by Ker Dukey
“Elizabeth.” She lets out a choked sob. “Oh, Dillon, what are we going to do? We can’t let him take her, but he already has Josey. He’s a monster. He’ll hurt them.”
I lean forward and kiss the flesh near her ear. “That’s why I’ve got to figure out a plan. One the department won’t trample all over with bureaucracy and red tape. This will all have to be done quickly and by our own rules.”
She finishes bandaging me up and takes my cheeks in her palms. “You do whatever you have to do to end him and get those girls back.” Her eyes darken. “Anything, Dillon. We can’t let him destroy us again.”
I twist her in my arms and face her toward the mirror as I press against her from behind. My eyes are feral. Manic almost. Hers are sad, but fierce. We’re a team. We will get through this.
She reaches her hand up behind her and threads it through my hair. Our mouths meet in desperation. Through a kiss, I assure her she’s mine. I won’t let that motherfucker hurt her or our little girl. My hands grope her gigantic tits and I devour the sweet whimpers that pour from her mouth.
Jade needs more reassurance.
“You’re mine, babe,” I grunt, then nip at her lip. “This is mine.” I rub at her swollen belly.
“Dillon,” she whines. “I need…”
I know exactly what she needs. Benny dead. Me claiming her. Our world to be simple again. I can at least give her one of those things right now. She doesn’t protest when I begin inching her dress up to her hips. Her hands fly to the edge of the seat so she can brace herself, and I push her panties down her thighs. In our next breath, I’m inside her.
Her hazel eyes meet mine in the mirror—frantic and needy and terrified—and her mouth parts. I thrust hard into my wife as I grip her tits and pull her against my chest.
“Mine,” I remind her as I press kisses down the side of her face to her neck. I nip at the flesh there and revel in the way her pussy clenches when I bite her.
“Yours.” She rolls her eyes back when I locate her clit. I assault her body with pleasure—from every direction. It doesn’t take long for her to come hard around my cock, and I drain my own release on a ragged grumble.
I’m still situated inside her, my cock softening and releasing my seed, when she speaks again.
“I want him dead.”
I kiss her earlobe. “I’m going to be the one to kill him for you.”
“You’ve been what?” I hiss on the phone to Marcus.
“Shot. That motherfucker shot me.” His voice is weak and worry niggles at me.
“Where are you?” I demand. Part of me calls to rush over to help my partner, but this is bigger than us. Lives are at stake right now. Time is of the essence.
“Broughton called an ambulance. We’ll be headed to the hospital soon.” He grunts in pain. “But him and that Harris fuck showed up. Scared the hell out of my girl…”
“Who?”
“Elise. Anyway, she’s okay, just shaken up a bit. Any word on Josey or Elizabeth?”
Here’s where I should tell my partner what happened. But I can’t afford to fuck this up.
“Working on it,” I grumble as I cruise through town on my mission.
“That doesn’t sound reassuring whatsoever.”
“I’ll handle it.”
He’s silent for a beat, then he hisses out, “Whatever you’re doing, man, be careful.” His breath comes out sharp. “We need to bring those psychopaths down.” In Marcus-speak: at any cost.
I get the message loud and clear.
“Keep me posted on anything you hear,” I bark out as I roll into the parking lot behind an old abandoned grocery store. I hang up the phone and tuck it into my breast pocket. All my weapons are loaded and ready to go. With Benny, you can never be too sure.
I don’t see any other cars and am pleased to know I got here first. That means I can stake the place out a bit before they arrive. The bandages on my neck pull at my flesh and the cut stings, but after a quick bathroom fuck with Jade, I’m feeling energized and ready to deal with these pricks.
Climbing out of the car, I do a cursory sweep, looking for anything odd or out of place. It’s dark now, and all that can be heard is the wind as it whistles through the trees. Dry leaves scrape along the pavement, giving this location an even more eerie feeling.
I keep my Glock ready in hand with a bullet chambered. If I need to pop Benny in the head for getting out of line, I won’t hesitate. He’s breathed Jade’s air for far too long. The asshole should be grateful for every single breath he’s taken the past few years. Soon, he won’t get anymore.
“Ah, so the good detective can actually do something right for once in his life.” Benny’s voice echoes off the building, and I freeze. My eyes dart around the shadows, but I don’t see him.
I grit my teeth before barking out, “Where’s Josey?”
Whimpering resounds from in front of me as she staggers out from the open door of the building. Josey’s hands are bound in front of her and there’s a covering over her eyes. Her mouth has a strip of duct tape over the front and she’s only wearing her underwear with what looks like bandages across her tits. What the fuck has he done to her?
“It’s okay,” I call out. “You’re going home.”
She starts running toward the sound of my voice, but then, as if God strikes her, she’s jerked backwards and lands on her ass with a scream that’s barely muffled by the tape. From behind her, Benny walks out holding one end of a rope I now realize is tied to Josey’s waist.
“Bad dog,” Benny chides.
“Enough with the games,” I growl. “You wanted the laptop and my help in exchange for her. Was this all some ploy to get me alone?”
Benny walks over to Josey and drags her to her feet by her hair. “If I wanted to kill you, I’d have done that earlier today,” he snarls. “Just like if I wanted to gut this bitch and drag her entrails around this parking lot, I would. But I need you to find Bethany.” He frowns at the mention of Bethany, and the vulnerability he can’t mask bleeds through, if only for a moment.
“I’m not reneging on my end of the deal. Now, give me the woman,” I snap and crack my neck, my finger hovering over the trigger of my Glock.
He shoves her and she stumbles forward. I don’t move to go get her in case it’s a trap, but I do speak to her so she’ll follow my voice. “Over here, sweetheart.” Josey may have always been a pain in my ass, but now she’s a victim. Just like Jade. Just like Macy. Just like my niece Jasmin. Just like Elizabeth. His reach on terrorizing women is mind boggling.
“Where’s Harris?” I demand the moment I have Josey pulled against me. She sobs and trembles. “Get in the car,” I murmur as I quickly untie the rope at her wrists and waist, keeping my eyes on Benny the entire time.
She yanks the covering over her eyes and rips away the tape, letting loose a cry. “They have another girl,” she chokes out.
“It’s okay. Just get in the car,” I command again. Wisely, she scrambles into the car as if she wants to be far away from Benny. I can’t say I blame her.
Benny walks over to the pole in the parking lot bearing the only light and crosses his arms over his chest. Under the yellow glow with bugs buzzing all around, he looks every bit some vicious demon recently summoned from hell. I could put a bullet right between his eyes if I wanted. Right this second. I’m tempted. I could take my own chances of finding Elizabeth.
Harris steps out of the abandoned grocery story holding a gun aimed at me. What the fuck?
“Just in case you get any ideas,” he taunts. This fucker is a mind reader.
I grit my teeth. “I’m not going to go back on our deal.”
He comes to stand beside Benny beneath the light as if they’re a united front. But I see the distaste written all over Benny’s features as he glares at me. He hates me. If I didn’t have Harris’s laptop and the means to help get Elizabeth back, he would be more than happy to kill me now.
“We should wrap this up and be on our way,
” Harris croons to Benny. And Benny actually listens to him.
He’s playing Benny.
The monster of all monsters is letting some smug prick in a suit control him.
Well, that’s fucking interesting.
“Where’s the other woman?”
“The deal was for the cop doll. No one else,” Benny spits in my direction.
“At least give me a name.”
“Why?” Benny growls.
“Kami Long,” Harris bellows. “I believe both her ankles are broken and her wrist. She has lacerations all over her body. Right, Benjamin?” He turns his head and cocks it slightly, as if he’s not going to move another inch until Benny agrees. And to my utter damn amazement, Benny nods with a grin.
“I hope she never walks again,” Benny mutters under his breath.
Harris’s jaw ticks, but other than that small tell, he seems outwardly cool. I may be able to use this woman to eliminate Benny after all. Clearly, Harris cares about her in some capacity and Benny hurt her for whatever reason. I’ll find out why.
“Let me help her,” I order.
Benny starts forward, but Harris grabs a fistful of his jacket. His hateful glare is turned from me to Harris.
“You don’t need her anymore. Let her get some help. She’ll die otherwise,” Harris tries to reason.
Benny meets the psychotic man’s stare without flinching. “I don’t care if she dies.”
“You don’t need her to prove a point. You have my attention. You’ve always had my attention,” Harris mutters softly, only for Benny’s ears, though I hear. Of course I fucking hear. “Always. I think I’ve more than proven that.”
Benny’s coiled frame seems to relax. This time, his eyes ignite in resignation, and dare I say, trust.
“I’ll think about it,” Benny tells him.
Harris slowly walks my way. The shadows engulf him as he leaves his hellish friend behind.
“Take good care of her and you will be rewarded,” Harris murmurs to me once he’s near.
I bristle at his words, but this confirms my earlier suspicions. Benny hurt this woman trying to get to Harris. Why he’s still working with Benny is beyond me.
He opens the back door of my car and leans in over Josey. I don’t want to be caught off guard, so I back up and hold the car door open to watch him and keep my eye on Benny.
“Until we meet again, Detective,” he says with a wolfish grin, slipping back out of the car. The sneaky little bastard already has his laptop in hand as he shuts the door.
Stalking away from me, he makes his way back over to Benny. They seem satisfied with the exchange, but Benny is tight with nerves. I didn’t think the psycho had feelings, but apparently, he has some for his sister. And I feel like an asshole for being glad his attention on my wife seems to have disappeared altogether. I don’t dare bring that shit up again.
“How will I contact you if I have information?” I ask.
Harris grins. It’s positively evil. “Oh, we’ll find you. We’ll always find you. You can be sure of that.”
If that’s not a motherfucking threat, I don’t know what is.
“Go do your police shit and find my doll,” Benny growls.
I don’t acknowledge him with an answer. I simply climb back in my vehicle and haul ass out of there.
“He slipped this in my hand,” Josey whispers from the backseat as she leans forward and hands me a slip of paper.
“Did he hurt you?” I ask, though I’m not sure I want to know the answer.
“No.”
Uncurling the paper, I discover directions written beneath the name Kami. I call it in and get a crew out there.
“I can take you to the hospital or we can go get this Kami woman,” I say, my eyes locating Josey’s in the mirror. “We’re real close.”
I want to get Josey out of here, but leaving that woman at the mercy of Benny goes against everything I am. They must not be going back, otherwise Harris wouldn’t have given us the note with her location on it.
“No, let’s go get her,” Josey says, her voice adamant.
There’s a keypad on the door, but Harris has already thought of that and wrote down the code. This place is a bunker. Built into the ground, I dread what I’m going to find down there and wonder how long he’s had this. Furthermore, who he’s kept down here. It’s been three years, and I’d thought he was dead. He could have done a shitload of damage in three years.
I make Josey stay in the car so she can radio me if anyone shows up. When I reach the bottom of the stairs inside the bunker, I find myself in a kitchen of sorts. This place is lined shelf after shelf with canned goods and other end-of-the-world shit. I navigate through the small space, my Glock drawn just in case. Eventually, I pass a bedroom and find a creepy-as-fuck room that has Benny written all over it.
My gaze skims across glass-like cells that run along the back wall. Three of them. On one end, a woman lies inside on the floor, blood everywhere. She’s not conscious and looks too pale. I holster my weapon and rush to disengage her door. It’s locked, but after a few hard kicks, I knock it loose. Once I have the door open, I’m able to reach inside to check her pulse on her clammy neck. It’s faint but there.
“Backup’s arrived.” Josey’s voice comes through the radio, and I sag in relief. Moving the woman’s hair from her face, a frown pinches my features. She’s the girl from The Vault when we first went to see Harris.
“What you got?” I hear shouted down.
“We need paramedic ASAP,” I bark back.
“They’re here,” I assure her. “You’re safe now.”
A flurry of activity consumes the space, and Kami is eventually stretchered to safety and taken to hospital. I send Josey with her.
“I want everything bagged and tagged,” I order. “I want this place gone through with a fine-tooth comb.”
“There’re surveillance cameras hidden everywhere in this place,” an officer announces, pulling a wire from the plaster and chasing it around the room.
“I want to know where the feed is going. Get a tech on it now.”
Was this what he planned for Elizabeth?
To keep her down here in his bunker?
Not on my fucking watch.
Viktor
I PULL UP THE TRACKERS for Lucy and ignore the hostility radiating from Benny.
He really hates my affection for Kami, but instead of questioning why he feels so strongly about it, he deflects.
Giving Dillon Scott the location of the bunker was a risk, but Kami wouldn’t outlast Benny’s wrath and she would have died before he agreed to free her.
He’ll be angry when he learns of her freedom, but unless Dillon tells him, he won’t know I had anything to do with it. Josey could have traced our journey back there. It was only a short drive, and even blindfolded, she could count the time passed as it was only two right turns.
“Well?” Benjamin growls, his tone impatient.
I tap over the keys and point to the red blinking light still active on the screen. “Her car tracker is still live, but I fear it could be a trap.”
“Let’s go see.”
His heart is now ruling his head. Walking into a trap could get us all killed. I know there is no reasoning with him when it comes to this, however.
“Can you think of any reason she would hold a grudge against you?” I enquire. None of this makes sense. Unless Lucy has simply become obsessed with the allusive monster that sits right there on the surface of who he is, things don’t add up. And if there’s one thing I don’t enjoy, it’s not knowing the reason behind someone’s madness.
“She’s just a cunt,” Benjamin sneers.
“As much as I agree with that terminology, there has to be something driving her. She spelled out revenge. Revenge for what? Think, Monster,” I demand.
He fidgets in his seat and glares at me from the corner of his eye. “I don’t have enemies…well, unless you count Dillon shit-of-a-detective Scott.”
�
��What about your dolls in the past?”
His frame solidifies and he remains silent. The air congeals and is almost unbearable. My eyes slowly drag to his and my stomach twists with the look he holds in his stare. So much damage haunting his eyes. I’ve never seen him look so human, so broken, so vulnerable.
“I’ve searched my whole life for Bethany. Only her. When my dollies were wrong, they needed to die. I lived my life alone until Jade and Macy, then my Bethany finally came home to me.” He slams his fist on the steering wheel and hisses. “Lucy would never be one of them.” An irritated sound leaves his throat. “This can’t be about me. It can’t be. This isn’t my fault. She can’t take her from me again. I won’t survive it again. Why do people keep taking my doll from me? Why can’t I just be happy, left alone with what’s mine?” he mumbles in a tirade. His head bows and he pulls the car over to a stop before pushing the door open and stepping outside.
He paces, manic and panicked.
I watch in confusion, and my insides crumble when he begins screaming into the air. It’s tortured and heartbreaking. The tendons in his neck bulge as he roars over and over into nothing. His whole body is rigid and straining.
Eventually, he falls to his knees, and as if summoned by his pain, thunder booms from above and heavy rain follows, pelting down around him, bouncing off the car, creating a melody to mask his grief.
Stepping from the car, I shout, “You’re getting soaked. Get in the car,” but he ignores me and I notice his torso softly shaking.
I stalk over to him and take a knee in front of him before pushing back on his shoulders. His head tilts up to meet mine. My heart constricts at the sight of him crying. Dark brown orbs full of tears and distress. He’s a wreckage, all the emotions inside colliding and finally crashing into him all at once.
He grabs hold of me and burrows his face into my shoulder.
I can’t breathe or move or fucking speak. I just hold him while he falls apart in my arms. He’s screaming against my skin, agony in every ripped cry. Tears build in my own eyes, his sorrow infectious. His emotion tangible and consuming. I wrap my arms around his shoulders and hold him tight to me. I don’t dare speak. I don’t hold the man, or the monster. I hold the little boy who had everything taken from him. He weeps as his demons torture him, suffocating and tightening the noose. He blames himself for Bethany, not Elizabeth, the real Bethany he lost so long ago.