Jo may not of had sight, but her other senses were working just fine. The man that was holding her smelled vaguely familiar. It wasn’t just cologne, she knew that smell. Jo was walked up steps and then down a flight of stairs. Wherever she was being lead too smelt musty and was cool.
Jo was made to lie down on her back and retied to something cold and heavy. She listened as two pair of feet walked away from her. The urge to pee was becoming paramount so Jo concentrated on breathing through her nose and tried not to think about it. Jo heard footsteps come towards her and one of the men untied the pillowcase but didn’t remove it. He did however reach underneath it to lower the gag.
Jo sucked in a deep breath. “Pee. I have to pee.” Were her first words. She really had to go. The man untied her from whatever held her fast and led her a few steps away. She felt his hands go to her jeans and she tensed but she couldn’t worry about being embarrassed right then. The man lowered her jeans and her underwear and helped her to sit on the toilet.
Jo released a strong stream and mumbled a thank you. When she was done her underwear and jeans were re-affixed, sans a wipe, but Jo couldn’t complain about that. She decided to try to get the man talking.
“If you let me go you’ll be in the clear I don’t know who you are.”
The voice that answered her shocked her. “Come on Jo you know damn well who I am.”
Nick! That was Nick’s voice. “Nick help me!”
“Oh girl you have no idea what you’ve stumbled on.” His voice was oddly sad.
“I don’t understand?” She said. Then she heard footsteps and Nick told her to be quiet.
A male voice spoke to Nick. “Tie her down on the bed again.”
Jo felt Nick’s hands on her back as he guided her a few steps away and then he helped her first sit and then to lie on the bed. He stretched her arms over her head and secured them to a cold thick piece of metal, which Jo assumed, was the bed frame, and he tied her feet apart and separately. She could barely move.
“Okay listen up Miss BJ Ross.”
Shit! Thought Jo. They knew who she was. Why would Nick tell them that? She was still trying to figure out Nick’s role in all of this. One thing was painfully obvious; he was not there to rescue her.
The man continued speaking. “We see what you have on your camera and we’ve already gotten your computer from your house. Where else did you dump the video footage?”
Jo was trying to understand what the man was saying. “You’re going to be very sorry if you don’t talk to us.”
Jo remained quiet. If they hadn’t found her iPhone maybe she still had a bargaining chip. A sharp pain sliced through Jo’s jean clad thigh and she cried out in pain.
“Marty stop.” Nick’s voice wavered.
“If you had found where she uploaded the video we could just kill her and dump her, but as long as a copy is still out there we are all sitting ducks. That includes you lover boy.”
“Let me talk to her.”
“Talk.” The other man said gruffly.
“Jo please tell me where you put the footage? We know it was uploaded to two sources.” Jo could picture Nick right next to her. He was probably sweating and nervous. He wasn’t someone who would like seeing other people being hurt.
Jo remained quiet and Nick tried again. After a few minutes the man told Nick to go upstairs. Jo felt the gag as it was placed back in her mouth and she thought that perhaps they were going to leave her alone, but she couldn’t have been more wrong. The man sat astride her chest hindering her breathing, and using his hands pressed down on her shoulder with enough force to dislocate it. Jo howled in agony, the terrifying sound completely muffled by the gag, as a wave of nausea swept through her before she passed out.
Every couple of hours the man would return, wake Jo up, and inflict some other form of torture on her body. Her mind was hazy because of the pain she was in, but refused to give him the information they wanted. At one point she thought about saying she had sent it to Wes, but she didn’t think they'd believe her. Nick knew that if Wes had any inkling of what she had uncovered the police would be banging down their doors right now. Jo also knew once she did tell them what they wanted to know that she would be killed anyway. If she did die she wanted these bastards to pay for what they had done and the only way that would happen would be if someone found her iPhone and turned it in to the authorities. Jo kept praying that Nick would come to his senses, but she hadn’t heard him in a while so her hopes were slowly shredding.
Jo wasn’t sure how much time had passed but she knew it could have been days. She had gathered that they’d gone through her house and she took a moment of pleasure knowing they’d never find her phone there. She had hidden it in her ratty blanket under her tarp at Cardboard Corner. Jo knew the people who occupied the little corner may have been older, unstable, down trodden, or young run a ways, but they were also fiercely loyal to their kind and they wouldn’t let anyone near her tarp.
Jo couldn’t feel her left arm anymore and she was worried that the damage was going to be permanent. She then realized if she didn’t get out of there soon that that would be the least of her worries. She’d been given sparse amounts of water and no food. She thought she might be delirious because she could hear children's laughter once in a while.
A long time period passed and when Jo groggily emerged from being unconscious after her last torture session, she knew she was dying, slowly. She felt dried blood from where the man had sliced her body. She’d been tasered twice and she was pretty sure she was now naked. They hadn’t let her go to the bathroom again, and the revolting smell emanating from beneath her battered body attested to the fact that she had peed and defecated on herself. Whoever was her caregiver had placed her on newspapers and in the beginning after she peed, they had simply replace the sodden paper. The newspapers had not been exchanged in what felt like days. Jo was starting to hallucinate and she knew it was from lack of water, food, and all the pain her body had suffered. Her arms and legs were numb from immobility and her lips were cracked. The one saving grace was that the pillow case had been removed from her head. Her eyes were unfocused as they took in her bleak surroundings.
The last thing Jo thought she remembered was the man Marty, telling Nick to kill her. She was already not thinking clearly, but she thought she heard Nick crying next to her cot. Then Jo blacked out and she was positive that she would never wake again. She was so broken that she actually welcomed the blackness that engulfed her.
Chapter 28
Wes
Wes was riding shotgun in the front of the sleek limo as the family, which he was guarding, rode in the back. They were currently doing the whole museum tourist thing in Italy. The assignment hadn’t been difficult. The family was very down to earth considering how wealthy they were. The husband and wife were kind and outwardly affectionate with each other and he was impressed with how they handled their two young teens. They didn’t over indulge them and the kids were actually polite.
Wes had hired from the local Police Department called the Provincial Police to guard the family’s hotel floor at night so he could sleep when the family slept. Unlike when he had guarded Ginger, he wasn’t worried about anyone sneaking out.
He hadn’t been getting much sleep though; he just couldn’t get Jo off his mind. He kept wishing he had at least let her explain. It just didn’t add up. They had been so good together. She had even called it perfect. The argument they had about her disguising herself to hang out at the homeless street corner so she could stake out the construction site was actually ingenious, but he had been too upset to even tell her that.
Wes' phone rang. He hadn’t checked in to T.U.F.’s in a few days.
“Hey.” He answered he knew it would be either Andy or Jace.
“Hi.” It was Jace.
“Everything all right?” Wes asked.
“Maybe…maybe not.” Jace sounded off.
“Talk to me Jace, what’s the matter, is Andy okay?”
/> “Andy’s fine, he’s right here. You're on speaker.” Wes knew something was wrong and his gut told him it was Jo.
Andy took over the conversation. “Wes your cell phone here was ringing off the hook and we saw that it was Jo’s friend Auggie. We didn’t answer it because; well, because we’re your friends.”
Jace started talking. “Thing is he called the office and Betty put him through to me.”
“Yeah?” Wes did not like where this was going.
“Wes she’s missing.”
“She’s in Chicago.” Wes answered stoically.
“Wes she was never going to Chicago.”
Wes felt sick. “What do you mean?”
“She turned that job down. She just told her parents she was going to interview there just to get them off her back.”
“Shit.” Wes was really getting a bad feeling.
“Wes, Jo’s been missing for six days. Her parents went to her place and it’s been ransacked. They’re going out of their mind. Auggie was hoping you’d know where she was. He was actually praying you two had gone off somewhere. When I told him you were out of the country he wanted me to call you. He thought maybe she’d gone with you. He’s pretty torn up.”
“Oh God.” Wes was flipping through the scenarios in his head. “It’s that case, it’s got to be. Did he say anything else?”
“No just that when he talked to her last Thursday morning she said she was hoping to wrap everything up soon.”
“Shit. Guys I’m on my way. Andy trace her phone, credit cards, you know the routine. And get someone to cover me here in Italy.”
Wes made the limo driver pull over and he asked Mr. Flint if he could talk with him privately. The two men exited the limo. Wes told him that an emergency had presented itself and he had to leave. Wes was worried that the wealthy mogul might flip out, but instead he said, “If you’re going after that girl that has you tied in knots I’m surprised you lasted this long.”
Wes looked at him like he’d grown another head.
“You’re not the only one who can read people son. Go do what you need to do.”
They reentered the limo and Mr. Flint told the driver to head for the private airstrip where his company jet was. He then floored Wes by calling his pilot and asked him to file a flight plan immediately to Morristown Airport. Mr. Flint told the pilot he wanted 'wheels up in thirty'.
Wes reached the T.U.F. office eight hours later. Jace looked up from his chair and Andy who was sitting in the oversized chair straightened up. It was early Wednesday evening and they had not been successful in locating her.
“What have you got?” Wes said his voice strained.
“She rented a night vision camera last Wednesday.” Jace said. “She went to Wal-Mart and bought a blanket, a knit cap, a pair of sneakers, a box of dog biscuits, and some diapers.”
“Diapers?”
“That’s what the receipt says.”
Wes thought back to when he had made love to Jo those two times without a condom on and he winced.
“They aren’t for her man.” Jace said perceptively.
“Yeah, I know.”
“Wes did she say anything to you about what she was doing?”
Wes thought about it and then he remembered the Cardboard Corner. “Oh my God, Cardboard Corner. Come on.” Wes was out the door before he finished his sentence and Andy and Jace followed.
“Where we going?” Jace asked as they jogged to Andy’s truck.
“We had a fight about her hanging out at Cardboard Corner next to the construction site.”
“You think she’s there?”
“I’m fucking praying.”
They parked a block away and the three men walked towards the vacant lot strewn with makeshift shelters.
“She wanted to hang out here?” Jace asked skeptically.
“That’s the construction site she’s investigating.” Wes said nodding at the now quiet site since it was after 5:00pm.
“Pretty smart.” Andy ventured.
“Yeah.” Wes said softly thinking what a hard ass he'd been.
As they approached a dog started barking and a large man dressed in fatigues stood with his arms crossed watching them closely.
“Guys wait here.” Wes said. Jace and Andy stopped walking and watched as Wes approached the man. No one else was visible to the men.
Wes walked towards the man debating which approach to use with him.
“Sir, my name is Wes Tobin.” Wes put his hand out to be shaken. He recognized a fellow veteran. “Special Forces Afghanistan.”
Not until Wes said that did the man extend his hand.
“What can I do for you Mr. Tobin?” The man asked eyeing Wes up and down and looking over his shoulder to Andy and Jace.
“My girlfriend’s missing. She told me she had been coming here.”
“Your girlfriend was coming here? I don’t think so son.” The man chuckled.
Wes saw a movement out of the corner of his eye and a young girl carrying a baby approached them.
“Annie go back inside.” He said gruffly.
“Is it about Jo?” She asked the big man.
“Jo, yes, my girlfriend. Have you seen her?” Wes was animated and it frightened the girl. She took a few steps back and the older man blocked Wes from getting closer to her.
“Please, I’m sorry I scared you. She’s missing I have to find her.” Wes pulled out his phone and showed Annie pictures of Jo, some with him, some without.
Annie took the phone leafing through more pictures. She handed the phone back to Wes.
She seemed to be contemplating what to do.
“Please.” Wes said quietly. “I’m worried about her.”
“She’s not here. I haven’t seen her since last Thursday." The young girl was quiet for a second and then blurted out. "She cried you know?”
“Excuse me?”
“The last time I saw her she had been crying. Was she crying about you?”
Wes heaved a huge sigh and ran his hand through his hair.
“Yeah, she was probably crying because of me.”
“Annie?” The big man looked down at the young girl.
“She wasn’t homeless Bill. I could tell. She bought diapers for little Trip and she had dog treats for Charlie. I don’t know why she wanted to stay here, but I liked her so I didn’t out her.”
“Do you know where she went, what she was doing?” Wes asked desperate for information.
“I don't have any idea where she went. She wasn't doing anything as far as I could tell. She’d been coming by and hanging out. She told everyone that some guy had been hurting her.” Annie eyed Wes. “But that’s not you is it.”
Wes shook his head. “No.”
“Anyway she said she wanted to sleep here so Trip, my man, rigged up a tarp for her to sleep under.”
“She’s been sleeping here?”
“She had been but I haven’t seen her since Thursday night, the night I found her crying.”
Andy and Jace approached slowly. They could tell by Wes’ body language he was upset.
“She was here.” He told them.
Andy looked around and then spoke to Annie. “Did she leave anything here?”
Annie looked at Bill and then she shrugged her shoulders. “Here’s her tarp.” She said leading them to the little makeshift area.
Wes was trying to stay focused. This was too personal for him to remain detached. If he were going to help Jo he needed his mind to be able to filter through the facts. This was what he excelled at; except he was picturing his beautiful Jo lying under the tarp crying and his heart broke.
Jace peeled off a few hundred dollar bills and handed them to Annie. She accepted them and stood back while Jace crawled under the tarp pulling out the one blanket that was rolled tight.
Jace could feel that there was something in the blanket but he didn’t want to say anything in front of the girl.
“Just her blanket.” He said.
“Thank you Annie.” Wes said. “If she comes back.” Wes voice broke and he had to look away. Andy finished his sentence for him.
“If she comes back tell her Wes is looking for her okay?”
“I will.”
The three men began to walk off the lot and a small-wizened man hobbled up to them accompanied by a dog.
“You given money out for information about that girl?”
Wes wheeled on him and Andy grabbed his shoulder holding him back.
“Depends.” Jace said.
“I saw her get taken.”
“What?”
The old man put his palm out indicating he wasn’t going to talk anymore until he got paid. Andy had to increase the pressure on Wes shoulder to hold him at bay; he was ready to tear into the old man.
Jace placed two fifties into the man's outstretched filthy hand.
“Thursday night. Charlie was barking and I went to get him and saw that girl hiding behind that there toilet.” The old man pointed at the port-o-potty on the other side of the fence.
“She got tackled and thrown into a car.”
Wes paled with the new information. Jace grit his teeth.
“What kind of car?” Andy asked.
“Big, new one.”
“What kind specifically?” Jace prompted.
“Don’t really know…” The old man wisely took a step back from Wes and looked at Jace. “But if you double this I’ll give you the plates.”
“Holy Shit!” Wes shot towards the old man who promptly hid behind Jace.
“You son of a bitch. Why didn’t you call the police?”
“Wes.” Jace said still maintaining his composure.
Jace gave the old man four more fifties. “I want the plates, the make and anything else and if I find out you know more than what you’re telling me I will personally come back and tear you apart.” Jace could be a bad ass when he wanted.
“Okay, okay sheesh. It was a black Cadillac, four doors. There was an orange sticker on the windshield up high. Bob-Tom-Fred – 5-6-1 that’s the plates. I can remember because I had friends by those names and it’s the month and year I went to Nam. The man had a shirt on with a little whale on it and the guard knew him good. I’ve seen the car a couple times before at the site. That’s all I got.”
One Tough Love Page 24