Luke (Dark Water Security Series Book 1)

by Madison Quinn

  “They worked together,” she realizes. “Him and the guy who gave you the package.”

  “I think so, because looking back there was no one in the warehouse. The parking lot was empty, and there was no sign that anyone had been there in a long time. I think he was waiting for me.”

  “I’m sorry…I shouldn’t have asked.”

  “It is what it is, Em. Can’t do anything about it now.”

  I wake up, immediately searching out the dim light coming from the bathroom. Twenty-six fucking years old and I still have to sleep with a damn nightlight. I’ve tried to make do without it, but the light is the only thing that can calm me after a nightmare. It’s the only thing that forces me to realize I’m not trapped in that dungeon again. Dungeon, prison, worst nightmare…none of those words are adequate to describe what that place was to me…to us.

  I take a quick shower and toss on a pair of sweats before heading outside. The sun is barely on the horizon, but it’s light enough for me to see, which is all that matters. I set the alarm on the house before taking off. I’d like to say I don’t run often, but the worn path I follow says a different story. Some nights the gym is enough to distract me, but some nights I need to feel the fresh air on my face to rid myself of the memories.

  The nightmare wasn’t that bad, not compared to the others, but it makes me think of everything that happened there. Some days that means thinking about Em and other days, like now, it means remembering everything. I made Em promise when we walked into the hospital that she wouldn’t say a word about what had happened that night. I didn’t need to explain what night I was talking about—she knew. She tried to convince me that I should tell someone, but I refused. Though from the questions they asked, the doctors knew what had happened while I was held there all those months.

  I shudder as the memories flood me, forcing me to stop and empty my stomach only a few minutes later. I chug the bottle of water I brought with me and push on. The cool morning air and the trees blowing in the wind help to keep me in the present. By the time I complete the long path through the forest, I’m finally in a better mindset than I was when I left the house. I take a quick shower before heading into my home office to review some files. I have a few projects I want to work on around here later, but for now, I’m diving into work.

  Chapter 25

  Luke

  “We might have a problem,” Alec says as soon as I answer the phone.

  “What’s wrong?” Immediately, I’m rushing back inside having spent the last couple hours repairing the shed.

  “I got a call from Emily—”

  “Emily? Is she okay? What’s wrong?”

  “It might be nothing, but—”

  “Damn it, Alec! Spit it out!”

  “She thinks someone is following her, but she’s not sure.”

  “Fuck.” I glance at my phone and see no missed calls from her. She didn’t fucking call me…she called Alec instead.

  “I know things between you two are tense, so I’ll respect your decision if you want to sit this one out, but I need to know if you want to be involved or if I need to call—”

  “Fuck no, you don’t need to call anyone else. I’m going to grab my keys. Fill me in on what’s going on.”

  “Here’s what I know: she was out with a realtor this morning looking at apartments. She said she remembered seeing a grey sedan in at least one of the parking lots, but didn’t think much of it at the time. She stopped by a grocery store, and on her way out, she saw the same grey car. Not sure if it was a coincidence, she made a couple more stops and at each one, the grey car was there.”

  “Fuck, where is she now?”

  “Driving around. I told her under no circumstances is she to go back to the hotel.”

  “Tell her to head to the office, I’ll—”

  “I suggested that, but she said she was already headed in the opposite direction. I think it’s an excuse because she could easily turn around.”

  “Why wouldn’t she want to head there?”

  “No idea, but I’m guessing whatever is going on, she doesn’t want the person to know where she’s working.”

  “Fuck!”

  “Look, she’s not far from a coffee shop a buddy of mine owns. Let me send her there and I’ll have the new guy meet her there, he doesn’t live far from that place…what’s his name again?”

  “Garrett…yeah, get him there before she arrives. He’s not to leave her side, no matter what. I don’t like this.”

  “Me either. I’m going to send you the address now and then get everything in place. Call me when you have her.”

  “I’m on it.”

  I quickly merge onto the highway and floor it, the urge to get to Emily is stronger than I’ve ever felt. I ignore the irrational part of me that’s fucking jealous that she called Alec and not me. Logically I know it’s because things are still so uncertain between us, but it fucking bugs me just the same. I should have been the first person she called. I should have been the one talking her through this, not him!

  I tamp down the anger, knowing it will only make the situation worse and right now the last thing she needs is me blowing up at her. Who the fuck would want to hurt her? She doesn’t know a single person in Virginia except for those who work for us. From what I know of her, she hasn’t gotten involved in anything since she moved here. But then again, what the fuck do I know?

  I kick myself for being so distant with her. Things were a little better, but we’re more like two strangers than we are anything more. I shouldn’t have pushed her away like I did, especially knowing that she’s here by herself. I should have pushed past my own shit and made sure she was doing okay. I should have paid more attention to her.

  Fuck!

  It’s nearly half an hour later by the time I pull into the parking lot of the coffee shop that Alec sent me to. I breathe a sigh of relief when I open the door and see her sitting at a small table in the back, with Garrett, our newest team member, standing only a few feet from her. Immediately I’m impressed. He’s giving her space, but is still close enough to step in should something happen. I rush towards her, barely stopping to glance around the nearly empty shop. Her eyes are on me before the door closes behind me. As soon as I reach her, I wrap her in my arms, not even letting her stand up first.

  “Are you okay?” I pull back only long enough to look her over, needing to see for myself that she wasn’t hurt.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Alec called me.” I glance at Garrett who decides it’s a good time to order a cup of coffee.

  “He said he was sending someone, I just assumed…”

  “Why didn’t you call me?”

  “I wasn’t sure you’d want me to.”

  “Fuck,” I grab her hand and pull her up against my chest. “No matter what, you can call me. Day or night, Em, you call me.”

  “Okay,” it’s hesitant, but the promise is there.

  “Let’s get you out of here. Do you have everything you need?”

  “There are groceries in my car. I’m sure half of it’s probably melted or spoiled by now.”

  “Garrett will take care of it.”

  “Where am I going?”

  “Home with me.”

  “But—”

  “It’s the safest place, and you already know how difficult it is to tie the house to me. So, whoever is trying to find you, won’t.”

  “Are you sure? Alec said I could go back to the office and stay there, maybe I should do that.”

  “You’re coming with me,” I growl harsher than I intend to. “Garrett, see to her car.”

  “Of course.” He extends his hand, and Emily reluctantly gives him her keys.

  “Do you need anything from your car?” I ask.

  “No, I bought a bunch of things…but I really didn’t need them. It was just to…”

  “How about a cup of coffee or tea to take with us?” I suggest knowing I need a minute to chat with Garrett before we leave.
>
  “Yeah, this one’s cold.”

  “Here,” I give her cash, “will you order me something? I’m going to check on Garrett.”

  “Okay.”

  “What do you know?” I ask as soon as she’s out of ear-shot.

  “I arrived a few minutes before Ms. Telford did. I positioned myself at the front entrance so I could see the moment she pulled in. A grey Toyota Camry pulled in moments after Ms. Telford did, but when I opened the door to meet her he sped off.”

  “Did you get a license plate number?”

  “Only a partial,” he pulls out his phone. “Massachusetts plates ending with Y8D. If I were to guess, the car was no more than two years old and most likely a rental.”

  “That’s what I was thinking. Did you get a look at the driver by chance?”

  “Caucasian male, mid to late thirties. Unfortunately, he was wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, so I didn’t get a very good look at him.”

  “You did good. Thank you for stepping in at the last minute like this.”

  “Glad I could help.”

  “I’m going to call and have someone meet you here to assist with Emily’s car. Take it back to the warehouse and be sure it’s locked up. Oh, she said something about groceries in the trunk that are going bad. Can you—”

  “I’ll take care of it, sir.”

  “Thanks.” I pat him on the arm before heading to the end of the counter where Emily is waiting with our drinks. “Ready?”

  “Yup.”

  I hand her the baseball cap and hoodie I had in my SUV. She looks at me questioningly but quickly puts them on. It’s not perfect, but if he’s still watching her, he shouldn’t think the woman leaving with me is Emily.

  Chapter 26

  Luke

  “You didn’t have to come, but thank you.”

  “I’ll always come, Em. No matter what, if you need me, I’m there. Now, tell me what happened because, don’t tell Alec, but once he said you were in trouble I may have blacked out on anything else that followed. I think he said something about you noticing a grey car following you?”

  It shouldn’t have taken this for me to realize how much she still matters to me, but it did. I’ve spent the last few weeks fighting the pull she has on me, but I’m done fighting. I know it’s my fault she didn’t call me; I haven’t given her any reason to think she could have turned to me for help.

  “I had an appointment with a realtor this morning to check out some apartments not too far from the office. While we were leaving one of the buildings, I noticed a grey car in the parking lot—”

  “What stood out about it?”

  “Nothing really.”

  “Out of all the cars in the parking lot, you focused on that one. Why?”

  “It wasn’t there when we went into the building.” The words spill out after a few minutes of silence. “I know it doesn’t make sense, but I…I knew all the cars that were there when we arrived, and then what was different when we left. This one was new.”

  “Okay, but not unusual. Someone came home from work or shopping or something.”

  “Right, but then the same car was at the next building when we were leaving.”

  “You’re sure it was the same car?”

  “Pretty certain. I mean, I can’t swear on it, but I think it was.”

  “Okay, then what?”

  “That was the last apartment we were looking at today so the realtor left and I sat in my car for a few minutes checking my email. I didn’t think too much about the car, because the Camry is a pretty popular car, especially in that color. I planned to go back to the hotel, but when I pulled onto the main road I noticed the car wasn’t far behind me. I thought it might all be in my head, you know maybe I was just being paranoid or something. So, I stopped at the grocery store and picked up a few things. When I left the store I didn’t immediately see the car, but just as I was backing out of the parking spot it was there… almost like he was waiting for me.”

  “Shit.”

  “I stopped at a few other places just to see if he would lose interest.”

  “But he didn’t. Why didn’t you call the police?”

  “And say what? A grey car might be following me, but he’s not threatening me. Hell, he hasn’t even gotten out of his car yet? Oh and by the way, I was kidnapped and held captive as a child so I may or may not be crazy.”

  “You are not crazy!” I hiss.

  “I didn’t think they would do anything, so I didn’t call them. Maybe I should have…”

  “What made you call Alec?”

  “I…I just had a bad feeling. I didn’t want to go back to the hotel, though I’m pretty sure he already knows where I live. I didn’t want to go to the office, which Alec suggested, because then he would know where I work. So I just started driving, and when he didn’t stop following me, I called Alec.”

  Fuck. I wish she would have called me. I get why she didn’t, but still.

  “Did you get a look at the driver?” I asked.

  “No. He had glasses on and a hat, I think. He didn’t get out of the car…well, that I know of. He could have been in the store with me and I wouldn’t have noticed.”

  “I’ll check the database when we get to my place, but he should still be in jail.”

  “He is,” there is no doubt in her voice.

  “You’re certain?”

  “I have notifications set up; any time he is moved to a different facility or something happens, I’m notified.”

  “I didn’t think he would have gotten out yet.”

  Turns out we weren’t his first victims. Luis George had done this before. I never did get all the details—really I didn’t want them—but from what I understood, he kept records of each of the boys he had taken over the years. I was the fourth one, while Emily was the first female, at least according to what they could find. There were no records of what happened to the boys, but my guess is they were either killed in the fights or he sold them to someone else. Because of everything they found, he was sentenced to more than twenty-five years in prison. Parole is something to worry about, but with his long record, no one seemed to think he would be granted it.

  “Do you know anyone in Virginia? I know you didn’t before, but maybe since you moved here?”

  “No, just everyone from work.”

  “You haven’t…dated anyone or maybe met someone?”

  “No.”

  I don’t know why, but hearing that she hasn’t is like a weight lifted off my shoulders. I shouldn’t care if she’s found someone here. Hell, I should ne fucking be happy for her if she did.

  “Maybe someone from the hotel? Anyone you talk to regularly?”

  “No. I keep to myself.”

  “We’ll get a call with Alec, maybe between the three of us we can figure out who this might be.”

  “Thanks. I’m sorry to pull you both into this, but I didn’t know what else to do.”

  “We’re happy to help. Until we figure out what’s going on you can stay with me.” The words are out of my mouth without a second thought.

  “Luke…are you sure? I’m fine staying at the office or getting a room at a different hotel or—”

  “You can stay with me,” I repeat, letting her know there is no room for argument. “I have plenty of space and there’s no place safer for you.”

  “If you’re sure…”

  “I am.”

  “Thank you.”

  I keep a constant eye on the rearview mirror as I drive, but a quick glance at Emily confirms I’m not the only one being cautious. She’s constantly searching our surroundings, more so than she usually does—not that I blame her. I wish like hell there was something I could do to put her at ease, but the best I can do is to take her to my place. I’m purposely planning to take a longer way to get there, actually going past my exit and backtrack just to make sure—

  “Shit.”

  “What?”

  “We’ve got company.”

  “Are
you sure?” She immediately turns around, checking behind us.

  “I’m sure,” I grunt. “Climb into the backseat and lay down—”

  “What? No! I’m not going to hide!”

  “Em! I’m not fucking telling you to hide. I’m trying to keep you alive! You don’t know who this bastard is. What if he has a gun? If he can see you, he can get an easy shot fired.”

  “But—”

  “Go!”

  She mumbles under her breath, but a few seconds later she climbs over the console and slides into the backseat. Meanwhile, I’m forced to split my focus between the rearview mirror and the traffic in front of me. I quickly take in my surroundings, knowing I need to come up with a plan to lose this bastard before we even get close to my house.

  “Put a seatbelt on, things are going to get a little bumpy,” I say as I note the exit coming up fast.

  Emily doesn’t respond, but the faint click of the belt confirms she did as I asked. Just before it’s too late, I cut across all three lanes of the highway and take the exit. Unfortunately, the fucking asshole following us catches on and slams on his brakes giving him just enough time to follow us. I knew losing him couldn’t be that easy.

  “Luke?”

  “Just a few more minutes and he’ll be gone,” I vow as I quickly put together a new plan.

  Call it a side effect of what happened to me, but when I bought this place I quickly plotted out several different ways to get to and from the house. I used the excuse that it would be helpful if the main roads were ever closed, but the reality is, wherever I am, I need to know how to get away quickly. It was the same thing when we purchased the office. If I ever need to get away quick, I need to know I have several options available to me. I don’t want to be stuck…not like before.

  “I feel like I should be doing something,” Emily mumbles from the backseat.

  “I know, but just stay down. It’s almost over.”

  I take a few more turns, hopefully confusing him so he doesn’t figure out my destination. Up ahead is an on-ramp to the highway, the same highway we got off of not more than ten minutes ago. The difference is this one has a very short merge lane, which can either work in my favor or against me. At the last minute, without using a turn signal, I yank the wheel cutting off a truck heading towards us in the opposite lane. A quick glance behind me, confirms at least this part of my plan worked. The grey Toyota is forced to wait until the tractor trailer and several cars after him pass by. In the meantime, I floor the gas and quickly merge onto the highway once again cutting someone off. I don’t let up on the gas as I weave in and out of lanes trying to put as much space between us and the Toyota as possible.