Arms of Serenity (Rock Services) (20 page)

Chapter
Eighteen

Nick walked a few blocks around and approached the front guards from the opposite direction of the van. When they drew their guns, he put his hands in the air. “Easy, guys, I have an invitation.”

The smaller of the two spoke into his radio and nodded when the approval came over to let Nick in.
With weapons aimed at his back, Nick slowly edged his way through the door when it opened. Two more of Morris’s men were directly in front of him with their sights on his head and chest.

Nick stopped and remained still.
He kept his hands up and watched the men’s faces waiting for their next move. They stood motionless and returned the stare. Nick recognized their stance and the look in their eyes. He gave a silent curse knowing they were military.

“Nicholas.
It’s wonderful that you could make it.” Nick heard the familiar voice as his footsteps on concrete floor drew closer. “Gene and Daryl, please make our guest welcome.” The taller of the two lowered his gun and stepped toward him. He patted Nick down and then stood giving a nod.

“Wonderful.
I see you can follow direction well, Nicholas.”

Nick put his hands down and stepped forward as the two facing him changed their position to flank his back.
When the men moved, Morris appeared. 

Being Special Forces,
expect the unexpected was a motto that could cover your ass in most situations and keep it in one piece when you were deep in a crap storm. But, with all of his training and experience even Nick wasn’t prepared for the surprise of seeing Morris for the first time.

The confidence in his words and demanding tone he had given, defied the picture of the man that was in front of him.
He looked frail, and if Nick would have to venture a guess, somewhere in his early seventies. He towered over Morris easily by a foot, and when he looked down at him Nick could see the age spots that littered his balding head. The tailored suit he was wearing accentuated his small thin frame, and when Nick looked harder he could almost detect slight tremors that rippled along the fabric that ended in shaking hands.

Morris reminded him of someone’s aging grandfather.
Too bad he didn’t care. The bastard had kidnapped Becca, and for that Nick was going to make sure that he would never threaten or harm her or anyone else again. It took all of Nick’s restraint not to lunge and lift him off his feet to snap every bone in his body like a twig.

Soon, a few more minutes.

Nick did a quick scan of the building counting the men and weapons that were visible.
The original count had been wrong. Not including Morris, there were six inside that he could see, and all were armed with automatic rifles and side-arms. If he had to guess, the rest of them were military also. The situation had gone from bad to worse, and he gave another silent curse.

“Where is she
, Morris?”

“Yes, of course.
You will see that I was true to my word, and she is unharmed.” Morris turned and nodded toward the rear of the building. Two men walked toward the back and opened a door that most likely was the office at one time. Another man emerged from the room pulling Becca with him.

She was still gagged and blindfolded.
Her hands were bound, but they had untied her legs letting her walk on her own. Nick could see her legs trembling, and he held his breath silently willing her not to stumble or fall as she clumsily tried to keep up with the man’s stride.

He brought Becca to a stop about twenty feet in front of Nick.
His heart dropped into his stomach at the sight of her looking so fragile and helpless. She looked defeated with her head down and shoulders slouched. Every muscle twitched, and he had to mentally order his feet not to move and go to her to wrap her in his arms.

“It seems you forgot your manners again.
You should be greeting your Rebecca, and then it would be polite if you show your gratitude for my keeping her safe in your absence.” Nick’s body went rigid as the words came out of Morris. He was going to enjoy ripping that condescending tongue out of his mouth and shoving it up his ass.

“Angel?
It’s Nick.” Nick called out to her waiting to see how she reacted to his voice. He didn’t know what she had been told or if anything had been done to her. Her head shot up, and he could hear muffled words coming from her.

“Everything is going to be ok.
Trust me, you’re going to be ok.”

Nick’s heart, still in his stomach, broke into pieces as she nodded, a stray tear escaping from behind the blindfold and trailing down her cheek.

****

The door opening suddenly ripped Becca out of her thoughts. She felt herself being pulled up as a hand, attached to a rough voice, clasped around her arm.

“Let’s go.”

On trembling legs, Becca struggled to
remain on her feet as he pulled her along. She silently prayed she wouldn’t collapse, although the thought did cross her mind that it would serve them right if they had to pick her off the ground a couple of times. It might even help stall them from getting to their destination. She couldn’t shake the feeling that this was the end, that whatever they had planned to do with her was about to happen.

All too soon the man halted her movements. Becca kept her
head down trying to listen and get a sense of direction. If she was going to try to escape, this might be her only chance.

The man who had untied her legs wa
s talking to someone. Actually, by the tone of his voice and word choice, it was more like he was talking
at
someone. He was patronizing, egotistical and, in Becca’s opinion, obviously overcompensating for some inadequacy with a full-blown superiority complex. All of which only reinforced her previous assumption that he was deranged. The voice that responded, however, was deep and familiar and brought Becca’s mental rambling to an immediate stop.

It was Nick
, and he was there! She snapped her head up, nearly jumping up and down. She didn’t know if they had taken him, or if he had come for her. All that was important was that he was there, and there was hope.

“I love you
!” She yelled into the gag repeating the same three words over and over again praying he would understand what she was saying.

T
he tears welled up and escaped when she knew he didn’t. All she could do was nod her head letting him know she trusted him.

Nick was
telling someone named Morris to let her go when she heard two loud popping sounds coming from outside. People started to yell, and crashing sounds were coming from every direction. Guns were shooting, and she struggled against the guy who still grasped her arms. She heard bones crack and crunch behind her, and she felt her captor collapse to the ground. Nick was suddenly yelling in her ear to get down, and she immediately dropped to her knees, fell to her side, and rolled onto her stomach. She didn’t know what was happening, but it sounded like she was in the middle of a warzone.

Becca flattened herself against the floor as much as she could and kept her head down as bullets flew around her
. She could hear shouts above the gunfire, and terror crept up her spine when none of them sounded like Nick. Where was he? She didn’t know if he was still next to her or if he was even still alive. Becca silently pleaded for him not to be hurt or worse.

Everything abruptly went silent as if a giant mute button had been pushed.
Becca could suddenly hear her ragged breathing, and a tug at her arm caused her body to jump. She felt herself being helped off the ground, and she muttered into her gag.

“Nick?”

Hands untied the knot at her neck
, and when the gag was released, she sputtered out again asking if it was him.

A man’s voice came back.
“No, my name is Todd. I’m a friend of Nick’s.”

“Where is he?
Is he all right?”

“Nick’s fine.
Let’s get you out of here.”

Becca instantly felt the change when they emerged outside
. Cold air surrounded her, and a light breeze brushed against her cheek. When the blindfold was removed and her wrists were free, she looked around to find that she was in the city. She didn’t know what time it was, but it was still daylight. She turned to see the building that she had been in. There were bullet holes in the door, and two men were lying dead along the wall.

There was a flurry of activity as people in what looked like military clothes were walking in the door and then coming back out.
None of them were Nick, though. She turned to look at the mountain of a man who called himself Todd.

“Where’s Nick? You said he was ok.”

“He’ll be out soon.
Are you hurt anywhere?”

She shook her head and took a bottle of water that he handed her.
“Thank you.” After taking a drink, she capped the bottle and asked, “Why did Tommy abduct me? What is going on? Who was that man in there?”

Todd shook his head.
“The short version is that his name was Morris, and he was a drug dealer, a murderer, and the leader of a cult. Pughen was part of his gang, and for the why, well, he wanted to get to Nick.”

Her voice trembled as the words fell out of her
. “This was about Nick?”

Todd looked down at her
, and she could see the sympathy and concern in his eyes. “He loves you, Becca, and would never purposely put you in danger.”

All she could do was nod.
This was about Nick and not her. She had been used as bait. This whole thing was about some guy wanting to get to Nick.

Her temper flared.
Becca’s body started to shake, and all the emotions of the past few hours came rushing at her in a tidal wave of anger. Hell yeah, she was pissed. But she didn’t know if she was angry at Nick or Morris or every person who kept walking passed her.

Why was everyone so calm?
They were acting like this was normal and it was just another typical day? Where were the cops? Where were the sirens? And where the hell was Nick? She was about to scream and go marching back into the building to find him when he came walking out the door.

As fast as her anger had come, it was gone.
Relief washed over her. She didn’t care how or why any of this happened. All that was important was the man she loved was alive.

Her heart ached at the sight of him.
He looked like hell. He was covered in sweat, his leg and arm were bleeding, and what looked like patches of blood were all over his clothes. There was no smile. His face was tired, and there was a cold hint to his eyes. She closed the distance and wrapped her arms around him.

“Nick.”
She held on to him and then moved back when she remembered he was bleeding and injured. “I’m so sorry. Did I hurt you? You’re bleeding.”

He shook his head.
“Just some scratches, I’ll be fine. What about you? I think you should go and get checked out just to be sure.”

Becca touched his cheek.
“I’m fine. The only place I want to go is home with you.” She smiled up at him and asked, “Can we go now?”

Nick took her hand off his cheek and then cradled her face.
“I love you.” He leaned down and kissed her before she could tell him she felt the same. When he broke the hold on her lips, she looked up at him with questioning eyes.

The kiss had been different.
She could feel a distance even though he lingered on her lips. His mouth had been softly frozen against her as if he was trying to memorize the moment. She searched his face. “Nick?”

He stepped back and turned to Todd.
“Take her home.”

Becca furrowed her brows and looked at Todd then back to Nick.
Why was Todd taking her home? Her heart stopped when she saw the answer written all over his features.

No!
He can’t do this. He can’t just walk away now.

She shook her head
, and panic filled her as Nick turned on his heels and started to go back in the direction of the building.

“No!
Nick, I love you. I. Love. You. Please, Nick, stop.”

Becca watched his body stiffen
, and he turned to walk back. He came up to her, wiping the tears that were flowing down her face.

“I know you do
, Angel, and you mean more to me than anything in this world.”

She whispered, “Then why?”

“I won’t allow something to happen to you because of me. I can’t do it again. I won’t do it again.”

Becca shook her head at him
. “Nothing happened to me. This isn’t your fault, and neither was Jack. Can’t you see that? Why can’t you understand that you are
not
to blame for any of it?”

“Why can’t you see that I am?”
Nick’s eyes held unshed tears and a resolve that left her hollow. He wasn’t going to change his mind. This was it. The end she had feared all along.

She wanted to yell at him
; she wanted to scream in frustration. How could she make him understand that what he was doing was hurting and scaring her more than anything that happened to her that morning? How could he do this to them?