Taken in the Night

by Tara Fox Hall

  He fed only a short time and then held his mouth over the wound, healing it. After, Danial released my wrist and opened his eyes. His color was much better, and his eyes were alert.

  “Where is Theo?” he said, tired but still strong.

  “He didn’t come back yet,” I said, scared.

  “He wasn’t wounded as I was,” Danial said, getting to his feet angrily. “He should have been back by now.”

  Elle cried loudly from the bedroom.

  “Danial, what are we going to do?” I pleaded. “I need Elle’s things. She needs food.”

  Danial opened his phone and called a number. “Harv, it’s me, Danial. You’re welcome. Remember you said if I ever needed a favor? I need one now.” He gave Harv directions for getting to our plane and for bringing our stuff back to the hotel. Then Danial called room service and ordered me some food.

  He went into the shower and reappeared four minutes later, dripping wet, just as someone knocked on the door. He grabbed a robe, put it around him, and answered it. I kept Elle quiet in the bedroom, watching through the door crack.

  “Yes?”

  It was the hotel manager. “I’m sorry, but you have to leave. You’ve already checked out and we need to rent the room.”

  “We originally booked the room for another two days,” Danial retorted. “Business has determined we need to stay one more night.”

  “There is also the disturbance in the lobby last night—”

  “We will pay for tonight and all of next week, if you allow us to stay until tonight,” Danial said flatly. “Do you need my credit card again, or can you access my account without it?”

  “No, sir,” the manager said respectfully. “You’ve done business with us a long time. I know your bill will be paid. The food will be sent up immediately. Thank you.” The door shut, and Danial locked it.

  “I was so worried we’d have to leave,” I said, coming out of the bedroom.

  “He wanted more money is all,” Danial muttered as he dried off his hair. “Come out, the food is here.”

  Danial opened the door and grabbed a wheeled tray, handing the waiters their tip without letting them inside. Elle bounded out, purring happily. I chewed up some of the hamburger and steak for her, and she wolfed it down. Together, we made short work of the food. After, she plopped down on my lap and fell asleep.

  “I’m so scared,” I whispered.

  “We’re going to be okay,” Danial said, sitting down beside me. He slipped his arms around Elle and me. “Come.” He picked us both up and carried us into his bedroom. After putting the gun within easy reach with the safety off, he pulled me into his arms, Elle resting between us.

  “Try to sleep,” he said gently. “I’ll watch over you both.”

  I cried in his arms from tension, wondering where Theo was, why he wasn’t back yet. After sleeping briefly, I was awakened by a loud banging on the door.

  “Stay here,” Danial whispered to me, then left with the gun.

  A moment later, he was back. “It’s okay, it’s Harv,” he said. “You can come out.”

  I got up, Elle in my arms. Harv was bringing in our luggage, with the help of two other men who tried not to stare at us. Elle’s food and her crate—two huge holes in the side—and our bags were quickly piled on the floor. Except for the crate, nothing much was damaged or missing, at least at first glance

  “Lass,” Harv said in greeting. He was a big guy, somewhat like Danial, but with short gray hair, an Irish accent, and a cold glint in his blue eyes. He shook Danial’s hand.

  “Thank you,” Danial said. “We’re even.”

  “Hardly seems fair, Dan,” Harv said.

  I did a double take. Dan? I’d never heard anyone call Danial that, not ever.

  “If possible, leave a few men outside the door today,” Danial said. “Let them keep watch. We’ll need an escort when we leave tonight to the airport, as many men as you can spare. Then, consider us square.”

  “Aye,” said Harv. “I’ll do that.” He turned to me. “You’ve had a right hard time of it, lass. Go get yerself cleaned up and don’t worry. Me and the boys’ll watch yer back.” He left with a grin, shutting the door quietly behind him.

  Danial bolted it, then turned to me. “Sarelle, go shower. I’ll watch Elle.”

  “I want to wait—”

  “Go wash off the blood. When Theo comes back, I’ll send him into you,” Danial said, handing my bag to me and giving me a push.

  I went into the bathroom, stripped off my clothes, and took a long, hot shower. I began crying part way through and didn’t stop until almost the end. I was terrified Theo wasn’t coming back. Danial had said he hadn't been injured and that he had been okay. Theo should have come back by now if he was going to.

  I had a pounding headache from all the stress and the crying. I washed my face a few more times, took three aspirin, and put some lotion from my bag on my raw face. Then I put some antiseptic on my claw wounds from Elle and conditioned my hair, more to make myself feel normal than anything else. Needing additional comfort, I put on some sweat pants of Theo’s and one of his sweatshirts. They smelled like him, the smell of open air and forest groves. Tears slid down my face thinking of him, and I wiped them away angrily.

  I went back out to Danial. Elle was sleeping beside him. Her litter box was set up in the corner.

  “Thanks,” I said wearily.

  “Come lay down,” he said, beckoning. “Rest.”

  I went into his arms. The nearness of him comforted me, and I fell asleep.

  * * * *

  When I awoke, it was night again, and Theo had still not returned.

  Danial was dressed and ready to leave. “I called Theo’s cell hours ago, and I’ve kept trying every hour,” he said. “It keeps going to voice mail. I’ve called the phone company, reported it missing, and they’ve triangulated it to an area about a hundred square foot, close to the Peterson building, where I went last night with Lander and Theo. I’m headed there now.”

  I grabbed him. “There’s no way in hell I’m not going this time.”

  Danial gave me a gun. “Then come on.”

  I left Elle sleeping on Danial’s bed, praying she’d be okay until I returned. We rode down with Harv and two more of his men. He left the initial two men he’d arrived with still guarding the hotel room door.

  We finally made it to the area where the cell phone was located. I was surprised to see no police cars cruising the area, though one was parked in front, lights flashing but no siren.

  I turned to Danial hopefully. “Could Theo have been arrested?”

  “Unlikely. Theo trained for situations like this. He should not have been caught. If he had been, he or someone else would have called the hotel by now from the police station, asking for a lawyer or for a ride back to the hotel.”

  My shoulders slumped, my hope squashed.

  “Go in from that side entrance,” Danial said to Harv. “Sar and I’ll wait at this end. Call if you find anything.”

  Harv and his men dropped us by the other end of the street, and we got out, walking slowly toward the building the signal was coming from. We walked inside, and I let my eyes adjust to the gloom. There was no sign of Theo or anyone. No blood on the tile, nothing. I turned to check the adjoining room, and Danial screamed.

  I ran in his direction, my heart in my throat. Danial was on his knees, a sprawled body dressed in denim in front of him on the tile in a pool of blood. A cell phone lay broken near its outstretched hand.

  “No! This can’t be possible.” Danial shouted. “No! Theo!”

  I ran to his side and fell on my hands and knees. The body lay on its stomach, a ragged hole where the heart should have been. The head was missing.

  I turned away, and everything I’d eaten came up. I fell onto my side, heaving. Danial was still keening.

  I pulled him close, holding him tightly. “It’s not him, Danial,” I said, eerily calm. “It’s not him.”

  Danial sobbed
and squeezed me so hard something cracked in my back.

  I didn’t understand why he was so upset. That wasn’t Theo. It couldn’t be Theo. I loved Theo. We were going to get married. He had a daughter who needed him, who he loved. This was his last job. He was not lying there on the ground, dead and headless.

  “Get up,” I said firmly. “We have to go. The police out front will make their way here. They had to have heard you screaming.”

  Danial drew a ragged breath. He called Harv, telling him to meet us at the back immediately. Then he got to his feet.

  “Sar, you have to accept it,” he said softly, helping me up. “It is Theo.”

  “No,” I replied, looking him in the eye. “It’s not.”

  We walked together back to the car. He helped me into the back seat and asked the men to take me back to the hotel. Driving away, I looked back to see him on his cell, watching me drive away as he talked, Harv standing near him.

  Harv’s men escorted me up to the room. I went inside to find Elle still asleep. I ordered room service and then fed Elle. After, I played with her, while I waited for Danial to return. Eventually, I slept, Elle at my side in Danial’s bedroom. When I awoke, it was day again and Danial was back, his arms around me. I turned to him, putting my arms around him and went back to sleep.

  When I awoke, Danial was gone. Elle was biting my fingers, telling me she was hungry. I again ordered room service, fed her, and cleaned her box. After, I quickly showered and then put on some jeans and a sweatshirt. A peek outside the door verified Harv’s men were still in place.

  Now that I was clean and full, worry again consumed me. Theo had been gone more than forty hours now.

  Danial came in abruptly. “Are you packed? We have to leave within the hour.”

  “I’m not leaving until Theo comes back,” I said defiantly.

  Danial led me out of the bathroom and sat me down on the bed. “Sar, Theo is dead. You must accept it.”

  “No,” I said calmly “That wasn’t him, Danial.”

  “You saw the body—”

  “It wasn’t him,” I said angrily. “Don’t tell me it was, because it wasn’t.”

  Danial looked at me seriously, took a deep breath, and then slapped me hard across the cheek. I fell back on the bed, my cheek stinging.

  “I’m sorry to hurt you,” he said seriously, “but you have to snap out of it.”

  “You bastard,” I spat at him. “You wanted to get him out of the way. Maybe you were the one who shot him in the back. Don’t think I can’t see how you planned this out.”

  Danial glared at me, red tints in his eyes, his fury building. “Sar, he’s dead. We need to go home. We won’t be safe until we’re back in my territory.”

  “No, he’s not dead,” I yelled.

  Danial sneered, as he tossed something at me. “Catch.”

  Reflexively, I caught it. In my hands was a velvet box. Inside was a diamond ring, about a half carat. The diamond was set into the gold so it wouldn’t catch on anything. Bought by a man who knew what it was like to need to work with your hands, who had wanted a ring for his wife-to-be that she could wear all the time and not have it catch on anything, no matter if she was cooking, handling steel, or chainsawing wood...

  “It was in his pocket,” Danial said. “I’m sorry.”

  I felt the world cave in as a scream from the depths of my soul tore out of me. Danial grabbed hold of me, as I hit at him and screamed louder. He held me as I kicked, flailed, and fought him.

  “No, this can’t happen. Not now. Not again.”

  Hearing myself utter that word, I remembered its other meaning, and realized I’d never hear it uttered to me in the same way ever again. Something broke completely inside of me.

  “He said he was coming back. He promised he was coming back,” I screeched.

  Danial didn’t speak, but his eyes were mirrors of my own, weeping tears.

  I cried for a solid two hours, using up a whole box of tissues. Danial stayed with me, stroking my hair, holding me. Finally, I stopped, mostly because my eyes were too swollen to see.

  “We have to leave now,” Danial whispered gently. “As it is, I may need your help to avoid burning. We’re just going to make it.”

  I didn’t reply.

  Danial picked me up, still sniffling, and carried me in his arms out of the hotel and down to the waiting limo. Elle was put sleeping into her crate by Harv, and his men drove us to our plane. I don’t remember much about the flight, or the landing, or takeoff. Elle was scared, and I remember holding her. Perhaps I slept. We made it back to Danial’s home just in time for him to take shelter from the sun.

  Danial carried me inside, laying me on his bed. Cia was there hugging me, her face swollen with tears. She was pregnant now with her and Aran’s first child, due in late December. She told me quietly they were hoping it would be born on the date they had been married one year earlier. I couldn’t think about that or be happy for her. I didn’t reply.

  She cared for Elle that night. I lay on Danial’s bed and cried myself to sleep, waking sporadically throughout the night. Every time I woke up, my first thought was confusion at not being home. Then I remembered the headless body in a pool of blood and it all would come rushing back. I’d be hit all over again with the pain, remembering Theo’s blue eyes, his smile, his wiseass comments, and the way his body had felt with mine. The way it would never feel again. Danial did not enter or appear at all that night.

  At eight the next morning, Cia knocked on the bedroom door. “Suri’s at your house, taking care of your pets.”

  “Good,” I said tiredly.

  “Your boss is on the phone. He wants to know if you’re coming in today.”

  It couldn’t be Monday already? We’d come back a day early, and the weekend was still to come, right? Maybe I had lost some days?

  “Tell him,” I said, “the love of my life just died. I won’t be in for a few weeks. It’s okay if they replace me.”

  I stayed that way most of the week. I cried, resumed taking care of Elle and went about the chores of showering and eating like a zombie. Suri came in once and tried to talk to me about attending a funeral. I wouldn’t look at her, wouldn’t talk to her, and she finally left in a rage.

  Danial reappeared on what I guessed was the following Monday night. “May I join you?” He spoke softly.

  “It’s your bedroom,” I said, getting up. “I’m the one who should leave.”

  “Please stay,” he said, enfolding me in his arms.

  I stood there, tensely.

  “Please tell me your words were from grief,” he said, very upset. “I would never have hurt Theo. He was my best friend.”

  “I know that,” I said, relaxing slightly. “I’m sorry I said what I did.”

  “I’m sorry I hit you,” he whispered. “I was terrified it wouldn’t be hard enough, yet scared more I’d hurt you.”

  “You didn’t,” I assured him. “I needed something to break me out of it. We’d probably be dead if we’d have stayed another night.” I looked up at him. “Do you think it was Samuel?”

  “No,” Danial said reluctantly. “I wish it had been. There are laws I could reference to have him punished. No, Peterson somehow surprised Theo or someone else did.”

  “Do you think it was someone wanting his rank?”

  Danial nodded. “Likely. Those who’ve had their ranking a short time are big targets. Some get their rank because of luck, as Theo did last Christmas.”

  I pushed past him. “I guess it doesn’t matter.”

  Danial followed me. “Where are you going?”

  I began to pack up mine and Elle’s things. Most were still packed, so it didn’t take long. “I’m going home.”

  “What? Are you crazy?” Danial said incredulously.

  I walked out the two bags and loaded them in Theo’s truck. “No.”

  Elle would have to ride with me in the cab. First, I’d have to find her. “Elle?” I called loudly. “Elle!”


  “She’s out walking with Cia,” Danial said, grabbing hold of me, “but that doesn’t matter, because I’m not letting you leave with her, not in your condition.”

  “I’m functioning,” I said defensively. “I’ve spent enough time in your bed, Danial.”

  Danial let out a breath slowly. “Be reasonable, Sar. You need people around to help you take care of Elle. What are you going to do with her when you’re at work, lock her in her crate?”

  “I quit, Danial,” I said heavily. “I’ll be with her all the time.”

  Complete shock registered on his face. “Just like that?”

  He and I had fought before because he wanted me to quit my job, and I’d refused. It had been so important to me then not to give it up. Now I couldn’t think why.

  “Yes.”

  “So you have no job, but you’re leaving anyway?” he said, sarcastically.

  “I have to go home. My pets are there, and it was Theo’s home with me. I have to go and deal with it. I can’t hide here with you, much as I’d like to.” Danial opened his mouth to talk, but I talked over him. “I’ve been through grief before, this same kind of grief. I can get through it, but it’s going to take time.”

  “Why not go,” he said bitterly. “I wouldn’t want you to be playacting here with me, wasting your time.”

  “I’m sorry I hurt you,” I said sadly. “I shouldn’t have gone out with you that night. It just made everything worse. I’m sorry I wore the dress.”

  “Don’t be,” Danial said, hugging me. “It was good to see you in it again, if only for a little while.”

  “Do something for me, please,” I asked, opening my purse.

  “Anything,” he said tenderly.

  “Test Theo’s DNA against the body.” I handed him some of Theo’s hair I’d carried in my purse next to his picture.

  “Sar—” he began.

  “Do it, Danial,” I said harshly. “Do you really believe Theo could get shot in the back so easily? I know you’ve waited to bury the body. You got it back here from Europe somehow. Test it.”

  “If Theo’s alive, where is he? Why hasn’t he contacted us?” Danial retorted.