by E. M. Leya
"Got a name?" Jeremy asked.
"Larry is all I know, but I have a plate number and car." Marshall rattled off the info to Jeremy, then heard more tapping.
"There's an APB out for the car, so it looks like he got away." Jeremy sighed.
"Fuck. If anyone deserves our kind of justice it's a man like this. The fuck was living next door to me. I stared at the house at night wondering why I hadn't seen anyone there the last few weeks, but I couldn't have dreamed it was something like this."
"No one would. Danny's lucky to still be alive. Most would have killed him as soon as he got too old to give the guy what he desired."
"Well, however he managed to get away today, he saved those other two boys' lives. They were beat up and injured, but the police say it didn't look like either would die. God, this is so fucked up. Listen, I'm pulling into the hospital lot now. I'll text you later if I hear anything more. Otherwise, I'll be into work in the morning as usual."
"No. Take the day off. The cops will probably be by to interview you more tomorrow. It's best to stay away from the team for a day or two until things quiet down. Hell, this is going to be big news. Kidnapped child shows up as a grown man twelve years later. I can see the headlines now. I wouldn't be shocked if the media ends up at your door over this one," D told him.
"Just what I need." Marshall groaned.
"Just remember your cover story and everything will be fine. Keep us in the loop and we'll be here to help if you need it. As for work, enjoy working on your basement for a few days and we'll pull you back in when it's safe." Jeremy paused for a moment. "We'll keep an eye on police reports and what is going on with the case."
"Thanks. I'll talk to you guys soon."
"Good luck," D said a second before the call disconnected.
Marshall parked and made his way into the emergency, ready to be told to wait. To his shock, the moment he asked about Danny, he was escorted back.
"He's been refusing to let anyone see him until you arrived." The nurse led him through a short maze of halls before stopping at a room.
"Thanks." Marshall tapped softly on the open door. "Can I come in?" He kept a smile on his face despite how weak and thin Danny looked in the hospital bed.
"You came." Danny looked relieved.
"Of course, I did. I said I would. I don't lie." He moved to Danny's bedside. "Did you let them examine you?"
"Kind of." A look of shame passed over Danny's face. "They want to run a bunch of tests, but I'm not sure what they are. I don't know who to trust."
Marshall settled his hand gently on Danny's arm. For some reason, the guy seemed to trust him. "I can help you decide what you want to do, but I think you can trust everyone here. They just want to make sure you're okay. I know you're scared, and I probably would be too, but you're safe here."
"How do you know? What if Larry comes for me?"
"He wouldn't dare show up here. He'd be arrested before he could get back here to see you. I promise." He wasn't about to tell him the police hadn't caught him. That was something he'd find out soon enough. Whatever Marshall knew about the case from Jeremy, he wasn't going to bring it up with Danny yet. He needed time to adjust before he dealt with timelines and things like that. "What did the doctors want to do?"
"The only thing I understood was x-ray. They mentioned scans and such, but I don't know what kind."
Marshall had to remember that Danny hadn't been in public since he was seven. He probably had no clue how to function as an adult in the world now. Everything had to be strange and overwhelming to him. "If you want me to talk to the doctors, I will. I can help explain things to you and remind them that the last time you were outside that house was years ago. It might help them understand your fear better."
Danny tugged at the neckline of the hospital gown he wore. "Have they called my mom?"
"I don't know. I'll find out if you want."
"No, don't go yet. I don't like being alone." He glanced at the door, a flash of fear in his eyes.
"Then I'll stay right here with you." He slid his hand down Danny's arm and linked their fingers together.
"Thanks. I'm sorry I dragged you into this."
"It's okay. I'm glad to help. If you're comfortable with me, then I'm happy to be here for you until your mother gets here. Can I get you anything?"
He shook his head. "I'm too nervous."
"Understandable. I don't like hospitals much either, but sometimes they are necessary."
"What have you had to come for?" Danny asked.
"Several things. I broke my arm when I was eight. Decided I'd try to jump off the roof of our shed and see if I could fly. Then when I was seventeen, I had to have a pencil removed from my arm. Then right after that, I tripped over a shoe on the way to the bathroom in the dark and dislocated my kneecap. That one was probably the worst. I didn't think it would ever heal."
"How'd you get a pencil in your arm?"
He grinned. "Messed up, isn't it? I was stupid and let a friend stab me with it. I honestly never thought it would go into my arm. I thought maybe the tip, but no, I had to be the guy where the whole pencil went in. My aunt was so pissed at me."
"Your aunt?"
"Yeah, my parents both died when I was little. My aunt took me in and raised me. She died almost two years ago."
"I'm sorry."
"Me too. She was a good lady. I miss her. Anyway, as you can see, I've been right where you are, lying in that bed, waiting for the doctors to decide what to do." Marshall gave his hand a squeeze. "They know what they're doing around here. I promise. And I'm pretty sure they've been alerted to your situation and no one will be getting close to you any time soon. Until they are sure Larry is locked up, they'll protect you." At least he hoped they would. He couldn't imagine they wouldn't worry about Larry coming after Danny and the other boys to keep them from testifying against him. Then again, he'd seen some dumb criminals over the last year that he'd worked with STK. "Are you sure you don't want me to—"
"Feeling okay?" A doctor walked into the room holding a pair of bolt cutters. "Oh, I'm sorry. Is this the friend you were waiting for?"
Marshall stared at the bolt cutters. "What are those for?" They weren't the largest pair he'd ever seen, but just the fact they were being carried by a doctor in the emergency room was enough to cause him alarm.
The doctor set the cutters on the counter beside the small sink. "I think Danny needs to let me know what he wants you to know before I answer that." The doctor was older, probably in his fifties.
Marshall glanced at Danny, finding him beet red with embarrassment, or maybe it was shame. "What is it?" He tightened his hand against Danny's.
Danny closed his eyes.
"If you don't want me to know, I can wait outside the room while you talk to the doctor." He was curious as hell, but he wasn't going to put Danny in an uncomfortable position.
"No, don't go. I'm not sure I can do this without you here to help me."
"It sounds and looks worse than it usually is." The doctor gave him a supportive smile.
Danny bit his lip, then released it and looked over at Marshall. "He forced me to wear a cage on my…" His cheeks reddened again.
"It's okay," Marshall assured him. "I know what a cage is. I'm guessing there isn't a key?"
"I don't know where he kept it." Tears appeared in Danny's eyes.
"That's okay. The doctor knows what he's doing. While he does what he needs to, you and I are going to focus on each other." Marshall glanced at the doctor. "What do you need to do?"
"I'm going to ask a nurse and another doctor to assist me. Looking at it, I think we can simply cut the lock, but the worry comes from the long-term placement of the cage. I can't tell how severe the damage is, but it looks as if the skin in one area has rubbed raw and regrown several times. I'm worried the skin might have grown to the metal. I'll go slow and do things in steps so not only can I see the damage, but I also want you to let me know the moment there is any pain." The doctor
acted as if this was something he saw every day.
Marshall nodded. "You okay with that? Still want me to stay?" He'd seen worse online, but being in the same room with someone who was facing such a thing made it harder. He wanted to be sick. How long had he been forced to wear the cage? Surely not twelve years.
Danny nodded, then looked to the doctor. "Just get it off."
"Give me a moment to get some assistance and we'll do just that." The doctor stepped from the room.
Danny wouldn't look at Marshall.
"Hey, it's okay. This wasn't your fault. This was forced on you, right?" He prayed he hadn't asked for it.
"He made me wear it because he was afraid I'd have sex with the boys when he wasn't around." Danny sat up straighter. "I would never. I couldn't hurt the boys. I couldn't do what he did to me to anyone."
"I know. I believe that. Most of us could never do what Larry did." Marshall was so pissed at Larry that he was tempted to ask the team to let him come along on the sting when they found the fucker.
The doctor walked back in followed by two other men. One was a doctor, the other a nurse. Once the door was shut, he focused on Danny. "Okay, remember, this should be easy, but any pain and you tell me."
Danny nodded.
"Okay, this is what you and I are going to do." Marshall stood with his back to the doctors, trying his best to block Danny's view of what they were doing. "Give me your other hand." When he held both of his hands, he smiled. "You're going to stare up at me and not break eye contact. You're going to imagine that we're back at my house on the couch and just talking like friends do."
He was aware of the doctor removing the sheet, and as badly as he wanted to look, he kept his gaze on Danny. "Did you ever do anything stupid like I did when you were younger like jump off a roof?"
Danny's grip against his hands was tight, but he gave a slight smile. "Bruce, he was my best friend back then, we used to build these ramps in my backyard and ride our bikes off them. They weren't very big, but my mom freaked out when she saw us. We never got hurt though."
"We did that too. My friend Jeff took a hard fall and ended up with stitches in his chin." Marshall watched Danny's face closely for any signs of pain.
"Okay, we got the lock off. Now I'm going to need you to lift your legs and spread them a bit for me. I'm worried about an area under your testicles." The doctor's voice was calm.
Danny tensed.
"It's okay. No one will hurt you while I'm around. I promised, remember? Let the doctors do their job." Marshall made a mental note to praise Rani for being a doctor and for dealing with things like this. Definitely something Marshall couldn't handle.
"Okay, things look good. There's a small area that is raw from the rubbing of the metal, but it's not large. It might be tender as I slide the cage off you. Stop me if it's too bad."
The doctor must have been looking at Danny because he nodded before looking back at Marshall.
"Do you think you still like riding bikes?" Marshall asked him.
"I don't know. Haven't ridden forever." Danny closed his eyes, then blew out a long breath.
"Okay, it's off," the doctor informed us.
Marshall cringed at the sound of metal clanking on metal.
"How bad?" Danny asked.
"Nothing serious. There's a small area under your sac that is raw and another along one area of your penis, but those will heal. You have a little scar tissue in another area that I assume is from rubbing and healing repeatedly. You should heal fine."
"It won't hurt to pee?" Danny asked as he released my hands.
"Nope, it shouldn't. If it does, you follow up with your doctor. I'll give you some cream to put on it and we're going to check for any infection before you leave. I'll have you follow up with a urologist to make sure everything is okay. Visually, I don't see any long-term damage to any part of your body, but I'd still like to do some tests to make sure any prior broken bones healed correctly and run some lab work to make sure everything is okay. As I suggested before, there are a series of other tests I think we should run just to be safe and make sure there isn't any unseen trauma. From what you've told me, you haven't seen a doctor in over ten years. I'd rather make sure we check everything."
Marshall turned to look at the doctor and caught sight of the cock ring that sat on a small tray. His chest tightened at the thought of anyone wearing something like that without wanting to. It didn't look large enough to handle most men he'd seen. It had to have been painful for Danny to live that way for so long. He forced his gaze from it and refocused on the doctor.
"I'll do whatever you think is best," Danny whispered. "But I don't have to stay here, do I? I can go home with my mom when she shows up?"
"Let me run a few basic tests and I'll get back to you on that, okay?" The doctor met his stare. "I know you probably hate all this, but we need to make sure you're okay."
Marshall agreed, but he was more worried about Danny's mental being over his physical. Then again, seeing that cock cage made him wonder what else Danny had to suffer over the years. It turned his stomach to think how long he'd been held with that man. God, he'd never wanted to kill anyone so badly before.
"Thanks." Danny seemed to relax, but he reached his hand for Marshall's again. "You'll still stay until my mom gets here?"
"Of course." He couldn't leave him now. He'd seen and heard too much. He was involved, and that meant he was going to stick around until he heard every detail he could find out about Larry, then he was going to dedicate the next week to finding that fucker and making sure he paid for what he'd done.
CHAPTER SIX
The embarrassment of having anyone see the cock ring made it hard to look anyone in the eyes. Danny hated that the doctors had to focus on such personal areas of his body. Even though Larry hadn't raped him in years, the doctors still wanted to do an examination to make sure there was no damage. It was humiliating.
Marshall had left the room and gone for a cup of coffee while the doctors did their thing, and the whole time, Danny wished he'd asked him to stay. He couldn't say why exactly he felt safer with Marshall beside him, but he did. There was something about him that eased his mind and made all of the confusion and intrusion seem as if it wasn't as bad as it really was.
The truth was Danny was confused as hell. He didn't understand half the things people talked about. He'd been locked away for so many years it was like he was a kid again, facing a world he didn't know. Sure, he'd had the TV at night to catch up on some things, but hearing about it didn't compare to experiencing it. He was so lost.
All he wanted was to see his mother again and go home. He'd figure out all this stuff in time, but he wanted the comfort of his mother's arms. He wanted to ask her to make her meatloaf so he could smother it in ketchup like he had when he'd been little. He wanted to tell her he was sorry for running off and trusting a man with a puppy.
No one would give him any news about her. He asked over and over again if they'd called her, but no one knew. They said the police would be in to talk to him, but that never seemed to happen. It was already two in the morning and he'd heard nothing about if Larry had been caught, how the boys were doing, or if his mother had been told he'd been found. It was driving him insane.
Somehow, he'd never really thought about what would happen if he ever escaped. Sure, he'd thought about his mother, focused on doing things he remembered, but it was nothing like it used to be. Things were different. He still imagined his mother as she was ten years ago, but she'd be older now, maybe look different. Had she gone on with her life, maybe remarried, even had other children? It was all stuff he'd never stopped to consider before. Now he had to because it was happening, and fast, way too fast.
An irrational part of his mind craved the safety and quiet of Larry's home. Yes, he'd been beaten and raped there, but he knew his surroundings. He knew what was expected of him. Now, he had no clue what anyone wanted.
"Hey, is it safe to come in?" Marshall peeked inside the slig
htly open door.
"Yeah." Danny sat up. "Any news?"
Marshall nodded. "There's an officer at the nurse's station who is going to come to talk to you in a minute. I don't know what he has to say, but I overheard him saying he was going to ask some more questions. Hopefully, he'll have some more information."
"I hope so. You're probably tired. I didn't think it would take this long. You can go home if you want." He had no excuse to ask him to stay other than he felt better with him there. He could hardly upset Marshall's life any more than he already had. It wasn't his choice to be the one Danny had run to for help. He'd just been the first person he'd seen.
"I'm okay. I'm used to working late nights. I'd like to stay if that's okay with you."
Danny smiled. "Thanks. I'm sorry you got dragged into all of this."
"I'm not. Hell, if I could have done this weeks ago to help you, I would have. I'd hear yelling from time to time over at that house, but I thought it was some pissed off husband yelling at his wife. It wasn't enough to really do anything about."
"Larry was careful. If he got mad enough to yell at me, it made him madder because he knew people might hear and question things." Danny rolled to his side, wishing he was wearing something more than the stupid hospital gown. "You know what I don't understand is why after so many years, today of all days, he left the door unlocked. He was careful, cautious. He never left anything unlocked. We only used plastic silverware, and even then, not knives. I had to laugh at that because if I'd been braver, I could have broken a plastic fork to stab him with. But he thought about everything before he did it. What made him forget today?"
"I don't know why, but I do know I'm glad it was today. I'm glad I was there to help you. I hate to think what would happen if no one had been around. If no one heard your screams. In this day and age, people don't always help when they should. They hide away, not wanting to get involved." He sat down on the edge of the bed instead of the chair, tightening his hold on Danny's hand. "The good news and the only news you need to focus on right now is that it's over."