by Shaw, Vicki
“Your David’s son? I walked past you at the courthouse one day. Your Mum was crying and you were rubbing her back.” Everything just starts to fall into place.
“Well done Roxie. You have finally worked it out.” He said in such an evil voice I sunk a little more into my chair. But now there were so many questions I needed answers for.
“Why did you not say anything when we meet that day? Why are you doing this now? Back then you could have done anything to me.” I have so many things running through my mind at the moment. Why is he blaming me for his father going to jail and his mother dying? His father was the one who shot my Mother not the other way around. I did not even know his mother was dead.
“Your mother was a nosey bitch that just could not keep out of other people's business. If she did, she would still be here. She brought all this on so you can blame her for all the pain you are going to go through. You were the only witness and if you had not picked my Dad out in the line up they would never have had enough evidence to put him away. My mother would not have killed herself because she could not cope with the whole town talking about Dad and her.” He is up in my face and I am getting angry by the second.
“Why the fuck are you blaming my Mum and me? We were not the ones who broke the law. It was your father and the people he worked for that caused all this. If he did not work for criminals and had not shot my mother, none of this would have happened. So blame him and whoever he was working for.” He moved so fast I did not see him get up with the gun in his hand. He hit me so hard in the face with the butt of his gun I passed out.
EIGHT
Jayce
Seeing her for the first time in years was a shock. I was a little worried that seeing her might bring back my feelings for her, but the opposite happened. The time that had past had been a credit to her looks. She has gone from an awkward skinny teenager to a hot woman. She has filled out in all the right places. However, her body and looks did not do a thing for me anymore. All them years ago I was sent out to get to know her and her father. The Boss wanted me to get any information I could about her family. I was never told what exactly he wanted, all I was told was to get close to them. I do not think he meant as close as I became. Once The Boss saw how close to Roxie I was and that I was starting to fall in I love with her, he pulled me out. At the time, I was pissed. I loved her, well I thought I did, but The Boss showed me it was just a crush on an easy lay. He fueled my hatred towards her and her family.
I never saw her again until now. Over the years, it was like I had a weeping wound in me that just kept festering. As time went by the festering got worse, to the point of who I am today. I will kill anyone one The Boss tells me to. I also do not have any problems bashing man, woman or child within an inch of their life if it was called upon me to do so. I do not feel compassion, happiness or love. I just feel hatred and if that hatred was pointed at you, you had big problems because you would be lucky to get away alive. My hatred for Roxie and her family was like a thorn in my side. Until she paid for the fact that my father is in jail and my Mother is dead it will stay there and fester away. I thought I was in love with her, however now all I want is her dead. The slower and more painful the better. Just looking at her makes me want to put my gun to her head and pull the trigger. I would as well after I bashed the living hell out of her if I would not be killed for doing it. Maybe The Boss will let me after he finds the bloody file. A smile creeps on to my face just thinking of Roxie a bloody mess lying at my feet begging me not to shoot her. Hitting her with the butt of my gun felt unbelievable. I had to use all my control not to keep raining it down again and again on her head. When I saw the blood, run down her face from the cut above her eye I felt a high like I had just taken the best drugs in the world. My whole body tingled and the buzz ran through me from my head to my toes.
It was a challenge getting her into the car with her being unconscious. The driver and I had to wedge her between us so it looked like she just had too much to drink. We could not fuck this up now with someone coming over to make sure she was alright. The car was parked close to the stairs so we did not have far to go. We were on the road for a while when Roxie woke up. I could not believe the fight she has in her. For someone so small she had one hell of a punch. She was kicking, hitting and punching anything she could connect with. I pulled her into my lap and threw one of my legs over hers and tried to grab her arms to pin them down.
“Settle the fuck down Roxie. If you do not, I will have to drug you.” I whisper yelled through gritted teeth.
“Go to hell you fuck witt.” She yelled back and her fight got stronger. One of her fists connected to my bottom lip. I ran my tongue over it and tasted blood. That was it. If The Boss wanted her alive, I would have to stop this bitch before she really pissed me off. I reached into my back pocket and pulled the capped syringe out. Getting the cap off without it sticking me was a problem due to her one arm that was still free and swinging in every direction. Just as I was about to put the syringe on the seat next to me to contain her other arm she lowered it just in my reach so I could pin it down with her other one. I quickly uncap the needle and stick it in her neck. Slowly all the fight leaves her body and she is out cold. The Boss did not want me to drug her unless I really needed to. In my view, it was necessary. I could not have her carrying on like that in the car. If she hit the driver, she could have made him run into something. Also, if someone saw her, they could have rang the cops. I place her next to me on the seat and watch her for a moment. It really is a shame I hate her so much because she is one hot chick. Maybe if The Boss lets me, I will give her a good hard fuck, before I bash and kill her.
We are not far from Roxie's house so I call The Boss to make sure everything is still fine to take her there. He answered on the second ring.
“Jayce you better be ringing to tell me you have the girl and are on your way here.” The Boss is always straight to the point. He will never answer a call with a hello or end it with a goodbye. You always know where you stand with him because if you fuck up he will let you know in a number of different ways. It just depended how bad the fuck up was and how high up on the ladder you were.
“Yes, I have the girl. However, I did have to drug her in the car after she lost her shit. We are only a few minutes away. Are we still good for drop off?” I do not tell him about my busted lip or the cut above her eye. I do not think he will have too much of a problem with me hitting her. However, I know I will cop a ribbing about my lip.
“Bring her here.” There is no goodbye just the tone of the call being ended.
I tell the driver that we are set to make the delivery. When we arrive, Roxie is still out of it so the driver and I carry-drag her into the house and down to the basement. There is a chair sitting in the centre of the room so we sit her down. Before she wakes up, I tape her arms and legs to the chair. With the amount of fight she has in her I wouldn’t want her to wake-up and try and run. Her chin is resting on her chest with her hair falling forward covering her face.
The Boss has followed us down to the basement as is standing behind me watching, Roxie. “How long until she wakes up?” He yells at me. It is not a good idea to piss The Boss off. He has a very short temper, it doesn't take much for him to shoot someone. I once saw him shoot a guy for bringing him the wrong drink.
“Umm, it shouldn’t be too much longer. I didn’t even give her the full amount.” I keep my eyes down, looking at the floor. No one looks The Boss in the eye unless he gives you permission to.
“I told you not to drug her unless it was absolutely necessary. Now I am losing time waiting for her to wake-up so I can get what I need. The detectives from Brisbane will be back at any time and I need this file before then” As he was speaking he slapped me up the side of the head. I couldn’t help but lift my head and look at him.
“What the fuck happened to your lip?” I ran my tongue along my lip where the cut was and felt that it had gotten even fatter.
“She is what happened. Sh
e woke up in the car and went ape shit. She was hitting punching and kicking anything in her reach, including my lip. I couldn’t hold her down so I drugged her. She is a lot more feisty than I remember.” I rub the back of my neck and look at the ground again waiting for what The Boss has to say and find out how much shit I’m in.
“What do you mean she woke up in the car? Why was she asleep? If she is so feisty, I wouldn’t think she would just fall asleep.” Shit. This is going from bad to worse.
“I, uumm, knocked her out with the butt of my gun on the plane. What can I say, she pissed me off.” I said with a shrug of my shoulder. The Boss just shook his head and walked over to Roxie. “If you don’t need me for anything else right now I’m going to get going so I can get to that other job you want me to do.”
“Fine. Just keep your phone on you. I may need you later. Also, make sure your at the meeting later. I guess there is nothing I can do here until she wakes up.”
NINE
Roxie
When I wake-up, I am no longer in the car but taped to a chair in what looks like my family’s home basement. Constable Andrew is standing in front of me.
“Aw, thank god you are here. I have been kidnapped and assaulted. You have to ring Jake and let him know. You have to un-tape me and get me out of here.” I say in a rush trying to hold control of my fear and the panic attack I can feel building. I look at the Constable and he is just standing there with a big smile on his face as if all his Christmases had come at once.
“Why the hell are you just standing there? You need to help me.” I am starting to really panic at this point. He is a cop. He is meant to help people and lock away the bad guys. However, it does not look like he is going to help me. Instead, it looks like he is enjoying me being down here taped to a chair.
“What’s wrong Roxie, missing your boyfriend? Are you scared of the big bad cop? You really do not see the resemblance do you, sis. You got the perfect childhood” Why is calling me sis.
“I want to know why you are calling me sis. Why are you doing this to me? You told me you had a good childhood. You said your mother loved you so why are you coming after me?” In the time, I spent here with Martin, Jake and the team we had, had meals with the other officers and had gotten to know them a little including Andrew. Well, I thought we had gotten to know them.
My tears are running red down my face. The red is from the blood that is running into my eye from a cut on my eyebrow.
“Roxie, you don’t get it do you? You had the perfect family. A mother and father who loved and protected you. I had a mother who may have loved me and gave me anything I asked for, but the one thing I wanted and need. To be safe. She did not keep me safe from the beating my stepfather gave me every night. She did not keep me safe when his mates would come over. I was sixteen when they finally stopped, and that was only because I started to fight back. I came to dear old Dad when I was thirteen, begging to stay with him. He said no because of you. He did not want to upset princess Roxie. He did not want you to know about me. He wanted to keep me as his dirty little secret. That is when I joined the organisation. At first, I was selling drugs for them but it was not long before I was running all their guns. Mum died when I was sixteen, and the organisation took me in. They treated me like a part of the family. The Boss took me under his wing like a son. I finally had someone to look up to as a father.”
I cannot believe what I am hearing. Dad had a son that I knew nothing about. I do not even know if Mum knew about him. He is involved with the people who put the hit on Mum and killed her.
“I don’t understand. How are you a cop if you work for them?”
“It’s all part of their plan. Cops do it all the time. They send in one of their own to work undercover. The Boss thought we would get our own back, turn the tables on them, and plant one of us undercover as a cop. There is no better way for us to find out what information they have and if they are getting close to any of our operations. I was not long out of school and proving myself in the organisation, so they sent me off to the Academy. I did all right at school so that part was fine, and I was already fit so passing was no problem. Even being stationed here was a piece of cake. Everything fell perfectly into place for Boss.”
“I still don’t know why you hate me. It was not my fault I did not know about you. If I did, I would have taken you in, in a heartbeat. You are the closest family I have left.”
“I’m sick of talking about it. Be quiet or I will put the gag back on.”
Andrew walks out the door, slamming it on his way out. I hear the locks click into place.
What the hell? I have a half-brother that I never knew about. He is working for the people that killed my mother. I will wake-up any minute now and be in Martins arms warm in his bed. I have to pinch myself to check if I am awake but can’t because my arms are taped to the chair. There is a sharp pain in my arm when I try to lift it. No, I am defiantly awake.
What am I meant to do now? After the fight, Martin and I had before I left the airport, I do not think he will be looking for me, he probably does not even know I am not still in Perth. Jack and the others are all back in Brisbane and would not even know I was missing.
It is hopeless. I am going to die down here, and no one will ever know. The only comfort I have right now is knowing I am below my family home. I have not had a really good ugly cry for years. I’m not saying I never cried because I have, what I mean is a really good, heart and soul cry. One that you feel in every cell in your body. One that drains all the pain and sorrow away and leaves you shattered. Well, that is what I’m having right now. I am crying for the brother I never got to know. For how unfair it was for me to lose my mother at an important time in a girl’s life. For watching my father die. For not being able to have my parents at my wedding or my Mum at the birth of my children and my children never having their grandparents. I cry for not being able to work out what I want with Martin. For being scared of love and losing control. For what I feel when I am away from Martin but also when I am with him. I cry for how screwed up my head is.
Once I have it all out of my system, I feel that I am ready to tackle this head on. Maybe not head on but my mind is a little clearer. It’s time to pull my big girl panties up and start working on the problem at hand.
There are still police cars patrolling the house and two officers out the front. Well, there was last time I spoke to Jake. With Andrew being a cop, I guess he does not have a problem coming and going. He would also know where Jake was up to with the investigation. I could scream, but it might make things worse. If Andrew is a bad cop than how many more are out there and how far up the ranks, does it extend?
I am drifting in and out of sleep sitting in the chair they taped me to when they brought me down here. The blood that was running down my face has now dried, making my skin feel tight. I can hardly keep my eyes open not knowing if it is from the drugs they injected me with or if it is because I have been down here for a long time. I do not know if it has been hours or days.
Still drifting in and out of sleep, Andrew came down and gave me a little water. He drags me to the bathroom but I never fully wake-up and as soon as he is gone, I am asleep again. My neck is killing me from trying to sleep sitting up in the low-backed chair. While I am drifting in and out, I cannot tell what is real or what is a dream. I think I can hear people talking and footsteps on the roof above me.
Andrew was the last person I have spoken to since I was brought down here. Every other time he has been down, he has not said one word. I still have no idea why I am here and what they are going to do to me.
I try to stay awake. I need to try to figure out what is going on why, I am here and how the hell I am going to get out of here. I have no hope while ever I am taped to the chair. Maybe next time Andrew comes down I will ask if he can leave me untied. It is not as if I can go anywhere. The door is locked, the little window is too small and too high for me to fit through.
I must fall back asleep because the last th
ing I remember is it was light, and now it is dark. When I wake, I have this feeling of being watched. Looking around, with the little light that is coming in the window I cannot see much.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end when a dark figure steps out of the pitch dark. I have never seen this man before; at least I do not think I have. I am sure that if I had met him I would remember. He is wearing an expensive dark blue suit and expensive shiny black shoes.
This must be The Boss. This must be the man responsible for my kidnapping and my mother’s murder. Anger and hate are bubbling inside me. Earlier I was thinking that I was going to die down here. Well, guess what? Seeing this man standing in front of me as if he has just walked into a board meeting has given me the determination to get out of here alive.
“So you are finally awake. I have been waiting for two days for you to wake-up. I do not like being made to wait, Ms. Wilson. You will have to learn that very fast. Andrew will not be giving you any more drugs so from now on you should not have any problems staying awake. I need you awake and of sound mind so you can help me find the file your mother hid.”
