Vengeance (Oak Grove Suspense Book 1)

by Reese A. Stephens

  “Hello?”

  “Ryan!”

  “Shayla!”

  “Yes, I don't have much time. They're going to come for Dylan. Please keep him safe.”

  “Who?”

  “Mathis and …”

  “What do you think you're doing?” Trevor growls. He grabs the phone from my hand and smashes it to the wall.

  “I'm sorry.” I don't know if he can even understand me. My voice trembles with fear.

  He grabs my upper arm and drags me to my room. I try to fight him off, but the more I do, the angrier he becomes and the rougher he is with me. He throws me into the room and I land on my hands and knees. He slams the door behind him. The lock clicking makes my stomach revolt and I dry heave. He pays me no attention as he grabs my arms again and throws me onto the bed. He takes his belt off.

  “No, please. No. I swear I'll listen. I won't do anything else. I promise!” My pleading falls on deaf ears.

  He glares at me. “You could have ruined everything! Why would you call him? He doesn't care about you. He left you for sixteen years. He left you when you needed him; when you were pregnant and alone! Did you forget that I knew you when Dylan was small? I saw the sadness, the fear you had. I’ve only ever wanted to take that away. I want to make you happy. Don't you see that?”

  “Then let me go! I don't want to be here, Trevor. I want to go home. I want my family!” I yell at him.

  That's a big mistake. His face grows beat red and a vein is popping out of his neck. I've seen Trevor angry plenty of times in the four months I've worked with him, but never anything close to this. He's livid.

  “I'm the only family you need to worry about right now. You'll never see any of your so-called family again. Bend over the bed. You deserve this.” His voice is eerily calm. I stare at him, which seems to anger him more because he yells, “Now!”

  I jump, but still do not move. I refuse to willingly comply. He stomps over to me, jerks me up, then throws me back down to the bed on my stomach. He grabs my coat and rips it from me, pulling my arms at an odd angle, making me cry out. He doesn't seem to care as he starts to wail on my back, butt, and legs. I try to move away, scream for help, but nothing helps. He hits everything he can reach as I move. It's not until he hits my face that he stops. The change is immediate. He drops his belt to the floor and scoops me up into his arms.

  “Why do you insist on defying me? It makes me crazy.” He moves my fallen hair from my face, making me flinch, but he holds me tight. “I'm not going to hurt you. I want to see. I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt your face. You have to be still, Shayla.” He kisses the mark on my face. Then picks me up and carries me to the bathroom, sitting me on the counter top. “I'll get some cream for your face. Go ahead and start yourself a bath. I'll be back in a few minutes.”

  As soon as the door closes, I slump in relief, but I can't stand, I can't think, I can't cry. There's nothing left in me. The last thing I remember is slowly pitching forward towards the ground and hitting my head on the porcelain tub, too exhausted to even try and catch myself.

  When I wake up again, I'm in the same room, but it's light outside. I'm not tied to the bed this time, but there is an IV in my arm. I look up to see a bag of saline dripping into the line.

  “You gave him quite the scare. He was late to work.”

  I look over to the chair in the room and see Jason Mathis sitting there with a book on his lap. In a weird way, he seems very normal to me. Like an all-around nice guy, until I remember what he’s done to his victims and know for a fact that he’s not normal in the slightest. He’s definitely not a nice guy.

  “Yeah, well that happens when I've been beaten practically to death.”

  I don't even try to hide my sarcasm. For some unknown and obviously foolish reasons, I'm not afraid of Mathis anymore. I should be, but right now I'd rather see him than Trevor.

  He laughs. “Oh, honey. That was not 'beat to death'. That wasn't even close. Too bad I can't show you.”

  I sigh. “To bad you can't just kill me and get it over with.” This really makes him guffaw.

  “There's more fun for me to keep you alive. I do love to torment your boyfriend.”

  “Why can't you just leave him alone?”

  He seems to think about it for a while and then says, “I like revenge. It makes me feel extremely gratified to take from others, for what they've done to me. Lucas, or Ryan, took a year of my life and almost completely dismantled my business. I'm slowly rebuilding, but there's nothing I can do about the year I spent in prison. Keeping you here is a start, but for you to reject him and willingly go to my cousin … well, that will be the revenge I'll need. I don't even feel the need to harm you and that's really saying something.”

  “I'll never choose Trevor willingly.”

  He smiles. “Oh, I know. But you'll choose him because you want to save Ryan or Dylan. You know your son and his friends came looking for you. They got almost to the end of town. I could have taken them then, but it was too soon.”

  I gasp. My baby was looking for me. Why wasn't Ryan keeping an eye on him? The thought makes me angry. “Please don't bring him here. Just leave Dylan out of everything.”

  “I could, but I won't. Your son will be here by tomorrow evening. We're setting it up now. Although, your little phone call the other day messed things up a little. Now, they have proof you were taken and who took you. Not that they’ll recognize me. I'm being hunted down like a common fox.” He laughs at his pun. “Get it, a fox. They call me The Fox.”

  I roll my eyes. “Yes, Jason. I get it.”

  “You know. I like you. I can see why my cousin is so gone for you. You're funny, clever, and pretty easy to talk to. I don't think I've talked to someone about much of anything since my wife died.”

  I sit up a little. I figure if I can get him to talk and form a bond, he might help me. I doubt it, but it's worth a try. “What happened to her?”

  “I killed her,” he says in a matter-of-fact tone. I'm taken aback. He laughs. “You thought I had a heart, didn’t you?” he chuckles again and smiles at me. “You remind me of her.”

  “Why would you kill your wife?”

  “She slept with your boyfriend,” he tells me gleefully.

  “No! Ryan wouldn't do that.”

  “He did. I caught them in the act.” I just stare at him in shock. Why would Ryan do something like that? “If it makes you feel better, he didn't know she was married. It's the only reason I let him live. Turned out, he was a good employee and someone I used to consider a friend. Too bad he crossed me.”

  I say nothing. I don't know what to think. I don't know if he's trying to turn me against Ryan, or if he's being honest. But if he's being honest, does it matter to me what Ryan did undercover? I'm not sure. It's definitely not important right now.

  “Do you know when Trevor will be back?” I ask. I don’t care about him but I want to know how long I have because this IV needs to come out.

  “Not until tonight. He was late this morning, because he was checking on you. He's very worried about you. He's called me four times already, and he's only been gone a few hours.”

  “His love for me is misguided. I need to take this out. Do you know if there is any gauze or band-aides?”

  “Yep, he left it on the nightstand. He said if you weren't awake in an hour to call him, but if you were, you could do this yourself.”

  I nod and set to work. It only takes a couple of minutes to take it out and clean up. Once I'm done, I turn back to Mathis. “Do you mind if I have some time alone?”

  “Sure thing, just knock on the door when you're finished. You can help yourself to the kitchen. You haven't eaten since you got here, you must be hungry.”

  “I am. Do you know where my clothes are?” I ask, hopeful. I really do not want to wear the June Cleaver garb.

  “He threw them out. You're stuck playing his little fantasy.” He laughs as he shuts and locks the door to the bedroom.

  I'm still a little
shaky on my feet, but I manage to check each window. They are all locked with thick black bars on the outside. I won't be getting out that way. Hopefully, if I can do as he wants today, I'll be able to find a way out. I need a plan and a shower. Yes, definitely a shower.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Ryan

  “Shay!” I yell as I hear an angry voice shouting at her. The call is disconnected so abruptly, all I can do for several long moments is sit and stare at my phone. What’s that psycho doing to her?

  “Dad?” I look up into my son’s worried eyes. “Is Mom okay?”

  “She’s alive, but she won’t be okay until she’s back here with us.” I turn to my guys. “She said Mathis has her. There’s someone else too. She didn’t get to say the name before someone grabbed the phone.”

  “I’ll run a search on anyone he could possibly know in this area. The map is complete so we can start searching. Unfortunately, you weren’t on the phone long enough for me to trace the call,” Riley explains. “We’ll find her, Ryan.”

  I turn to Marsh. “Have we gotten the hair samples we sent off back yet?”

  “Yeah, I just got off the phone with a lab. The sample I sent matches.”

  I close my eyes, trying to rein in my temper. He’s been after her the whole time. How did he even know who she was? We weren’t dating when that hair was found. How did he even get it? I breathe out slowly. It doesn’t matter now. He has her, and I have to get her back. I slip into commander mode. I can’t deal with my feelings right now. I won’t survive if I think about what could happen to her in the clutches of that psycho.

  “Marsh, plan out the search routes. Riley, keep searching for a link with Mathis. Jon, are you fit for duty?” He nods. “Good. I want you on Dylan. He doesn’t leave your sight. Paul, weapons. I want everything we have in our arsenal locked and loaded. I’m not messing around with this guy. I want him dead.”

  The men disperse to their areas immediately, jumping to their tasks. We work for hours. Planning areas to search, gathering extra bodies to help, and coming up with backup plans. We have everything covered several times over by the time we break to get some much-needed rest. I pour a glass of water for myself as Dylan and Jonathan enter into the kitchen from my side door.

  “Hey, Dad. Uh, is it okay if I go to school? Coach really wants me to start at the game tonight.”

  I set my glass in the sink and then run both my hands through my hair. I look up at the ceiling, letting out a long breath. I haven’t thought about my son once while I’ve been working. I put Jon on him and didn’t give it a second thought. What kind of father am I? A lousy one, that’s for sure.

  “Dad?”

  “I don’t know, bud. I know I told you I wanted you to go to school, but things are so …”

  “I know. I know she’s gone, but there’s nothing I can do to help. I tried to follow what you guys were talking about last night, but I was lost. I can’t read a map, or fire a gun, but I can play football. I need to do this. I can’t sit around here all day wondering if they’re hurting her, or if she’s …”

  He can’t finish his sentence as his voice becomes shaky, overcome with emotion. I pull him against my chest and hold him tightly. He doesn’t cry, but he does hug be back for a long time.

  “Okay. You can go, but Jon stays with you.” I look over Dylan’s head to Jonathan. “Eyes on him at all times. I don’t care what you have to do to get in that school. I won’t leave him unprotected.”

  “Yes, sir,” Jon mutters.

  The two of them leave and I head upstairs for a shower and a few hours of sleep. We’re meeting at ten with some of the local cops and other agents Marsh called. As I lie in my bed staring at the ceiling, I do something I haven’t done since I first left for the service, I pray. Coincidentally, back then it was for Shayla as well.

  “God … Heavenly Father, I know I don’t call on you much, but I haven’t forgotten about you. I know even though I’m going through this tough time right now; that you haven’t forgotten about me either. Please take care of my family. Watch over Shay. She’s with a mad man and he won’t think twice about hurting her. I need her safe. I can’t live without her. She’s given up so much in her life because of me, please don’t let her lose her life because of me too. Keep Dylan safe today. He’s such a good kid. Thank you for that. He’s one of the best things to happen to me in a long time. I regret not getting to see him grow up, but God, please keep him safe so I can continue to see the man he’s becoming.” Tears roll down my face as I’m too overcome to continue. I don’t know how long I lie there and cry, but I finish my prayer, though shakily. “Help me find her. Please help me find her. Thank you for loving me, for sending your son to die for me. Please, just please bring my Shay back to me. Amen.”

  ~~*~~

  The first wave of men arrives at ten as expected. They’re a mix of veterans, cops, and FBI agents of various ages and skills, but the one thing they have in common with us, is they are willing to give their lives to catch the bad guy. Some have been through similar experiences as I’m going through right now. Frank “Linc” Lincoln’s wife was abducted six years ago by a man he had tried, but failed, to catch. His wife was eventually rescued, but had gone through so much violence she took her own life six months later. He retired from the force and has been a hostage negotiator for the FBI since. He’s saved over twenty victims to date.

  Linc shakes my hand. “We’ll find her, Ryan. I’ve brought my two best men with me. This is Howard and Smith.” He points to the two men with him.

  Howard looks like your stereotypical nerd, pocket protector and all. Smith is clearly the muscle in the group. He’s about my height and looks like he stays in the gym more than necessary.

  “Good to meet you all. Thanks for coming.”

  I shake everyone’s hand, then stand before the six newcomers. The other two men and one woman are from local police stations who happen to be on their vacations. I feel honored they’re using their time off to help us out.

  “I’m going to let Marsh take things from here. I have some other matters to tend to.”

  I bow out. It’s not that I really want to, but I can’t talk about this anymore. I feel like every time I mention Shayla that my heart will explode. I grab my coat as I head to the door.

  “Ryan?” I turn around to see Riley coming through the kitchen. “Where are you going?”

  “I need to clear my head. If I hear this again or look at another map, or rescue scenario, I’ll lose it. I need a breather.”

  “Got ya. I’ll call you if we need you. We’ll probably send out the first round of searchers in about thirty minutes. We don’t want to wait too long. We’re losing light.”

  I just nod my head. I need to get my act together. The love of my life is depending on me to save her and, as of right now, I don’t think I can even say her name without breaking down or breaking something. I head straight through the backyard and past the tree house where I spent a good part of my childhood, along the creek that is almost frozen solid, and I keep walking until I come to a small clearing about half a mile at the top of a fairly steep hill. I haven’t been to this spot much, but I remember once finding Shayla here, crying because a boy in her sixth grade class had made fun of her for having braces. She’d scared her parents to death that day, and me too. I looked for hours to find her.

  I don't know what compels me to do it, but I dial her number. Just hearing her voice on the answering machine will have to be enough for now. It rings twice and someone answers. My heart starts racing, then I curse myself for not being home for the guys to trace the call.

  “Ryan, what a nice surprise,” Mathis answers joyfully.

  “Where’s Shayla?”

  He chuckles. “You know, everyone always wants to know where she is, or how she’s doing. I feel left out. I have feelings too, you know.”

  “Yeah, well I don’t care what you feel, unless it’s my Glock aimed at your forehead,” I spit.

  He tsks. “Now, R
yan, is that anyway to talk to the man who literally has your girl in his hands?” Bile rises up my throat.

  “You better keep your hands off her.”

  “Ryan. Is that Ryan? Please let me talk to him, Jason. Please. I swear I won’t say anything,” Shayla begs. I close my eyes, trying hard to keep my emotions in check. The sound of her begging him for anything makes me sick.

  “If you say anything, I’ll get the belt.” The belt? I’m going to kill every last one of these sickos.

  “Ryan?” Her sweet, sweet voice sobs into the phone.

  “I’m here. Are you okay?”

  She sighs. “Yeah, I’m okay. Jason is keeping me company. I can see why you liked him so much.”

  My brows scrunch in confusion. I’ve never liked him, I barely tolerated him for my assignments. “Liked him? What are you talking about?”

  “He’s funny. He talks a lot about how I remind him of his wife.” My stomach drops to my feet. He’s telling her about my time with him. She may never forgive me. “He has a lot of things to say about his family. They’re important to him, doesn’t matter if its brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, even cousins are important. He’s not so bad, Ry. He’s protecting me.”

  I run my hand through my hair. I really hope she’s trying to tell me something that I’m just not getting at the moment. It would really suck if she has Stockholm syndrome already.

  “Baby, how is Mathis protecting you? He kidnapped you to kill you.”

  “No, he didn’t do that.”

  “He didn’t?”

  “No. He reads to me. That’s weird, right?” She giggles. My eyes burn hot. Oh, Shay.

  “Baby, I’m going to find you. Can you tell me where you are? Anything at all?” I wipe at my eyes roughly.

  “Uh, no, I don’t know.” I hear movement and then she says. “It’s far away.”

  “Shayla, that’s long enough,” I hear Mathis tell her.

  “One more minute, please. He’ll be back soon.”

  Come on, baby, tell me who he is.