by Susan Stoker
“I’m sorry, Mozart. We’re heading home now. He won’t fucking get away with this.”
Mozart clenched his teeth. Joseph was Hurst? Had he known Summer was his? Had he seen him around the motel? Had Hurst targeted Summer because of him? Deep down Mozart knew the truth. He had. He’d been the reason Summer was taken. He’d get her back. No matter what it took. Somehow he knew Hurst was waiting for him to get there. He wanted to confront him. He wanted to throw Avery in his face. Mozart was ready. Summer was all that mattered.
* * *
Summer sat stock still and watched as Ben carried someone into the little cabin over his shoulder. He dropped the slight woman as if she was nothing more than a sack of potatoes. The sound her body made as it thunked to the floor, made her wince.
Ben turned toward Summer. “Look what I found!” He sounded gleeful. “Another toy! I think I’ll play with this one first before I start with you. I want you to see and know what’s in store for you. I want you to think about it. To see it happening to someone else first.” Ben squatted down in front of Summer. “Everything I do to her, I’ll do to you. Every scream she makes, know you’ll make as well. The anticipation is the best part.”
Summer shuddered. She didn’t recognize the woman lying unconscious on the floor, but she could see blood oozing out around a wound on the side of her temple. Summer shut her eyes, not wanting to see.
A blow to the side of her head brought her eyes open in a flash. “Keep your eyes open, bitch,” Ben hissed. “If you close them, I’ll make it hurt worse for her. Remember that.” Summer nodded, knowing he’d do exactly what he said.
“I’ll wait until she comes to, then we’ll begin.”
Summer allowed one tear to fall before ruthlessly pushing them back. This man wouldn’t get any more of her tears. He’d enjoy them too much. She just had to hold on. She’d called Tex. Mozart would come. He had to.
* * *
As soon as they landed, Mozart turned his phone on. He needed to see if Summer had called him. Maybe it was all a misunderstanding. He had eight messages. He listened to them one right after another. Tears came to his eyes. The last time he’d cried was at Avery’s funeral, but listening to Summer blithely talking about how her day went and saying she missed him at the end of every message made him die a bit inside.
What if your message space gets used up and someone important needs to leave you a message?
Jesus. Didn’t Summer know that she was someone important? That there was no one he’d rather hear from, than her?
Joseph has been working on upgrading the rooms a bit... He’s been a great help around here.
It tore Mozart’s heart in two to hear Summer talking so nicely about Hurst, and having no idea who he was, what he was.
I like them. I like your friends. I’m so glad you have friends that will look out for you. And just so you know, I like you. I can handle what you do. I can handle your job. If you really want to be with me. I’m here.
Hearing her talk about liking Fiona, Alabama, and Caroline made Mozart feel good. He knew Summer would like them. Hearing her say she liked him and that she could handle what he did would have made him feel on top of the world, if she wasn’t currently in the hands of a madman.
Fiona thought Joseph was creepy but I tried to tell her he wasn’t, he’s just a loner, like I was. But I’m not anymore. I have you.
Alabama could tell he wasn’t trustworthy. She knew. Why the hell didn’t Summer see it?
Something weird happened today with Joseph. He asked me if I was dating anyone.
Mozart closed his eyes. Hurst knew. He knew Summer was his. Mozart had known it in his gut, but hearing Summer validate it, tore his heart in two. He clenched his fists. He had to get there in time. He had to. Mozart saved all of Summer’s messages to listen to again later. He wanted to listen to them again when Summer was safe in his arms. He wanted to treasure them. A little voice inside his head tried to say that the reason he was keeping them was because if Summer died, he wanted to keep a piece of her, but he refused to listen. They’d get there in time. Hurst wanted him there. Mozart was convinced. Hurst wouldn’t kill Summer until he’d arrived in Big Bear.
* * *
Summer kept her eyes open while Ben tortured the poor woman on the floor in front of her. She was gagged, like Summer. He’d tied her hands together and attached them to a stake in the floor of the cabin. Her ankles were tied together with a piece of rope and then connected to a hook in the wall across the room. She was rendered helpless, stretched out on the hard cold floor, vulnerable and open for anything Ben wanted to do to her. To add insult to injury, Ben had also cut all of her clothes off so the poor woman lay naked on the floor whimpering. Ben had started his torture out by holding his hand over her mouth and nose while at the same time choking her with the other.
Ben laughed as she started turning blue, but let up on her neck and face at the last minute, letting her inhale precious oxygen to keep her conscious. In between choking her, he’d slap and hit her. Summer could see bruises all over the woman’s body from the beatings she’d been given. The entire time Ben tortured the poor woman, he was looking at Summer.
“Watch, sweet Summer. See what I’m doing. See how she gasps for breath? This’ll be you. I’ll make you bleed just like she is. Your skin will bruise up even better than hers does. You’ll have my marks all over you. At first you’ll beg me to let you live, just like she’s done. Eventually, you’ll be begging me to kill you. You’ll die all right. Just like she will. Slowly and painfully. Just how I like it.”
Ben looked down at the woman beneath him for the first time. He leaned toward her and whispered in her ear. Summer couldn’t hear what he said, but she saw the woman shake her head and mouth the word “no.” Hurst just laughed and got up off her limp body on the floor. Whatever he’d said seemed to leave the woman broken and no longer willing to fight.
Ben didn’t even look at the woman bleeding and gasping for breath. He came to Summer and leaned into her. His hands were covered in the woman’s blood and he had a crazed look in his eye. He came way too close her for Summer’s comfort. Ben took her face in his hands, smearing the woman’s blood on her cheeks. He leaned in, and Summer could smell him. His body odor was atrocious. He’d been sweating and obviously hadn’t showered in days, at least. He licked up the side of Summer’s neck, laughing when she shook and strained against her bonds.
He brought his lips to Summer’s ear, whispering intimately, as if they were lovers, “I told her you enjoyed watching. That you got off on it. I told her you were the one who wanted me to hurt her.”
Summer glared at Ben. She was appalled at his words; the mental torture he was putting the other woman through was just as brutal as the physical abuse. She tried not to react in any other way to what he said though. Summer knew that was what Ben wanted, and she’d resist him with everything she could.
Ben was obviously pissed at Summer’s lack of reaction. He undid his pants and pulled out his wrinkled and soft penis and proceeded to stroke himself until he was semi-hard. Summer looked away, repulsed. As Ben ran his hand up and down his manhood, he whispered about what he was going to do with Summer when it was her turn. When he’d gotten himself close to completion, his head went back and he groaned. Ben aimed his release at Summer and it splattered onto her. His cum landed in her lap and oozed down her restrained legs.
Ben’s head came up and he laughed at the look of disgust on Summer’s face. He brought his hand down to her lap and for a second Summer was confused, thinking he meant to clean it off of her, but then Ben palmed her cheek roughly in the hand he’d just run over his release in her lap. Ben smeared his semen on Summer’s face and even ran his hand over her hair. The smell and feel of the wetness made her gag. Ben brought his hand back down to her face and squeezed Summer’s cheeks until she couldn’t help but grimace in pain. “Oh, Summer. When will you learn that I always fucking win?”
Ben turned and walked away, ignoring the pitifu
* * *
Mozart stood in the room at the base with his back to his friends listening as Tex’s voice came from the speaker phone and told them everything he’d learned over the last day and a half. He clenched his teeth in frustration and fury. He wanted to be up at Big Bear Lake looking for Summer. He needed to be up there. But they had to wait to hear what Tex had found out. They needed his information.
“Apparently Hurst has been staying in the woods in various places in the summers. In the winter he finds small towns to stay in. He works as a handy man here and there earning the odd dollar. Every place I’ve tracked him I’ve found dead bodies in his wake. Children, teenagers, old women, it doesn’t matter. Other than being female, he doesn’t seem to have a type. But every single one of the bodies had been tortured and raped.”
“People.” Mozart growled suddenly from his spot against the wall. “Every single one of the people had been tortured and raped.” He hadn’t turned around and hadn’t even spoken that loudly. Everyone in the room heard him though.
“Sorry, Mozart. Yes. All of the people that were found had been tortured before they were killed. It seems as if he chose Big Bear Lake for this winter to hole up. We were right, he was there, and it looks like he did know about you. He showed no interest in Summer until you left that second time. He targeted her.”
Ignoring the pain coursing through his body at Tex’s words, Mozart said, “Where did he take her?”
“I don’t know.”
Losing his cool for the first time since he’d heard the news that his Summer had been taken, Mozart turned around and yelled, “Where the hell is she, dammit? He’s fucking torturing her. I know it. She needs me and I’m not there! I’m. Not. There!”
“We’ll find her, Mozart,” Wolf said in a low voice.
“When? After he’s raped her over and over and gouged out her eyes? After she’s nothing but a shell of the woman I left? When, Wolf? When will we find her? I thought Tex could find anybody!”
“I can, Mozart, when they’re using modern technology,” Tex responded calmly, his voice sounding eerie coming from the little speaker on the phone. “Hurst isn’t using any technology. He’s completely off the grid. No phones, no electric bills, no credit cards. He’s living somewhere in the woods. Wherever he has your woman, it’s in the middle of nowhere. It’s too cold to have her tied to some tree, but it has to be a cabin or something.”
“We need to get up there, Wolf,” Mozart said hoarsely to his friend, not caring how he sounded. “Summer needs me. Now. Not in an hour, not tomorrow. Now.”
“The helicopter’s getting prepped as we speak, Mozart. We’re going as soon as it’s ready.”
Mozart nodded.
The room was quiet for a moment, then Tex started talking excitedly. “Holy shit. Hang on. I’m getting a report from the cops up there about another missing woman. Elizabeth Parkins, twenty-two years old. Someone saw her being snatched right outside the local Walmart. Hold on….yeah, okay, I’ve got the surveillance video that was given to the police. Oh yeah, that’s fucking Hurst all right. Let me just check something… ”
Every man in the room held their breath. They could hear the clacking of the computer keys as Tex frantically typed on his keyboard.
“Yes! Okay, Elizabeth had her cell phone with her and it was on until about three hours ago. Cell phone towers pinged it as it traveled along State Road 38 and then up Polique Canyon Road toward Bertha Peak. Signal was lost about eight miles up the road. He has to be taking Elizabeth to his hideout. And if he has Elizabeth, there’s a good chance that’s where you’ll find Summer.”
Tex’s excitement didn’t carry to the rest of the SEALs standing in the room. They all knew if Hurst had taken another woman so soon after kidnapping Summer, he’d either already killed Summer, or he had something else horrible planned.
“Helicopter’s here,” Benny said quietly into the sudden silence in the room.
“Tex, stay in touch, let me know whatever information you get as soon as you get it,” Wolf ordered as the team began to head out of the room to the waiting helicopter. Mozart was leading the way, they all knew if it would’ve sped up the timetable for leaving, he would’ve been running.
“Save her, Wolf,” Tex said softly, obviously having waited until he could hear the others leave the room.
“We plan on it, Tex,” Wolf returned, just as softly. He clicked off the phone and followed his team out the door. They had one of their own to find and rescue.
Chapter Sixteen
Summer couldn’t hold back her tears anymore. She’d been brave for as long as she could, now she was scared shitless. She grunted and twisted against the handcuffs. They were already tight, but as she struggled, they dug in even more. Blood oozed down her hands to drip on the floor below her, but Summer didn’t even feel the pain anymore. Watching Ben hurt the woman in front of her, had finally broken her.
“Mumph, Peas stmp. Peas.” The gag in her mouth prevented Summer from articulating what it was she wanted to say, but it was obvious Ben understood her mumbled words.
He laughed and held the lit cigarette once more to the poor woman’s chest. She’d passed out about ten minutes ago, but Ben hadn’t stopped. He continued to burn her flesh, pausing only to relight and puff on the cigarette each time it was snuffed out on the hapless woman’s skin. Ben looked Summer in the eyes while he continued to hurt the woman lying motionless on the ground.
“Yeah, that’s what I like to see. Beg me to stop, bitch.”
Summer looked on in horror. He’d grown hard while torturing the poor woman. He was getting off on what he was doing. Even knowing she was playing right into his hands and doing exactly what he’d manipulated her into doing, Summer couldn’t stop her whimpering behind the gag wrapped tightly around her face.
“Remember, this is gonna be you. Everything I’m doing to her, I’ll do to you too. You want me to stop? You want me to wait until she’s conscious again? I will if you want me to.”
Summer shook her head frantically. Jesus no. Where was Mozart? She needed him more than she’d ever needed anyone in her entire life before.
* * *
“Are you sure you’re under control?” Wolf asked, eying Mozart intently.
Mozart simply nodded once.
“Because if you’re not, you’ll put her in even more danger.”
Mozart nodded sharply again, but still didn’t say a word.
Wolf just looked at Mozart for a second, then turned to the rest of the group. They’d spent the last thirty minutes scoping out the lay of the land. Hurst’s cabin was sitting in a small clearing about two miles from the nearest gravel road. There was a four-wheeler parked in front of the door, obviously Hurst’s transportation to and from the road. They hadn’t found a car yet, but they hadn’t looked for it. They were all focused on getting to Summer and Elizabeth.
The cabin was a piece of shit. It was small, only about two hundred or so square feet and it had two small windows, one in the back and one on the side. There was a sad looking front porch listing to one side.
Mozart clenched his hands at his sides. Standing there, listening to Wolf outline the plan one last time to the team was literally killing him. His heart was beating too fast and he could feel his breaths coming way too shallowly.
He was trained for this type of thing. They all were, but it was a completely different thing when it was someone you loved who was in danger. Mozart paused for a moment, letting his thoughts sink in. Yes. He loved Summer. It was quick, yeah, but it felt right. The feeling settled into Mozart’s gut and didn’t make him panic or feel trapped. He now knew how Wolf had felt when Ice had been kidnapped. This was the worst feeling in the world. He knew he should be taking deep breaths to calm his heart rate and ready himself for what was to come, but it was physically impossible.
Wolf, seemingly able to read his mind, turned to him. “Mozart, talk to me. Where are you at here?”
Liking the fact that Wolf wasn’t ordering him around, but trusting him to know where he might be the most useful, Mozart answered tersely. “You take lead. I’ll go in behind you.” Wolf had been there. He’d let his team members take the front line to rescue Ice, and they’d delivered her back into his arms safe and sound. If Wolf had been able to do it, so could he.
Wolf put one hand on Mozart’s shoulder briefly, before nodding and turning to the others.
“Okay, Dude, you take the side window and deploy the flashbang. After it’s gone off, Cookie will make entry through the back window and Benny will go in through the side. Mozart and I will take the front door. Dude, you and Abe stand outside just in case Hurst decides to make a run for it. Our first objective here is to protect the women. Whatever it takes. Got it?”
All the men nodded solemnly. They knew what Wolf wasn’t saying. They were ready.
“You all know it’ll be crazy in there for a moment. That cabin isn’t big enough to hold all of us comfortably, so be sure about your movements.” Wolf paused for a beat then said, “Whatever you see in there, don’t lose your heads.”
“Fuck,” Mozart said under his breath, knowing exactly what Wolf meant. He couldn’t even think of Summer not being all right. He knew he should feel bad about the other woman as well, but his mind was filled with thoughts of Summer. He saw how she’d tried to be polite when she was literally starving and trying not to show it. He remembered how they’d laughed together while they’d cleaned the damn hotel rooms. Mozart even remembered how she’d felt in his arms. He had no idea what condition they’d find her in, and that sliced through him more than anything.
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