He screeched. “Fucking bitch!”
He slapped her, hard. He gripped his face and stared down at her. His expression hardened…terrifying Cameron.
She fought. With everything in her, she fought.
He gripped her shoulders roughly. “You don’t want to do this the easy way—you asked for this…”
He slammed her down and straddled her in a way she couldn’t move. Emotions overcame her and a flood of tears streamed down her face.
“No…no…no…don’t!”
She closed her eyes, defeated. He was too strong. She felt the bed sag with his weight. Then she heard a cry…it wasn’t hers. She opened her eyes. Above her, she heard a gasp. Karl’s expression altered. He looked stunned.
Karl fell on top of her. She couldn’t breathe. A warm liquid oozed, spilling out over her…Oh, good Lord…it’s blood!
Frantic, she scooted out from under his body. Horrified, her eyes fixated on the knife driven in Karl’s back. Blood pooled around the wound. She reached over and felt for a pulse. He had none.
She stepped away from the body. He stood there with a strange look on his face.
“I saved you, Momma,” he uttered. “I saved you.”
Chapter Twenty
“What the hell is taking so long?” Darren questioned Brophy.
Brophy shot him a look to shut up. They stood inside the police station of Town Creek about forty-five minutes outside of Fitchburg.
Darren had driven like a crazed man to Town Creek, where Mobley allegedly bought a farm. Much to his chagrin, Brophy insisted they stop at the police station to wait for Dunn and the FBI.
“Can’t just drive up there, Darren. What would you do? You would make the situation worse. Think.”
Darren paced in the office and waited. He had done it often in the past, but it never had been personal. This madman had the woman he loved. To Darren, every second mattered. He could feel it. Something was driving him. He had to get to her.
Frustration filled him. No one seemed to understand the urgency of the situation. A woman’s life was on the line. Any delay could cost her her life.
“Calm yourself, Darren,” Brophy said, getting off the phone. “Dunn is firing up a helicopter. He’s sending a team on the ground that should be here in a couple of hours.” Brophy looked over his shoulder at Town Creek’s police chief. “Look, Darren. We’re going out there to secure the area.”
“I’m going.”
“Maybe you should let us handle it now.”
Darren shrugged. “Fine. Go without me. I know the address.”
“Damnit, Darren,” Brophy said with a sigh. “You better stay out of the way. Don’t make me regret this.”
* * * *
Terrified beyond comprehension, Cameron couldn’t move. Her eyes fixated on the sight. Everything seemed surreal. Greg stood motionless, his eyes wide and wild. Blood dripped off his hands, his T-shirt reddened. Then he turned and looked at Cameron.
She ran.
* * * *
She ran out of the room and up the stairs. She headed straight for the back door. It was locked. Dead bolted. She turned and rushed to the front door. Crying, she desperately tried the door handle. It didn’t budge. Locked!
Oh, God! Oh, God! She was trapped. Looking one way and then the other, she frantically searched for a way out of this madhouse. Behind her, she could hear footsteps, slow and steady, climbing the stairs.
Her heart pounded so hard she thought it would burst through her chest. Outside, it was pitch black. She reached for the drawers in the kitchen for anything to protect herself. The drawers were fastened shut.
The footsteps came closer. She stared at the cellar door. It was useless to close. It had no lock. He walked up into the doorway and stood.
“Cameron, there’s nowhere to go. There’s nowhere to hide. It’s the way it’s supposed to be…just you and me.”
* * * *
There was no rhyme or reason to Cameron’s actions, just an intense desire to escape. She sprinted up the stairs. Her body ached, but adrenaline surged through her. Behind her, Greg called her name.
She flung open a door and ran inside. She grabbed a chair and barricaded herself within a bedroom. Turning, she ran to the window and unfastened it. She pushed upward on the glass…the door rattled. The room shook. She pushed harder…it gave. The chair relented and the door swung open.
“Don’t do that, Cameron. You’ll get hurt.”
Abruptly, she turned and faced Greg, who seemed strangely calm.
“What would you do now? Climb out on the roof? It’s icy and slick. You’ll fall. At best, you’ll have to jump down to the ground. You’ll break your leg. Then you’ll be miserable. I have never set a leg before…and you can’t take pain medicine. Just stop. Come back down stairs with me.”
She stared at him in disbelief. She had thought he would be angry…but he would be…if not now, then later when that Raymond emerged. She looked out into the dark night. The roof was steep and she hadn’t a clue where it led.
“Cameron, let’s go. I’ll put on one of your favorite movies while I clean your room…”
“Clean my room? Greg, you just killed Karl. Karl is down there…dead!”
Greg gave her a strange look. “But he was trying to rape you, Cameron. I saved you. Saved you.”
She took a deep breath. She needed to compose herself…talk her way out of here. She couldn’t argue with crazy.
“Yes…yes…Greg, you saved me and I…love you for it. I…am just scared. He scared me. I need time to calm myself.”
“You don’t need to be upset. You have to take care of yourself. I’ll take care of you. You’ll see.” Greg nodded. “You don’t have to worry about Karl. Karl…tried to trick me, you know. He thought I was stupid. He only wanted to steal my computer program. He didn’t want to come here. I told him…I told him he had to come. I was going to transfer our profits to an account he would never get his hands on…his precious business…and you. He always wanted you. The forbidden fruit. He thought I was going to let him have you…but I was never going to allow that.”
He laughed suddenly. His face distorted with an odd expression. “He was going to kill us, Cameron. You and me. The stupid fool. He didn’t think I monitored his movements online. That I wouldn’t see…”
Her heart sank. He was getting lost again in his rambling mind. She had to get out of here. She looked out the window and back at Greg. She pushed the window wide open and climbed out.
* * * *
Darren was on strict orders to sit quietly in the police SUV, while they waited for the FBI team. The road had been secured. No traffic was allowed down the back road that led to the property. If anyone asked, there had been a bad accident.
Brophy had ridden in the lead unit. Darren unbuckled his seat belt. He hated this…sitting beside an officer he didn’t know…being told not to get involved.
Suddenly, a call came from the radio to move in.
In a fog, Darren heard orders fly. “Movement seen.” “Take him down!”
The officer turned over the ignition and eyed Darren, but Darren wasn’t budging. He had no intention of being left behind. Pulling up behind the other units, the SUV came to an abrupt halt. Darren jumped out…
* * * *
Cameron slipped and caught herself. Her body lurched forward and slid down the slope of the roof. She stopped at the ledge. Greg’s voice ceased. He had to have raced outside. He would be waiting for her...
She willed herself not to panic. She couldn’t. She would fall. Looking down, she calculated how high she was. There was a blanket of snow below her. She feared heights, but the thought of what waited for her if she didn’t escape was greater.
She crawled to the edge and gripped tightly to the gutter. She slung her legs over. She hung precariously in the air for a moment before she closed her eyes and dropped. Immediate pain surged from her foot.
She fell to the ground and rolled. From the corner of her eye, she c
aught sight of lights moving toward her. She crawled to her feet, but fell back. Her foot seared with pain.
In the midst, he emerged, a shadow in the flickering lights, intent on one thing and one thing only…her.
“You shouldn’t have done that, Cameron…I was giving you everything. Everything. I told Greg…you would have to pay…”
He twisted himself around. His eyes glazed over, fixed on her. Terror seized her as he lifted a knife up in the air. She screamed a bloodcurdling shriek.
* * * *
Darren ran around the house. He saw her lying in the snow with the maniac standing above her. He had no time to think. He reacted. He lunged toward Cameron. Covering her with his body, he took the blunt force of the assault. He felt a sharp pain in his shoulder.
He wrapped her in his arms and refused to let her go. He felt her hands grip frantically for him. He buried his head into the embrace. Above him, an onslaught of bullets set fire to the air.
Pop. Pop. Pop.
Then silence.
Slowly, Darren released his strong grasp. He looked up. Brophy stood over a motionless body, gun in hand.
Cameron cried in his arms, but she was alive. Alive. It was over.
Chapter Twenty-One
Brophy heard the helicopter before he saw it hover in the night’s air and take off toward Boston. It held Darren and the girl. She didn’t seem acutely injured, but she needed to be checked out by doctors. Darren suffered a deep knife wound to his shoulder. The EMTs patched it up, but he needed stitches at the least. He refused to leave Cameron. Dunn didn’t argue. He sent them both back with one of his men in his helicopter.
Brophy stood in front of the house in the midst of the chaos. FBI lab techs had arrived. Cruisers drove in and out. He rubbed his chin. It promised to be a long night, but it had been satisfying. Extremely satisfying. Mobley wouldn’t hurt another human being.
Mobley had taken three shots to the chest, but he still had a pulse. He was in an ambulance on his way to Worcester, along with a convoy of law enforcement officers. Only time would tell if Mobley would survive. Brophy had never killed a man before, but this one…he didn’t care if he lived or died.
He took a deep breath in. They had found her alive. By the grace of God, they had found her alive.
Now, the FBI would be piecing together the house. At first glance, Dunn couldn’t contain his excitement, ecstatic with all the evidence that had been found: computers linked to the notorious Magellan Voyage website, along with a series of drug distribution sites, had been a gold mine for the feds.
His case, though, was closed. He would be heading back to Boston soon enough.
Brophy walked into the madhouse. He found Dunn down in the basement. The scene gave him chills.
Dunn pointed up in the ceiling. “Looks like he monitored her every move. My man has already found the computer to where the camera was hooked up. Should be able to know exactly what happened down here.”
Brophy glanced around the room that served as Cameron’s prison. He saw the chain…Neslund’s body was positioned in such a way that suggested he had attacked Cameron. He didn’t know whether it was a good thing to know everything that happened. The girl might want to forget…
* * * *
Darren sat beside Cameron’s bed in the emergency room. He refused to leave, even with his shoulder throbbing, scared she would disappear again.
Cameron clung to his hand. She seemed to be going in and out of consciousness, waking up startled until her eyes focused on him. She called out to him, and he soothed her.
The nurse reentered the cubicle. “We’re going to be moving her upstairs, Mr. Kennedy, but you need to stay. Your shoulder needs medical attention. Her father and brother have arrived. She won’t be alone.”
Darren nodded. He turned to Cameron, whose eyes fixed on his. Leaning down, he kissed her lips. “I won’t be long.”
“Darren, don’t leave me. I need to tell you…”
“Ssh.” He placed his finger over her lips. “It will keep for the moment. All you need to know is I love you.”
It was as if a dam of emotions burst from her; tears flooded her cheek. “I love you, too…”
It killed him to see her wheeled away. He was worried about her mental state. The doctor said he expected her to make a full recovery…physically. He realized she needed him. Hell, who was he kidding? He needed her.
Darren’s patience was tested. His shoulder took longer than he had imagined. He learned that in the medical field the meaning of quick pertaining to testing had a different connotation than in the normal world. Two hours had passed before his shoulder was set.
Following the directions he had been given to Cameron’s room, Darren exited the elevator. To his surprise, he found Brophy waiting in the corridor.
“Thought you were still at the scene.”
“Dunn had me flown back. Wasn’t anything more for me to do there. It’s their site,” Brophy said, nodding to his sling. “Got you stitched up? Going to be ok?”
“I’ll live,” Darren replied. “Don’t want to seem rude, but I need to get back to Cameron…”
Grimacing, Brophy shook his head. “Why don’t we talk for a second?”
“After—”
“Don’t, Darren. We need to talk.”
Brophy laid his hand on Darren’s good shoulder. “Come on. There’s an empty room up here.”
Confused, Darren complied. Days of vigilance, hoping, praying, and cursing stirred his emotions. Fear crept back into Darren from the look on Brophy’s face.
“What’s wrong?”
“She’s going to be fine, Darren. You know that. She’s been through an awful lot. Whipped. Beaten. As far as we can tell, she wasn’t sexually assaulted, but Mobley was one sick bastard. He filmed her entire captivity. It will take time to watch everything…she’s upset. She got some bad news and some unexpected news.”
“You better be quick here, Broph. I don’t have any patience for this. Everything was fine before I left to get my arm stitched up. She hasn’t said much, but she clung to me. She knows I’m here. I’ll go in there myself and find out what you’re trying to tell me.”
“Don’t. She doesn’t want to see you.”
“What? You’re kidding!”
“Sit down,” Brophy ordered. “You need to give her a little time. First, Mobley survived. At least for the time being. Unfortunately, her father let it slip. I told him in the waiting room. Obviously, she was upset with that information.”
“What has that got to do with me?”
“Nothing. It was the lab test that came back. You can’t let her know I told you. And I’m warning you, if you even hint you are aware, I’ll make you sorry. She has rights. They need to be protected.”
“My God, Brophy, tell me.”
Brophy hesitated. “She’s pregnant.”
Shocked and speechless, Darren leaned back, the news sinking in. He shook his head in disbelief.
Brophy sat down beside him. “It’s a standard test before she could receive the x-rays and the sedatives she needed. They confirmed it. The doctor said she looks to be around four weeks. That would be before she was kidnapped. Darren, could it be yours?”
Darren stared out into space. He nodded slightly. “Yeah. Imagine it would be. She was supposed to be on the pill…,” he muttered. Then he looked back at Brophy. “Is she upset with me?”
“Told you Mobley’s a sick dog. Remember Schafer said he was trying to create a fantasy world? Cameron is extremely confused, but she was rambling that it was what he wanted. The bottom line is she’s frightened. She’s scared. She’s building a wall to protect herself…and you.”
“I have to talk to her.”
“Darren, I don’t believe that’s the best thing for now. She has her family. Her father doesn’t want you anywhere near her. She needs time to accept everything that happened.”
“Why won’t she see me? She needs me. I know she needs me.”
“I can’t tell y
ou. Give Dunn time to piece it all together. Then we’ll have more answers. I know it’s hard, but be patient.”
* * * *
Cool morning air greeted Zach. He had left his jacket in the car and it had his wallet and cell phone. Over the last couple of weeks, Zach and his father had taken turns staying with Cameron. His dad didn’t want to leave her alone. Since her release from the hospital, she had walked around the house, a shadow of her former self.
Dr. Roselle, Cameron’s therapist, had prepared them to a certain extent, but nothing prepared them for this. Cameron wouldn’t talk to them. She barely ate and had to be made to take her vitamins for the baby. She lay in bed most days.
Dr. Roselle informed them all her emotions were normal for her ordeal. Unfortunately, the most she could do was to tell her loved ones to give her time. Cameron had refused most efforts to help her. She was spiraling downward. Zach didn’t know how to stop her.
Zach had reached the point where he wanted to shake her. Tell her she was alive. Didn’t she realize how important that was to him…Dad? Thank God. Be happy again. He needed her to be happy again.
Dr. Roselle said don’t press; she would talk in her own time. Be there for her. Let her know they were there for her. Love her.
Zach tried talking with her. Tried to get her to open up. She nodded at most he said and cried…she didn’t stop crying.
Darren Kennedy called every day like clockwork, morning and evening. Every day, the answer was the same. He had come out a few times. He sent flowers. He wrote her. She wouldn’t talk with him, but Zach had caught her reading and rereading his letters. Dad blamed Kennedy for the whole episode. He held him responsible.
As far as Zach was concerned, Dad was enabling Cameron to remain the way she was. Suddenly, he heard the back door slam. He didn’t have to look. Cameron was going for her walk and he knew exactly where she was going. This was beyond ridiculous. There was only one person who could help her. He dialed.
* * * *
Cameron walked. She felt better walking out in the open. She could smell the ocean air from here. She wanted to walk away the hurt…the pain…the betrayal…the guilt. Everything she had known for the last few years had been lies.
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