She Left Me Breathless

by Trin Denise

  Chapter 15

  Sydney had given Jed and everyone else in the house, the night off. She sat at the small table in the kitchen sipping a cup of coffee, tinged with Bailey’s Irish Cream. She had been in this same spot for almost two hours, seemingly unable to move.

  The sound of the doorbell chiming caused her to jerk her head up. She glanced at the clock on the wall. She reluctantly got up from the table and made her way through the family room. It was nearly nine and she couldn’t imagine who it might be.

  She crossed the entry way foyer, unlocked the door, and pulled it open. What she saw caused her breath to catch in her throat.

  A distraught Rachel, with blood on the side of her face looked at Sydney. “I’m sorry and I know it’s late but I didn’t know where else to go.”

  “No, no, come in,” Sydney said, taking Rachel by the hand. “What happened, Rache? Are you okay?” she asked, kicking the door shut with her foot.

  “I told Edward that I was filing for a divorce and he went nuts and ... and ...” she broke down in sobs, unable to finish her sentence.

  “It’s okay, baby. You’re safe now. Let’s go get you cleaned up,” Sydney said soothingly as she led Rachel toward the bathroom.

  She flipped on the light and gently pushed Rachel down onto the toilet seat. She felt anger course through her body as she glanced at the cut near Rachel’s eyebrow. She opened the medicine cabinet and took out some ointment, alcohol pads, and a Band-Aid. “Did he hit you?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  Rachel’s one word answer caused Sydney to feel something akin to rage. I’m going to kill the son of a bitch. That’s all there is to it, she thought as she jerked open a drawer and took out a clean wash cloth.

  She knelt down in front of Rachel. She gently laid her hand against Rachel’s cheek. “Are you hurt anywhere else, sweetheart?” she asked the question although she was afraid of the answer.

  Rachel shook her head. “No but it wasn’t for lack of trying. I got out of the house before he could do anything else.”

  Sydney got to her feet and turned on the hot water. “What about the girls?” she asked.

  “Caitlyn’s still at work and Alyssa had a sleepover at Christy’s.”

  “I’m just going to wipe the blood off, okay,” Sydney said as she pressed the warm, wet washcloth against Rachel’s face. She wiped away the blood, trying to be as gentle as she possibly could.

  “Mmm, that feels good,” Rachel said, leaning into Sydney’s touch.

  “You might not like me too much after I clean it though,” Sydney said as she ripped the package open and removed the alcohol swab. “This may sting a bit.”

  Rachel groaned when the swab made contact.

  “I’m sorry, baby,” Sydney said, tossing the swab in the trashcan. She spread a small dab of ointment on the cut, ripped off the Band-Aid strips, and gently covered the small gash.

  Without realizing what she was doing, she leaned over and softly kissed Rachel on the mouth. She intended to pull away, but Rachel’s arms wrapping around her neck prevented her from doing so. For several seconds they just stared into each other’s eyes.

  Sydney knew that the desire and hunger she was seeing and feeling from Rachel was also mirrored in her own eyes and body. Her mouth went dry, her heart began to race and she knew that this woman would always own her heart.

  “Kiss me, Sydney,” Rachel said, her words coming out as a plea.

  When their lips met, everything in Sydney’s world stopped. She devoured Rachel’s mouth as if it were the last thing she would ever feel. She groaned when she felt the tip of Rachel’s tongue slide over her lips.

  Sydney pulled back to look at Rachel. “I want you so much, Rache, so much that I think I will die if I don’t taste you.”

  “Then taste me,” Rachel said huskily and then proceeded to trail kisses up the side of Sydney’s neck.

  “As much as I want that, it’s not the right time or place at the moment,” Sydney said.

  Rachel laughed. “And here I thought chivalry was dead.”

  Caitlyn glanced at her watch as she dropped down into her chair. Another late night at the office. I really need to get a life, she thought to herself. She heaved her laptop bag up on the desk and unzipped the outside pocket. She pulled a compact disk out and removed it from its protective pink case.

  She pushed the button to open the disk drive on her desktop and waited for the tray to slide open. “That’s odd,” she said, frowning. She looked at the silver colored disk laying in the tray.

  “This is definitely not mine,” she said and removed the disk. “Where did you come from and what are you doing here? Someone has been in my office when I wasn’t here and lucky for me they forgot you,” she said, continuing to talk aloud to the disk as if it were a person and not an object.

  “Let’s see what you have to say little guy.” She placed the disk back in the tray and pushed it in. She clicked on the cd drive letter and waited for the contents of the disk to pop up and then clicked on the only folder listed.

  “OMG ... I can’t believe this.” She grabbed her cell out of her purse and hit the speed dial for Sydney. “Come on, come on, answer,” she urged as the phone rang in her ear.

  “Oh, Sydney, thank God,” she said when she heard Sydney’s voice on the other end.

  Sydney lay on the couch with her cell up to her ear. She smiled at Rachel as she sat two cups of tea down on the coffee table. “Hey there, what’s up?” she asked.

  “You’re not going to believe this. I know who the embezzler is ... It’s ... No, don’t,” Caitlyn’s voice screamed through the phone.

  Sydney sat bolt upright on the couch, the color draining from her face. “Caitlyn, Caitlyn,” she yelled into the phone .

  Hearing Caitlyn’s name, Rachel stopped in mid-motion. “What’s wrong?” she asked with a panic stricken look as she watched Sydney jump to her feet.

  Caitlyn’s unconscious, crumpled body lay on the floor. A steady stream of blood ran down the side of her face, dripping onto the carpet.

  Maureen, knelt down beside Caitlyn and removed the syringe sticking out of the side of her neck. She slipped a plastic cover over the needle and stuck it in her coat pocket.

  She glanced at the phone laying several feet away from Caitlyn’s head. The sound of Sydney’s voice filled the room as she yelled through the receiver. Maureen slowly got to her feet, stepping over Caitlyn’s body, she bent down and picked up the phone.

  She placed the phone against her ear. A sadistic smile formed on her mouth as she listened to Sydney’s frantic pleas.

  “Hello? Hello,” Sydney yelled into the phone. She looked at Rachel as she came out from behind the coffee table. “I know you’re there because I can hear you breathing. Answer me damn it,” she yelled into the phone and then the line went dead.

  “Sydney. Where’s Caitlyn? What happened?” Rachel’s asked calmly when every nerve in her body was telling her to scream.

  “I don’t know but we need to get to Welsh now,” Sydney yelled over her shoulder as she ran toward her bedroom.

  Tears streamed down Rachel’s face as she took off running after Sydney. “Oh my God, Sydney, if something has happened to Caitlyn, I don’t know what I will do,” she sobbed.

  Sydney stopped and turned to face Rachel and pulled her into her arms. “She’s going to be okay,” she said in an attempt to reassure Rachel as well as herself. She knew something was terribly wrong and she fought like mad to keep her mind from creating the worst case scenario of what was happening at this very moment in Caitlyn’s office.

  “We can’t waste anymore time,” she said, reluctantly letting go of Rachel. She ran around the side of her bed and jerked open the top drawer of her nightstand.

  “Oh no, no. What are you doing?” Rachel cried out when she saw the object in Sydney’s hand.

  Sydney ignored Rachel’s question and slipped the magazine clip into the butt of the gun. She chambered the bullet by pulling back and re
leasing the slide. She grabbed an extra magazine from the drawer and slipped it into her pocket.

  “Sydney, this is not the answer. We need to call the police,” Rachel pleaded when Sydney didn’t answer her.

  “We don’t have time for that,” Sydney said as she came from around the bed. “They may kill Caitlyn before the police can get there.”

  “Oh dear God,” Rachel cried between sobs.

  The sound of Sydney’s cell phone ringing in the family room forced both women to run out of the bedroom. Sydney snatched the phone up without bothering to look at the caller ID. “Hello,” she said into the receiver as she sat down on the edge of the couch.

  “As you know by now, I have your employee,” the distorted voice said into Sydney’s ear.

  Sydney hit the button to put the phone on speaker mode and then laid it down on the coffee table.

  “I want two-million dollars in unmarked bills and you have twenty-fours to make it happen,” the distorted voice said.

  “I can’t get that amount of money that quickly. I need more time.,” Sydney tried to argue.

  “Ms. Welsh, if you want to see your employee alive again, you better make it happen.”

  “I want to speak to my daughter. Is she okay? Please tell me,” Rachel yelled at the phone.

  “I will call back in one hour. Keep your phone with you and no police,” the voice said and then the phone line went dead.

  Rachel dropped down on the couch next to Sydney. With shaky hands, she ran her fingers through her hair. She leaned against Sydney as gut wrenching sobs wracked her body. “I can’t lose Caitlyn, I just can’t,” she cried as Sydney wrapped her arm around her shoulders. With her free hand, Sydney picked up her cell and hit the speed dial. She frowned when it went straight to voice-mail.

  “Jackie, it’s Sydney. I have an emergency and I need your help now. Meet me at Welsh just as soon as you get this message.” She hung up the phone and got to her feet, pulling Rachel up along with her.

  Caitlyn’s eyes slowly fluttered open. It took several seconds for her vision to come into focus and when it did, she realized that she was flat on her back, looking up at a dingy grey ceiling. Her heart begun to race as images from her office flashed through her mind. She felt something cold against her skin and raised her head slightly to look at her legs. Wrapped around her ankle was a metal cuff with a chain attached to it. The other end of the chain was affixed to a large screw protruding from the wall.

  She groggily sat up and then swung her legs over the side of the green-colored cot that she was sitting on. As her feet hit the floor she grabbed both sides of her head to try and stop the throbbing sensation behind her eyes. The pain was so intense, she felt like she might puke.

  She looked around the room to try and get her bearings. It was small, and measured approximately ten feet on all four sides with only one way in and out. The walls were made of large cinder blocks and were covered with chipped lime green paint. There were no windows and she assumed that she must be locked in a basement somewhere. She looked at her only route of escape. A door, with a small caged window, was centered directly in the middle of the wall opposite her.

  A movement out of the corner of her eye caused her to jerk her head around. She quickly covered her mouth with her hand to keep from screaming. Two feet away, standing next to the wall, was a rat the size of a house cat. As she glanced around the floor, she felt her stomach heave as she watched several more rats scurrying in different directions.

  This time, she was unable to stop the scream that came from her mouth as the rat near the wall ran beneath the cot she was sitting on. She jerked her legs up off the floor and wrapped her arms around her knees. She rocked back and forth, sobbing as tears streamed down her face.

  “Oh God, please help me,” she begged.

  “For heaven sakes, shut the hell up,” Maureen yelled as she looked at Caitlyn through the wire window in the door.

  Caitlyn looked up at Maureen. “Sydney would have given you anything you asked for. Why are you doing this? I don’t understand.”

  Maureen snorted. “No, I guess you wouldn’t. You being little miss perfect and all,” she said and then walked away.

  Caitlyn frowned as she looked at the door. Although it was muffled, it sounded like Maureen was talking to someone. “She’s not alone,” Caitlyn whispered. Who else is in on this? she wondered.

  “What the hell were you thinking?” Caitlyn heard the second person yell in a mechanically altered voice.

  They’re using a voice-changer, Caitlyn thought as she listened to their conversation.

  “Are you kidding me? You’re the one who told me to go get it and if you hadn’t left the damn cd there, we wouldn’t be in this position,” Maureen yelled back.

  “She was never part of our plan. She saw your face. She knows who you are and now we have to kill her,” the voice said.

  Forgetting about the rats, Caitlyn jumped up off of the cot. “Shit, shit, shit. I’ve got to get out of here,” she whispered. But how? How do I get out when there’s only one door and I’m chained to the freaking wall. Think, think, she told herself.

  “We should have asked for more money,” Maureen said.

  “Just how damn much more do you think we need? In case you didn’t hear me the first time, she was not part of our plan and now we have a mess to clean up. Murder was never part of the fucking deal,” the voice replied.

  Caitlyn could hear the agitation in the person’s voice who was using the voice-changer and the sound of something being slung against the wall told her that this person was not happy one bit.

  “We don’t have to kill anyone. Don’t you see? In two days this building will be demolished for Sydney’s precious little project. Our little problem is going to have a very unfortunate accident, so technically it’s not murder,” Maureen said in a soothing voice, trying to reason with the person she was talking to.

  “Call it what you want but I still don’t like it. Do you think you can handle things until I get back?”

  “How long are you going to be gone?” Maureen asked.

  “Couple hours at the most.”

  “I can handle it but try to hurry, okay?”

  “I can’t believe all of this has been going on for months and not once did you think to call the police. Were you out of your freaking mind?” Rachel yelled.

  “Yelling at me isn’t going to help and I know you’re right. If I could do it all over again I would,” Sydney said as the tires on her truck squealed.

  “Would you please slow down before you kill us both?” Rachel shrieked as she reached out to grab the handle at the top of the door to keep from sliding across the seat.

  “I know what I did was stupid, Rache, and I will do everything I can to get Caitlyn back,” Sydney said as she ran through the third red light in a row.

  “I swear to God, Sydney, if anything happens to Caitlyn, I’ll never forgive you.”

  Sydney pulled into the Welsh parking lot and brought the truck to a tire sliding halt right in front of the main entrance. Without a word, she and Rachel jumped out of the truck and ran inside. They took the elevator up to the executive floor.

  “Oh dear God,” Rachel cried out when they entered Caitlyn’s office. The room was trashed. “Oh no, no, no,” Rachel kept repeating when she saw the blood smears on the side of Caitlyn’s desk. “She’s dead,” Rachel said when she noticed the small puddle of blood on the floor that had turned the light blue carpet purple.

  “Listen to me,” Sydney said, grabbing Rachel by the shoulders. “Listen to me,” she repeated. She gently shook Rachel in order to get her to look at her. “She’s not dead and we are going to find her but you have to help me here. Please, I know this is hard but I need your help.”

  “I know,” Rachel said, laying her head against Sydney’s chest. “I can’t lose her.”

  “I promise, we won’t,” Sydney said and placed a light kiss on the top of Rachel’s head.

  The sound of Sydney�
�s cell phone ringing caused them to pull apart. She snatched it off her waistband. She looked at the caller ID. She didn’t recognize the number.

  “Hello,” she said after pressing the speaker phone button.

  Maureen held the voice-changer to her mouth. “Have you arranged to get my money yet?” she said into the cell phone.

  “I need more time,” Sydney replied.

  “Bullshit! Do you really think I would believe that the great and powerful Sydney Welsh can’t get her hands on a measly two-million dollars within twenty-four hours?” Maureen asked.

  “I want to talk to Caitlyn,” Sydney demanded.

  Maureen laughed. “And people in hell want ice water and from where I’m standing, you’re in no position to demand anything.”

  “Please let me talk to Caitlyn. I just want to know that she’s okay,” Sydney asked in a calm voice.

  “With God as my witness, Ms. Welsh, if you’ve called the police, make no mistake about it, I will kill her,” Maureen said, her voice rising several octaves.

  “I swear. I haven’t called the police. You have my word on that,” Sydney said in an attempt to reassure Caitlyn’s kidnapper.

  “I’m watching you and Ms. Ashburn and if you do, I will know it,” Maureen said in a matter of fact voice.

  “What do you mean you’re watching us?” Sydney asked.

  Maureen laughed “Let’s see, right now, you are wearing a black turtle neck sweater and jeans and Ms. Ashburn looks ravishing in that cream colored blouse. It really accentuates the curve of her breasts, don’t you think?”

  Rachel and Sydney looked at each other with shocked expressions on their face. Sydney looked around the room. Her eyes stopped at the small camera on Caitlyn’s desk. She casually moved in front of it and turned to face Rachel, her back blocking the camera lens. She placed her finger to her mouth for Rachel to be quiet and not say anything.