by Emily Bishop
I want to do all that but I know none of that will undo what happened this morning or bring David back to me this instant. Nothing will.
He’s been taken from me.
I sit on a marble bench, burying my face in my hands.
After that argument with Sabrina last night, I drank a little. When Mrs. Wilson came to tell me that David had been taken, I couldn’t fathom it at first. My mind was still muddled from the alcohol and the lack of sleep. But then I saw Harry and the sight of him covered with bruises and bleeding was just like a bucket of cold water poured over me.
David had been taken.
My first thought was to call the police but then I got a phone call from Vince, telling me that he had my son and that if I didn’t want him to get hurt, I wouldn’t call the police. I would wait for him to call again.
So here I am, unable to do anything, completely helpless for the first time in my life.
And it’s the worst feeling in the world, even worse than the pain I felt last night.
Sabrina’s right. Protecting is all I can do, but I can’t even really do it, and so I can’t do anything at all.
“Randall?”
I look up to see Sabrina standing a few feet away. She looks like hell, too, circles under her eyes and the tearstains on her cheeks coated by fresh tears. She hasn’t even changed yet, still in that pink gown, although it doesn’t seem to sparkle anymore.
“Vince took him,” I tell her. “He must have done it to get back at me for last night.”
“And to hurt me,” she says as she approaches. “This is all my fault.”
Like before, she breaks down, kneeling on the grass, her hands pulling her hair as she sobs.
I want to comfort her just like last time. I want to put my arms around her and tell her that it’s not nobody’s fault but that’s not true. It is my fault. I was the one who decided to bring Sabrina to the party last night. I was the one who told Vince off. I was the one who promised to protect all of us.
And I failed.
I want to hold her so we can draw strength and comfort from each other, but I don’t. I can’t. I didn’t promise her that. All I promised was to protect her. That was all I intended to do.
Now I realize how selfish and foolish I’ve been.
I should never try to protect anyone. That’s arrogance. I can’t protect anyone when I’m weak.
I thought I was stronger now, but no, I’m still weak. And I’m still alone.
“Have you called the cops?” Sabrina asks feebly, between sobs.
“No. Vince told me not to.”
“What does he want?”
“I don’t know yet.” I shake my head. “He said he’d call back. I don’t know what time. All we can do is wait.”
***
The phone rings again at dusk. I answer it quickly, almost dropping the phone.
“Hello.”
“Hello, Mr. Brewster,” Vince greets me. “How has your day been?”
I swear, someday I’m going to kill this bastard.
For now, though, my priority is to find David. I glance at Gil, giving him the signal to try and track the call. Vince may have told me not to call the cops but he didn’t say I couldn’t call a tech expert.
“I’d like to speak to Sabrina,” he says.
I look at her. She’s changed her clothes and she looks a bit better but I know that she is just as scared and frustrated as I am.
She nods and I put the phone on loudspeaker before handing it to her.
She holds the phone against her cheek. “Vince.”
“So you do remember me.”
Her fists and jaw clench. “Don’t you dare hurt David. I let you get away with hurting me but I swear, if you hurt one hair of David’s head, I’ll—”
Vince laughs. “I knew you’d say that.”
“What do you want?” Sabrina demands.
“You,” Vince answers simply.
Sabrina tenses. “Explain.”
“I’ll send you the address. Tell your husband to bring you in two and a half hours. I’d like to see him again, too.”
My temper shoots up. “Why, you–”
Sabrina raises a hand to stop me and I shut up. I can’t lose my cool while David is still in danger.
“What about David?”
“After your husband brings you to me, I’ll tell him where to find David. If both of you don’t come, David is mine and I’ll do with him as I please. It’s that simple.”
Sabrina says nothing, her face pale.
“Do you understand, Sabrina?”
She nods her head slowly, her hand shaking. “Y-yes.”
“I’ll be waiting, Sabrina.”
I hear a click and the line goes dead. Sabrina slides to the floor, seemingly lifeless, the phone slipping out of her hands. I pick it up and, as soon as I do, it beeps to alert me of a new message.
It’s the message containing the address where I’m supposed to take Sabrina.
“That’s near where we tracked the call,” Gil says as he looks at the phone. “But that doesn’t help, does it? Vince isn’t with David.”
I shake my head. “No, he’s not, but he must be nearby. We have to find him quickly.”
“I don’t know if we can find him that fast,” Gil says. “This address is near the entrance to the Angelina National Forest. That means David must be somewhere in that forest but that’s more than 150,000 acres of land.”
“Can’t you access the security cameras?” I ask Gil.
“Even if I can, the park only has a few and they’re far between. Someone can easily sneak a kid in there with none of the cameras catching him.”
“Fuck!” I beat my fist on my table.
“You don’t have to waste your time looking for him,” Sabrina says. “You heard Vince. He’ll give David’s address.”
“And how can we be sure David will be there?” I ask her.
“You can because he doesn’t want David. I’m the one he wants.”
“I’m not handing you over to him,” I tell her.
“You have to.” She stands up. “It’s the only way.”
“Sabrina…”
“I’m going whether you’re bringing me or not.” She looks at me. “Though it will be better if you come, so you can find out where David is and go to him.”
I grab her shoulders. “I won’t let him have you, Sabrina.”
“Don’t you understand, Randall?” She shrugs me off. “He already has David. Right at this moment, David is suffering when it should be me. It should have been me all along.”
“It’s not your—”
“It is my fault. Now, please, let me pay for my mistake.”
I shake my head. We may have argued and she may hate me now but she is still my wife and I still care about her.
“I won’t.”
“Like I said, I’m going anyway.”
Why does she have to be so stubborn?
“We can put a tracker on her if you want,” Gil offers. “A microchip that we can put on your clothes or under your skin.”
“No.” Sabrina shakes her head. “Vince will expect that.”
“Then maybe one that you can swallow like a pill?” Gil suggests. “But that will only work for eight hours before it’s dissolved by gastric juices or–”
“That should be long enough,” I say to him.
Then I look at Sabrina, holding her hand. “Don’t worry. I’ll come for you after I rescue David. I’m not going to let Vince have either of you.”
***
I told Sabrina that Vince wouldn’t have her again, but now, in the car, as Sabrina and I approach the address Vince sent, I’m feeling terrified. What if David isn’t where he’s supposed to be? What if he’s seriously hurt and I have to bring him to a hospital? What if the tracker doesn’t work and I lose Sabrina? What if Vince does awful things to her before I rescue her?
Just the thought of Vince touching her makes me want to strangle someone with my bare hands.
Why? Why did it have come to this? Why do I have to hand over the woman I care about the most to get my son back?
“It will be okay,” Sabrina tells me, putting her hand over mine.
Why the hell is she the one comforting me when I can tell she’s even more terrified than I am?
“No matter what happens, don’t feel bad, okay?”
What is she saying?
“And if… things don’t go well…”
“Sabrina…”
She squeezes my hand. “If things don’t go well, promise me that you won’t try to make up for it by trying to protect someone else. If you really want to protect someone, love that person. That way, even if that person gets hurt, she’ll be able to heal and find her way back.”
I squeeze her hand in turn. “I’m sorry, Sabrina. I didn’t–”
“Shh.” She holds a finger to her lips. “It’s okay. Everything’s okay.”
How can she say that? I want to say more but I decide to save my words until I get her back.
“After I get you back, we’ll talk, okay?”
She nods. “Okay.”
After a few minutes, we reach the address. Sabrina takes the pill then she and I get out of the car to face Vince.
“Hello there,” he greets us, then glances at his watch. “I see you’re right on time.”
“Where’s David?” Sabrina asks.
Vince holds up a map. “You have to come and get it yourself.”
Sabrina looks at me.
I want to put my arms around her and keep her from going. I don’t want her to go. But I have to think of David.
I nod and Sabrina walks over to Vince.
“What? No goodbye kiss?” Vince teases.
“Where’s the map?” Sabrina asks.
Vince signals to his men to grab her.
“Check her,” he orders. “Make sure there isn’t a tracker on her.”
I look away as they grope her.
“She’s clean, boss,” one of his men answers.
“Good.” Vince grins.
He hands Sabrina the map, which Sabrina looks at before throwing it at me. It’s a map of the forest with a spot marked with a red dot.
“You’ll find David there,” Vince says. “I suggest you hurry before some wild animal finds him. I did tie him to a tree, after all.”
“Bastard.”
I step forward, wanting to throw a punch at him, but he lifts a finger.
“I didn’t say he was alone,” Vince informs. “If you hurt me, David could get hurt.”
Sabrina looks at me, pleading with me to calm down. I take a step back.
Vince laughs. “Look at you, a beast tamed by a woman.” He gets a few locks of Sabrina’s hair and rubs them against his cheek.
My jaw clenches.
“Last night, you looked like a wolf. Now, you look like a neutered dog. Who’s lost his balls now?”
His men laugh.
Fuck. I want to take them down. I know I have a chance. But I can’t risk David getting hurt.
There’s nothing I can do.
“Oh, by the way, don’t think of following us,” Vince says. “If any of my men spot anyone following us, David will get hurt.”
How dare he? How dare he threaten an innocent boy?
“Now, Sabrina.” He grabs her chin. “Why don’t you say goodbye to your husband, hmm? You and I are going to revisit one of our old haunts and maybe we’ll repeat what we did there last time, but with a little twist.”
I grit my teeth. “What’s to stop me from reporting you to the cops after I get David?”
“Oh, don’t call the cops,” Vince tells me. “Remember, I have Sabrina. If I see anything in the newspapers or see any cops on my doorstep, she will get hurt.”
Fuck.
“I’ll just have to hunt you down and come after her myself then.”
Vince laughs. “Good luck with that. I have many properties, Mr. Brewster, most of which aren’t in my real name. Sabrina isn’t the only one with an alias. You’ll never find me or her. Even if you do, I’ll have men stop you, even if it means killing you.”
I don’t care. I’m still coming after Sabrina.
She looks at me. “Take care of David.”
“That’s it?” Vince laughs. “No ‘I love you’?”
Sabrina says nothing more.
“I expected more emotion. Oh, never mind. I’m sure I can draw some from Sabrina later.”
“You–” My body moves forward on its own but I stop.
I can’t do anything. Not now.
“Bye. It was nice meeting you, Mr. Brewster.” Vince pushes Sabrina inside his van. “I’m sorry about your wife.”
Yes, you’ll be sorry. I’ll see to that.
“Oh, she doesn’t need this anymore.” He throws her wedding ring out, and I pick it up.
“And one more thing.” He signals to one of his men, who approaches me. “I said you can’t hurt me, but I didn’t say anything about me not hurting you.”
The man punches me squarely in the jaw and then the stomach. I reel back.
“Randall!” Sabrina screams.
“Quiet!” Vince scolds her. “That was payback for what you said last night, Mr. Brewster. I’m just taking back what’s mine.”
He closes the door to the van and it drives off. The man who punched me goes to the other car and they drive off, too.
Alone, I clutch my stomach and wipe the blood from the corner of my mouth.
Fuck, that hurts. But it isn’t going to stop me.
I look at the map in my hand.
I’m coming for you, David.
***
“Daddy!” David runs toward me, throwing his arms around me.
I throw my arms around him as well, squeezing him tight.
“Thank goodness I found you.”
It’s taken me over five hours to find him but finally, I have.
“What happened to you?” he asks, looking at my face.
“Oh, it’s nothing. I stumbled while looking for you. How about you? Are you all right?”
He nods.
I kiss his hair. “You’re safe now.”
Looking around, I don’t see anyone. Was Vince lying when he said someone was with David?
“Were you alone, David?” I ask him.
“Yeah. But I wasn’t scared.”
“Good.” I hug him again.
Damn that Vince. I could have taken him down. I could have taken down his men. Instead, I just handed Sabrina over.
Fuck.
“Where’s Sabrina?” David asks.
“Don’t worry,” I assure him, running my hands through his hair. “I promise we’ll get Sabrina back.”
I take out my phone from my pocket and call Gil.
“Yes?” Gil answers after the first ring.
“I have David. Now, please tell me you know where Sabrina is.”
Fighter
Sabrina
Where am I?
It seems like an eternity since I got into the van with Vince. After hours of sitting at the back of the van with a blindfold on, the vehicle finally stops. The journey doesn’t end, though. One of Vince’s men carries me for miles on foot, which is uncomfortable to say the least.
Now, finally, the blindfold is off and I find myself inside a house, shoved into a room – a bedroom with a queen-sized bed. The floral sheets match the curtains, an old cabinet, an Aztec rug hanging on the wall and a...
Wait a minute. I recognize that rug.
“Look familiar?” Vince asks as he stands behind me.
After a few moments, I remember. This is a house somewhere in the forests of Chihuahua, Mexico. It’s the place where Vince and I went on vacation, back when he was still trying to win me over.
This is where we first had sex.
I tense.
“Ah, you do remember.” Vince places an arm around me. “And I hope you remember what I said before we got in the van, too. We’ll repeat what we did here las
t time, but with a little twist.”
He goes to the cabinet, inserts a key into the top drawer and pulls a whip from it. I whimper, remembering how much that hurt.
He gets something else from the drawer – a coil of rope and a syringe on a tray. A drug?
He holds the syringe, grinning. “This will paralyze you for a little bit. You won’t be able to move, but the good thing is you will still feel everything. In fact, you’ll feel everything more intensely.”
I shudder.
He takes a step forward, and I step back, afraid. He laughs.
“As much as I’d love to do it now, I’ll wait until you’re rested.” He puts everything back in the drawer and locks it. “I’m tired, too.”
I heave a sigh of relief.
“But later.” He touches my cheek. “We will play.”
Laughing, he leaves the room.
Once I’m all alone, I go to the window to look outside, trying to get an idea of what time it is. It looks like the early afternoon, which means…
Shit.
I sit on the floor, burying my face in my hands.
More than eight hours have passed. I don’t even know where we were at eight hours. Were we already in Mexico then?
Maybe not.
I’m screwed. There’s no way Randall will be able to find me now.
Randall.
He looked so anguished when he was driving me to Vince. I hope he’s okay. I hope that, in spite of those punches, he’s okay. I hope he’s found David.
Imagining them in each other’s arms, I smile. That image is my only comfort in my dire situation.
I look around the room. Now that I’m on my own, I don’t know what I should do. Should I try to escape? But there’s a ravine below the window and the door is locked. Even if I manage to get out of the house, Vince’s thugs will be after me.
There’s no escape.
As my gaze falls on the curtains, the thought of hanging myself with them comes to mind. I did say I would rather die than be Vince’s prisoner again. The thought of the syringe in that drawer makes that idea more tempting but I shake my head.
If I do that, I will really become a nobody, and worse, David and Randall will be sad.
