Rewards of Bravery

by Dixie Lynn Dwyer

  Dana walked into the office as Randy stepped out to talk to one of the employees. She got the call from Clover and was shaking with fear. She was being drawn into this crap and needed to cut the ties. She grabbed the key and envelope off the desk and then placed it into her purse. She then took her sweater and headed out the door and to her car. The police were all over the place, looking for the van Clover had taken her in.

  “Miss, you need to stay, we have to question everyone,” Detective Mitchell Felts said to her.

  “I wasn’t in the office at the time. I was in the back room and didn’t see anything. I feel so sick. I just need fresh air.”

  “That’s understandable. Sit down on the bench, and I’ll get an officer to take your name and information.”

  She couldn’t argue, or she would look suspicious, so she played up being upset about the situation, and she sat on the bench. When an SUV pulled up and four men got out, including two in uniform, one a deputy and one a military man, she wondered who they were. As the other guy, a Texas Ranger, greeted them and began to explain, the four men looked ready to rage.

  “Who the fuck took our woman, Alex? What the hell is going on? You said she was safe,” one guy asked and was ready to brawl.

  Those were Isla’s men? She listened as they offered any help, including ransom money if that was what happened to Isla. An officer came over and took her information, and when she was done, she walked to the right and slipped away, knowing that they would find out she took the key. She had to get it to Clover immediately.

  Ortley, Montana, Curren, and Presley stood in the office with the detectives and the others involved in the investigation.

  “Was there anything else that came up? Any indication of why they would want Isla?” Alex asked Hagerty and Randy.

  “No, it makes no sense. All Isla did was find that money trail on Sam. He can’t be behind this. He’s in the hospital,” Hagerty said.

  “We’re missing something. Some other kind of thing they were after,” Alex said.

  “Wait, Isla brought back this key and envelope today. She said she found it on the boxes here at the office. She brought back the boxes but not the key,” Randy said.

  “What key?” Curren asked.

  Randy walked into his office and started to push papers around, looking in his drawers. “I had it right here. I emailed the information to Detective Felts,” Randy said.

  “I didn’t get that. When was that?” Detective Felts asked and looked at his phone.

  “Oh God, minutes before Isla left the building and was abducted. She had the key and envelope on her and was going to put it in the boxes, and I said I would take care of it and contact you. Whoever took her knew she had it on her and thought she still did.”

  “Holy shit. What the fuck is going on? Who wants the key?” Montana asked.

  “Who took the key from your desk?” Curren barked.

  “It was right here. I had it right here,” Randy said.

  “Someone in the office? A staff member?” Alex asked, and they all looked around them.

  “Everyone is here, I think,” Hagerty said. “Jesus, poor Isla, I can’t believe this is happening,” Hagerty added.

  “Dana isn’t here. She left twenty minutes ago when she was outside,” one of the other staff members said.

  “Fuck, she was right here. She took it to whoever took Isla,” Detective Felts stated.

  “We need to find that woman. She’s our only link at locating Isla. Now,” Alex commanded.

  Curren looked at his brothers. “I can’t believe this is happening to her again. I swear the God, she’s done working. Done being out of our sights.”

  “It isn’t fair. All she was doing was the right thing,” Ortley said to him. “If they hurt her, they’re dead. Every fucking one of them.”

  “We got a location on the safe-deposit box. It’s in Coldsberry,” Alex said to them.

  “Coldsberry is a huge town. Three times the size of Central Valley. How the hell will you find the right location without the number or address?” Presley asked.

  “Fuck.”

  “There are cops all over the place. We need a distraction while I get this safe-deposit box open,” Clover said to his buddies.

  “We’ll take care of it, but you better have bail money,” one of them said.

  Clover chuckled and slapped his shoulder. “It may take a few days, but you’re covered. Good luck.”

  As his buddies started to fight in the front entryway of the building, a cop intervened and was calling for backup. His two friends started slugging one another, and Clover made the move. He went to the security box, grabbed the stuff, including five thousand dollars, and headed out of the building and right to his truck. He could see the chaos out front as other cops came onto the scene and his buddies were arrested. They would be paid well for that little show. He headed down the road and back toward Benter.

  “I got it.”

  “Fucking awesome. Did you take a look?”

  “I’ll pull over once I’m out of this town. There were cops all over the place.”

  “Shit, yeah, get out of there and then let me know what you got, and I can start making calls.”

  A few minutes later, Clover pulled over at a rest stop and opened the folder. He called Benny back. “I got some good shit for you. I’m sending some pictures. It looks like not only did Sam keep copies of the falsified documents for that multimillion-dollar land deal, but also documentation of who he paid under the table. Even those he used in the town offices. Sam is a fucking genius. Hey, and he has a copy of a signed contract between him and this guy Gus Flora with a cut of ten percent.”

  “Awesome. Get here to the bar, we’ll pull it together and get things going.”

  “What do you want me to do with the woman?”

  “Eagan is with her?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Shit, it’s been five hours. After you drop this stuff off, go check on her.”

  “Got it.”

  Isla could feel the hands on her body and then a mouth against her neck. She tightened up and yelled, “Get off me.”

  She tried moving, but the guy pulled her back. He had untied her wrists and tied them in front of her. He slid his leg over hers as if he thought he was strong enough to hold her down.

  “Get away from me.”

  “I don’t think so. I’ve been caught in here all fucking night, inhaling your scent, staring at your tits. I thought this was the shit end of this task but no, no, it don’t have to be. You and me can party, baby.”

  He gripped her dress and tore at the front. She kneed him in the balls and then thrust her hands forward into his throat. He started choking, and she screamed in anger, headbutting him in the nose and breaking his nose. He was moaning and then rolled to the floor.

  She struggled to get up, and when she went to run, he grabbed her ankle, and she fell to the ground, cutting her elbows and hitting her temple hard. She heard the sound of a switchblade opening and widened her eyes. He started to climb up her body, caressing her ass, and then the knife was at her side.

  “Not so fucking tough now, are you, bitch?” he asked, and he licked his lips, as he rolled her to her back.

  He held the knife to her throat while he eased his palm up under her dress. She thought of her men. Of Ortley and his training, and that move he had taught her as he restrained her, and then she got out of it. She thought of Montana and how he helped her train too, and Curren and Presley’s muscles and tattoos, their attitude and will to fight, to be bosses and commanding. She wanted them to be proud of her. She wasn’t the same weak, scared woman who had been hurt and abducted before. No, Cherry Hill, her friends, and her men taught her to be strong, to fight for good over evil, and she had done nothing wrong here. She got caught in someone else’s mess, and only she could get herself out of it. As he got lost in looking at her breasts, and he cupped one of them, she tilted her head back, moaning softly.

  “Holy fuck, you like it. Yo
u want a man who is in charge. I’m it, baby. I’m fucking it,” he said and lifted the knife, and she made her move.

  Using her tied hands and the rope between them, she gripped his hands and the handle and turned it up, hitting him in the throat. He roared, and she rolled him to the side, pulled the knife out, and thrust it again, into his chest this time. He was gasping for breath, and she scurried away across the floor as the gurgling sounds filled the room and he tried moving. She gripped her dress, grabbed the jacket the guy had on, and she placed it over her shoulders. She opened the door. It was pitch black outside, and there were no lights, no other houses in sight. She walked back into the house, looked for a weapon, something. She wouldn’t take the knife out of the guy’s chest. She had to escape before the other guy returned. They were going to kill her. Something went wrong.

  She ran out of the house and toward the wooded area, away from the dirt path. As she made it into the trees, she was shaking so hard and thought she might die out here. Her wrists were still tied together, her elbows burned, her body ached from him assaulting her, and her face throbbed from the strikes from earlier. She was not going to die out here. No way. She had to get help. She was her only hope.

  Benny O. was sitting in the back room at the bar, smirking and enjoying a drink. He sent Gus Flora a message and let him know he needed to pay up or Benny would rat him out. He demanded a million dollars. He would get that million. When someone knocked on his door, he called to them to come on in. He was smiling wide until he saw the guy in the black shirt, black pants, evil eyes, and a gun with a silencer pointed at his head.

  “Flora says no deal.”

  Pop.

  “Where the fuck is she? Where?” Montana demanded, and he struck Clover in the stomach. Clover bent down coughing. He fell to his knees.

  “Easy, Montana,” Alex said to him.

  “Fuck easy. This scumbag took our woman. She had nothing to do with any of this shit.”

  “Where is she, asshole?” Curren yelled.

  He didn’t say a word, and then Detective Mitchell Felts walked into the room with a federal agent. “Your buddy, Benny O., is dead. Shot in the head right in his office. Now start fucking talking, asshole,” Detective Felts ordered, but Clover looked shocked.

  “Where is she? Where did you and that bitch, Dana, take her?” Curren shook him.

  “I left her at a house with a guy.”

  “What guy?” Presley asked through clenched teeth.

  He gave the location, and the men went running out of the building.

  “It’s thirty minutes from here. It’s been forty-eight hours. Jesus,” Montana said as they got into the SUV, and a bunch of deputies and other friends followed them to the location. By the time they got there, it was dark out. They approached the house, guns drawn. Montana was in the lead with Alex, Kane, Seren, and Prime along with Montana’s brothers. What Montana hadn’t expected, as his heart pounded inside of his chest with fear of what he might find, was one very dead, battered guy with a knife in his chest, and blood oozing from his throat.

  “Holy fucking shit. Your woman did that?” Detective Mitchell Felts asked. The other agents started coming in.

  “There’s no sign of her. There’s blood on the bed, the floor over here too. She may be injured,” Alex said, and they looked around. “She got away. That means she’s running. She could be anywhere.”

  “We need to start looking. Could have gone in any direction. She could be hurt. Holy fuck,” Montana said as he put his gun away and ran his fingers through his hair.

  “She’s survived before, she obviously wasn’t going to let this guy hurt her anymore. She’s strong and determined. Isla will make it. We’ll find her,” Kane said, and they started to call in for a helicopter to start looking from the sky with spotlights. If they could let her know she was safe and they were looking, she wouldn’t have to hide. Montana walked over to his brothers.

  “She was forced to kill that man. What the fuck did he do to her first?” Curren asked.

  “We’ll find her,” Montana said.

  Isla was exhausted, hungry, tired, and shaking. She could see the bruises on her body, on her ribs, belly, and between her legs where that sick bastard tried to rape her. Asshole.

  Her teeth were chattering, and she found a dirt road, and continued walking. Her legs hurt, her feet too. She wanted to cry and then willed herself not to give up. This was not going to happen to her. She was in love with four amazing, strong, brave men, and she would get back to them and have her happily ever fucking after. She felt dizzy, weak when she spotted what looked like a small light far ahead. She willed herself to continue, and with every step, her body ached and burned. It was a house, a minivan in the driveway.

  “Oh God please don’t be a serial killer. Please.”

  She carefully approached the door, knocked on it, and sat down on the step. The door opened, and a man with a shotgun looked down at her.

  “Help me, please call the police. They should be looking for me,” she said.

  “Oh my God, it’s the woman on TV,” he said, and put down the gun and opened the door.

  An older woman had a phone to her ear. “Yes, we have that woman on TV, the one who was abducted. She showed up on our doorstep.”

  “What can I get you? Oh God, you’re hurt. Those men hurt you badly,” he said to her, and his wife came out with a blanket.

  “Water? How about water?” she asked, and Isla nodded.

  She took a slow sip from the bottle as tears rolled down her cheeks. The older man and woman stayed right there with her, and then he kept his shotgun ready for any trouble. “Thank you,” Isla whispered.

  “Get some scissors or something, Margret, to cut that rope from her hands,” he said to his wife.

  “Thank God you’re okay,” the older woman said as the sounds of sirens echoed in the distance and the closer they got, the clearer the lights appeared. She felt relieved.

  As SUVs and police cruises came to screeching halts, she heard Montana’s voice, looked up, and cried. He, Ortley, Curren, and Presley along with other deputies from Cherry Hill and Sheriff Kane hurried to her. She leaned into Montana, closed her eyes, and exhaled.

  “My God baby, you’re amazing. So amazing,” he said and kissed her forehead.

  “Let’s get these untied,” Kane said and handed over a knife to Curren.

  He undid the rope, and she felt the burning and the pain. “I’m so tired. I wouldn’t give up though. I needed to get back to my men. The four men I love.”

  “We love you too, sweetheart. We were so damn scared. God damn it, you are never going to be out of our sight. Never,” Curren demanded, and she leaned into Montana as the paramedics arrived and brought her to the hospital.

  Epilogue

  Curren kissed along Isla’s naked body, the remnants of the bruises almost all gone. The sun beat down upon the beach, their little island getaway for the next two weeks. He licked her nipple and tugged on it. She kept her arms above her head and her thighs wide like he ordered.

  “So sexy and all ours to have right out here in the open,” Presley said to her and joined them.

  Curren licked along her pussy and then to her asshole.