Love Me Last

by Rhea Wilde

  “It’s okay… I must be rubbing off on you…”

  She shook her head and blinked.

  “It’s about the case,” she said. “We’ve still got our work cut out for us. Owens was just a pawn in all of this.”

  “It would seem that way.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m browsing his phone right now. He has a lot of messages indicating he’s following orders.”

  “Wait… You have his phone?”

  “I took it off of him as soon as I could.”

  “Are you sure that’s safe? There might be some tracking device.”

  “I removed the SIM card and disconnected it from every network.”

  She moved on the couch next to me.

  “What does it say?” she asked. “Is there any mention of the missing people?”

  “Owens got a lot of messages. It’s hard to see what’s what. But somebody isn’t happy with him.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Owens was spending too much time at Sinful. He was getting careless. There are some messages from someone in his address book. It’s just initials though. Someone Owens listed as ‘S R’.”

  “Sean Reese.”

  I looked up at her and saw the blank stare on her face.

  “Sean Reese?”

  “I… I ran into him in the warehouse I was hiding in last night.”

  “How did you get his name?”

  “I know him. I… knew him. There’s no doubt in my mind he’s behind all of this.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Because I know the kind of man he is. Abducting people. Manufacturing drugs. It wouldn’t surprise me if he were up to worse.”

  “You seem to know him quite well.”

  “Yeah…”

  She got up from her seat. From the way she paced back and forth, rubbing her hands, she was clearly bothered.

  “I talked to him the other night. He told me why he came here, to New Gardens.”

  “Why?”

  “Me. He came here because of me.”

  “You?”

  “All of this. He’s trying to raise enough money to take care of me.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense. He’s going to all of this trouble because of you?”

  “It sounds crazy. But he’s crazy.”

  “How can you be sure of that?”

  “Because he did it before. A long time ago. The only difference was that he didn’t get caught. I did.”

  She closed her eyes. She looked like her mind was somewhere else. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I just watched her and waited for the moment to pass.

  “I’m sorry,” she said as she opened her eyes. “This is my fault.”

  “Eva?”

  “Your son. The abductions. It’s all because of me.”

  “This isn’t your fault.”

  I had to do something now. For her.

  I stood up and put my hands on her arms. I held her firmly and forced her to look at me. I could see her eyes beginning to glaze over.

  “Sabin—”

  “It’s not your fault,” I interrupted her. “This man. Reese. He’s not a good person. You can’t blame someone else because of it. You didn’t turn him into the person he is. You’re just an excuse for him. If it weren’t you, he would have found another reason to do the things he’s done.”

  Ever since I met her, Eva had been so strong, so defiant. But when I looked into her eyes now, I saw that she was vulnerable. And for some reason, I wanted to be there for her.

  “Sabin—”

  There was a knock at the door. We both turned at the same time. I could see a figure standing in the stained glass window panel on the door.

  I released me from her grip and whispered.

  “Were you expecting anybody?”

  She shook her head.

  “It could just be another client,” she said.

  I stepped away from her and moved next to the door, hiding behind it. Eva took a deep breath and opened it.

  I could tell he was a man because of his physique but not much else.

  I wouldn’t have thought anything if it weren’t for the concern on Eva’s face.

  I readied myself for anything.

  “Miss Lynch,” the man said, his voice calm and smooth.

  “What do you want?”

  “I’ve come here on behalf of Mr. Reese.”

  My eyes were locked on her. Her throat shifted with a nervous swallow.

  “…What does he want?”

  “He’d like to speak to you.”

  “I don’t wanna talk to him. How about that?”

  “Mr. Reese insists.”

  “I have a message for, Mr. Reese. Tell him I said ‘blow me.’ Did you get that?”

  “Miss Lynch…”

  I watched through the glass window and saw him pull something from his jacket. Something told me he wasn’t pulling out a business card for Eva.

  She took a step back and put her hands in the air.

  “Mr. Reese told me that it was likely you wouldn’t volunteer,” the man explained. “He told me to give you an offer.”

  “And what offer is that?”

  “You can do this the easy way. Or you can do it the hard way.”

  Eva was frozen in place. The paralyzed fear in her eyes told me everything.

  Then her eyes shifted toward me. I’d been listening the whole time. She needed help. Now she was telling me, without saying anything, it was time for me to step in.

  I gave her the slightest nod I could, just enough for her to notice.

  “Okay,” she said, turning back to the man. “I’ll go with you.”

  “Good.”

  “I just need to get my things. Do you mind?”

  “Make it quick.”

  Eva stepped back into her apartment. She opened the door slightly.

  That was all I needed.

  Now.

  I moved as fast as I could. I popped out from behind the door and twisted the man’s wrist and grabbed his gun. The punk yelled in pain, his scream echoing through the corridors of the building. In one swift motion, I took the man’s arm and turned it behind the man’s back. I stood behind him and used him as a shield.

  “Hey!”

  Another man down the hall yelled at me, raising his weapon from inside of his jacket.

  Bang. Bang. Bang.

  The shots rang out.

  “Shit!”

  Eva tried to muffle her scream as much as possible but they were still loud.

  I dropped the man down the hall after he aimed and hit the man I was holding.

  Both of them down, it was over in a split-second. As soon as they were down, I quickly tended to Eva.

  “Eva.”

  She didn’t respond, looking down at the two men I’d shot.

  “Eva!”

  I grabbed her arm tight. She finally turned and looked at me.

  “We have to get out of here.”

  “Yeah, no shit.”

  “Get the things you need and we’ll go. Quickly. Someone heard those gunshots and I doubt it was just the two of them.”

  She nodded and headed back into her bedroom. She scrambled to gather her things while I stood guard at the door.

  “Let’s go,” she said.

  She began to leave the apartment but I grabbed her arm.

  “Not through the front door,” I said. “They’ll be waiting. The fire escape.”

  Just as I said it, loud footsteps thundered up the stairwell. I followed her to her apartment window. The rickety metal fire escape looked like it could snap at any moment.

  “Just be calm,” I said.

  “I’m calm… I’m calm…”

  We walked through the alley and away from the front entrance of the apartment building. We made it to the street on the opposite end of the building before finding a cab.

  “Where to?” the driver asked.

  “Anywhere,” Eva said. “Just drive. Far
away.”

  The driver shrugged before taking off down the road. Eva sighed a deep breath of relief as we started to move.

  “You said you have a history with this guy,” I said. “Are you leaving out any details?”

  “Let’s just get out of here. I’ll explain everything when we get there.”

  Chapter 13

  JOHN

  We escaped to a hotel on the other side of New Gardens. According to Eva, we were nowhere near her apartment.

  I finished checking then headed into the hotel room. Eva was clearly disturbed by what happened. The concern on her face hadn’t gone away.

  “We should be all right for a few days,” I said.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. Hotels don’t give personal information out unless you want them to. Besides, I’m listed under an alias. Nobody knows we’re here except us.”

  “I’m sure Reese will find us eventually,” she said, turning back to the window. “Even if he had to search every hotel and building in the city, he’d find us. If he came all the way to New Gardens for me, he won’t stop now.”

  “I figured the two men with guns would make you realize that.”

  “You know, I’m never gonna get used to being shot at.”

  “They weren’t shooting at you. If Reese went to all this trouble to track you down, he wasn’t going to hurt you. It was only a threat. They only fired when I stepped in.”

  “Well, I’m glad you got in the way.”

  I leaned against the wall with my arms crossed.

  “Thank you,” she said. “Again.”

  “We’re partners. You don’t have to thank me. It was part of our deal.”

  “Right,” she sighed. “I don’t think Mr. Chen will be happy about our deal, seeing as how his apartment building just turned into a crime scene.”

  “Who?”

  “My landlord. He’s in charge of the building.”

  “Oh… Two bad guys were killed. I don’t think any damage was done to the building. There shouldn’t be much for him to complain about once the police clean things up.”

  “I doubt the police will clean things up so quickly. I can picture them ransacking my office right now, trying to figure out what happened. Was it really such a good idea to leave just like that?”

  “If you stayed, you wouldn’t be in your apartment right now. You know this man… Reese… you know him more than I do.”

  “I thought I did.”

  “Do you mind telling me the whole story?”

  “Now that it’s out in the open, I suppose I should tell you. Not that I think it will help…”

  She seemed paranoid. There was something about Reese she hadn’t told me. I had to reassure her and let her know I would protect her. But I had to give her time, too. I sat on the edge of the bed and waited for her.

  “I was only seventeen,” she started. “I’d just finished high school. I was out on my own.”

  “Here? In New Gardens?”

  “No,” she said, shaking her head. “I was on the other side of the country. It was still a few states away from where I grew up. I decided to head out on my own, you know? I wanted to get out there and find something… find myself.”

  I waited patiently while she tried to figure out the details to tell me.

  “I was different back then,” she said.

  “In what way?”

  “I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “Maybe it was just my age. Maybe it wasn’t. But when I met Sean Reese, I felt that he was the one. That’s probably why it blinded me from what he really was. I knew what he was doing but I ignored it.”

  “What did he do exactly?”

  She closed her eyes, lost in her memories.

  “He was a dealer,” she said. “I knew that for sure. He wasn’t big time with the drugs but he dabbled in it. But there were other things. Gambling. Prostitution. Illegal weapons. Extortion. I didn’t know what it was exactly. He kept it a secret from me and I didn’t care. All I knew was that he took care of me. And…”

  Eva paused. She swallowed before she continued.

  “…He said he loved me.”

  “It sounds like he did,” John said.

  Eva scoffed.

  “He sure did. He loved me so much that he risked everything.”

  A frown appeared on her lips, her brow furrowed with apparent anger.

  “He had me talk to a federal agent,” she said. “He used me for the biggest deal of his life. I handed that agent enough drugs to get more than one life sentence in prison. I was such a stupid little girl. I couldn’t believe I let my feelings…”

  I noticed how angry she was becoming. Her jaw clenched. Her breaths sharp. I wanted to calm her down but the truth was even more startling than I expected.

  “He loved me,” she scoffed again. “I believe him when he tells me he’s doing all of this because of me… We have to stop him. If he’s willing to kill innocent people, nobody in this city is safe.”

  She shook her head.

  “We have to find him,” she said. “We have to stop him.”

  “I’ve been working on that.”

  “You have?”

  “Yes.”

  I nodded and pulled a cell phone out of my pocket.

  “Owens’s phone,” I said, holding it up. “He’s been in contact with Sean Reese.”

  “I know that. Did he give you an address of where he was staying?”

  “No. But I can track the location from where these messages came from.”

  “How’s that?”

  “I’ll need to upload some software into the phone. I’ll send Reese a message and if his phone is on, I should be able to locate it.”

  “Let’s do it then.”

  “Hold on,” I said. “It won’t be that simple.”

  “Now what?” she sighed.

  “The software will take some time to load. And I’d also need to get the necessary files from somewhere else. I need access to a computer.”

  “Okay, we’ll go to the library and just use—”

  “We can’t use a public terminal. We’d need to set-up a computer that can’t be traced.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t have access to the equipment I’m usually given. This isn’t a standard mission. I’d have to get in contact with someone to get that equipment and—”

  “Hold on,” she said putting her hands up in the air. “I don’t need an explanation of what you’re going to do. I just need to know if you can do it. Can you?”

  “Yes.”

  “And how long will it take?”

  “It could take a few days.”

  “A few days?” she sighed again. “I think Reese will find us by then.”

  “It’s going to be close and it won’t be easy. But I can do it. I can track Reese and find him.”

  She collapsed into the cushions of the couch. Now that I knew the situation, I knew just how hard this was for her.

  She massaged her temples between her fingers as she closed her eyes.

  “Eva.”

  She ignored me.

  “Eva, I can do it. Are you listening?”

  “I’m listening,” she said before exhaling a deep breath.

  “I’ll find Reese. Once I do, we’ll confront him. We’ll finally put an end to this.”

  I had to do this. This wasn’t just for me now. This was for her, too.

  I moved closer to her and she finally opened her eyes. She might have felt lost but I wasn’t. I had to be strong enough for the both of us.

  “We made a deal,” I said. “You’ll get the money—”

  “I don’t even know if the money is worth it at this point. Maybe I should just give up and see Reese.”

  “Eva, you know you can’t do that.”

  “I know I can’t. Reese won’t stop until he gets what he wants… until he gets me. Then there’s no telling what he’ll do after that.”

  “Do you want me to do this?”

  “If
it’s our only option, then do it. Get your equipment and load the software into the phone. Find out where he is so we can end this before it’s too late.”

  “…Let’s go.”

  I held my hand out to her. She stuck her hand out and I picked her up in one swift motion.

  “Where are we headed exactly?”

  “I have to make some contacts in this city. Once I do, I’ll be able to get the equipment I need with the tracking software on it.”

  “Do you have any idea where to go?”

  “I have some idea. I don’t know this city very well but it’s big, so it should have what I need.”

  I started leaving the room but noticed Eva hadn’t moved.

  “Eva?”

  “Is that all you found?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Owens’s phone,” she said. “You said he was talking to Reese. Did they exchange any information at all? There had to have been something else.”

  “Reese talked about his plans but he wasn’t specific. He did mention he was building a small facility here in New Gardens but I don’t see how that can help.”

  Her eyes narrowed like she was thinking.

  “…Maybe it can,” she said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You said he’s building a small facility. That means he’s doing some kind of construction. Maybe he purchased a piece of land.”

  “I haven’t been in this city for very long but I’ve seen the construction here. There’s no way you’re going to be able to track down a piece of property Reese purchased among hundreds. That’s assuming he did it legally and under his own name.”

  “You’re right. But there should be a way to narrow it down. We just have to look at the records.”

  I shook my head.

  “Do you not remember the last time you went to the records office?” I said. “Somebody is following you.”

  “I’m not going to the records office.”

  “Then where are you going?”

  “I’m gonna go to the one man in this city who knows everything that’s happening. If there’s some record of something shady going on, he’ll have it.”

  “All right. We’ll head there.”

  “No. I’ll go by myself.”

  “Eva… I don’t think it’s wise for us to split up. Not when Reese has men combing the entire city for you. I should be with you.”

  “No. You have to get your equipment. We can’t waste any more time. Trust me, this is the last place Reese will come looking for me.”