Jessica reached over and patted Carly on the arm.
“We’ll be okay; I’m just worried about your girl here.”
Carly lifted her head from Michael’s shoulder.
“I’m okay, Doctor, but it was scary there for a while.”
Jessica kissed her on the cheek, and then they told Carly and Michael goodbye.
They stood in the doorway and watched them get into Michael’s car.
“Carly’s right, it was a scary day,” Jessica said.
“Do you think that she’s been frightened off?”
“What do you mean?”
“The... research she does for us. Having her life threatened wasn’t part of our deal. Maybe she won’t want to work for us anymore.”
“Oh, I hope not, but I guess we really couldn’t blame her if she wanted nothing to do with us anymore.”
The car doors opened up and Carly walked back over with Michael.
“Doctor, sir, I’ve something to tell you.”
“Yes?” Jessica said.
“Well it’s, it’s just that I really liked learning to shoot a gun. I was wondering if I could get another lesson soon, and Michael wants to learn too.”
“If you don’t mind, sir?” Michael said.
They looked at each other and smiled and then he turned back to Carly.
“The two of you come by for lunch on Saturday and we’ll have another lesson, okay?”
Carly beamed up at him.
“Thank you sir,”
“Anytime, Carly,”
As Carly and Michael drove off, they walked upstairs to their bedroom.
Jessica took him in her arms and hugged him fiercely.
“I nearly lost you today.”
“You saved my life.”
She grinned.
“I think I owed you one.”
He brushed back her hair and gazed into her eyes.
“You save my life every day, you know?”
“In what way?”
“I don’t know who I’d be without you. I don’t want to know.”
Jessica took him by the hand and led him to sit beside her on the bed.
“Doyle said something to me earlier. She said that she knew that Jones was a bad man, but that she loved him anyway.”
He hung his head.
“And that reminded you of us?”
“In a way,” she said, before reaching over and turning his face towards hers. “We first met because you did a bad thing, but I’ve always known that you’re a good man, and I’ve always loved you.”
“I love you too,” he said, and kissed her.
As their passion ignited, he reached over and doused the light, and in the darkness, they set the night on fire.
PART TWO - REVELATION
CHAPTER 8
As he returned home, Jessica met him at the car and they kissed.
He had spent the day in a nearby city at a technology conference, one geared primarily toward advances in 3-D imagery. A field he had become increasingly interested in.
“How was the conference?” Jessica said.
“Very informative, it’s amazing how far 3-D technology has progressed in the last few years. In fact, I’m thinking of building a workshop here so that I can explore it further, would you have any objections?”
“Of course not, we’ve plenty of room for another building, and that way you’ll still be home.”
He headed towards the front door.
“I need a shower and something to eat. What’s for dinner?”
“Oh, ah, I’ve made your favorites, Lasagna and shrimp scampi, with strawberry shortcake for dessert.”
He stopped walking and stared at her.
“What’s wrong?”
“What do you mean?”
“The last time you made that for me it was because your father was staying with us for a month.”
“Daddy’s not coming here; I just thought it would be nice, that’s all.”
He kept staring.
“Jessica?”
She sighed.
“Alright, yes, we do have company, but he really had nowhere else to go.”
“Your father?”
“No.”
“Your brother? What trouble has he gotten into now?”
“No, it’s not Jimmy either... let’s go inside and you’ll see.”
They entered the house and he found him in the living room, lying on the sofa as if he lived there.
He glared at him.
“Why is he here?”
“Like I said, he had nowhere else to go, and they were going to kill him.”
“Kill him?”
“No one else would take him, and they couldn’t house him indefinitely.”
“He tried to kill me, have you forgotten that?”
Jessica walked over and sat beside their guest.
“Oh, he didn’t mean it, and he’s such a sweetie, aren’t you baby?”
The pit bull rolled over onto its back and let Jessica rub his belly, as his tongue hung out of his mouth. It was the dog that he had encountered in Bel Rey, California, the same one that bit him on the arm and caused him to take a dangerous fall.
“I see that he's healed. How much did that cost us?”
Jessica made a face.
“You don’t want to know, plus there was the expense of having him flown here.”
He walked over and stood beside her. The dog jumped up, sniffed him, and licked his hand, before lying back down for more stomach rubbing.
“We can’t keep him.”
“Why not? He’s not really dangerous. It was his owner’s fault that he attacked you.”
“You really want to keep him?”
“He’s got nowhere else to go.”
“Maybe not, I know a man that works out at the same dojo that I use. He loves pit bulls, I think he has three of them, but one of his older dogs just died. Let me speak to him and see if he wants him.”
“Oh, well maybe that’s best, he’ll be around other dogs.”
“In the meantime, we’ll have to take care of him. I’ll go out and get dog food.”
“I already did that. I also got him a bed and some dog toys.”
“Dog toys?”
“Dogs like to play; didn’t you have a dog when you were little?”
“No,” he said, after a moment’s hesitation, and Jessica sensed something more.
“There’s a story there, isn’t there? Would you like to talk about it?”
“Someday, but not now,”
“You can tell me anything, baby, you know that, right?”
“Yes, Dr. White.”
Jessica laughed and stood up.
“Dr. White is not here, only your wife. Now, didn’t you say something about taking a shower?”
“Yes I did.”
“Would you like a hand with that?”
“Yes I would.”
They both laughed and headed for the stairs. As the dog followed, he turned around and spoke to him.
“Sit, stay,”
The pit bull seemed to understand the commands, as he sat down and didn’t move.
“Hmm, I think he’s had some training.”
“See, I told you he’s a good dog.”
“He’ll be even better when he’s someone else’s dog.”
CHAPTER 9
The following morning, he went out for bagels. The store was busy and so he waited in line at the counter. Along the right side were a set of four tables. Two older men sat at one of the tables, they were talking about sports while sipping on coffee. At another table was a group of middle-aged women wearing jogging outfits and eating pastry.
As he was placing his order, a girl walked in and began yelling at him. She was about sixteen, with dyed blond hair and an attractive face. She was wearing a short skirt and her tight sweater accentuated her breasts.
“Why are you here? Are you following me again?”
He gave her a careful look before answering, and rea
lized that she didn’t look familiar.
“I haven’t been following you. I’ve never seen you before.”
“Liar! You’ve been following me for weeks, and if you don’t stop I’ll call the police. Stop stalking me!”
And with those words, the girl wheeled about and hurried from the shop.
The women at the counter and the other customers were eyeing him suspiciously. He answered their stares with a shrug and paid for his bagels.
***
When he arrived home, he told Jessica about the incident.
She was quiet as he talked, but when he finished, she asked a question.
“Are you certain you’ve never followed her?”
“I never saw her before.”
“You’ve... you’ve followed other girls, not too long ago you followed one home from that very shop.”
“I know. I remember, but I haven’t done it since.”
She stared at him from a troubled face.
“I said this last night and I meant it. You can tell me anything. Have you been following this girl? Are you having difficulty controlling your... impulses? If you are, please tell me before things get... before...”
He reached over and took her hand.
“I’m not out of control and I swear to you that I’ve never laid eyes on that girl before. I have no idea why she said those things.”
She studied his face.
“I believe you.”
“Thank you.”
“I wonder why she said what she did.”
“So do I, but I suppose it was just a case of mistaken identity.”
***
In the parking lot of a nearby mall, the girl in question climbed into the back of a van and sat on the floor with her legs crossed, in the front, sat a man and a woman, both were wearing gloves.
“Any problems?” the man asked.
“Nope, and I did just what you said. You should have seen the look on his face.”
The woman turned in her seat and talked to her.
“It caused a scene, didn’t it? Other people noticed?”
“Oh yeah, there were plenty of customers and the chicks behind the counter, so, when do I get the rest of the money?”
“In a minute,” the man said. “We just need to make certain that you didn’t tell anyone about the joke we wanted you to play on our friend, it would ruin the surprise.”
The girl shook her head emphatically, while opening her purse to remove a pack of gum.
“I didn’t tell nobody, but...”
“Yes?”
“Why’d you take my blood just before I went in there? I can’t figure out why you did that.”
The woman held up a bloody syringe.
“I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“No, and hell they take my blood all the time at the free clinic, testing for AIDS and stuff, but why did you need it?”
The man answered her.
“While you were in the bagel shop, Hanna here walked over to our friend’s car and injected your blood into his trunk.”
The girl’s face screwed up in confusion.
“That’s gross, why would you do that?”
“We were planting evidence.”
“Evidence?”
“Evidence of your murder,” Jeffrey Mitchell said. An instant later, he was in the back of the van attempting to stab the girl to death, as Hanna watched without the slightest trace of empathy.
Bang!
The sound of the shot in the closed van startled Jeffrey and halted his attack. He yanked the girl’s right hand from her purse and saw that she was holding a small gun. It was barely five inches long with a stubby barrel. He knocked it from her hand, before punching her into unconsciousness.
He turned his head and looked at Hanna.
“Were you hit?”
“No, but what was she doing with a gun?”
“I’m sure she thought it would protect... pro...pro—oh no,”
“What’s wrong?” Hanna asked.
In answer, Jeffrey lifted his right arm and felt beneath it with his left hand. When he took his hand away, it was wet with blood.
“The little bitch shot me,” he said, a moment before his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell atop the injured girl.
“Jeffrey!” Hanna shouted, as she clambered into the back of the van.
She lifted his shirt up and studied the wound.
The .22 bullet had entered just beneath his armpit and was still inside.
Hanna laid him down beside the girl and started for the driver’s seat.
“I’ve got to get you to a doctor.”
As she stood, Jeffrey grabbed her ankle.
“The girl, she still needs to be...” Jeffrey began, but passed out before he could finish, however, Hanna understood what needed to be done.
She searched the floor and found Jeffrey’s knife. After but a moment’s hesitation, she grabbed the knife from the floor and stabbed the girl twice beneath her breastbone. The girl made a mewing sound as her eyes fluttered open, but an instant more and her eyes closed forever.
Hanna dropped the knife and scrambled into the driver’s seat.
She was three blocks along a residential street and doing seventy before she reminded herself that the last thing they needed was to be pulled over by a cop.
She forced herself to slow to the speed limit, an agonizing twenty-five miles an hour, and as she did, she caught a red light. Two blocks later, she reached the highway and risked doing eighty, as a glance over her shoulder revealed Jeffrey’s pale face.
The girl!
She had to dump the girl’s body or all their patience and planning would be for nothing.
Hanna made a squealing right turn onto a back road, and a quarter mile later made a left down a dirt trail so narrow that the bordering trees scraped the sides of the van.
A little farther on, the trail expanded and revealed an abandoned construction sight. Steel girders sat unclothed, save for the rust that clung to them.
Hanna made a tight U-turn and, after parking, she got out of the van and opened the back doors.
Jeffrey was still unconscious, but a check of his pulse revealed it to be steady.
Hanna grabbed the dead girl by her arms and pulled her out of the van and unto the ground. As she was about to drop the girl’s purse beside the body, she noticed the bullet hole at the bottom of the bag. She reached inside, grabbed the girl’s wallet, and tossed it on top of her.
Six minutes later, she was at the hospital and wondering how she was going to get Jeffrey help without getting them both arrested. She continued past the front entrance and made her way around to the loading dock.
A string of cameras followed her as she drove along, but it couldn’t be helped as Jeffrey was running out of time. She backed the van in beside a tractor-trailer and searched her phone for info.
The hospital switchboard operator answered with a nasal voice.
“Mercy General, how may I help you?”
“There’s a wounded man at your loading dock in need of urgent care. Send a doctor down now.”
“I beg your pardon, but what did you say?”
“There’s a wounded man at your loading dock. Send someone down here now you stupid bitch!”
“Bitch? Who the hell do you think you are, ma’am?”
The dock manager, a balding man with a potbelly, grew curious about the van and walked out to see who was in it. As he walked up to her window, Hanna grabbed the dead girl’s gun, lowered her window, and shot him in the stomach.
The man grabbed his middle and fell to the ground, moaning.
“Did you hear that, bitch?”
“Oh my God, was that a shot?”
“You now have two wounded men at the loading dock. Send someone down here now.”
“Oh God, oh God yes, yes, yes, I’ll do that, I’ll do that, just please don’t hurt anyone el—”
Hanna ended the call, wiped the phone clean, and tossed it away. Afterward
s, she walked around the man she wounded, to ease Jeffrey out of the van and onto the ground.
With the sound of police sirens in her ears, she finally forced herself from Jeffrey’s side and drove the van away through a back entrance, as tears threatened to blind her and dread clutched at her heart.
***
He walked Jessica out to her car as the dog followed along. She was spending the day with her sister, Gabriella.
“I won’t be back until late. Heat up the leftover lasagna for dinner and there’s fried chicken and salad in the fridge for lunch.”
“That sounds good, and tell Gabby I said hi.”
“I will. Oh, and don’t forget to feed the dog.”
“I won’t.”
She climbed into the car, started the engine, and just sat there.
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
“Maybe I should postpone this, Gabby will understand. It’s not fair to leave you alone with the dog.”
He leaned down and spoke to her through the open window.
“I never saw that girl before. I swear it on your life.”
She opened her mouth to deny that she was still worried, but then thought better of it.
Instead, she gave him a lingering kiss and a smile.
“Don’t forget to let the dog out after you feed him.”
“I won’t,”
“I love you.”
“I love you too; now go have a good time.”
She drove off with a wave and he watched her until the car disappeared from sight.
At his feet, the dog made a whining sound.
He looked down at him.
“I know, I miss her already too,”
CHAPTER 10
Chief of Police, Jack Dent, heard the news about the shooting at the hospital while he was in his office talking to Officer Traci Vargas. He could be found talking to Vargas often, as the two of them had fallen in love the moment they met.
Dent was forty-two, a former big city cop, divorced, and the father of two girls, ages seventeen and eighteen. While he wasn’t a very big man, he still knew how to handle himself and had done so often while on the Chicago Police Force.
He’d taken the job of Police Chief because he thought the work would be easy and the town quiet. So far, both assumptions had proven wrong.
Although the town itself was quiet enough, the college that sat on the edge of it had been nothing but trouble. Had he known that the college was party central for the surrounding area, he never would have taken the job, but then, he also would have never met Vargas.
The TAKEN! Series - Books 1-4 (Taken! Box Set) Page 25
