Strong Reflection: Book 2 of the Dark Series Trilogy

by Mckoy, Cate

  "Well if you need me I am on my cell, headed home now."

  Jack shrugged and picked up his pen again. He wrote a few words when he started remembering other words:

  ...usually my contacts are gold...tip he was in California

  ...what makes you think it's mistaken identity

  ....Bunny and I are no longer together...Ashley and I are officially a couple

  ...Black bitch for the black bitch

  Jack surged to his feet, snatching up the phone, dialing his home number. No answer. Jack grabbed his keys and weapon, dialing Carl’s cell as he ran out the door.

  ****

  Ashley was at the midway point of Jack's drive when she made the final decision to marry Kyle. She wanted to be happy, she deserved to be happy. She was going to marry Kyle settle down and have lots and lots of mixed babies. She was also resigning from the bureau. She knew deep down Kyle was right about everything.

  She really hated that about him. She laughed feeling lighter and carefree. She was marrying the man she loved. Nancy and Cheryl were going to flip and go crazing planning the wedding. So happy with her decision she ran up the steps and went bursting through the door.

  She saw the light in the family room. She went charging in with a huge smile, "Guess who's planning a wedding?"

  Ashley skidded to a clumsy halt as a scene from her worst nightmare greeted her. Kyle was sprawled on the floor. He had blood coming from his nose and his left eye was puffy. Blood was matted in his hair and covered the collar of his shirt. Catlyn and Jared were tied to chairs. Catlyn looked unharmed but scared and Ashley knew it was for the child she carried. Jared looked angry and had a broken nose and something was wrong with his wrist. It hung awkwardly over the arm rest.

  A man stood next to each chair and another stood next to Kyle. The man standing next to Jared’s chair was extremely large. But, what riveted Ashley's attention was the woman currently kicking Kyle in the ribs. Bunny Bencroft screeched maliciously as she continued kicking Kyle, "You're marrying her?" With each word she delivered a hard kick. "I was with you for years and you were with this bitch for 10 seconds and she gets a ring."

  Kyle glared up at Bunny, "That should clue even you in on your actual worth." Bunny screamed and her kicks became stomps.

  The entire room was watching Bunny pulverize Kyle. Ashley felt as though the floor had bottomed out beneath her feet. She looked at pregnant Catlyn and she saw her pregnant mother. She looked at Jared and saw her dad. A kaleidoscope of images swirled through her head, clouding her vision, obscuring the events currently taking place. Bloody images accompanied with screams of pain, terror and loss.

  Ashley began to hyperventilate gasping for air in a room suddenly gone airless, keeping her trapped in her memories of death. No, never again. No, No, No! With a shout born from pure rage and anger, Ashley moved. With natural swiftness she kicked the large man in the nuts simultaneously pulling the equally large hunting knife sheathed at his waist. Giving the man a second kick as he was bent over sucking in air, she quickly used the knife to cut free Jared’s good hand.

  “Ashley, look out!” Catlyn’s screamed warning came too late. The man that stood next to Catlyn lunged at her taking them both to the floor. Ashley rolled hard and strong to take the advantage of being on top. The adrenaline flooding her system tripled her strength. Her blind rage made her almost super-human.

  “NO!” Ashley screamed as she began to pummel the man under her. She didn’t feel the strikes she made. Her anger dulled her sensory for pain. Her knuckles were soon raw and bloody. The man was helpless to her enraged state as she continued to rain down punches to his face, neck and head. The few hits the man got in didn’t faze her. Ashley punched until her hands and the man’s face were a bloody mess. Still she screamed, “No! No! No!”

  The man no longer moved. Ashley lifted his head by his hair and repeatedly slammed it into the floor. There were crunch sounds but even this didn’t stop her punishing hands. She put her hands around the man’s neck, gripping as best she could as her hands were made slippery because of the blood coating her hands and his neck.

  As though from a great distance a sound penetrated Ashley’s vengeful fog. “Ashley, Ashley! You have to help them! Ashley, please, Kyle needs help! Ashley!” Then Catlyn’s voice changed and she spoke with a firm tone, “Ariel! Enough! Ariel, you need to help Kyle and your brother!”

  At her true name and the pull of Kyle needing help, she was yanked back into her reality. Ashley blinked as she rolled off the man she had attacked. Kyle was fighting the man that had stood next to Bunny. Bunny was watching gleefully as the man suddenly got the upper hand and started to choke Kyle.

  Jared shouted out in pain. The big man had a hold of his injured arm and his neck. On autopilot Ashley flipped to the knife where it landed on the floor, swiftly she tested it’s weight and achieved the balance on her hand. It wasn’t a throwing knife but it would do in a pinch. Adjusting her grip for the throw, she let fly with all her might. The knife hit it’s mark in the guy’s broad back. The man grunted, letting go of Kyle. She quickly turned and from behind delivered a hard kick between the man’s legs that held Jared. The man howled again and dropped Jared who he had suspended on his tippy-toes.

  Again without thought Ashley ran across the room to pull the knife from the man who unsuccessfully tried to grab it from his back, turning in circles as he tried to reach the blade, and in a deranged voice shouted, “Get it out, pull it out!”

  He was yelling at Bunny. But she had taken over choking Kyle who had been weakened from his obvious beating and some sort of head injury. Ashley grabbed Bunny by her hair and pulled her off Kyle’s prone body. Looking down on his bloody face and obvious bruising to his upper torso enraged Ashley again. She turned blazing black eyes on Bunny. It only took two punches to render her unconscious flat out on the floor several feet from Kyle.

  Ashley gut punched and then kicked the man who was still raging over his knife wound and then slammed his head into the wall. The man slid down along the wall totally knocked out.

  She turned back to Jared to see him valiantly fighting the big man who must have outweighed him by at least 100 pounds. He held his injured hand close to his chest as he gave the man a back fisted punch followed a half second by a forward fist to the face. Jared was holding his own.

  Ashley quickly went to Catlyn cutting one of her hands free so that she could release herself. She rushed back to Kyle on the floor. “Kyle!” She knelt down pulling his body to hers, supporting him into a half sitting half laying position between her legs. His back was to her chest. His head lay on her right shoulder.

  Ashley felt her tears start to fall as she slowly began to rock side to side, softly calling his name, “Kyle, Kyle?” Slowly his eyes opened, the left more than the right but he did open his beautiful azure eyes, seeking hers out. “Ariel, you ok?”

  A shout of laughter mixed with her tears, “I told you not to call me that, besides, I think I should be asking you that, are you ok?”

  “Never better Babydoll.” He gave a half smile before closing his eyes again.

  “Oh, no, Director, I need you to keep your eyes open.” She shook him a little and called his name but his eyes didn’t open.

  What her cajoling tone and shaking failed to do a loud crash and the sound of breaking glass succeeded. Kyle’s eyes sprang wide open. “W-What was that?”

  Ashley looked over to see the big man laid out on a broken coffee table that used to have a glass top. Jared was bent over breathing heavily. “Oh, that’s just Jared performing a number 6 of the Mackenzie Strikes.”

  Kyle’s raspy voice got stronger. “Ya know, we are going to have to change the name to the Strong Strikes for our children.”

  Jared came over and plopped down next to them. “No way, man, it’s tradition. Mackenzie Strikes.”

  Still with tears running down her face Ashley smiled. Looking from the man she loved to her long lost brother she asked, “How about the Mackenzie-Strong
Strikes?”

  “I can live with that?” Kyle nodded first and then Jared agreed, “Sounds good.”

  Ashley looked around the totally trashed family room. “Where is Catlyn?”

  “Here I am.” A breathless Catlyn came jogging into the room with a huge first aid box.

  She too sat in their little circle. “Ok, I need to do a little triage here to take care of my band of warriors.”

  They all tensed when suddenly Jack and Carl Rider entered the room guns drawn. They all released a relieved breath.

  Taking in the chaos and carnage, Jack rushed to Catlyn’s side, “Baby, you alright?”

  Catlyn smiled, nodding. “Thanks to this bunch here.”

  The tension gushed from Jack’s body as he took a seat next to his fiancée. Taking in Kyle’s appearance he jokingly asked, “What truck hit you?”

  “Believe it or not Bunny was the main driver.” Kyle’s voice was getting lower.

  Jack spared her a glance on the floor, “Looks like she met her match, bitch!”

  “Yeah, my Babydoll took her out with a one-two.”

  Sirens sounded in the distance. Carl Rider cuffed the very large man. “The other two need serious medical attention, especially the guy with the mangled face.” Jack tossed his cuffs to Carl as he walked over to the other man and quickly cuffed him also.

  “Fuck them, Kyle gets the help first!” Mackenzie’s eyes grew stormy.

  Everyone was silent and then Kyle softly said, “You heard the lady,” before passing out in her arms.

  Chapter 16

  “I can’t believe this bitch’s entitled attitude.” Jack listened to Carl but his eyes were watching Bunny Bencroft through the observation glass.

  “People like her think they own the world and lose their minds when that theory is put to the test and doesn’t hold.” Jack smirked. “She probably thinks this is all Kyle’s fault for dumping her.”

  Carl frowned. “I thought Director Strong said it was a mutual break up between them.”

  “Kyle was being a gentleman. It’s the same reason Kyle has so many injuries, because, he couldn’t bring himself to truly hurt a woman physically, at least not one he has had sex with.”

  “Excuse my language, but, fuck that!” Carl huffed. “Any woman who puts hands on me like she did the director is getting laid out!”

  “I hear that.” Jack wholeheartedly agreed while he continued to study Bunny Bencroft through the observation glass. She wasn’t acting as someone who had her plans thwarted and was knocked out in the process. She had been wearing a self-satisfied smirk ever since the hospital cleared her to be taken fully into custody of the Newburgh police. Something wasn’t right.

  Jack had tried questioning her earlier when her high priced lawyer had shown up. Daddy’s billions to the rescue. He wasn’t able to get anything useful or incriminating to pass her well painted lips. He saw the writing on the wall, the lawyer was going to use the temporary insanity plea. He would be surprised if it worked. Bunny was too arrogant to allow anyone to believe she was deficient in any way whatsoever. She couldn’t manage the humility that was needed to pull off an insanity defense.

  Jack was also surprised that just the lawyer showed. He had expected to be bombarded with a whole entourage of Bencrofts. Not one single member of Bunny’s family had arrived to help her through her ordeal. The proverbial washing of the hands of anything that stained their good name.

  Feeling frustration to his bones, Jack turned to leave. “Well, we’re not going to get anything from her. I am going to try the giant in the next room. You coming?”

  “Definitely.”

  ****

  Two hours in Jack knew that he wasn’t going to get much from ‘Spencer’ either. The only name the man would provide had proved to be the only identity that they had to go on after an extensive search of the combined databases. No one knew who this guy was, even with his very distinctive tattoos. Spencer was just as much a mystery as Bunny’s attitude.

  Spencer acted as though he were on vacation enjoying tea with the Queen or some shit. His cold eyes didn’t reflect emotion of any kind. If he weren’t moving and talking, Jack would have bet money they were the eyes of a dead body.

  Carl kept his stance just as cool as he asked another question. “You have to be pissed that you didn’t get a job done you were paid for. Now that has got to be a blemish on you record.”

  Suddenly there was a break in the curtain that had until now kept Spencer’s face and emotions a complete blank. He had the same self-satisfied smirk Bunny had been wearing during her interrogation. It was as though they had been the ones came out on top instead of Kyle and the police.

  “I always complete the job I am hired for, make no mistake about that, gentlemen.” His smooth flectionless voice gave Jack a bad feeling.

  “Well, you didn’t finish this one you piece of shit.” Carl stood letting his frustration show in his movements towards the door. “Enjoy your stay in Downstate prick!”

  Again, the same self-satisfied almost happy smirk flittered across Spencer’s non-descript facial features. Jack moved slowly towards the door, looking him in the eye, totally confused about his actions. Jack’s bad feeling increased when Spencer nonchalantly pursed his lips and blew him a kiss as he walked out the open door.

  ****

  “Hi, honey. No Mackenzie isn’t here. She went to the hospital to pick up Kyle. He is refusing to stay another day against medical advice. Jared and I were just fixing lunch for when they get back. Is something wrong?”

  But Catlyn was speaking to air. “Jack? Jack?”

  ****

  “Now, you’re sure I can’t bribe you into staying a bit longer?” Ashley teased her fiancé as he stubbornly tried to dress himself, ignoring the aid offered from the nurse and herself.

  Kyle paused in pulling up the sweat pants she had brought to him. “Hmm, sounds tempting but I am outta here, Babydoll.”

  Ashley shook her head indulgently. She knew she wouldn’t get him to stay, worriedly she eyed the bandage to the back of his head. They had to shave some of his hair to give him the 15 stitches and dress the wound. She was worried. He also had two cracked ribs. He pulled the sweats’ top over his tightly wrapped ribs, moving slowly.

  “Please, Kyle, I’d feel so much better if you’d stay.”

  Ignoring her as he sat on the bed to put his sneakers on, he asked, “Did you visit your grandfather again?”

  Sighing, knowing she lost the battle she answered, “Yes, for a little bit while you were sleeping last night. They say he can go home tomorrow.”

  “Good news then.” His face didn’t match his cheery tone.

  “Kyle, please, stay.” She gently cupped his strong jaw.

  He looked down into her face, softly kissing her lips. “Babydoll, I promise, when we get to Jack’s I will do whatever you say regarding resting if it will make you feel better. But, I have to get out of here. Between my dad and you, and all the other agents I’ve visited when they were injured, I really hate hospitals.”

  Sensing how deeply he felt about the issue, she gave in, kissing him and then smiling, “Whatever I say, huh?”

  “Uh, oh, I am in trouble.” He laughed, giving her another sweet kiss.

  “Oh, sorry to interrupt but I have Director Strong’s discharge papers and an A-M-A form.”

  They looked up to see a nurse with a clipboard filled with many papers. Ashley gathered Kyle’s things putting them in the duffle. “You take care of signing papers. I am going to go get the car and bring it to the front. I am parked near the park.” She stood on her toes to give him another quick kiss to his lips.

  Kyle watched her go, smiling, thinking, there goes my wife! He looked at the nurse and noticed her smile. “She’s my … well, she’s my everything and soon to be my wife.”

  “Oh, you didn’t need to tell me that, it’s written all over your faces and I couldn’t help but notice her beautiful ring. Congratulations.”

  “Thank you.
”

  Kyle’s cell phone rung. He excused himself to answer it. “Hey Jack.”

  The nurse watched the director’s face go from happy and smiling to frowning deeply. “No, she isn’t right next to me right now. She went to get the car.” He paused listening. “What do you mean you’re on your way? Why, Jack?”

  Suddenly the director clicked his phone and started out the door as fast as his abused body would allow. “Sir, you haven’t signed the papers and you have to be taken out in a wheelchair, sir!” But the nurse called out in vain.

  Kyle’s heart hammered in fear as he ran through the halls and went flying pass the security desk, ignoring the security men who tried to stop him. Ignoring the pain flashing through his ribcage he went top speed towards the park across the street.

  ****

  Ashley stowed the duffle in the trunk. She had just unlocked the driver’s door when a strange feeling went through her body. Not sure what was causing the anxious feeling she scanned her surroundings.

  The sun shone brightly, there were several families out enjoying the wonderful weather. The usual sounds of a park could be heard, children laughing, sounds of running and playing. She saw a small group of girl scouts feeding the ducks in the small pond. The neat row of brownstones sat unassuming and quiet. Shrugging Ashley shook the feeling off, chalking up to her experience last night.

  Just as she opened her door she saw a metallic glint in the corner of her eye. Before she could turn fully to get a better look she heard her name shouted. “Arieeeel!”

  She turned in enough time to see Kyle had jumped on the hood and took a dive at her bearing her to the ground. At the same time, she felt the hard impact of Kyle’s body plowing into her, she heard several shots ring out, a siren, screeching tires, and shouts of “Police, freeze, drop it!” and there were more shots.

  Kyle continued to lay on top of her. She closed her eyes and held him tightly to her chest until all the sounds lowered and she heard Jack. “Kyle! You guys alright?”

  Slowly she opened her eyes. Hers cannoned into Kyle’s. He gave her a slow smile, his eyes shone with love. Then he coughed and blood appeared on his lips. “S-Sorry, B-Babydoll, we almost m-made it. I-I l-love y…”