Apprehended (Amber Alert Series Book 3) (10 page)

BOOK: Apprehended (Amber Alert Series Book 3)
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Chapter 18

 

 

I had managed to make my way back upstairs without alerting Alec that I had been in the basement. His footsteps raced wildly through the house in search for me, and all I had to do was wait. I stood by the door to the basement, praying that he wouldn’t look down here first, and waited to slip out. His boots echoed loudly through the house, and allowed me to have a general idea of where he was.

Once I was sure his footsteps reached the stairs to look through the second story, I made my escape.

I glanced around the first floor to make sure he wasn’t in sight, while his footsteps quickly made their approach back to the first floor of the house. Quickly, I shut the door to the basement and raced to the bathroom. My footsteps were fast and light on my toes so that I wouldn’t make a lot of noise. He was sure to be upset that I wasn’t there to welcome him back, it would be worse if he caught me coming out of the basement. I sealed myself in for a few moments to catch my breath before I flushed the toilet, and proceeded to wash my hands as if I had used the restroom.

My breathing had returned to normal just as the door to the bathroom flung open. I glanced up in the mirror to see Alec covered in blood. I watched as my eyes grew wide and the color drained from my face. He had blood spattered over his jeans and face, but it coated the front of his shirt around the collar. The blood that sent fear through my veins, it wasn’t that he had killed something, or someone, but that he was capable of it, and that he would do it again. There wasn’t a way to be sure what he had killed, but judging from the anger on his face he wasn’t pleased with what he had found.

He didn’t say anything, and I didn’t want to be the one to break the silence, but the longer we stayed silent the worse the fear gnawed at the pit of my stomach. Was it Casey? It couldn’t have been, it had been days since I let her out, but then again no one had come. Does that mean he found her or did she die because she was too weak to carry on? What if it wasn’t her? What had happened?

“Where were you when I came home?” he questioned, letting out an angry sigh. He was trying to control his anger, but it was clear that if I said the wrong thing that anger would be directed at me.

“I’ve been in here since you left,” I stated uneasily. “I’m not feeling well, and didn’t think I could make it out of the room without getting sick again.” I saw some of the anger release from his features, but there was still a disbelieving gaze in his eyes. 

“Have you been throwing up?”

“Yes,” I sighed. “I got some on my hands, and I’m worried I may have gotten some in my hair as well,” I pouted sadly. “I will shower after you rinse off.” I couldn’t stop myself from looking at the blood as I spoke. It had to be seeping through his clothes, and soaking his skin. It looked fresh, there was still a sheen to it, and was slowly trailing down his shirt as he moved toward me.

He stood at the door, blocking my exit, as he looked into my eyes to search for the truth. He glanced over my features, and I tried to hide my inner thoughts as best as I could. When the deep set anger returned to his eyes, I knew that it wasn’t going to be good. He stalked toward me, watching my every twitch and motion. I pushed my back up against the wall behind me as he got closer. He was waiting, waiting to see if I would crack under the pressure, but I wouldn’t.

“I will shower quickly, and then draw you a bath so you can relax for a while. I don’t want you to get too sick,” he said through clenched teeth before he turned and walked out of the bathroom.

I stood stunned for a moment, his anger seemed to have faded too quickly. His actions weren’t as I had anticipated, and that worried me. I had been waiting for him to yell, grow annoyed like Steve had done, but it never came. Something was very wrong, and it was only a matter of time before whatever it was caused more problems and possibly another death.

The sound of running water met my ears as I came out of the restroom. Relief rushed through me as I knew I would be able to lock up the basement without him knowing I went down there. If I was caught, the punishment was sure to be severe from what the girls had told me. I just had to play along, and hope that it would get me through without problems.

The lock on the basement door slid easily into place, and there was no sign that I had broken his rule now. A satisfied smile creased my lips as I turned to walk back to the living room to sit and wait for Alec to get out of the shower. I was supposed to make him dinner, but I was fearful to follow his demands perfectly. If I did, I knew that he would escalate his game. He would push and push until he found something I wasn’t comfortable with, and I knew where that would head.

I shuddered at the thought as something caught my eye on the coffee table. On the normally spotless table was a newspaper that was shredded to pieces and thrown aside like trash.

I glanced toward the staircase, the water had stopped running and he would be down soon, but I couldn’t stop myself I had to know what had angered him so much and what I was facing.

I flipped through the discarded pages of the paper until I found the front page news. The partial headline was enough to catch my attention, and probably what had angered him.

“FBI agent taken in string of kidnappings.”

I glanced through the torn pieces of the article to learn that they had found my car in the parking lot, and had been keeping the news out of the public’s ears until they were sure. The report continued that an FBI agent refused to give a comment, but described him as the team leader who was distraught by losing a member of his team.

This was sure to cause trouble,
I thought,
and it explained Alec's foul mood.
I continued to scan for more information—the team would have to go on the news to talk about it, explain what happened, and what they were doing to find me and the other girls, unless they wanted to start a panic. The town would go crazy, fearful that someone in their area was the man responsible. It could start a witch hunt, where the town would accuse anyone of the crime just to put their fears to rest, even if the wrong man was convicted. If the team wasn’t careful in how they controlled this, then it would spell disaster for the town, the agency, and the girls and me.

I continued to look through the article, growing angry that some key words were lost. I could make out a few sentences that said the team was shocked this happened close to a family friend’s home, and that the man must have been targeting me. There were no eyewitnesses, a couple had stumbled onto the car the next morning and called the police. There was no other evidence, according to a quote that cut off the name of the speaker.

It continued to say more about how they found out I was taken, but Alec’s footsteps started down the stairs, and I had run out of time. I picked up the papers from the coffee table and quickly threw them away so that they would be out of sight. The news must have angered Alec when he realized that soon everyone would be looking for me, and he was going to lose what he had been working for—me. He would have to be more careful, which either meant we would move, or he’d be around more often. Neither of those worked out in my favor.

I rushed through the house to make it upstairs before Alec could ask me about the newspapers. I just had to make it through a few more days. The team would find me, they would get me out of here. I just had to stay out of trouble, and I could get all of us out safely.

 

***

 

When I had finished my bath, I came downstairs to make dinner as I was supposed to, but I didn’t see Alec in his usual spot. I was about to call for him when I heard Callum’s voice. I felt my heart stop momentarily. There was a deafening silence as I glanced around to see if he had been taken, and was now trapped here with me. Alec could have harmed him, and that’s why he was covered in blood when he came home. I couldn’t live with myself if he had hurt Callum. It would have been all my fault like the girls being trapped in the basement.

I was panicking until I heard Kate’s voice as well. I turned the corner to see Alec sitting and intently staring at the television. I felt a wave of relief rush over me as I realized they were still safe from all of this, but they weren’t safe from the press.

“What are you doing about the missing girls?”

“Are you only looking for the agent?”

“How could a trained agent be taken?”

The questions continued and they were right in a way. I should have been able to make it out, but I was taken by surprise. I should have had someone with me, but I was going on, I wasn’t on the case anymore, and now the whole town was worried. They thought they were protected, the police had set up more surveillance, yet I had been taken, and no one had seen a thing.

“We are looking for all the girls, including the agent,” one of the police officers answered.

“How could this have happened?”

“What happened to the safety procedures?”

“Why was she by herself?”

The questioning continued, with no time in between to answer them. The officer was starting to stress as the questions began to be directed towards him and how the department had failed.

“What is going to happen to the girls now?”

“What precautions are you taking to prevent another kidnapping?”

“What is the FBI doing here if they can’t stop one of their own from being taken?”

The officer was pushed aside as the last question rang in my ears. Callum stepped forward, angry and glaring at the reporter who had asked the question. He looked as if he hadn’t slept in days. There were dark circles under his eyes, his hair was disheveled and he seemed drained of energy.

“There is nothing wrong with the police department here, what happened is an unfortunate occurrence, but it is not their fault. No one could have prevented what happened,” he paused momentarily, causing the crowd around him to be silent before he spoke again. “This man was after her the entire time, he wanted our attention focused on the town so that we wouldn’t be watching each other. He planned this, and while we are looking for our agent, I know she would rather we spend the time looking for the girls. So our efforts are focused to the girls that were taken, and a small group are investigating the kidnapping of Jessi Sparks in search of more clues.” He stopped and looked at the camera for a moment, before taking a breath and yelling over the reports again. “Thank you, that’s all for today.” I felt my heart clench as I watched Callum walk away from the stage.

He had looked right into the camera, and for a moment, I thought he was looking directly at me, but there was no way to know that I would be watching. He did it for another reason, but for what reason I wasn’t sure.

“He thinks he will find you and the girls, but he’s wrong,” Alec stated pulling me out of my thoughts. “No one has ever found me before.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 19

 

 

The days were starting to meld together. There was such little change that I lost track of time. Alec had attempted to regain control after the news broadcast, and sealed me into the house. There was no exit now, there was no escaping now, even if I could bring myself to leave now there was no point. These girls needed me, I had made my choice and had to stand by it now. That meant waiting for Callum, just like they had to, but it was getting more difficult by the day.

Alec was on edge, due to the high media coverage of the kidnappings, and it made the house tense. One wrong move, and everything could be over.

Every day he would come back with a paper, yell, and scream about how this shouldn't have happened, and then watch the news. He would be angry from the moment he came back home to the moment he left the next morning. He was upset that for almost two years he had gotten away with taking girls, and none of them had kicked up so much trouble that it was constantly over the nightly news, but now, everyone was looking for him. He felt watched in town, mostly because eyes were on everyone. They started to suspect everyone around them, not believing that someone in their area could be doing this, but wanting to find the man before he could strike again. He was quick to become angry and defensive when he came home because he had to hide it all day long, so I had to be on the top of my game.

I had made a few mistakes, such as dropping dinner on the floor by accident, not having dinner prepared right when he came home, and sleeping in later than I was supposed to. Those would have been small issues to most people, but the stress was affecting Alec, and he took it out on me. Of course, the bruises would heal, but I wouldn't be able to forget the sting of his hand against my skin.

The next few days, I made sure that I was perfect. I knew the stories about Steve Bennett and remembered enough of the man that I could act how I needed. While Alec hadn't been as personal with me as Steve had been with his girls, I knew that Alec was after the perfect wife, and for me to be perfectly obedient as he thought Steve had raised me to be.

In his mind, what would make a better wife, than someone that was raised by Steve Bennett? Even if I didn’t give into everything that he wanted me to.

For now, I just had to play along with that idea because it was the only thing that would save me. I'd die here, if I wasn't careful, and didn't follow his orders. Alec needed control, and while he wasn't as forceful about it as Steve had been; he would do anything to hold on to it, even kill.

Alec had gotten into the habit of leaving the news on while we were having dinner. It was supposed to be silent, so if he spoke then I would have to answer and have a discussion with him. The case had his mind on other things than the fantasy he wanted to live out so badly though. They had a lead, and Alec had been fearful when they made the announcement. He raced from the kitchen table straight into the den to watch the television, and I couldn’t help but follow.

"Have you found anything about the missing agent?" A reporter asked over the television, instantly gaining both Alec's and my attention.

"Not yet, but we think that we have found a suspect that knows something, but may not think it's important," Kate stated, trying to maintain control over what she said and what the public knew. I knew that they had to keep it vague, but I was hoping that she would say something, anything, that would tell me they were coming. "We continue to ask people to call in and tell us everything they know, or tell us about someone that may know something, and may not see it as valuable information. All information for this case is valuable."

I heard Alec chuckle and begin to mock Kate, saying that they would never catch him. He was cocky, but even that would run out if they got closer. He was still terrified, he had to keep his confidence up or he’d have nothing. He said that no one would come forward with information after having Kate discuss the information provided from callers on the news. They would all be too scared now because they didn’t want it announced, and he was right. 

It was a risk to ask others to come forward, no one in the area wanted to believe that someone they knew could kidnap and possibly kill a girl. They probably knew that he was going to be watching the news, and so they were asking others to report if they thought anyone had information. It would pass suspicion onto those people, but the neighbors wouldn't even realize that if their tip worked out they had helped catch the man.

Whether this tactic was to spook him, to make him mess up, or to prevent a witch hunt, I wasn't sure. She had to watch what she said though, because if she said the wrong thing, it could insight a panic. Once people found out that there was a kidnapper among them, they would start pointing fingers at everyone, and it would only slow the police down. It would take manpower and resources away from finding the real man responsible, finding Alec and saving the girls. If she wasn't careful, those girls would be dead before they found us, and it would be all my fault.

"What about the girls, where are they? Have any bodies been found?"

"We have reason to believe that they are with the agent that was taken. No other bodies have been found, and so we believe that they are all still with him," Kate stated. She was about to continue talking, when the camera panned away from her as a police car rolled up to the station.

A black car rolled up in front of the police station, a few feet from where Kate was talking. She tried to get everyone's attention back on her, but they were lost. The car door was forced open, and a pair of feet quickly swung out once the car was fully shut off. The reporters and bystanders moved toward the car as Callum got out and glanced around. He looked annoyed, and rather tired as he looked at the people around him.

He shook his head as he moved to the back door of the car. He didn't look in the camera as he pulled opened the door, and reached in to grab someone from the back of the car. He yanked the person from the seat and sent them stumbling into the sights of the cameras, reporters, and bystanders, but made sure to cover his face from everyone.

I didn't think much of it, but Alec had suddenly fallen silent. The laughter, and mockery that he made of the broadcast had halted. His full focus was on the dark figure that was being pulled out of the vehicle. His eyes were tight slits as he tried to zero in on the figure's face. It could be someone that he hadn't anticipated being caught, and it could mean the end of this.

I tried to hide the excitement in my breath as Callum pushed the figure closer to one of the cameras. Alec got up from the table, trying to get a closer look, but Callum kept the man well hidden from the cameras. If this man knew Alec, he could lead them straight to the girls and me, but if he couldn’t then it would spell disaster for us. The girls were getting weaker by the day. I was risking more and more going down there to give them the meager amounts of food and water that I was able to give them. They each got about two cups of water a day if they shared it evenly. Then I had to worry about if Alec thought they were getting too close, or that they were starting to find people that connected back to Alec, he could take the chance and run. 

"Who is this?" A reporter asked over the chaos of voices that had risen. "Is he linked with the kidnappings?"

Alec continued to lean forward, trying to get a look at the figure as Callum moved past the reporters. He never did.

Callum moved past the reporters and cameras, he didn't answer them, he didn't look at them, he didn’t even breath in their direction. It was as if they didn't exist, or he was above them and didn't feel the need to bother with them. That is, until one of them got in his face. She stopped right in front of him, before he made it to the steps to the police headquarters, and now she had all eyes on her, including Callum's.

"Can you answer a few questions for 19-News?" She questioned with a friendly smile. Of course, she didn't know that a friendly smile wouldn't win over Callum. Once he was focused, there was nothing to get him out of that mind set.

"Move," Callum demanded. "I don't have time for questions. I have to find these girls, and you're currently in my way of doing that." 

There was a moment of silence before some bystanders grew angry with the reporter. They were screaming to let Callum go and to ask her question to someone else. There were parents waiting for their daughters, families waiting to hear from them, and reporters, at this moment, were slowing that process down.

"Just one," she pushed awkwardly, suddenly unhappy with her choice to step in front of Callum.

Callum nodded, hoping to wrap this up so he could move on with his day probably. This was an inconvenience to him, and he wanted to leave. I watched as he shifted his weight in a way that reminded me of meeting him the first time. I knew that he had groaned, and only agreed so that she would move at the end of her one question. I watched his facial features as he waited for her question. He was biting the inside of his cheek, he was nervous and anxious. He wanted to finish this, he wanted to be out of the spotlight, and he wanted to leave it up to Kate. Kate would be able to explain the case, what was happening, and everything that had changed. She was the one to go to for the case, not Callum.

That's probably why the question caught him, and me, off guard because it had nothing to do with the case.

"Is it true that you and the missing agent were romantically involved?"

I felt my jaw drop, and my eyes widen in shock as her words met my ears. I knew I wasn't breathing, my chest was tight and unmoving, my lungs were begging for me to take a breath. I was desperately awaiting his answer, as was Alec. I could feel his eyes shooting between the television and me. I could feel the anger and animosity that he suddenly had toward Callum, and myself. He wanted to hear the answer as much as I did. If Callum wasn't careful, then I would be nursing another bruise tomorrow, maybe something much worse. 

Callum's face changed, his annoyance had vanished and was quickly replaced with shock, and the reminiscence of red racing across his face. "Excuse me?"

"I asked if you and the agent who was taken were dating," the reporter repeated, holding her recorder closer to him, waiting for the answer.

There were a few more moments of pause before Callum recomposed himself enough to answer. "I don't have those kinds of relationships with people on my team," he answered smartly. "You've had your one question, now move so I can get this man inside and interrogate him." He nodded his head toward the reporter and gestured for her to move.

"But was this agent a part of your team?" the reporter asked as Callum walked past her. This time he didn't answer. "Wasn't she in another department of the FBI? She was put on this team because of her experience with cases like this, correct?"

He ignored her and the stream of questions that erupted from the crowd about our possible relationship. I was stunned by the stream of queries on my position at FBI, my belonging on Callum's team, and since I wasn't technically an official part of his team we could be dating, but Callum didn't bother answering them. He kept walking, he didn't stop until he got to the door, and he led the man into the building. The cameras quickly flashed back to Kate, but she called an end to the meeting, and rushed off with the others to find out who the man was. Hopefully, he would help them find us.

"I wouldn't hold your breath," Alec stated, pulling me out of my thoughts on the inquiries that Callum had just faced. "They took the decoy. He knows nothing, but with everything I've planted on him there's no way he will get out anytime soon. That leaves me plenty of time to ask about the question that reporter asked which had you and the agent so tense," Alec stated, turning to me to allow me to show the anger in his eyes.

BOOK: Apprehended (Amber Alert Series Book 3)
2.57Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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