"You thought wrong. I'm not a child, Maddox. I'm an adult who knows what I want. I don't want options. I want you. You did hurt me but you are forgiven. Please, just don't do it again."
He flashed her a half smirking grin making her belly clench. Pressing his forehead to hers he said, "Yes, Ma'am. Go get your bath, I'll call Giovanni's so it'll be here by the time you get out."
Joselyn's heart stuttered and a weight lifted from her shoulders. "Alright." She pulled back and caressed his cheek. "Thank you for taking care of me."
"Forever."
There was strength in that single word. It was not only an affirmation but a promise. She knew he was letting her know he would not only take care of her physically but emotionally as well. Turning away, she climbed the stairs to her bedroom and went into her bath. Filling the tub with hot water, she dropped in a lavender and tulip bomb, watching it fizz as it dispersed. Re-entering her bedroom, she went to her bedside table to retrieve her mp3 player and stopped dead in her tracks. Something looked wrong with her bed so she turned on the lamp. A gasp escaped and all the blood drained from her head, making her stumble slightly. Slowly, her eyes took in what her brain attempted to comprehend. Her beige and mint green comforter had been slashed to shreds along with several of the matching pillows. Scattered over the surface and dipping into the rents and holes were the contents of those pillows along with hundreds of dried rose petals. The one intact pillow hosted something small and shiny. She leaned in to get a better look and drew back in shock. A silver necklace rested on the surface. The finely crafted chain dipped in the creases where she normally laid her head and the spherical pendant glinted in the meager lamp light. Without a doubt, she knew it would contain human remains. It looked exactly like the ones Detective Jameson had shown them last week with the exception of one thing. Where all the others had a dove carved upon the surface, this one had a beautiful rose in breathtaking detail. Beside it was a piece of paper with a picture of her and Maddox, eyes on each other as they stood outside the door to ballroom two. A big red heart had been drawn around her face but several long slashes ripped through his. Beneath the picture, words had been angrily stroked.
The soldier broods and walks the night,
To save the Rose, his hopeless fight.
He pursues her now, in an attempt to steal,
That which is MINE, to worship, to kill.
Time draws short, harvest is soon,
For Soldier and Rose to meet their doom.
There was a scream and it took a moment for her to register it came from her own throat. In a flash, Maddox was there with his weapon drawn, one arm pulling her close to his side. He saw her bed and let out a curse. In the space of one second, everything slammed into her. Images flittered through her brain - the bloody roses, strawberries, Detective Jameson's skeptical face, River's Frost Giant glare, her bed with the ripped and torn sheets, certain words from each poem blinking brighter and brighter.
Bloody... Fear... Death... Harm... Feast... Doom...
Kill
Kill
Kill
Joselyn squeezed her eyes tightly against the mental assault. "No," she moaned as the flickering vision was replaced by one even more sinister- a black tunnel with Douglas McClane's dead eyes morphing into the laughing ones of Donavan Beecher. She trembled and shook until her teeth rattled. Someone was speaking but she couldn't understand what they were. She gasped, unable to catch a breath. Panic devoured her in its frozen jaws.
Little Rose
Little Rose
Little Rose
Douglas' condescending tone whispered in her ears.
The arms around her tightened and shook her but she couldn't respond. Maddox... it had to be him as he was always there. He was the one who sheltered her. He was the one who protected her. He was the one who stood between her and the rest of the world. It was only fitting, then, that Maddox caught her as her eyes rolled back, her knees gave way and the world tilted, turned gray and then black.
Chapter 14
He had been in her house. Donavan Freaking Beecher had been in Joselyn's house.
Pacing back and forth, weapon still in his hand, River glanced over at Joselyn's still body as she lay on his bed. Striding over, he touched her wrist and found her pulse still strongly beating. The steely jaws of the vise constricting his heart loosened marginally allowing him to take a deep breath. Letting it out slowly, he forced himself to stay calm. Feeling a bit more in control, he glanced at the clock and cursed. Where was Bull? It had already been fifteen minutes since Joselyn's scream sent him sprinting up the stairs to find her staring at her destroyed bed. Something in her had snapped and he prayed she wasn't broken completely. She couldn't be. No, his Joselyn was much too strong to let this break her. She was overloaded. She would be okay. She had to be okay.
A loud banging sounded on the door downstairs. "River! Open up, it's Bull."
"Thank God," River breathed as he holstered his weapon and bolted down the stairs. Disengaging the alarm, he threw the door open and stepped out of the way.
Bull entered the foyer. "EMS is right behind me. Have you secured the house?"
River shook his head. "I've been standing guard over Joselyn." He glanced back up the stairs with longing. He needed to get back to her.
"Go ahead. I'll take care of everything."
River threw Bull a grateful look and raced back to his bedroom. Dropping to his knees beside her, he took her hand and held it in his. Placing a kiss on her fingers he whispered, "Come on honey, time to wake up for a minute. Let me know you are okay. Please, Joselyn, open your eyes. You're scaring me." He rubbed her cold fingers with his hands.
A woman wearing the navy blue uniform of EMS appeared in the doorway. Taking in the scene, she briskly walked to Joselyn and began to examine her. "What happened?"
Quickly, he ran through the events. She nodded. "Did she hit her head when she fell?"
He shook his head. "I caught her." He stood and raked his fingers through his dark hair. "Will she be okay?"
A second technician stepped into the room carrying a black bag. Sitting it on the edge of the bed, he pulled out a blood pressure sleeve and stethoscope. "Let us finish the exam," she said not unkindly. "It'll take a few minutes. We'll let you know as soon as we are done."
A movement caught his attention and he glanced over to see Bull standing in the doorway motioning for River. "I'll be right outside if you need me," he said with one more look at Joselyn before joining his friend in the hallway.
Bull wasted no time getting right to the point. "We've checked the house from top to bottom. There's no sign of forced entry and all the doors and windows are locked. Was the system armed when you got here?"
He thought for a moment. "I think so. She was already in the house by the time I got there. I know it was armed when we left because I double checked everything. "
"Yeah, I figured as much. You wouldn't let your security instincts lapse; especially not when it involves someone you care about. I'll call the monitoring service and see what they have to say." He lifted a chin toward the doorway. "How is she?"
River glanced back. "I don't know. She's been under a lot of stress lately." He didn't mention his own part in adding to her distress.
Bull clasped him on the shoulder. "I'm sure she'll be fine." Barking orders to another officer, he tossed River a chin lift. "Let me know," he said as he rushed downstairs.
"Maddox?"
Relief flew through him as he heard her voice. Hurrying back into his bedroom, he sat on the side of the bed next to her. Pushing a strand of honeyed silk from her face he smiled. "Hey there. How are you feeling?"
She blinked and her lip trembled. "He was in my house, in my bedroom."
"I know. Try to stay calm, Bull is here with several officers. You are completely safe." He glanced at the technicians. "Is she okay?"
They were packing the equipment back into its case. "She's fine. Her blood pressure is a little low but rising to normal lev
els. I advise seeing her doctor to rule out any other issues to be safe." She patted Joselyn's hand, "I hope you feel better. Try to keep the stress down." She gave River another smile and followed her partner out the door.
Joselyn chuckled but the amusement didn't reach her eyes. "Avoid stress. Wow, they aren't asking for much."
He hated the tension making her eyes bleak and her lips pinch. Reaching out, he smoothed the lines gently with his thumb. "I'm sorry. So damn sorry."
Her eyebrows shot up. "What are you apologizing for?"
He drew in a deep breath and let it go slowly. "I failed you. I swore I would keep you safe and look what happened."
Joselyn searched his face. With a frown, she struggled to a sitting position." No, you didn't."
Gently he helped her and stuffed his pillow behind her back. "Yes, I did. He got into your house. I was so far into my own head, I didn't even check the house like I normally do. What if he had been waiting?"
Once she was comfortable, she pulled him until he sat next to her. Outside the room, he could hear the police as they continued to talk but his attention was solely on her.
"If he had been waiting, then you would have taken care of him. Maddox, this is not your fault. We both thought the house was safe. There was no reason not to. You made this place a fortress but he is determined. He figured out a way to get in. I think he came in because we weren't home. I don't think he would chance it with you here, so you are keeping me safe. You, not my house, or even the alarm. It's you."
He wasn't ready for her to forgive him yet. Shaking his head he started to speak only to have her press her fingers to his lips.
"Shhh. Listen to me. You have done everything you can." When he began to protest, she added more forcefully, "Yes, you have. Did he get in? Yes. Did he get to me? No. I'm still here... with you. I'm still safe... with you. He may have found a way in but he didn't get to me which is more important. So don't beat yourself up here."
He sighed heavily. "When I think what he did, what he could do."
"But he didn't."
"He could have."
"But he didn't, Maddox."
He gazed into her eyes and his heart almost exploded from the raw emotions floating there. Closing his eyes he murmured, "I'll do better."
She growled and sandwiched his face between her hands. "You are doing fine. I don't like this side of you. I need my hero back. I'll even take the Frost Giant but this uncertain, self-loathing man has to go. You are a damned SEAL. Buck up buttercup."
One side lifted in a grin. "I'll let you get by with that but only because you been through a lot." He kissed her forehead gently. "You cursed again."
"Yeah, I seem to do that a lot around you."
A knock sounded on the door casing. Bull stood in the doorway looking at them expectantly. River stood and reluctantly let her hand go. "Yeah?"
"I talked to the monitoring company. According to their records, Joselyn's code was entered at twenty-one twenty-two last night."
"It's impossible. I was still in Atlanta yesterday."
Bull nodded. "Yeah, we know. But it gave us a time to start searching your security footage." He glanced at River. "You're not going to like this. Come downstairs and take a look."
Joselyn threw her feet over the edge of the bed.
"Whoa. Hang on a minute. Where do you think you're going?" River grabbed her arm as she began to stand.
"I'm going to go see."
He shook his head. "I don't think it's a good idea. You were out cold a few minutes ago. The paramedics said you needed to rest and not get any more stressed."
"I'm beginning to think 'I don't think it's a good idea' is your favorite thing to say to me. Look, I'll be more stressed if I don't know what's going on. Maddox, you should be able to recognize when you've lost an argument with me by now." She walked toward the door. "This is still my house and I have a right to know what is going on here."
Bull chuckled but stepped out of the way. River tossed him a glare but skulked out the room behind Joselyn's rigid back. With a grand gesture wave, Bull motioned them to the stairs. "After you." The three of them entered her study where several officers stood staring at the security camera screens. One policeman sat at the little table underneath, controlling the view with clicks of a mouse button.
"Okay, Johnson, show them what we found from last night."
A few clicks and a picture zoomed from the bottom to fill the screen. It showed a figure dressed in dark clothes wearing a hoodie and a baseball cap pulled down low underneath. A slight hazing created an ethereal atmosphere as rain slowly turned the gray garment a darker charcoal. He stood before one of her rose bushes in the garden, his hand outstretched toward one of the blossoms. With a click, the footage resumed motion. They watched as he plucked petal after petal and placed them into his other gloved hand cradled against his stomach. Beside him, Joselyn gasped. "Mom's roses," she whispered with a hitch in her voice. "He got the petals from my mom's climbing roses."
The distress in her voice cut into River. Gently, he pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arm around her back to rest on her hip. There were no words to ease the betrayal at seeing her mother's roses defiled in such a manner. It made him sick.
He turned back to the screen as another image filled it. This time, the man stood at the back door, silhouetted in the glare of the motion sensitive flood light placed there. He drew out a key from his pocket and pushed it into the lock. With a twist, he entered the door turned to the right, and poked at the wall. Leaving the door open, he moved deeper into her house. The stamp on the bottom right of the screen displayed the time - 21:22.
"Son of a..." River swore. "He has a key and the alarm code. How the hell is that possible?"
"I said you weren't going to like it. He stayed in the house for seventeen minutes. The camera picks him up leaving again." He tapped Johnson's shoulder and the screen showed the man leaving, pulling the door closed once again. "According to the logs, he didn't re-arm the system."
"I didn't realize the system wasn't on. I was..." she glanced at River, her face turning a bright pink. "So exhausted I didn't even think about it at the time. But now I'm unsure if it beeped at me when I opened the door."
"And I was getting the bags out of the truck. I thought you had done it."
He felt like an idiot. No, strike that, an incompetent idiot. He had let his pigheadedness get in the way of his duty and it could have cost Joselyn her life. He stared off into space.
"Stop it."
He jerked his head around to see her staring at him with a frown on her face. "What?"
"Stop beating yourself over this. It's not your fault. Cheebus, Maddox, you've done everything you can here. He got in the house one time. Determined people will find a way."
Bull coughed. "Ah, actually, he's been in your house more than once."
"What?" Both of them exclaimed at the same time.
"Go ahead," Bull told the tech.
A few clicks and several pictures filled the screen.
"I've been scanning the feed all the way back to the installation. He's visited the location six times but only entered the house four," Johnson intoned. Pointing to the screen he continued. "Here, here, here and yesterday. Each time you were out of the house. I think it's probably because Mr. Benson was in residence."
"What is he carrying?" One of the officers pointed to the first picture showing the intruder leaving the back door with something over his arm.
Johnson zoomed in. "Looks like some sort of garment." He fiddled with the controls until the picture sharpened and brightened. "I'm not sure. Something... purple? The fog is distorting the image slightly but it looks like a coat or a maybe a dress."
Joselyn gasped, whirled around, pushed past the others and out of the room.
"Joselyn!" River tore after her as she ran up the stairs. He followed her into her bedroom and through to the closet. She pushed shirts, slacks, and dresses aside mumbling, "I know it's here. It has to be here."<
br />
"What, honey? What are you looking for?'
She finished her search and turned to face him. Slowly she dropped to the carpeted floor and drew her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs. "It's gone. He's got it."
Sitting beside her, he slid his arm around her shoulders. "What's gone? What does he have?"
She looked at him with fear and tears swimming in her eyes. His heart shattered at the expression of complete hopelessness. He never wanted to see that look on her face again. "My dress. The purple one from the video. The one I wore on Douglas McClane's verdict day."
River's eyes hardened and he swore. It didn't escape his notice she was too upset to reprimand him for his language. Pulling her into his lap, he wrapped his arms around her shaking body and ran his hand over her arm. He rocked her gently as he felt his shirt dampen with her tears. Each wrenching sob tore out a piece of his heart. Looking up, he saw Bull standing in the doorway watching them with an inscrutable look on his face.
"I've had enough of this insanity, Bull. This pervert has messed with us for the last time."
Bull nodded. "I agree. It's time to finish this. What do you suggest?"
River looked down at the beauty nestled against his chest and pressed his lips to her temple. "I need to get her out of here. I'm taking her someplace I can control; where I know he can't get to her, Somewhere he doesn't know anything about. I'm taking her home."
Chapter 15
"Oh, baby, why didn't you tell me what was going on? You know how worried we were when that horrible man was stalking you."
Joselyn grimaced. "Which is why I didn't tell you, Mom. I didn't want you to be worried. You have enough going on. How is Aunt Laura?"
"Better. This round of chemotherapy has knocked her down. She's taking a nap at the moment. Don't think I don't realize you're trying to change the subject. I want to know what the police are doing to keep you safe."
Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protecting Joselyn (Kindle Worlds) Page 11
