Allure: Mike

by Sarah Monte

  There were worse games to play though.

  Chapter Twenty Two

  “Jennifer? What about Jennifer?” asked Mike in a voice that was devoid of all emotions. He looked at Ted, half wanting to claw the answer out of him yet dreading at the same time what Ted was going to say.

  “Dude, it’s from the hospital – the doctor who was handling David called me. Jennifer has been admitted – she’s all right,” said Ted hastily as Mike looked at him in horror, “- just a minor head injury for which she’s being treated right now. But she is alive and almost completely fine dude! We need to get to the hospital right now!”

  Mike looked at him in complete shock. Although he had been trying to convince himself for the past two hours that Jennifer was going to be fine, it still seemed almost too good to be true. He wordlessly motioned to Ted and walked towards the car, not knowing what to think and not sure if he would in fact be able to. The past few hours had been possibly the worst of his life, and it was all the courage that his Jennifer had ever given him that had helped him focus and come up with a plan to get her back – or worse, avenge her.

  As Ted drove on and kept speaking to Mike, he didn’t really hear too much of it. All he could think of was touching her silken long hair, looking into her gorgeous eyes and caressing every part of her soft and supple skin. He would never let her out of his sight again – that much was for sure. Mike always thought that he was emotionless except for maybe David, and that’s what everyone thought of him too. But Jennifer had changed everything about him without him even realizing it. He had chosen her over David, chosen to send her away to protect her when she wanted to stay, he had broken down in front of Ted when he thought something had happened to her, almost punched Rat to death for insinuating that she was in danger and was now completely unable to process too much. And now, he was going to meet her and never, ever let her go again.

  If ever there was a truer love, Mike wouldn’t know. He almost jumped out of the moving car before Ted had even parked it at the hospital and stormed through the front doors, looking at the receptionist in front of him with crazy eyes.

  The receptionist was a young woman, probably in her thirties and looked up lazily at him. Her eyes widened slightly as she took in his erratic appearance as well as his less than calm demeanor. Swallowing a little, she said, “Hello Sir, how may I help -?”

  “Where….where is Jennifer?” asked Mike in a rather strangled voice. There was a bubbling pit in his stomach, and he couldn’t exactly pinpoint if that stemmed from fear of facing her or the fear of what exactly he would find when he saw her. That was nonsense though, Ted had reassured him that Jennifer was fine. But maybe they had different definitions of fine. Mike needed to stop overthinking and focus on finding Jennifer as he focused on the receptionist once more and tried to articulate, “Where is Jennifer? I need to see her right now.”

  The receptionist looked back at him, slightly afraid of his expression and confused as she said, “Which Jennifer are you referring to Sir? There are too many in this hospital I’m afraid. I can’t help you unless you give me her estimated time of arrival, or her full name, or any other details!”

  “Jennifer Gellar, we’re looking for Jennifer Gellar. She was probably brought in less than an hour back, something to do with a head injury,” came Ted’s voice from behind as he placed a calming hand on Mike’s tense shoulder. The receptionist nodded at Ted, and scanned her computer for a brief moment before saying, “She’s on the fourth floor, just out of operation. Dr. Matthew is handling her.”

  Mike raced towards the lift, now intent on nothing more than to see if Jennifer was okay. They reached the fourth floor and almost immediately bumped into Dr. Matthew, who looked at them and smiled. “Calm down, Mr. Sinclair. Ms. Gellar is completely fine, in fact, that is one tough girl you’ve got there. A blow of that power and proximity should have left her unconscious, but she managed to drive all the way here!” said Dr. Matthew with a slightly awed expression on his face.

  “How’s she doing now doctor?” asked Ted as Mike, oblivious to the both of them began walking towards the room where he knew Jennifer lay. “She’s fine, we’ve stitched her up and given her enough painkillers that she should be out soon. She’ll make a full recovery in no time, don’t worry about it.” Ted sighed and asked, “What about David? Is he okay?”

  “David is fine too, although I should probably go check up on him now – it’s time for his medicines. I suspect that since Ms. Gellar was attacked, there needs to be a police statement taken. Now normally we would wait for that before we operated, but under the current circumstances, we let it slide,” said Dr. Matthew with a nod towards Mike. “Thank you so much doctor. Would you please tell David that Mike and I will be up to see him in a bit?” asked Ted in a grateful voice.

  The doctor nodded and left just as Mike pulled down on the handle and entered the room.

  Jennifer lay on the bed, half upright with a single tube running through her veins. Her eyes were closed, and her hands lay gingerly by her side. A bandage completely covered her forehead, a blot of red on one side of her head where the blood must have flown. Mike didn’t really know what to feel in that one moment, and was almost scared to take the next step ahead and touch her. He walked ahead almost in a trance, and as if sensing his presence – Jennifer opened her eyes slowly and turned towards him, wincing slightly at the pain. At this, Mike moved forward and held her hand.

  “Mike! Oh my god, are you okay? Donovan sent someone to kill me, I was so worried about you. I thought David also might be in danger just in case they decided to kill him off too, so I rushed to the hospital. Well that, and obviously my head kind of hurt,” said Jennifer with a small chuckle.

  Mike stared at her in wonder, amazed at how she seemed to get even better every single time he met her. She was lying in the hospital, having narrowly escaped an attack somehow, and was still concerned about him and David. She probably even saw the hurt in his eyes, and was trying to make jokes to make him feel better. Mike knew for a fact that he hadn’t done anything to deserve a love like she gave him.

  “Are you okay Jenny? I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to help you, I’m sorry I sent you away. I was so stupid, I didn’t realize anything about the phone, and I couldn’t even make it in time, and now you’re hurt because of me. I’m so sorry, Jennifer, my darling. I don’t know what I can do to make things better, but I promise I will never let you get hurt again,” said Mike, his vision getting a little hazy

  Jennifer looked at him and smiled slightly, “Mike, please don’t cry honey! I’m fine.” Mike looked into her eyes, gentle and full of love. He raised a hand and touched his eyes, surprised at the moisture he found there. He was only just beginning to realize the extent to which things had traumatized him. And Jennifer was one person he could be his real, vulnerable self for at least a few moments. He pulled her into his arms carefully, and as she nestled into his embrace he hugged her harder, careful not to hurt her though. It had been a very long few days, ever since David getting kidnapped to this moment here and now. It was probably Jennifer’s presence that had kept him going, and Mike realized his mistake not only in sending her away – but in underestimating her and believing she needed any protection in the first place. He had cracked the minute he knew something was wrong with David and when he thought she was dead, she had faced death in the face and probably kicked it away to get to him.

  Jennifer held him tighter, finding some much awaited and needed comfort in his arms. Her mind somehow took her back to the first time she had seen him, looking every bit the bad news a girl could expect. His danger and arrogance had given him a rather crude and sinister appearance, and she couldn’t imagine how life had taken her from there to now – where tears flew freely from Mike’s eyes as he finally broke down in front of her. It was a tender sight, something that clenched at her heart and made her extremely happy at the same time. Happy, for at least now Mike had chosen to let her hold and protect him.

  The
y held each other for a long time, enjoying the peaceful bliss of the moment. Both of them knew how temporary it was at the back of their minds, knowing that this definitely wasn’t the end and there was sure to be more danger for them quite soon. There were so many questions and so many answers to be found. Was Donovan going to attack one of them again? How were they going to get him out now? But they had found themselves a little moment of sanctuary before they would be tossed back in the middle of the dirt. It wasn’t perfect, and it certainly wasn’t going to be enough. But it was all they had for now, and for now – it was enough.

  It had to be.

  The door creaked open and seemed to bring in with it a draft of cold air that stirred the two out of their moment in paradise. Ted walked in with a cup of water, which he handed over to Jennifer with a smile. “I’m sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt. How are you doing Jennifer?” asked Ted. “I’m feeling much better, thanks Ted. How are you doing?” asked Jennifer.

  “You shouldn’t be worried about me Jennifer. Firstly, I’m amazed at how you managed to get away, but more importantly – I would like to know how exactly you did it and if you can give us any other valuable information,” said Ted in a businesslike voice. Jennifer sighed, even though she knew this was coming, it rather miffed her to snap out of her special moment with Mike. Mike looked at her with some concern and said, “Can’t this wait a little Ted? She looks a little weak and I don’t want to cause her any more stress. I’ve made a little breakthrough with Rat and we could work on that angle till Jennifer takes some more rest.”

  Just as Ted was about to consider this Jennifer said, “No, there’s no time for me to rest. I’m feeling fine and I should get better soon enough. We need to work together now, no more splitting up for any reason. Donovan was trying to kill me only to get to you Mike, and we can’t afford that kind of shit right now. There’s no more time to spare, because there’s no telling what he is capable of. That man who attacked me might have managed to get away ultimately and report back to Donovan. We need to find out where he is and take him down now!” she finished in a defiant voice.

  Ted and Mike looked at one another and nodded. Mike took Jennifer’s hand and squeezed it reassuringly, “Okay then sweetheart, don’t stress yourself out please. I’ve been stupid enough to not listen to you once, I’m not about to do that again. But first, you have to tell us exactly what happened.”

  “Well, I went back home like I told you I would to get changed. I noticed this car in the driveway but didn’t think too much of it till just before leaving – when I noticed a strange man approaching my door. My instincts told me that something was wrong, and I was right. I managed to knock him out with my father’s old glock and then tied him up. I didn’t get much out of him except the fact that he was sent here to kill me and throw you off. I also managed to puncture his tyres, which helped me escape later. That’s about all that I know right now,” said Jennifer. Mike looked at her with wide eyes, unable to hide his astonishment. This girl really was something, and he couldn’t possibly fathom how she had the foresight to go to the lengths of puncturing his car.

  “I suppose that man was in for a real treat! He must have rang the bell with confidence to get you and got taken over instead,” said Ted with a chuckle

  “That’s my Jenny,” said Mike with a smile and pulled her closer. “So how did you get hurt?” he asked with a frown.

  “Oh well I guess I got a little cocky, he was smart enough to somehow break free from the ropes, and he tried to attack me then,” said Jennifer with a little shrug. “I’m feeling completely fine now though, don’t worry about me.”

  Ted turned towards Mike and asked, “You said something about a breakthrough with Rat, what was that about?” Mike looked at Ted with a satisfied smile, glad that for once at least, he had some good news to give. Something that wasn’t going wrong, something that would give them hope. “Well I spoke to Rat, and he seems to be in. All we have to do is send the little worm back to Donovan and let him know that we’re onto him. Once he’s convinced that we’re taking one of his primal warehouses down he’ll come out and do something. We’ll give Rat a transmitter which he can press so that we’ll track them immediately and get Donovan,” he finished.

  “That’s not a bad plan, but doesn’t that endanger Rat’s life? And if he dies, how will we get Donovan?” asked Jennifer

  “Don’t worry about that, I’ve told Rat to press the transmitter almost instantly and if there’s no movement then we’ll know he’s been shot dead but we can go get Donovan at the heart of operations anyway,” said Mike. This seemed to be a bit of a concern for Ted however, as he said, “You need to think this through a little further Mike. It sounds good in theory, but in case Rat dies and we need to track Donovan – who knows what kind of proof against him we might find there? A powerful guy like him, there’s only so long we can keep him in jail without solid evidence.”

  “Isn’t attacking David solid evidence and reason enough Ted?” asked Jennifer

  “We cannot absolutely prove it is unless Rat or Gunther confess, and that isn’t something we can bet on either. Getting Rat to risk his life knowing he’s going to die anyway is one thing, this is another. We need to be absolutely sure about what we’re doing this time around man, we can’t afford any more mistakes,” said Ted in a firm voice. Mike nodded, knowing that his friend was right. This wasn’t the time to blindly leap into action anymore.

  Each move would have to be a clearly calculated one. Donovan knew now that Mike was onto him, and there was a probability of him knowing that his plans to kill Jennifer had failed based on what his henchman had or hadn’t told him. It was now or never, but he knew he had only the one chance. The entire plan was based on a gamble, something that bothered Ted and to some extent even Jennifer. But it was the danger of that risk that created allure for David – the fact that everything hung in balance. Enough of the fear and the worry ruling him, he was back to being the billionaire genius that he was. Donovan had made his play and failed. It was Mike Sinclair’s turn now – and for once the odds seems tipped in his favor.

  He was not going to let that down.

  Chapter Twenty Three

  “Are we absolutely sure about doing this?” asked Jennifer once more, wincing a little as Mike helped her up. The doctor had just come in again a while after they were done discussing things to check on Jennifer. Handing her a plethora of medicines and a lot of strict advice, he told her that she could be discharged. Ted had gone with the doctor to get done with the rest of the paperwork as Mike helped her get out of her hospital gown and into her clothes.

  For all the roughness he had ever shown in handling her and especially her clothes, Jennifer was surprised at how dexterously his fingers moved all over her – getting their job done but fluttering like feathers across her skin. His tattoos stretched clear and taut against his skin, enamoring her just as they did every single time she looked at them. Tattoos used to once repulse her, make her judge people. But now, they told stories, interested her and aroused all her curiosity amongst other things. In the middle of the changing, their faces had come inches away from one another, kindling a passion that had been asleep for longer than they wanted to be. It was the first time they were aware of their proximity sensually, the first time there wasn’t fear or worry gripping them. It had been only a month since their relationship, Mike’s body was still new and exotic as ever to Jennifer. Just then Ted had walked in with the paperwork, “I’m done with this shit guys, we can bounce,” oblivious to the scene in front of him as they had hastily moved away.

  “I’m sure of it because it’s my plan,” said Mike in complete honesty and hiding every trace of vanity.

  “I’m sure of it because I have no other choice and no other plan,” said Ted, his candor every bit as effortless as his friend’s. Jennifer laughed a little, the sound of it creating a surprising ache in Mike’s heart as he realized how he had missed the sound of it in the past few days. “I want to meet David bef
ore going though. Maybe if we tell our plan to him and get his opinion on it, I’ll feel a little better,” she said to the two of them as she pushed ahead out of the room and past them.

  They trudged up the stairs to the fifth floor, where David was. Mike was holding Jennifer, who still felt a little weak and Ted walked in front. They reached David’s room and Jennifer entered first, smiling at a now wide awake David.

  “Oh my God Jennifer I have been so worried about you! Dr. Matthew just told me about everything that happened and I was practically shitting myself. How did you even manage to get out of such a situation?” asked David in a panicked voice the minute he saw her.

  Jennifer smiled at his concern for her but it was Mike who went forward and said, “Calm down David, it’s not good for you to be stressing yourself out like this. Just chill. She’s fine, and she’ll tell you the whole story later. For now however, we need your help.”

  “Help? Yes, absolutely anything, just ask me,” said David, looking down rather shamefacedly, “I have dragged you all into my mess and put your lives in danger also at this point. I’m really sorry, I really, really am. Please tell me what I can do to help you out. Are the doctors going to discharge me now? I’m ready to get back into action.”

  Ted smiled and said, “Don’t worry about that at all now David. If not for you in fact, we would never have such a strong lead or come up with an idea to even capture Donovan yet. This is as close as we have managed to come to in years actually on this case – so don’t go feeling bad about yourself just yet. And as for ‘getting back into action’, hold your horses there for a while. As of now, we need your help in terms of an opinion on a plan that we’ve come up with to draw Donovan out.”

  David looked at the three of them and said with a sigh, “Well it isn’t really much, but if it is all I can do for now then okay. What’s the big plan?”

  “We were actually going to draw Donovan out using Rat as bait. He would go there and tell him that we have captured his biggest warehouse and cause Donovan to panic, hopefully leading him there using a transmitter we would give Rat and into our trap. It probably would endanger Rat’s life but after you I don’t really care about that scum too much,” said Mike in a rough voice.