Broad Daylight

by A. M. Wilson

  Her fear doesn’t abate. It’s still there in her expression, the paleness in her face, her widened eyes, and the shaking of her body.

  Fear grips me as I lead her farther away from the tech room and my only connection to Reece at the moment. What if something happens to him while I’m not watching the video feed? I grit my teeth and fight back the anxiety trying to overwhelm me. There’s not shit I can do for Reece in that room. And as much as I want to rush out of here to go rescue my brother, I need to take care of Aislin first. I take her to the break room and settle her in a chair. I squat to my knees in front of her.

  Seeing that room again has rattled her. It’s part of the reason I took her and our family far away from Westbridge, so she wouldn’t be near that house and the memories it holds. I fought with the city to have it torn down, but they refused and put it up for sale. The greedy bastards wanted to make a buck.

  Aislin still sees a therapist once a month and probably will for the rest of her life. She’s come a long way since I found her, but she still has nightmares every so often. I haven’t seen that haunted look on her face in years, and it fucking kills me to see it now.

  Wedging my hips between her knees, I get as close to her as possible. Her frightened eyes dance around the room as if she’s looking for a monster to pop out at any moment, and her breaths are ragged.

  “Deep breaths, baby,” I coax softly. “In through your nose, and out through your mouth. That’s it, North. You’re doing good.”

  When her breathing finally calms and her eyes focus back on me and not the past, I let my own breath out through my mouth.

  “I’m sorry,” she croaks.

  “You’ve got not one thing to be sorry for.” I tuck some errant hairs behind her ear. “I’m just sorry you had to see that.”

  “You really think they’re in that house?” she asks with a quivery voice.

  “We know they are. The video feed was live, and it was definitely Reece and Dani.”

  She pulls in a shaky breath, and I’m so fucking proud of her when she straightens her spine.

  “Then you need to go get them back.” Her voice is firm.

  “I don’t want to leave you like this.”

  Leaning forward, she lays a soft kiss against my lips.

  “I’m fine now, or I will be in a minute. You don’t need to worry about me. It’s Reece and Dani who need you now.”

  I hate the thought of not being there to help get Reece and Dani back, but seeing Aislin’s reaction to that video feed has not only brought back memories for her, it has for me too.

  “Captain, Tavers, and the rest of the team will get them out,” I tell her.

  “No, Niko.” She shakes her head. “You need to be there. You’ll never forgive yourself if you don’t go.”

  I pull in a quick breath and let it out slowly, then closely look at Aislin’s face. The only thing that has me giving in is the stubborn set of her jaw. Aislin has always been the strongest woman I’ve ever met. Every day her strength astounds me. Any other person, man or woman, who went through what she did wouldn’t have survived with their mind intact.

  Before I can give in verbally, she gets to her feet, forcing me to get to mine.

  “Go.”

  I yank her forward into my arms for a quick hug. The captain will be ready to head out any second, so I press a kiss against Aislin’s lips.

  “I love you.”

  She cups my cheek. “I love you too. Go get your brother and Dani back.” She lets me go, gently pushing on my chest. “Bring them and yourself home safely.”

  “I’ll call Dad to come and get you. Stay here in the break room until he does. And don’t say anything to him or Mom. I want to wait until we get to them before they’re told.”

  “Okay.”

  With another kiss and Aislin’s reassured expression in my mind, I turn and leave the break room. Every muscle is tense as I walk away, demanding I go back. But I know she’ll be okay. Aislin was right. It’s Reece who needs me right now.

  Three minutes later, Tavers, Cap, and I are in Tavers’ car, speeding down the road with several squad cars behind us. An ambulance is taking up the rear and will stop around the block from the house and wait for the all clear. Cap is going over the history of the house since Clem’s arrest. The property was sold two and a half years after Clem was taken into custody, but the new owners only kept it for a year before they defaulted on it and were forced to move. It’s been vacant ever since.

  “We have no clue what we’re walking into here,” Cap says from the passenger’s side, telling us something we’re all too aware of. “We could be facing a lone female, or she may have accomplices in the house. It’s better to be overprepared than not prepared enough, so we go in with the thought we’ll be facing more than one.”

  I grunt my agreement.

  We turn down the street the house is on, and an eerie feeling fills my stomach. Everything looks the same as it did the last time I drove down this street. Once Clem was locked behind bars, and I had Aislin back, I used to ride down this street just to look at the house I hate with every fiber of my being. I’d sit outside in my car and imagine all the ways I’d kill the man who hurt Aislin if I ever got my hands on him.

  We pull to a stop about five hundred feet away from Clem’s old place. No lights are on in the house, not even the porch light, and a black car sits in the driveway. I grab the handle of my door, but Cap stops me before I can open it.

  “Niko,” Cap turns in his seat to look at me, “Let everyone else go in first. You aren’t officially on the case, so you’re only here as backup if something goes wrong. I don’t want anything fucking this up when it goes to court.”

  As much as it goes against every instinct I have, I agree with him with a firm nod.

  There’s not a chance in hell this person will get off easy due to a technicality.

  25

  Dani

  A noise startles me awake. I lie in Reece’s arms on the mattress as my consciousness swims into focus. For a moment, I think the noise must have been in my dream. My eyes close again as I take comfort in the warm body behind me.

  After Bolt forced me from the room, I expected to die. She used the collar to make me scream before duct-taping my mouth shut. The panic made it hard to breathe through my nose when she grabbed me by the hair and dragged me from the room. And then… she fed me.

  She brought me upstairs into a normally furnished living room. A couch and recliner sat in front of a flat-screen TV mounted on the wall. One coffee table sat in front of the couch with a tray of steaming soup ready to be eaten.

  She took no care tearing the tape from my mouth and allowed me to cover my nakedness in a robe, but then she sat in the recliner and gabbed about nothing like we were two girlfriends out to brunch. But not before she told me if I so much as mouthed off, she’d kill me and leave Reece in the box to slowly die.

  After I ate more than I probably should have after a month of little food, she led me to a bathroom to shower. I was allowed to put the robe back on before she locked me in a bedroom with bars on the windows.

  And I slept.

  The shame I feel when I think about my time the last couple of days compared to what Reece went through is indescribable. In moments of awareness, of course, I thought about how he was holding up, but when it came time to rest, I completely passed out from exhaustion.

  That’s a thought I’ll save for a therapist to sort out if we make it out of here. Otherwise, it’s coming with me to the grave.

  Just as I begin to drift off again, a loud bang sounds from outside the room. Reece startles awake, and adrenaline drives him to his feet. I follow at a slightly slower pace. He uses his body as a shield just as Bolt enters the room with a sickening grin.

  “Congratulations on making it this far. Gold medals for both of you.”

  “What do you want?” Reece barks in agitation.

  Bolt moves farther into the room. “I’m sorry to say that I think the end has
come for one of you.”

  The muscles in Reece’s back bunch with tension, making the crusted, bloodied letters of my name flex. I let out an accidental whimper. From behind Reece’s shoulder, I see her eyes flash at the sound. Predator has found its prey.

  She taps her chin with her index finger. “You see, this little game usually has weaker participants. I suppose I can admit I underestimated the two of you. Unrequited love is a powerful drug, huh?” Her laughter sends a shiver down my spine.

  Unrequited? She has that all wrong. Reece and I have hated one another for twenty years. Neither of us felt anything other than loathing for the other since he intentionally broke my heart into a thousand pieces.

  Reece shifts slightly as if he’s considering tackling her, so I reach out and lightly touch his back where she can’t see. Bolt doesn’t seem to notice his flinch. I continue to trail my finger up and down his warm skin in what I hope is a soothing gesture. Anything to calm him from making a rash move. Bolt’s proven her point that we are powerless against her.

  “I’m disappointed that the time spent in my box didn’t break you, pretty boy. I worked so hard on making it for you.” Bolt puckers her lower lip in a sickening pout. As if her ugly soul hasn’t already revealed itself from beneath her attractive face. “I really want to break you,” she suddenly whispers in a haunting tone. One I won’t forget for the rest of my life.

  I suck in a sharp inhale and clap my hand over my mouth.

  “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you, princess.” She steps forward as if trying to see me from around Reece's large body. Even after a month in captivity, weight loss and malnutrition haven’t completely eaten away at his size. His height still towers over us, and the breadth of his shoulders hasn’t changed too dramatically.

  Bolt suddenly stops moving, her head cocking to the side. “Things are getting...interesting. I’ll be right back.” She retreats while facing us with a gun pointed in our direction until she hits the open doorway. She pulls the door closed as she backs out of the room.

  “I told you something bad is coming. What in the fuck was that?” I can’t hide the trickle of fear in my tone as I move from around Reece to his front.

  “I don’t know. Fuck.” He runs a palm down his haggard face.

  Without warning, he threads a hand through the hair at the back of my neck and uses his grip to yank me closer. His mouth crashes down on mine in a blistering kiss of sadness and desire. His unyielding mouth forces my lips into my teeth as he bruises and brands me, and I don’t need his tongue or his words to convey the message. I feel it too. We’re out of time.

  Before he can say more, the sounds of her footsteps return and force us apart. Bolt jaunts into the room with a deplorable grin and drags a child’s wagon behind her. Whatever it holds is covered by a blanket.

  “A new player has entered the game with some exquisite ideas.”

  Her cryptic sentence reveals nothing to me, but the sheer glee it brings her sends tremors down my spine.

  “I spent all night thinking about today. You see, the longer I have you, the riskier the game becomes. I, for one, love a good risk. What’s life without them? As I was saying before, it’s come down to a choice. Do I discard the bitch or break the pretty boy?”

  A rush of bile climbs up my throat, and I force it away. Reece shifts closer until his bare torso presses against mine.

  “And then a client pointed out, why should I choose? Killing her will break him faster than any device I can construct. But forcing him to kill her will break him before she’s even dead.”

  Her words inject a venomous type of fear through my veins, stronger than any I’ve felt yet. A type of fear so strong, even if I make it out of here, I’ll never forget the way it crawls through my bloodstream and takes residence in my bones.

  Reece would never. No matter if the consequence was his own life.

  Which means he has to. He has to survive.

  “I won’t do it,” he snarls as he swings his torso forward. I snatch his bicep in my weak grip.

  Bolt guffaws. “As if you have a choice, darling. It’s not as if I can force you to beat her to a bloody pulp, as fascinating as that’d be to watch.”

  “You’re fucking sick, you know that?” He leans forward menacingly and snaps at her.

  “I relish it.” Bolt licks her lips. “Now be a good girl and lie down on your back by the pole.”

  “Don’t do it,” Reece seethes. His bicep bunches beneath my palm as he flexes his hands. His fury fills the room like a noxious gas.

  “We don’t have a choice,” I hiss beneath my breath as my mind works overtime looking for a way out.

  “Hey, no fucking whispering.”

  Reece drops to his knees beside me with a pained groan. His hands grip the collar around his neck as the stream of electricity continues pumping through him.

  “Leave him alone!” I scream as he collapses onto his front. “I’m going! I’m going. You can stop!” I rush to get into the position she described.

  Reece grunts from the floor as I lie down nearly next to him, with my head touching the metal pole. The concrete floor snags the still-healing scabs on my back.

  Bolt holds up her index finger, pointing at the ground, and twirls it. “Spin to your left. I want a good view of your face. Perfect,” she says when I turn perpendicular. She wraps a cable that reminds me of a dog tie-out around my waist once before securing it around the pole. She steps back and surveys her work. My skin crawls from her touch.

  “If you’re ready to follow directions, you can stand above her.”

  Reece struggles to his feet, shooting a hate-filled glare in Bolt’s direction. “Fuck you.”

  Bolt shrugs. “I tried a month ago, but you refused Juliet. Now you’re too dirty for my tastes.”

  Revulsion triggers a shiver. Reece walks unsteadily, stepping over my body until his back is against the pole.

  “Cuffs on. You know the drill,” Bolt drones.

  He gazes down at me, and his brown eyes spark with something he’s trying to communicate. In the dim room, I can’t read exactly what that is. The sound of the first cuff clicking sends a spike of adrenaline through my blood.

  This is it.

  We’re two pawns set in place. With Reece restrained, she’ll do with me as she wants. She said she can’t force him to beat me, but I brace for a bludgeoning anyway.

  I don’t know how he does it one-handed, but I hear the other handcuff click.

  “If I check those cuffs and you’re trying to fool me, I’ll put a bullet straight in her brain, got it?”

  Bolt’s threat has me squeezing my eyes shut.

  “They’re on,” Reece snarls, pulling away and clanking the cuffs against the pole. The metal on metal tings loudly.

  The sound of her footsteps walks the circumference around us. “Very good.” She returns to her spot next to the wagon. “Now sit on her.”

  My eyes pop wide open and meet Reece’s downcast stare.

  “What?” he asks, directing his question more at me. The gravelly tone of his voice doesn’t quite disguise his fear.

  “Sit. On. Her,” Bolt enunciates. “Sit on her!” She screeches and points the gun at my head.

  Reece moves his feet to the outside of my body so that I lie between his legs and the pole. He uses the pole at his back as a brace as he slowly drops into a low squat, using his legs to keep him from pressing his full weight onto my chest. His butt barely brushes the center of my sternum.

  Bolt doesn’t miss it, and her laugh echoes like a warning bell. “Very cute. As if I didn’t think of that.”

  She holsters the gun and whips the blanket off the wagon. From the floor, I can’t see what’s inside until she reaches in and retrieves an object. With two hands, she grips the edge of a weight-lifting plate. “Let’s see how long you can last.”

  Reece shifts, pressing his heels more firmly into the ground in preparation and lifting himself off me. I watch with a look of horror on my face as
Bolt approaches and hefts the plate onto Reece’s lap. He groans under the sudden pressure but only manages to drop down about an inch.

  I move from watching Bolt retrieve another to looking at Reece. Already a row of sweat dots his brow. This once brutally tough construction man has lost a lot of muscle mass and strength from our time here. I shake my head sadly. “Don’t fight it.”

  She’s already approaching and drops the second one onto the first. Reece grits his teeth and lets out a low grunt as his butt drops down until it’s touching my chest. The pressure is more than it was at first, but not enough to hurt. Yet.

  The cuffs rattle against the pole behind us as Reece struggles beneath the weight. I squeeze my eyes shut again and brace for the pain I know will come.

  “You have to weigh about two hundred pounds, right?” Bolt asks as she brings another plate. “These suckers are heavy, don’t you think?” She hefts the third one on top of the others. “Fifty pounds each. I’ll keep adding weights until you don’t have a choice but to crush her to death.”

  Reece drops fully onto my chest for a second before he thrusts his hips back up. A pained cry escapes behind his clenched jaw as he struggles to keep me from being crushed. He only manages for a few seconds before his full weight, plus the weight of the plates, descends on the center of my chest.

  A pressure unlike anything I’ve felt before steals my breath. Panic sets in immediately at the inability to expand my lungs to full capacity. The weight of him compresses me. I feel like a fish on land, opening and closing my mouth without success.

  “Reece,” I gasp. Realizing I can still speak ebbs away a tiny bit of panic.

  “I’m trying.” His own voice sounds tight from the force of his struggle. If he accidentally bucks the plates off in any direction other than straight, my face or my pelvis will more than likely break. His legs tremble violently as he tries to support the weights.

  I stop trying to take full, deep breaths and suck in smaller pockets of air. The panic edges away a little more.