Skin Deep

by Daniels, A. J.

  “Fuck,” Mike says under his breath.

  His thoughts exactly.

  “Parker, it’s been a day. What if he . . .” Kat can’t bring herself to finish her sentence.

  Twenty-four hours is a long time to hold someone against their will without killing them. But he knows Adam doesn’t want to kill her. He’s sick and delusional but he loves her. He wouldn’t kill her unless he thought there was no way he could have her to himself. Jay walks out into the hallway when his phone rings.

  Adam wouldn’t kill her because he thinks he succeeded in killing him. “Don’t say it, Nic. She’s not dead. She can’t be.”

  “Parker—” Mike starts, moving closer.

  “No.” He throws off the hospital blankets and removes the stupid IV line before pushing himself up off the bed.

  “Parker! What are you doing?” Alice exclaims when she walks back into his room with Dr. Reynolds in tow.

  “I’m not going to lie helpless while that sick fuck has my girl.”

  Mike and Dr. Reynolds converge in front of him, blocking his path to the closet and his clothes.

  “You need to take it easy still, Collins. You lost a lot of blood, and your stitches are still fresh.” Reynolds has his hands up to stop him, but he continues his advance.

  “You won’t be helping her if you walk out of here early and end up back here with an infection or worse,” Mike adds.

  Fuck that, this is what they’re trained for. It has now become a hostage situation. He’ll deal with the stitches and any other injury as they need attention but he’s not staying in the damn hospital. “I don’t care. I need to find her. We’re trained for this.”

  “I get it, but all of our teams have been working round the clock to track down his whereabouts.”

  Before Mike can continue to convince him to stay put, Jay walks back through the door, pocketing his phone. “Got a last location. The fucker hides his tracks well but he slipped up this time.”

  “Dude, what the fuck?” Mike, always the one with the exceptional vocabulary.

  Jay shrugs. “He needs to find his girl. You know that as well as I do trying to stop him right now would be about the same as banging your head repeatedly against a brick wall and expecting the wall to move. We might as well help him and make sure his ass doesn’t die this time.”

  Mike sighs, looking from Parker to Jay and back again. “Fine, but I’m coming with you.” Mike turns back and points his finger at Parker. “And we’re calling for reinforcements.”

  Dr. Reynolds clears his throat. “You know, as your doctor and family friend, I’m going to officially have to advise against you leaving.”

  “And unofficially?” Parker asks

  “Unofficially, go get your girl. Just try not to get stabbed this time or worse. Don’t come back dead.”

  “No promises, Doc.”

  “Right,” he mumbles under his breath while walking away to complete his rounds. As soon as Dr. Reynolds is out of earshot he turns back to Jay.

  “I’m going to need a gun.”

  “I have a .45 in my glove compartment.”

  He nods. “That’ll do.”

  “So, what? You’re going to go all Expendables in bloody clothes with one gun and one round?” Alice chimes in with a raised eyebrow.

  “Why not? Statham and Stallone did it,” Mike retorts.

  “Ah, no they didn’t. They had a lot more fire power and a whole team. Plus, that was a movie. I thought guys were knowledgeable about this stuff,” Alice fires back with her hands on her hips.

  He can sense that Mike is gearing up for an argument, but they don’t have time for this shit. They need to get out there and find her. “Look, you guys can argue action movies another day, but we need to move.”

  “Jessica and I will go back to our apartment,” Kat says, walking up to Jay and placing her hand on his arm. “Please call us when you find her.” Her eyes plead with him before she and Alice turn and continue their way down to the elevators.

  “The guys have the surveillance video from the gas station Adam was last seen at. They’re waiting for us to get to my house before they watch it.” Jay looks up from his phone and to Parker expectantly.

  “Jessica’s right. We’ll stop at my place to grab clean clothes and my Glock.”

  “You really want to go back there, P?” Mike looks hesitant.

  “It might actually help if he can find anything out of place that we might have missed,” Jay counters.

  “You think he grabbed her from the house?” Parker asks.

  “That’s what we’re thinking. Her fingerprints were found close to where we found you.”

  “She lives there, obviously her fingerprint would be in the house.”

  “Parker, she had your blood on her hand when she made the print.”

  “She found me?”

  Jay nods. “She did, and it looks like she was about to call 9-1-1 before she was taken. Her cell phone was lying next to your head, but she never got the chance it hit dial.”

  “So, Adam probably thinks I’m dead.”

  “It’s a possibility. When Mike and I found you we had a hard time finding a pulse. Your heartbeat had slowed drastically, and you’d lost a lot of blood.”

  “I hate to even ask this, but would Adam kill her?” Mike questions

  Remembering his thoughts from earlier he shakes his head, “He’s sick and delusional but he loves her. He wouldn’t kill her unless he thought there was no way he could have her. If he thinks he succeeded in getting rid of me then he has no reason to kill her.”

  “Okay. Would she provoke him if she thought you were dead?”

  “Dude, that’s some Shakespearian shit.” Both Jay and Parker looked over to Mike with brows drawn together.

  “What? I know Romeo and Juliet.” Mike shrugs.

  “No, I don’t think she would. She’s scared, but if I know her, she’ll be trying to keep her cool and look for a way out of wherever he has her.”

  “Let’s get the team over to your house. We’ll set up home base there,” Jay suggests.

  The three of them leave the hospital to meet up with the rest of the team at Parker’s house. As soon as they’re through the front door they do a sweep of the house. When nothing comes up Parker races upstairs to shower, change into his spare tactical gear, and grab his extra firearm.

  When he finally makes it downstairs Jay has already briefed the three teams on the information they have and watched the surveillance video from the gas station.

  “What do we have?” Parker asks, strapping on his vest.

  “Matt and Joe just talked to the gas station attendant. He said he recognized Adam from the picture they showed him. Apparently, Adam has gone in there regularly to fill up his car or purchase other stuff,” Jay says, pointing to the attendant on the laptop screen.

  “Does he know where Adam’s staying?”

  “He does. He told the guys that the entire area is taken up by farmland. There are only three houses within fifteen kilometers. He and his wife live in one and he says he knows the couple who live on the land attached to his. But the owner of the land on the opposite side had a family emergency out west so he decided to rent it out. The attendant doesn’t know who the guy rented it to, but he’s only ever seen Adam come and go.”

  “Do we have an address?”

  “Matt should be sending it through now.”

  “Let’s gear up.”

  …

  “Heat sensor is showing only one person inside,” Matt says, running up to meet them as the team exits both SUVs.

  “Do you have a layout of the house yet?” Parker asks, scanning the exterior of the house and surrounding farm land.

  It smells like old horse shit out here, like someone just abandoned their horses and has been gone for some time.

  “Three bedrooms. One on the far right side, the other two on the far left side. Separated by a living room and kitchen. Bathroom is on the right, next to the bedroom,” Joe says,
joining them.

  “Danielle?”

  “She’s in the room on the right, sir.” Joe points to the side of the house directly in front of him.

  “Can you get a visual?” Mike asks.

  “Working on it, sir.”

  “All right, let’s go over our entry one more time.” Jay moves toward the second SUV parked behind them and lays out a floor plan of the farm house on the hood.

  “Mike, you and your team take the back entrance. Parker and I will take the front with Nick, Joe, and Clint. If the target shows up, shoot on sight.”

  The teams nod their understanding before dispersing to check their weapons and ammunition and separating into their respective teams.

  “You okay, man?” Jay slaps Parker on the back, and he winces. “Shit, sorry.”

  “I’ll be fine once I know she’s safe.”

  “Dude, you sure you want to go in there? Matt can go in your place,” Mike says, coming up on his other side.

  He nods. “I need to know that after today he won’t be able to hurt another hair on her head. That she’ll finally be free and able to start fully healing from the years of unseen torture and sick games. I need to know that even after being injured I can still protect her, that guys like Adam will never win. But I swear to all that is holy, if he hurts one hair on her head I will hunt him down and I will kill him. No one threatens my woman.”

  Mike sighs and places his hand on Parker’s other shoulder. “Let’s go get your girl.”

  …

  “Sound off when ready,” Jay says into his mic.

  “Ready.” Mike replies.

  “Okay, let’s do this fast so that we can get the hell out of here. On three.” Jay raises his arm and counts on his fingers: One. Two. Three.

  Parker doesn’t hear or see anything else after the initial knocking down of both doors. His heart is hammering in his chest and all he can think of is that she is somewhere in this house, and the only thing stopping him from getting to her are four walls

  “Clear!”

  “Clear!”

  “Staff Sergeant!” Clint yells from across the house.

  Parker runs towards him and stops dead in his tracks when he enters the room Clint’s standing outside of.

  She’s blindfolded and chained to a queen-sized bed. Her shirt lies in tatters on the floor, and her jeans are pooled around her ankles. Her underwear and bra are still intact. Bruises adorn her arms, neck, and jaw, and her lip is split. Her face is streaked with dried tears and black mascara.

  “Danielle.”

  Her head turns to the direction of his voice. “Parker?”

  He doesn’t waste any time untying the blindfold and cutting through the ropes around her wrists and ankles. The sight of the bruising around them almost bringing him to his knees. “Oh, baby.” Ignoring the pain in his chest, he gathers her up in his arms and swears to himself that he’ll never let her go.

  She grips the back of his shirt while she buries her nose in his neck and cries harder.

  “You’re not dead,” she says when her tears have slowed down enough.

  “It takes a lot more than that to kill me.”

  “You came for me?” she asks, disbelief present in her eyes.

  He knows there’s more meaning behind that question than just him tracking her down after Adam took her. All her life she was used to people not choosing her. She was made to feel like she wasn’t worth the effort, that she wasn’t good enough. But he will always put her first. And he will make sure he spends the rest of his life proving to her that she’s worth the effort. “Baby, I’ll always come for you. I don’t care how hard you fight me, Danielle. You can push me away again and again, but I’ll keep coming back. I’ll keep fighting for you. For us. Because you’re worth it, Danielle. Nothing and no one will keep me from you.”

  Fresh tears fall down her cheeks as she flings herself at him again, wrapping her arms around his neck.

  He winces when her body hits his.

  “Fuck, I’m sorry.” She pulls back looking at his chest.

  “It’s okay, but we might need to take a trip back to the hospital. I think I may have started bleeding again.”

  “Parker, you didn’t have to—”

  “Don’t finish that sentence. Yes, I did. I made you a promise that I’d protect you and I intend to keep that promise, Danielle.” His thumb gently slides back and forth over her cheek, “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  “Sorry to interrupt, but you might want to see this, P.” Mike knocks on the open door and inclines his head for him to follow.

  Mike leads him into the bedroom on the other side of the house where Jay is standing over a wooden chest that looks like it had been dragged out of the closet.

  “What did you find?” he inquires, walking over to Jay and the chest.

  “Not exactly sure.”

  “Trophies?” Mike suggests.

  “It’s possible. There’s everything in here from jewelry, and driver’s licenses, to women’s underwear.” Jay hands him the driver’s license he’s holding.

  “Jennifer White,” Parker reads.

  “Isn’t that the name of the wife?” Mike asks

  “It was the name of his wife,” Jay corrects.

  “Still can’t believe he’d kill his own wife,” Mike states.

  “It makes sense,” Parker reasoned. “He didn’t have any use for her anymore when he became partner in her father’s law firm. She was just a means to an end.”

  “‘Till death do they part,’ I guess,” Mike says.

  “Clint, get this all bagged for evidence and to the lab. If there are other victim’s out there we need to identify them and figure out where he buried the bodies,” Jay orders.

  “Yes, sir,”

  “If he buried them,” Parker adds.

  “If?” Mike questions.

  “Some serial killers don’t bury the bodies of their victim’s. Ed Gein wore the skin of his.”

  “Silence of the Lambs,” Jay comments.

  “He was a psychopath though,” Mike says.

  “Adam fits the profile,” Jay concludes.

  “He tortured and killed animals as a kid. His parents said he tried starting fires before that. And he killed his three-year-old sister without remorse. In fact, even at a young age he was able to fake his grief over her death so nobody would suspect him. He’s charming, he works his way up to partner in his law firm in under two years. That’s practically unheard of. Who knows how many others he’s killed over the years,” Parker offers.

  “Shit,” Mike says.

  “‘Not all criminals are psychopaths and not all psychopaths are criminals.’ Dr. George Simon said that,” Parker says.

  “But in this case he was both,” Jay comments.

  Not long after getting her to the hospital to get checked out, Parker receives a call from Constable Smith. After further investigation into her dad’s death the OPP have ruled his death a homicide. Parker lets him know about Adam and what Ashley had told him about Adam’s last encounter with her father, as well as his suspicion that Adam might have had more to do with her father’s death. Constable Smith agrees to get his team to look into it more from his side.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  “Hey, princess!” Parker greets, opening the door for Anne and Bella

  “I brought Zootopia!” Bella exclaims, running past him into the living room.

  “How is she?” Anne asks, stepping through the front door as he props it open.

  He shrugs. “She’s stubborn. She says she’s okay but she’s having a hard time with everything.”

  Anne nods. “Do you think it’d be okay if I went up to talk to her?”

  “You go ahead. Bell and I will be down here watching her movie.”

  …

  Anne stands hesitantly at the open door to Parker and Ashley’s bedroom with one hand poised to knock.

  “Hey, Anne. Come in,” Ashley says, noticing her as she walks out o
f their bathroom.

  “Hey, Dani. How are you doing?”

  “Okay. I’ve had better days but I’m okay.”

  “Good. I’m glad you’re safe.”

  “What’s wrong, Anne?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Anne,” she challenges.

  “It really is nothing. You’ve already been through so much, this doesn’t seem as important anymore.”

  “Come on, Anne. Tell me. I could use something to distract myself with anyways.”

  Anne raises an eyebrow questioningly. “I thought you said you were okay.”

  “I am,” she protests, staring unflinchingly back at Anne.

  Anne sighs. “Okay, fine. Carl, my ex-husband, called me the other night.”

  “What did he want?”

  “He apologized for the way he left things and wanted to know if I’d be up for going for coffee and maybe revisit giving him another chance.”

  “And how do you feel about that? Do you want to?”

  “I never stopped loving him, Dani. I wasn’t the one who wanted the divorce. But he walked out at a time when I needed him the most. How do I know that when things get hard again, he won’t do the same?”

  “You don’t.”

  “That’s not helping.” Anne frowns.

  “I know, but it’s the truth. You don’t know if he’ll walk out again but you have to do what you feel is the right thing to do. If you still love him, and he still loves you, then why not go for a coffee and see how things go.” Ashley smiles reassuringly. “I’m not saying you have to remarry the guy, but go and see what he has to say then take it one day at a time from there.”

  “Thanks, Dani.”

  “No problem. I consider you a good friend, Anne. And I hope you know that if you ever need to talk I’ll be here.”

  “That goes both ways.” Anne levels a challenging look at Ashley.

  “Fair enough. I’m not okay. Ever since Parker and the team found me and brought me home I’ve been having nightmares. I wake up out of a deep sleep, sitting bolt upright and in a cold sweat.”

  “Does he know?”

  “I’m sure he does, but I don’t want to burden him even more with my nightmares. And he hasn’t said anything.” Ashley glances up from under long, black eyelashes with sadness in her eyes. “Is it bad that I wish the team would just find him and kill him? Then maybe my nightmares would go away, and the families of all those women would be able to sleep better at night knowing the bastard who killed their daughters will never be coming back.”