Captured

by Humphreys, K. L.

  “I thought you knew. I honestly thought you knew.” Argos says but I don't look him. I can't take my eyes off Lucy who’s in the fetal position on the floor. I lift her up, and bring her into my bedroom. I lay her on my bed and leave her there to cry. I can't deal with this right now; I can't deal with their betrayal and their lies.

  “Cash…” Argos starts to say but I cut him off, I can’t do this shit right

  now.

  “Don’t. Just don't. My child died and you didn't think to tell me? You didn't think I should know? What the fuck is wrong with you two? So not only did you tell me that the woman I love was dead, when she wasn't, you also failed to mention that my child died? What do you get out of this Argos?” I’ve never felt this way before. Thinking the woman I loved was dead was bad but knowing that my child is dead is the whole world of hurt that I never knew existed.

  “Tell me what is it that you're getting out of this? Are you trying to bring me to my knees? You're supposed to be my best friend but all you've done lately is lie to me. I don't trust you because a friend wouldn't do this to another friend. How would you like it if you were the last to know that your child died?” I'm so mad right now, I honestly don't know if I'll ever forgive them. I would have been there for Lucy; I would have supported her and helped her through it. We would have grieved together. Instead I'm left in the dark and again on my own to grieve. I may not have known he or she existed, but it doesn't mean I don’t love them any less.

  “I know, I know I should have told you Cash. I couldn't because I promised Lucy I wouldn’t; she wanted to be the one to tell you. It was only right that she be the one to tell you.” Argos tries to wiggle out of this, tries to push the blame on Lucy. They're both as bad as the other and I don't want anything to do with them right now.

  “Find out how that bastard knew where Lucy was! Find out how he knew where our safe houses are! Once you've done that, find out where that fucking Colin is hiding out. Get Tanner on it if need be, but I want him found by the end of the day.” I have to leave, I have to get away. I start walking back towards the garage but my conscience kicks in. I can't leave them unmanned, they’re both injured. I can’t leave them in case something happens; in case someone comes. They wouldn’t be able to stop an attack by themselves and even though they’ve both kept secrets from me I’m not a complete asshole.

  I go to the basement and pay a visit to our esteemed guest Dave. This fucker knows a hell of a lot more than he’s letting on and he’s going to tell me. “Long time no see, Davey boy!” He scrambles back to the edge of the wall; this basement stinks to high hell. There’s urine and feces everywhere, including all over Dave.

  The fear in his eyes is so prominent that I smile and I know that my smile is sinister, “Wh...What do yo...you want?” He stutters while keeping his eyes on the floor, yet I smile.

  “Tell me something Dave. Have you ever felt as scared as you do now?” He shakes his head not making any eye contact. “Good, once I’m finished getting all the information I need from you, I’m going to enjoy watching the life vanish from your eyes.”

  “What do you want from me?” He’s crying and right now I find solace in hearing his sobs, knowing that someone besides me is hurting.

  “What are Henry’s plans?” I walk closer to him, dodging the crap on the floor.

  “He... wants... to...see... his... wife, he... wants... to... see... his.... Step-daughter… and… he... wants... to... repair... his... reputation... and... in... doing...so...he... needs... his... family... back.” He sobs between each word, which irritates me.

  “When is he going to see his wife?” I squat down in front of him, “When is this going to happen?” I take out the knife I have in an ankle holster and watch his eyes widen as I run the knife tip over his face.

  “Next week, I don’t know what day. I promise.” I nod, he’s told me everything he knows, and he’s no use to me anymore. I take the knife away from his face and watch as relief enters his eyes. It’s quickly replaced by horror as I stab the fucker in the jugular, blood splatters over my face and I stand watching as the life leaves his eyes.

  I leave him lying on this filthy floor. Argos can arrange for it to be cleaned and for Dave to be dropped off somewhere that Henry will know that this is a message for him; that I’m coming for him. I make my way to the bathroom, I need a shower. I need to get the stench off me along with the blood on my face.

  Turning on the shower, the bathroom fills up with steam as I strip out of my clothes. As soon as I step into the shower and feel the water cascading down my back and I start to feel. I feel the loss of my baby. I remember the sobs from Lucy when she told me what happened, how she broke down and crumbled to the floor. She lost our baby and I wasn’t there for her. The tears are falling before I even realize that I’m crying and I let them come. I fall to me knees and sob! Sob for my baby who I’ll never get to meet.

  Chapter 13

  Lucy

  Lying in bed, as the tears over take my body. I didn’t want to tell Cash. How was I supposed to tell him this? How was I supposed to break his heart when it was still forgiving me for faking my death? I couldn’t even look at him, he hates me so much right now and I don’t blame him.

  “Let me have a look at this.” Argos sits on the bed, and moves my hand out of the way, “I will clean and stitch this back up, but you have to take it easy.” Argos looks at me, and I can see the hurt in his eyes too, I can see that he’s hurting about all this.

  “He hates us.” I whisper to him. I’m the reason that Argos’ best friend hates him, I’m the reason this is all happening.

  “At the moment, yeah, but he can’t hate us forever. You’re the girl he’s in love with, I’m the brains behind all this.” Argos gives me a wink, and even that isn’t making any of this easier for me.

  I close my eyes for a moment as Argos starts to clean up the wound; it stings a lot, “Argos, I’m sorry.” I tell him with my eyes still closed. The only thing I feel is right, is to walk out of here and just let things happen. I haven’t spoken to my dad or Ruby and I feel more and more lost. I’m losing the person I was, and I want her back.

  “Nothing to be sorry about…”

  “You must hate me, I’m mean I have turned your world upside down, and…”

  “And nothing, as much as he hates us right now. I know that he will come around. As far as hating you, no I don’t. That man’s heart was dead, and you’re the reason it’s started to beat…”

  “But don’t you think that’s the problem?” Argos looks at me, “I mean, before me he was out there alone, never had to worry about anyone. He knew you could look after yourself, but now… Now he’s always looking over his shoulder, he’s always worried about me.” No matter what happens I will always blame myself. I should have never stopped to listen to Henry’s conversations.

  “This is only until we get Raphael. Once he is dead then you are free, and no one will be after you.” Argos finishes stitching me up.

  “So, what? After that you will stop all this, and get a nine to five job? No, because that’s not you, you kill bad people, they will…”

  “Lucy stop!” Argos shouts at me. “No one knows who we are. Tanner knows me that’s it and he only knows Argos not Adam. Some people know both of us, but no one knows who we really are. They don’t know Cash and Adam, they know Hades and Argos. Right now, they are after Cash, because they are after Lucy. They are not after Lucy, because of Cash. So, once we kill everyone after you, then it’s back to normal business for us.” Argos tapes the bandage over the wound and helps me sit up, “The only problem you are going to have is me, because where you live is where I live.”

  I watch Argos leave my room, and I sit there for a moment just wondering if I have enough energy in me to keep this fight going for however long it’s going to last. Slowly getting out of bed, I need some coffee. It has been one long day, and it’s only going to get longer. Walking out, now needing to get used to another place, I see Argos tapping aw
ay on the computers. Cash is nowhere to be seen.

  “Would you like some breakfast?” I walk over to Argos to see what he’s doing, and he’s searching for Henry. If that asshole shows his face, I know the Cash will put a bullet through his head before he can even say a word.

  “What are you making?”

  “What do you fancy?”

  “I’m good with eggs, and something.” Argos turns back to look at the screen, and I walk over to the small kitchen. The whole lair is open planned, the kitchen is linked with the sitting area, so I can still see Argos. I do wonder what else is behind all these doors I mean Cash has to be somewhere. Looking in the fridge to see what I can make, perfect, eggs and sausage sandwiches it is.

  ***

  Plating up, I see Cash walking over to Argos and I choose not to say anything; just continue to get breakfast ready. I see them both arguing but I can’t hear what they are saying.

  “Breakfast is ready.” I say, and they both look at me. Two different faces stare at me. One happy and walking over to me, the other standing where he is and his eyes shooting daggers at me.

  “This smells great, Lucy.” Argos sits down and I keep my eyes on Cash. “He will come, sit and eat. You need your energy too.” Argos pulls a chair out for me, and I sit down pouring myself a coffee.

  “Cash, would you…”

  “I don’t fucking want anything from you.” He cuts me off and sits down looking at the computer screens.

  “You have to eat, other…”

  “Otherwise what? I will feel even weaker than I do right now? Eating will make be forget that you’ve lied to me? Make me forget that I lost a child and you thought I had no right to know?” Cash bites back at me and I look at Argos eating away, like nothing is happening.

  “You think it was easy for me, you think I didn’t cry about it? You think I got out of the hospital feeling good? No, that didn’t happen…”

  “You had someone there to help you…”

  “Don’t you fucking dare, I had dad and Argos yes, but your best friend is here for you too, you’re the asshole pushing him away.” He finally turns around to face us, and he stands up.

  “You think this is a fucking picnic; you think I like people wanting to kill me? No. I kill people. They don’t come after me. But keeping you alive has gotten my face out there out more than I fucking want.” He shouts at me, and the anger in my body over takes. Grabbing my coffee mug I throw it at him, he quickly dodges it. “Trust me I don’t want to be in the same room as you two, but neither one of you can fight at the moment.”

  “Well I will save you the trouble, I will leave and you can fuck off.” I say walking over to the door and look at it. “Where the fuck is the handle?” I look over at Argos watching me. Without words, he’s telling me that I’m not leaving and he’s the only one that can open this door. “Argos open the door,” I tell him.

  He gets up and walks over to the desk, “You’re missing out on a good breakfast.” He tells Cash, then sits down, “I’m not opening the door, so you might as well sit down.” he shouts back to me.

  Letting out an angry sigh I walk over to Argos and sit on the chair next to him, folding my arms over my chest. Cash thinks this has been an easy walk-in-the-park for me, but it wasn’t. These past three months were horrible.

  Grabbing the phone I pass it to Argos, “Tanner is calling.” I tell him.

  Connecting the phone to the computer, which I now know is to bounce the signal around so they don’t know where he is. “What you got?” Argos asks, no hello, no nothing.

  “Word is that Henry is in Washington, and is planning on meeting up with Raphael about a shipment.” Tanner doesn’t sound right. I’ve not met him, but his voice has changed.

  “Where?” Cash asks him.

  “I don’t know yet, Boy Wonder, so have your cameras ready. You might have a long morning.” With that said the line goes dead. Not taking my eyes off the phone, as Cash and Argos talk about what they have planned.

  “He’s going to see my mom,” I tell them, I don’t know how I know this but I do, “better get your cameras ready there. Hack into whatever you need to.” I look over at Argos, know that it won’t be easy. She is a in the best nursing home, with the best security.

  “How do you know?” Argos asks me.

  “I don’t know, he thinks I’m dead. The only one stopping him now is my mom. Then when he talks to Raphael, he will know I’m not dead. The only way to get me out of hiding, is to get me a message. And at the moment the only one that can do that is mom.”

  I watch as Cash and Argos talk about something. The moment Raphael tells him I’m alive, he will talk to my mother. Whatever message he has for me; he knows it will be delivered, one way or the other.

  “I’m going to try and get some sleep.” I leave them both. They might not believe me, so whatever plan they have they can work it out. At the moment, I don’t want to be around Cash and he doesn’t want to be around me.

  ***

  I can’t get to sleep. How am I supposed to sleep when I have more people wanting me dead than alive? I look out the window. I have no idea where they find these secret places, but they always seem to have trees around them, and in all the horror movies I watch, the person always dies in the trees.

  Sitting back on the bed, I fall back and just stare at the ceiling. I’ve not heard much talking from outside either which doesn’t seem good.

  “Lucy, you might want to see this,” I hear Argos say behind me. Giving him a small nod, I get up and get ready to be ignored by Cash again. Leaving my room, it’s like I’m doing the death march. Whenever I’m called to see anything, it’s never good.

  Walking into the room, Cash instantly gets off the seat next to Argos. Ignoring him, I stand on the other side or Argos and look at the screen. That’s my mom, how the hell did he get into the CCTV footage of this place? I’m never going to say it out loud but god the man is amazing. Leaning in closer to the screen so that I can see her.

  She’s just sitting there, doing nothing. That’s not my mom; I don’t know who that is. The spark she had is gone, and I did that to her. She is there because of me. Is there anyone that I’ve not hurt? Is anyone safe around me?

  I hear Argos say something but I don’t listen as I can’t take my eyes away from my mom. The guilt I’m feeling is horrible. Argos has to work out a way that I can go see her; she needs to know that I’m alive and well.

  I turn to the other screen when I hear his voice, that voice is a voice I will never in a million years forget. Raphael.“Looks like you were right Lucy.” I hear Argos say, and I see him and Henry in the screen together.

  Standing up straight, as my body goes cold just seeing Raphael on screen, “You’re a brave man coming out of hiding. The moment that bodyguards finds you, you will be dead.” He tells Henry. I feel Cash’s eyes on me, but I don’t break away from the screen.

  “I’m working on getting my life back together, now that Lucy is dead, I can get everything back, by saying she was on drug…” Henry stops when Raphael starts laughing, and that laugh is evil. Just as I would think the devil would laugh. “Why are you laughing?”

  “She is not dead. She is alive, and you won’t touch her,” Raphael tells him, and I see Henry's face harden.

  “Alive? And why can’t I kill her?” Henry stands up straight.

  “Because she is now my Queen and no one touches my Queen, so you better have a plan B.” Whenever I hear the word queen leave him lips, I want to vomit. I want to run a knife down his neck just so he can’t talk anymore.

  “That’s fine with me too. She goes away with you; everyone here will still think she is dead. o, where is she? I would like to see her before you take her.”

  “She escaped, and is back with him. So, I hope you have a good plan on getting her out of hiding.” Raphael leans his head to the side, as one of his men talks into his ear, and he smiles.

  “He knows something.” Argos tells us, quickly tapping on another laptop.
“He knows we are watching.” Argos says, and this is the first time I’ve heard him panic. Why is he panicking? “I’m bouncing out service so he can’t find us, but I want to find his. His guy is always a step ahead of us, and he knows a lot more than I thought.”

  Raphael looks up at the camera and smiles, and even though he’s looking at all three of us, he’s not. He’s looking straight at me. “My Queen, I told you that I will get you one way or the other. So, this is the first person that I will kill, and then I will move to the next and the next. Until you have no one, but me.” He looks at the camera as the evil words leave his mouth. What is he about to do?

  “Call Tanner, tell him to get to the nursing home.” Cash shouts to Argos, but I think he’s already on it.

  He whispers something into Henry’s ear, and I can’t take my eyes away from Raphael. The whole time the devil is slowly eating my soul, and I think he’s going to win.

  They both leave the room, and go separate ways. “Raphael is leaving the nursing home.” Argos says, tapping away he follows Henry to see where he is going.

  He’s going to my mom’s room. What did Raphael tell him? I watch helpless as he kneels in front of her, “I’m here to help you, everything is going to be okay now.” Henry tells her, and moves some of the hair away from her face.

  “How far is Tanner?” Cash asks.

  “Five minutes.” Argos tells him.

  I gasp as I watch Henry take out a needle, and inject it into my mom’s arm. I feel the tears pouring down my cheeks, and I know that Tanner won’t get there in time to save her. Raphael planned this to the second.

  I’m standing here helpless as I watch my mother being murdered. I hold my stomach as I feel like being sick. This is wrong; this is wrong and it shouldn’t be happening. I drop to the floor not able to watch anymore, and Argos kneels next to me.

  “This is not your fault.” I hear him say, but I don’t listen. I block him out. I know he’s saying something, but I don’t know what and I don’t care either. My heart is beating so fast against my chest. I see everything around me but I don’t see anything either, as I feel my mind shutting down on me. So, this is what shock feels like, this is what is feels like to let your mother down. This is what it feels like when everything bad is happening and it’s my fault.