by Kelly Moore
“Where are we?” I ask the men who are leading us into the cabin.
“We’re still in DC, ma’am,” one of them reply.
Two men take us inside while the other six position themselves outside, surrounding the property.
They flip the light on, and the small living room lights up. It’s practical, nothing but a couch, recliner, small TV, and coffee table are in the room.
“Both bedrooms are just down the hall. There is only one bathroom, so I’m afraid you’ll have to share that,” the man says.
I look at Jake, and he nods toward the hall. “Go get cleaned up. I’ll wait.”
I smile. “Thank you.” I walk down the hall in a rush, just needing a few minutes to myself.
I pull off my ash-stained clothes and step into the hot flow of water where I finally let myself fall apart.
I fall to my knees on the shower floor, bending over so my forehead rests against the blue tile. Tears sting my eyes, and unable to hold them back any longer, they stream hot and heavy down my flushed cheeks.
I was able to hold it all together when I had John, but with him gone, I have nothing but fear and anxiety.
I cry until no more tears will come. Finally, I stand and wash off so that Jake can get himself cleaned up.
I wrap my towel around me and step out into the hall. “Um, did anyone happen to grab our bags out of the Rover?”
A man rounds the corner, a man I’ve never seen before. He’s tall, lean, and dressed in all black, but not the black suits the rest of the security personnel are wearing. This is hitman style. I turn as quickly as I can and rush back into the bathroom. I slam the door closed, but before my fingers can turn the lock, the door is rammed and busts open, pushing me back. I fall back a few steps, and the tub hits me in the back of the knees, causing them to buckle out from under me. I fall back into the tub and hit my head on the blue tile.
Just as my eyes go blurry and start to close, I see the man walking into the bathroom, standing over me.
I don’t know how long I’ve been out, but there is a pounding in my head and a ringing in my ears when I open my eyes to see Jake tied to a chair directly in front of me.
Without thinking, I try to get up, wanting to check on him, but I can’t move. I look down to see that I’m tied to a chair as well. My towel is still wrapped around me, but with any struggle, it will fall and poor Jake will get an eyeful.
“Brooklyn, are you all right?” Jake asks.
I shake the daze from my head. “What happened?”
“They found us.”
“Where are they?” I whisper, looking around the empty room.
He looks around. “They killed all of the men. They’ve been dragging them away.”
“How many?”
“There are four of them,” he answers.
“Are you good?” I ask, just as two of the men walk inside.
“Look who’s awake,” one of them says while walking closer to me.
“Stay away from her!” Jake shouts before he’s silenced with a hit to the face.
The man comes to stand behind me, and he grabs a handful of my hair, yanking it back so hard my neck pops. He lowers his face within an inch from mine. “Are you ready to answer some questions?”
I don’t know what comes over me, but I refuse to tell them anything. Instead, I spit in his face.
The man releases me and wipes the spit away from his eye. He lets out a small laugh and slaps me across the face, and my chair starts to topple over.
Jake screams as the other man catches my chair and steadies it. “We need answers from her. We’ve only been instructed to cause harm if needed,” he tells the other man.
The man I spit on walks away as the second man kneels down to my level. He pushes the hair away from my face gently. “All you have to do is answer a few questions and you won’t be hurt,” he tells me softly, trying to seem like the nice guy.
“I’m not telling you anything!” He’s so close to me, I know he can feel the heat of my breath blow across his face.
He raises an eyebrow. “Is that so?” His hand slowly rubs up my thigh.
My eyes flash to Jake. He’s watching the hand on my leg while the veins in his neck almost pulsate from anger.
“I do have ways to make you talk, you know.” He stands and delivers a solid hit to my left eye.
I scream out from the blinding pain. My first instinct is to cover my eye with my hand, but my hands are tied behind my back. I pull at my restraints while my head dips forward. I don’t want to let them see my cry. They will think they are breaking me and they are far from that.
Jake screams and tries busting free of his restraints, but the cocking of a gun silences him.
The man places his hand under my chin and lifts it until he’s looking me right in the eye. “It’s already bruising and starting to swell. I’d hate to ruin that pretty face, so why don’t you just tell me what we need to know?”
“Fuck you,” I spit out only to land another hit to the same throbbing eye. I scream out again, but can’t hold the tears back any longer.
Both men laugh, thinking they are winning when they see my pain.
“Now, want to tell me where the formula is being kept to that vaccine?”
I dry my tears and raise my chin. I can only see from one eye now. I look at the man that’s holding the gun on Jake. “Why do you want the formula? I thought it was killing people.”
He smiles and shrugs. “It’s only killing the people who don’t have cancer, but something tells me that you already knew that.”
My one good eye squints at him. “You. You’re behind this. You have the doctors in your pocket.” Anger washes over me, so strong I don’t even feel the pain of my eye anymore.
He gives me a cocky grin and flexes his jaw like he’s not sure if he should tell me or not. “I don’t have anything to do with that. I’m nothing more than a hired hand that’s been paid to make you talk.”
“A hired hand? Another one?” Jake chuckles. “Man, how many of you do they need to hire to catch one woman?”
The man hits him over the head with the butt of his gun. “If they would’ve hired me first, this job would have done been completed, but Miles gave it to fucking Remington.”
“Miles? The man that John works for?”
The man at my side smacks me across the face, but he misses my eye this time. “Enough! It’s my turn to ask the questions!” He grabs my face, squeezing my cheeks to make my lips pucker. “Where is the formula?”
He doesn’t let go of my face so I can tell him, but I wouldn’t tell him anyway, and he knows it. He sees it written all over my face.
Finally, he lets go, shoving my face to the side as he does so. “Fine. You want to play rough?” He hooks my chair by the back and starts dragging me down the hall.
“No! Jake!” I scream while I’m being pulled away.
Jake yells for the men to stop as he fights against his restraints once again. The man on his side delivers hit after hit until Jake’s head lowers, knocking him out.
The man pulls my chair into the bathroom and sets it directly to the side of the tub. He moves around me and turns on the cold water.
He sits on the edge of the tub and looks at me. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk? This won’t be pleasant for you.”
I turn my head away from him. Nothing can make me talk.
He shrugs and stands before turning off the water. “Have it your way.” He moves back behind my chair and tips it so I’m leaning over the tub full of water. “Last chance,” he warns.
When I don’t respond in the appropriate amount of time, he dips my chair the rest of the way down, letting my top half fall into the ice-cold water.
I hold my breath until my lungs feel like they are on fire. Just when I think I can’t hold it any longer, he pulls me back up. I inhale deeply as my lungs burn for oxygen.
“Where’s the formula?” he yells.
I gasp for air, trying to get as much
of it as I can before he dunks me again. I shake my head, refusing to spill the information he wants.
I know why he wants that formula.
They want to make the vaccine themselves. They want people to think that mine kills people while theirs actually works. I bet the doctors will make the right diagnosis when my vaccine is out and theirs is in.
I’m dunked again, but this time for longer. Just as my eyes close, I’m lifted out, allowed to breathe.
I choke on the water in my lungs and cough. I have to tell him something. If I don’t, they will kill me as soon as they are done playing this game.
I’m in the water again. I hold my breath and count. Each time he dunks me, I’m given an even shorter time to catch my breath, but I’m held under the water that much longer. It doesn’t take long until I’m passing out again.
When I’m pulled out, he smacks me on the face, and I wake up, choking and sputtering once again.
“Care to give me what I want now?”
“Okay, I’ll tell you!” I say around the coughs.
The man bends down eye level with me. I take a few seconds to catch my breath. “The formula is back in Chicago. It’s hidden in a safe in my apartment.”
The man stands, pulls out his cell phone, and leaves the bathroom.
“I got it,” he tells the other man. I listen close, trying to hear everything they’re saying.
“I got it, sir. It’s in a safe in her Chicago apartment.” A long pause. “We’re on our way.”
The man rushes back into the bathroom and unties my ankles. “You better hope you’re telling the truth.”
“Where are you taking me?” I ask as he picks me up with my hands still tied behind my back.
“Back to Chicago to be held until Mr. Knox finds that formula and can kill you himself,” he says, walking through the house. I lift my head just in time to see Jake’s beaten and bloody body on the floor, still tied to his chair.
“No! Jake!” I thrash against him. “You can’t leave him! He will die!” I scream while using all my body weight to fight myself out of his arms.
I’m no match for the man. He doesn’t even miss a step due to my thrashing around. He walks over to a black car and throws me into the trunk. He doesn’t waste a second slamming the trunk closed.
I go in and out of consciousness. My whole body is sore and aching, and I’m wishing for death by the time the trunk pops open. The sun is blinding after I’ve been closed up in the dark trunk for so long and I shield my one good eye against it.
I’m so dehydrated and worn out, I don’t even fight against them as they pick me up again and carry me into some warehouse.
I’m like a rag doll as they toss me into another hard, wooden chair and tie me back up.
“What do we have here?” a man asks.
“Insurance,” the man that beat me says.
A strange man with eyes as dark as night bends over and looks at me. “What did you do to her? She looks like she used to be sexy, but this face…”
“She was hard to break, but she finally broke.”
“I don’t know, I bet she’s still pretty sexy under this towel.” His hand flies up and pulls at my towel. It falls away, revealing everything that only John is supposed to see.
Both men whistle. “Damn, I sure was right.” His hand touches my collarbone and trails over my breast where he pinches my nipple hard.
It hurts, but I’m so out of it, I don’t make a sound. I just let my head fall forward which only angers him.
His hands land on my thighs where he squeezes. “It’s okay to make a little noise, honey. We like that,” he says with a laugh while squeezing harder, trying to make me call out.
“Enough. It’s time to get to business.” A third man joins the room, causing “Black Eyes” to release me.
I look at my thighs and see fresh bruises starting to form, but can barely remain conscious.
My head bobs and my eyes fight to stay open, but it’s a lost cause. I have no energy left to fight them. I only hope that someone finds me before they find out I lied about the location of the formula.
The next thing I know, John walks through the door. I look up at him but don’t let any emotion show on my face. I can tell he’s trying to hold back all the anger and hurt that seeing me this way brings on. There is a crease running across his forehead and every muscle in his body tenses with anger. He’s almost shaking when he bends down to whisper to me.
Thank God he’s here. I couldn’t make it much longer.
When we’re finally speeding away from the men and the bullets that are flying around, John looks at me, pain and anger etched on his face. “Are you okay?”
I nod. I have no energy left. I used the last bit I had to run.
Suddenly, he swerves to the side of the road and pulls into an alley, hiding the vehicle behind a building several blocks away from the warehouse. He throws the Rover into park and pulls me against his hard chest. His hands tangle into my hair, and I breathe him in.
Home. He smells like home and safety.
“I’m sorry, Brook.” He pulls away to look me in the eye, and I see his eyes water, nothing but pain visible on his face. “I’m so fucking sorry.” His lips crash against mine, and he teases my every sense. I kiss him with as much passion as I can in my painful state.
When he pulls away, all too quickly, he says, “I have to get you to a hospital.” He turns and puts the Rover back in drive.
“No! No hospitals. They will find me there.”
His eyes quickly flash to mine while he’s breaking every speed limit. “Your father wants me to bring you to DC. Do you think you can last that long? What if you have internal bleeding?”
I shake my head. “I don’t.”
“What did they do to you, Brook?”
I swallow the tears that want to form. “They just smacked me around a bit and tried drowning me. Nothing is broken, I promise. Just get me to the White House.”
John beats on the steering wheel. “I swear to God that I will fucking kill them all for doing this to you!”
I rest my head against the headrest. “I know you will.”
Chapter Sixteen
John
Brooklyn’s head has been in my lap since she dove into the Rover. She fell asleep almost immediately. Every now and then, I place my hand under her nose to feel her breathing. She’s been so damn still.
I’ve been driving for eight hours straight, and I need to stop to refuel. It’s the wee hours of the morning. The sun has not even begun its entrance into the day. I pull over at a well-lit truck stop. Rows of semis line the back of the property. I find the perfect spot to tuck in between two rigs, unseen.
“Brook.” I softly run my hand down her bruised arm. “Baby, you need to wake up for a minute. I want to make sure you’re okay.” She rolls from her side to her back. Her right eye is still swollen shut, and it brings a surge of anger in me. Her left eye peeps open at me.
“Where are we?” Her voice sounds harsh from dryness.
“We have another couple hours to get to DC. We need fuel, and I could use a bathroom.”
She stretches with a wince, sitting up. “I need to pee, too.”
I let out a low chuckle. “I thought you might, but you’re going into the men’s restroom with me. I’m not about to let you out of my sight.” I reach in the backseat and pull out a Chicago Cubs ball cap and a pair of my jogger pants to put on. “Here, put this on. It will help hide your face and avoid any questions, and these, well, it will keep men from looking at that fine ass of yours hanging out my T-shirt.”
She pulls her hair up off her neck, and a tick starts to work in my jaw. There is a bruise at the nape of her neck the size of a fingerprint. She doesn’t need my anger right now, so I reel it in. She places the cap on her head and pulls it down low. “I’m buying you a Boston Red Sox hat as soon as we get out of this mess.” She works her way into the joggers one leg at a time, pulling her hips into the air. She winces in pain whe
n she tries to open the door.
“I’ll get the door,” I say and get out. I walk around to her side and open her door. I gently take her by the elbow and help her out. “Let me look at your wrist.” Placing it in my hand, I turn it over to get a good look at it. “Can you move your fingers?” She slightly bends them in response. “I don’t think it’s broken, but we need to ice it.” I shut the door and slip my arm around her slim waist. She looks so tiny in my clothes, fragile. I don’t like the thought of this strong woman being broken.
A trucker nods as he walks by us on the way inside the store. Brook pushes closer into my body. I hate that she has any fear at all. I take her into the men’s bathroom that looks like your typical truck stop bathroom.
“Could you turn around? I can’t pee with you hovering over me.”
I turn and face the door of the one-man bathroom. “I wasn’t hovering. I was protecting.”
“Turn on the water, please, but don’t turn around.”
“This is ridiculous. There isn’t a part of you that I haven’t seen and you’re weirded out about peeing in front of me.” I reach and feel behind me for the faucet, turning it on.
“Ahhh, that’s better.”
“Glad I could help.”
“You can turn around now.” She’s pulling up her pants as I turn. I walk over to the urinal and unzip.
“Gah, don’t do that in front of me,” she says, covering her one good eye. She moves to unlock the door.
“Oh no you don’t. You will stay in here until I’m ready,” I bark at her. I finish and zip up. She joins me at the sink. Taking her hands in mine, I gently lather her hands up. “I’m going to get us some food, drinks, and ice for your eye and wrist. Is there anything in particular you would like to eat?”