“Well, I have to make sure, for both our safety. You understand, Ma’am.” His hands had continued down her sides, and he found a small foil packed tucked into her waistband. He grinned to himself, pleased that she’s planned this so well. He continued smoothing his palms up the insides of her legs.
“Y-yes.”
“Yes, what?” He paused.
“Yes . . . ohhFUCK!” Audrey cried as Simon’s fingertips stroked her.
“God, Aud. So ready for me,” he groaned in her ear. Simon felt her knees begin to buckle and pushed her snugly against the hood of the truck. He dipped one finger inside of her and she whimpered and started grinding against his hand. Two fingers, and he had her hips bucking. With his other hand, he reached around and circled her clit. In under a minute, he felt her muscles grip and pull at his fingers. “Please, Officer!”
He had never been so glad to wear a shoulder holster as he unfastened his belt and popped the buttons of his pants open. Without missing a beat, he nudged Audrey’s legs apart until she was off balance, and ran the head of his cock where his fingers had just been. He pulled back for a second to rip open the pouch and cover himself.
“I have to make sure everything is in order here. You understand, right, Ma’am,” he said, nudging the head of his cock into her. When she didn’t respond, he grabbed her braid at the base of her skull and pulled her backwards to him. He ran his free hand roughly over her breasts, rolling her nipples between his fingers.
“I asked you a question,” he growled into her ear and thrust forward another inch.
“Yes, oh yes, oh please, Officer.” Audrey was writhing against him, almost incoherent.
He felt a surge of power, and loved knowing that he made her that way. With a smooth thrust, he sheathed himself in her. Grabbing her waist, he rolled his hips, finding the rhythm she was setting.
“Touch yourself, Ma’am. NOW.”
As her hand reached down between her legs, Simon ground his hips every time he met her pelvis. As she worked herself faster and faster, he sped up the rhythm as well. He felt the first trembles start in her legs and felt her tighten up around him. He grabbed her hips and thrust into her, feeling the head of his cock swell against her slick walls. Audrey moaned, low in her throat, and he felt her muscles contract around him. He let go, and with one, two, three hard thrusts, followed her over the edge and collapsed against her on the hood of the truck.
The squawk of the radio brought them out of their bliss. Simon carefully pulled away from Audrey and handed her his pressed brown Army issued handkerchief. She chuckled. “Never thought people carried these things. Wonder if they had this use in mind.”
Simon grinned at her, and called in to the station while she cleaned herself off and pulled some leggings and a sweater out of her bag. At his look, she shrugged. “Hey, it’s cold out here!”
He grinned at her. “Warmed me right up.” He held up his hand and grabbed the radio. “TA Sierra all clear. Heading in.”
“10-4, Carwell.” The operator’s voice came over the waves.
Simon put the radio down and walked up to Audrey. He ran his thumbs over her cheekbones, and over her lower lip. He pulled her toward him, and kissed her, lightly, gently. She melted into his arms and he deepened the kiss, tasting her. He felt himself stir again and stepped away.
“I’m going to let you off with a warning, Ma’am. Don’t get caught out here again,” he laughed.
Audrey stepped up to Simon and cupped his cock through his pants. “Thank you, Officer. For getting me off.”
Simon barked out a laugh, grabbed her hand, and kissed her fingertips. After he settled her inside the truck, he leaned in and kissed her hard. “Leave your fucking door unlocked. We’re not done tonight.”
“Yes, Officer!” Audrey laughed, as she spun out.
He looked at his watch and did some quick math. 10 minutes to shift change. 15 minutes to pass on notes. 30 minutes until he was going to be buried in Audrey again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
No.
It was all wrong.
Simon swung the car into the parking lot and slammed on the brakes. Audrey’s truck was in its usual spot, but the door was open. The dome light shone in the darkness. As he jumped out, he saw that her small purse was on the ground. The contents were scattered around it. Her military ID was face up on the ground, and a flash of panic drove through him. She wouldn’t be able to get on post. Her cell phone was half crushed just outside the door of the truck.
He grabbed his radio and called in. Even before he clicked off the mic, he had his phone in his hand and was dialing Randall. The man answered just as Simon was beating on Ant’s door. Ant took one look at Simon’s face, heard about half of what he said to Randall, and ran up to Charlie’s room.
Within half an hour, the parking lot was swarming with people. The local police were also on site.
“Whatever happened, it was fast, and it was quiet,” Randall said. He scrubbed his face with his hand and surveyed the area. “Not a fucking thing out here that says anything.” He looked like he’d aged twenty years in an hour.
Charlie walked up. “Skid marks at the stop sign. Fresh, but nothing we can identify. They’re only a couple feet long.”
“It’s midnight. What was she doing?” Randall asked.
“She’d found me out on patrol,” Simon said. “Couldn’t sleep, so we talked for a bit.”
Randall gave him a long look. “And then?”
“And then she came back here. This was maybe half an hour before I got off shift.”
“So, she hasn’t been gone that long. That’s a start.” Randall walked over to where Range and the local officers were talking.
Simon sat down on the curb. Rage and bile were at war in his stomach, and he swallowed over and over, fighting the urge to throw up. Antony and Charlie came over to him, and sat down on each side of him.
“You know we’ll find her,” Antony said.
Simon couldn’t even look up. “He’s already tried to kill her once. How do we know she’s not already dead?”
“No blood in the lot. I know it’s not much, but man, don’t start down that road right now.”
Simon jumped up and scrambled to the bushes near the corner. He made it half a second before he started vomiting. When he stood, Antony handed him a bottle of water. Simon spun the cap off, took a swig, swished, and spat onto the pavement. “Fucking hell.”
Charlie came over. “I’m going to go get my shit and head to the office. I’ll get the coffee pot going, if you want to join me,” she said, squeezing Simon’s shoulder and walking off. She stopped off to talk to the 1SG and he nodded at her.
Antony looked at his friend. “We will bring her home.”
“Dude, we were—”
Antony held up his hand. “Don’t know, don’t care. What she was doing was her business. She’s grown. You, too. But, she’s one of ours. Let’s get our shit together and bring her home.”
Randall approached. “They’re going to be bringing the access rosters for the last 12 hours or so. Locals are sending units to Gross’s house and his office. Judge wasn’t happy about being woken up, but was furious when he found out an agent was missing. Never heard him so pissed.” He looked at Simon and saw the naked terror in the man’s eyes. “You gonna be able to hold your shit together for this?”
“I will.”
Randall nodded. “We’ll make this happen, Carwell. If I have to tear that man apart with my own hands.” He clapped a hand on Simon’s shoulder. “Let’s go.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Audrey came to and tried to move. Pain screamed through her shoulders and her feet were mostly numb. She couldn’t move more than a couple inches in any direction. Her head was pounding, and something was slowly oozing down the side of her cheek. She opened her eyes and fought the wave of nausea that washed over her. Everything was blurry, and she blinked a few times, hoping that her vision would clear. It did. The room was dim, and the only li
ght was coming from the hall. She looked around. No windows. One door, which was open. Nothing else was in the room except for her and the chair they tied her to.
She tried to piece together what happened. She’d been with Simon. A pang shot through her. Oh, Simon. This was going to wreck him.
Audrey shook her head, wincing. Short, stray hairs whipped forward on her face.
Think.
She left Simon and drove back to the apartments. Pulled up in front. Got out and remembered the radio on the seat, so she leaned in to get it. Footsteps, and then someone struck her on the back of the head as she stood up. She remembered two voices.
Her eyes widened. One of them was Chad Gross.
Heavy footsteps thudded on the floor, getting louder. Audrey briefly considered acting like she was unconscious, but decided against it. The sooner she confirmed her suspicions, the sooner she might figure out a way to get out of this.
Gross appeared in the doorway and stopped, looking around. When he saw her open eyes, he smiled, a feral grin that made her feel slimy. He strode over and backhanded her across the face, watching in satisfaction as her head jerked to one side. She looked back at him, and he was blurry. She tasted the sharp tang of blood at the corner of her mouth.
“Serves you right, bitch,” he said. “Sticking your nose where it never belonged. Why did you come here?” Audrey didn’t respond. He got in her face and yelled, “Who sent you here?” Still, she didn’t talk. The last few weeks since their altercation at the office hadn’t done him any favors. His eyes were crazed, hair shaggy. He backhanded her three more times, catching her head as it bounced from side to side.
The world faded to gray, then black.
“Fuck.” He hadn’t meant to knock her out again, not when he was so close to getting answers. He called out over his shoulder. “Get some smelling salts, and some rags and water. Clean her up and see if you can wake her up.” As he walked out, a young woman walked in, carrying a tray full of supplies.
***
The sun was just coming up, and the team was still sitting in the office, no closer to having an answer than they had been before. Randall’s cell phone rang, and he hurriedly brought to his ear. “Yes. Okay. No one? How long? Guesstimate, then. Hmmmm. Hey, is this guy married? He wears a ring, but we can’t find any records . . . a daughter? We’ll check into that. Thanks.”
He tossed his phone to the table and twisted his head from side to side, stretching. “No one’s seen Gross at his house for at least two days. If anyone’s there, they aren’t using lights or moving around much.” He looked at Charlie, who was sitting closest to the case table. “Is there anything in there about him having a daughter?”
Charlie rifled through the papers. “No. We haven’t seen anything about that.” She looked at the other two for confirmation, and they nodded in agreement. “How could we miss that?” she asked.
“We wouldn’t,” Antony said. “There’d be a birth record, or adoption, if he went that route. There’s nothing there. Are we sure we got his complete file?”
Randall snatched his phone from the table and started tapping on the screen. “I’m going to call your father, Carwell. We need his pull here, and he might have other resources that we don’t. Either way, he’s good muscle to have on the team.” Simon nodded and continued staring at his computer screen.
Twenty minutes later, Erik Carwell came into the office carrying a locked briefcase. An MP accompanied him. “That’ll be all, Sergeant,” he said to the man. “They’re all cleared.”
The MP nodded. “Yes, Sir. We’ll be outside both sets of doors until you’re finished.” He turned and walked back out the front.
“I don’t know why they didn’t give this to me when I first requested the information, but here it is now,” he said. He looked at Simon. “Son? We’ll get through this.”
Simon looked up at him and felt his chin quiver a bit. “I need to step out for a minute,” he bit out, and rushed out of the room.
Erik sighed. “I’ve already put in the calls to the FBI.”
“FBI?” Drummond exclaimed as he walked into the room. He saw Erik, and added, “Sir.”
Erik smiled thinly. “No ceremony, especially right now. Yes, FBI. This became federal as soon as they kidnapped her. Also, there are a couple interesting holes in Chad Gross’s record that need filling, so they are pulling everything they can.” He looked around. Charlie had already dug into the records and was spreading papers out on another table Antony had brought in. “Where’s some of that god-awful coffee I’ve heard about?”
***
Audrey woke to a soft touch against the side of her face. It was wet again. Was this blood? Her head was throbbing worse than before, right around the base of her skull where it had whipped back and forth every time Gross had hit her. Whiplash. She tried to think about how much blood she’d potentially lost. Shallow head wounds bled like mad, but weren’t usually life threatening.
Wetness poured down the side of her face, and a soft cloth wiped upwards. So she wasn’t bleeding. She cracked open her eyes. A young woman was on her knees in front of her, wringing out a piece of cotton flannel into a basin of water. She reached back up and saw Audrey’s eyes open and gasped, pulling back.
“I’m sorry if I hurt you,” she said in a whisper.
“You didn’t,” Audrey croaked. Her throat was dry.
The woman nodded and reached back up. Audrey studied her in the silence. She looked young, maybe in her early 20s. She had delicate features and light hazel eyes. Her hair was dark, and it was long, tied back in a ponytail. She looked familiar, really familiar, but Audrey couldn’t place her.
“What’s your name?” she asked, quietly.
The young woman paused in her motions and shook her head slightly. She leaned closer and whispered, “Tanja. Don’t tell him I told you.”
Audrey didn’t have another chance to ask Tanja anything. Loud footsteps approached, and Gross came through the door. “That’s good enough, my love,” he said. Tanja stood up with the basin and rag and turned to leave. As she passed by Gross, he reached out and grabbed her arm roughly. Some bloodstained water sloshed out and onto the front of her shirt. He leaned down and kissed her hard before releasing her. A disgusting show of ownership. He turned and looked at her. “She’s gorgeous, isn’t she?” he asked.
Audrey didn’t reply. Irritation flickered over his face and he leaned down toward her. “I’m going to ask you again—who the fuck sent you here?”
Audrey sighed and looked straight into Gross’ eyes. “The Army, you fucking moron.”
He backhanded her. “You don’t speak to your betters that way, bitch.”
“Good thing you’re not my better, idiot,” she retorted, prepared for the next blow. “For someone who spends time on a military installation, you sure know nothing about how things work.”
He stopped and considered her words. “Keep talking.”
“Nothing more to say. Shit happened somewhere else, they sent me here. End of story,” she said. “You know, Chad, paranoia is an indicator of mental illness. You should seek help.”
That was the hardest blow yet, and stars swam in Audrey’s vision.
“I am not ill, you sick bitch. How did Max get you brought here?” He spat at her.
“Wait, what?” Audrey’s head was spinning, and she fought to stay conscious. “I don’t talk to that asshole.” She spat blood onto the floor. “You should know that. Jesus, they must have lowered the standards at the Bar Association if mental snails like you can pass.”
His face turned red, and his eyes were bloodshot. Audrey thought for a second that she’d pushed too far, and that maybe, maybe, he was going to kill her right then. She knew he was going to kill her anyway, so she wanted to go out on her terms, but she might have just gone too far, too soon.
He yelled, loudly. He leaned toward her, inches from her face, and let out a yell that made her ears ring. Spittle gathered in one corner of his mouth and dripped over the
edge of his lip. The tendons in his neck stood out and looked like they were going to snap. If he didn’t breathe, he was going to pass out. She wished.
And suddenly, he straightened up like nothing had happened. He turned on his heel and walked out of the room without another word.
Audrey exhaled forcefully and gulped in another deep breath. She used her tongue to work at each tooth to make sure they were all solid. It might take another few blows, and she wanted to make sure she could handle them.
Every time Gross had hit her, her entire body had shifted against the old wooden chair. With every strike, she used the momentum to gain some slack in the ropes around her wrists. Whoever tied the knots did a poor job, and she’d been working at the gaps she could reach when she was alone. The rope around her ankles was looser than when she first came to as well. This just might work.
***
The FBI moved surprisingly fast when they were properly encouraged. Two phone calls from Erik to a couple of unspecified numbers and a team of two feds from the local office were standing there, one with a box in her hands, looking for a place to set up.
“Best we get is a digital copy of his prints,” the man was saying to the room. “It should come through to your emails right now.” As if on cue, three of the computers in the area dinged simultaneously. The silence from Audrey’s computer was louder than anything else.
Drummond handled all the phone calls and coffee refills. On one pass, Antony looked up at him and cracked, “You’re awfully good at this, LT.” Drummond looked at him and smiled.
“We all have our parts to play, Ramos. If all I can do is keep people out of here and keep you guys going, that’s what I’ll do.”
Antony was humbled at this admission. “Seriously, thanks. Your phone’s going off constantly. I can’t imagine having to deal with that.” Drummond nodded and waved his hand as he answered yet another call that had just come in.
Erik had taken up a spot at the corner of Simon’s desk. He leaned back in his folding metal chair, wincing as his back popped. “I’ve gotten soft in my old age,” he said. He picked up a piece of paper, “There’s nothing here. I would have put money on his name being on one of these rental records, but nothing.”
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