by Julia Sykes
“Now, let’s try that again.”
An hour later, my body still burned from our teasing game, and the smirks Reed kept shooting my way let me know he was still thinking of it, too. But as we neared the debriefing room, his usual easy joy deflated. He was practically grim by the time we reached our destination. Just before we entered the room, he schooled his features into a gentle but professional expression. I struggled to match it.
Sitting alone on the couch in the middle of the room, the woman seemed smaller than her five foot five frame should appear. There was a frailty about her that was undeniably haunting. Her auburn hair was streaked with brittle white strands, and there was something… off about her deep green eyes. Like an essential piece of her soul had been gouged out.
Kathleen White Parker was still pretty in her own way, but her fine-lined, delicate features only added to her sense of fragility. She was one of the few women we had identified who had been found alive after her abduction and rape. She had been kidnapped back in 1978, but her case file described being held in horrific circumstances and raped repeatedly by a madman. It was the closest we had come to a lead in weeks.
“Kathleen,” I began, using her first name to facilitate familiarity.
“Kathy,” she corrected me.
All the blood drained from my face as my eyes roved over her again. Reddish hair; green eyes; pale skin. Kathy.
I shared those physical markers. And Katherine and Kathleen could both be shortened to Kathy. Certainty settled in my gut. This was his Kathy. This was who he wanted me to be. The one woman who had gotten away from The Mentor.
But I had to be sure.
“Kathy,” the name almost stuck in my throat, but I managed to get it out. “I need to ask you some questions about your abduction. I know it was a long time ago, but it will help us with a current case. Would you be willing to talk to us?”
Her eyes flashed with the first true show of emotion I had detected in them. “I…” She hesitated, and for a moment I feared she would refuse. “Yes. I’ll talk about it. What do you want to know?”
I hesitated. Truthfully, I didn’t want to know. I didn’t want to hear the horrors she had been through. Reed covered my silence.
“We’ve read your file, Kathy,” he said smoothly. “But we need to hear some things again. Can you tell me what happened when you were taken? How did he do it?”
“He… I was leaving the library at Notre Dame that night. I never saw him come at me, but he covered my mouth and nose with a rag he had soaked in something. I lost consciousness, and when I woke up, I was There.” She said There as though it was an official place, an important landmark. I supposed it was one of the most significant places she had ever been in her entire life. Terribly significant.
“Where was ‘There’?” Reed asked, picking up on the weight of the word.
She closed her eyes. Unlike Lydia’s detached expression when she recalled her abuse, Kathy’s was strangely serene. “I think it was a basement. There were no windows, and the only door was up a flight of stairs. The floor and walls were concrete. There was only a bed in the room.”
“Were there any other defining characteristics?” Reed pressed. “Anything that might indicate where you were? Do you think you were in the city? Suburbs?”
Her eyes remained closed as she mentally stayed in that place. I wondered at how she could stand thinking about it without any outward sign of distress. Years of therapy must have helped her cope. Our records showed that she was married. Maybe love had healed her just as it had Lydia.
“I’m not sure,” she answered. “He told me no one would hear me scream, and no one ever did. He smelled like salt and earth, like maybe He worked outdoors, so I’ve always guessed it was somewhere rural. That’s as far as I’ve gotten in figuring it out. I never saw anything outside the basement, and even that I didn’t see often.”
“You didn’t see it often? What do you mean?” I asked. I had a feeling I knew exactly what she meant, and it filled me with dread.
“He always kept me blindfolded if He wasn’t with me. And He kept me restrained to the bed so I couldn’t take it off or even touch anything while He wasn’t there. The world didn’t exist when He wasn’t there.” Her voice turned quiet, and I noticed how every time she said He, the word was spoken with special significance.
“You didn’t know his name,” Reed drew the same conclusion I did.
She shook her head. Her eyes remained shuttered. “He made me call Him Master. That’s all I ever knew Him as.”
The way her face remained so calm disturbed me on the deepest level. There was something inherently wrong with the lack of tension in her body.
“You’ll come to love me,” The Mentor had told me. Is that what had happened to Kathy? Had he twisted her that thoroughly? Stockholm Syndrome, I recognized. That didn’t make it any easier to look at her almost beatific expression.
“This is how I’ll keep you. Restrained, blind.” Kathy’s description of how The Mentor had kept her blindfolded and tethered to the bed matched how he had held me down when he attacked me in my hotel room.
“Can you describe his demeanor?” I heard myself ask, my voice strangely detached.
“He was harsh, unyielding. Brutal.” Kathy maintained her calm. “But He could be tender, too. He would hold me and tell me I was beautiful. He told me I made Him happy.”
“You’re very brave. That makes me… happy.” I remembered the surprise and pleasure in the word.
The Mentor isn’t fascinated with me because I’m the one hunting him, I realized. He wants me because I remind him of her.
“How did you get away?” Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Reed watching me with concern, but I pressed on with my questioning. I had to know more.
The lines around her closed eyes deepened. “He drugged me one day, and then I woke up on my sister’s front lawn. I didn’t escape; He sent me away.”
“Why? Why would he do that?”
“A man came looking for Him, and he found me in the basement. The man tried to rape me, but He saved me. He killed the man. After that, I told Him I loved Him. That’s why He let me go,” she finished on a whisper. Her eyes snapped open. “I… I’ve never told anyone that before.” She sounded almost surprised.
“We appreciate your honesty,” Reed stepped in when I didn’t speak. I couldn’t have opened my mouth without being sick.
“He’s still out there, isn’t He?” She asked. “You’re trying to find Him.” It wasn’t a question. She knew.
“Yes,” Reed said. “He’s still hurting women. One recently escaped, but you’re the only other victim we’ve found alive.”
She flinched, and her face fell with grief. “Oh.” She seemed at a loss for anything else.
“We have a sketch that was worked up in 1978 based on your description. We’ll be able to enhance that for age. This is very helpful, Kathy,” Reed encouraged.
“That sketch isn’t accurate. I… I couldn’t get it to come out right. I never could describe Him properly. After He let me go, my brain started to block it all out. I could just remember a few things; wheat blond hair, amber eyes. He was handsome, I remember that much.” She shook her head slightly. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do better. I’m sorry other women were hurt.” Sadness gave way to determination. “I’ll do anything I can to help you find Him.”
“Thank you,” Reed’s voice remained smooth and warm. “This has been very helpful, Kathy.”
Kathy.
“I told Him I loved Him.”
The room suddenly seemed far too small. All my focus honed on the woman sitting in front of me.
Red hair. Green eyes. Pale skin.
“You’ll come to love me.”
“Katie.” Reed’s hand found mine, and I jumped at the contact. My eyes snapped to his dark ones, and they pulled me back to him, away from my panic and burgeoning terror. His gaze shifted back to Kathy, but his grip remained firm around my fingers. “Thank you, Kathy. Will
you excuse us for a moment?”
“Of course,” she eyed me curiously. I knew my professional front was crumbling. I had to get away from her before I fell apart completely. Not only could I not risk distressing her with my own fear, but there was something about her that upset me deeply. Her calm in discussing what she had been through was far more disturbing than Lydia’s vacant eyes had been the first time I spoke to her.
I allowed Reed to steer me out into the short, empty hallway. The sunlight that drifted in through the floor-to-ceiling windows helped allay the sensation of being trapped that had assailed me in the small office, but I was still teetering on the edge of panic.
“Reed…” His name was a helpless plea on my lips. His muscles coiled with the effort of stopping himself from pulling me into a tight embrace. We couldn’t risk that, not at the field office. But his hands grasped both of mine, his hold tying me to him.
“I know,” his voice held its own edge of distress. “She’s his Kathy. And she looks like you. We both read the case file.” His features became pinched. “I know what he did to her. He wants to replace her with you. I can tell you know it, too. You can’t be anywhere near this, Katie. It’s not worth it.”
I swallowed back my nausea. “But he could be doing it to some other woman right now. What about her? What about the other women he’s taken? They deserve justice.” I tried to find that professionally numb place within me, but I couldn’t quite reach it anymore. Reed had helped me let go of that asset, and now I was beginning to regret it. “Keeping me in the open is still our best shot at this. I have to find him. I can’t hide forever.”
Reed’s hands tightened around mine. “You won’t have to. We just caught our biggest lead yet. We have Kathy’s sketch. We know when and where she was taken. You don’t have to be involved anymore. I’ll protect you.”
A chill clung to my skin. “I can’t hide from him. He’ll find me anywhere. You know he will.”
Reed’s jaw firmed. “Not if I find him first.”
“You can’t-” I was cut off by the trill of my phone. Checking the text provided me with a distraction from the argument. The truth was, Reed was only a few words away from convincing me to go to a safe house. But in my heart, I knew what I was telling him was true; I wouldn’t be safe anywhere.
I glanced down at the text.
I’ve seen how he touches you. I told you he wasn’t allowed to touch you. You belong to me, pet. I’m going to have to punish you now.
Terror spiked up into my throat, and my eyes snapped to Reed’s. A small, unnatural circle of light flashed across the wall behind him. Rifle scope, I recognized the reflection immediately. My scream mingled with the sound of glass shattering as I threw my body into his.
Chapter 16
I lay atop Reed, covering his body with mine. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him, to see the damage. If he was hurt…
Strong arms closed around me, and Reed rolled, flipping our positions so that his weight held me down. Relief that he was alive mingled with a new flood of panic. I tried to shove him off, to cover him again. He didn’t budge. Instead, he frowned and pinned my arms, ceasing my struggles.
“Get down!” I shrieked. “He won’t shoot me!” He had to understand. So long as my body was in front of his, The Mentor wouldn’t shoot again. He wouldn’t risk killing me. He wanted me too badly.
“Not happening.” Reed’s hard gaze forbade my resistance. That didn’t stop me from trying to fight him.
My eyes honed in on a red line across his jaw. “You’re bleeding!” My brain recognized that it was superficial, but that didn’t stop the swell of fear.
“It’s just a graze, Katie,” his voice was low and soothing. “I’m fine.”
“What the fuck is going on?” I registered Dex’s furious growl over the whistle of the wind blowing through the circular hole in the window.
I twisted my head back to turn terrified eyes on my friend. “Dex! Get out of here!” I let out a small cry when Reed pushed to his feet, pulling me up along with him. I found myself caged in his arms, cradled against his chest. His back was to the window. “Damn it, Reed, stay down! He won’t hurt me.”
But Reed was already running around the corner, out of view of the shooter. He shoved Dex hard with his shoulder on his way by, driving him out of range with us.
“What the-”
“Sniper,” Reed cut Dex off before he could go on a tirade.
My friend was suddenly crowding my body as well, creating a wall of solid muscle around me as we moved deeper into the building. I twisted in Reed’s arms, even though it was a useless endeavor.
“You’re making it worse! He doesn’t want you to touch me. Put me down!” Logically, I knew we were out of view of the window, but I still felt as though his eyes were on me. The Mentor was everywhere, always watching.
Dex shot a glare at me over his shoulder. “Don’t you dare put her down, Miller.”
Reed’s muscles corded around me. “He’s not watching now, Katie. And even if he is somehow, I’m not putting you down. Stop fighting me.”
“I told you, he won’t hurt me,” I insisted again, but I went still in his arms. “The text. He wants to kill you, Reed. Not me.”
His brows drew together. “What did the text say?”
I bit my lip, not wanting to divulge the contents. They would just send Reed and Dex into even more hyper-protective mode. They would keep themselves exposed to cover me, when I needed to be doing the exact opposite.
“Tell him, Sparrow.”
“It was the same thing as before,” the words tumbled out in response to Dex’s stern order. “He said I belonged to him. And he said he would punish me for letting you touch me, Reed.”
Dex’s shoulders stiffened, and he didn’t look back at us.
I turned imploring eyes on Reed. “He’s going to kill you. You have to put me down. Please.”
His jaw took on a stubborn set. “In a minute. And only long enough to get you in Kevlar. I’m taking you to a safe house.”
I fisted my hand in his shirt. “Then you’re coming with me. And you’re staying there.”
“Katie. If he does want to hurt me, then I’m not staying anywhere near you. Dex can take you-”
“She’s right,” Dex cut him off. “Both of you need to go. I’ll look into the text and the sniper. I have to go get on it right away. We might be able to catch him if we act fast.” It seemed to take a great deal of effort for him to turn to face Reed. “You get her to safety.” He looked pained saying the words, and I knew he wanted to be the one holding me, protecting me. I broke from his gaze. I was already about to come apart at the seams without guilt and grief over Dex ripping my heart apart.
Reed nodded. “I’ll contact you when we get to the safe house.”
“Thank you.” The words were meant for both men, for Reed’s agreement to stay out of harm’s way, and for Dex making him see reason. I closed my eyes and tried to find the numb place at my core. It was cruelly elusive. Reed had destroyed that part of me.
The safe house was a ratty little studio apartment that left a lot to be desired, but it was inconspicuous enough. It wasn’t nearly enough to make me feel safe from The Mentor. He had shot at Reed in the FBI field office. He could find me here. He could find me anywhere.
“I could take you any time I wanted.”
I was more certain than ever that The Mentor was in law enforcement. He had the necessary skills, and he knew exactly how to cover his tracks. He knew where Reed would be in the field office. Could it be someone in our own unit? The thought made my stomach turn. It had been easier to think of him as an obscure agent or member of the police force than one of the people I worked with every day.
I looked over at Reed when he locked the door behind us. He hadn’t let my body drift far from his, but I had been careful to keep as much space between us as possible.
I can’t let him touch me. He’ll die if he touches me again.
It was all I could
think about; that little flash of light, the feeling of my heart hammering in my chest when I tackled him to the ground. My eyes kept finding the angry crimson graze across his jaw.
My fault.
He reached for me, and I took a wary step back. Rather than backing off in the wake of my trepidation, his face hardened and he took a prowling step toward me. Before I knew it, my back was against the wall.
“Reed…” I said his name in the low whine of a cornered animal, but he didn’t slow his approach.
He reached out and slowly, deliberately, cupped my cheek in his hand. His thumb brushed along my lower lip, touching me with the confidence of a man who knows he has the right.
I turned my face away. “Don’t.”
He shifted away from me, and for a moment I thought he was going to back off. Then he bent and his arms closed around me. The world tilted, and I found myself staring at the floor. Reed had slung me over his shoulder.
“Put me down!” I tried to kick out at him, but his arm closed around the back of my calves.
“Don’t even think about punching me,” he warned before I could do just that. I didn’t want to truly hurt him, but a punch to the kidney would do less damage than a bullet to the brain.
“I’ll do what I have to to keep you safe,” I warned.
But before I could fight my way out of his hold, he flipped my body again. When the world settled back into place around me, I found myself draped face-first over his knees where he sat on the edge of the bed. In the next second, he deftly unzipped my slacks and yanked them down to my thighs, taking my underwear down along with them. His other hand caught up my wrists and pinned them at the small of my back.
“What are you doing?” I cried. I jerked and twisted, but there was nothing I could do against him in this position.
His palm swiped over my exposed bottom in a soothing motion. “I know you’re scared,” he said in a low, even voice, as though he was talking to a spooked horse. “And I know you think you’re protecting me by putting distance between us. But I won’t allow that.”