Etched in Glass

by Nyxie Marrs

  “I have to be fine to move forward. I’m good without sleep. I need to make sure we get every detail we can out of this. We need a location.” I reply, avoiding the topic on going to sleep, but I know Miles won’t let that happen.

  “Look. You two get rest. I’ll stay here and review things.” That smile is alluring, but I have a feeling he’s trying to help Miles out. Especially after interrupting him a few times.

  “Trying to get Miles into my bed?” I can’t stop my frustration at that thought.

  Redmond chokes on his food. If I don’t curb my bluntness, I might kill him before he has a chance to go on a date with Anya. Eh, what’s the fun in that? Miles finds this amusing.

  “I’m sorry. What?” He coughs a few more times and recovers.

  “Come on Vega. Leave Red alone. He’s offering to do some work, let’s not hinder that thought. Doesn’t happen often.” Miles laughs and tugs on my arm. “Besides, he’ll probably stay out here all night. Don’t worry, separate rooms I promise.”

  Well, he’s very respectful. You don’t see that too often. I’m hesitant still. I really don’t want to leave this information. I stare at the computer as Miles attempts to pull me away. I know I need the sleep though. If I meet this abductor, I need the energy.

  What are the chances Miles will be okay with going back out to a bar? Probably none. I need to find a way to up this search without Miles reining me in.

  *​​*​​*

  This is what I’ve been fearing; the nightmare. This nightmare plaguing my thoughts, and overrunning my rest. Since I nearly touched the guy, I was wondering if this would happen. I should have hit him when I had the chance, stunned him, or stopped him. He’s still out there searching for more victims because I let him go.

  I’m stuck. Elara and I are at the bar. I’m frozen in my seat as I watch this man talk to her. I try to warn her, try to speak, but I can’t. Why, Elara? It’s him! This is the man killing women. Elara! His face is hidden from me, his hand grazes her shoulder as she speaks to him. What can I do? Every part of me is frozen and she can’t hear me. I’m paralyzed, I can’t move a single muscle.

  She stands and grabs her jacket. Just as she turns her back, he slides the cup on the table. I want to kill this bastard right now, but I can’t. I look to his face for a hint at his identity, but it’s all a blur. No! Elara! No, this can’t be happening. She can’t leave. Elara! Fuck!

  I sit straight up, damp from a cold sweat with a speeding heart. What the hell was that? A point of view I never want to see again. I take in deep breaths, hoping I can calm down.

  “Vega? You okay?” Miles’ soft voice came through the door. That soft, concerned tone turned my body warm. I run my fingers through my hair and drop my head in my hands.

  “Yeah.” My voice betrays me. A few tears of defeat drop down my cheek.

  “I don’t believe that, Vega. Don’t think you do either. May I come in?” Why? I’ll get over it alone, I always do.

  “Whatever.” Not exactly an answer giving permission, but right now I don’t care. The doorknob clicks, and the door opens slowly.

  “Just come in.” I say exhaustedly. He pushes through the door, closing it behind him.

  “Are you okay? Don’t bullshit me.” Well, he’s certain he can get me to talk, isn’t he?

  “I’m fine.” I bite back.

  He sits on the bed and puts an arm around me. Hell, is he naked? His warm skin grazing my body definitely helps sidetrack my mind. I didn’t glance at him before he sat down, I probably should have.

  “Vega?” His intimate whisper does a lot for me than his irresistible charm. A crave starts to set in my heart. A crave for comfort. Something I’ve never sought out, but his warm hand moving along my spine is pretty persuasive.

  “Vega? Are you-.”

  “I’m fine.” There’s barely a sound with my words as I let out a deep breath I apparently held.

  “I don’t believe that at all.” He makes himself comfortable and lays down, pulling me with him. Why am I letting this happen? My mind must be messed up. This can’t be happening, not right now.

  “As you can imagine, I’ve been having an unchanging dream of her abduction. This being the first time at a different point of view.” For some reason my body relaxes against him as his warmth encapsulated me.

  “Must be hard.” Yes, his body is. If there’s anything to redirect my thoughts, this is it. “Are you okay? Seriously. I know you told me not to ask anymore, but I am. Anything I can do?”

  “I’ll be fine. Always am. I always get through it. Although I usually go straight to my research when this happens.”

  His arm wraps me closer to him. “Sorry. Not happening this time. I need you to relax or calm down a bit. Getting into the files right now will not help you. You need sleep.”

  I want to say I can’t, but the heat coming from him is inviting. “Miles.” Why is that husky tone coming out right now? Of course, he reacts by keeping me against his hot body. “I just can’t force it to go away. I can’t force myself to sleep after that.”

  “Well then. Mind if we just lay here?” He isn’t trying to come on to me, he isn’t trying to actively convince me to do anything other than sleep. That’s it. I’m dreaming, right? This is a dream, isn’t it?

  “Why?” My body instinctively gives into his comfort. Why do I not have control of myself in this situation? Why am I so comfortable? Why am I allowing his body against mine like this?

  “Because, Vega. You need the sleep, I’ll make sure you do. Give your mind a rest.”

  “It doesn’t work like that.” Hell no it doesn’t. It’s difficult to calm my mind down after that nightmare. I’m generally functional if I get a few hours anyways. I want to go over that information.

  “I take it you don’t sleep much, since this happened.”

  “Get out of my head, Miles. It’s creepy.” My eyes close, and my breathing turns into deep, slow breaths. The rumbling of his low chuckle fills my mind.

  Chapter 33

  Red

  This video is disturbing. I suppose all of their abductions go like this. There’s at least two men, and it looks like they drug their victims. This was a rushed abduction. Why the hurry though? Like it’s imperative that they did it tonight.

  Well that rushed act left us with a decent amount of evidence. I know Vega thinks she messed it up, but really it made these guys messy.

  “Hey.” I quietly say into my phone. “Dave. Can you look into surveillance tapes from businesses by the bar? Ones that have views of the street.”

  “Yeah. Not a problem. There aren’t many ways he could have driven off. What are you looking for?” Thank goodness this case is priority right now. I know Dave will get a few men on it.

  “Light colored Chevy Malibu. We have a rough year of make, just see if you can find that type and we’ll go from there.”

  “On it. Hopefully it won’t be too long until I get back to you.” He ends our call.

  “Good. Got that going. Hopefully it’ll give us a start on where he went.” I say to myself. Anything at this point will be great.

  This video doesn’t yield anything that we haven’t already seen. I look to the witness statements. Both friends recount the same thing, that isn’t exactly helpful. They didn’t notice anyone weird lurking around or watching them. They didn’t even notice the glass being slid on to the table. I swear these women need to be more alert while they’re out.

  I hear a muffled curse come from Vega. That’s worrisome. I look down the hall to see Miles quickly checking it out. I can imagine this is stirring up a lot of things for her. I don’t blame her. I hope we can solve this soon, before another woman is murdered or taken. This case needs to be solved for the sake of the women currently in his possession. Seeing the women we’ve found and the condition their bodies have been in, this must be hard on her.

  I may not like Dante or the rest of his group, but I feel for him. His sister was taken and that’s heartbreaking. The one thin
g that I know pissed Vega off is their immediacy because it’s his family member. Gotta say, even that irked me. I know what my first thought was when I noticed Cole and Brad were gone and have been for a few days. That those men might be involved. Their actions towards Vega, their lack of emotions when it comes to this case, and the immediate dismissal of every case related to this is definitely suspicious. Hell, I thought all four of them were involved. This would be extremely sick if Dante and Rocky are in on this. It’s still bad enough if Cole and Brad are.

  If it were them though, wouldn’t Vega have pointed them out immediately? She said the guy was familiar, she doesn’t know who he is, but he’s familiar, which makes me question everyone we’re around. It’s hard to say if there’s only two or three men. At the bar with Vega, we saw three come in. But one was Dante. Two for sure because we have one on camera dropping off evidence that taunts us all, and now this driver in their getaway car. Sure this back camera was in a desolate alleyway, but someone had to have seen something. These guys were in a rush.

  *​​*​​*

  I open my eyes as I lay on the couch and my whole body jumps. “Jesus Vega. What the hell are you doing?”

  She’s standing over me with her arms crossed. Why does she look pissed?

  “Watching you sleep. What else am I doing here?”

  I sit up and she takes a step back. “What do you want, Vega?” I don’t mean to have a frustrated edge in my voice, but I wasn’t prepared for this wake up call. Great, Miles probably put her up to it as I hear him chuckling from the kitchen.

  “Your progress. Make any?”

  I look to Miles as he watches us with a huge grin. “Yeah. Got Dave to look at surveillance around the bar, see if we can find his direction.” I lean forward and run my hands over my face. “It’s nice having a crime so fresh. Plus, because of you, Vega, they messed up and left us video we never had. So we have a car and, if we find other videos, maybe we can get an area to search. So, thank you.” I look up at her to see her scowl is gone and she’s smiling at me. I can only assume she’s happy at that fact.

  “Nice work. Thanks.” She drops her arms and walks away.

  'Nice work'? You know, she seems happier too. I look at Miles and raise a brow. Good thing about knowing him for so long, he knows exactly what I’m asking with this look. He smiles and shakes his head. An interesting reaction.

  “I think I left some research back at my place. Thought I had a few papers I can’t find. We should stop by.” She grabs a piece of toast and walks down the hall.

  Late night go okay?

  Anya texts me. She’s been more interactive since her and Vega spoke. Turned me down still though.

  Yeah. Got some rest in too. How are you?

  I imagine her light laugh and the way a shade of pink moves over her cheeks every time I ask her. I like her timid attitude and her sweet smile.

  Good.

  Chapter 34

  Miles

  The three of us drive to her apartment. Not sure exactly what work we left here, but it’s important if it’s part of this investigation. Red refused the front seat, making sure Vega sat there. I have no idea what that’s about. Maybe because I stayed all night with her? Maybe he notices she’s calmer around me? After hearing about her dream of her sister’s abduction, I can understand why she dodges sleep.

  I had hoped with me next to her she would have slept well. Unfortunately, even when she does sleep, it’s restless. I don’t know how she functions on such disrupted sleep.

  We climb the stairs to her apartment, which is on the opposite side of the hallway from where the stairs end. The second her key touches the door it pushes open. Without a thought, I push her into the hall behind me and I go in with my gun drawn and Red right behind me. I know she can handle herself, but a protective instinct rushed into me and I just acted.

  I slowly walk through her apartment and check each room, to find nothing. There are a few things disturbed in each room since the last time we were here, but I don’t see anything major out of place. Once I cleared everything, Red walks back into the living room to take a better look at the disturbed items. I do the same starting in the rooms.

  “Well, it doesn’t look like anything’s missing.” She mutters as she walks into her work room. Taking a brief look, then she walks back towards the front door. Did she find what was missing?

  “What are the chances this is random?” Red asks as he checks out a few other things that have been ransacked.

  “It’s possible it’s a coincidence.” I walk back into the living room. Turning to find her standing in the kitchen. Motionless, soundless. “Vega?”

  I walk around the small counter to see her face. Her hand is over her mouth, and tears are falling off of her cheeks as she stares at the refrigerator. I follow her gaze to see a picture slapped to the side of it. I take a step closer to see a woman, almost nothing but skin and bones, inside a makeshift, filthy cage. Sitting with her knees drawn to her chest and her arms wrapped tightly around her frail body. Her clothes are full of holes and desperately clinging to her body, with a fear in her wide eyes that mimics the fear Vega has right now. Oh, fuck.

  I turn around and put my arms around her, she buries her face into my chest as more tears fall and her body shakes. Red hurries over, takes a look at the picture. His face hardens with hate.

  “Crap.” He mutters as he steps outside the apartment and calls for evidence techs. Well, there’s no more hiding the fact that her sister is a victim. Elara doesn’t look good at all. The crudely welded bars enclose her, and she looks absolutely weak. I wish Vega hadn’t seen that.

  “Red?” He steps in and looks as mournful as me. His gaze dips to her trembling body and back to me.

  “I called Rocky, as well as Dave to collect evidence. Is there anything missing?” His quiet voice holds the worst words she could hear right now. That her apartment is now a crime scene. I can feel those quiet sobs shake out of her body with each breath. I run a hand over her head and down her back as I grip her protectively with the other.

  “As far as I know, no.” I reply for her.

  I’m not going to ask her what she thinks is missing from her apartment or what file we were to look for. I’m kind of glad we got all of her research out of here when we did. Maybe that’s what they were looking for? How the hell did they know where she lived? She hadn’t been home in a few days, so unless they’ve been watching her for a while, they shouldn’t have known where her apartment was.

  I look to Red, even he has tears in his eyes. My emotions are mixed on what to do as I try to figure out what our next step is. Vega is not leaving my sight now. Either this was to get her to back off, or they’re looking for her.

  Red steps closer to me. “We need to make sure this is all they know. If they find out what she’s been doing she'll be off the case.” I nod. Of course I know that. She shakes her head.

  “I won’t let that happen Vega. Don’t worry.” I hold her tighter. I have no idea if I can stop that from happening, but I’ll try. “Red, how do we explain this?” We need to figure out what we’re going to tell them.

  “Could always say because she’s working the case they’re targeting her.” I wish we didn’t have to talk about this while she’s here. Each word worsens her shake, but we need to find a way to keep her on this case.

  Unfortunately, Rocky is the first one here. Her shake worsens after hearing his deep voice bellow when he greets Red. There are no sounds coming out of her other than sniffles. Rocky looks to me, Vega and I haven’t moved since I wrapped her in my arms. I shake my head while I give him a hateful look. One telling him to back off. He is not going to talk to her right now. I don’t know what to do right now, but I know damn well that man needs to leave her alone. At least Red is taking charge of this. I have no idea what to do with Vega. I can’t leave her, I don’t want to leave her. Right now, I think I’m the only one she’s going to trust to talk to.

  She sniffles a few more times and pushes aw
ay from me. Her puffy, red eyes look to Rocky. “Taking this seriously now asshole?” I expected her words to be filled with tears, or hold a quiver in her voice preventing that steadiness she just expressed, but that didn’t happen.

  Pushing that aside to speak so steadily surprised me. It must have been hard to do. “Vega?” I keep my voice light, she doesn’t need aggression right now.

  “We’re looking for a white man, approximately six foot, lightly colored Malibu, strong build, blue eyes. Bastard wears hats and jackets inside the bar the entire time he’s in it. His asshole partner waits for him outside the back of a bar, as far as we know. Possible third man. Unfortunately, no description on the last two. How’s that for you to start looking for?”

  Rocky takes a step back, I would too if I were him.

  “Vega, you can’t be involved in this.” That’s the wrong thing to say to her right now. I try to grab her arm as she turns away from me, but she evades me. Stepping up to him, I’d say face to face, but he’s easily six inches taller, but the look of dread flashes across his face. He should be scared.

  “Like hell. You need me, I’m the only one that’s collected this evidence, and I’m the only one who can catch him. Why don’t you sit back and watch a real agent do the right thing on this job. You’ve been doing that anyways.” Her deadly growl is more than a warning to him. I want to say she’s going to strike him, but she may be satisfied with the fear clearly shown on his face.

  “How long have you had this information on him? Keeping evidence from us?” He tries to strongly say, but fear muffles that strength.

  No. Nope. Hell no. I’m not getting involved in this conversation. He signed his own death wish with those words and that tone.

  “Video from last night, asshole. I’d share it with you if you’d get your head out of your ass long enough to be coherent.” Red’s walking around here, examining things while paying attention to this conversation. I’m actually intimidated by her attitude right now. Rocky looks to me like I’m going to rein her in. There’s no way I’m getting into it.