“Mr. Wolfe, I’m sorry but I don’t feel comfortable with you touching me. I think I’ll head home. Have a good night,” she said as she started to move around him to her office door when he grabbed her arm and spun her around. She could smell the alcohol on his breath. Crap, he’s been drinking.
“Oh, come now, Ms. Brown, I know how all you girls in the office are. Plus I heard you are up for a promotion soon. I think it would be best if you played nice, don’t you?” he said as he grabbed her and pulled her to him, bringing his drunken lips down on hers. She felt sick. She struggled to get out of his hold, but he grabbed her tighter. When he finally released her lips, she brought her knee up, only to make contact with his upper thigh, making him yell and sending his hand flying across her face. She tasted the tanginess of her blood from the split lip. Trying to get away, she tripped, forcing her shoe to fall. She grabbed her shoe, sending the heel into his arm, causing him to scream. She hit him over and over again. But he let his fist fly, hitting her in the face and forcing her drop her shoe.
He hit her harder again, and this time he punched her in her stomach, sending her to the ground gasping for air. He had brought his foot out and kicked her in her ribs over and over again, until she was crying in pain for him to stop. Instead of him stopping, he grabbed her by her hair and pulled her up to her feet, bending her over her desk. She screamed, but he didn’t let up. He ripped her shirt, which now was lying in shreds on her body, and he was pulling at her skirt next. She kicked and tried to fight him, but her ribs hurt so much that she could barely move. Please god, no, don’t let this be happening. She screamed again, and this time with his hand still in her hair, he smashed her face into the desk, and that was the last thing she remembered until she woke up in the hospital.
She had two broken ribs, a black eye, split lip, and a small crack in her skull. But that wasn’t the worst part. The bastard had raped her. She filed a report. However, because Mr. Wolfe had friends in high places, she was actually the one charged with assault and battery. He had bought his way out of her rape and assault, and had charges drawn up on her. She had called Piper, and she drove out to get her and bring her to Lucky that night. She told Piper she was mugged, and there was nothing she could do. She couldn’t tell anyone about the rape. She felt so dirty and sick. He had taken something she didn’t want him to have. She wasn’t a virgin, but she still didn’t want to have someone have control of her body without her wanting it. She hadn’t been with anyone since. However, that night, she vowed that she would not let anyone ever do anything to her without her consent ever again.
Sam came out of the daydream when a small spark touched her skin. What the fuck? She looked up and saw her attacker had a damn cattle prod. Shit, this guy was out of his damn mind.
“I think you have some serious issue if you think you can break me. You are a demented piece of shit that can’t get it up unless you hit little girls. What’s wrong? Is your cock just that small that normal women find it repulsive? Tell me why you need to try to break us, because I am dying to know. Well, actually I’m not. I can give two shits what the hell you think. I seriously think you need to wake the fuck up and take your pill, because Noah and Sydney will find me, and when they do, you better hope you have a good burial plan because they are going to rip you up piece by piece,” she spit at him. Okay, she had to admit it probably wasn’t best to poke the tiger in the cage, but damn it if she didn’t have a filter.
Instead of a hit she expected from him, she only got a smile. But for some odd reason the smile made her feel worse than if he had actually hit her with his hands or fists. Before she could register what was happening, he had hit her with a cattle prod and held it in place. Sam could feel her teeth rattle as they clenched together to keep her from screaming. He stopped within thirty seconds, even though it felt so much longer. She gasped for a breath, and before she could yell at him again, he zapped her with it once more. This time she went down to the ground and couldn’t move, scream. Hell, she was surprised she was able to even breathe.
She found that when he hit her with it, it caused her body to go numb for a few minutes, which allowed him time to hit her in her face with his fist. She never understood why a man needed to hit women. He hit her again, causing her to fly backward this time. Damn it, she was going to fight him. She tried to move her hands, but she didn’t have any control of her limbs. She hurt all over and couldn’t even yell, scream, or shout at him to stop, or to call him a pussy. She suddenly felt helpless, and that was not something she was used to.
He had walked over to the bag he had carried in with him, and this time he pulled out a round-looking ball attached to a small rope. He was going to gag her. He approached her, smiling smugly as he managed to get her sore jaw to open while he strapped it onto her. He then pulled out a piece of rope and tied her hands behind her back tightly. Taking a step back, he took an appraising look at her before he pulled out a small permanent marker from his pocket. What the hell was he going to do with that?
Sam held still as he drew small lines on her body as he spoke. “You see, Samantha, it is so much more fun to put together puzzles. Tomorrow I’m going to take you apart piece by piece, so when they do find all of your body parts, they have something fun to do. Yeah, I think it is pretty nice of me, too. I love family activities. Okay, I’m all done here. I’ll see you in the morning, Samantha. I would say sweet dreams, but to be honest I don’t really care.” And he stood and walked out the stall door. Again she heard small whimpers as he left. There must be other women in the barn with her. Okay, first she needed a plan to get out of here, and second she was going to save them all, well, as soon as she got feeling back into her fingers, that was.
* * * *
Sydney couldn’t believe how stupid he was. He knew better than to take off to try to catch an UNSUB without backup, and now it was his fault that Sam was taken. He should have never left the room, or at least tried to find a way to have someone he trusted to keep her safe and wait outside the room, but now she was gone. Fuck, what was he going to do? They had his accomplice now, but unfortunately he wasn’t talking, and they had no more clues.
“Hey, Syd, you find anything yet?” Noah asked as he handed him an ice pack. He took it and placed it on the back of his head. They both were looking around David’s room for some clues.
“No, I have been looking into his computer, and he has a lot of information about all the subs he took, and even a file on Sam, but nothing that would point to the direction of where we would keep them or even where the auction was. David was one sick individual. He had been doing this for years. There were pictures of women, it looked like from other auctions, with price tags hung around their necks.”
He called in the Feds because it looked like he’d been doing this for a while, and in different states. Once the information had been passed along to the others, he had to stand. He couldn’t sit and not do anything. There was no telling what the hell David was doing to her. He had to stop when he read the file on Sam. He didn’t know. It was all there, and she hadn’t told anyone. Syd knew David was going to use that against her. He knew one of her weaknesses now.
He couldn’t stomach telling Noah. Instead he told him to sit and read. It detailed her account of a rape by her boss in Florida, but it looked like the charges were thrown out and she was accused of assault and battery. Her boss had some deep pockets in that town, but now that he knew he would make sure to dig into that rat bastard when this was all done and put his ass in jail, if not in the ground. He started to look around his room for some clues, but so far it was clean. David wasn’t this smart. He had to have left a clue. David had to have planned to have his buddy take the rap for it all, but now he wasn’t going to talk. He had lawyered up and remained tight-lipped no matter how much Milo had tried to “make” him talk. In the end, he was led away to wait for police. Piper was going around, frantic, and Milo was also on edge. However, nothing could compare to what he and Noah were feeling. It was amazing how muc
h a person can love someone until they are gone and then they don’t have them anymore. He was going to get her back, and fix her. No matter what happened, he will always want her and only her.
Noah read the file on Sam, and now it all seemed to make sense with some of her behavior. He knew she was hiding something, but he was just hoping it was that she had a crazy ex who e-mailed her. Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought rape. How strong had she had been to endure it all by herself, and then to have it thrown right back at her. What David and her boss did made him want to castrate all men. The things he did, well both of them, to women just didn’t sit right.
Noah was so sick of the fucking games. David had been playing them from the start. First with being there when each sub was taken, and then the camera, research on Sam, the setup, and now taking her. What was his goal? He liked to win, he was power hungry, and this time he wanted to take something from them. He knew their weakness, which meant he had information on them as well. Where was it? Noah looked around the room. It was too clean. Everything was crisp as if David didn’t stay here but to do work.
He walked over to the closet, and his clothes were all clean and hung up in neat order. Shoes in a straight line, nothing seemed amiss, but he had a stash somewhere. He turned to Sydney. “We need to tear this place apart. He didn’t store information in his computer because he knew we would check that. He has a box somewhere.” They all do. It is something they all did so they could stay connected with their victims. The files were a setup, so they would not look any further. Sydney started to tear into the closet, removing clothes, and pulled the carpet up. He went to the window and felt around for loose boards. Nothing. Sydney moved on to the bathroom, and he took the bed. He pulled it out from the wall and pulled off the covers from the mattress. He noticed a small indent in the middle of the mattress. He flipped it over and saw a slit in it. He pulled out his pocket knife and sliced it open. He reached in and pulled out a large envelope.
“Syd, I found it,” he shouted as he came into the room and helped him lay the content out on the floor. He had pictures of all the women, but it looked like they were chained naked to some sort of barn. Each woman looked scared and bruised and bloody. He had numbers listed below them. He couldn’t find anything that had a location, but it did give a time. Shit, it was tomorrow, well, tonight now. He had to find her, and now. He called Milo to see if he could find out if David had any connection with a barn or farm of some sort. He was going to auction them off just like animals. It was time he called in backup.
Pulling out his phone, he called Wes and Grady. “Hey, man, I need you to pull whoever you can and whatever connection you have. Let’s get our woman back. It’s time we go hunting, Lucky style.”
Chapter Fourteen
Sam didn’t know how much time had passed since he had left, but she knew this time she wasn’t going to be another victim. The light was shining through the small cracks of the stall, so she could take better inventory of her surroundings. There was literally nothing. It was empty except for the spike in the ground that was attached to her, and that was when it hit her. She needed to get the spike out. Sitting down next to the chain she faced away from it as her hands were still bound behind her back. She tried to pull it, but it didn’t move. She turned around and looked to see if she could find a weak point. It looked like it hadn’t been cemented in, but it was deep down in the dirt and the ground was hard. She could try to claw at it to loosen it up. It could take hours, but at this point she didn’t have a choice. It was either that or die, which she refused to do. Sitting down with her back against the spike, she dug her fingers into the ground and it hurt her nails and fingers. It was very hard, but she kept at it, and soon a small piece of earth came up. Thank god, now she just needed time and a bit of luck.
* * * *
Noah was surprised how many people Wes and Grady ended up getting to help them. Cash and Cooper even showed, and Riley stayed with Piper and offered everyone snacks and reassurance that things were going to be okay. With everyone looking at the pictures, they determined it was some sort of horse stable or barn. David didn’t own any land they could find, but they figured he had to somewhere within the state because he needed to be able to drive to get to and from the women.
Noah had gone back and spoken with the suspect they had in custody. The Feds had advised against it, but he didn’t give a rat’s ass what other people thought right now. This little shit knew where they were keeping Sam and the other women. He had to know something. He had taken the women to the location for David to have his sick and twisted ways with them. He had brought the map with him, because this suspect was going to show him exactly where he had taken her.
“Okay, you piece of shit, things will go a hell of a lot easier if you would just work with us. Right now you are looking at kidnapping and human trafficking. Those are the small charges. If you don’t help us now, you are looking at accessory to murder. I think that is one you do not want to add to the list. Now tell us where he took the women,” Noah shouted at the man, and he pounded his hand on the desk, causing the man to jump.
The man was already sporting a black eye, a swollen lip, and he was pretty sure he also had a crack or bruised rib from Milo’s “interrogation” methods. Personally, he didn’t give a fuck what he did as long as he got Sam back.
“You don’t have to talk, just point, and we can make half the charges go away. But I promise if we don’t find her in time, you will only wish that you were stuck in jail for life by the time I’m done with you, do I make myself clear?” He growled into the man’s ear. He was about to give up, and pulled out his knife when the man jumped and pointed to a small section on the map. He looked at it, and it was remote, but it showed a small stream and dirt road that lead it back to the wooded area. It looked about a two-hour drive away. He had to move. They needed to get there before night fell. He rounded everyone up to go over a game plan.
Pulling out a map, he showed everyone where the old stable was located and the best ways to get there. Because the front was so open, it was easy to be spotted taking the direct route, so they could come through the wood and the stream. Looking over at Sydney, he gave a silent nod as everyone climbed into various vehicles to make the trip to save his woman.
* * * *
Sam was making headway with the spike, but her fingers started to go numb as her nails had broken off and now the tips of her fingers were bleeding from digging so much in the hard dirt. A couple times it felt like it shifted, and she turned and placed her bare foot on the spike and pushed it out, trying to get it to shift some. It did move more that way. So she set up a rhythm, dig some, push, dig, and then push. Sam was beyond exhausted now, and her damn jaw hurt from the ball gag he left on her. She couldn’t take this damn this out of her mouth, and it kept her mouth slightly open. She made a small mental note to add “no ball gag” to her list of things she did not want to do.
She suddenly heard the barn door open, knowing he was heading her way. Except he didn’t come straight to her stall. She could hear a noise of something being pushed as it dragged along the dirt and squeaked some. Then the sound of old rusty hinges being opened. She couldn’t hear too much noise from the other women, but him mumbling something about food and how much he is spoiling them by feeding them twice a day. She didn’t have much time. One by one a stall door would be opened and then closed, making her realize he was getting closer to her. The spike finally came loose, and she moved it so she could cut the rope that held her hands bound. The rusty metal soon snapped the rope attached to her as she heard two more doors open and shut. She had to rely on her other senses because if she panicked, she would lose it. Quickly positioning herself, she sat on the loose dirt so he wouldn’t see what she had been working on. She was grateful the chain was somewhat long, because she only had one chance. As soon as he was close, she was going to make her move.
“Well, I see you are awake. I have some food for you, although I don’t think you really ne
ed it. I figured everyone is entitled to a last meal.” He sneered and walked further into the stall. “I guess since I’m in a good mood I’ll take this off, but I swear if you bite me I will hold you down and pull out each tooth one by one with a pair of pliers. Understand me?” Sam nodded her head. She tried to act a little afraid as he approached by scooting back as he walked toward her. He smiled when he saw her reaction. However, in reality, Sam was grabbing the spike so she had a better hold on it. Then everything happened so fast, she didn’t have time to process what followed next.
He bent down and unhooked the strap around her head, allowing the gag to fall out of her mouth, and she brought her arm up, hitting him with the spike in his shoulder, causing blood to squirt out and him to fall to the ground screaming. She jumped up and tried to take off running, only forgetting the spike was still attached to her ankle. She yanked as hard as she could, and the spike went flying out of his back and toward her. Sam took off out the big door. Having no clue where she was, she knew she needed to just go and get help. She wanted to help the other women, but the reality was they all were chained as well and it would take too long for her to get them all free. She could see what looked like water up ahead, and she took off with all her might.
She could hear him yelling behind her, and then she saw he was physically running after her. She had a good head start, but she didn’t want to give him a chance to catch up. Finally making it to the water, she dove in, feeling the cold water shock her naked skin. She didn’t even think. She only reacted and started to make her way to the other side. She had slipped a couple times, and the chain around her ankle kept getting caught. She bent down enough to pick up the spike as it caught in a rock, hoping it would give her more movement. But that didn’t work out as well as she hoped. The sound of water splashed behind her, and he was suddenly there. Trying to calm her ragged breath and fight the cold, she could tell her body was starting to become hypothermic. It was making her legs and arms slow as she swam toward the other bank, trying to get away from him.
Feeling Lucky [Lucky, Montana 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 13