Battleborn

by S. I. Hayes

  “Glory...” I half moaned as she stroked me.

  “Can stay out here, come in the bedroom and let me fuck you senseless again.”

  I’m going to Hell.

  “I WANT MY MOMMY! I want Tin Man!”

  After only two days, Glory was becoming a problem. She’d grown so attached to her mother in the months that she’d been home with her that the time apart was not doing us any favors.

  “Ugh, if she doesn’t stop, I’m going to give her something to cry about!” Danielle screamed, stomping toward Glory. I got between them.

  “You won’t dare. If you touch her I’ll break your fucking neck, you hear me?” I grabbed her by the throat, pushing her into the wall.

  She laughed at me, clawing at my face. I roared as she kneed me in the balls and I dropped.

  “Don’t fucking think to command me. I own you, have since I popped that fine ass cherry of yours at fourteen. Now, to think that you’d turn on me, put your hands on me. Don’t ever do it again or I’ll cut your throat in your sleep.” She hissed, grabbing me by the hair and lifting me up, kissing me. She bit my lip, drawing blood.

  “Go get the mail.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” I stood, limping out of the room. I wanted to take Glory, to fess up, but how? I knew she still had the gun, and still had her sway over me.

  THE MAIL WAS KEPT DOWN in the lobby of the complex, but packages were in the basement and required taking the elevator and a lengthy hallway to get there. She had ordered a playtime buggy for Glory, hoping it would calm her down. Hopefully the postman delivered it today. All packages went to the management office, so I had to head down there. I hated basements, they reminded me of being underground again. I hated that. The enclosed spaces...

  I knocked on the door and waited. After a moment, it opened and Lou, the manager, stood there scratching his oversized pot belly. “Yeah?”

  “I’m here to see if there are any packages for eighty-eight D.”

  “Oh yeah, big ol’ box. Come on in. You gotta sign, since I did.”

  “You got it.”

  I followed him into the dark, dank space with its cages and unsorted mail. It smelled of mold and I was sure it hadn’t been cleaned since the place had been built in the eighties. I tried not to touch anything.

  “Here ya go. One play buggy.” Lou smirked. “Didn’t realize you had a kid in there.”

  “It’s for my niece.”

  “Uh huh. Not my business.”

  I signed the form and took the box and he escorted me out, as if I could take something with my hands full.

  I returned to the apartment to find it deadly quiet.

  “Danielle?” I called out, putting down the box and looking around. I didn’t see her purse or the car keys and I didn’t hear Glory. “Danielle? Glory?” I shouted, going to the bedroom. It was empty, the apartment was empty.

  Chapter 39 Caitlin

  I’ve kept Jarod’s phone glued to me since that call came to him from my phone. I cancelled my bank cards, reporting everything to them, at least. We have kept everything mum from the police. They are still looking for signs of Glory. Maybe they will get lucky, but I doubt it, they couldn’t find Danielle without Glory. They’ll be hard pressed to find her now that she really has a reason to hide. My headaches are awful since the attack, but the double vision is gone and I’m walking better. They gave me a cane though, because I’m having vertigo. The bleed caused swelling in my frontal lobe, so they were worried about cognitive issues, but so far I’m okay. My memory is better, but that’s not a good thing because it’s brought up too much from my past. My nightmares are horrid and they upped my Xanax, so I’m pretty well snowed most of the day. Tim’s been absent, but I’m pretty sure he’s with my dad, or seeing whoever that girl was when we were in Topsail.

  I’m going home today, I’m not sure what I’m going to do except wait to hear what she wants me to do with the money. I already unlocked the account and the check is waiting for me as soon as I leave here. It’s just over twenty grand. The bank tried to talk me out of it, but I cannot be dissuaded. I’ll give that cunt whatever she wants I just want my baby back.

  WHEN WE GOT HOME, TIM was standing on the front stoop, looking about as guilty as I had ever seen and it immediately put me on edge.

  “Tim, what’s going on? Where have you been and why are you here?”

  “Caitlin, we gotta talk.”

  Caitlin? He never called me that, not unless it was really serious. I put my arm around him as Jarod opened the door. “Come on, let’s go inside.”

  “You’re not gonna like what I gotta say.

  I SAT SPEECHLESS. I was in shock. How could someone who’d been my rock through my trauma have had such a deep hand in it?

  He was a mess, tears, snot, the whole party. Jarod hadn’t moved. He sat holding my hand, then suddenly he was gone from the couch and on top of Tim. His fist connecting with Tim’s jaw so hard I thought I heard it crack.

  “Jarod! Stop, please!”

  “He’s the reason this all happened! Why you were raped. Why Glory is gone!”

  “Baby, please, don’t hurt him anymore. He needs to go to the police. He needs to turn himself in and we need to go see my dad.”

  Jarod let go of Tim, who was a bloody mass, slumped on the couch, just jabbering on about how sorry he was.

  “You are a sorry son of a bitch and I hope they put you in jail for all of it.” Jarod spit in his face and I had to pull him away before he second guessed leaving my brother be. He pulled away from me, grabbing Tim by the shirt and dragging him toward the front door.

  “If I never see you again, it will be too soon.” He tossed him out on his ass as I started to cry, the emotions bubbling out of me. He grabbed me, slamming the door shut. “Baby, I’m so sorry. I wish there was more we could do...”

  “We need to see my dad, he knows people, maybe they can trace the next call.”

  “Okay, did you ever turn off the GPS?” He looked into my eyes, hopeful suddenly.

  “No, I didn’t. I don’t think she even knows how to either.”

  “The phone company can trace that even if it’s off, so long as she doesn’t shut off the phone.”

  My heart leapt up. “But even if we can find her, then what? The cops are liable to get my baby killed.”

  “If we can find her, I can extract her, I know people too, and they are under fifty.”

  Chapter 40 Danielle

  I couldn’t trust Timothy anymore. The boy was increasingly becoming unstable. His love for this screaming little brat was too much. He’d gone soft and I needed a hard ass. Unfortunately, I was being left to do it alone. I’d get it done, I’d get what I deserved. I married Augustus Colton when I was twenty-three. He was a thirty-year-old widower, and sexy as hell. I loved me some marines, and he was a catch, and the rumor mill said his family was loaded. He confirmed that in the pillow talk after I blew his... err... mind. When I met the kids it was well and good, it meant I didn’t have to pop out any. Which was good, since I’d been fixed two years prior, I just never told him that.

  When Timothy hit his growth spurt at fourteen and hit six feet, he was hard to resist. He noticed me, as much as I did him. I knew that those grandparents were going to leave a chunk to these kids, so if one were smitten with me, I’d be able to hit the ground running with that sexy man under me. But no, they left every penny to that little good for nothing brat. I wish Todd had actually killed her. I had tried so hard to convince him to do it, but he chickened out in the end. Fear and his love for me kept his mouth shut during the trial. Little idiot thinks I’ll keep waiting for him. I stopped taking his calls months ago.

  As for Tim, he’s pretty useless now, and I’m sure he’s gone to Caitlin. But no matter, they’ll do as I say. As soon as they get what I’ve sent in the mail.”

  Chapter 41 Jarod

  Caitlin fell apart. Her brother’s admission of betrayal was too much for her and as strong as she thought she could be; she just wasn’t
strong enough to hold it together after really letting it sink in. Try as she might, though, she couldn’t hold it all against him. She blamed Danielle. Blamed her for seducing her father and then Tim. For corrupting her family and ruining her. Yet in the same breath, she said she wouldn’t change it, because if she did she wouldn’t have Glory. She wouldn’t have me, or the life growing inside of her now. Things she wouldn’t trade for anything, not her health or her life.

  She took another pill as I made a few phone calls. The guys from my old unit and I never really lost touch, we just went our separate ways once I was grounded and went on to teaching. We get together a couple of times a year for drinks and to celebrate events like marriages, divorces and births. Jar heads through and through, these guys have moved on from covert operations and special operations. They know how to get a job done, and done quietly. Of them, only three were here in the state, though, or could be in a matter of hours. Corporal Kyle Turner, who specialized in computer tech, hacking and general technological mayhem. Sergeant Frank Grant, who was the fastest guy I’d ever seen with a blade and our old Lieu. Mitch Gentry. He was our strategist. They’d have to be enough. I mean, it’s one woman who’d never see us coming.

  I brought Caitlin some tea as she lay on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket, with blood shot eyes and she hardly registered my presence. I know that things have been rough these past few days. Her trauma has been extensive and it’s brought everything up from the past. She hasn’t said it; I can see it in her eyes. That glazed, far away, expression. The forced smile she has put on, thinking it’s for me.

  I sat down the end of the couch, taking her always too cold feet into my hands and giving them a squeeze. She looked at me with a curt smile. “You doin’ better now, babe?” I asked gently.

  She nodded with a large sigh. “I miss my baby girl. Her voice, seeing her running around with Sampson.” She sucked in her breath, looking around. “Where is Sampson?”

  “At Granddads. I didn’t want him all alone while I was at the hospital with you.”

  She nodded, pulling the blanket up closer. It was ninety degrees outside but she looked like it was forty. Like I said, trauma. I rubbed her feet and she leaned back, slouching so I could reach better.

  “Hmm.”

  “I called some friends, who are gonna help us get Glory back.” I cracked her toes and she yelped, looking at me.

  “How many friends?”

  “Three. All Ex-Marine Corp.”

  “What do they do now?”

  “I don’t ask.”

  He turned to me, “Tell us everything we need to know.”

  THE LIEU SAT BACK ON the couch. “So, she’s a survivor, like you. That’s a good thing. She’ll get through this too. We’ll do what we can, but it’s gonna come down to the two of you, in the end to put it back together.”

  Kyle and Frank nodded in agreement.

  “That’s right, man.” Frank sighed. “That little one is either gonna need you or she’s gonna forget all about it, but mamma, she’s gonna have guilt over it forever.”

  “Yup, we see it a lot. Overprotectiveness, or a total lack of rules will ensue as she gets older. You gotta watch for it man, gonna have to find the balance. You sure you wanna stick with all of this drama?” Kyle asked offhandedly and I threw a pillow at him. He was set up in the kitchen, and ducked, so the pillow hit the counter, sending the knives to the floor.

  “You gotta get up earlier to hit me bro.”

  “I don’t, so shut it, Corporal.” Frank sneered with a laugh, fingering a hand blade in his boot.

  “Easy guys, no blood shed in the man’s home.” The Lieu snickered. “I can’t believe you got us back together, but I’m glad to see you man.” He patted my knee, then drew back as I winced.

  “You having issues there?”

  “It’s just sore. I’ve been pushing lately, it’ll be fine.”

  He looked me over. “Just make sure you are taking care of you. I don’t wanna be back for a funeral instead of a wedding.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Be sure you don’t.”

  “Alright,” Kyle piped up. “I’m in the mainframe, and the phone company towers are secured. If the phone is on or at least has the battery still in it, I can access it via remote satellite and get a triangulation of about three miles. If she’s using it, I can get closer. Did she say she was going to be in touch?”

  “Yes, but we haven’t heard anything yet.”

  “Then we wait. Let her walk right into it. I’ll tap your phone, and we can trace her, then let the phone keep working and when she stops we can move in.” Mitch, the genius he believed he was, decided. “It’s the best option. Safest for the kid.”

  The guys agreed. I deferred to them, they had the experience. I may have been a Staff Sergeant, but I was a medic, I fixed things, I didn’t kill or take them apart. That’s what these guys were for.

  Chapter 42 Caitlin

  I listened to them talk. They had a plan of action. It sounded good. I just hoped that Danielle didn’t do anything in desperation. I came shuffling out to the patio where they were all talking and making dinner, when I heard a knock at the door. They were all on alert. Jarod put me behind him and Mitch got behind me, with Frank headed for the door. They didn’t speak, just moved with precision. Kyle just kept cooking. A strange one he seemed. Frank checked the monitor to the door for the security.

  “USPS?” He whispered. “At six in the afternoon?”

  “They come late to these parts.” I answered.

  Frank nodded, sliding his knife into his palm, keeping it by the door jamb as he opened it.

  “Yes?”

  “Delivery for Caitlin Colton and Jarod Trainor?”

  “I’ll take it.” Frank signed and took the small box. “Too light to be anything explosive,” he quipped, giving it a shake. “Were you expecting a package?”

  “Nothing that would be addressed to both of us.” Jarod answered.

  Frank slipped his knife under the paper and twine, revealing a non-descriptive white box. He carefully opened it, then nodded to Mitch, who walked over. Mitch sighed and my heart sank and swelled at the same time, I thought I was going to scream, or die, I wasn’t sure which.

  “What is it?” I finally managed, breaking from Jarod who had been holding me.

  I grabbed the box to find not only my phone and I.D.’s, but my baby girls pig tails, the elastics still attached.

  “That twisted cunt.” I sank to the ground. “She practically scalped my baby girl.” I held the hair in my fisted hands, staring at the phone. “How do we catch this bitch now?”

  “I can still tap anything she calls us through.” Kyle interjected. I’ll add one to that phone now.” He walked over and grabbed it, then hesitated. “I’m good at my job, Ma’am. Please believe me, I’ll find her.”

  I swallowed the bile that had risen up into my chest and nodded. “You better, and you,” I looked at Frank. “You better end her, because if you don’t I will.”

  TWO DAYS. TWO DAYS of these men in Jarod’s home and my anxiousness was not subsiding. They seemed like nice guys. Frank had been through two bad marriages at thirty-six and had three children that he saw whenever he could, twin boys and a little girl. The boys were six and the girl was just four. Mitch, or Lieu, as they called him based on his rank, much like my dad’s, was sorta closed up about himself. According to Kyle, who was the baby at twenty-four, Mitch lost his wife and son in a car accident while he was overseas. They held on as long as they could, but they died just hours before he arrived at the hospital. My heart broke for the big old teddy bear. Kyle also told me something about Jarod that I didn’t know. That before the accident, he was on his way up to being the leader of this ragtag group. That there had been animosity in the unit, and that there was a rumor that the IED had been placed on purpose by another member of the team. I was flabbergasted to hear something so horrible, but Kyle just laughed. “Men do strange shit, but Jarod, he took care
of the son of a bitch, real quiet like... Accidents, they happen all the time. Now he’s collecting his checks from a VA in Norfolk.”

  I nodded, after what had happened to Jarod I don’t blame him for wanting some kind of revenge. Hell, I would. “I would like to get my hands on Danielle for what she did to my baby.”

  “We can arrange that.” Frank walked over to me as I sighed, drinking my coffee.

  “I-” Suddenly the house filled with the sound of a phone ringing. My phone. I ran for it, answering out of breath.

  “Well, well, seems you haven’t been waiting right next to the phone after all.” Danielle’s voice cut through me like glass shards. “Tsk, tsk. I would have thought you’d have slept with those big bad boys and the phone.”

  I looked up, covering the receiver, mouthing, “She knows you’re here.”

  Kyle kept clicking keys, rotating his hand for me to keep her talking.

  “Oh, don’t worry, I’ll let you trace this. I’m moving along the highway anyhow, now. Left you another package, should be going off in just about...

  The front door slammed open, the house shaking as an explosion ripped it off its hinges. Jarod hit the floor, his hands over his ears, his whole body seized in the instant the sound reached him.

  “Fuck, you cunt, what are you trying to do? If you kill us, you won’t get your money!”

  “Oh, I’ll get it every cent,” She cackled. “We’re off for a holiday, Glory and me. She looks so cute with short hair, I’ll send a pic, later.”

  She hung up. I stared at the phone, then looked to Kyle, he nodded.

  “I got a lock on her movements, right now she’s headed north toward the highway, but if we don’t move we will lose the signal. Should we pursue Lieu?” Kyle looked up, seeing Mitch on the ground, trying to calm Jarod down.