by Hart, Eve R.
I looked at him with shock on my face. What the fuck did he mean by that? I mean, okay, sure, I hadn’t had the most sheltered life. Far from it really. But how did he know how bad things had gotten for me?
“You have a rap sheet that’s not all that short.” He slid another folder in my direction. I didn’t even open it because I knew what was in there. I lived through it, I could even remember most of the dates and circumstances that those papers held in there.
“As you can see from that, I haven’t been in trouble in over ten years. And all of that I did to survive.”
“I guessed that, but it still tells me that you aren’t all that innocent either. So how am I supposed to believe anything you tell me?”
“I feel like we’re going around in circles,” I told him flatly. “And if he is as bad as you indicate, then shouldn’t you be happy he’s out of business for good?”
“I’m not that type of person,” he said and I could see a soft honesty in his eyes. “He belongs behind bars, paying for what he’s done. His men deserved to be taken down right along with him, and his business needs to be shut down for good.”
Yeah, he had me there. Now that Ray was gone, his underlings would be fighting for the position. Things would go on and there would be a new top dog. But then again, if they shut him down, there were people out there just waiting to take a piece of what was left over.
“I want justice for those families that lost people at his hands,” he said clearly not caring that I didn’t want to hear any more of his rant.
“You want justice?” I asked with a bite in my tone. “You are such the good guy and cops are so perfect just here to make the world a better place, yeah? Well, let me tell you something about justice.”
I flipped open the folder with my rap sheet and once I saw the date I had permanently burned into my mind, I flipped the paper around and pointed it out.
“How about justice for a sixteen-year-old girl that had no place to live? How about the man that raped her and left her in a dirty alley, beaten and bloody? Because as far as I know, he’s still out there.”
His eyes dropped away from me for a long moment.
“And how about the cop that took me in that night and harassed me for loitering?” I went on. No, I didn’t expect him to come up with answers to any of these questions. “Who booked me for disturbing the peace when it was obvious that I wasn’t coherent enough to know my name.”
“I’m sorry,” he said softly. “But that wasn’t me. It doesn’t excuse what happened to you. And I understand that you’re angry. Rightfully so. I can’t do anything about that. However, I can tell you that I’m nothing like that. I would never do that to a victim.”
“Am I not one now?” I asked as I pointed to my face. “Or have you already forgotten what he did to me?”
“I just need to know what happened. Someone killed him and three of his men. I have to catch this person because there can’t be people out there that think it’s alright to take matters into their own hands. Good or bad that Mr. Ramos is dead, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s not legal.”
“You live in your world, Detective, and I live in mine. I can’t say that I’m not sorry he’s dead. But I also can’t tell you anything because I didn’t see anything.”
“I can help you now if you tell me. Once you leave out that door…” He let those words hang there for a few beats before going on. “If I find anything that indicates you had any involvement in Mr. Ramos’ death, I won’t be able to help you.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you won’t find anything then.” I held firm to my story as I stared him down. “Am I free to go now?”
With a sigh, he nodded. He had nothing to hold me on and we both knew it. I shouldn’t have let this go on as long as I did but I knew if I looked like I was trying to be bold, then I’d end up coming off like I had something to do with it. Or at least knew something.
I stood at the same moment he did. I waited for him to open the door and then I walked out.
“Don’t go far,” he said to my back. “I’m sure there will be some follow-up questions.”
“Yes, sir,” I said and carried on my way.
Once outside, I breathed in a huge lungful of fresh air. I tried not to look crazy, you know, since I was still standing right outside of the police station. But damn, did it feel good to be out of there.
Fuck me.
What was I going to do now?
I couldn’t go back to the condo. I didn’t have any friends, so the option of crashing on someone’s couch was a no-go. I had my purse. Luckily, I’d thought to ask for it before they shoved me in the squad car and hauled me away.
But before I could figure it out, a hand covered my mouth as an arm wrapped around my waist from behind.
I started screaming and kicking but the person hauling me up and away was too strong.
I was tossed in the air and then I hit something hard.
And before I could get anything out, I saw the trunk lid closing down on me.
-17-
Silas
Grace pulled out her phone once I was done with my story. I’d tried to keep it as short as possible but it still took up a good amount of time. I knew I had to give her enough to get a good feel for the whole thing. I didn’t lie to her. In fact, I was completely honest to the point that it pulled at my soul to go through those memories again.
“You expect me to believe you’re some kind of hitman?” she asked with a little laugh. “I’m might be old but I’m not senile enough to believe that hogwash.”
I blinked at her utterly stunned. For once I told the truth and this lady didn’t even believe it.
“At least you entertained me,” she said as she fiddled with her phone. “I do believe the part about Jessica though.”
Hey, that was something. It still didn’t give me any kind of clue who she was planning on calling, assuming that was why she’d pulled out her phone.
“What are you doing?” I asked her in a calm tone. Well, as calm as I could manage. I might have been worried she was either calling them to come and lock me up in an asylum or toss my ass in jail.
Her eyes looked up at me as her finger paused on her phone.
“Dustin,” she replied like I should know who the fuck she was talking about.
“Okay, good.” The two words came out really slow. “And what is Dustin going to do for us?”
“Help get you out of the building, silly man.”
Maybe I was in a lot more pain than I thought. Like so much that my brain had me hallucinating. Grace was clearly the crazy one here, right? I didn’t like the idea of someone else being brought into this but I also wasn’t about to tell her that. I should have simply been thankful for the help because I knew I couldn’t do it on my own, not with how this whole job had blown up.
“Right,” I said and held the eye-roll to a minimum. Though I did breathe a sigh of relief. “And how is Dustin going to help me get out of here?”
I still had no clue who this Dustin was but it seemed to be one of the least important details right now.
Her fingers moved again and before I could say another word, she held the phone up to her ear. The look in her eyes dared me to be rude while she was on the phone. And not the good kind of dare. Yeah, I held my tongue because I was a little frightened of this woman.
Few words were spoken and it gave me no clue as to what was going to happen next.
She got up and walked out of the room, only to come back a few minutes later carrying a hanger that held a suit. No, this wasn’t a fancy one like what I wore. It looked more like a uniform than anything. A basic black jacket and slacks. Tucked inside the jacket was a boring, pressed white shirt with plain buttons.
“You look about Dustin’s size. You can change into this.” She carefully laid the suit out on the end of the bed. “I think it would be best to just throw that one out.”
She was clearly talking about the ripped up, blood-soaked one I was wearing. G
etting rid of this outfit was a must at this point.
“We will have to wait a couple of hours for when security changes,” she said as she mindlessly ran her hand over the already smooth material of the jacket. “Then I can get you out without anyone questioning how you got in.”
“I’m guessing you have a plan?” I asked and tried to sit up.
Fuck, everything hurt. I didn’t have a clue how I was going to get out of the building let alone drive myself across a few state lines.
Now was not the time to be a bitch.
I could hear The Hunter in the back of my head telling me to suck it up.
“I’ve hired a new driver. Dustin is training him today,” she replied without an ounce of hesitation.
“Okay.” I drew out the word as I tried to figure out what that meant. “What does that have to do with the plan?”
She stopped stroking the fabric and looked at me with a flat expression.
“You are the new person I’ve hired. Dustin is my driver, so therefore, he would be the one to train you how I liked to be driven around.”
“Oh, right.” I wanted to blame the pain for the reason I was a little dense right now but I’d just completely missed that whole thing. “Got it. So you can get me out and to the street?”
“You do have a car, right?”
“I do,” I said with a nod. Now, where did I park it? “It’s, uh, across the street somewhere.”
She let out a sigh and shook her head.
“We’ll get you there.” She turned to leave. “Get some rest, it will be a while before we can leave. I’ll come get you when it’s time to go.”
“Thank you,” I called out right before she shut the door.
With a smile, she closed me up in the room alone.
I wasn’t going to argue on the rest thing. I needed a nice long nap. Hell, I needed to sleep for a whole damn week
Sooner than I was ready, and also not soon enough, Grace was gently shaking me awake.
“It’s time to go,” she told me. “You have five minutes to dress and make yourself look a little less…”
“Like I had a cuddle party with a bunch of cheetahs?” I filled in for her.
“Yes,” she said with a small chuckle. “Oh, it has been a pleasure. You’ve made an old woman’s day with all these shenanigans.”
“I don’t think I can ever thank you enough for everything,” I told her as I struggled to get to my feet.
“Just take care of Jessica.”
“I promise,” I told her right before she left out of the room.
I dressed, having a hard time getting my shirt on with my stupid shoulder. Being shot sucked. I could go the rest of my life and never have that happen again.
After I found the bathroom, I washed my face as best as I could. Then I wet my hair and combed it back with my fingers.
Yeah, I still looked like shit.
Damn, had I always been this pale?
Maybe if I kept my head down no one would notice.
I found Grace and who I assumed was Dustin in the living room when I was done.
She handed me a bag and told me she’d made me a few sandwiches for my journey.
I thanked her with my words, though I kind of had this big urge to hug the old woman. After all, she’d pretty much saved my ass here.
She introduced me to Dustin and he did not look too happy about this whole thing.
We took the elevator down, neither of us said a word.
Then we walked right by the guard station, Dustin waving as if there was nothing going on. I kept my head ducked just enough to not seem suspicious. And with my hands in my pockets, I hoped I looked like a nervous new employee instead of a killer trying to get free.
My body screamed at me with every move but I did my best to keep upright and put one foot in front of the other.
By the time we found my car, I was dripping with sweat.
“This is where I leave you,” Dustin told me. His voice was a lot deeper than I expected it would be. It was a little frightening. “I expect I’ll never see you again.”
There was a strong warning there and no, I did not miss it.
“You got it, buddy,” I told him as I dropped down into the driver’s seat of my car.
I took off without a single look back.
-18-
Jessica
The car was moving.
It was moving and I was trapped in the trunk.
Oh, shit!
Double shit!
I told myself to breathe and think.
There had to be an emergency latch somewhere.
My fingers fumbled blindly in front of me until I came into contact with the edge of the trunk. I searched quietly trying to feel around and then I was pretty sure I found what I was looking for. Only, as my luck would have it, there was nothing but a tiny bit of cord. Not even enough for me to grab and pull. Believe me, I tried. My fingers kept slipping off of it every time I tried to pinch it and pull.
How fast were we going? It felt like it was too fast for the streets of the city. My body rocked as whoever was driving swerved in and out of the traffic. Or so I assumed, it wasn’t like I could see a damn thing.
Just when I thought my nightmare was over, I was thrown into a new one.
Yeah, okay.
Seemed about right for my life.
I should write a book.
I wonder if anyone would read it?
I shook my head thinking how no one wanted to read about that much drama in one book. Well, maybe… if I put in all the parts about the hot, meaningless sex I’d had before. But did I really want to talk about all that when I was so desperate to find something real?
What the hell was I going on about?
I wasn’t going to write a book.
“Let me out, you sick son of a bitch!” I screamed and started pounding on anything that I could. Maybe someone would notice and… and what? We were moving, it wasn’t like they could pop the trunk to let me out.
“Jessica.” I heard my name muffled but with a sense of something strange. Like he knew me. But that couldn’t be. I didn’t recognize that voice at all. “Listen to me. I’m a friend of Silas. He wanted me to get you out. I’m taking you to him but I had to make it look like you were abducted.”
“Um, okay,” I said when really I wanted to be like but why?
“We’re far enough away now, you can push on the seat and crawl through.”
I swallowed hard and did just that, not-so-gracefully falling into the backseat.
“Should I stay back here or come up there with you?” I asked as I fixed the folded down seat.
“You can come up here if you want to. Don’t expect too much, I’m not a big talker.” There wasn’t a hint in his tone that suggested he was joking.
Oh, and I quickly learned that he wasn’t.
The next hour went by in silence even though I had so many questions bouncing around in my head.
Finally, I broke the silence because I wasn’t able to take it any longer.
“So, what do I call you?”
“Everyone calls me The Hunter.”
“The Hunter?”
What the hell does that even mean? And who is everyone?
He didn’t say anything else about it.
So, The Hunter it was then. Maybe he’d let me shorten it and just call him Hunter, or even Hunt.
“That was really him, wasn’t it? I wasn’t imagining things.”
“It was,” he told me.
“What does this mean? How— I have so many questions.”
“I’m sure you do but I don’t think I can answer them for you.”
“You said you’re taking me to him— to Silas, I mean. Where are we going? Is he not in the city anymore? How long will it take to get to him?” I asked.
“Not sure if he’s left the city yet or not. I’m taking you to one of his places. Should take a couple of days to get there. We are going to need to switch cars at some point. I’m sure the poli
ce are looking for this one.”
“Right… because you kidnapped me.”
“Fake kidnapped,” he corrected me.
“Oh, I’m sorry, you fake kidnapped me. Sure felt real at the time.” I might have been a little snippy with him.
“Had to make it look real.”
“This is all so… I’m sorry, I’m still trying to wrap my head around everything that’s happened to me the last few days.”
“Understandable,” he said in a flat tone.
After nearly three days on the road, two nights sleeping in cheap motel rooms, and about a dozen stops later, he informed me that we were almost there.
I had no clue where we were. I’d slept most of the way because boredom had my eyes shutting. The Hunter wasn’t a talker, just like he’d warned me. In fact, he only opened his mouth to ask me what I wanted to eat and what size clothing he should pick up. I wasn’t even going to complain about the things he bought me. I was just glad to be out of that fucking dress.
I smiled a little bit thinking how I’d left it in that dirty truck stop bathroom that first day.
There was some kind of symbolism in the whole thing, you know, like I was ridding myself of the last little bit of that whole fucked up situation.
Deep down I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. I was sure I’d have to rehash the whole thing soon. I guess that was one good thing about The Hunter and his lack of talking skills, he didn’t ask me about what had happened.
“What happens now?” I asked as we bumped along a gravelly dirt path in the middle of a thick area of trees.
“I don’t know, but I imagine that Silas is in pretty rough shape. From what little I know, I figure you two have a lot to catch up on.”
“And what about this whole kidnapping— sorry, fake kidnapping thing?” I asked because I had been thinking about what a bigger mess this had now turned into.
“It was my job to get you here. I did my part. The rest is for him to figure out,” he said with a tiny jerk of his shoulders.
I couldn’t tell if he didn’t care or he was trying his hardest to get involved in this whole thing as little as possible.
