Rothman let out a yelp as they landed and then moaned and writhed in pain while holding his right wrist, which was broken.
He noticed all this through his own haze of pain, as a jolt of agony shot through his left side. He reached down, felt the rifle, and realized that he had fallen upon it.
He was bleeding from a cut, and his ribs hurt, but he was fitter and younger than Rothman and recovered quickly. He stood and kicked Rothman on the side of the head.
Once Rothman collapsed, he got back down on the grass beside him and began checking his pockets for the key to the cuffs. He found it in the right front pocket, along with a cell phone, but the cheap phone had been damaged in the fall.
The old man peeked over the railing.
“I thought you’d both be dead after that tumble.”
“Do you have a cell phone?”
“No, only the land line, but that woman cut the wires.”
He freed himself from the cuffs and began dragging Rothman over to the brick grill, once there, he handcuffed Rothman’s good wrist to the iron rack set in the bricks.
“We can call the police from my neighbor’s house; it’s a half mile away.”
“There’s a quicker way to get them here,” he told the old man, then he grabbed a can of lighter fluid and a box of matches from atop the grill.
On the other side of the yard was a stack of firewood, half covered by a blue, plastic tarp. He removed the tarp, squirted lighter fluid onto the pile, and lit a match. The liquid ignited with a WHOOSH and began sending smoke into the sky.
The old man laughed.
“Those choppers can’t miss that.”
Rothman regained his senses at that moment, and cursed when he saw the black smoke begin to rise. When Jessica’s husband walked towards him, he stared into his eyes.
“I never should have taken you. I should have known you’d be too dangerous.”
He said nothing back, but simply raised the can of lighter fluid and began squirting.
***
As Jessica walked back inside the house, Claire Rothman asked to speak to her in private, and the two women talked inside Claire’s bedroom.
“Dr. White, they told me what happened to your husband and I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you.”
Claire began crying.
“This is all such a nightmare. I swear to you that I thought Robert had changed. For God’s sake, how did I not see who he really was? Was I that blinded by love?”
“We all see and believe what we want to; you’re not unique in that respect, just in the depth of your betrayal.” Jessica took Claire’s face in her hands. “You are not to blame for your husband’s actions; understand that if you understand nothing else.”
“It doesn’t feel that way. If only I had gone to the police all those years ago. Dear God, if only I could go back in time.”
Jessica thought back to her own decision not to involve the police, when she was abducted by the man who became her husband,
There was a knock at the door, and when Claire answered it, Brice smiled in at Jessica.
“You were right; your husband sent us a sign.”
***
Brice pressed down the speaker button and the voice of the helicopter pilot filled the room.
“That fire was a signal, sir. There’s a man handcuffed to a brick grill a short distance away from it. It’s Rothman.”
“How do you know it’s him?”
They heard the pilot laugh before he answered.
“Lighter fluid was used to burn his name into the grass.”
Jessica grinned, knowing it was her husband’s work.
After spotting the smoke and the burnt grass, the pilot sat his chopper down in a nearby field and made his way to the home, where the old man greeted him and filled him in.
“Are you on the ground? Have you located the hostage?” Brice asked.
“I have the homeowner here; he says that Dr. White’s husband went off into the woods after the woman. The man says he’s armed, but it’s just a single shot squirrel rifle.”
“Good work, Agent Lee, secure that scene until Agent Dyer arrives, Brice out.”
After ending the call, Brice redirected the entire search towards the woods. He then took Jessica’s hand and smiled.
“He’s alive and on the hunt. We could use him in the Bureau.”
Jessica sighed.
“I’m still worried, that woman is as dangerous as Rothman.”
***
Belle didn’t see the smoke in the sky until after the fire had been put out, as the surrounding trees hid it from view. When she finally saw it from a large clearing, she knew that it could only be bad news and quickened her pace.
As she reached the other side of the clearing, she looked back and saw him coming. He had the rifle that she had given Rothman and she knew that meant that Rothman was either dead or captured.
They were eighty yards apart and he was closing fast. Belle ran into the trees, while limping slightly from her leg wound. She took out her knife and prayed that she would run across a hiker or camper, anyone that could be used as a hostage, as a shield against the man that pursued her.
When she heard movement up ahead and above, her heart swelled, but her hope faded when she spotted the pair of state troopers scanning the forest, and undoubtedly searching for her,
With her former hostage behind her and the troopers in front, she went left. She had only traveled a short distance when she came upon the stream and the bit of luck that just might save her.
The stream was below, in a narrow gorge, and moving fast, thanks to the fresh supply of water making its way downhill, supplied by the storm of the previous night.
The gorge should have trapped Belle, but providence was with her in the form of a tree that had fallen across the expanse and created a natural bridge. She almost didn’t see it, as the last light of day was fading fast.
Belle ran to it and saw that the trunk of the tree was straight, but narrow. One misstep and she would fall into rushing water.
She turned and saw him coming on fast. With time running out, she took a deep breath and stepped out onto the tree trunk.
The tree wobbled, but it only served to heighten her sense of urgency and she began running. A dozen quick steps and she was across. She celebrated her success by laughing, but got right to work, before her laughter could turn to tears.
She sheathed her knife and gripped a tree branch with both hands, to begin dragging it towards the edge. When she ran out of room to keep dragging it, she went to the other side, lied down, and began kicking at her end of the trunk, and as she did that, he appeared on the other side.
“You’re too late!” Belle shouted, as she gave one last hard kick with both legs. The tree shimmied for a moment, but then it slipped from the edge of the gorge and fell into the water below, where it drifted sideways and began heading downstream.
“What happened to Robert?” Belle called. “Did you kill him?”
“He’s alive, and he’ll be in a cell for the rest of his life.”
Belle shook her head sadly.
“I’d rather be dead.”
He raised the rifle and aimed it at her. She was barely thirty yards away, but for the puny weapon in his hands, it was as good as a mile.
Belle laughed. “You’ll never hit me with that piece of shit.”
He smiled at her and then pointed the gun skyward.
“You’re right, but it will draw attention.”
He fired the gun and its sound echoed along the gorge. The sound alerted the troopers and Belle saw them running in her direction. The rifle couldn’t hit her from across the gorge, but their weapons could. She turned, hiked up a slopping hill, and disappeared over the rise, however, only a few moments passed before she reappeared, and this time she was running for her life.
Belle came back over the rise at a sprint and began to run along the edge of the gorge, behind her, two Sheriff Deputies, a man and a woman, wer
e closing in fast.
“Stop running or I will shoot!” shouted the male deputy, as he and his partner came within twenty feet of Belle.
Belle came to a skidding halt.
“Turn around!”
Belle did as commanded.
“That’s good, real good,” the deputy said, “now, take out that knife and toss it away ...slowly.”
Again, Belle did as commanded, but once the knife hit the ground, she turned and jumped off the edge of the cliff.
She hit the water hard and was immediately swept downstream by the rapids. From the other side of the divide, he watched Belle flailing in the water as she rocketed away, but then he heard her cry out, and even in the fading light he could see the water around her turn crimson, but then the stream curved and she was out of sight.
The two troopers came up beside him.
“That was plain suicide,” the taller one said. “That water is full of rocks that will rip her to shreds.
The shorter man patted him on the back, while taking the rifle from him.
“I’ll radio the boys downstream to keep an eye out for her body, but right now, let’s get you out of these woods, hmm?”
He thanked the men, and followed them back to their vehicle.
The following morning, he and Jessica left for home, and still, Victoria Belle’s body had yet to be recovered.
***
When they arrived home from the airport, Jessica told him she was feeling fatigued and asked if he would mind going alone to pick up their dog, Stitches, from the kennel.
He said that he didn’t mind and placed her in a cab before going off to retrieve their car.
***
Jessica thanked the cab driver and watched as he drove away.
She stood by her front door, but didn’t go in; instead, she stared with mixed emotions at her husband’s workshop studio, the place where he now spent much of his time.
She had paid little attention to it as it was being constructed, and had not often interrupted him while he worked within its walls. However, now, now she thought of Claire Rothman, of her ignorance and blind trust in a man she had every reason to mistrust, and the horrors that were perpetrated for decades under her very nose, due to a misguided confidence born of love.
She approached the workshop with hesitant steps, and when she reached the keypad that would unlock the door, she realized that she didn’t know the combination.
She keyed in the same numbers that they used for the security system inside the home, and when the sound of the door unlocking reached her ears, she smiled and felt the tension leave her body.
She entered and saw computers, monitors, and the set of special lasers that her husband used in his research of 3D technology. In a back corner was the small bathroom, and next to that was an area with a counter that held a coffee maker and a microwave, along with a refrigerator.
Jessica walked among the worktables and looked around while feeling foolish, yet relived.
She was headed to the door when a thought occurred to her.
Why such a large refrigerator in such a small space?
She walked over to it, opened it, and found it meagerly stocked. Then, she opened the freezer compartment and found it completely empty.
She stepped back and looked carefully at the space it occupied and noticed that it sat atop a platform that was an inch thick.
Jessica moved to the left of the appliance, to the space between it and the counter, and began pushing on it, but it was in vain, as the large machine refused to budge.
That’s when she spotted the switch on the wall behind it.
She flipped the switch and heard a loud CLICK! When she next tried to move the refrigerator, it slid aside with ease, and as it did so, it revealed a chamber below.
The crackle of fluorescent lighting reached her ears an instant before luminescence glowed to life and she spied a metal ladder descending into the earth.
She stood there for over a minute as her mind imagined terrible scenes of what lay below, then, with her heart beating wildly, she descended into the chamber.
Once at the bottom, Jessica gazed about.
The space was empty, other than a wall of bare shelves. Its floor was concrete and its walls made from cinderblock.
The normality of the space below shocked her as much as its hidden existence, and yet, the relief she felt at not finding instruments of torture or, God help her, a body, did little to assuage the fear growing inside her.
He had built this and kept it hidden from her.
Jessica sank to her knees while holding herself, and wept tears born of betrayal.
A PLEA
Thank you, precious reader, for spending time with TAKEN!
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Thank you!
—Remington Kane
THE BOOKS OF REMINGTON KANE
The TANNER Series in order
INEVITABLE I - A Tanner Novel - Book 1
KILL IN PLAIN SIGHT - A Tanner Novel - Book 2
MAKING A KILLING ON WALL STREET - A Tanner Novel - Book 3
THE FIRST ONE TO DIE LOSES - A Tanner Novel - Book 4
THE LIFE & DEATH OF CODY PARKER - A Tanner Novel - Book 5
WAR - A Tanner Novel - Book 6
SUICIDE OR DEATH - Book 7
TWO FOR THE KILL - Book 8
BALLET OF DEATH - Book 9
MORE DANGEROUS THAN MAN - Book 10
TANNER TIMES TWO - Book 11
OCCUPATION: DEATH - Book 12
The TAKEN! Series in order
TAKEN! - LOVE CONQUERS ALL - Book 1
TAKEN! - SECRETS & LIES - Book 2
TAKEN! - STALKER - Book 3
TAKEN! - BREAKOUT! - Book 4
TAKEN! - THE THIRTY-NINE - Book 5
TAKEN! - KIDNAPPING THE DEVIL - Book 6
TAKEN! - HIT SQUAD - Book 7
TAKEN! - MASQUERADE - Book 8
TAKEN! - SERIOUS BUSINESS - Book 9
TAKEN! - THE COUPLE THAT SLAYS TOGETHER - Book 10
TAKEN! - PUT ASUNDER - Book 11
TAKEN! - LIKE BOND, ONLY BETTER - Book 12
TAKEN! - MEDIEVAL - Book 13
TAKEN! - RISEN! - Book 14
TAKEN! - VACATION - Book 15
TAKEN! - MICHAEL - Book 16
TAKEN! - BEDEVILED - Book 17
ALSO
THE CONTRACT: KILL JESSICA WHITE - Taken!/Tanner - Book 1
SLAY BELLS
REDEMPTION - Someone's taken her
DESOLATION LAKE
LEARN ABOUT NEW RELEASES FROM
REMINGTON KANE
http://www.remingtonkane.com/contact.html
Did you love The TAKEN! Series - Books 5-8? Then you should read The TAKEN! Series - Books 9-12 by Remington Kane!
From REMINGTON KANE
The author of The TANNER Series
The TAKEN! Series - Books 9-12
Taken! - Serious Business - Book 9
Jessica's husband goes in search of his father.
Taken! - The Couple That Slays Together - Book 10
Jessica and her husband come to the aid of a friend in Detroit.
Taken! - Put Asunder - Book 11
While in New Jersey for the wedding of a family member, Jessica and her husband become embroiled in a deadly conflict when terrorists take over the hotel where the ceremony is to occur.With the odds stacked heavily against them and the lives of loved ones threatened, Jessica and her husband struggle to defeat not only the terrorists, but to also overcome those among them with their own hidden agendas.
However, they have an ally in this fight, a most unusual one, an adorable, seven-year-old girl named Samantha Ryan.
Taken! - Like Bond, Only Better - Book 12
Jessica and her husband eagerl
y await the birth of their twins, but circumstances arise that compel her husband into action, even as a family emergency arises.
Meanwhile, Samantha has her first "session" with Jessica, as the doctor and her husband attempt to guide her.
Read more at Remington Kane’s site.
The TAKEN! Series - Books 5-8 (Taken! Box Set Book 2) Page 31
