Missy's Gentle Giant

by P D Miller

  “Yes, I know.” When they lay back on their sides facing each other Missy closed her eyes and fell instantly asleep. Ben stared at her for another hour before he noticed it was already four and forced his eyes closed too.

  At six when the alarm rang, Ben rolled over and shut it off. He kissed Missy’s forehead and slowly got up to shower. Missy woke up when she felt him leave and waited for his return. Shyly, secretly she watched as he walked from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. So often had she seen all her brothers in various states of undress, it didn’t embarrass her, but seeing Ben and his muscular body created strange sensations through her. She wanted to kiss all of him, explore all of him sometime. She saw two deep scars on his back as he entered the closet. She noted another long scar on his thigh while he pulled up his pants. He was buttoning his shirt when she finally sat up and hugged her legs.

  “You’re beautiful. You know?” She grinned.

  Ben laughed a little embarrassed. “Oh you’ve been sneaking a peek?” He’d never been called beautiful, and it surprised him.

  “I was watching you.” She smiled smugly. “Your scars make you beautiful.”

  “You think so?” He walked over to her and kissed her on the nose. “Honey, you’re beautiful too.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because last night the light shined through your gown.”

  “Oh Ben!” Embarrassed, she grabbed a pillow and threw it at him.

  He laughed. “Someday maybe you’ll let me see your scars too.” He grinned at her through the mirror.

  “I don’t have any scars.” She frowned. “Will you tell me about yours?”

  “You don’t have any hidden?” He didn’t like thinking about his scars.

  “Well, maybe where I fell out of the tree and got cut, but it’s a teeny scar.”

  “A tree huh?” He grinned.

  “Do you remember how you got all your scars?’

  “Yep, all of them.” Scars? An idea hit him. Yes, scars! It might be the answer. “One day when you’re exploring me, I’ll tell you all about them. Okay?” He walked over and sat on the bed. “By tomorrow sometime, you’ll be able to go home. Tell you what, I’ll tell Mrs. Diaz to call your mom later, all right? As soon as this is over and the men are in jail you can go home.”

  “Are you going to be careful?” Melissa tried to hide her fear.

  “Just for you, I will be.” He kissed her lightly and stared at her. “I care about you too much not to be careful.” He kissed her again and pulled away, and Melissa saw the muscles ripple in his cheeks. She watched as he rose, hesitated and turned toward the door.

  “Ben wait—” He turned in surprise as she jumped from the bed and threw herself into his arms. “Be careful and come back so—so I—I can explore your scars.” She forced a laugh trying to hide tears, but it was useless.

  Ben tried to suppress his own tears when his tongue touched hers and his lips crashed against hers. His huge arms pulled her up off the floor and molded her against him. She didn’t shudder even though he held her to him and she felt his arousal. Knowing they needed to breathe, he pulled away and carried her back to the bed. “When I come back, we’ll both do some exploring Melissa.”

  Ben was already running late, but he took the time to stop in the kitchen. “Mrs. Diaz, wake up Susan and tell her I’ve gone; Missy might need her. Ask Susan to talk to Missy about scars, especially hidden ones.” He headed out the door for the library. “Oh, tell Wanda there’s a note for her on my desk, and call Missy’s mother for her and help her talk if she wants.”

  “All right, sir.” Mrs. Diaz shook her head with wonder. Ben was already in the library. He pulled out a large brown envelope, double-checked the pictures inside and wrote a quick note for Wanda with instructions and messages he wanted to be given.

  Mrs. Diaz was coming back downstairs just as Ben was leaving. “Dinner sir?”

  “I’ll be back around seven or eight. I’ll call, so ask Susan for a time.” He smiled, went out the door and climbed in the waiting car. He was to meet up with the trucks just north of town and take the third one which had been loaded special. The driver would go back for the fifth one. Silently the car sped away, and Ben hoped every thing would work as planned. He just wished he knew for sure Moreno would be coming too.

  The hired truckers were ready and waiting when the Sanchez brothers drove up to the warehouse. Gonzalo quickly explained he’d called them in because Missy had disappeared two nights before and he needed his brothers to help look for her. Where the hell they were going to look was something else, but Ben wanted them off on this wild goose chase. Half an hour after four trucks had gone, one trucker came back in a car thanked the person bringing him in and said the truck was in trouble. By then no one but Gonzalo was around since his brothers had already gone off looking for Missy. He’d told his brothers he’d take the fifth load out himself, so they didn’t expect him to be around the shop. Gonzalo watched as the fifth truck took off with the hired driver and then went to his office. What the hell was he supposed to do now? He was surprised when the phone rang and he heard Wanda’s voice.

  “Ben left a note. He wants me to talk to your parents. He said to check and see if you cleared the fifth truck and could go home to meet me there.”

  “Yeah it’s gone.” Gonzalo glared angrily. “I’ll be at the house in fifteen minutes. He didn’t want his parents to meet the cheap floozy Wanda and hurriedly climbed in his car. If he could get there before her, he might just head her off. What the hell was wrong with Ben?

  At ten a sleek Porsche pulled up in front of the house. Gonzalo was so surprised to see Wanda dressed like a business woman, he opened the door and invited her in the house. Within minutes, she showed DEA identification and explained over coffee to Mr. And Mrs. Sanchez she was an agent working with Ben to get a drug dealer using Sanchez trucks.

  Then she explained about Ben’s involvement, how Gonzalo had been threatened with Missy’s safety and how Missy was in safe hands. She told Mrs. Sanchez Mrs. Diaz would probably help Missy call later in the day. As soon as they knew everyone was in jail—Ben estimated by tomorrow—as soon as they knew Missy was safe, then she’d be returned. Mr. Sanchez looked up at Gonzalo. “You knew all this?”

  “No, Pop. When he came here I knew he was with DEA, but I honestly thought he was using Missy, and—he told me he walked out on the case.” Gonzalo glanced at Wanda with a strange worry he didn’t understand. “Is it really as serious as Ben indicated? I mean, I got the impression they were after the drug cartel, dealer and all?”

  “Oh gosh, did he give you such an idea?” Wanda smiled and rose. “Ben just didn’t want the people threatening you to have a chance to get Missy while he was away.” Gonzalo saw her smile was fake. “Anyhow—” She smiled again at Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez. “He sent me to tell you Missy’s fine and your worries will be over soon.”

  Gonzalo followed Wanda outside to Ben’s car. “Now tell me the truth.” He glared.

  “Yes it’s serious—one of the trucks will be confiscated to make it look good, but the other four are going through.”

  “And?”

  “We’re talking a whole drug cartel with this run.”

  “And only four guys are going in?”

  “No, there will be two men or more on each truck going through. They’ll be picked up like hitchhikers in various places. Also, teams will be following the trucks.”

  “Why are they stopping one truck? Why not let them all get through?”

  “The one they’re stopping is to get the dealer.”

  “And where are they stopping it?”

  “I’m not sure, somewhere between here and San Antonio.”

  “I see.” Gonzalo let the immensity of the DEA’s action sink in. “Where does Ben fit in all this?”

  Wanda sighed and stared at the ground. “You have to understand—the dealer made it known he was going to watch some guys who started all this—there are three men who—”
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  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “I know. Ben doesn’t want me to tell you where he’ll be.”

  “Why? He doesn’t trust me?”

  “No, it’s not like that. He just said he had something personal to do. Had to make up for something which happened to a pen pal some years ago, he had to—”

  “Damn!” Gonzalo leaned against the car. “He’s going to take care of the ones at this end—the dealer and the others alone?”

  “No, there are agents at the stop acting as immigration officers. Look, Missy’s safe; he wanted to be sure she’s safe. Don’t worry about her. As soon as everything’s over she’ll be returned. I just think he has a personal vendetta with one of the guys.” Wanda climbed in the Porsche. “Just for the record, I never saw a guy so crazy about anyone as Ben is about your sister. Since I was assigned to help him with the case too, he came to me all bruised and beaten when you and your brothers—” She looked away. “He doesn’t know it but I saw him practically cry because he’d hurt her then, didn’t even care about his bruises.” She started the car. “DEA’s going to lose a good man.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “This is his last case.”

  “Yeah, I guess they are.” Gonzalo pounded the roof of the car. “If you see him, tell him I wished him luck.”

  Chapter Eight

  Near a temporary checkpoint south of San Antonio, when he was singled out between the four other trucks and told to pull over, Ben carried on like a typical worried trucker. It was an unusual roadblock. The DEA agent dressed as an immigration officer spoke to the drivers and waved for the other trucks to proceed. Stalking angrily back toward the rear of his truck, Ben saw the red Ford SUV approach and one of the immigration officers stop the car just behind the truck.

  “What’s wrong?” Fernandez frowned.

  “Need to check your car and papers. We’re stopping everyone today.” The immigration officer smiled at the three guys in the SUV. “Just let me clear this trucker first.”

  “What the hell’s wrong? Man we’re all from the same company!” Ben yelled about having to open up the back of his truck when the Immigration officer turned away from the SUV.

  “Just need to check something out.” The officer said loudly.

  The three men glanced at each other, and Fernandez instantly became suspicious.

  “Something’s wrong.” He turned to Tijerina. “What the hell have you—”

  “Nothing man. Look, can I help it if they decide to check everything out one time? The other trucks got through. Maybe this one will too.” Tijerina turned to Moreno.

  “Hell, I don’t know what’s going on.” Moreno’s eyes showed fear.

  “Neither of you knows what’s going on when this happens to be the main truck? Something smells!” Fernandez glared at both men.

  “Look—” Tijerina’s eyes jerked. “Maybe they used dogs somewhere back—”

  “Moreno’s mine!” Ben said and started screaming again. He glanced toward the SUV.

  “You set me up!” Fernandez yelled. “You damned bastards set me up!” He reached for a gun under the front seat with one hand while his other hand hit the door handle.

  “No man, I don’t know wha—”

  “I knew it! I knew it!” Fernandez screamed. He jumped from the SUV and fired into it hitting Tijerina in the head before the DEA agent could grab him. Two more wild shots sang out before the man could be subdued.

  Ben doubled over when one of the bullets accidentally hit his left chest, but his eyes never left Moreno. He stood up when he saw Moreno cautiously get out of the right side of the SUV and try to sneak off.

  “Freeze!” The immigration officer yelled and pointed his gun at Fernandez.

  “You’re mine, mine alone—” Ben scowled at Moreno with freezing, cold in his eyes.

  “Wait!” Moreno pleaded with his hands waving wildly. “I was just hitchhiking and they picked me up.”

  “No!” Ben lunged toward Moreno.

  “Pl—please, I—” Moreno backed away.

  The DEA agent pulled Fernandez around and knocked him against the SUV. “Ben, we’ve got them.”

  “This one’s mine!” Ben’s eyes were wild now. “You can have him when I’m finished!”

  “Ben, we don’t need to—” He glanced at the immigration officer holding a gun on Moreno. “I’ve got them covered, call for backup.”

  “Look Ben, you’ve been hit; cool it man. We’ve got them!”

  “No! This is very, very personal.” Ben ignored the agent.

  “Ben you can’t—”

  “Mario Moreno isn’t it?” Ben glared at the shaking man.

  “I—I don’t know what this is about—”

  “Oh, but you do. It’s about a girl three years ago, one you and Torres kidnapped. Don’t tell me you forgot, not with poor Miguel Torres up in Huntsville serving time and trying to get to your ass because you’re free.”

  “No, I don’t know what—”

  Nervously the immigration officer raced to their van and grabbed the phone.

  Ben grabbed Moreno’s collar. “Tell me again you don’t know anything you bastard!”

  “I—I don’t know—”

  Ben reached back and hit Moreno square in the face. “Tell me again; damn you!”

  “Ben don’t—” The agent yelled just as Ben smashed Moreno’s face again. “Look we’ve got backup coming; you can stop.”

  “Tell me you didn’t do anything to her! Tell me!”

  Ben smashed him again. He didn’t hear anyone now and swung wildly.

  “Ben! Stop! Damn, you’ll kill him!” The agent leaped on Ben’s shoulders, and Moreno dropped limply to the ground. “Ben, dammit! Stop!” The agent was rolled over by Ben’s swinging body, and he groaned when he dropped to the ground. The backup cars screeched to a stop and several men jumped out just as Ben hit the agent in the face when he tried to pull Ben away. Ignoring everything Ben lunged for Moreno, pulled his limp body up and punched him again and again even though it was obvious the man was already out cold.

  “Freeze!” Four DEA agents held their guns pointed on Ben while he swung wildly through the air, not hearing or seeing anyone.

  “No, he’s one of us!” The agent on the ground yelled. “Just stop him!”

  The four men slowly edged around, jumped Ben from behind and pulled him down. One of them knocked Ben over the head with the butt of his gun. Ben dropped limply to the ground.

  ‘Damn, I never saw anyone go so wild!” The agent sat up dazed.

  “He’s been shot.” An agent yelled.

  “Yeah, call for a chopper. Damn Ben, what came over you?” He looked down and saw Ben was no longer conscious. He frowned up at the agents. “I’ve never seen him go crazy before.” Later the chopper sped to a San Antonio hospital with Ben and Moreno.

  All day Susan had searched for opportunities to talk, but Missy wasn’t receptive. Susan did notice, however, how Missy’s eyes kept changing from love to worry. Her worried frowns grew deeper until they showed pain. Missy was definitely having problems dealing with the inner turmoil she faced. Susan kept a wary eye on her.

  Wanda had come in earlier and waited all afternoon in the library for word. She got a call from Davis asking what she knew about the whole set up. Wanda told them what little she knew and mentioned the pictures Ben had wanted taken.

  Susan smiled at John poring over a recent medical journal. Damn, what would she do without this man? Susan’s smile faded when she saw Mrs. Diaz answer the door and Wanda meet Davis in the doorway. He followed Wanda to the library.

  “These are the pictures Ben had taken of the men.” Wanda held them out. “I’m sure Ben had something personal going down with this guy.”

  Missy saw Wanda at the door and jumped up. She raced, into the library and saw Wanda handing the pictures to Davis. Missy grabbed the picture of Moreno, turned pale and dropped it.

  “Something’s wrong. I’ve been sitting here like
a fool and something’s wrong! Ben!” She screamed as she raced from the room. As if a bolt of lightning hit her, she saw someone else! Ben! But Ben wasn’t there! In her mind she saw him hurt and alone. “Something’s happened.” She dropped on the bottom step of the stairs. Susan jumped up and pulled Missy around.

  “There was just an accident Melissa.” Wanda glanced at Davis. “Ben’s all right. As soon as the men are arres—”

  Missy didn’t hear Wanda. Running through her mind were just words: Accident, accident, accident! Ben! Missy stiffened and then started swinging and screaming wildly. “He—Moreno—oh—Susan!” Missy dropped against her. “He must have hurt him—” Susan tried to hold Missy still, but it was impossible. Missy ran upstairs and screamed as she leaned over the banister. “He did it!” Already John was coming upstairs with a syringe to calm Missy. “Can’t you see?” Missy screamed. “Can’t you see?” She continued to fight Susan trying, to pull away from her. “He hurt Ben—he did it—he did it—I saw him—I saw the picture!” Both Susan and John grappled with Missy while he injected the needle and then waited for the drug to take effect. “Don’t you see?” Missy groaned as she dropped in John’s arms and fell to the sedation. “He hurt Ben like me—” Susan watched John carry Missy into Ben’s room. Then slowly she rose and looked over the banister.

  “Listen—” Susan tried to muster enough control to talk.

  “She’s quieted for the moment.” John helped his wife stand. “Honey, tell them now.”

  “Davis, lock that man up. Make sure he’s locked up.” Susan glanced at her husband with tears in her eyes.

  “He’s only our informant.” Davis frowned. “Wasn’t even expected on the run.”

  “No, Ben wants him locked up.” Susan looked down at Davis. “Don’t let him go!”

  “You’re right.” Wanda interrupted. “Ben said some other guy was the mouthpiece.”

  “And the charge?” Davis looked at the picture again.

  “Rape! Charge him with rape!” Susan glanced back at John. “I need to be with Missy now; this is why Ben wanted me, and it might take a while.”