“I can’t wait, and Rob?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too, and give Kimmy a kiss for me.”
Alice hung up the phone, smiling, but as always, the reality of her situation settled upon her and she sighed.
All she wanted out of life was to live without the fear of being captured and imprisoned, but try as she might, she could see no path to that reality.
***
Jessica was in front of her home, watching the babies as they played on the grass. Their son was already significantly larger than his twin sister, and Jessica suspected that he would someday reach his father’s height.
No sooner had she thought of her husband when she spotted him. He had gone out for a run, and was walking back along their driveway, the day was hot and the summer sun shined brilliantly amid a soft breeze, and so he had gone running without a shirt on, and his lean muscular body was tanned and rippling with vitality.
She studied him, watching him as he drew closer, and as she did so, she began to cry.
***
He saw Jessica on the lawn with the children as he rounded the last bend in their driveway.
The sun shimmered as the trees swayed in the breeze, and sweat born of effort dried upon his skin. He was feeling good, damn good, and had just run eight miles in less than an hour. He had no pain in his foot and hadn’t felt any there in a while.
On the previous day, in his basement gym, he had worked out with free weights, and although he never kept track of how much he lifted or how many times he did so, Jace had been working out beside him and seemed blown away by the amount of weight he used.
If he wasn’t a hundred-percent again, he was close enough not to notice the difference and felt as if he could take on anything.
He was happy, hell, he was downright joyful, but then, he saw that Jessica was crying and rushed to her side.
“What’s wrong?” he said, and even as he said it, he realized that, despite the tears, she was smiling.
Jessica laughed as she wiped away her tears.
“I’m fine, these are tears of joy.”
“Why?”
“You, watching you walk towards me, no, not walk, glide, you were gliding the way you used to, the way you haven’t done since your foot was first injured. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever see you move like that again, and today, today it’s back.”
He lowered himself down on the grass beside her and took her face in his hands.
“I’m back. I’m going to pass Lawson’s test, and then the two of us are going to live life on our own terms again, and God help the man or woman that gets in our way.”
She nodded agreement, and realized that the shadow of fear she’d been living under for months had dissipated in an instant amidst the light of conviction shining in his eyes.
The children crawled over, and he picked up his daughter as Jessica cradled their son, and their future was even brighter than the light of a summer day.
CHAPTER 33
Waverly College, Illinois, 2:37 a.m.
Numerical climbed over the decorative, white metal fence at the rear of the sorority house, to land softly on the balls of his feet.
He was breaking one of his own rules again by acting ahead of schedule.
The new semester didn’t officially start for days yet, and so he doubted the sorority house was as full as it would normally be, but he was so eager to act out his fantasy that he moved up his timetable.
Killing sixty or more in one night would have been grand, he knew, but judging by the voices and conversations he heard with his listening devices, there were at least thirty girls in the house, more than enough to make history. He couldn’t wait to enjoy the most luscious of them, and later, savor the pleasure that would come from ending their lives and carving his numbers in their supple flesh.
After disabling the home’s alarm system, an upward push on the bathroom window caused it to slide open, as he knew it would. When he was in the home before it became occupied, he had replaced the regular screws with much shorter ones that barely held the window lock in place.
After easing himself inside, he listened, but heard no sound, except for the hum of the air-conditioning unit, which was his next destination.
He had spent the previous evening listening to the sounds of the house through the devices he had planted in the wall outlets. No one had spoken a word or made a footfall after two a.m., and so he was confident that all in the house were asleep, asleep and unaware.
In the back of his mind was the thought that he was walking into a trap set by the FBI or PREY. It was a ridiculous notion, the product of fear, and he forced his mind away from it.
No one could have guessed or predicted the move he was about to make, and by the time the sun came up, he would have finished his work, had his fun, and the world would know that he was truly in a league of his own.
***
In the campus security office, Nadine Ryland stood up and stretched, as her male partner, Manny Odin shook his head at her.
“You don’t have to make an extra circuit you know, that terror alert the FBI sent out was bullshit.”
“I don’t mind, and what if the threat is real?”
Manny smiled kindly at Nadine. He had been a guard on the night shift for six years, and in all that time the worst thing he had to handle was an attempted rape, and by the time he got to the scene, three frat boys had already demolished the would-be rapist.
He was twenty years older than Nadine and she reminded him of his daughter.
Manny’s daughter was thin and had dyed blond hair, while Nadine was athletic-looking with brown hair, however, both girls had a youthful desire to do well and be conscientious that Manny admired, despite his cynicism.
“Listen, I know you’re new and that you want to make a good impression, but relax, it’s just us here until morning and I’m not your boss.”
“Thanks, but I still want to take an extra look around, just in case.”
“Suit yourself, and when you get back we’ll play cards, okay?”
“Sounds good,” Nadine said, and then she went out to patrol.
***
It took Numerical longer than he thought it would to move aside the fan that supplied cool air through the HVAC system, the Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning unit, but once he had the fan out of the way, he was able to place the gas canister into the ductwork.
With that done, he donned a gas mask, turned a nozzle, and released the gas. Afterwards, he shoved the fan back in place, turned the HVAC system back on, and waited for the sedative to circulate.
The gas was homemade from instructions he’d gotten off the Internet years ago. He had used a variation of it during his early days as a common rapist, and he knew it would render everyone in the house unconscious. What he couldn’t be certain of, was whether or not he had made it too potent, and he wondered if the gas might kill someone.
He hoped not, he’d like that pleasure for himself, but there was no way he could have handled dozens of women at once without using it.
He gave it twenty minutes and then left the utility room to step into the kitchen, and when he saw the cat running down the hallway, he wondered where it had come from, and why it wasn’t unconscious from the gas.
The bathroom window, I must have left it open.
Numerical walked down the hall and into the bathroom. When he walked over to the window to shut it, he saw Cassandra staring at him from behind a tree.
“Shit!”
***
Nadine made the rounds of the college, as she checked to make sure that doors were locked and that no cars without permits were in the parking lots.
She and Manny were supposed to make only three circuits a night, but she had insisted on doing two extra ever since the alert bulletin came in from the FBI the week before. The bulletin warned that groups of women were possibly being targeted, but the why and by whom weren’t stated.
It kept going down the side of one of the sorority houses, but then stopped suddenly to stare up at a window. When the cat leapt up onto the sill and then disappeared, Nadine realized the window was open. She then wondered if it was carelessly left open, or forced open.
After parking at the curb, she went to the window, where she smelled the strange odor wafting from the house, and before she could even peek inside, it made her feel nauseous.
When she did look, it was too dark to see anything, and so she cupped her hand over her flashlight and shined it within. When the beam caught the green eyes of the cat, it startled Nadine, and the cat hissed and ran out of the bathroom.
Then, the beam of the flashlight found the parts of the window lock, where they laid on the floor, and Nadine knew that she had found trouble.
She was unarmed security, but she had a radio, and so she moved away from the window and behind the shelter of a tree to call Manny, to tell him to alert the police, and that’s when the man in the gas mask walked up to the window, took out a gun, and fired at her.
***
Even as he fired the gun, Numerical saw that it wasn’t Cassandra, but just a security guard that resembled her.
The girl shrieked and hit the ground, and an instant later, a light came on in the building across the road.
His mind screamed, No, no, no, damn it, no! but he knew he had to leave.
Dozens of women were ripe for the taking and because of a damn security guard, he would have to abandon his plans and flee.
He climbed out the window as more lights came on across the road, and after running into the shadows of the backyard, he ripped off the gas mask, clambered back over the fence, and made his escape into the night.
***
Nadine cried out in fright and dropped to the ground, although both bullets had already missed her, and from her vantage point in the grass, she saw the man in the mask scramble out the window and run towards the home’s backyard.
Nadine didn’t move again until she heard voices coming from the front door of the student housing across the street, as people emerged bleary-eyed to investigate the shots.
She picked up her radio from where it laid on the grass and called Manny to tell him to call the cops. She had just finished when she saw the cat leap from the open window, stagger a few steps, and fall to the ground.
She picked it up gently, saw that it appeared drugged, and then realized what the strange odor she’d smelled was all about.
After placing the cat beside the tree, she took a deep breath and hoisted herself through the window, where she went about opening other windows and the front door. After standing on the porch and taking a few deep breaths, she ventured back inside and up the steps to the bedrooms, where she knocked, entered, and then shoved open still more windows.
The women were all breathing normally, and when she checked a pulse on one of them, she found it strong and steady.
There were thirty-four women in the home, most sleeping two or three to a room, and only one of them was aware enough to be helped down the stairs and into the fresh night air, where she finally succumbed to the effects of the gas and passed out, while leaning against the railing.
Nadine sat with her on the front steps, her own head woozy from the gas, and saw Manny screech to a halt in front of the building, as sirens echoed in the night.
“Nadine, hey, are you all right? What the hell happened here?”
Nadine smiled.
“Nothing happened, and we owe it all to a cat.”
A moment later, her eyes closed, and Manny caught her as she fell forward.
CHAPTER 34
Washington, DC
“What’s the security guard’s name?”
Robyn smiled at the reporter. At the request of the Deputy Director, she was giving a statement about Numerical’s aborted attempt at mass murder.
“The campus security guard’s name is Nadine Ryland, and we all owe her a debt of gratitude for saving the thirty-four women in that sorority house. However, I would like to reiterate what I said earlier. Dr. Jessica White is the one who predicted that Numerical would attempt to escalate his murderous spree, and it is thanks to her brilliant behavioral analysis that we were ready for such a horrific act by Henry Robert Rafford, otherwise known as Numerical. With the help of Dr. White and the alertness of people such as Nadine Ryland, I feel more confident than ever that Numerical’s apprehension is close at hand.”
Another reporter shouted a question.
“Are you absolutely certain that this was Numerical?”
“Yes, Rafford’s prints were on the scene, now thank you, but I won’t be answering anymore questions.”
Robyn went back inside the building as the reporters shouted more questions at her. When she reached her office, she found Summer and Todd Gray waiting outside the door, along with Russ Smith, who was suppressing a smile.
Summer didn’t waste any time with pleasantries.
“Since when is Jessica White part of the Numerical Task Force? I’m your profiler, not her.”
“You mean, we, Summer,” Todd said, but his wife ignored him and kept glaring at Robyn.
“You were our profiler, but you’ve brought nothing to the table and now that I’ve proof of how much a real profiler can help, I’m going to do my best to get you removed from the task force.”
“Agent Cashman won’t let that happen,” Summer said.
Robyn smiled smugly.
“Agent Cashman has influence, yes, but I have more, and I want you and your husband off my team.”
“I’m not going anywhere, and I do bring something to the table. I’m the face of this investigation thanks to my appearances on The Jerry Schneider Show.”
“Oh yes, about that, I’ll be using that against you to get you removed. You should have cleared your appearances on the show with me before going on, and you would have known that if you were a professional.”
Summer looked Robyn up and down.
“Screw you, lady, and I’ll go see what Agent Cashman has to say about all this.”
Summer stalked off with her husband tagging along behind her like a puppy, and Russ Smith laughed.
“You’ve wanted to do that for a while, haven’t you?”
Robyn grinned. “Oh yes, and it felt so good.”
***
When Robyn’s press conference ended, Jessica turned off the TV in the living room and sat staring into space.
Thirty-four women, if she hadn’t joined the task force, hadn’t given her opinion about Numerical’s likely next move, no alerts would have been issued, and Nadine Ryland, the security guard, wouldn’t have been out on an extra patrol.
Thirty-four women, thirty-four sisters, thirty-four daughters, thirty-four potential mothers and wives,
They all would have been gone in one night, and it both pleased and humbled Jessica to realize that if she hadn’t used her talent at criminal profiling that those women would likely be dead.
She had wanted to quit out of fear, justified fear, but fear nonetheless, but now the risk seemed so small compared to the rewarding feeling of having saved lives.
She winced when Robyn announced that she was part of the task force, knowing that, in Numerical’s mind, it marked her and her husband as enemies, but anger followed trepidation, and she rose from the sofa, moved past her twins in their playpen, and into the office where she removed a gun from a locked drawer.
Let him come, Jessica thought. Let Numerical or anyone else dare and try to hurt us again.
She then recalled the words her husband had uttered mere days before.
“The two of us are going to live life on our own terms again, and God help the man or woman that gets in our way.”
“Damn right,” Jessica said, and felt more
alive than she had in months.
***
Summer slammed the door behind her as she left Agent Cashman, and Todd straightened himself off the wall he’d been leaning against while waiting for her.
“I can see that didn’t go well,” he said.
Summer said nothing, but just marched off.
Todd followed, then, turned his head to look at her while they waited for the elevator.
She was smiling.
“You’ve got a plan, don’t you?”
“Yes, and it’ll make it impossible for them to kick me off the task force. It’ll also knock Jessica White out of the spotlight.”
“You’ve been using that word a lot lately,” Todd said.
“What word?”
“The word ‘me’, but we’re a team, Summer, and without me doing your dirty work, you’d be nowhere, don’t forget that?”
The elevator arrived and they rode down in silence, as they each became lost in thoughts about themselves.
As Todd was driving out of the underground garage, Summer activated her phone.
“Who are you calling?” Todd asked.
“Jerry Schneider, I’m going to offer him an exclusive.”
“I want to go on the show with you.”
“That’s up to Jerry,”
“No, Summer, I’m going on the show too, end of discussion.”
Summer sighed, knowing that the time was fast approaching to leave Todd behind her forever.
CHAPTER 35
Camp Peary, Virginia,
Inside a covert CIA training center named, The Farm, Jessica watched via camera as her husband prepared to enter an arena, and go through a combat test called, The Gauntlet.
On screen, she could see that her husband had been given an all-white outfit to wear that looked like a pair of skintight coveralls. His boots were white as well, but the enormous room he was about to enter was wall-to-wall black.
Jessica turned to Lawson and asked a question.
“Why is he wearing all white?”
The CIA man who was in charge of the test answered her.
“It makes him easier to see, Doctor. You want him to pass the test, but we don’t, the whole point of this arena is to find the best of the best, and I’m happy to say that we’ve done that.”
The TAKEN! Series - Books 13-16 (Taken! Box Set Book 4) Page 29
