Red Noon (10 page)

“Hmm,” she moaned. “I um…I can’t…talk to you like this. I should get up.”

He laughed. “Nah; like this you can’t keep running away from me. Now let’s talk about why you should have called me before you left.” His hands kept working their magic on her spine. If he didn’t stop she wouldn’t even be able to think straight.

He leaned over her, his breath close to her ear. “Did you hear me, Sheila?”

“Huh,” she panted. She was too turned on to hear anything over the rapidity of her heart beating its way into some haze like funnel. The man had her wet, aroused and in need of more than just this touch.

“I said if it happens again you make sure you call me and leave a message if you don’t get me. You also take that phone with you.”

Yeah, okay, whatever he said. She couldn’t concentrate because while he was whispering in her ear he was also groping the sides of her breasts as he spread the cream oil blended lotion on to her body.

“I’m not sure you can hear me like this. Maybe I should get off and work on your legs instead.”

“Off…” she wasn’t sure what she was saying. Was she asking him to get off, or asking him to get her off the ledge of desire by taking her over to the other side of orgasmic bliss? She felt like a simmering firecracker with a fuse getting shorter and shorter with every second. Perhaps she should have tried to pay more attention because what he was saying was that he was going to un-straddle her body so he could work on her legs.

The man was a smooth operator. He knew exactly what he was doing to her as his hands worked up and down her leg to her thigh and inched dangerously close to her center. Her legs shifted open on their own accord. Her hands tangled in the pillows, fisting them as if that would give her some release.

“I was worried about you. God was I worried about you.”

The timbers of his voice were both arousing and comforting. She believed him He was worried when he didn’t see her here and didn’t see the deputy that was on guard. She could now imagine the things that must have gone through his mind. She could now see him calling to the station franticly trying to find out where she was and if the deputy had checked in. Yeah, she got it now. Because if the shoe were on the other foot she would have felt the same kind of fear.

“I’m sorry.” It wasn’t as if she meant for him to worry but she assumed the deputy had alerted everybody since he said he had gotten the okay to take her. She didn’t leave a note because why waste paper when Takahiro already knew where she was going. And the phone…well, she was the rare one in the world where she didn’t even own a cell phone until he got her that nifty pay as you go phone for emergencies, so it’s not as if phones were on her list of things to always make sure she had. She messed up, and for that she was sorry.

She felt his forehead pressed against her spine just above her tailbone. “I kept thinking what if he got you again. I kept thinking of all the things I didn’t say to you, what I should have said to you.” The warmth of his breath fanned against her body so seductively she felt tears slithering across her soft skin. He had no idea how good it felt, not just to have such a gentle touch, but for her to also hear such love and concern in his voice, in his words. Not since her parents had she had anybody who cared this much, this genuinely, without wanting something in return. Her bosses were nice, but at the end of the day, even though they said they thought of her as family, she knew she was still just an employee. They had paid her medical and she appreciated that because the bill was far more than what she could handle, but she had walked into that office and neither Justin nor Eddie even bothered to ask how she was doing. If that was how they treated family then she was glad they weren’t really her family.

She was going to say something when she felt soft lips caress her tailbone as warm, strong, calloused with work, fingers brushed against her body. His lips moved up her spine and then over her body as if he were trying to kiss every wound away and all she could do was cry at the love in that touch. Unfortunately her sniffling made him give pause to his actions. She sat up and turned toward him and swiftly went into his arms. He lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his body as his arms anchored her to him.

When he started walking she didn’t need to ask where he was taking her because she knew. She just knew. And when he pulled back the covers and laid her down in his bed, pulled on a pair of sweat pants and crawled in beside her, she easily went into his embrace lying her head on his chest and letting her fingers trail over his muscular frame as tears seeped out the corners of her eyes.

His fingers brushed through her hair and stroked her upturned cheek. “It will get easier, Sheila. It will be okay.”

She inhaled softly and quietly. “I know,” she finally said on a sniffle. He was right; she would be okay. Eventually the memories would stop controlling her mind. Eventually she would stop being afraid at the crack of night. Eventually she would be able to see a belt around a man’s waist without remembering what happened to her and wondering if it would happen again. Eventually she wouldn’t feel broken, she wouldn’t feel like she was some glass window that everybody was fascinated to stare through. Eventually she would be able to sleep at night, go through the day, and live without feeling afraid and ashamed and broken. But right now what had the tears in her eyes was that she felt like with him, in this moment and in this place, he had given her a tiny slice of heaven in a world that felt like hell.

She knew he was right. She would be okay, not just because of him. Even without him she would survive this, a little more jaded, a little more scared, but she would survive—she always did.

“I think I can really start to put it all behind me,” she trailed her fingers over his pectoral muscle. “I think I can when they get the guy. Right now I’m afraid that he’ll come back for me. And you and I both know this protection detail won’t last forever. The media has already moved on to their next story so the politicians can stop digging for votes off my spine now. Things are going to go back to normal for everybody but me until they get this guy.”

“Yeah,” he spoke softly. “I know that. It’s already getting that way. The phone calls have stopped coming in. Deputy Sharron will probably be back on normal duty by next weekend. So yeah…I know. I’m going to take some time off work.”

“No you’re not,” she smiled crookedly as her fingers continued their exploration.

“Sheila, don’t you dare tell me what I’m going to do.” His voice was low but there was still anger in his tone.

“I will too. Because you see your job doesn’t leave room for detachment for as long as you would need to detach yourself just to watch over me. And if you got killed in the line of duty because you missed staying sharp because you were babysitting me I would never forgive myself for that. So no, you’re not taking time off work. I’ll be okay.”

“Sheila…”

“I want you to teach me how to shoot. I want to buy a gun. Not right now. I think I have to stop being scared of my own shadow before I carry one, but eventually. I want to learn. Can you teach me?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled. “I can do that.”

“Great. I’ll hold you to that.” She chuckled as he brushed the remnants of her tears off her cheek.

“I’d prefer it if you hold me to you.”

“I thought I already was doing that. Silly me.” She untangled herself from his arms and climbed on top of him before laying her chest on top of his and her forearms on the bed like a sphinx. She looked in his eyes. “Is this better.”

His eyes searched hers, his fingers played in her silky hair. “Oh yeah, that’s better.”

“Good,” she got comfortable on top of him, placing her cheek on his chest. “It’s comfortable here, not because you rescued me, but because your body is comfortable to sleep on.” She yawned and her eyes watered this time not from tears but from sheer exhaustion. Takahiro was saying something but her brain was going into slumber mode and before she knew it, it was lights out Sheila.

Chapter Seven

“G
ood to know she’s back at work,” Dick flicked a card into the hat again. Perfect aim was always a plus when making a perfect kill. While he was gung-ho about the fun Ike was planning he still wanted to go after those SWAT men that killed his brother. He didn’t know exactly which ones it was since they all had on the full body gear. He snorted. Cowards that they were. Maybe he would just kill them all. Maybe he could just blow up the entire building. Nah, he wasn’t into bombs. He wanted to put bullets in them like they had done his brother. He was a man of skill. He would figure out who he needed to kill. He just had to be a little more patient.

“Cop in tow though. But I know you’ll find a way to make it happen. I might know how to cover it up, but you know how to find the target.”

“Yeah, I was good at that even before the Army screwed us over.” Dick flicked another card and then another. So the mark thought she was safe enough to return to work huh? Work with a police escort was not going to protect her. He could follow a car like no other. If he could get back to his place he could pick up a couple things to make it easier, but that was out of the question. That was okay because he was beyond good at what he did and he would make sure this mark went into the grave soon—real soon.

Takahiro felt her shifting and turning like she was trying to get away from something. This was the second night she had slept in his room with him, but the first where the nightmares seemed to be assaulting her without mercy. He was about to wake her when she awakened on a sharply yelled, “no”. She jerked sharply upright. She brought her head to her knees and cried. If he could kill the bastard again he would do that. It wasn’t his bullet that got the jerk, but he wished it had been. He wished he had pulled the trigger a thousand times.

Takahiro sat up and wrapped his arms around her as he pulled her onto his lap. “Shh…” he whispered. “You’re safe here. I’m right here with you.” Her tiny fingers pressed deeply into his biceps as she clutched him like he was the only thing holding her to this realm of existence. “You need to talk to someone about this.”

“I can’t,” she said. “I want to forget.”

Yeah, and how was that working out for her? It wasn’t. He wanted to forget the rage he felt when he found her bond and tortured, but he couldn’t.

“I’ll go first,” he decided one could not ask without giving a little of himself so he was going to give a little. “I wish I could resurrect the bastard so I could beat him like he beat you and then I could put a bullet in him.”

She lifted her head to kiss his cheek and then she returned her cheek to his shoulder. The position told him maybe she wasn’t going to talk now so he kept going.

“In all my years on this job I have never seen anything so vicious, so utterly evil, that it turned my stomach and made my blood boil with the rage in my heart. I’m actually hoping that the other guy gets terminated too.” He ran his fingers up and down her spine. He didn’t need the lights on to know that some of the scars remained while the bruises had slowly faded away.

“I hate them both,” she said in a near whisper. “It just…it hurt so much.”

“I know.”

“I wanted to die. I wanted it to just end because I didn’t think anybody was coming for me. I think that makes a difference I think when you know you’re going to be rescued you try to hold on. But I didn’t know and I got tired of fighting to survive waiting for help. I just wanted it to be over. I just wanted to die.”

“I understand,” he spoke softly. He would imagine going through that kind of hell, not being trained to withstand such an assault, and not knowing if help would come, would break anybody.

“But then I saw you, and your team, and I silently thanked God and my ancestors for sending you. I realized I wanted to live. I hope,” she exhaled softly as her tears dripped onto his shoulder. “I hope they find him. I hope they catch him and I hope God will forgive me but I hope he dies. I hope they kill him.”

Yeah, he had the same kind of hopes, only difference was that he wasn’t asking any God for forgiveness now. “Me too, on the catch and kill thing that is.”

She gave a soft laugh before placing her lips on his shoulder. The woman had no idea what she was doing to him. She had no idea how hard it was for him not to take her in the way he wanted her.

She rested her forehead on his chest briefly before pulling herself off his lap and getting back on her side of the bed. He missed her connection to him so much that he lay down beside her and pulled her into his arms. One leg sandwiched between her thighs while his other one rested overtop the other.

“I wish it never happened,” she sighed. “But the past can’t be changed. Now I just wish the nightmares would stop.”

“It will take time, but eventually, one day, you’ll be able to close your eyes without seeing him, without feeling the pain.”

“Then I’ll look forward to that day” Her warm breath cascaded across his chest making him want her even more. “Good night again, Takahiro. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Goodnight, Sheila. Don’t fret in your sleep because I promise I will be here when you wake up. You will be safe with me.”

“I know I will, but I don’t want you to just feel like you have to keep me safe.”

“Can’t help it,” he shrugged one shoulder.

“Try, because one day I want you to feel comfortable doing something more than keeping that thing covered while you nudge it against me all night.”

He groaned and laughed all at the same time. “Trust me; I want to do something more.”

“Then do it,” she said. “I’m not so broken that I can’t know what I want with you. I do know. I wish we had met under different circumstances, but we didn’t. We met in my darkest hour, when I was at my worst, and you saved me from that. But trust me when I say had I met you walking down the strip of stores at the mall I still would have gone head over heels for you. So you don’t have to worry about anything. I want to be with you because I like you, because you’re nice and smart and fun to be with. And if that’s not good enough for you, well then please know that I also want you for the purely superficial reason that you’re hot.”

He laughed harder than before and she laughed with him. “Okay, I’ve got it.”

“But, when we do…”

“Yeah?”

“You’ll be my first, my only, so be gentle with me; please?”

She didn’t raise her eyes to meet his but he could hear the nervousness in her tone so he didn’t need to see her eyes to know that she was nervous on how he would take her revelation to him. She didn’t need to be nervous. He respected and admired her before, and he respected and admired her still.

“Gentle as a dove,” he said. “I won’t hurt you.” He heard the sigh of relief from her and felt her cheek rise against his chest so he knew she was smiling.

“How about we do dinner together tomorrow night? I’m off work a little earlier.”

“I’ll make sure I’m home. We can cook together.”

She may not have realized it but she said “home,” as in this home was hers too. He liked that; he liked that a lot because it really could be her home too. Of course that would give her one major commute to get to work, but he could live with that if she could.

While she had drifted off to sleep again he hadn’t. His mind was processing the day’s earlier meeting. Deputy Sharron would be pulled from protective duty in about a week at the least. He and Deputy Sharon had decided it would be better if they told her that together instead of separate so they were waiting until the official date came in instead of just the possible one. The media attention had ceased and the politicians were on to using something else to play on the wills of the voters. The official stop date wasn’t in, but it would be soon

On top of the dwindling hoopla of trying to make themselves look good for the public, the detectives on the case didn’t have much to go on at all. They had gotten the identity on the perp—Tiger Peters, brother to Dick Peters. The brother was not to be seen anywhere, but from what the detectives told him they figured he wasn’t in town because from what they could see on the records they had been searching, the man had taken the bus back east. The ticket information had his name, and everything electronic looked as if he truly was on the bus and out of town the night of the attack. Takahiro didn’t buy it. Something just felt off, and he knew that electronic documents could be fixed to make up a believable story. But still, without proof they would be clutching at straws for balance.

With the older brother ruled out that still left the question of why, who and how. It wasn’t an issue of how the guys got her because there was enough evidence on that. His question was how did she cross their path. Why did this guy come from Jacksonville, Florida to Scottsdale, Arizona, to take her and torture her, and who was this “boss” he kept speaking of while he beat Sheila? Without answers to those questions they couldn’t finish this case and close it. But with all the other crimes in the city he knew eventually it would become a cold case pushed into a box and out of sight while another case took over. He hated the system sometimes, but he also understood it. There were other cases to be worked, other criminals to pursue and the colder the case the less likely it was to get worked on with the same eager determination that it did when it was blazing hot.

He had asked Sanchez about the Internet thing but Sanchez had said this kind of vitriol was all over the Internet. He had told him that it made him sick just sorting through it. “My wife is black you know so I can’t tell you just how angry the crap online made me. But I can’t link that vile attack that happened online with what happened to Miss Brackett in the real world. I won’t rule it out, but right now it’s a dead lead.”

Right now, in other words, they weren’t trying to figure out who took the picture and got that mess started. He had a sickening feeling that it was all linked. It had happened two weeks before she was taken and Takahiro didn’t believe in coincidences of epic proportions. It had to be connected. If he were working this case as a detective he would spend more time investigating that angle, and the older brother. He knew he shouldn’t think crazy ran in the family, but what were the odds that this man would come to another state just to help a man not related to him kidnap a woman. If this older brother wasn’t in town why was his brother across country in the DSW in the first place?

He looked down to Sheila and remembered the vision of her he saw when he entered that basement. She looked like a wounded doe, pleading for help, nearly broken from the pain. He remembered the relief in her eyes when she saw the guns aimed her way until the team realized the other guy wasn’t in the basement with her. He remembered that relief because most people wouldn’t feel relief at having that many guns in their vicinity, but for her that many guns meant salvation. That many guns meant the Calvary was there and she could now be released from the trap holding her in hell. Like a wounded doe he saw the fear in her eyes, the pain, the sorrow, and the relief that the next human to touch her wouldn’t cause her more harm.

The remembrance of that day haunted him like no other day ever had. They were a strong tactical unit and as long as some of them had been with him he had never seen his men, nor the few women who served beside them, tear up at the plight of a victim, nor feel so much rage against the attacker. He wondered if the guys knew the first animal wasn’t going for a gun and could have been taken out with a bullet to the knee or something to the shoulder, yet went for the kill shot because they had seen the video and they all knew what they found would be a broken woman. Hell, a broken little girl let Grant Jefferies tell it because he said she looked younger than her years like his little sister only with brown skin. He saw her as somebody who needed to be protected, not hurt, not broken, but protected.

If ever he had to say that his team had carried out orders with a margin of glee post tactical operations he would say this was one of them. The only emotion he saw on their faces was sorrow for the woman now in his arms, anger at the men who had done this to her, and happiness that they had taken one rabid beast out of the equation. At least he couldn’t do this to anybody else. Takahiro knew, making no mistake about it, one bite was never enough. Animals like him would always crave more. She may have been the first, but she wouldn’t have been the last.

“Why?” He whispered as he looked up at the ceiling, wondering if God would answer him that. Why her? Why had the attack been this vicious, as if they were going to keep her for days and do this to her repeatedly until she died? Why?—that was the question he needed answered. Until it was answered there was no way they were going to be able to give closure to her, not just with getting the other guy, but with giving her an understanding of what was going through their mind. It wouldn’t justify it, not at all, but it would allow her to stop asking herself that same question—why; they why’s in the world could kill a person’s soul just as much as the what ifs could. He didn’t want that for her. He didn’t want that for himself. He didn’t want it, but right now that’s what he had. Every night he closed his eyes asking why, and every morning he woke up wondering the same thing. If the cops didn’t come up with something soon he just might have to take a leave and go find the answers himself, otherwise the one word question would haunt him to his grave and beyond. He was a detective once upon a time; maybe he would go do some detecting on his own. Maybe he would pull a favor. Satoshi had a couple friends in cyber places most people feared. Maybe he could ask him to see if one of them would be willing to do a little digging on that Internet attack for him. Maybe they could track down the source and he could go get answers for himself to lead him to the enemy.