by Jessica Page
“Where's the man you were with? Did that coward leave you all alone?” The man questioned with an evil smile spreading across his lips. I had no clue where Kane was, and even if I did I wouldn't have told this asshole. I knew one thing for sure: Kane would not leave me here.
“Russ! We got the senator and all the security detail is dead. We have to bring the girl too! We have to move!” A nearby man shouted at my attacker as he wrapped his arm around my waist and dragged me towards a blue GMC SUV with blacked-out license plates.
“Let me go!” I shouted, trying to free myself. I dug my heels into the asphalt in an attempt to gain what little traction I could. I looked around frantically as we inched closer to their SUV. I knew if they got me in there I'd be doomed. I heard a loud gasp followed by what sounded like a loud twig breaking and suddenly my assailant released me. I looked up to find Kane standing over my attacker's dead body. I could tell by the distorted way his neck looked it had been broken.
Sirens rang in the nearby and Kane grabbed my hand and we quickly ran over to a nearby bush, settling into a crouched position. “Shouldn't we be running towards the sirens or something?” I whispered in confusion. Why are we just sitting here?
“No,” he answered, watching intently as the blue SUV stayed put even with the police cruiser approaching.
“Why aren't they leaving?”
“That's a good question. Let's wait and see,” Kane offered, pulling me in little closer to him as we watched the scene unfold. The squad car pulled up next to the blue SUV. The police officer on the driver's side of the vehicle got out and walked over to the passenger side of the blue SUV.
“Where's the woman?” the cop asked, which gathered meant me.
“She got away but she wasn't alone, there was some other guy with her.”
“Fuck, Marty! This was supposed to be clean and discreet!” The officer said, angrily running his hands through his hair.
Have you found where that bitch lives yet, at least?” The guy named Marty asked, angrily lighting a cigarette.
“No, and no luck on the lists yet either.”
“Dammit!” he hissed roughly, running his hands through his greasy blond hair, “Well we will see what Mr. Senator here is willing to share. Hopefully it's more than that French bitch. Clean up this mess. We'll talk soon.” And without another word the SUV sped off.
“So the cops are involved in all this?” I asked in disbelief. What the hell was happening here?
“Looks like it. That means we won't be able to depend on them for help. What the hell has James gotten himself into?” Kane asked aloud to himself. “We should get out of here.” He grabbed my hand and we took off running in the opposite direction through the wooded area as far away from the parking lot as possible.
After we ran for what felt like a forever, we reached a bar parking lot. Kane stopped abruptly. “Stay here. I'll be right back,” I wanted to protest but I was too tired and out of breath to get the words out. Within moments Kane pulled up beside me in a green Toyota Camry. “Get in Kendall.”
“Did you steal that?”
“Really, Kendall? After everything that's gone on tonight getting into a stolen vehicle is where you draw the line? We don't have time for this! Get in,” Kane spat, exasperated, before I reluctantly got into the stolen vehicle and he sped off.
“They took James…” I whispered after a few minutes.
“Yes, it appears as though they came for him and you too.” Kane answered, never taking his eyes off the road. “Any ideas why they came after you guys?”
“No clue at all,” I answered, bewildered, seeing his eyes glance my way as though he wasn't sure I was telling the truth, “Honestly, I have no clue. I mean I'd tell you if I did!”
He nodded, seeming satisfied. “I wonder who called the cops. Shouldn't we have stayed there to give our statement?” I inquired, unsure what the proper procedure was for this sort of thing, but it seemed inappropriate to just leave the scene of a crime.
“I called the cops using one of James' security personnel cell phones. That's why it took me a second to get to you when that scumbag took you. Calling the police was just to buy us some time to escape. My guess is that the cops who are in on it were close and opted to respond, which is why they showed up so quickly and without backup. I know professionals when I see them, and these men were professionals. They have the added bonus of having cops on their side, which means whoever orchestrated this must have deep pockets and a lot of power. They came for James and for you and until we figure out what the hell is going on and why, we need to be careful and smart.”
I was trying process everything that was going on. This whole thing was completely insane. How had I gotten in the middle of it? What did they want with me? One name came to mind, Dominique. “We have to get to Dominique,” I stated frantically getting a confused pair of eyes staring back at me.
“Why?”
“James started acting weird and he said he needed to contact her. The man back there mentioned a 'French Bitch'. That can't be a coincidence. She knows something about what's happening. I know where she lives Kane.”
Kane was quiet a moment, thinking, “Fine, I don't like this idea but we don't have much else to go on. We'll ditch the car a few blocks from her place.”
Kendall
Kane and I climbed the fence leading to Dominique's backward. Kane insisted on us staying as hidden as possible so we wouldn't draw any attention to ourselves. The lights were on inside the house, but there didn't appear to be much movement. The back door was eerily ajar but there were no sounds coming from the house. Something told me this wasn't a good sign.
“Do you think they took her?” I asked, knowing someone had been here. I was a little unsure as to whom that someone was.
“Possibly. Wait here, I'm just going to check the house quickly.”
“No! I'm not staying out here by myself. I'd rather be in there with you. I'll stay back. I won't get in the way. Please,” I pleaded. He let out a deep sigh before nodding in agreement. Relief flowed through me; the last I wanted was to be alone out here.
“Be careful and quiet and don't touch anything. We don't want anyone to know we were here,” Kane insisted as we made our way through the back door. I could see the house had been ransacked. Whoever had been here had obviously been looking for something. I walked down the hallway which led to a series of rooms including Dominique's office. I entered and was taken aback by all the misplaced and broken furniture. There were papers everywhere and there appeared to be bloody handprints on the wall. My pulse quickened in my terror at what I might find on the other side of her desk.
“Oh my God! Dom!” I cried running towards her motionless, blood-covered body. I wanted to help her but there was so much blood I didn't know where to start or what to do.
“Don't touch her! Don't touch anything!” Kane insisted as I shot him a pleading look.
“I can't just leave her like that!” I said. Kane leaned in close to her, his feet avoiding the pool that surrounded her. He crouched down and reached forward, gently checking her neck for a pulse. There was so much blood; I couldn't see how anyone could survive.
“I'm sorry, Kendall, she's gone,” he offered wiping the spot he'd touched with his sleeve. My vision suddenly went blurry. I felt like I wanted to sob but for some reason I couldn't; in fact, I could barely think. Kane got up and walked over to me. “Are you okay?”
“Honestly, no,” I answered having a hard time catching my breath as I stared staring at her dead body on the ground. I'd just spoken to her this morning and now she was gone. Everything has changed.
He nodded in understanding. “Kendall we need to get out of here. We should leave the same way we came in before anyone realizes we're here. My guess is the cops will be here soon. Once we get downtown we'll take a cab to your place for now.”
I nodded, unable to bring myself to do anything. Truth was that I had absolutely no idea what to do at this point. I'd almost been kidnapped,
Dominique was dead and for all I knew there were trained killers after me. I needed help — I needed Kane. He carefully led me out of the house, helping me to walk. I felt so unbelievably lost. Before long we were over the fence once more and we disappeared into the night.
Chapter 8
Kane
We got to Kendall's apartment and I immediately started checking for any signs of tampering. I took out my RF pen and began scanning the area for any bugged devices as she sat motionless on the couch, still wearing her dirty and blood-covered clothing. It wasn't that I didn't sympathize with what she was going through; I knew very well how badly her mind and body were battling through the stages of grief and shock. She'd been attacked, witnessed horrible violence, almost been kidnapped which would have resulted in God knows what, and watched a close friend die. Tonight was probably one of the worst nights of her life and it would likely haunt her for the rest of her life. It was a horrible thing to have to live through, but I'm almost certain this would not be the last bad night she has to deal with in the near future. These men were hired by someone to find and kill my brother, Dominique and her. They ransacked Dominique's place but based on what that cop had said, hadn't found what they were looking for. I wasn't sure if Kendall was collateral damage or if she knew more than she was saying, but regardless, whoever is behind this thought she did and they won't stop until the job is done. That's what these men do; they finish the job.
I had to figure out what our next move was, odds were they had already or were in the process of ransacking James' house, and I wasn't sure how long we had until they had Kendall's address. I didn't know how close she and my brother were, and that would affect how quickly these killers might find out where we were. I needed that information, so I walked over to Kendall and lowered myself. I faced her while trying to make myself as small as possible as to not intimidate her further. “Kendall…” I said softly, trying to get her to focus, “Kendall, can you look at me, please.”
Her sad eyes met mine and for a second I was overcome with compassion. I wanted so badly to collect her into my arms and just hug her as long as she needed me to, but my training quickly pushed all those emotions out. I needed to focus. “Kendall, is this apartment in your name?”
“Yes,” she answered in a small voice.
“Does Dominique have anything in her records with your name and address on it?”
“No, she always referred to me as Raina. She never kept a file or records of addresses or anything because she didn't need to. I was always picked up in front of a hotel a few blocks away and we never spoke outside of work. Everything was done over the phone. Even my payments came by electronic transfer.”
“What phone did you use?”
“My work phone, Dominique…” She offered, pausing a moment at the mention of her late employer's name, “She gave us all new burner phone on a bi-monthly basis,” she stated, grabbing her purse, pulling out a black cell phone.
“Give it to me please.” She handed it to me and I dropped it to the ground, stomping on it. She watched intently as I walked into the kitchen and placed the remains of the phone into the sink, running water of them. I wasn't sure if they had thought to track it, but I was hoping they hadn't gotten that far yet. I walked back in the living room, “So you never use your personal cell phone for work? Did James ever call you on it?”
“No, never.”
“What about staying here? Did James ever stay here? Would anyone have any way of tracing him here to this location?” I asked suddenly feeling like someone had kicked me in the chest. Even after everything that had happened tonight the thought of them together made me feel both hurt and angry.
“No. It's not that kind of relationship,” she offered harshly, her eyes practically scorching me with irritation.
I nodded, not really sure what she meant, but the last thing I wanted to do was get into the specifics of their relationship, “Okay then, we're going to go with the assumption that they don't know where you live yet. It's late and I think we've both dealt with enough tonight. We should be safe here for now and we can leave first thing tomorrow morning,” she nodded, “For now I'm going to suggest you go shower.”
Noticing the blush that had settled on her cheeks, I figured I should clarify, “You know, to get the blood and dirt off of you. You'll feel a little better once you're clean. Then you should pack a bag and try to get some rest.”
“Yeah okay,” she said looking down at her dirt-covered legs and bloodstained hands, “What happens after that? Where will we go tomorrow?”
“Well the first thing is to try and figure out want they're looking for and get it before they do. Then we can try to arrange a trade or go to the authorities if needed. But we obviously have to be very careful about who we deal with in the local police force. We'll need to find someone we can trust. I have a few friends here in Washington I'm going to reach out to and see what they might know.” I was pretty sure my friend Jeremy still worked as a Naval Intelligence Advisor at one of the bases in Washington. He would be a good place to start. I watched Kendall taking it all in and thinking everything over. “Is there anything you can think of that would bring on this sort of thing? Anyone you know would want to hurt James and Dominique, or you for that matter?”
“No, I've been trying to think of someone, but there's nobody coming to mind. I wasn't exactly in the inner circle of their relationship. I mean, James is a senator, and a good one at that. He's very cunning and influential, so I'm sure there's a list of people who might not like him for one reason or another. My guess is James confided in Dom or she was involved in whatever was going on. As for me, well I'm at a total loss as to how I got roped into all this,” she stated in disbelief, and I trusted her. Although I didn't know her well, something about her didn't strike me as someone who would be stupid enough not to provide important information given this situation. I believed if she knew anything she would share it.
“Okay, let me know if anything jumps out at you. I need some time to think. Tomorrow we'll figure out our next move. In the meantime I'll reach out to some of my contacts.”
She got up and headed over to the bathroom. Stopping in the doorway, she slowly turned her body around to face me, “I wanted to say thank you for saving me tonight. I appreciate all your help but… if you want to leave, you can. I won't blame you. I can go on the run for a while and try to figure things out. You don't need to continue being involved in all this… this… madness. I know you and James weren't close and it's not too late for you to walk away. You didn't ask for this,” she said earnestly, sounding somehow incredibly brave and vulnerable at the same time. She was giving me an out and she was right, I had no real relationship with my brother or with her. I could leave and never look back, but that wasn't in my nature. I couldn't leave her exposed and vulnerable like this. And even if he was a shitty brother I couldn't leave James to rot and die somewhere.
“You didn't ask for this either. Besides, they saw my face so whether I like it or not, I'm involved now,” I answered honestly, unsure whether they would come after me. Of course I've been trained to protect myself and as long as I was working in the SEALs I was better protected from being identified by any system, especially without alerting my superiors at the very least. Given my rank and my skill-set I was very important to them which warranted additional protection at times. Sometimes it was useful knowing how to be a ghost.
“Well then, thank you again, but this time for staying. I'm grateful,” Kendall said as she walked through the doorway, closing the door behind her.
I found myself smiling, which I knew was an unusual reaction given the circumstances, but I couldn't help it. It was odd to actually be thanked for doing what comes naturally to me — being a fixer, an investigator, a protector, and a soldier. That's what I was doing right now. Everything about this was like the job I did every day and honestly, as sick and difficult as my job could be at times, I'm good at it. At least, I was before the incident happened, but then something c
hanged in me. Actually, everything changed for me. I wasn't sure what was driving me right now. Was it the subconscious desire to find and save a brother I hated? Or was it protecting Kendall? I wasn't sure, but for the first time in a long time, even among all this chaos, I felt like myself again. Protecting the innocent was an important job which I took seriously. One thing for sure, I would do anything I could to see this through. I just hoped whatever happened wouldn't leave me even more broken than I already was.
Kendall
I did feel a little better after my shower. I hadn't even realized how dirty I was until Kane pointed it out. After my shower I got changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt while Kane jumped in the shower. We were both filthy with dirt and blood and it felt amazing to be clean. Next I did as he requested; I packed a bag of necessities to bring with me. I went back to the living room and found a bowl of spaghetti waiting for me, which was nice of him. I hadn't felt hungry, but now that the food was in front of me I ate everything and fought the urge to lick the bowl clean. I sat back on the couch, which Kane had backed onto a curtained window and faced the front door. I turned on the television on at a low volume trying to distract myself from my increasing fatigue and the fact that there were men out there trying to kill me. Not exactly the easiest thing to 'forget'. Kane walked out of the bathroom wearing his suit pants and a tight white undershirt, leaving very little to the imagination, which did a good job of distracting me. He glanced over, catching me in the act, and I found myself staring at the television with all my might. I noticed a smirk tugging at his lips as he sat down beside me with my laptop in hand.
“Is it okay if I use this?”
“Yup, yup… yup. It's fine,” I mumbled, knowing that I sounded like a complete idiot. I tried to ignore the fact that he was sitting beside me, but memories flashed of us kissing last night. My breathing hitched and then sped up as the thoughts ran on repeat in my mind. It was absurd how confusing the human mind was. How could you go from thinking about potentially being assassinated and seeing people die to thinking about sex? If someone had told me they were thinking of sex right now I would probably have pegged them as insane. It was completely morbid and yet here I was unable to control it. There must be something seriously wrong with me.