Entangled (Free Indeed Book 1) (13 page)

T
he first thing
Allie noticed when they stepped through the door was the absolute silence. The reception area was small, just enough room for the receptionist’s desk, Deputy Dumbass’s desk (who must be out doing dumbass things, because he wasn’t there), and a couple of chairs for visitors. She swung her gaze over to look at the receptionist, who just sat frozen in her chair, wide-eyed and looking completely terrified. Paul stood directly behind her with one hand firmly on her shoulder. A man she didn’t recognize, sat propped on the edge of Deputy Dumbass’s desk with his arms crossed across his chest as he surveyed the room. He was in a police uniform, but not from Serenity. This must be the representative from Free Indeed that the sheriff mentioned.

A hand clenched tightly onto her right arm and jerked Allie away from the doorway and into the room. Her father spun her around to face him where he was waiting for them next to the door. She gasped from the sharp pain his grip caused, as she looked up to meet her father’s evil gaze.

The sheriff started to reach for his gun, but abruptly stopped as Paul raised his arm from behind the receptionist to show a gun pointed now at her head. Amy let out a whimper at the cold contact. The sheriff instead held his hands out in front of him in a show of submission, “Let’s all stay calm here. No one needs to get hurt.” He calmly said to Paul.

“Close the door.” Paul commanded. The sheriff reached behind him to swing the door shut and then roamed his eyes around the room taking in the three men there.

Paul seemed very content with his show of power by holding a gun to an innocent, terrified woman’s head and threatening her. Next to Allie, Gideon tightened his grip on her arm holding her securely in place with one hand while grasping a gun in the other. The other police officer still hadn’t spoken. He just sat there propped on the edge of the desk as if coolly assessing the situation.

Paul gestured with his hand for the sheriff to come further into the room. The sheriff took a couple of steps forward, and Gideon shifted to move up behind him with Allie in tow.

“What is it you gentlemen need—” the sheriff’s words were cut off when Gideon raised the hand holding his gun and slammed it heavily into the back of the sheriff’s head. Allie gasped as the sheriff’s unconscious form fell to the floor at her feet. Amy let out another whimper at the sight of the fallen sheriff, as tears started to spill down her cheeks.

Allie tensed in fear as her father raised his gun and pointed it at the unconscious sheriff’s head.

“You don’t need to kill him.” The police officer finally moved from his perch and took a step towards her father, “Enough people have already died.”

“There’re too many loose ends,” Gideon countered. “Leaving him alive now, will just mean one more person who’ll be looking for us.”

“It won’t matter once you have the files,” he argued back. “Then you can just disappear with new identities, and loose ends won’t be a concern anymore.”

Gideon heaved a huge sigh, like the thought of leaving witnesses alive was the most inconvenient thing that could ever happen to a person. “Fine,” he finally conceded, “Jake, you and Paul go lock both of them up in a cell.”

Jake nodded and stepped forward to grab hold of the sheriff and dragged him out of the office area to the back where the cells were located. Paul jabbed Amy in the shoulder with his gun and then waved it toward Jake’s retreating body, indicating that he wanted her to follow. All four of them left the room, leaving Allie alone with her father.

“You’ve been a bad, bad girl Alethea.” Her father sneered at her as he spat out her biblical name that she hated. All that name did was bombard her with memories that she wanted to leave behind her, along with her father and that place. Allie wanted to stand up to her father, but twenty years of being under his thumb and waiting on his every whim as his dutiful daughter, well it was a hard habit to break. But she was determined to try. She straightened up as tall as she could and met her father’s stare dead on, “I—I have no inclination of ever speaking about what happened back there. You don’t have to worry about that. I don’t know why you’re so determined to come all this way to find me.”

“Well then you shouldn’t have taken what didn’t belong to you, now should you.” He replied in a much calmer tone than the look of rage on his face indicated.

“But I didn’t even take that much of the money, only what I needed to be able to get away.” Allie pleaded.

Gideon slammed down his fist on the desk, causing Allie to jump at the unexpected crash, “It’s not about the money, you bitch!” He screamed at her. Her father had always had a short temper and was quick to take out his rage and anger on his children, but she had never seen him this violent before. Even when he had killed the man back at Free Indeed, he had kept his outward persona in a reserved manner.

The door leading to the back opened interrupting them, as Jake walked back into the room. “Paul will be right out. He’s taking care of locking up and making sure they’re secure,” he told Gideon.

Her father nodded in acknowledgement as Jake walked up behind him to lift the blinds and take a peek outside. “Still pretty quiet out there,” he stated, “we should be able to get out of here without any problems.”

Gideon just grunted back at him without turning, unwilling to take his loathing eyes off of Allie, “As soon as I get what we came for.”

Allie shivered at his menacing tone as he took a step closer to her. Jake left the window and stepped into position behind her father, resting his hands on the back of one of the wooden waiting room chairs.

“I think we have enough time for me to teach my wayward daughter a lesson on who’s boss,” the look on her father’s face terrified Allie as he took another step closer to her.

Allie braced herself for the beating she knew was coming, and raised her chin stubbornly in her father’s direction. He would not see her cower. Not now, after everything she had been through, and all the beatings she had endured. He may beat her, but he would not break her.

Her look of defiance enraged him even more. Gideon raised his fist to slam it into her stubborn face, but never had the chance to make contact. The wooden chair from behind him flew up and slammed brutally into the back of his shoulders and head. Gideon fell to the floor from the impact, and Allie saw Jake standing directly behind him, pieces of broken chair in his hands.

“Run!” Jake shouted urgently at her. Allie just stood there for a moment confused as to what just happened. “Get out of here! Go!”

Not needing any further encouragement, Allie dashed past her father’s stunned figure sprawled on the floor and darted towards the front door. She grasped the handle twisting it as quickly as she could while pushing the door open. She barely took one step over the threshold just as a thunderous shot rang out behind her. Allie froze, fully expecting the stabbing pain of a bullet to penetrate her body. Instead, she was surprised to feel the full weight of Jake’s body slam into her from behind after taking the bullet for her. He had jumped between her and her father, blocking her from the bullet’s path and saving her life.

Allie looked over her shoulder to see Gideon struggling to get back to his feet. She grabbed hold of the front of Jake’s shirt and jerked him the rest of the way out the door and out of the line of fire. They fell to the ground outside in a heap, Jake’s heavy form landing on top her, as the door slammed shut behind them momentarily blocking them from her father’s view.

“Get up...you have to get up.” Allie tugged on Jake’s arms and tried to lift him the best she could. He was so much bigger than her. She knew she’d never be able to move him unless he could do some of it on his own. With a grunt of pain he managed to slide his feet under him, and with Allie’s help make it to a somewhat standing position. Mostly he was leaning on her for support, but she would take whatever she could get right now. She led him forward, adrenaline urging her on, just far enough to reach the street in front of them where the sheriff’s car was parked.

They made it around the car so they would be out of view from the windows in case her father decided to start firing, and then Jake let go of her letting himself flop to the ground.

“Run.” He sputtered as Allie stood over him trying to get him back on his feet. “You have to run. Gideon has no intention of ever bringing you back to Free Indeed. He’s going to kill you once he gets what he wants. Now run!”

Fear clenched her heart as his words finally sunk in. So it was true, her father never cared about her or loved her. He just came out here to see her punished for taking what belonged to him. Allie tore off her jacket and pressed it tightly to the deputy’s wound. She grabbed his hands and pushed them against the jacket to seal it tight. “Keep pressure on it.” Allie had to at least do something for him. He had just saved her life and took a bullet for her.

Jake held the jacket firmly against his chest and looked up to meet her distraught gaze, “Go.” He didn’t have much strength left, but he said it as forcefully as he could.

“I’m sorry,” Allie whispered as she stood to her feet. She gave the wounded deputy one last look before she turned and ran down the alley.

A
llie threaded
her way around the buildings as quickly as she could. Her car was still parked where she left it behind BB-Dub’s. She had her keys on her, so she could get in her car and drive away, and this time she’d be smart since she knew her father was after her. She’d have to put more effort into hiding and not use her real name or information. But first, she had to get Shuggy. There was no way she was going to go anywhere without her little puppy.

Allie ran as fast as she could in the direction of the shelter. She knew she couldn’t waste any time. Her heart cried out for Jason as she ran. The thought of leaving him behind made her feel like she was splitting in two. But she couldn’t let her father hurt him. If he was willing to shoot a deputy, then he was crazier and more violent than she had ever imagined. She couldn’t let him hurt anyone she cared about. As much as the thought of leaving Jason hurt, the thought of him being injured, or even killed because of her would absolutely tear her soul apart.

Allie ran up to the front door of the now closed shelter with her keys clutched in her fist. She jammed the key into the lock and pushed open the door. After pulling the door closed behind her, she reached up to deactivate the alarm and then hurried to the kennel area. The dogs could already hear her coming and started greeting her with barks even before she made it through the door.

As soon as Shuggy lay her eyes on her mistress, she began barking and wiggling her butt in happiness. The poor, little puppy didn’t know why her mistress had disappeared in the middle of the day. Allie dropped to her knees in front of the crate where Shuggy was whining for her and flung open the latch to open the door. She scooped up the little pup in her arms, “We’ve got to get out of here, Shuggs.”

Her clothes and everything else she could leave behind and replace later. All she needed to take with her was Shuggs. Allie held the puppy tightly tucked under her arm and turned to make her way back to the front of the shelter.

She froze at the door leading to the office area when she heard Reavers growling behind her. Shuggs instantly tensed up in her arms as if she were receiving instruction from the bigger, older dog. Shuggy looked up at her mistress in warning to let her know something was amiss.

Allie slowly pushed open the door, just a crack to look into the reception room, and then quickly pulled the door back closed. It was Paul. He had followed her and was inside the shelter.

Allie backed away from the door and from where Paul was looking for her. She’d have to go out the back and forget about locking up and resetting the alarm. As Allie walked toward the back door, she passed by Reavers’ crate. The big dog continued his low, deep growl while his fur stood up on end like a mohawk down his back.

“Thanks for the warning, Reavers.” Allie whispered as she passed him.

Allie made her way through the building until she reached the back fire exit. She slipped out into the night and softly let the door shut behind her. She had only taken a few steps when a dark form lunged out of the shadows, grabbing onto her arm and swinging her around to slam her face first into the wall.

“You bitch!” Her father hissed in her ear as he pressed up against her from behind, “Did you really think you could just slip away from me a second time?”

Momentarily dazed from the impact against the brick surface, Allie struggled to clear her head. Shuggy barked angrily at the man hurting her mistress and wiggled around in Allie’s arms turning her body until she could bite at the arm that was holding them pressed against the wall.

Gideon howled in rage as Shuggy’s teeth bit down on the exposed flesh of his arm. He jerked Allie’s body toward his, pulling her enough away from the wall where he could expose the puppy. Shuggy growled up at him bravely, baring her little teeth. Gideon swiped his arm across Allie’s chest knocking Shuggs out of her grasp and to the ground below.

Allie heard her little puppy yip in pain from the fall, and it brought her back out of her foggy haze. She looked around just in time to see Gideon pull his gun from his jacket and point it at her dog.

“NO!” Allie screamed. She threw her body at her father, jumping onto his back, kicking and clawing at his face as she fought to save her little puppy. It distracted him enough to take his attention off of the dog scampering around their feet, as he instead tried to pry Allie loose and keep his face from being scratched off.

Unable to throw Allie from his back, Gideon changed tactics and instead slammed her back forcibly against the brick wall. Allie, dazed from the impact, lost her grip across her father’s shoulders and slipped from his back to the grass below.

Without even pausing, her father reached down and jerked Allie upward by snagging onto her shirt collar. He dragged her, still momentarily stunned, back inside the shelter and slammed the door shut behind them, leaving Shuggy outside barking anxiously for her mistress.

Allie tried to get her feet under her, but her father dragging her across the cold, concrete floors made it difficult. Finally, they got to the front of the room where Paul was waiting, and Gideon threw her to the floor. The dogs and cats surrounding them were going crazy at the two strangers who invaded their space.

“Did you get it?” She heard Paul ask her father.

“Not yet.” Her father snapped, “That mangy mutt of hers got in the way.”

Gideon straddled across Allie’s legs and crouched down. He grabbed hold of the front of her shirt and jerked her forward until their faces were inches away. “Where is it?” He ground out, his tone full of loathing.

“I—I don’t know,” Allie faltered.

Her father reared back his right arm and then slammed his hand across her face in a vicious slap that made her head snap to her shoulder.

“Don’t mess with me, you whore!” He screamed, spittle flying from his mouth. “I want what you stole from me!”

“But you already have it,” Allie whimpered, “you already got all the money back that was left. Some of it was spent, but—”

“The money? I don’t care about that piddly sum that you took.” He taunted her, “I want the files! Give them to me, or so help me, I’ll slaughter every last animal in here and force you to watch as they squeal in agony.”

“But I don’t have any files!” Allie pleaded, “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Your mother’s locket,” he spat, “give it back to me now!”

Allie was too stunned to speak for a moment. Wait, this was all about her mother’s locket? She only took it because her mother promised she would pass it on to her when Allie became old enough. And what did that have to do with any files? Whatever it was he wanted with it, he could have it.

Allie reached into her shirt and snagged hold of the chain she’d worn around her neck since she had left Free Indeed. She pulled it free from her shirt and let it drop to the outside. Her father’s eyes lit up instantly as his hand darted forward grabbing hold, and jerked it from her neck. Allie gasped at the sting of pain as the chain broke around her neck.

Gideon held the locket in front of him like a trophy with a smug look on his face.

“You have what you want,” Allie whispered to him, “please, just let me go. I don’t want to make any trouble.”

Her father’s gaze broke away from the necklace to meet her eyes. A dark, evil look spread out from the depths of his soul through his eyes. “Trouble?” He sneered, “You’ve been nothing but trouble since the day you were born. You always had to be so stubborn, just like
her
. I should have known you would have grown up to be just like her.”

“Who?” Allie tried to keep him talking. Talking was a good thing, maybe she could get him to make a positive connection to her. There had to some memory that he was fond of. Just one.

His eyes narrowed to slits, “Your mother. I should have just killed you when I killed her.”

Allie couldn’t stop the gasp from escaping her lips. That couldn’t be right. He wouldn’t have killed her mother. He couldn’t. Oh please God, don’t let that be true! “No. No, you loved her. You—”

“She was a means to an end.” Gideon shrugged away her shock, “I needed a way to get close to the Patriarch, and marrying his daughter was the perfect in. From there, it was a very simple matter to convince him I was God’s next choice to succeed him. After that, neither one of them were needed anymore.”

“You killed them both?” Her voice broke as she gasped out the words. Her father laughed at the shocked look on her face. “But Caleb, Evie, all of your children...why have so many children if you just really didn’t care.” Allie wanted to hang onto just a shred of hope that they had meant something to him. He had to care just a little.

He waved his hand through the air, dismissing her concern with no more than a glance, “You were a status symbol for me in the community. Those fools at Free Indeed consider the more children a person has, well obviously, the more godly he must be. Since children are a gift from God after all. They were so malleable...so easy to take control over. I
was
god to them and milked them for every cent they were worth.”

“And now I’ll go home and continue to rule my kingdom. Too bad you won’t be around to see it.” He looked over to where Paul was silently waiting, before looking back at Allie with a sadistic smirk on his face, “Poor Paul...he’s going to have to miss out on having you for a wife now. I guess I’ll just have to compensate him with Evie when we get back.” He dropped his voice to an evil whisper, “He always did like the younger ones better anyway.”

A pent up scream of anger burst from Allie’s chest as she slapped her hand across her father’s face, “No! No, she’s just a child!”

Gideon slammed her arm away as she tried to hit him a second time, while using his other hand to tightly grab her hair and twist her painfully toward him. Unable to move because of the position he held her in, all Allie could do was stare up into his face as he used his other hand to grab hold of her throat and start to squeeze.

Allie gasped as her air was suddenly cut off. She tried to struggle against him, but he was so much bigger than her, and he was using his body to hold her in place. Gideon released his grip on her hair and moved his second hand to her neck to apply even more pressure.

“Allie?” A shout carried from the front of the building. Allie’s eyes widened.
No, Jason couldn’t walk in now!
She thought.
They’ll kill him!
Allie fought as desperately as she could against her father’s grip, trying to dislodge him just enough so she could get enough air to scream a warning to Jason. But all she could manage was a gurgled whimper.

Gideon turned his head in Paul’s direction, “Take care of him,” he muttered. Paul nodded back while pulling a gun from the back of his waistband as he silently left the room. Allie could feel tears forming in her eyes. They couldn’t hurt Jason. They just couldn’t! He was innocent in all of this, and now he was going to be hurt because of her.

Both of their bodies jerked as the sharp sound of a gunshot exploded from the other room. A new wave of fear seized Allie’s chest causing her to go completely still. Her father looked down at her and smiled sinisterly, “No one’s going to save you from me,” as he applied the last bit of pressure needed.

Allie’s vision was starting to blacken as her eyes dropped to the side. She could see the animals going crazy in their crates at the happenings around them. And she could see...a face crouched down behind a table peeking around the corner at her. Confused she tried to focus with the remaining energy that she had left. It was a woman, one she didn’t recognize as ever seeing before. She was about the same age as Allie, but had dark brown hair falling around her concerned face as she stared out in fear. And then, as quickly as the face appeared, it was gone. Due to the oxygen being cut off from her brain, she was probably hallucinating. Allie could feel her muscles going limp, as the last ounce of energy drained from her body. And then her legs gave out as she slumped to the cold, concrete floor below.

The impact from the fall shocked her back to consciousness, and she blinked her eyes rapidly trying to clear the cloudy haze. Gideon had released her and let her drop to the floor, but that didn’t make sense because he wanted her dead. She blinked one last time and her gaze finally cleared and brought into focus the scene in front of her. Her father was screaming in pain face down on the floor, trying to break loose from the massive german shepherd that was on top of him. Reavers was loose, and he’d saved her! The dog was using its body to keep the larger man pinned while biting and tearing at Gideon’s arms in defense of his favorite mistress.

The dark haired woman that Allie had seen earlier darted from behind the table and raced up to where Allie lay sprawled on the floor. She pushed her arms under Allie’s shoulders and jerked her up to her feet, then threw one of her arms around her shoulders to help brace Allie’s limp body against her own, “Come on! We have to get out of here!” Her desperate voice broke through the remaining fuzziness of Allie’s brain, bringing her back to the direness of her current situation. Allie nodded, grabbing onto the other woman for support as they made their way to the back door.

The shelter was pure insanity. Reavers’ growling and snapping filled the entire room as he took out prior years of abuse on the evil man beneath him. Gideon’s screams echoed across the space, but were muffled by the cacophony of barks, growls, and hisses from the still caged animals as they showed their support and encouragement of the german shepherd’s rescue attempt.

The two woman stumbled toward the back door as quickly as they could manage. They could hear little Shuggs from the other side of the door desperately barking her little heart out, as if sensing her mistress was close and coming toward her.

A heavy thud came from behind them, followed by the sound of Gideon trying to scramble into a sitting position. He had managed to get Reavers off of him just enough where he could reach into his waistband and pull out his gun. Allie glanced back just as the weapon fired, exploding the space with a deafening sound. A whimper escaped Allie’s lips as she watched Reavers’ body jerk from the impact of the bullet and collapse to the floor.