Agent Undone

by Cassidy Reyne

  He led them to a small side door with a padlock, which a pair of bolt cutters made short work of. Once inside, they crept silently along a darkened corridor before reaching the main floor of the warehouse. Carter wanted to howl with rage when he saw the steel bar cages lined up along the two walls. Inside were half naked women, ranging in age from mid-teens to mid-twenties. Most of them were lying down on the bare concrete floor, but a few were sitting up and leaning against the metal of the cages. The women followed Carter and the other men with their eyes but seemed not to comprehend what was going on. The sound of a tv came from a small room further down, and two other rooms were occupied with men working on a computer or playing cards. Every single one went silent and put their hands up when the agents walked through the doors. There was no resistance. Carter went from room to room without seeing any sign of Madison and he was starting to think she wasn’t there.

  “Jackson, where the hell is she? You said she’d be here?” He gritted out through his teeth to let the ATF man know he was pissed off. Jackson headed towards a staircase in the far corner furthest away from the cages.

  “Cool it. Hugo probably has her upstairs in his office. He likes to torment her and keep her close when Peeters isn’t around. It was always him dishing out the punishments anyway, and I think he was hoping Peeters would pass her on to him when he was done with her.”

  “Where’s his office?” Carter asked in a clipped voice. If that bastard had hurt her, he was going to kill him with his bare hands. No matter what, no man should ever hurt a woman. That was just the way he‘d been brought up. Jackson pointed to a staircase in the far corner and motioned for Carter to move ahead and he would follow.

  As quietly as possible, they both ascended the metal stairs to a mezzanine level where a loud voice was coming from a small room at the far end.

  “You’re going to do what the fuck I tell you and you’re going to do it like a pornstar. You’re just a piece of meat and I’m going to treat you that way. Understood? Now, shut the fuck up, get on your knees, and do it!” Sounds of a struggle came from the small office and were followed by grunts, growls and a woman’s pained cry. Carter rushed forward with Jackson on his heels as the sound of a fist striking soft flesh and delicate bones reached his ears.

  “You fucking bitch! You will pay for that!” Hugo’s voice was suddenly strained as if in pain.

  With their weapons drawn, Carter and Jackson entered the small room and were horrified at the scene that awaited them. Hugo had Madison in a choke grip against the wall and was slamming her head into it so hard it bounced back and forth each time. A hole in the drywall was getting bigger each time, with red smears and bits of cracking plasterboard falling off. His big bulk was pressed up against her emaciated frame, but she wasn’t ready to quit. She fought with everything she had, eyes glazed over with terror and she had obviously managed to knee the man in the balls as he was cradling them with his free hand. His pants were open and hanging off his waist and his face was red, a vein throbbing on his forehead. Carter stared at Madison, still beautiful despite the appalling condition she was in. Her face was covered in black and blue bruises, blood dripped from her nose and head, and one eye was swollen shut while the other was only half open. Her torn top lay on the floor and one bra strap was ripped off. Big red and purple blotches on her ribs and stomach were clearly visible, with more bruises all down her legs and arms. Carter felt rage uncoiling in his belly at seeing a defenseless woman having been so badly beaten. As he kept his gaze focused on her, he watched, like a film playing frame by frame, as she pulled a knife from the waistband of her tattered jeans and thrust it into Hugo’s chest. Reality snapped back when a huge roar erupted from the man’s throat and Carter rushed forward to catch Madison just as Jackson wrenched Hugo away and threw him to the floor. The knife was still sticking out from his chest and the big man fell to the ground with a heavy thud. His eyes were closed, but a low moan escaped his lips. He was still alive.

  Carter ignored him and concentrated on Madison. She fought like a wildcat to escape his grip and screamed in terror.

  “Maddie, calm down. It’s me, Carter. No one is going to hurt you. You’re safe now. Shhhhhh, I’ve got you, sweetie. I’ve got you.” He murmured in her ear, the endearment slipping out unbidden while struggling to keep a hold of the panicked woman. Suddenly, all fight went out of her and she hung limply in his arms. He gathered her up with little effort and scowled at how her body seemed to be just skin and bones.

  “You got him?” he asked Jackson.

  “Yeah, I got him. He’s not going anywhere for a while, if ever. You go, the ambulance should be arriving any minute.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Carter made his way down the metal stairs to the ground floor just as the EMTs arrived to take care of the other women. He carried Madison outside into the fresh air and headed straight for one of the ambulances. The paramedic waved him towards an empty stretcher and started to check her vitals. After a brief triage, she was loaded into the ambulance and Carter watched it disappear out on the street with sirens blaring and lights flashing. He sighed as he realized he hadn’t even asked which hospital she was being taken to. It didn’t matter, she was nothing to him and right now, he had work to do.

  It was many hours later when he finally made his way to the hospital Nathan had been admitted to. The bullet in his leg had been removed and he’d been taken to a room on the surgery ward. When Carter found him, he was already sitting up in bed and flirting with the nurse who was checking his blood pressure.

  “There you are! Am I glad to see your ugly mug. I wasn’t sure if you’d survived the warehouse raid. No one would tell me anything.” Nate sounded hoarse but seemed to be ok. Carter dropped into one of the visitor’s chairs. Leaning forward, he propped his elbows on his knees and rested his head in his hands. He rubbed his face tiredly and felt he could sleep for days. The adrenaline that had coursed through his system for the past several hours, was now dissipating and lethargy was setting in. His ribs ached and the area around his kidneys throbbed. His whole body felt like a giant bruise, and his throat hurt after being choked by Peeters every time he swallowed.

  “Yeah, we were all good. There were no shots fired, but that motherfucker Hugo got stabbed and is in surgery right now.”

  “How the hell did that happen? Who stabbed him?” Nate looked at Carter, his brow furrowed in surprise.

  “Madison.”

  “What? No way. You could have knocked that poor girl over with a feather she was so frail.” Nate couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

  “I know, but when we got there, Hugo had her up against a wall, smashing her head in and choking the life out of her and had evidently been using her as a punching bag for some time. It looked like he’d been about to force her to blow him and I’m guessing she’d had enough. Somehow, she’d managed to get hold of a knife, and she buried it in his chest before I could stop her.” Carter drew a deep breath, not feeling too great about what he’d seen play out in that small room in the warehouse.

  “Holy shit. She’s got some guts. Where is she now?”

  “I don’t know.” Carter bowed his head and stared at the floor.

  “What do you mean you don’t know?”

  “I mean I haven’t asked. Why should I? She’s the FBI’s problem now.”

  “I thought you wanted answers? You sure as hell won’t get them sitting around here.”

  “Yeah, I definitely want some answers, but I don’t think she’ll be up to answering them for a while. She looked in a pretty bad state when we got her out of there.”

  “What the fuck are you doing here then, bro? Go find her, make sure she’s ok. She deserves that, at least.”

  “Yeah, I know. I just… what if everything she told me in Florida was a lie? Obviously, the part about wanting a quiet life wasn’t true. Although, she did write articles for those magazines, I checked them out when she first mentioned them. At least, there were blogs and articles under
the name of Madison Ward. I guess she could have taken that name to cover herself. I had no reason to dig deeper at the time. That’s on me. I was behaving like a total idiot instead of a pro. Now, I wonder if every single thing she told me was part of her cover story.”

  “You won’t know until you ask her. Now go. And don’t come back until you’ve got something to tell me. Make it quick, I get bored easily!” Carter heard Nate’s voice calling out as he strode out of the room and headed for the elevators. Caroline had already been to see Nate and Carter knew she was coordinating all the information on who had been taken to which hospital — or jail. She’d be able to tell him immediately where Madison was.

  Minutes later Carter was back in the SUV, racing across the city to the hospital Madison had been admitted to. Caroline had only been able to give him the hospital name, he still had no idea how she was or if she was even still there. He hadn’t been able to see all her injuries but hoped to hell none of them were life threatening. He had so many questions for her. That was all he wanted and then he would leave her to the Feds.

  He flashed his badge at the reception desk in the ER. “Madison Ward. Where is she?” He scowled impatiently at the nurse as she tapped away at the computer.

  “I’m sorry, sir, but there's no patient here with that name. Are you sure she’s been admitted?” The woman looked pointedly at him and he suddenly realized what he must look like. He was in a crumpled business suit with blood stains all over his shirt, and dirt and grime from the warehouse covering his hands and face.

  “She might be under the name Vanessa, I don’t know the surname. She would have been brought here in the last few hours, together with a large number of other young women. There would be several FBI agents with them.” Carter tried to plaster an official look on his face and once again flashed his badge. Something clicked in the clerk’s mind and she entered a few more commands on the computer.

  “Take the elevators to the third floor, turn left, through the double doors, then swing right and follow the signs to Surgical Ward 9. The nurses at the reception desk will be able to tell you more.”

  “Thank you!”

  Carter flashed a strained smile, made his way towards the elevators and pressed the button. He stood there for a few seconds, tapping his foot impatiently and willing the doors to open but gave up and located the stairs instead. Taking two at a time, grunting in pain with each step, he was soon on the right floor and found Ward 9 with no problems. It would have been hard to miss with all the dark-suited Feds hanging around outside. With his badge in hand, he strode up to the desk and again asked for Vanessa, or Madison Ward. The nurse barely looked up, and before he’d even finished saying ‘Room 3’ Carter was stalking down the corridor until he found the right room. Another agent was posted outside, and he shoved his credentials in the man’s face and pushed past into the room. Something broke inside him when he saw the state of the once so vivacious woman. Her skin seemed paper thin in the few places it wasn’t covered in black and purple bruises. Both her eyes were nearly swollen shut and her lips were split and puffy. Several doctors and nurses were frantically working on and around her with machines beeping and more staff rushing in and connecting her to even more equipment. When one of the nurses tried to shoo him out of the room, he suddenly realized Madison was in real trouble and the staff were trying to save her. He quickly backed out of the room and sank down on his haunches with his back against the wall for support. A sweat broke out on his brow and his heart hammered so hard behind his ribs he thought it was going to burst free. Whatever he’d expected to see when he got there, it wasn’t this. Madison was dying in that room and they were trying to re-start her heart. He could hear the defibrillator shocking her body, could hear the sound of the stutter on the machine and then a long beep.

  “Increase to 300! Clear!” A woman’s voice ordered.

  Again, the sound of her body being hit by the power of electricity. Another long beep. It wasn’t working. Carter didn’t want to listen to her death being announced but couldn’t make himself move.

  “360. We’re not giving up. She’s too damn young to die. Clear!” That voice again, filled with so much authority and determination, sounded strangely detached. More thuds, then silence.

  “Clear!” Another thud. Then a beep, and another. Then more, and more, until they settled into a steady rhythm.

  “She’s back. Let’s hook her up to the monitors for a while. Then I want a CT scan, MRI and full blood works. I want to know what we’re dealing with here.”

  Carter started breathing again and pulled himself up from the floor. He watched through the window how the doctor, a woman in her forties, gave instructions to one nurse while another was checking on Madison. Carter followed the nurse’s movements and suddenly noticed a frown replace the previously impassive and concentrated look as she listened to Madison’s chest.

  “Doctor Raj, her abdomen is distended and her breathing labored.”

  The doc immediately stepped to Madison’s side and listened to her chest while probing her stomach with her fingers.

  “Get me an OR, now! She’s hemorrhaging. She’ll bleed out if we don’t stop it.”

  Carter stared in confusion and horror, flattening himself against the wall as Madison was quickly wheeled past him and towards an operating theater. Feeling numb and not knowing what else to do, he found his way to the waiting room and dropped down on one of the chairs. His head was spinning as he tried to make sense of everything that had been going on. It was the only way he knew not to go stir crazy from waiting for news.

  He started to sift facts from assumptions, once again. He knew for certain that Madison had known Peeters before she arrived in Florida. She’d gone to Atlanta, and maybe other cities, for ‘business’ on more than one occasion according to what she’d told him. She was living under an assumed identity, or at least a new name, and would have needed new papers, a driver’s license and a new social security number to have even rented a car. That took planning and contacts, something he didn’t think the average person would have access to, but a man in Konrad’s position could easily have arranged it. Peeters had always kept her close, she’d never been one of the girls on offer, which meant she had to be special to him. Gary — no, Jackson, Carter reminded himself, had said Peeters wouldn’t let anyone, except for Hugo Tanz, near her. What didn’t fit was why anyone would willingly put themselves through the treatment she’d endured. She’d almost died a few minutes ago! His stomach churned at the thought. Fuck! Had he gotten everything completely the wrong way around? Was Madison innocent in all this? Was it possible Peeters had had some kind of hold over her which had forced her to return to Seattle? The more he thought about it, the less certain he was about her guilt. He was a good enough judge of character to recognize when someone was acting and there had been absolutely no evidence of it in Florida. He’d always known she was hiding something though, and that didn’t sit right with him. She hadn’t trusted him enough to tell the truth, even though he’d given her plenty of chances. Lies and untruths were something he could never accept. They’d spent weeks together, just the two of them. He’d told her all about himself, his family and his life in Virginia Beach. He’d even gone as far as he possibly could when talking about his job. The only part he’d kept back was who he worked for and what his job entailed. He’d listened to what little she had been willing to reveal and hadn’t pressed her for details. Maybe that was where he went wrong? If he’d asked for more, she might have confided in him.

  Carter pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. Memories of her sweet nature and sparkling laughter filled his thoughts. God, that smile! Even now his cock twitched at the thought. Images of her body in skimpy running gear zipped through his brain and he groaned out loud. He still wanted to take her to bed and fuck her senseless. Then, he would spend hours making love to her till the only thing she remembered was his name. Damn it! This was torture. His body still hadn’t caught up with his brain and was
reacting to his dreams and memories. He’d been so enamored with her and now he was paying for it. The more he thought about things, the more the pieces slotted into place like a jigsaw puzzle. No woman would ever willingly go back to a man like Peeters and there was no way he would have just let her go. Jackson Reeves’s words from a few weeks ago trickled back into his mind. “She left once and he went ballistic.” That made sense. Any man would go a bit crazy if their girlfriend just left. Or was it an escape? For a guy like Konrad Peeters, a sociopath who was extremely possessive and jealous, it would have been a big blow to his ego. He must have been very pleased with himself when she came back. Carter still wondered if she’d helped abduct girls while on her trips to Atlanta. Only, if she’d left Konrad, why would she still be trying to find new victims for him to exploit? Had he been paying her? Was that how she could afford the beach cottage? No, that didn’t make sense, either. His mind went in circles, spinning so fast he couldn’t even begin to keep up. Whichever way he turned, it all came back to one thing in the end. Madison hadn’t trusted him enough to tell the truth. She’d lied about her reasons for being in Florida and he couldn’t look past it.

  The hours passed as Carter sat in the drab room with tired prints on the walls and year-old magazines on the little table in the middle. His surroundings disappeared as his thoughts wandered and he was still sitting there several hours later when Caroline found him.

  “Hey. I brought you some clothes, I thought you might want to change.”

  “Yeah, thanks.”