. “Watch the guy in the dark green ball cap.”
They zeroed in on him, five pairs of eyes looking for what Tuck might have seen.
“That’s the guy who stopped Jimmy from letting her be raped,” Marcus said.
“He’s looking sideways at the camera,” Emma observed, “instead of watching Jimmy hitting the girl.”
“What else?” Tuck prompted, his eyes narrowed and unblinking as he watched, hoping to verify what he’d noticed earlier.
“He’s uncomfortable. Fidgeting,” Tim noted.
“I think it’s more than fidgeting,” Tuck said. “Back it up again, please, Emma. Now watch his right hand.”
The tension in the room was palpable as the other agents looked for what Tuck saw.
Tim suddenly stood up and walked closer to the wall, cocking his head as he watched. “Play that part again, Em.”
Emma patiently replayed the same clip yet again. Tim swiveled around and grinned at Tuck. “Sign language,” he announced. “He’s doing individual letters, trying to spell something out.”
Tuck nodded and stood. “I think so. I’m no expert and his hand is hanging down instead of raised toward us, but I think I recognize a few letters. Emma, who can we get to come in and try to interpret?”
“Let me get to my computer. I’ll find out and make a call.”
“Get them here now, not in the morning,” Tuck ordered. “If that’s okay with you, Tim,” he added belatedly, remembering that the Special Agent in Charge was the one who should make that call.”
“As soon as possible,” Tim concurred. “Get t
hem out of bed, whatever it takes. And we need to take shifts here. Marcus and Jeff, you two go home and get some sleep. Come back at six o’clock ready to put in a big day. Dan and Emma, if you can give me another couple of hours now I’d appreciate it, then I’ll give you a chance to go hit the sack for a few. Tuck and I will hold down the fort here.”
Tuck nodded, relieved that he would be staying. He wouldn’t sleep at all anyway, and Tim obviously knew him well enough to know that.
Emma hurried to her office to call a sign language expert, and the other three started the video where they’d left off.
“Keep focused on the same guy,” Tuck said. “He’s the key.”
“He’s scared of getting caught,” Dan declared. “He peeks at the camera, then back at Jimmy, then back at the camera. He doesn’t want to look at it for too long, but I think he got away with it because everyone else is riveted by Jimmy beating a tied up, topless girl.”
“He’s definitely trying to get our attention by looking at the camera,” Tuck agreed. “And it worked, that’s why I noticed him. Now watch what he does right at the end, when Jimmy’s talking.”
“What, tugging on his hat?” Tim asked.
“He might just be adjusting it, but look how he puts his head down so the slogan is easy to read, then taps the brim kinda like he’s pointing to the slogan. Am I imagining that?” Tuck wondered. “It says Shit Kickin’ Service.”
They replayed it again, and then again.
“I’m not sure,” Jeff said thoughtfully. “It’s possible.”
“Any idea what business, or other enterprise, would have a tag line that says Shit Kickin’ Service?” Tuck persisted. “Maybe it’s a place that’s close to where they are.” He warmed to the idea and began pacing. “Maybe this guy is trying to give us their location. That would be logical, I mean, what other message would he be trying so hard to get across? He can’t exactly give us a list of Jimmy’s sins via sign language in a short video.”