by Maddie Wade
“Please,” she said, “please leave my legs untied, I promise I won’t do anything stupid.” He looked at her considering her request.
“Fine, it’s not like you can go anywhere or anyone can hear you.” He said in his singsong voice. Lauren shuddered and decided that his high-pitched voice scared her as much, as if he had been screaming at her. Griffiths left her then.
She heard the click of the lock and knew it was pointless to try the door. She wondered if anyone was coming for her and thought again about Dane. Would she ever see him again? Knowing that she couldn’t and shouldn’t rely on anyone else to save her she tried to slip her wrists out of the zip ties but only succeeded in making her wrists bloody and sore.
She then set about nibbling at the plastic with her teeth and after what seemed hours, the plastic gave way. Rubbing her injured wrists, she looked around again for something to help her escape. She deliberately ignored the wall of sickening photos. Lauren quickly realised that the only weapon she had was surprise. Sitting on the small bed, she waited.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Dane needed coffee. He went to the kitchen and found Drew already there -he looked awful. Both his eyes were nearly closed and his lip was all swollen. Sly had had to put a stitch in it and Drew had showed again how resolute he was. He hadn’t moved a muscle when the needle had gone in, and had refused any medication.
“How are you feeling?” Dane asked realising it was a stupid question once he said it.
Drew just lifted a shoulder in a shrug, “Been better, and been worse. Has my father said anything?”
“No, he is a real piece of work, we’ve been questioning him all night and he is one twisted fuck, the worst of it is he thinks he is the victim.” He shook his head incredulous, “fucking unbelievable.”
Michaels isn’t much better, he has a serious amount of loyalty to Marcus and it turns out they are closer than boss and employee. Michaels told us how he and Marcus would be together openly after the world had been set back.”
~~~
Drew wasn’t shocked, he’d suspected as much, but he had a feeling that Marcus had never intended for them to be together.
Marcus had always been very vocal about his hatred of homosexuals and Drew knew he would never want to lose face by going back on that publicly; he was probably just using sex as a way to control Michaels. Either way he didn’t care as long as they both got locked up and Lauren was returned unhurt.
“Michaels also bragged about how he had followed Hale back to the hospital, so that he could talk to Griffiths and that was when he’d caught Griffiths following us. Pure damn bad luck for us. Not that that redeems my part in it.”
So Dane was still blaming himself thought Drew sadly.
“Did we get anything useful on Lauren yet?” Drew asked, as he sipped lukewarm coffee through his damaged lips.
Dane shook his head.
“No, Tuck’s team checked out Griffiths’ place and found nothing but filth, he’d been living there until recently by the looks, but he’s long gone now. We’re gonna keep eyes on the place though, in case he comes back. We do have a contact at SIS following a lead that we hope will pan out and we have eyes on the burial ground in case he visits Claire there.”
Dane paused as if he wanted to say something else “I’m sorry about your mum, Drew I know what it’s like to lose a parent.”
Drew looked up “You heard that?”
“Yeah we did.”
Drew nodded.
“She didn’t deserve that, she wasn’t perfect, but she was my mum, ya know.”
“Do you need anything, pain killers?” asked Dane changing the subject.
“No, Lucy’s been mothering me all night, waking me and giving pain relief and stuff. I think she likes me.” He said with a smirk, which came off more as a grimace because of his abused face. He was trying to lighten the moment by trying to wind Dane up. He didn’t like talking about this stuff.
“Ha, I think that ship sailed, my friend.” Talk of the devil,” he said. Lucy came careening round the corner, “We’ve got something,” she said.
They rushed with her back to the tech room. Sly was already bringing up satellite images.
“Our contact at SIS found this. It’s an old farmhouse towards Kingsland that used to belong to Gladys and Robert Price. They were Terry Griffiths’ maternal grandparents, they died a few years back when their car hit a patch of ice flipping them into a ditch and killing them both.
They were estranged from Terry and his parents. His second cousin was the sole beneficiary in their wills, but he lives in New Zealand so the property was left abandoned. Sly is trying to see if he can pick up any heat signatures.” They all turned to watch Sly while holding their collective breath. They could see two heat signatures in the house.
“Okay let’s check this out. Lucy, I need you to handle comms nearby, Sly you’re with me. Drew help Lucy.”
~~~
Dane was all business now. He had to go and get Lauren back. He and Sly loaded up on guns and knives, having learned very early in their careers that you could never have too many weapons. Lucy gave them both an earpiece and tested the comms unit. It was almost invisible to the naked eye and could be used two ways.
“Right, now you’re ready to go bring our girl home,” she said. She leaned up and kissed both men on the cheek, “stay safe.”
“Always, baby sis.” Dane replied.
~~~
It was a few hours before Lauren heard Griffiths come back; well, she assumed it was Griffiths that she could hear pottering around upstairs. It all went quiet again a short while later.
She decided to look at the pictures to try to determine where and when they were taken. They were all apparently taken without Claire’s knowledge and the most frightening of all were the ones with Paige in them.
Griffiths had taken all those stolen moments of joy and freedom and made them something sinister and ugly by inserting himself into them. She felt her stomach tighten and roll as she realised what could have happened to Paige. She stopped as she heard running footsteps above her and got into position with her back to the wall.
Griffiths threw the door open and flew down the stairs towards her.
“What have you done?” he snarled.
However, he didn’t get to finish that sentence because Lauren threw herself at him. She bent at the waist and ploughed her shoulder into his stomach, the momentum of them both moving in different directions caused Griffiths to go over her shoulder and land in a heap behind her. She didn’t waste time to see if he was hurt, she ran for the stairs.
She’d nearly reached the top when Griffiths grabbed her by her ankle and pulled her backwards causing her to lose her footing. Lauren scrabbled to grab at the steps, ripping her nails back to the quick in her bid to pull away from him, but Griffiths kept dragging her. He grabbed her by her hair and pushed her back to the bed and with surprising strength.
She pushed away from him into the farthest corner of the bed, breathing fast from her bid for freedom. Griffiths stalked towards her with the wild manic eyes, grasping her arms roughly he quickly zip-tied them in front of her, pulled them high and attached them to the metal frame of the bed behind her head. She watched with heart-stopping fear as he took out a knife and started to run it down her cheek. Lauren was shaking and her breaths were coming faster, she needed to calm her breathing or she was going to pass out.
“Now, why did you do that, you stupid little bitch? I was trying to be nice, but you threw it back in my face. Now I’m going to have to show you what happens when people disobey me.
“Your silly little security boys just tripped one of my wires. But they won’t reach you.” he sing-songed in that repulsive voice. “I’m better than them, I have trip wires all over this property, they will probably be blown to smithereens soon!” he said, with an almost girlie giggle. “I can’t figure out how you did it, but I know you tipped them off, they never would have found my connection to this place other
wise, I’m too clever.”
He had his face so close to her that she could smell his rancid breath on her, making her feel nauseous.
~~~
Griffiths liked the look of wide-eyed fear on her face and knowing he had put it there gave him a jolt of desire, which he wasn’t expecting. It had only been Claire for him, she was the true love of his life, but maybe he could have some fun with Lauren before he killed her, the idea pleased him. He ran the knife along her neck and followed it with his tongue, enjoying the fear he could smell on her skin and the way her breasts heaved against him.
~~~
She was going to be sick, she was paralysed against this monster and what he was doing to her. Her very breaths went shallow when she felt the proof of his enjoyment against her leg.
Closing her mind to what was happening she concentrated on her breathing, breathe in and hold, breathe out. She had started to calm her mind when, she felt him begin to cut at her top, and sawing the material in half. He nicked her skin with the knife causing her to flinch; she could feel the warm blood run down her stomach.
“Open your eyes, bitch,” he said squeezing her jaw between his fingers and shaking her. She opened her eyes and looked at him letting all her hatred show.
“Ah, you’re a feisty little thing, but I’ll soon break you and make you beg for me to kill you.” He used the knife to cut her shorts off her, running his hands all over her body. So lost in his sick twisted games, he leaned away from her giving her the opening she needed to bring her leg up and knee him in the balls.
He screamed in pain, and reared back holding his groin. Lauren scrambled back on the bed as best she could, using her feet to push her into the corner and crunched into a foetal ball. Her wrists were twisted and aching from being wrenched above her head. If she was gonna die she wasn’t going to meekly lie back and die without a fight, she wasn’t that person. She readied herself to kick out if he came at her again.
“You fucking bitch, I’m gonna kill you for that,” he screamed, with spit flying everywhere. He back-handed her, splitting her lip, the blow made her see stars. She refused to scream and show any weakness to this maniac; never again would someone enjoy her pain, at least not if she could help it.
She ducked her head to try to avoid the next blow and kicked out with her legs, she heard him groan as she got in a good kick to his thigh. She waited for the next blow to come but it never did. She peeked at him and he had cocked his head and was listening.
“My alarms!” he screamed, and ran for the door. Lauren sat up as best she could and tried to take stock of her injuries, the cut to her stomach was superficial and her face hurt like a bitch but she was okay. She listened to see if she could figure out what had set Griffiths off. She could hear an alarm ringing and wondered what was happening, praying that it was Dane and the team, and that they were okay. Whatever it was, she hoped it kept Griffiths busy indefinitely.
Her prayers weren’t answered though, as Griffiths reappeared a few minutes later and pulled the knife out again. He un-cuffed her from the bed and hauled her to him, holding the knife to her throat he backed her towards the steps. He nicked her neck again as he pulled her up the steps causing her to flinch. Lauren could smell the metallic blood and swayed slightly, she felt light-headed.
~~~
Dane cursed when he heard the alarm; clearly, they had the right place.
“Luce, what can you see?”
“We have two heat signatures moving close together towards the kitchen.”
“Tango has some crude alarms set up on trip wires around the house; we must have set one off about 500 yards out by the start of the drive.” he said, relaying the information to Lucy. “Get Eidolon to send a team in; he might have bombs and traps set up around the area. Tell them to come in quiet; I don’t want to spook this guy.”
It was times like this when having a ghost op squad like Eidolon as allies was a Godsend. Dane approached the front door and Sly took the back. He peered through the front window but could see very little through the grime and dirt.
He walked towards the side kitchen window keeping his head down, and his blood ran cold. Inside in profile to him stood Griffiths, backing down the hallway to the rear of the house, he had a large serrated hunting knife pressed to Lauren’s throat. She was only in her underwear and was bleeding from wounds in her neck and stomach. He needed to block out any fear and treat this like any other hostage situation.
“Sly,” he whispered, “he’s coming your way, he has Lauren with a knife to her throat and is using her as a shield. I don’t have a shot.”
“Roger.” said Sly.
Going back round to the front door, Dane called. “Griffiths come out, I just want to talk.”
“Dane!” she cried, and he could hear the fear and hope in her voice.
“Don’t worry honey, it’s all gonna be okay.”
“Shut up!” shrieked Griffiths, yanking her back to him and catching her with the knife again. Dane was gonna tear this bastard’s throat out with his bare hands for hurting and scaring her. Allowing his training to kick in, he shut his mind to Lauren as his woman, and just allowed himself to think of her as a hostage again.
“Let’s stay calm, Griffiths, nobody needs to get hurt.”
“I have nothing to say to you yet, it is not your time to suffer, it’s hers. Don’t worry I’ll send the neglectful bitch back to you piece by piece so that you can bury her.” Dane was struggling to keep his cool, he so wanted to wrap his hands around Griffiths’ throat and squeeze until he had no air left.
“Stay frosty, man.” Sly whispered in his ear. He stepped forward and slowly, so as not to alarm him pushed the door open.
“Stay back,” Griffiths snarled, “or I’ll slit her pretty throat in front of you.”
The terror in her eyes would stay with him forever. Griffiths was getting even more anxious and unstable by the second and he needed to get Lauren away from him.
“Just let her go and we can talk, so tell me how did you meet Claire?”
“Don’t you say her name, you didn’t deserve her, none of you did, she was mine-she loved me. Her and Paige were gonna be mine,” he said on a sob.
Dane took another step forward.
“No, stay back.” Griffiths moved his arm so it was around her throat and put the knife to her left side, digging it in and causing her to wince. Putting his hands up in a show of supplication, he stepped back.
“I have no shot,” he heard in his ear, “if I shoot him now he could stab her. Eidolon have Alpha team headed our way but they are still 5 minutes out,” Sly relayed to him. Dane knew they didn’t have that long, but waiting for Alpha team who would have a medic with them was best for Lauren. Griffiths changed direction slightly as he started to back towards the kitchen door.
“Move in there, slowly,” Griffiths said, motioning to him to move into the kitchen, “and if you move too fast I will gut her.”
Dane could see tears silently tracking down Lauren’s beautiful face and blood dripping down her chest from the cuts in her neck, he was gonna send this sick psycho bastard to hell if it was the last thing he did.
~~~
Ushering Dane into a chair with the knife, Griffiths couldn’t see a way out of this. If he let Lauren go to secure the hero, then he knew he would rush him and he wasn’t stupid. He knew he couldn’t out manoeuvre him physically, so that left using her as a shield. He backed towards the kitchen drawer where he kept his gun. Holding the gun in front of him Griffiths felt euphoric because now he had the upper hand again, he would shoot the hero and gut the bitch, or maybe he would gut the bitch while the boyfriend watched.
Yes, that was much better, someone to watch his greatest performance. Holding the gun steady on boyfriend and with the knife to her rib cage he slowly started to push the knife into her skin, she flinched slightly but didn’t scream.
~~~
She was so scared, seeing the calm face of the man she loved was the only thing keeping her stea
dy. She could see the pulse in his neck and the way his body was coiled tight ready to move the first chance he could. That was going to have to be soon, Griffiths had lost it completely now. Lauren trusted Dane and the team to get her out of this, though.
Lauren was determined not show pain or fear because if she did, she knew Dane would tackle Griffiths and get himself killed. She had to fix this or Dane was going to sacrifice himself for her. She couldn’t let that happen. Then she saw Sly and knew what she had to do.
~~~
Sly knew the moment Lauren spotted him, because she gave him a small smile at him and did the most heroic thing he had ever seen.
~~~
Dane sat watching Lauren and Griffiths not 6 ft. away from him and his heart stopped, everything went into slow motion, he knew she was going to do something by the smile that came over her face. He could see Griffiths pushing the knife into her skin-drawing more blood from her and his fists clenched, he had to keep a cool head or he would get her killed.
He had long ago come to terms with his own death, but knew he would never survive hers. Never in his worst nightmare could he imagine what happened next. In a split second, several things happened. Lauren threw herself forward onto the knife, Sly took the headshot, and Lauren crumpled to the ground with Griffiths landing on top of her.
With an inhuman roar, he threw himself towards her, dragging Griffiths’ dead body off her.
“Lauren, honey, can you hear me?” Blood was pouring from a wound in her side.
~~~
Reaching him in seconds, Sly took over and put pressure on the wound, causing her to cry out.
“I know it hurts, but I have to keep pressure on,” said Sly gently. Her breathing was rapid and she started to cough up blood.
Sly knew this wasn’t good, he’d seen this a number of times before, she apparently had a punctured lung and it was filling with blood.
