After The Storm

by K. M. Scott

  Smiling up at him, she sweetly patted him on the chest. “Trust me. If Jasper says this is the place, then this is the place. We’re in good hands.”

  Just then, Jasper turned to face the two of them and pulled a silver key out of his shirt pocket. “Anyone interested in a little breaking and entering?”

  Kate eagerly joined him as he opened the door, but Roman hung back a moment. He had a bad feeling about this guy. He was too clever, too funny for his taste.

  Or maybe it was the jealousy. Kate hadn’t been wrong about that. Never one for feeling jealous, he’d been nothing short of consumed by the emotion since he heard her tell Jasper on the phone that she loved him.

  The guy had gotten them into this place, though, and now that Roman looked inside after they’d turned on a light, he had to admit it had all the makings of a campaign office. As far as he could tell, it looked like where a candidate’s campaign could be run. It had chairs and metal desks, and the partitions made it look like any office he’d ever seen.

  What he didn’t see was a computer, though.

  “Roman, close the door and come in,” Kate said in a loud whisper from the back of the room.

  He followed her voice in the dim light and found her and Jasper huddled over a laptop computer that looked like it had seen better days. Jasper’s fingers typed away on the old keyboard, making him look like he knew what he was doing.

  Not caring if he heard, Roman asked Kate, “What? Is he a hacker too?”

  Jasper stopped typing for a moment and looked up, flashing him a cocky smile. “No. I just know what to ask for when I fuck someone. I could only get my girl to give me the passwords to get into the computer. After that, I can’t help you. She did say, though, that the governor’s people keep everything on here. Let’s hope it’s something you need.”

  Kate looked at him with a side glance he knew meant he’d said the wrong thing by questioning her friend, but Roman didn’t care. His gut still said something was off about this whole thing with Jasper. The sooner they got what they came for and got the hell out of there, the better.

  With one final tap on the keys, Jasper stood up and announced, “Okay, girls and boys. I got you in, and now I’m out of here.”

  While Kate thanked him profusely and gave him a hug, Roman wondered just how far he’d gotten them. Walking around the desk, he saw on the monitor screen a sign he might have been wrong about Jasper. Right there in front of him were listed all the files contained on that desktop.

  “Hey, is this the only computer here?” Roman asked as Jasper began to head toward the door to leave.

  Looking around the room, he answered, “As far as I can see. I didn’t ask my bedmate how many there would be. I just asked her how to get into the computers at the headquarters here. I’ve done that, so now I’m gone. Remember what you promised me. I’d suggest you two get out of here the minute you find what you’re looking for.”

  Roman got to work as Jasper closed the front door behind him. With Kate standing by his side, he began to copy the files to the jump drive she’d taken from Jonas Flynn’s desk in their last midnight caper to someone’s office. As the files copied, he called Xavier.

  “I’m sending you everything I can find that might help you figure out who’s behind this. It might be a longshot, but it’s worth a try.”

  “Great! What are you sending me?” Xavier asked.

  “Files from the governor’s campaign office,” Roman said flatly, struggling to keep his voice even as his heart beat wildly in his chest at the excitement of what Xavier might find in the files.

  “Holy fuck! Seriously? I’m not even going to ask how you got those files, Roman. You can save that for the drink I’m buying you when you get your ass back here.”

  The last of the files finished transferring to the jump drive, so Roman began sending them to Xavier. “If I get back. I have to go, but I hope to God you can figure out who is behind this from those files.”

  “They’re starting to come in. Okay, stay safe down there. I’ll let Nick and Persephone know what’s up.”

  Roman pressed END and silently said a prayer that he would find something to help them in those damn files. Quickly, he turned off the laptop and slammed it shut, more than ready to get out of that office.

  “Did he get them all?” Kate asked as Roman pushed her toward the door.

  “Yeah. We have to go. Now.”

  Just as they got to the front door, she turned in his hold and rushed toward the light switch on the back wall. “Wait! The lights! We don’t want anyone to see us coming out of here.”

  Roman watched her flick the switch and then turn back to come toward him, but in the dark, he suddenly saw a shadow come up next to her and then a second one. She cried out as one of them grabbed her, and Roman rushed toward them. Before he could reach her, a fist slammed into his jaw, sending him reeling backward. A second later, he got his bearings and charged the man, sending him over a desk onto the floor. He got a few punches in before something hit him in the back of the head.

  Before he blacked out, he heard Kate scream his name, but he couldn’t reach her. As he faded into unconsciousness, he heard one of the men say, “We need to take them to the hangar.”

  And then he heard nothing.

  * * *

  Roman’s eyes slowly fluttered open, and instantly, his head began to throb. He moved to lift his hand to touch where he’d been hit on the back of the head, but he couldn’t move his arms. Struggling to see because everything in front of him appeared grey and blurry, he strained to focus on why he was immobile.

  He sat on a hard, concrete floor with a rope holding his wrists tightly behind his back. A second later, he tried to move his ankles and found them bound also. As his eyesight cleared, he strained to make out where he was. He vaguely remembered hearing someone say they needed to go to the hangar, and now as he scanned the open space around him, he saw that’s exactly where he’d been taken.

  An airplane hangar.

  Roman turned his head left and right to look for Kate, but he couldn’t see her anywhere. Panicked they’d taken her somewhere else, he called out her name.

  “Kate! Where are you? Can you hear me?”

  Behind him, he heard a noise that sounded like her. He tried to see where she was, but he couldn’t turn far enough.

  “Kate! Talk to me! I can’t see you,” he called out.

  “Roman? I can’t see you either,” she said in a tiny voice.

  A mixture of dread and rage surged within him. Had they hurt her? Is that why she sounded so small and frail?

  “I’m right here, Kate. Don’t worry. I’m right here. You’re not alone.”

  “I can hear you and you sound so close, but I can’t see you,” she said louder now, and he figured out they were both bound on the floor near one another.

  “I’m behind you, I think. Are your hands and feet tied?”

  She made a small grunting noise and then answered, “Yes. My hands are tied behind my back. Oh God, my shoulders hurt so much.”

  Roman extended his fingers as far as they could reach, but he couldn’t touch hers. She was just too far away. He couldn’t give up, though. He had to find some way to get to her and then get them out of there.

  “Where are we?” she asked, her voice laced with fear that struck directly at his heart.

  “We’re in an airplane hangar at an airport somewhere.”

  He listened for sounds outside and heard nothing. It had to be a small, local airport or airstrip. “I’m not thinking a major airport, though. There’s no noise, no people around working on planes.”

  Without saying it, he knew what that meant. They weren’t in New Orleans anymore.

  The heavy sound of a large metal door opening alerted him to someone coming, so he quickly told Kate, “Don’t say a thing. Don’t answer whatever questions you’re asked. Understand?”

  She answered, her voice trembling, “Okay, I won’t say a thing. Are we going to be okay, Roman?”
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  His heart tightened in his chest at the sound of her fear. He needed to make her feel like everything would be okay.

  Even if he didn’t know if it would be.

  “I promised you I would protect you. I know things look bad, but trust me, okay? Just don’t tell them anything. And no matter what you hear me say or what they do to me, don’t tell them a thing. Promise me, Kate.”

  “I promise. I won’t.”

  “It’ll be okay. We’ll be out of here soon and then we can go anywhere you want. Okay? We can go back to Butcher’s and I’ll make you dinner this time.”

  “I’m scared, Roman.”

  Her confession tore at him, and he silently swore to God he’d get her out of there safe and sound. Heavy footsteps grew closer and closer until finally Roman saw a man appear next to him. A hulking giant of a person, he stood so tall that Roman had to crane his neck to look up at his face. As soon as he did, he wished he hadn’t. Scarred and pockmarked, it sent a chill down his spine. He just hoped Kate didn’t look at him.

  The man said nothing for so long Roman began to wonder if he just planned to kill them outright and not even bother to ask any questions. In all reality, they likely didn’t need to ask them much. They had Jonas’s laptop and jump drive, and those contained all the information they’d need about what he and Kate had been up to.

  Finally, the ugly man said in a deep voice that matched his giant size perfectly, “Why were you at the governor’s headquarters?”

  Behind him, he heard Kate’s sharp intake of breath and knew she must be terrified. He needed to make her think everything would be fine.

  “I’m not talking to you or anyone else until your boss gets here.”

  The man’s eyes flew open wide in rage, and a moment later, his large, bulbous fist came flying down and crashed into the side of Roman’s face. His head ricocheted back and then came forward to hang as blood began to leak from his mouth.

  “Once more, smartass. Why were you at the governor’s headquarters?”

  Roman pressed his lips closed, tasting the metallic tang of blood as it pooled on his tongue. He wasn’t going to tell this bastard anything. If he planned on beating him to death, he was going to do it if he answered or not.

  Kate sobbed behind him, whimpering, “Roman, are you okay? Are you hurt?”

  He opened his mouth to answer her and blood poured out onto his chest. She asked him again if he was okay, and that set the big lug off. But instead of hitting Roman again, this time he punched Kate. She cried out in pain, and in his mind, Roman swore to God once he got loose from his ropes, he’d kill that motherfucker for what he did to her.

  “Your girlfriend doesn’t take a punch as well as you do,” the man said with a hearty chuckle, taunting him.

  “Nice. Hitting women. What’s next? Kicking babies? You’re a real man,” Kate said behind him.

  “Kate!” Roman barked, hoping she’d understand she needed to keep her mouth shut.

  He looked up to see the man cocking his arm back and watched in horror knowing he couldn’t do anything to stop him. He’d been tugging at the ropes since he woke up, but he was nowhere close to getting free in time to stop this thug from beating on Kate for what she’d said.

  Better for him to take the hit than her.

  “I know her mouth makes you want to hit her, but I’m the one who thinks you’re a Grade A asshole. We’d see if you’re as big a pussy as I think if I wasn’t tied up and unable to hit back. My guess is you’d still be a candy ass with an ugly face to boot.”

  That did it. The man’s attention returned to Roman, and a few seconds later, he took out his rage on his face with a series of punches that left him dazed and with blood pouring out of his mouth and nose and some nasty kicks to his ribs that made him feel like he’d throw up at any second. His eye began to swell shut, so he could only see from the left side, but Kate had been spared.

  At least for the moment.

  The sound of another set of footsteps walking across the concrete floor toward them made him look up, but he couldn’t see who had come over. “Kate, if it’s another one like this guy, don’t speak.”

  “It’s not,” she said with tears in her words.

  “Who is it?”

  She hesitated at first and then said in a terrified voice, “It’s the governor.”

  Roman lifted his head and through his one eye that hadn’t swelled shut, he saw a man standing there next to them. Tall and thin, his jet black hair sat slicked back and shiny on his head. His long face looked tight, the cheekbones straining against the skin to give him a painful, angular appearance. Everything about this man reminded Roman of a snake.

  Ice cold and slick.

  “So these are the two found snooping around my campaign office,” he said in a flinty tone, an implicit threat hanging off each syllable.

  Roman sat silently and hoped Kate would remain quiet too. Now was the time to listen.

  “Your boss and that whistleblower didn’t know when to stop. It seems you two don’t either. I do want to thank you for the laptop and drive, though. One last loose thread that I don’t have to worry about anymore. Once Melvin gets his hands on you two, you’ll be taken care of too.”

  All while he spoke, Roman worked to keep the governor’s focus on his face while he twisted and turned his wrists to loosen the ropes holding him. He stared into the man’s eyes and saw pure evil, but he refused to look away, hoping to distract him long enough to let him get free.

  The governor turned his head and looked down at Kate. “All I want to know is who got you into my New Orleans office. Answer that and I promise you and your friend will go quickly.”

  Roman closed his eyes and listened to hear what Kate would say, but she stayed quiet, for once. The governor then asked Roman the same thing and made the same promise to him, but he simply shook his head. If he was going to die, he sure as hell wasn’t going to do it on some poor soul’s back.

  Their refusal to tell him what he wanted to know infuriated him, and he stormed away to go find Melvin. Roman knew this was their last chance to get free.

  He whispered to Kate, “Don’t worry. I won’t let them kill you.”

  “You aren’t going to be able to stop them. They’re going to kill both of us, Roman,” she sobbed.

  He continued to fumble around with the ropes tying his wrists until they were as loose as he could get them. “Trust me. I’m going to get us out of this.”

  Curling up into a ball, he pulled his hands down behind his legs and around his feet. Now he just needed to find something to cut the ropes so he could be free. Quickly scanning the area around him, he saw a screw coming out of a pole a few feet away. Inching over on his stomach, he frantically rubbed the ropes over the screw as he watched for that big guy to return. He tore through the rope enough to tug his hands free and then freed his ankles.

  “How? Roman, tell me. Where did you go?”

  Hurrying back to where he’d sat on the floor, he whispered to Kate, “I won’t let them kill us. I just need you to trust me.”

  Two men came walking toward them and announced that they were going to be moved. Taking what he saw as the only chance to get free, Roman jumped up, picked up a nearby chair and hit the one of them closer to him with it, knocking him out. He grabbed the man’s gun, but Melvin pointed his gun at Kate.

  Roman took aim and shot him, but before he went down, he got off one shot. Roman watched as Kate contracted on the floor in the lifeless heap. Rushing over to her, he saw the gunshot wound to her shoulder. She needed help right now. Untying her wrists and ankles, he kissed her as his mind raced with how he’d save her. He needed to get her out of that place. He grabbed one of the men’s phones from his pocket and then lifted her into his arms to carry her out of the hangar.

  Calling the Project Artemis compound, he said quickly into the phone, “I need assistance. The client is down. Kate has been shot.”

  Nick asked, “Where?”

  Roman looked aroun
d and saw a sign that said Lafayette. “We’re at a hangar, but I don’t think we’re still in New Orleans. I see a sign with the word Lafayette. Find out if there’s a local airport near there. It’s definitely small, Nick.”

  Nick told him, “Okay, we’ll find you. We’ll have someone there in less than thirty minutes. Hang tight. We’re coming.”

  Roman set her down on the ground and saw blood coming from her shoulder. Bending over, he kissed her lips and whispered against them, “Stay with me, Kate. You’re going to be okay. I’m right here with you.”

  She looked up at him and gave him a tiny smile. “I’m sorry, Roman. You were right. I’m sorry.”

  He kissed her again and pulled her to him. “No apologies needed. We’re going to be fine. Don’t leave me, Kate. I love you. I can’t let you leave me.”

  Her eyes began to close as she mumbled, “Always telling me what to do. I think I’ve grown to love that.”

  She stopped talking and her head dropped onto his chest. Panic rushed through him as the reality that Nick might not get someone there in time to save her settled into his head. She couldn’t die. She couldn’t.

  “Kate! Don’t leave me, Kate!”

  He watched for her to react, but her eyes remained closed. He couldn’t lose her now. Not now that he finally found her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Kate slowly opened her eyes, still groggy from sleeping and unsure if she’d just had the most vivid nightmare ever. Had she been beaten? Slowly, she came alive again, and the details began to get hazy.

  Looking around the room, she instantly knew she didn’t recognize it. Her bedroom in her apartment had blue walls. She knew this because she remembered how much time she’d taken picking out that pale blue color at the home improvement store. She painted those walls herself on a long Fourth of July holiday weekend after her last breakup made her decide to completely change the room to rid herself of every last remnant of that boyfriend.