Savannah's Curse (20 page)
Authors: Shelia M. Goss
37
Troy wanted to scream “no” when they pushed Savannah into that room by herself. He knew she was probably scared. It was his fault. He should have shot the intruder when he had the chance. But no, he had to get to the bottom of things. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if his error in judgment got Savannah killed.
The memory of her giving all of herself to him the night before made him teary-eyed. He would not let these men take that away from him. It took him years to reconnect with Savannah, and no one would separate them ever again. Not like this. Not now. Not ever.
Troy was pushed into an empty, dark room.
The goon said, “Someone will be with you shortly.” The goon laughed as he shut the door on him.
Troy hit the wall and let out a few obscenities. He knew there were cameras watching. He wanted them to think he was out of control. He slid down on the floor for further effect. He closed his eyes and leaned back. He recalled the schematics of what he had seen of the place. The people who brought him here weren't aware that he knew the layout of the building and the grounds, because he was one of the ones who helped pick out the layout. It was set up exactly like the one he used for his security firm.
He hated playing the waiting game, but he had come too far not to find out who had been trying to kill him. Raymond was the obvious choice, but sometimes things aren't what they seem, so he didn't want to leave anything to chance. He had brought down too many guys. It could be someone from his past who realized where he was, or it could be Raymond. Whoever it was would be in for the surprise of his life.
These men weren't trained properly, because if it had been Troy, he would have done a thorough search; neither seemed to have thought about it. They were trained, but not trained well enough. That was to his advantage.
His body was his timer. He waited and waited. He hoped Savannah wasn't stressing too much. He had noticed they put her in a comfortable-looking room. He was confident in knowing that Savannah was more than capable of handling herself. At least in his heart she was. He didn't want to think otherwise.
Time sped by. According to his body clock, it had now been six hours later. He figured they were waiting on nightfall to hit. This was perfect, because that would make it easier for him and for Savannah to escape. He knew he would need to be fully energized, so he decided to take a nap and wait it out. He'd wait until his captors came to retrieve him.
His eyes popped open as soon as he heard the lock click, but he pretended to be asleep.
“Look at him. To think he was part of The Agency,” the goon said.
The guard nudged his arm with the baton. “Wake up. It's teatime.”
Troy opened his eyes and appeared to be disoriented.
“Wake up, I said,” the goon ordered.
Troy stood up. The bright light beaming in from the hallway temporarily blinded him. He got a quick view of the man's watch. It was eight at night.
“Where's the lady?” he asked.
“Minding her own business,” the goon responded.
He would be the second person he knocked out.
Troy was pushed down the hall. The room he was placed in was set up as an interrogation room. He was brought something to drink and eat. He refused to drink or eat because he didn't know if the items had been sabotaged with drugs. He had survived a whole week without drinking or eating, and if he had to do it again, then he would. He hoped it didn't come to that, because Savannah wasn't equipped for that kind of treatment.
The goon came back in the room. “See you weren't hungry. That might be your last supper, so I would have eaten it if I were you.”
“But you're not me,” Troy responded.
“Come on. The boss is ready for you,” the goon said.
Troy followed him out of the room. He was led into what appeared to be an office. No one was in the room except for him at this point. His eyes scanned the room. He saw the security cameras. His eyes zoomed in on the room where Savannah was. She was sitting in a chair curled up. He automatically clenched his fists. “I'm going to get us out of this,” Troy said.
“So we meet again,” the familiar voice said.
Troy was surprised to see Irene when he turned around. “How did you?”
“Everybody has a price, dear. Even you,” she said as she used the cane she was holding and let it trace his face and the left side of his body.
Troy was livid. One of his men had violated his trust. When he got out of this, he would be doing some house cleaning. He played along with her to learn what he needed to know. “Was it Mack? No, it had to be Yasi.”
“If you knew Mack was susceptible to bribes, why did you trust him?” She shook her head. “You're slacking, Bridges.”
“You're something else, you know that,” Troy said as he watched her walk with her cane and sit down. She made sure the split of the long white skirt she was wearing exposed her long, muscular legs.
“All of this could have been yours. Can still be, if you act right,” she said. She patted the space next to her. “Come. Sit.”
Troy obeyed her. “What do you want, Irene?”
“You. It's always been you.”
“I'm not an option.”
She looked at the monitor. “You would rather be with Miss Boring, when you could have all of this. What does she have that I don't?”
Troy was about to answer, when Irene said, “Don't. She's not the one for you.”
Troy laughed. “Your time in lockup must have dissolved some of your brain cells.”
“Just the opposite. Oh, Raymond told me to tell you . . . you should have taken him up on his offer.”
“So Raymond's behind all of this?” Troy asked.
“Of course your little friend doesn't know it, but he's the one who killed her father. Major was going to expose all of us. We couldn't have that, could we?”
Troy was thinking of a way to escape. “Raymond and Major were friends. I don't believe you.”
Irene leaned her head back and laughed. “In this game nobody's your friend. It's every man”âshe laughedâ“and woman for themselves. You've played it long enough to know that.”
“It's still hard for me to believe. How and why?” Troy asked.
The smile on Irene's face left. “Excuse me, but this isn't twenty questions. It's not about Raymond right now; it's all about me. And you chose another woman over me, so she'll pay for that.”
“You better not harm a hair on her body,” Troy stated.
“Too bad you won't be around too much longer to find out,” Irene said.
“Well, maybe we can work something out,” Troy suggested.
“I knew you would see things my way.”
Troy stood up. He started unzipping his pants. “Is this what you want?”
Irene's face showed she was surprised. She fanned herself. “Come to Mama.”
Troy leaned on her; then instead of kissing her, he hugged her. She moaned. He used his fingers and touched the pressure points on her neck, knocking her out. “One down, and more to go,” Troy said.
38
Savannah dreamed Troy was whispering in her ear. She opened her eyes and almost shouted when she realized Troy was there in the flesh and whispering in her ear. She grabbed him and hugged him tight.
“Look, we don't have much time,” he said. “Come on.”
She followed behind him. The house was dark, so it took Savannah's eyes a minute to adjust. Thankfully, Troy had her by the hand, or they would have gotten separated.
Troy held up his hand to alert her to stop. He pointed to the hallway. She moved back down the hallway. Troy opened up the door that led to another door. He tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. He ran and used his shoulder to get it to open.
The alarms went off. “Grab as much gear as you can,” Troy said as he placed ammunition in his pockets.
Savannah picked up ammunition. “What are these?” Savannah asked.
“These are for night vision. Put one on. Hand me that one,” he said.
Savannah did as instructed. “Looks like we hit pay dirt.”
“Come on,” Troy said.
In her peripheral vision Savannah saw the guard coming. She shouted, “Duck.”
She turned just in time to shoot the guard before he could shoot Troy. In a voice barely above a whisper, Troy said, “Baby, you saved my life.”
Savannah let out a few deep breaths. “I guess this is how Bonnie felt when she was backing up Clyde.”
“Only you would find something to joke about at a time like this,” Troy responded. He shot the lock off the door that led to the outside. “Come on, let's get out of here.”
The room filled with smoke. “I can't breathe!” Savannah yelled.
“Don't let go of my hand,” Troy said.
Savannah held on for dear life. The smoke was blinding her. She knew when they had made it to the outside, because the clean air filled her nostrils. She coughed a few times.
“Get down,” Troy said.
She crawled, following Troy. She was so glad for the night vision glasses, because otherwise she would be blind out here in the dark.
“Run, Vanna. Don't look back. Run!” Troy screamed.
Gunshots could be heard coming from behind them. Troy got up and she was not too far behind him. She ran as fast as she could. God had to have been watching out for them, because it was a wonder that none of the bullets reached them.
They were running deeper and deeper into the forest. Under normal circumstances Savannah would have been scared out in the forest at night. She couldn't stand creepy things and was afraid of bears, wolves, and anything slimy. But she would rather be with the beasts of the wild than be locked up in the place from where they had just escaped.
She didn't have time to think about too much because Troy had them running. “Are you okay?” He stopped and asked her this a few times.
“I'm fine,” she would respond each time, although she was getting out of breath. If she got out of this, she would increase her workout from three times a week to at least five times a week.
“Let's stop and rest for a minute,” Troy said.
“No, I'm fine. We don't have to,” Savannah said as she stopped and bent down.
“Vanna, come here,” Troy said. He held her in his arms.
Savannah wanted to fall over, but they had come too far for her to give up. “I'm scared, Troy. What ifâ”
“No what-ifs. You have two sisters at home and it's my duty to get you back to them,” Troy said.
She saw him smile, and his million-dollar smile was all she needed to see. “What are you waiting for?” She walked ahead of him.
“Slow down, Annie Oakley,” he joked.
She followed him into what looked like a cave. “Troy, why are we stopping? I thought we needed to keep going.”
“I don't hear anyone coming behind us, so that means they are waiting for daylight. We'll rest here for a while and then get started again,” he responded.
Savannah could hear what sounded like crickets. She heard a howl, which sent a chill up her spine. Before she realized it, she was reaching for Troy. If he hadn't caught her, she would have fallen.
“Sorry,” she said.
“Come over here,” Troy said as he cleared off a spot for her to sit down.
“Ouch,” she said as she removed the stem that she sat on. “This night air is a little chilly.”
Troy wrapped his arms around her. “Vanna, I'm sorry.”
“For what?” she wondered.
“All of this could have been avoided if I would have let you shoot the guy when he was back at the house.”
“Hey, I thought you had a good idea. I wanted to see who the boss man was as well.”
He brushed the grass out of her hair and said, “I did find out some things.”
Savannah halfway listened to him give her a recap of the conversation he had with Irene. Her mind was still spinning from what Irene said about Raymond being behind her father's death. First she had to get out of her current situation. She asked, “Do you really think we can get out of this?”
“Baby, you're with me. I'm the king.” He playfully hit himself on his chest.
Savannah leaned her head back on his chest. “Well, just get your queen to safety and she'll be highly appreciative.”
Savannah didn't know when she dozed off. Troy's hand brushing gently across her face woke her up. He whispered in her ear, “We're not alone.”
“Butâ”
“Shh,” he said. “Ease up.”
Savannah got up as quietly as she could. She could hear her heart beat. She could feel Troy's breath on the nape of her neck.
Troy held up two fingers. She realized he meant two people. He pointed at himself and then in the opposite direction. He pointed at Savannah and then in the opposite direction of her. Savannah followed his lead. She went one way, while he went the other. They backtracked and were able to sneak up on the intruders.
Troy grabbed one of the intruders around the neck. He reached for his gun. The gun fired before it fell to the ground. Savannah didn't hesitate to shoot the other intruder before he could react. He fell to the ground. Neither man was dead, but they wouldn't be coming after them either.
Troy went through their pockets. He found a pair of handcuffs and handcuffed them together. Savannah found a cell phone in the other intruder's pocket. She attempted to dial a number, but the call wouldn't go through. “Dang it!” she yelled.
“Grab his weapon,” Troy stated.
Savannah placed the cell phone in her bra, because her pockets were full. She followed Troy deeper into the woods, or so she thought.
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