Misguided Target (14 page)

I believed him, and it broke my heart to think that he might die trying to protect me. If he died for me I'd never forgive myself. I'd actually debated leaving while he was gone, but I knew ultimately it wouldn't do any good. He was in this now whether I wanted him to be or not, and leaving would be signing James' death warrant. Given Damien's attraction to me, if worst comes to worst, I could try to leverage myself to save them. I knew pretty much everything that was going on, and even though it might kill me, at least it would hopefully be enough to save them.

I followed Kane down the hall when suddenly I stopped dead in my tracks as it dawned on me who the missing initials belonged to.

“What's wrong?” Kane asked, concerned.

“Do you know Damien's full name?”

“Yes, it's Damien Edward Ryan.”

“I know who they belong to. It's so obvious! How did we miss it?”

“Kendall, what are you talking about? You've lost me.”

“
H.S. and D.E.R
, those initials belong to Henry Samuels and Damien Edward Ryan.”

“Kendall… that would mean that…you're saying the Vice President is involved?” Kane clarified, looking as shocked as I felt.

“Yes. That's why Damien is so involved. He's cleaning up this mess. You can't have the future leader of the free world and his chief of staff sitting under a laundry list of felonies.”

“Of course! I should have known that. Dammit! This is worse than I thought,” Kane stated, grabbing my hand. “We need to go,” he took off again and we speedily made our way down the hall to the elevators. The doors opened and I followed Kane inside. I watched as he squared his shoulders and his calm demeanor returned. He faced me and pulled me to him, his lips consuming mine. This kiss was unlike all the others we had shared to date. I melted into it, surprised by the forcefulness guiding his movements —at the same time — there was a desperation in his embrace that made it hard for me to pull away. He slowly drew back and scoped my hood up over my head. “Kendall, keep your head down. If I tell you to run, you run. Go somewhere public. Understood?”

I wanted to argue and tell him I wouldn't just leave him. I wanted him to know that I was willing to risk just as much for him as he was for me, but I didn't. I didn't want him to be distracted. I didn't want him to worry about me not listening, so I said nothing. “Kane, I should tell you, I did something while you were gone. I uploaded…”

“Kendall, I'm sorry, we don't have time. I'm not saying this to be a dick, I'm saying this because I trust you. I trust that whatever you did while I was gone will be for the best. You've pretty much figured out everything we know, so whatever you did is fine and I thank you. I just can't think of anything else right now. They will be here any minute. I'm sure of it. They don't know you're with me yet, but once they do, well, let's just say all hell will break loose. Stay alert.”

“Okay, Kane,” I said as he firmly held my hand in his. I watched as his razor-sharp focus instinctually took over. The elevator doors opened to the main lobby and we were bombarded with a series of loud noises and sounds. We exited and he led me down a long hallway to a side exit. Kane released my hand, holding his up, halting me as he opened the door and quickly scanned the outside of the building. “Okay, let's go.”

We headed down a long back alley until it led to a busy street opening. “Where will we go?”

“I need somewhere public, somewhere busy with Wi-Fi access,” he offered mindlessly as we walked.

“There's a shopping center close by.”

“That's perfect. Lead the way.”

We didn't get very far because without warning two black SUVs pulled up beside us. “RUN!” Kane shouted as men exited the vehicles and took off after us. We ran to the nearest alley and headed towards a fence separating us from another back alley. Kane clasped his hands together and I stepped onto them as I gripped the top of the fence pulling my body up to the top. Kane did the same and we quickly climbed down. The men were close to us now, just seconds behind. We made a run for the back door of a building close by. We'd almost reached it when two cop cars came barreling down the alley, stopping nearby. Four police officers with their guns drawn exited the cars behind us. “Don't move,” one of them demanded.

“I guess it's hard to fight fair when you've got the police in your pocket,” Kane spat at the cops, getting nothing but laughs from them. I looked over at Kane, who was scanning the area with his eyes, looking for some sort of exit strategy, but it wasn't long before the two black SUVs stopped arrived and we were surrounded. I realized we wouldn't be getting out this.

A man exited one of the SUVs and approached me, I recognized him as Marty, one of the men who'd kidnapped James. “My goodness, Raina, your new look almost suits you,” he said as he reached out to touch a strand of my hair. “Although I must admit I've always been fond of your long dark hair. I've heard it looks especially good in dim lights against your bare back.”

Marty took a step forward, now standing so close to me that I could smell the tobacco on his clothes. He went to reach for another strand when Kane grabbed his gun. Within seconds one of the officers had tased him, and he screamed in agony as his body writhed on the ground. “Raina, what's your real name, honey? If nothing else, Dominique was really good at keeping her girls' identities a secret. If the others had been smarter and followed her rules like you did, they'd likely still be alive.”

“Fuck you,
Marty
,” I spat angrily, wanting so badly to run over to Kane, who'd finally stop screaming.

“Oh how cute,” he said, slapping me hard across the face. I could taste blood in my mouth. “You remembered my name.” He laughed as he pulled my bag off my shoulder and unzipped it. He dug through it and pulled out my wallet, “Kendall Daley,” he read aloud, causing my heart to sink into my stomach. I'd worked so hard to protect my identity over the years and now I was completely exposed. “Is it weird that I still prefer the name Raina?” He giggled, “Load them up,” he ordered as men swarmed around us. I tried to fight them off but I couldn't, it wasn't long before they quickly overpowered me and bound my wrists with zip-ties. I was forced into the backseat where they shoved a gag in my mouth and pulled a black bag over my head.

I strained my ears to hear Kane, but I couldn't. They must have put him in the other vehicle. I sat quietly, hearing nothing but the pounding of my heartbeat in my ears. After what felt like an eternity we stopped. I could hear people talking around me and I tried my best to stay calm. The vehicle door opened and I was yanked out; they roughly shoved me down to my knees on the hard ground. I whimpered as the rocks dug into my skin. I could hear the rustling of the leaves in the breeze and what sort of sounded like waves in the background. Someone picked me up and I stumbled as I was dragged along a rocky, uneven asphalt surface. We stopped momentarily and I heard the beeping of buttons followed by the creaking of a heavy steel door opening.

“This way,
Raina
,” a man whispered in my ear, causing my skin to crawl.

The echoing of footsteps told me we were in a large concrete space. I was stopped and the black bag was pulled off my head. I immediately scanned my surroundings and saw that we were in an old vacant shipyard warehouse of some sort. Feeling flowed through me as I spotted Kane by my side. Blood poured out of his newly split lip and his bruised left eye told me they'd done a number on him on the drive over. Kane stood, angrily focused on something in the distance. I looked over to see what it was and I saw that it was James. My eyes stung with angry tears as I looked at the lifeless body which had each one of its limbs shackled by large chains. There was so much blood.

“Oh don't worry, he's still alive, at least for now,” Marty told me, wiping away a stray tear from my cheek.

Kane stirred angrily, trying to get at Marty, but we were bound and no match for the men holding us. They walked us over to two chairs placed directly in front of James. Relief spread through me as I spotted his chest moving — he was breathing. He was still alive, but I'd never seen a man look so broken. He was almost unrecognizable. They sat us down and removed the gags from both our mouths.

“Now I'll ask the million dollar question in hopes that you will stop screwing around and just let this whole mess end already. I'm tired, you're tired, and frankly this has gone on long enough. Not to mention the cost,” Marty declared, his menacing brown eyes fixated on me. “Listen, I know what you do for a living and that you care about protecting this country from harm. So as a matter of national security I'm going to need any information that you've come across over the past few days. Where are the documents Mr. Clarke?”

“I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know what any of this is about,” Kane stated, squaring his shoulders defiantly. “However, if I had any idea of what you were talking about, given that you know what I do, I'm amused by your definition of national security.”

Marty sighed, his signature greasy blond hair falling in his eyes. “Oh look at the big, tough man. It's very noble, but we do have ways of making you tell us. For now I don't want to mess up Raina's beautiful face, but James here,” he said, motioning over to my friend, “he has been fucked up quite a bit already, so we can just keep going.” Marty walked over to James and slapped him hard across the face bringing him back to consciousness.

“Kane… Ken-” he rasped, his eyes filled with fear, “I'm sorry, I didn't know she would do that. I'm so sorr-” he lamented, confusing me as I didn't know who the 'she' he was referring to was.

“You look confused, Raina,” Marty said, walking over to me and running his index finger down my bruised cheek, causing me to flinch.

“It's simple really,” I heard a familiar voice state as his footsteps echoed towards us, “Before I forget, it's nice to see you again so soon, Kane,” Damien said, his face lit up in a wide grin. “And Raina it's always a pleasure to see you. I guess you didn't know the full system of James' operation, but it would appear that he and Dominique had been gathering information on various individuals, using her whores to do it. It's actually quite an impressive little operation. From what I understand, the information gathered is incredibly damaging for certain individuals.”

“You mean people like yourself and the Vice President? You might as well speak freely considering the stakes, Damien,” Kane spat at him.

“Yes, him you're right, along with many others. This information is damaging to us all and it is damaging to our party collectively. It would take years to rebuild from such a scandal. This is simply not an option. Luckily we've covered all our angles and the last of our problems are in this very room. Everyone else has been eliminated, so once you give in and just give us what we want, we can all call this a night.”

“Go fuck yourself!” I sneered, surprising myself at my sudden wave of bravery. I wasn't sure if it was threat of death or the simple fact that I loathed this man, but I'll be damned if I am going to die being afraid of this asshole.

“Oh no, Raina, that's never fun. It's always better to that with a partner, as you well know. In fact, it's funny,” he laughed, sending a chill down my spine. “I only started paying attention to you because of James. For months I imagined teaching him a lesson by hurting you, but now I find myself genuinely attracted to you. Perhaps before this all ends I'll finally get that little wish of mine. Call it a parting gift if you will.”

“I swear, Damien if you touch one hair on her head I will fucking kill you!” Kane threatened as two men struggled to hold him down on his chair.

“Oh please! Who the fuck are you kidding, Kane? I mean, you're good, but not that good. You're not getting out of here, none of you are. You'll be dead soon and I won't regret anything. If we're being honest, I do have to say that you being here does complicate matters a little. It will be a bit harder to cover-up your death, given your profession. I'm not worried though, it is a minor kink in the plan.” Marty approached Damien and interrupted him by handing him the folders he'd retrieved out of my bag.

Damien broke into a wide grin as he flipped through the pages. “My, my, my James, you've been rather naughty and busy, I must say. I didn't realize just how much you'd collected on everyone. Those whores really know their way around a bedroom, I see.”

“They certainly knew their way around yours,” James croaked, erupting in laughter. “There is a ton on you in there. You think you're actually getting out of this? You're a seriously messed up individual, Damien.”

“Wow, that's harsh judgment coming from a man who used to be a whore himself,” Damien sneered.

“You're right, I have done my fair share of wrongdoings in my lifetime, but at least when it came to me, people always knew when they were getting fucked.”

“Oh did they, James? Dominique clearly didn't. Mind you, had she not gotten greedy and tried to sell this information to the highest bidder no one would have even known about this yet. Sure we suspected you were a traitor, but those poor innocent whores died because of you. They didn't know you were screwing them, at least not a way that was familiar to them.”

“Their blood is on your hands not mine, asshole,” James answered, spitting blood at him. Damien approached punching him the ribs. James cried out in pain.

Marty crouched down in front of me. “Where are the copies of this document?”

“I don't know,” I said, feeling my eyes sting from the tears building within them. The last thing I wanted was for him to get the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

“Come now, there's always a copy somewhere. Are they on your computer? Just be honest with me and I won't hurt you,” he offered sweetly, trying to wipe my tears again, but I recoiled and turned my face away.

“I don't have any copies. We looked for copies but there weren't any.”

“You can't possibly expect me to believe that,” he said, grabbing my chin between his thumb and index finger. I tried to move but he tightened his grip.

“Believe what you want,” I hissed. He moved quickly and I didn't see his hand raised hand until it was too late. He hit me hard again, causing my eye to erupt in pain.