The Perfect Burn: A Thrilling Romantic Suspense (The Perfect Revenge Book 4)

by Madyson Grey

  At Officer Bradshaw’s suggestion, Rafael drove over to the park, parked his car, and just sat in the car waiting for the time to come. Several times Rafael checked his watch to make sure it was running, checking it against his cell phone and the radio, because it seemed as though his watch had all but stopped.

  Rafael scanned the park continuously, looking for the undercover police offices, looking for any suspicious activity, and looking for a boy in a red sweater on a bike. He didn’t see anything or anyone who looked out of place. Kids were playing, joggers were jogging, skateboarders were skateboarding, homeless people were ambling about, stopping now and then to root around in a garbage can, lovers were walking hand in hand, many were talking on cell phones, or texting, or merely strolling through the park.

  Finally, it was three minutes before twelve o’clock high noon. Rafael got out of his car, reached back inside for the briefcase that he’d put the money into. He walked over to the children’s playground, but he didn’t know exactly where to stand, as the playground was pretty good-sized. He finally just stood by the sidewalk near the swings, waiting.

  At precisely twelve o’clock, a boy of about thirteen rode up on a bicycle. He had on a red pullover sweater. He stopped in front of Rafael.

  “Is that briefcase for me?” he asked.

  “Do you have an envelope for me?” Rafael countered.

  “Yep, here it is. Let’s make an even trade,” he said, reaching out both hands toward Rafael.

  Rafael did the same thing, holding onto the briefcase handle until he had the envelope tightly between his fingers. The kid did the same thing. They released their holds at the same time. The kid slid the briefcase handle over one bike handlebar, and then wobbled off down the sidewalk. Rafael tried to follow him to see where he went, but with the other people in the park, and the kid being on a bike, he soon lost sight of him.

  Tearing open the envelope, he quickly scanned the note inside. It read:

  If you have held up your end of the bargain, you will find your wife in front of the Thornton Building at exactly three o’clock this afternoon. You can bring the whole police force with you, plus all the reporters you can find, because the only person of interest there will be your wife. If anything goes wrong between now and then, or if I learn that you have not held up your end of the bargain, you’ll find your wife in the back alley behind the Thornton Building, but you won’t like what you find. So you’d better pray that nothing goes wrong between now and 3:00.

  Rafael went back to his car, and for the first time since he had discovered Victoria was missing, he put his head on the steering wheel and cried. He had three hours to wait, wonder, and worry. He needed to find Officer Bradshaw and show him this note, but he didn’t know how to now, as all the officers on duty in and around the park were incognito. He wouldn’t approach one now even if he could identify one, which he couldn’t. He didn’t dare jeopardize Victoria’s safe release.

  Suddenly his phone rang. He looked at caller ID, but didn’t recognize the number. He was terrified that it was the kidnapper, but he answered it anyway. He heaved a sigh of relief when he discovered that it was Officer Bradshaw.

  “What does the note inside the envelope say?” Bradshaw asked.

  Rafael read it to him.

  “Okay, that’s not too bad, considering the alternatives,” he said. “We tailed the boy on the bike to a waiting car, and then we currently have a tail on the car. We won’t make a move until we see your wife is safe with you, and then we’ll make our move.”

  “Okay,” Rafael said with a sigh. “I guess I’ll just have to sit out these next three hours and wait.”

  “It’s tough, I know,” Bradshaw said sympathetically. “But I’ve seen cases where the kidnapper wouldn’t release the prisoner until the next day. So you’re lucky it’s only three hours.”

  “Yeah, I guess,” Rafael said. “Guess I’ll just drive around for a while and try to kill time until three.”

  “Go get some lunch,” Bradshaw suggested. “Even if you don’t feel like eating, it will give you something to do to kill time, and make your movements look natural. We’ve got to get off this phone now. I’ll catch up with you later.”

  “Okay. Thanks for all you’re doing,” Rafael said.

  “Don’t thank me until your wife is safe with you,” he said.

  Chapter Six

  The next two hours and fifty minutes were torture for Rafael. He did drive to a fast food joint, go inside, and order a hamburger, French fries, and a milkshake. He nibbled at the meal slowly, wishing time would speed up. But after he was finished eating, he still had two hours to go. He drove around for about half an hour, and then just decided to go to the Thornton Building, park there, and wait.

  The last hour and a half dragged by even more slowly than had the morning hours, if that were possible. At five minutes before three, he got out of the car and walked around to the front of the building. He scanned the street both ways, looking, looking, for any sign of Victoria walking or in a car being delivered there.

  Then, at the stroke of three, he turned to look once again in the opposite direction from that he’d been looking in for the past thirty seconds or so, and there she was, right in front of him, although he hardly recognized her. But when he did, he was so relieved that he couldn’t even move for a split second. Then he grabbed her and hugged her so fiercely that passersby turned to stare at them.

  When he could let go, Rafael pushed Victoria back a little so he could look at her. What he saw shocked and horrified him. Her beautiful hair had been hacked off close to her head. She had bruises on her face and a cut and swollen lip. She had two black eyes, and one was swollen nearly shut.

  “Take me home, please,” she said, wincing with each word.

  It was obvious that talking was painful to her.

  “Of course.”

  Rafael took Victoria’s arm and guided her toward the car. Once he had her safely inside, and he was in and seated, too, he turned to look at her, needing to reassure himself that she was really there beside him.

  “What has happened to you?” he asked softly. “What did those animals do to you?”

  Rage boiled within him that someone out there could do this to anyone, much less his beloved Victoria. He was afraid to ask the next question, but he forced it out anyway. “Did someone rape you?”

  Victoria held his gaze for a long moment. Rafael covered her hands with one of his, and caressed her bruised cheek tenderly with the other. He watched as tears welled up in her beautiful but sad eyes and spill out, trickling over discolored skin.

  “It’s all right, babe,” he crooned. “You don’t have to talk yet if you don’t want to. I’m here for you. I love you. I am just so sorry I wasn’t there to protect you. I’ve been punishing myself ever since I found you missing for leaving you out in the car all alone. Can you ever forgive me?”

  Rafael’s voice had changed from comforting to pleading.

  “Not your fault,” Victoria said haltingly. “Not your fault.”

  “I’m taking you to the hospital to be checked out,” Rafael told her. “You might have broken bones or something.”

  He started the car and put it in gear to head for the hospital. He dared to violate the cell phone law, and called Officer Bradshaw to let him know that he had Victoria, that she had been beaten and possibly raped, and he was headed for the hospital. Officer Bradshaw asked him which hospital. When Rafael told him, Bradshaw said he’d meet him there.

  Victoria didn’t protest when Rafael told her he was taking her to the hospital. She slowly told him what some of what had happened to her since he had left her in the car the evening before. It was not pretty. The story came out haltingly and painfully.

  “Two men came up to the car,” she told him. “I wouldn’t roll down the window for them, so they smashed it in. They dragged me out of the car. I fought as much as I could, but it wasn’t enough. They slammed me up against the car and asked me where you were. I wouldn�
��t tell them, so one of them hit me.

  “They told me they knew that you were in the building and that the cops were with you. That was obvious from all the cop cars parked there. They said you would be sorry you ever stuck your nose where it didn’t belong. Then they made me get into their car and took me to a house. One of the men they called Gus tied a large handkerchief around my eyes so I couldn’t see where we were going.

  “A man called Butch drove. I don’t know how long or how far he drove, but when we finally stopped, we were close to a train track. I heard trains going by all night long. They took me into a house and then took off the blindfold. Off and on all night they took turns asking me stuff and hitting me when I wouldn’t answer or gave an answer they didn’t like.

  “One of them cut a chunk of hair every time I gave a bad answer. They took turns raping me, too,” she said.

  The last sentence was but a whisper. She hung her head, not able to look at Rafael. He was stopped for a red light when she gave that bit of information, so he was looking at her while she talked. The light turned green just then, so all he could do was hold her hand with one of his.

  “I’m so sorry, my love,” he said, willing himself not to break down and cry. He had to be strong for her. She was so broken that he had to share his strength with her. “I’m just so sorry that I wasn’t there to protect you. So sorry.”

  It took about twenty minutes to reach the hospital. Rafael pulled up to the emergency entrance, parked, and helped Victoria out of the car. He led her inside where he found Officer Bradshaw already waiting for them. Officer Bradshaw offered his sorrow for what Victoria had been through, and then let them go through admittance.

  While they were waiting to be seen, Officer Bradshaw questioned Victoria about her experience. He made notes as to the names that Victoria had heard used, and all of her impressions about where she had been taken. Then he told them what had gone on from the police side of things ever since they had all discovered Victoria to be missing the previous evening.

  Officer Bradshaw and the other officers had stayed there at the building where they had taken the girls and Antonio Cantu for a while. They questioned Antonio about the human trafficking business that he was involved in. Bradshaw told Antonio what to say in reply to that message that had been texted to him regarding Victoria and dropping the investigation.

  Bradshaw told Antonio to text back the message that they would comply with the demands. He sent a couple of the officers back to the station to get an ankle bracelet that he then put on Antonio so that he couldn’t disappear on them. Then they sent him and the girls back into Antonio’s apartment, so it would appear that the police had let him go.

  Antonio agreed to comply and give up all the information he had in exchange for immunity. Bradshaw had called the district attorney, even though it was late, to tell him what was going on, and to ask for immunity for Antonio in exchange for the information needed to bust wide open the human trafficking ring there in the Los Angeles area. The DA was willing to go along with that. He was a very outspoken opponent of the sex slave trade and was as eager to put a stop to it there as were the police.

  When the two officers returned with the ankle bracelet, they came back in street clothes and in the personal car of one of them. It was quite dark in that back alley and parking area, so it was hoped that when they went into the building with Antonio and the girls that if anyone were watching from a distance, they wouldn’t be noticed.

  Even though Antonio had agreed to comply and turn state’s evidence against the smuggling ring, Bradshaw didn’t fully trust him. Hence, the ankle bracelet and guard. The police guard kept Antonio’s cell phone so he couldn’t surreptitiously text the ringleaders and alert them as to what was happening.

  One of them, Officer Simpson, typed a text that was supposed to be from Antonio telling the ringleader that Antonio and the girls were back in his apartment and all was well. He had Antonio send the text, and then took back the phone.

  Half a dozen undercover agents were placed in and around MacArthur Park that morning. A jogger, a park groundskeeper, a homeless man, a bicyclist, a businessman sitting on a park bench doing something on a tablet, and a woman watching the children play on the swings—all were police officers, trained in kidnapping extractions.

  The bicyclist had followed the kid on the bike who had the money a couple of blocks to a parked car where the kid handed over the briefcase to a man inside. The officer noted the make, model, and license plate number of the car, spoke the information into his mouthpiece, and when the car pulled away from the curb, it had grown a long tail. Three unmarked police cars played leap frog in tailing the suspect car, so that the driver wouldn’t know he was being followed.

  They followed the car to a house that was situated near railroad tracks. They watched from a distance until Victoria was brought out of the house, placed in the car, and then the car was on the move again. The tail fell in behind this car and followed it until Victoria had been released and reunited with Rafael, and then those officers, along with three other units, surrounded it and made the arrest.

  Meanwhile, the FBI and the Long Beach police raided the dock and discovered a fresh load of human cargo had just arrived from Thailand, and arrested those in charge there. Simultaneously, the adult bookstore in Long Beach was hit and Thornton Enterprise was short one tenant in that mall. It seemed to be a clean sweep.

  The young girls that were rescued were taken to a large complex that had been set up especially to care for rescued sex slaves. There they would be housed and fed, taught English, and placed in paying jobs within the Asian community in southern California. At any time, they had the option to either remain in the States and become American citizens, or to return to their families in Thailand.

  Officer Bradshaw had just finished his description of all the arrests when Victoria was called to come to an exam room. He bade the couple goodbye, wished them luck, and told them he’d be in touch. There would be a trial at some point that their testimony may be needed for.

  The nurses and doctor who examined Victoria were all profoundly sympathetic and outraged at what she had been through. But, aside from many painful bruises, she was physically uninjured. Meaning that there were no broken bones. However, her body had suffered the trauma of the rapes and the beatings. Protocol was followed for collecting the rape kit that would be used in court at some later date.

  The doctor prescribed some pain medication for her, and some sleeping pills, as he suspected she might have problems sleeping for a while until the shock of the experience dulled somewhat.

  They were finally able to go home where Rafael tenderly helped Victoria into the shower. He asked her if she wanted him to get in with her and wash her, but she said no, she wanted to shower alone. He knew that it would be a while, maybe a long while, before she would be able to tolerate intimacy again. But he loved her so much that he would be patient and let her lead in that area.

  Lena was not at home yet. Rafael had nearly forgotten all about her. He felt guilty that he hadn’t checked on her and her folks. On the way home, he had told Victoria that Lena didn’t know anything yet, but that she should text or call her to ask about her grandpa. Victoria agreed, and texted her mama asking how things were going.

  Lena texted right back and said that her dad had broken his hip, but that he was all right otherwise. He would be in the hospital for a few days and then go home. She said that she would be home later that evening.

  After Victoria got out of the shower, she put on some comfy lounging pajamas. Rafael asked her if she wanted anything to eat.

  “I don’t know if I can eat,” she said. “But I guess I should have something on my stomach so those pain pills don’t upset my stomach. Maybe just some mushroom soup and crackers. I think I could keep that down.”

  “Do you want to stay here in the bedroom, or do you want to come downstairs?” he asked.

  “I’ll come down. I want to stay by you,” she said.

 
They went downstairs and Victoria sat at the kitchen table while Rafael heated her up a bowl of mushroom soup. He got out a box of crackers and put some on a plate for her.

  “Want a glass of milk?”

  “Chocolate milk, please.”

  “Coming right up.”

  As long as he was fixing food, Rafael heated a bowl of soup for himself and made two glasses of chocolate milk. Then he put everything on the table and sat down to eat with Victoria.

  “I know that neither one of us thinks very much about God, or ever prays, but I would like to thank God that you weren’t hurt worse or even killed,” Rafael said solemnly. “Is that okay with you?”

  “Please do,” Victoria said. “I was praying desperately all the time I was kidnapped, so I would like to thank God, too.”

  So there at the table, over steaming bowls of soup, they bowed their heads and said a simple, heartfelt prayer of thanks to a God whom they barely knew, but were overwhelmingly grateful to for sparing Victoria’s life.

  They had finished eating, and Rafael had put the dishes into the dishwasher and tidied up the kitchen when Lena came home. When she walked in, she was absolutely horrified to see Victoria.

  “Oh, my baby, my baby,” she cried. “What has happened to you? Rafael, what has happened to my baby?”

  “I’m okay now, Mama,” Victoria said. “I was kidnapped last night. You tell her, honey,” she said to Rafael.

  Rafael spent the next half an hour telling Lena the entire story from beginning to end of how they had stumbled onto a human trafficking ring, had gotten the police, and themselves, involved. That Victoria had been kidnapped, beaten, raped, and held for ransom, but that all of the perpetrators were behind bars and were likely to be there for a very long, long time.

  Lena wept for her daughter, and Victoria was finally able to break down and cry, which was therapeutic for her. Rafael knew that she would begin to heal now that she had cried. He held both of the women while they held each other and wept. It took a while for all the tears to be cried, but at last, Lena and Victoria were able to dry their eyes, and Victoria smiled her first smile since the ordeal.