by Debbie Behan
On his way out the door he slipped into dry boots and grabbed a jacket. I’m a hussy. He grinned, but staying alive was his number one priority and this was the only man he thought could make that happen.
‘Am I to ride with you? Hope you don’t intend to seat me next to one of your less sociable boys that seem to want to slap me around every time I open my mouth. That would be classed as police brutality and I will press charges once I’m released. You have nothing on me and all this is bullshit. Don’t expect me for one minute to put up with any poor treatment.’ Jay couldn’t keep quiet, annoyed he was being hauled off and given no reason why.
‘Jay, shut up for goodness sake.’
‘First you want me to talk and now I have to keep quiet. Can’t you just ask me what you need to ask me here, and then be on your way? I demand to know where you are taking me.’
There was no reply this time. Jay sensed he’d pushed it as far as he could. Walking beside him Jay silently hoped Berry liked him enough for him to save Jay if the others started to get too rough. The vision of them pulling out his teeth and nails had him shudder. He hoped real life was different to the movies and they would just rough him up a bit. He preferred neither really, but wasn’t about to let them know how truly scared he was. One more try to save myself won’t hurt. ‘You know it will be harder for me to talk to you in a prison cell when I’m nervous and have cameras pointed at me. The interrogator makes you say stuff you don’t even accept as true just to stop them whacking you. Sure you don’t want to keep me here under high security and question me in person?’
‘Jay!’ His tone was irritable.
‘Can’t blame a guy for at least trying.’ He couldn’t help but have the last word.
Jay sat next to Detective Berry in the helicopter. Two evil looking characters sat opposite with their guns at the ready, glaring at him. At the airport they transferred into a government plane. Berry was taking him to headquarters as he predicted and Jay made an effort to escape. When they grabbed him he called out that he was being kidnapped, which resulted in the two soldiers twisting his arm up his back as they guided him and then shoved him on the plane.
‘Hey! Watch it idiot.’
The big one laughed. ‘Wimp.’
‘Is that right!’ Jay glared at him. ‘Well that ain’t what your sister said when I satisfied her last week.’
He almost got swiped but Detective Berry came to his rescue. ‘Job’s done boys, I’ll take it from here.’
The bigger one gave Jay a filthy glare. Jay grinned smugly. Making enemies wasn’t smart but he was in such a bad mood and the creepy thug annoyed him.
Cosying up to Detective Berry was working. He had looked out for him.
Jay laid his head back and decided to sleep. He was exhausted from the worry of coming up with ideas to stay alive and keep Berry on side. If they stick one of those big lights on me and try keeping me awake until I break, I will need to at least start off alert. He needed to hold out only until Ricco came for him and he had no doubt he’d find a way. Kev was on his mind. How scared he’d be for Jay! Alina as well was terrified. If it were them, Jay knew he’d be flipped out worse.
Detective Berry sat opposite him and read a spy novel. A couple of times Jay opened his eyes and then closed them. Each time Berry, aware he was awake, dropped his book and watched him intently. Jay wondered when he finally woke if the psycho deliberated opening up his brain right there and then to get out of him what he wanted to know. Deep in frightening thoughts, Jay jumped with a start as the plane landed and hit the runway. He was edgy but still managed to raise a smile at Berry. He wanted to cling to him, beg him not to hurt him. Instead he played another angle, a friendly country boy. Maybe he was mouthy but that could also be taken as innocence.
Berry tucked his book away and, with that strange look again, eyed Jay. By the slightest movement and wrinkle at the sides of his mouth, Jay spotted that he almost smiled back, before he became hard faced, crazy Berry again.
Jay was hustled into the security base towards the furthest wing of the building. Pushed with force into the interrogation room, Jay slammed against the wall, and his head hit the concrete with a crack. He slid down onto the floor almost unconscious. As he did so he heard Detective Barry yell at him, but what he said was incoherent as he passed out.
~ Chapter Twenty Seven ~
Detective Berry Tormented
Jay woke. His blurry eyes blinked and roamed the quiet room that resembled a hospital ward. The bully was not in sight thank goodness. Detective Berry was. He sat in a chair reading a book. Sore, Jay lay in wait of what was next, nervous as he worried what the hell had he got himself into.
‘Are you okay?’ Detective Berry lowered the book and leaned towards him.
‘Get lost!’ Jay mumbled and averted his eyes to the ceiling. ‘I trusted you and you let your thugs bully me. I’m no muscle man so why let them use me as a toy to toss around for their sick pleasure? You want info from me, buddy, you better start treating me with more respect or you can forget it. I’d sooner take it to my grave.’
‘Look Jay, you picked a fight with the wrong person. I can’t be looking over my shoulder every five minutes. Stop being a smart mouth and they’ll leave you alone.’
Jay’s head was busting and he didn’t need a lecture. He had to pick on the biggest one; firstly to see if the detective had balls enough to protect him, and secondly to see if he had the power of leadership to be able to do so. If he wasn’t such a dumb shit he might guess what I was up to. Jay just wasn’t expecting him to hurl him so hard.
A nurse came over and flashed a light in Jay’s eyes. ‘You’ve got a slight concussion young man.’ Jay tried to move and groaned with pain. ‘Take it easy and I’ll get you pain killers.’ The nurse bustled off and within seconds was back, handing him two tablets and a glass of water.
Jay took the drugs gratefully and chatted to her as he swallowed them. ‘I was having a holiday for the first time in months and spoilsport over there ruined it for me. One day, couldn’t give me one day, and he has me in bed nursing a splitting bloody headache. Great.’ He rolled on to his side, turning his back on them both. The pain and feeling lousy got the better of him and this hid the tears that welled up in his eyes.
* * * *
On waking again he had no idea how long he had spent sleeping. He recalled coming in and out of consciousness. Each time the only light he saw was the one above where the detective sat reading. The rest of the room was in darkness.
This time he was with it enough to speak. ‘Don’t you have a family to go home to Berry? I’m no threat and have no special powers to try and sneak past your big bullies, so go home.’
‘You are no threat Jay. I stay for what is to come. If I know Prince Ricco he will claw his way in to get to you if he has to. And I intend to be here when that happens.’
‘So I’m bait?’
‘Something like that.’
‘What the hell have you got against them? I don’t get you. If it was you that the government wanted to stick on a slab, and slice you up to see how you worked, what would you do? This isn’t personal, Berry, but you act as if it is. They just want to live. If the prince wanted you dead we could have wiped this entire base off the earth months ago. We have been watching you as well, Detective Berry. Do you think he’s an idiot? Although the way you’ve treated me so far I just hope to goodness he is and destroys this facility rather than come after me. I’d happily die for them Berry, so don’t get any ideas you can threaten me with death. I have no fear for myself.’
‘Jay, you have no idea what I’ve been through and how many good friends they have killed over the years.’
‘Berry, you know only too well it was you that put those people to their deaths for your own crusade. But you blame him because it helps you sleep at night. Save what little humanity you have left in you and let me go. Let us live as he chooses to allow you to live. Ricco has no beef with you and will pay handsomely for you to forget he exi
sts. You must be sick of this too, and want to live life a little.’
‘That right there amuses me Jay. You’ve lived a straight life, and worked hard to prove to your father you’re capable of taking over the family businesses. And boom! You meet a female; protect her as a lover, your soul mate, and yet never will that be. What is that?’
Jay lifted up and leaned on his elbow, lips pursed and face flushed at this arrogance. ‘You’ll never understand Berry.’
‘Try me.’
Jay lay back and just thinking of her calmed him. ‘She is beautiful, inside and out. Her soul is so pure. She hates no one, not even you.’
He rolled over towards the detective, unable to stop thinking about her, missing her. ‘I find her innocence refreshing, her thinking childlike, and I enjoy it. When it’s just me and her we talk and laugh the entire time.’
‘What does Ricco do while you’re fooling around with his wife?’
‘Don’t make it sound disgusting or I’m telling you no more. It’s not like that. And as for your query, Ricco is cool, a stirrer. Something you’d hate as you have no personality and take everything too seriously.’
‘Look who’s being rude now.’
‘Fair enough, but you deserve it. After all you did bring me here where I will no doubt be interrogated and killed. If I’m not dead I will hate you by then, so guess you better get all your requests in now while I still tolerate you.’
Neither spoke for a while. Annoyed, Jay rolled on his back, preferring to look at the ceiling, but decided to try one more time to make him understand. ‘Berry, have you ever held anything so fragile and precious that you couldn’t bear anyone to hurt it?’ Jay turned his head and looked at him. Berry didn’t answer but a muscle twitched in his cheek as his jaw clenched. ‘That’s my Sleeping Beauty and that is what you don’t understand.’ Jay turned his head from him.
For the rest of the night there was silence, except for each page that got turned as the detective read. The sound grated on his nerves until sleep gave him peace.
It was morning next time Jay’s eyes opened, this time to find the detective himself had nodded off. Glasses and the book rested in his hands as if he had stopped reading and sat thinking until sleep overpowered him. Without his glasses he was younger than Jay had first thought. The beard made him look years older. It fascinated Jay that he had chased Alina for years, so he knew he was quite old, but life had been kind to him; he wasn’t showing his true age. Or has he had a face lift? Jay expected a more psychotic maniac look to match his personality. And what’s with him? He didn’t seem in any hurry to push me to learn more. The detective was one strange individual.
‘How do you feel this morning young man?’ The nurse gave Jay a start.
Berry woke and saw Jay’s intense expression, knew he had been watching him. A little rattled he ran his hands through his hair to tidy it and put on his glasses.
Jay eyed the nurse. ‘Nothing that a coffee and a kiss wouldn’t fix.’
The remark received a smile from her.
‘The coffee I can manage.’ She giggled as she turned and went through the door.
She came back with a coffee for both of them but checked his head wound and vitals first.
‘Much better this morning, you’re healthy and heal fast.’
Jay watched her as she checked the thermometer she pulled from his mouth. ‘You have pretty hands for a nurse. Nice manicure,’ he commented.
The nurse held up her nails and inspected the recent manicure. ‘I missed my calling, should have been a hand model.’ She passed him his coffee and left the room smiling.
‘What made you comment on her hands? She can’t help you escape so don’t bother trying to make a friend.’ The detective frowned.
‘I was just saying she’s got hot hands.’ He shrugged.
‘What did you observe about me? I saw you had been watching me when I woke.’
Jay eyed him. ‘I figured you for an old man, but you have aged well. All can say is, lose the beard, Berry. It makes you look really old and creepy.’
The detective had just taken a sip and now choked on his drink.
Jay wondered what he said that got that reaction. His age or his beard? ‘I know, shut it.’ Jay leaned back, drinking. After a few sips he felt better and the detective was the last thing on his mind. To escape was a bigger priority unless he wanted to wake up in hospital again later. ‘I need the bathroom.’ He moved shaky legs over the edge of the bed and when his feet hit the cold floor he shivered. ‘I want my shoes.’ He glanced around the room, unable to see his clothes.
‘Soon,’ Berry said.
Unable to wait he stood up and headed for the open door he assumed was the bathroom. ‘Whoa, what drug did Nurse-hands give me last night?’ he said as he stumbled.
Berry stood up but he gestured he was fine.
‘Leave the door open, Jay.’
Hell, a man can’t even take a leak without protective perve Berry wanting to watch.
Jay came back and sat on the bed. ‘So what next? Is this the day you slap me around and I end up back here? Cause you’ll get nothing worth anything out of me.’
‘Jay you have been cooperative so far so I see no reason to restrain you but we do need information from you. We can do it the easy way or the hard way. That will be your choice.’
‘You know I won’t give them up, so as I said, this is when you slap me around and I end up back here.’
The nurse came back and after a thorough examination of his head and eyes, gave the detective the okay to take him. Jay dressed and when ready Berry gestured for him to follow. Jay was a good talker but his legs shook and his nerves were tattered as they moved through the corridor. His worry eased when the door opened to a mess hall. What? They walked past tables of soldiers eating and chatting. Berry took a tray and handed it to Jay and took one himself. ‘It’s just food Jay. Take whatever you want.’ He must have seen Jay’s confused look.
Men behind the food loaded their trays up with eggs, bacon, hash browns and pancakes. Berry filled up two glasses of orange juice and put one on Jay’s tray. He was starving and started scoffing before they sat.
Berry half grinned. ‘I thought you’d be hungry. I’ve noticed the food you can put away and yet you haven’t got an ounce of fat on you.’
Jay eyed him while he chewed on pancakes. ‘Don’t they say having sex is the same as a five mile run?’ He dug around and found a piece of bacon. ‘I run a lot of miles each day,’ Jay joked, surprised the detective got it and grinned.
They sat at a table in the far corner. Jay figured the detective had picked this so they could talk privately. Yet Berry asked him no more as he ate. Jay hated silence and decided to make small talk. ‘Got any kids?’
The fork of food about to enter Berry’s mouth didn’t move. His mouth stayed open yet he froze.
What did I say wrong this time? ‘Didn’t mean anything by that, just thought I’d make conversation.’
He moved the full fork back to the plate and took a sip of juice while he eyed Jay suspiciously. ‘You said you have been watching me for months. You’d know that answer if you had.’
‘Hey, we’re no perverts. Your work is your work. We followed your missions, but when you knocked off, well that’s your business. I told you the prince doesn’t hate you, he understands. We just need to track you so where you are, we’re not.’
‘Your loyalty is misplaced Jay. You say your Sleeping Beauty cares so much and is honestly worth this much to you, yet she left you for months? Convince me you’re not being sucked in by this little witch like many before you.’
Jay gulped. ‘I asked you first.’
‘Okay, I did have a child and that’s all you need to know.’ He sounded cross.
In fact the kid thing had him fired up and left Jay to wonder if the child died and may be why he hated any happiness or love.
Jay pushed his plate away and sat back in the seat. ‘Okay, I can see you have issues regarding my relatio
nship with them. And though I don’t owe you an explanation, it wouldn’t hurt you to know them a little better. Maybe it might stop this ridiculous game that you have no hope in winning.’
‘Is that so?’ He looked amused. ‘Then you don’t know me at all young Jay.’
‘And you don’t know me. But if you use me as bait or in any other planned notion you’ll waste your time.’
‘We agree to disagree then–continue.’
Jay kept his face from showing how frustrated the detective made him. ‘For your information, it was a misunderstanding. The prince got jealous and thought I’d slept with her. Between him giving her the cold shoulder and me trying to keep distance so they sorted it out, she left. We broke her heart.’ His voice shook as he remembered how cruel they had been. ‘If you guys hadn’t tracked her to Broome I may never have found her. I must thank you for that. I was ready to go knocking on every door in the world until I found her.’
‘So how come Ricco didn’t kick you out after she left for what he thought you had done? Why keep you around?’
‘We talked and I stayed to help him find her.’
‘Very honourable of you.’
‘I couldn’t leave. I’d ruined everything for them and had to find her for him. They have that something special that most of us search for our whole lives, and some never find it. But I learned that it is fragile and one bad move, poof! And it can just disappear before your eyes, over, gone.’
The detective’s eyes clouded, as a memory took hold of him. As soon as it was there, it had disappeared and he was back firing questions. ‘You mentioned last night you thought Ricco might decide to blow us up rather than save you. Don’t you think it would please him to have you out of way? It seems to me you have given him cause for concern because of the candle you continue to hold for her.’
‘Yes, if I wasn’t around he’d have her to himself–Bastard.’ Jay ran his finger around the top of his glass, thinking aloud. ‘Maybe he would like me out of his life.’ He hasn’t come to save me yet.