A New Life Series - Finisher Set

by Samantha Jacobey

  “Oh my God, that actually makes sense!” her voice grew louder. “I bet that’s why he was so pissed off that I didn’t go into puberty like a normal girl, either.”

  Eli’s brow furrowed, “Why is that?’

  “Because, you said all of the girls taken were between 15 and 19 years of age. I still had two years of training to complete after I matured,” she grinned slightly. “By the time I was ready, I was too old to be one of these girls.”

  “Why is that important?” Mason cut in, intrigued by her train of thought.

  “I have no idea,” she sounded breathless, “But it’s too many connections not to line up somehow. If the girls were being taken, where were they being taken to? And why? I think if we can discover those answers, we will be a lot closer to finding out what Eddie intended to do with me once I was trained.”

  “You’re talkin’ about your purpose as his ‘secret weapon’ aren’t you,” Enrique burst into laughter. “I remember that shit. Eddie, talkin’ like he was a big shot. Gonna take down The Organization and own it all.”

  “He did say that. I bet Th’ Organization is th’ one takin’ the girls. He picked you, ‘cause you fit th’ kind o’ girls they would be likely t’ take,” Brett snapped his fingers as he spoke, “An’ you’d be inside.”

  “And getting inside the flower is the key,” she spoke more quietly. “The center of the flower is so well guarded, no one gets in without being invited… or brought in.”

  The room fell under an eerie silence as the group retraced the morning’s discoveries. Glancing around at them, she was ready to ask for a break, “Hey, guys; let’s go find a diner and have some lunch. Clear our heads for a bit. When we get back we can plot the disappearances of the girls, and see if that helps us triangulate a position.”

  “A position for what?” Geek spoke up for the first time in a while, in awe at how much they had learned without a single piece of technology.

  “Well, if they’re abducting girls, and they’re staying within a four-hundred mile radius, I’m sure it’s because they’re staying close to home. I bet their actual headquarters is inside that area, or not far from it,” she sucked on her bottom lip, “I think it’s worth looking at, either way.”

  Michael grinned at his wife with pride, “I think you’re right, love. And yes, if you feel like eating, we should go have lunch.” Reaching to grasp her hand, he guided her out to his bike, where she took her place behind him.

  A Last Goodbye

  After lunch, the group returned to the cabin, and Tori rode her bike, only taking Enrique and Michael with her to meet Godfry. Once they were at the location, they pulled up in a row, shutting off their bikes. Surveying their surroundings, she finally sat up straighter on the seat, kicking the bike over easily and listening to it purr for a moment. “Stay here,” she commanded. The men glanced at one another, but made no move to disobey.

  Easing her ride around the curves, she pulled up behind Godfry’s Lincoln Town car and killed the engine. Swinging her leg over, she made her way across the brown grass, unclasping her gloves and shoving them into a pocket. Jim didn’t flinch when she cleared her throat, standing beside him.

  “I knew you’d come around,” he said in a monotone voice. The earth around Debra’s gravestone was freshly dug as if it had only recently been set. “I sometimes wonder why she did it.”

  “Why she did what?” Tori used a soft tone to preserve his mood.

  “Why she helped you. She was so… proud… of what she and Eli did for you. I was so angry. They had disobeyed orders. My orders.” He heaved a heavy sigh; his round belly lifting and falling in the process. “I punished them for it. Both of them. I sent Eli off to handle Dominguez. I put Debra on suspension. She never forgave me. Things were never the same between us after that.”

  Tori shifted, uncomfortable with the tear that rolled down his pudgy cheek. “You told them not to help me?”

  “No. They were allowed to help you. They weren’t supposed to get too close to you. It was supposed to be… business.” He shrugged; the recollection clouded by time. “Eli should have been a professional. I’m sorry that he wasn’t.”

  “I’m not upset about what happened between us,” Tori countered, “I needed him. It helped me that he cared about me when he did. I’m not sure I would have ever made it out of that hospital if he hadn’t.”

  “Oh, you would’ve made it out,” Jim chuckled. “You’re a strong woman. Had to be to have survived all those years.” He shifted, turning his gaze to look at her, wiping the streaks from his face. “I tried to be strong, like you. Did everything I could to control things. To make things be the way I wanted them to be.”

  Holding an open palm towards the mound of dirt, “This is what it got me. And after she died, my wife discovered our affair and our marriage ended in divorce,” his laughter sounded hollow. “So I lost two women over one little mistake.”

  “Whose mistake,” Tori prodded. “What happened?”

  “Mine,” he stated sharply. “Although there were plenty of others who made mistakes as well. Mine was the one that mattered. You see, I let them push me. Only once, but once was enough. And after you cross that line…,” he chuckled again, “There’s no putting it back. You can draw another line, and you can say to yourself, ‘this time, I’m not going to budge.’ But that new line isn’t as strong as the first one, and it falls even quicker.”

  Tori inhaled deeply, fear wrenching her gut, “Are you working for The Organization?” She instantly regretted the question, but it was too late to withdraw it.

  The pause was long, before he nodded his head, looking off in the distance. “Some would say so. It really depends on which line you want to talk about. All I ever really did was look the other way. Closed the file. That’s all it took, and everything I have worked my whole life for slipped away.”

  “What file, Jim?” she barely whispered.

  “Castleford. That’s the name the original case fell under. The day after Bradley Wells was found, I got a phone call. A complete stranger, who made me an offer. It’s not like I hadn’t been contacted before. But that time was different.” He was shaking his head at the memory, as if to change it somehow. “I didn’t take the bribe,” he cut his eyes over at her, “But I might as well have.”

  “What did you do if you didn’t take it?” her lip quivered slightly, his pain evident and pouring over her.

  He shrugged, “I took a few days, made like we were searching for new leads. Let everyone think we were continuing the fight,” he rocked his head in an exaggerated manner. “But I was tired. Tired of the game, tired of the dead ends and brick walls. Losing another agent was more than I could bear. So, I closed the file. I let it go,” he raised his hands, opening a palm as if he were pitching the folder to the wind all over again. “Then you turned up, not dead in a house full of dead men.”

  “And I got an idea. See, after I helped them, the phone calls kept coming. Things they wanted and I was supposed to provide. Like I closed the case for them,” his voice picked up an angry tone, his hands clenched into fists. “They pushed me, making demands. At first I tried to fight it, but what was the use?”

  “Jesus,” Tori swore under her breath.

  “No, even he couldn’t help me at that point. I was sunk. When you came into the picture, that was the only hope I had,” he looked over at her, doleful blue eyes blinking slowly, “You killed the Dragons. All by yourself. Eddie Farrell raised you, taught you everything you know. The more we learned about you, the more sure I was that you could put an end to my problems.”

  Tori gritted her teeth, biting back the words she wanted to fling at him.

  Seeing her jaw flex, he smiled, “That’s why I kept suggesting you go after them. I needed you to save me.”

  “I’m not here to save you,” she spoke bitterly. “And Debra’s death and Doug’s death, and everyone in between; their blood is on your hands.”

  “I know,” he didn’t bother to argue. “I�
�ve reached the end of what I can do. For all my pushing, all my conniving, it hasn’t gotten me anywhere.” He paused, squinting at her, as if she were out of focus, “What is it that you want? I know you’re not here because you give a rat’s ass about me.”

  Tori shifted, uncomfortable with his confessions. Wrinkling her nose at him, she asked in a submissive voice, “Did you tell The Organization about me? Did you sell me out?”

  “Sell you out?” he choked on the words. “What good would that have done? I wanted you to finish them. You couldn’t do that if I told them about you.” He slid his tongue over his teeth, “No one was more disappointed about Doug than I was, and for that very reason. They didn’t know anything about you really until they got to him.”

  Her face crinkled; she pursed her lips, “I need my clothes. My jacket to be precise.”

  “Your jacket? You’re wearing your jacket,” he muttered.

  “Not this one. The one I wore when I rode with the Dragons. The one that was in the house when we were found. Eli says it could be in evidence somewhere. But, since you have ostracized both him and Mason, I have to ask you for it.” She stared at him, waiting for his response. “They are good men, Jim. You shouldn’t punish them for helping do this thing that you want done so badly.”

  “I won’t,” he shook his head. “I had to shut them out, but their records will be cleared if you are successful. I’ll see to that. As far as your clothes,” he shrugged, “I know where they might be. We gathered everything from the house and had it boxed. It’s all in the evidence vault at the warehouse. You’ll have to go through it to find what you need.”

  “And how will we get into the vault?”

  “I’ll get you a window. No one can know that you were there. Take Eli, he’ll know where to go and where to look. Tell him I’ll clear the path. You won’t have long, thirty minutes at most, so be quick.” He gave her a small grin, “I’m glad you finally decided to take care of them. Whatever your reasons, I hope you make it.”

  “Yeah, that makes two of us,” she half grinned herself. “What time?”

  “Nine, in the morning,” he nodded, “You’ll be fine. And good luck to you on all that comes after that.” Turning, he walked away, leaving the girl standing at the grave of her friend.

  Tori let him go, her mind drifting over the memories of Debra; what she had meant to her. “Goodbye, my friend,” she called softly to the marble, “I swear they will go down, or we will. I can’t let this go any longer.” Turning, she made her way back to her bike, starting it and setting off to rejoin the rest of her crew and give them her news.

  Gather the Evidence

  The following morning, Eli drove her to the warehouse that Godfry had spoken of. To his surprise, the attendant at the gate swung it open for them without argument. His expression placid, he parked in front of the plain brown structure and led her inside. Within minutes, they were on the proper floor and had located the section of items taken from the farmhouse, over twenty boxes in all.

  “Wow, I’m sure it’ll be here,” he speculated. “It looks like they collected anything that appeared to belong to the Dragons.”

  “I think you’re right,” she hoisted a box and sat it on the floor, tossing the lid off and rummaging inside. “It’s a black leather jacket, with silver buttons. Looks a lot like the one I’m wearing, too.” Nodding, he set about helping her.

  The process continued for several minutes, each of them taking down totes to gaze inside. Finally, Eli flipped open a lid and could feel his pulse quicken. Lifting the black leather, he called to her, “Hey, I think this might be it.”

  Tori shoved a plastic bag she had been inspecting into her pocket. Joining him, she held up the heavy material, recalling the day it was presented to her. “Yeah, this was mine,” she breathed as she lay it over the box, her hands squeezing it, feeling for the object she had hidden inside the lining.

  “We need any of this other stuff?” he glanced around them at the other boxes, with their contents pulled out and scattered.

  “No, you can put it all back,” she had located the small piece of metal and was preparing to cut it out with a blade from her boot. “This is what we came for,” she held up the shiny silver key for him to see before she placed it in her pocket, shoving the mutilated outerwear back into storage.

  “So what does it go to?” he inquired, quickly cleaning their mess.

  “I have no idea,” she confessed.

  Eli stopped moving to glare at her, “You mean we came to get a key, and you have no idea what it opens?”

  “Yup,” she tossed back, placing the last box on the shelf. “That’s it, let’s get the hell out of here.”

  Leaving the room, the pair stepped onto the elevator, the doors closing as he hit the button that would take them to the ground floor. “You’re only saying you don’t know because you don’t trust me.”

  Cutting her eyes over at him, she heaved a deep breath, forcing the air out noisily, “I trust you. I really don’t know. I do know that whatever it fits is important. I’m certain this is what Eddie was searching for the night he killed Henry. I thought it might go to the toolbox from his storage; the one that held his cash stores.”

  She paused as they exited the cubicle and made their way out the front doors unchecked. Her heels clicking loudly on the sidewalk, they climbed into his car, and she continued, “But it couldn’t be the box. Eddie had his own cash, and that wouldn’t be important enough to kill a member of the crew. Plus, Henry concealed the fact that he gave it to me, which is why I hid it myself, and didn’t tell anyone that I had it.”

  “Well,” Eli replied, his nerves calming as the building faded behind them, “When we meet up with the others, we can brainstorm some ideas of what it might unlock.”

  Tori watched the familiar buildings zooming past, “Yeah, and until we do, I’ll keep it safe.” Patting her pocket, she remembered the evidence bag she had also removed from one of the boxes. Pulling it out, her fingers slid over the smooth surface.

  She lifted the plastic, staring at the knife through the hazy covering. Unzipping the seal, she slid the shiny metal out onto her hand, rubbing the cold steel as the memories cascaded around her.

  TORI… the engraving was still visible. Eddie’s gift to me. She thought about the day he gave her the blade. The day after he raped me, and marked me. Her hand moved uncontrollably up to caress the bite mark she had covered with Michael’s name.

  Her mind became trapped in the past, and she considered the gift itself. He must have bought it sometime before that… would have had to. Prepared it and kept it, waiting to present it to her as Michael had done with his ring. How long had he waited? What was he waiting for?

  Tori recalled that Eddie had not allowed any man to touch her. Not until I was ready. Matured. Or was it something else he waited for? “Eddie wants to be your first, baby girl.” That’s what Henry had told her.

  Shifting in the seat, she recalled the training and the time that she had spent with the leader of their group. Never patient, always demanding. Demanding what? Touching me, stroking my hair. Always innocent, never a hand where it shouldn’t have been. So why did it bother her so much? He was such an evil man, what was he waiting for? Why didn’t he take her then, and get it over with?

  Turning the knife in her hand, the truth began to flicker in the back of her mind. He was waiting for you. For you to choose. Eddie wanted the girl for his own. The knife was a special gift, marked with her name. He wanted me to be his mate. Did Eddie Farrell love her? Is that why they had played their game?

  But, he was terrible to me. Always! She recalled the beatings she had taken from him, dimly aware that no one else had been permitted to raise a hand to her back in the day. It wasn’t until after her induction that Red had been permitted to unleash his dark and morbid desires upon her.

  And Eddie played the good guy. Coming along behind his brother, holding me tenderly, soothing my wounds. Trying to make things better, but things were
never better. I hated him the same; never wanted to be with him.

  The light snapped on brightly; he was waiting for you to choose him! But she didn’t choose Eddie… she chose Henry. Henry was my first.

  “What’s that?” Eli interrupted her thoughts, causing her to jump.

  “It’s nothing,” she breathed, “My old knife. The one that Eddie gave me when I was inducted.”

  She ran her thumb across her name again, I never understood before. She felt a stab of sadness that she had missed out on this detail and the significance of it. Would it have changed anything, if I had known? Would it have mattered, if I had chosen him?

  Says Who

  Arriving back at the camp, Tori made her way into the cabin and closed the door to the bedroom, stretching out across the bed. Reaching into her inner pocket, she pulled out the knife, turning the talisman in her hand as if it were capable of transporting her into the past. Breathing deeply, she focused on Eddie, rifling through the memories.

  After they had inducted her, the rest of the group partook of her at will. However, she was rarely made to service them all in the same night, unless she needed to be punished. Outsiders to the group were only permitted to touch with permission; Eddie’s permission.

  Of course, there were only perhaps a dozen men outside the Dragons and the Scorpions that she had ever been with. Eddie liked his prize and only shared her if the recipient was highly deserving. Her mind going over those who had made the cut, she came across Bradley Wells. He was not so worthy, and the reason she had been shared with him was dark.

  Tori had been outside, with the rest of the Dragons, when they received their orders regarding him, so she had no idea what was actually said. All she knew was what Eddie had told her; that he was a Fed, which turned out to have been true. At the time, she hadn’t really cared about the secret meetings where the leader and his second would disappear into the shop to meet with the rep.