Protecting Rayne

by Emily Bishop

How dare he? How dare he threaten an innocent boy?

  “Now, Sabrina.” He grabs her chin. “Why don’t you say goodbye to your husband, hmm? You and I are going to revisit one of our old haunts and maybe we’ll repeat what we did there last time, but with a little twist.”

  I grit my teeth. “What’s to stop me from reporting you to the cops after I get David?”

  “Oh, don’t call the cops,” Vince tells me. “Remember, I have Sabrina. If I see anything in the newspapers or see any cops on my doorstep, she will get hurt.”

  Fuck.

  “I’ll just have to hunt you down and come after her myself then.”

  Vince laughs. “Good luck with that. I have many properties, Mr. Brewster, most of which aren’t in my real name. Sabrina isn’t the only one with an alias. You’ll never find me or her. Even if you do, I’ll have men stop you, even if it means killing you.”

  I don’t care. I’m still coming after Sabrina.

  She looks at me. “Take care of David.”

  “That’s it?” Vince laughs. “No ‘I love you’?”

  Sabrina says nothing more.

  “I expected more emotion. Oh, never mind. I’m sure I can draw some from Sabrina later.”

  “You–” My body moves forward on its own but I stop.

  I can’t do anything. Not now.

  “Bye. It was nice meeting you, Mr. Brewster.” Vince pushes Sabrina inside his van. “I’m sorry about your wife.”

  Yes, you’ll be sorry. I’ll see to that.

  “Oh, she doesn’t need this anymore.” He throws her wedding ring out, and I pick it up.

  “And one more thing.” He signals to one of his men, who approaches me. “I said you can’t hurt me, but I didn’t say anything about me not hurting you.”

  The man punches me squarely in the jaw and then the stomach. I reel back.

  “Randall!” Sabrina screams.

  “Quiet!” Vince scolds her. “That was payback for what you said last night, Mr. Brewster. I’m just taking back what’s mine.”

  He closes the door to the van and it drives off. The man who punched me goes to the other car and they drive off, too.

  Alone, I clutch my stomach and wipe the blood from the corner of my mouth.

  Fuck, that hurts. But it isn’t going to stop me.

  I look at the map in my hand.

  I’m coming for you, David.

  ***

  “Daddy!” David runs toward me, throwing his arms around me.

  I throw my arms around him as well, squeezing him tight.

  “Thank goodness I found you.”

  It’s taken me over five hours to find him but finally, I have.

  “What happened to you?” he asks, looking at my face.

  “Oh, it’s nothing. I stumbled while looking for you. How about you? Are you all right?”

  He nods.

  I kiss his hair. “You’re safe now.”

  Looking around, I don’t see anyone. Was Vince lying when he said someone was with David?

  “Were you alone, David?” I ask him.

  “Yeah. But I wasn’t scared.”

  “Good.” I hug him again.

  Damn that Vince. I could have taken him down. I could have taken down his men. Instead, I just handed Sabrina over.

  Fuck.

  “Where’s Sabrina?” David asks.

  “Don’t worry,” I assure him, running my hands through his hair. “I promise we’ll get Sabrina back.”

  I take out my phone from my pocket and call Gil.

  “Yes?” Gil answers after the first ring.

  “I have David. Now, please tell me you know where Sabrina is.”

  Fighter

  Sabrina

  Where am I?

  It seems like an eternity since I got into the van with Vince. After hours of sitting at the back of the van with a blindfold on, the vehicle finally stops. The journey doesn’t end, though. One of Vince’s men carries me for miles on foot, which is uncomfortable to say the least.

  Now, finally, the blindfold is off and I find myself inside a house, shoved into a room – a bedroom with a queen-sized bed. The floral sheets match the curtains, an old cabinet, an Aztec rug hanging on the wall and a...

  Wait a minute. I recognize that rug.

  “Look familiar?” Vince asks as he stands behind me.

  After a few moments, I remember. This is a house somewhere in the forests of Chihuahua, Mexico. It’s the place where Vince and I went on vacation, back when he was still trying to win me over.

  This is where we first had sex.

  I tense.

  “Ah, you do remember.” Vince places an arm around me. “And I hope you remember what I said before we got in the van, too. We’ll repeat what we did here last time, but with a little twist.”

  He goes to the cabinet, inserts a key into the top drawer and pulls a whip from it. I whimper, remembering how much that hurt.

  He gets something else from the drawer – a coil of rope and a syringe on a tray. A drug?

  He holds the syringe, grinning. “This will paralyze you for a little bit. You won’t be able to move, but the good thing is you will still feel everything. In fact, you’ll feel everything more intensely.”

  I shudder.

  He takes a step forward, and I step back, afraid. He laughs.

  “As much as I’d love to do it now, I’ll wait until you’re rested.” He puts everything back in the drawer and locks it. “I’m tired, too.”

  I heave a sigh of relief.

  “But later.” He touches my cheek. “We will play.”

  Laughing, he leaves the room.

  Once I’m all alone, I go to the window to look outside, trying to get an idea of what time it is. It looks like the early afternoon, which means…

  Shit.

  I sit on the floor, burying my face in my hands.

  More than eight hours have passed. I don’t even know where we were at eight hours. Were we already in Mexico then?

  Maybe not.

  I’m screwed. There’s no way Randall will be able to find me now.

  Randall.

  He looked so anguished when he was driving me to Vince. I hope he’s okay. I hope that, in spite of those punches, he’s okay. I hope he’s found David.

  Imagining them in each other’s arms, I smile. That image is my only comfort in my dire situation.

  I look around the room. Now that I’m on my own, I don’t know what I should do. Should I try to escape? But there’s a ravine below the window and the door is locked. Even if I manage to get out of the house, Vince’s thugs will be after me.

  There’s no escape.

  As my gaze falls on the curtains, the thought of hanging myself with them comes to mind. I did say I would rather die than be Vince’s prisoner again. The thought of the syringe in that drawer makes that idea more tempting but I shake my head.

  If I do that, I will really become a nobody, and worse, David and Randall will be sad.

  Funny, I was thinking of filing for a divorce since Randall doesn’t love me, but now all I want is to be with them. I don’t care if Randall doesn’t love me. That’s love. It’s unconditional. I just want to stay by his side and make him happy.

  To do that, I have to get out of here.

  I have to fight.

  My gaze falls on the cabinet.

  I need a weapon.

  ***

  When night falls, the door to the bedroom opens.

  The first guy to come in is one of Vince’s thugs with a plate of food so I don’t act, knowing I don’t stand a chance against him. Instead, I eat in order to have some strength.

  Then, an hour later, Vince comes in. I wait for him in bed, hiding my weapon under my pillow.

  “What’s this?” He gives me a look of surprise. “Did you actually miss me?”

  “I don’t know,” I tell him. “This place brings back memories.”

  He grins. “It does, doesn’t it?”

  He sits on the bed, str
oking my cheek and then pressing his mouth to mine.

  I try not to gag.

  “I’d love to be good to you,” he says after breaking the kiss. “I was going to be. I was going to ask you nicely to come back and promise to be good to you. But what did you do?”

  “I didn’t do anything.”

  He slaps me. “You betrayed me. You chose that man over me.”

  “How could I not? You saw him.”

  He slaps me again. “It doesn’t matter. You’ll never see him again.”

  “Why?” I ask him. “Why do you want to keep me so badly when you don’t even love me?”

  Vince laughs. “What does love have to do with it? I saw you first. You’re mine. I don’t want anyone else to have you.”

  “Is it because of your mother?”

  He tenses.

  “Do you want to lock me up because your mother locked you up when you were a kid? Or is it because your mother left you and you don’t want me to leave you so—”

  “Be quiet!” he shouts.

  It seems like I’ve hit a nerve.

  “It doesn’t matter. You are mine. That’s all.” He glances at the cabinet. “Now, where are my…?”

  As he turns his back to me, I hold my weapon against him.

  It’s only a small stick, no bigger than a toothpick, but I know it will do the trick.

  “One wrong move, and I’ll inject you with this,” I threaten.

  “You have the syringe?” He sounds surprised. “But how did you…?”

  “Pick the lock? Easy. Now, if you don’t want to be paralyzed, you will tell your thugs that we will take a walk outside.”

  “Okay. Okay.”

  I hold the stick to his side, covering my hand so no one can see my trick, while I push him out the door.

  “We’re just going for some air and some outdoor action, so don’t follow us,” Vince says as we go downstairs, passing by the living room where the thugs are.

  Three of them.

  They look at me suspiciously, but, thankfully, they don’t approach me.

  Good.

  Finally, we get outside. It’s dark and I can hardly see anything. I suddenly feel afraid but I tell myself I have to be brave if I want to see Randall and David again.

  We walk for a few feet. This is far enough. Too far and the thugs will be suspicious.

  Hiding in the shadows, I prick him as hard as I can with the stick then punch him in the stomach before laying him down on the ground.

  “That’s for Randall,” I whisper. “Did you feel that intensely?”

  He doesn’t answer, worried.

  “What? Can the drug make it impossible for you to speak, too?”

  The placebo effect is working.

  “Goodbye, Vince.”

  I run off as fast as I can.

  Hopefully I can remember the path we took the first time and find my way to a village where someone can help me.

  After a few minutes, I hear him shout.

  “Sabrina!”

  Shit. He’s discovered my plot. At least I was able to get out of the house, though, and even get a head start. Now all I have to do is run.

  Run.

  ***

  I can’t run any longer. I rest against the roots of a large tree, gasping for air as I rub my aching feet.

  If I survive, I promise I’ll do cardio regularly.

  Suddenly, I feel a rustle nearby.

  Shit. Have they caught up to me already?

  I force myself to get up and continue but then I hear a bark.

  A dog? As I turn my head, I see a black dog with glowing, yellow eyes.

  At first, I tense in fear then I realize I know those eyes.

  “Zombie?” I hug him.

  Thank goodness he’s here, which means Randall is, too.

  He’s come to save me.

  Suddenly, I’m filled with new strength.

  I stand up and gesture to Zombie. “Come on, boy. Let’s find Randall.”

  ***

  After a while, with Zombie’s help, I find Randall behind a bush.

  “Randall!” I throw myself at him.

  “Sabrina.”

  “How did you know I was here?” I ask him curiously.

  “Ask Gil.”

  “I thought the pill was only good for eight hours.”

  “It is, so Gil tried something else. I’ll explain later. For now, we should—”

  “Going somewhere?” Vince interrupts, shining his flashlight on us at the same time as he points his gun at us.

  Shit.

  “What do we have here? Your husband?” Vince looks surprised and annoyed at the same time. “How did he get here?”

  “I don’t know.” I shrug. “Why don’t you ask him?”

  Vince shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter. I’m just going to shoot him and then you and I can play. We played your game earlier. Now, we play mine.”

  Just then, Zombie pounces on him with a different game in mind. He knocks Vince to the ground and the gun falls out of his hands. Vince fights back, managing to push Zombie off him, and then Randall is the one who gets on top of him, knocking the daylights out of him with just one solid blow.

  I heave a sigh of relief.

  Now the nightmare is over.

  Or so I think, until I see one of Vince’s thugs. He approaches with his gun pointed at Randall.

  “Randall!”

  I run to Randall, pushing him to the ground as the bullet hits the back of my leg.

  Shit.

  At once, Zombie goes after the shooter. It’s not a good idea, though, because the man quickly points his gun at Zombie.

  “No!” I scream again, covering my ears and closing my eyes as I hear a gunshot, then another and another.

  Moments later, I open my eyes, seeing Zombie near me and the shooter on the ground. Randall is standing behind me, gun in hand.

  Now the nightmare is truly and finally over.

  “Are you okay?” Randall asks, shining his flashlight on my leg.

  I don’t answer. I feel okay now that I’m safe but I don’t know if my leg is going to be.

  Randall bandages it with a strip of cloth from his own shirt then he carries me.

  “Come on. Let’s get you to a hospital.”

  Pledge

  Randall

  I stare anxiously at Sabrina as she lies on the hospital bed.

  The doctor already removed the bullet from her leg and said it was going to be fine. Her bones, nerves and ligaments are all intact. She hasn’t been awake since her surgery, though, and so I wait.

  There are a lot of things I want to say to her.

  In the past twenty-four hours, I’ve been through a lot and I’ve thought of a lot of things, mostly about Sabrina. I thought of the things she said. I thought of all the things we did together in such a short time and all that she made me feel and I came to a conclusion: I do love her.

  Sabrina’s right. I didn’t love Dinah. Maybe that was why we started fighting, even about little things. I only wanted to protect her, to take care of her.

  Back then, I didn’t know what love was. I don’t consider myself an expert on love, never having experienced it from my family. For the same reason, I couldn’t answer Sabrina when she asked if I loved her.

  But then, when I was looking for David, I thought about all I felt for him – how I wanted not just to protect him and take care of him, but to listen to him, to see him happy, to support him, to simply spend time with him and do things with him, make memories together – and I knew I felt the same for Sabrina.

  I love my son, and I love my wife.

  I take her hand, pressing it to my lips.

  “Thank goodness you’re safe. I wouldn’t know what to do if I lost you.”

  Suddenly, Sabrina’s hand moves and when I look at her face, I see her eyelids fluttering open. For a moment, she just stares at the ceiling then she looks at me.

  “Hey.” She smiles.

  “Hey, yourself,” I te
ll her, still holding her hand. “How do you feel?”

  She shrugs, then lifts her leg, wincing.

  “Easy there. They just operated on your leg.”

  “Yeah. I know that now. At least it’s still there and I can feel it.”

  I nod. “Thank goodness for that.”

  She looks around. “Where’s David?”

  “We’re in a hospital in El Paso. David is with Gil. He’s okay.”

  “With Gil, huh? You said it was Gil who found out where I was?”

  “Yes.” I grab the stool and sit on it, still holding her hand. “Do you remember when you caught me snooping around in your room?”

  “So, you were snooping around.” She pouts.

  “Not really. I was getting strands of your hair.”

  “Strands of my hair? For witchcraft?”

  “No. For a DNA sample. I sent them to Gil.”

  Sabrina nods. “I see. You thought I was a criminal.”

  “No. Anyway, I thought he didn’t run it, because you already told me what happened, but he still did. As it turns out, your DNA was a match to DNA found at that house where you stayed.”

  “What?”

  “Apparently, a body was found in that house, probably shortly after you were there. I don’t know if Vince or any of his men have anything to do with it, but it’s likely. The forensics team collected DNA, and one of the samples came back to you. But they didn’t know it at the time because you weren’t in the database.”

  “I see. So Gil discovered that I had been in that house?”

  “Yes.”

  “But how did he know I would be there? I could have been in any other place.”

  “Well, Vince did say you were going to a place where you’d been before,” I remind her.

  “Ah, so Vince gave it away.”

  “He’s not as smart as he thinks. And before the pill stopped transmitting, it looked like you were headed southwest. He made some calculations, said you were likely going to Mexico. Anyway, he said a bunch of things I don’t remember anymore…”

  Sabrina chuckles.

  “But he was right in figuring out where you were. The main problem was overcoming those thugs and getting into the house but you were already out of the house.”

  She nods. “And Zombie found me. Wait. Where’s Zombie? Is he okay?”