***
Rex didn’t sleep. Every night it was the same thing. Physical exhaustion forced him to try to rest, but he wasn’t able to turn his mind off. All he could think about was Ellie. He couldn’t help but blame himself. He shouldn’t have let her go home without him.
The little frame full of weeds sat on his nightstand, next to her phone and keys. A couple of times every night he would click on her phone and read the words that were saved there. One night, tired and upset, he called her number just to hear her voice on the voicemail greeting.
It scared him that the words on that screen might be the last he would have from her. It scared him even more that she might have known that, and consequently, she made sure he had them so he would know how she felt. She loved him. Even when he was a bad, selfish kid, she loved him.
Ellie’s laptop sat on top of his dresser. So far, he hadn’t been able to get past the locked screen, since he didn’t know the password. He wasn’t going to be able to shut his eyes again tonight, so he thought he might as well give the password another shot. He was thankful she didn’t have a lockout system. He could enter passwords all night long and never worry about the computer shutting him out permanently.
Like so many other nights, he opened the computer and began using any word that he could think of that might be significant to her. When he ran out of words to try, he worked on dates. Any significant date he could remember he’d try, including her birthday, her Mom’s birthday, and any combination of those same numbers with words. So far, nothing had worked.
Rex’s mind was scattered tonight. Maybe it was the fact that Manny had contacted the police and gotten them involved. He wanted to believe they could help, but they said there wasn’t much they could do. They had been apologetic, even cautiously interested in the facts Manny presented; but, without hard proof, their hands were tied.
The dried up weeds in the frame kept distracting him. Why hadn’t he seen it? Years ago, he had picked her flowers when she was sad to cheer her up. He wouldn’t have cared if some other girl was sad, even if he had been the one to cause that sadness; but, Ellie had always been special.
He used to know the name of that weed because she taught it to him when she was six years old and wanted to be a botanist. He smiled at the memory. Ellie had changed her mind about what she was going to be when she grew up to be on a weekly basis. No matter where they went, she always had a couple of notebooks and pencils with her and she was always writing or taking notes on things she found fascinating. It was no surprise to him that she’d become a writer. Her imagination was vast.
Lupines. The word popped into his head. Those little, purple weed-flowers that grew all around were called lupines. He could almost hear her lecturing him about them, as they walked along the ditch.
He sat up, his mind racing. It couldn’t be. Could it? Placing his fingers on the keyboard, he typed the word into the box and hit enter. Her world opened up to him with that one click.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
She wasn’t broken. It was a mantra Ellie repeated over and over. It didn’t matter what he did or what he said, she wasn’t broken. She believed that Rex would find her. He wouldn’t give up on her.
The past few weeks were terrifying. Xander’s mind games and the physical violence were horrifying. She stopped thinking of him as her father the first time he put his hands on her.
The physical pain was actually bearable. It was the mental torture that scared her. He went so far as to tell her that he had killed Rex and Manny in an attempt to get her to break down. She didn’t believe him. He was still far too agitated and paranoid for either of them to be dead.
How did a human become a monster? She couldn’t decide if Xander had always been insane or if years of drug use and power had caused him to become deranged. Either way, she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of giving in to him.
When she had come to the night she was taken, she had been so sick from the blow to her head that she hadn’t noticed where he held her captive. It wasn’t until the next morning that she recognized the place. They had torn down the old house long ago, but not the cellar. It remained with its tunnel that connected to the club at the back of their old property.
Xander had obviously been using the cellar and connecting tunnel often over the past few years. The ceiling beams were reinforced with newer wood and the door to the entrance had been replaced, as well. A huge lock kept out anyone who might stumble onto the place. Another huge lock was on the door that led to the tunnel.
Electricity had been run inside, but he only turned on the lights when he was there. The rest of the time she was in the dark. A twin bed had been set up along one wall for her to sleep on and an old standing TV tray served as her table.
After the first couple of days, she reminded him that if he didn’t let her do certain things and take care of certain obligations, people would report her missing. The police would start looking and that would lead them to his door.
He finally let her use his cellphone. While he watched, she made her payments for the house and electricity. Then, she called her publishing company and told them that she was taking a leave of absence to deal with a family emergency. He wouldn’t let her check her email at all.
Tonight, he was bringing the phone to her again, so she could make her payments. She had already decided that this time she wasn’t going to make her payments. She was going to access her email and try to get a message to Rex.
***
Ellie’s entire life was saved on the fancy laptop. She even had a file that contained all the passwords to her accounts. It was also password protected, but it used the same password as her laptop. Not exactly Fort Knox safe, but he was grateful for that at this point.
He opened up his own email first, hoping against hope that she’d been able to find a way to send him a message. There was nothing other than a crap load of junk mail.
Ellie had three email accounts listed. One was obviously for fans. That email address used her pseudo name and was linked to the publishing house’s account. He still went through it, in case it was the only one she could access. He opened any email that didn’t have a distinct name on it. He got a glimpse into why she wrote under a pseudo name, since some of the fan emails were over the top strange and slightly disturbing. There were hundreds of them in the account and they hadn’t been accessed since a couple of days before the kidnapping.
Moving on, he opened the next account. It looked like it was set up for online purchases, newsletters, and social media notifications. Again, nothing appeared to be from her and none of the emails had been accessed since before that night.
The final email account looked purely personal. There were emails from a couple of friends, one from an aunt that lived on the East Coast, and something from her publisher. Same as the other accounts, it hadn’t been accessed recently.
Frustrated, Rex closed the browser and began randomly clicking on files. Most of them were Word files containing drafts of her books and outlines for stories yet to be written. She had them categorized by year. He glanced over them, but didn’t waste much time exploring.
The picture folders were next. She had them categorized much the same way, by month and year. There were photos that she had scanned in from actual photos and also ones taken with digital cameras. Cellphone pictures had their own folder, as well.
There were lots of pictures of her as a kid, since her mom had always had a camera around. He wasn’t surprised to see photos of himself when he was younger, too. What did surprise him was how often he was smiling. Manny was right. He had always been happy around Ellie.
He looked at pictures of her until his chest was so tight that he couldn’t breathe. It was worse than any torture. He refused to believe that she was dead. She couldn’t be dead. She was out there somewhere and he was going to find her.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
It had been two weeks since she had managed to sneak an email into her drafts folder from Xander’s phone. It was t
he only way she could think to do it without leaving any trace. The problem was that she had no clue if Rex had found a way into her computer. Even if he had, would he think to check the drafts folder?
Two months inside this hole were taking a toll on her. She was almost positive that Xander had managed to break one of her ribs a couple of days ago. He was very careful to keep from marking up her face and arms, but everything else was fair game. Her back and sides were covered with bruises in varying stages of healing.
He had come back last night and repeated his lie that he had killed Rex. Not Manny, just Rex. She still didn’t believe him. Every night she listened to the guards on the other side of the door gossiping. She was learning a lot from their loose lips.
Xander was definitely into some shady stuff. The kind of stuff that can get you killed, if the right people decide you’re a liability. Fear had him pulling back on some of his side dealings, as he felt the pressure to appease his new, dangerous friends. He had created a special batch of meth, but was no longer selling it out of his club. It was all going straight to Mexico now.
The shipment of stolen military weapons that were hidden in the storage buildings was now the main focus. Finding the right buyer and getting the deal done without alerting the authorities was of the utmost importance. Apparently, that was where kidnapping Ellie came into play. With Rex and Manny focused on finding her, they weren’t going to pay enough attention to the storage buildings.
The deal was set to go down in just a couple of days. When it was done, what would Xander do with her? He couldn’t let her go and that left only one real option.
***
Rex checked his and her email accounts every day. He called her publisher every day, as well, and always got the same response. They couldn’t tell him anything and he expected no less. They were strict about protecting her privacy, but at the same time, he had to try.
Manny returned to spying on Xander full time. He knew that something was going on. In the past couple of days, there had been lots of activity around the club. Strangers were always coming and going. He suspected that the deal for the weapons and explosives in the storage buildings was back on.
The police were finally interested, as well. They sent representatives from a couple of different agencies to talk to Manny. Sophisticated surveillance had been set up and was running twenty-four hours a day. They were actively searching for the location of the barrels that Manny saw carted off. He wasn’t as clear as to what caused them to change their minds and he didn’t care. He only cared about finding Ellie.
Of course, Manny had a theory. He thought Xander had taken Ellie to distract them from watching the club and the storage buildings. It made sick sense.
Rex had to find her before that deal went down. He agreed with Manny on a few things. He believed that Xander was too smart to be caught when he had so many lackeys to take the fall for him. Also, he thought that once the deal was done, Xander wouldn’t need Ellie anymore.
Locking himself in his apartment, Rex opened the laptop and began methodically checking the emails. There was more fan mail, but he no longer bothered to open those emails. A lengthy email from her publishing company was in her inbox, also. They wanted to know when she was coming back and what the status was on her next project.
There was a “1” beside the folder marked “Drafts” in her personal email. He couldn’t remember if it had been there before. It was possible he hadn’t noticed it because he was so focused on the new emails that arrived in the inbox folder. Curious, he clicked the folder. Then, he saved item which had no subject line. His heart turned over when he read it.
Old house. Cellar. Remember? Tunnel to club. Guards!
The draft was started two weeks ago. For two weeks she was waiting on him to find her. He prayed she was still there and alive.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
Something was wrong. The afternoon guards had left, but the evening guards never showed up. The sun went down a couple of hours ago, but no one brought her meal to her, either.
When she heard footsteps coming down the tunnel, she knew it could only be Xander. He was taking his time, whistling a happy tune. For some reason, the whistling made her entire body shudder.
There was only one reason that he was happy. The deal was going down and he was coming to make sure she never told anyone what happened. It was her day of reckoning.
Xander turned on the light, opened the door, closed it, and relocked it. He had never bothered to lock it before, but without guards on the other side he must have felt the need for the added protection.
The light blinded Ellie for a minute. When she could focus fully, Xander was leaning against the door to the tunnel and his arms were crossed over his chest. She dared to look into his eyes. There was a heated, crazed look there that made her skin crawl and her stomach cramp.
“You look so much like your mother. I’ve never really seen much of me in you at all.” He moved away from the door and took a couple of steps closer to where she sat on the edge of the bed. “I think we should change that, don’t you?”
***
Rex had no choice but to find Manny and the cops before he went busting into that cellar on the Karthadossian property. He wasn’t in the loop enough to know what was going on and who was watching what. He could make things worse and get Ellie killed while he tried to save her.
The club was a flurry of activity when he came down. Every table was occupied by men in all kinds of gear, ranging from simple bulletproof vests to full SWAT gear. They were talking on radios and cellphones.
He found Manny at the back of the room. His shoulders were tense and he had an eagle eye on all the fuzz in his place. “What’s going on?”
Manny took in the determined look that settled over his son. He filled Rex in on the newest information, “They moved up the deal to tonight. It’s going down in less than an hour. All these folks are here to take care of their respective parts, including DEA, ATF, and the regular cops. Even Homeland Security sent a couple of suits.”
“I know where Ellie is. She managed to get a message to me after all. It was hidden in the drafts folder of her email. He’s got her locked up in that old cellar behind the house where she was born. There’s a tunnel that leads back to Xander’s club from the cellar. If he’s going to kill her, it will be while that deal is going down.” Rex turned, ready to race out of the club and get to Ellie, but Manny’s hand on his arm stopped him. “Let go. I have to get to her.”
“You can’t go racing off on your white horse just yet, son. Be smart. We have to tell the fuzz about that tunnel, so they can have people watch all the exits in case Xander tries to escape.” He poked Rex in the chest. “Not to mention, the last thing we need is you getting hurt in the crossfire. This operation is huge. Much bigger than I was expecting. There’s more letters in this club than at a spelling bee.”
“Okay, fine. I get that. Let’s tell them, so I can get over there and get her out.” Rex was running out of patience.
Manny let out a whistle that would break the eardrums of more delicate creatures. “Hey, suits and such, we have some information that you need to hear.”
The room full of cops all turned eyes on Rex and he took a deep breath, explaining as quickly as possible. Maps were unfolded and red marks were made. A change was made in the way they would hit the club. It all moved quicker than he thought it would. He was very appreciative of that; however, there was just one thing he needed them to be clear on.
“No one goes after Ellie, but me. She’s been held by that sadistic bastard for two months. I don’t want her scared any more than she has been already.” Rex’s tone was low and serious. He knew that dictating terms was probably futile, but he had to try.
A big man with an old-fashioned flattop haircut stepped forward and looked him in the eye. “I can see that you’re serious, but you’re a civilian. You don’t get to tell the authorities what to do.”
Rex stared the man down, working out his choices. �
��No offense, but I don’t trust you. I don’t know you. I know Xander. I’m going to get her.”
Flattop shook his head and said, “You want to sit here handcuffed to a chair?”
“No.” He’d let them have their way. He wouldn’t be around by the time they started their operation either way.
Flattop shook his hand. “We’ll get your girl out, safe and sound.” He turned away and went back to his maps and radio.
Rex smiled. Yeah, he wasn’t waiting on any uniform. They could clean up whatever mess he made later. Turning to his dad, he spoke loudly enough to be heard; but, not so loud that it was obvious. “I need Ellie’s laptop. I left it upstairs.” The look he gave his dad was all the explanation needed. Manny nodded once. He understood because it’s exactly what he would do.
Rex walked normally when he wanted to run. He got out of the club, grabbed a crowbar from the tool box in the back of his truck, and made it around the side of the club without anyone stopping him. The minute he was in the clear, he ran. He cut through the woods and towards the old path they had used years ago.
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