Beyond Ransom (The Ransom Series) (15 page)

“Hold it, papa bear.  Before you go
shooting the messenger, why don’t you take a better look at the man who defiled
your daughter.”

There’s instant recognition in my dad’s
voice.  “I know those tattoos.  Leo.  He did this?”

“He did.  He fucked your beautiful
little daughter, and do you want to know the best part?”  Mark pauses for
dramatic effect before reducing his voice to just above a whisper into the
phone.  “She actually enjoyed it.”

“I’ll kill him!  Do you hear me, Leo? 
You will not live to see the light of another day when I find you!”

As my dad’s escalation in anger hits
its peak, I’m torn apart inside.  Mark in his own sick way is proving the catch
in the offer he’s made.  What seemed like the perfect choice to end this
horrific nightmare is the path to permanent separation from Leo.  With the evidence
they have, they
’ll
make him pay for what he’s done to
me and for all the horrible things he said he did for Mark before.  It’s my
choice to losing him.

“What’s my alternative?” I ask
hesitantly.

Though my question was directed toward
Mark, my dad is the one who answers.  “Alternative?  Morgan, sweetie, what are
you talking about
?
  There is no alternative.  You need
to come home.”

It’s almost strange to be talking with
my dad over the phone.  It feels like we’re two completely different people now
and that bringing us together again like this is almost like starting over. 
I’m not the same girl who was taken weeks ago.  I’ve changed in so many ways.

“What about Leo?”  I say it before
realizing
that no one besides Mark has any concept of
my feelings for
the man who has been my savior in this place.

“We will prosecute him to the full
extent of the law.  You’ll never have to worry about him again.”

Kidnapping, assault, rape… the charges
in my case alone will be enough to put Leo away for decades.  Add to that any
charges from the other terrible things he’s done while working for Mark
,
and it might as well be multiple life sentences.  It could even amount
to the death penalty.

I can’t let that happen.

“What’s my alternative?” I ask Mark
again, my heart racing.  Silence fills the room.

Mark stares at me with the largest,
most satisfied smile on his face.  “Stay with us.  Join my crew
,
and you and Leo can be together and fuck
each other
all you want.”

I stare
blankly
at Mark as my dad’s voice reaches out to me again.  “Is he forcing
you to say these things?  Is he threatening you?”

“No, he’s not,” I respond flatly.  I
wish I could say that Dad likely thought I was lying, but he’s always been able
to read me when I’m fibbing.  He knows that I’m telling the truth.

“Then why are you even considering
this?  What the hell happened to you to make you do this?”

“I fell in love.”  The words fall hopelessly
out of my mouth as I turn to Leo next to me.  Through the pain and blood
on his face,
I see in his eyes th
e
connection that we share.  “Leo took my heart, Dad.  He holds it as we speak. 
I won’t let you take him from me.”

Leo shakes his head at me vehemently,
pulling against the chains with increased vigor to convey his silent message. 
He wants to sacrifice himself for me.  He wants me to take my life back, but I
don’t know that I want it back.  It’s childish and stupid and illogical
for me to think this way,
but it wouldn’t be much of a life
without Leo in it.

The decision is made.

I turn back to Mark.  “I’ll do it. 
I’ll go with you.”

Yells and cries pour out of the cell
phone’s speaker.  Leo is screaming
against the tape over his mouth to get my attention, but all I can do is stare
at the man who played me and Leo.  We’ve been pawns in his little game this
entire time, and he worked us just the way he wanted.  This whole charade was
based on a single bet that Leo and I would fall for each other, and we did. 
Mark won.

Though I have been in Mark’s possession
for weeks, today is the day I was truly taken.

“It’s been a pleasure, Robert,” Mark
says into the phone with a victorious grin on his face.  “I’m so glad I had
this opportunity to take everything from you as you took everything from me,
except you get to go on living with the knowledge that
your daughter
chose me over her own family.  From one grieving father to
another, I can say that is a fate worse than my own.”

My entire body seizes up as Mark’s
words sink in.  I’ve chosen this life over my former life.  I’ve chosen his
crew over my own family.  For a moment I panic and the guilt consumes me, only
intensifying when I realize I don’t second-guess my decision, not in the
slightest.

“I’m sorry.  I’m so sorry!”  Pleadings
of apologies scream from me, and I hope my parents can hear the truth in my
words.  I will feel sorry about this for the rest of my life, but I won’t
regret my decision.

Leo and I will find a way to escape
Mark’s grasp someday.  We’ll get away and find a place where we can grow and
thrive together.  I’ll never be able to bring him home to my family, and I may
never see my family again, but I’ll have him.  We’ll make a new life together. 
We’ll both be free someday.

Muffled cries are all I hear from the
phone now as Mark holds it in my direction.  “Say goodbye, dear.”

Goodbye.  It’s so final, so permanent. 
How do I say goodbye to the people who have raised me and loved me and
protected me for my entire life?  How do I do that in a few words over a phone
call?

I won’t say goodbye.  This isn’t
goodbye forever.  Once Leo and I are free
,
I will see
my parents again.

“I’ll be fine.  Don’t worry about me. 
Leo will protect me.”  The words rush out of me as quickly as the tears racing down
my cheek
s
.

My parents say nothing.  The silence is
deafening.

Mark pulls the phone away from me. 
“Goodbye, Robert.”

With a tap of the screen, the line
disconnects, severing me with finality from my parents and my former life.

“It’s time to go,” Mark announces to
the room before kneeling down next to Leo.  He takes his bloodied face in his
hands and forces him to look in his eyes.  “It’s over.  You hear me?  The
moment you resist or try to pull something
,
I will put
a bullet in her brain.”

Leo nods but doesn’t otherwise move
while Mark unlocks the chains from his wrists and ankles.  When he’s finally
free of them
, Leo rips the tape from his mouth before
taking
Mark’s
extended
hand to
be pulled to
standing.

Leo moves to me unsteadily and
immediately brings his attention to my gunshot wound.  He pulls on the fabric
of my shirt and tears it enough to expose my entire shoulder.  He inspects the
entrance wound and feels around the back of me for its exit.

“Fuck,” he says under his breath before
calling out over his shoulder.  “Someone get the first aid kit!”  He returns
his attention to me with worried eyes.  I can’t help winc
ing
as he grasps my shoulder and presses hard against the wound.  “I’ll
do what I can until we get you to the doctor.”

“Leo.”  My wrists are pulling at the restraints,
desperate to get my arms around him
,
but I’m still
attached to the chair.

He sees my struggle and shakes his head
slightly.  “
We’ll
get you out of these soon.  Just
relax.”  He stares at me for a moment before speaking again.  “What have you done? 
What the hell were you thinking?”  Through the blood covering his face
,
I can tell he looks sad for me, almost disappointed.

I’m breathing hard but find my ability
to speak.  “I had no choice.”

“You could have had your life back.”

“But you wouldn’t have been in it.  The
police would have locked you up for life.  They may have even killed you.”

Leo leans his forehead against mine
,
and we both close our eyes.  “This is what I’ve been trying to
avoid,” he says quietly.  “I’m supposed to be in this alone so that people I
care about won’t get hurt.”

“Who else do you have?  Who else do you
care about?”

Leo says nothing.

I move my head up to kiss his forehead,
my heart aching at the metallic taste of blood that I find there.  “It’s better
to have something and risk losing it than to never have it at all.”

Leo lets out a deep breath.  I hope
I’ve helped him understand.

“Ahem.”  Someone clears his throat next
to us.  We both turn to see Mark staring down at us as he holds out
the
first aid kit.  In a strange and frightening way
,
it’s different to see him now.  The line between enemy and friend
is blurring, along with the line between who I was and who I want to be.

Leo snatches the kit from his hands
angrily.  “Can we get her out of this fucking chair?”

Mark smiles and kneels down, pulling a
knife out of his pocket and hovering the sharp blade in front of me.  “Anything
for our newest member of the team.”

I watch with trepidation as he cuts at
the restraints until a sharp
,
stinging
sensation
from my shoulder demands my attention.  The
rubbing
alcohol
Leo is pouring over the wound initially burns
,
but then a soothing sensation sets in.  Leo quickly dabs the area
with gauze before taping dry gauze over the opening.

“They bullet didn’t go through.  We’ll
get it out soon,” he reassures me.

When the last restraint is cut from my
ankle
,
Leo carefully lifts me from the chair
. 
The
pain from my bruised ribs flar
es
up as he pulls me against his chest and carries me toward the door of the now
mostly empty room.  I watch him move with purpose and concern as we make our
way out the door and down the hallway.

“I’m taking her in the Charger,” Leo
says matter-of-factly to Mark.  There is no room for discussion in the tone of
Leo’s voice.

“We’ll take the Charger, but I’ll
drive.  You get to watch her in the back.  I want her face covered.”

Leo nods, their little negotiation
coming to a quick end as we pass through doors in a part of the building I
haven’t seen yet.

A final set of double doors opens into
blinding sunshine and a large parking lot.  The rest of Mark’s crew is throwing
gear into various cars and trucks including a box truck.  In the size of this
caravan of vehicles, I realize the full extent of the force that Mark had here
just for me.

We approach a dark gray Dodge Charger,
and I immediately understand why Leo chose this vehicle.  The sporty look isn’t
just for appearance.  This is a fast car.

Mark opens the back door.  Leo sets me
down gently on the seat and jumps in behind me.  He tears a long piece of cloth
from the bottom of his shirt and ties it over my eyes and around the back of my
head.

“You’re going to be fine,” he reassures
me, holding me against him while he applies pressure to the wound on my
shoulder.

I hear Mark yelling something out
across the parking lot before the driver’s side door opens.  The car shifts
from side to side when Mark takes his seat and starts the car.

“It’s time to take you to your new
home,” Mark says as he revs the engine slightly before putting the car in
gear.  I can hear the smile on his face in the tone of his voice.

Leo holds me tighter against him as if
he’s never going to let go.  The steady rise and fall of his chest helps me
breathe through the weight of the decision I’ve made as Mark drives us away to
my new life.

Finality

The blindfold over my eyes during the
drive quickly becomes unnecessary.  When the adrenaline from everything that
happened finally wears off, my body and mind are left completely spent. 
Exhaustion consumes me
,
and I drift off to sleep
against Leo’s shoulder.

I don’t wake up until the car comes to
a complete stop and the engine ceases.  I’m stunned awake by the overwhelming
silence of the car.  This is it.

We’re here, wherever here is.

The muffled sounds of car doors
slamming outside the vehicle become loud echoes as the doors of the vehicle
I’m
in
are opened on
each
side me.  Leo
slips his arms around my back and under my knees and lifts me out of the back
seat.

The air in here is cold and dry.  It
feels stale, cut
-
off from the outside world.  I worry
that I’ve just traded one prison for another.

I hear the voices and sounds of the men
moving all around us
,
but I can barely make out what
they’re saying in the echoing space.  The cacophony of it becomes quieter as
Leo carries me away through a creaky door that someone else opens and
closes
for
us.  A
second set of footsteps hasn’t left our side.

The air in this new space is slightly
warmer but just as stale.  There is no echo to our movements in here.  It feels
strangely homey and nothing like the prison.

“Stop,” Mark’s voice abruptly commands
from in front of us.

Leo stumbles back slightly but
maintains his hold of me.  The blindfold is removed from my face
,
and it takes a moment for my eyes to adjust to my surroundings.

The lighting in here is subdued and
warm,
not nearly as
abrasive
as the
fluorescent lights of the prison.  The walls are made of actual drywall
instead of cement.  There’s wooden furniture around and landscape artwork on
the walls.  I see signs of technology: a flat screen TV mounted on the wall and
multiple monitors and other electronic devices sitting on a large mahogany
desk.  There’s even a heavily crowded bookshelf built into one of the walls.

Mark’s face appears above me, demanding
my attention.  “I don’t have a cell for you here, and I don’t want to deal with
keeping you tied up or handcuffed constantly.  I do, however, have the ability
to end Leo’s life the moment you try to escape or do anything that would cause
harm to me, one of my men, or the business.  Even
a
hint of disobedience from you
,
and I will kill him. 
Do you understand?”

My breath catches in my throat in my
attempt to respond.  “Yes.”

Mark’s attention turns to Leo.  “You
know what I’m going to say.  Try to pull one of your escape moves again
,
and I will not hesitate to shoot her somewhere fatal next time.”

“I want her with me,” Leo declares. 
“She’ll stay in my room and under my watch
at all times
.  Not one other man in this building touches her again, including
you.”

“You really think you’re in a position
to be making demands?” Mark asks angrily.

“In all the years I’ve worked with you,
not once have I been greedy or laid claim to anything we’ve acquired in the
normal course of business, until now.  I’m choosing her.  You’ll have my
loyalty as long as she remains untouched.  If she disobeys, she’s mine to
punish.”

“And if you disobey, she dies.”

The finality with which these men
discuss my fate makes me uneasy.  With a nod of Mark’s head the negotiation is
over, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

Leo quickly moves me to a long maroon
leather couch set out along the wall as Mark takes a seat behind the desk and
pulls
out
a laptop.

Leo sets me down like I’m the most
fragile object in the world.  He kneels next to me with a look of concern.  “You
okay?”

“Fine,” I respond, but I’m not fine. 
The dull but strong pain in my shoulder hasn’t improved in however long it’s
been that I was asleep in the car.

Leo sees right through my answer.  “I
know it hurts like hell.  We have a doctor coming.  He’ll be here soon to fix
you up, and he’ll have pain killers.”

My fingers reach out to touch Leo’s
bloody face.  “You may need some, too.”

“I’m fine.  This is nothing,” he
insists.

“It didn’t look like nothing back at
the prison.”

Leo shakes his head at me.  “Don’t
worry about me.  I just want you to relax.  You need to rest.”

“You’re always telling me to rest.  I’m
sick of resting.”  My mouth curves up slightly into a smile.  How is it
possible that I’m smiling right now?

“God, you’re a stubborn teenager,” Leo
teases, and then his face falters.  He lowers his voice to a barely audible
whisper and leans down toward me.  “We’ll talk later.  Alone.”

I nod, and Leo sweeps his lips down on
mine in the slightest kiss.  He brushes the hair from my eyes with a sigh
before standing up and walking away from me.

It feels like I’ve just seen a switch
flipped in Leo.  I’m reminded of how he had to act at the prison, to appear as
one of the guys when he was doing things only because Mark said to, but I can
tell he’s not acting now.  I watch him move through th
is office
and talk with Mark, totally in his element.  The criminal side of
Leo is playing out in front of me, and it scares me to know that this person
exists within him, that this life has been so engrained in his psyche that it’s
like second nature to him.

Mark has Leo fully engaged in what
seems like completely normal
conversation
between
them: how to handle an upcoming new business deal, how they’ll teach a lesson
to an existing associate who didn’t pull through on his end of a bargain, which
lackey will make the next cash collection rounds from distributors.

Leo’s sitting on Mark’s desk looking with
him at the laptop screen, the crimson wet towel now idle in his hands from
cleaning the blood off his face, when there’s a knock at the door.

An older
-
looking
gentleman with graying hair and a brown overcoat and
slack
s steps inside the door just enough for Mark and Leo to see who he
is.

Mark waves him into the room.  “Come
in, Jack.”

The man enters with a large black bag
in hand.  He only glances toward me before walking over to greet Mark and shake
his hand.

“Good to see you, old friend.”  Jack
turns to Leo and pats him on the shoulder.  “Leo.  How’s my favorite student? 
You look like hell, boy.”

Leo glances at Mark but it’s clear that
he’s not going to speak a word of how his face came to be the way it is.  “I’m
fine, Jack.  It’s just been a rough day.”  He shakes Jack’s hand quickly and
hops down from the desk before indicating toward me on the couch.  “We have a
gunshot wound for you to fix.  This is Morgan.”

“Ah, the infamous Morgan Whitford.  I’m
surprised you’ve brought her back here.”

“She’s here by choice,” Mark interjects
with a satisfied smile.

“So your plan worked, then?”  Jack
sounds genuinely surprised as he pulls up a chair next to me.  “Remind me never
to get on your bad side, Mark.”

When Jack’s attention turns to me
,
I immediately wish I could go back to being an observer in this
little reunion between them.  He seems nice enough, and I know he’s only here
to help me, but I still feel uneasy.  Every bit of this situation makes me
uneasy.

“So, Morgan,” he says as he pulls off
the gauze taped to my shoulder, “it would appear you had a run-in with a
decent-sized handgun today.”

My response is automatic.  “Yes, I
would consider an M9 a decent-sized handgun.”

Jack looks to Leo in astonishment.

“Daughter of a cop.  She knows her
guns,” Leo explains with a shrug.

“You’ll fit in well here, then,” Jack
replies, turning his attention back to my shoulder, touching and manipulating
the skin around the wound.  I know he’s just a doctor
,
but I don’t like the feeling of his hands on me.  A bit of panic washes over me
,
and I suddenly feel the urge to get up and run out of the room.

I briefly look to Leo for help.  “Let
Leo do it.  You said he’s your student?  Teach him to do this.  I want him to
fix me.”

Jack looks at Leo for direction,
clearly not sure what to make of my suggestion.  “I suppose it’s not every day
I can give you a lesson in removing bullets from the human body.”

Leo gives me a concerned look.  “Why
don’t you let him take this?  He’s fixed me up on more than one occasion.  I
trust him.”

“I want you to do it.  Please,” I beg
him.

Leo’s mouth opens slightly as he’s
about to speak, then it closes.  I sigh with relief as he nods his agreement.  “Okay,
I’ll do it.”  He looks to Jack for guidance.  “Where do I start?”

Jack’s already setting out supplies on
the small coffee table in front of the couch.  I watch as they both sanitize
their hands and put on latex gloves.  Jack holds a flashlight to my shoulder as
they both inspect the wound.

“The bullet is partly visible.  You’ll
need to use the forceps to grab at the side of it and pry it out.  Before you
start, I think we should open the entrance to give you a little extra room.” 
Jack turns toward me.  “This is going to be painful.  You need to prepare
yourself.”

I look to Leo, the one who will
solidify my strength to help
me
get
through
this.  He smiles at me
,
but he’s
clearly
concerned
over
what he’s about to
do.

“I’ll be fine,” I assure him.  “Do what
you need to do.”

Jack hands Leo a scalpel that he’s
reluctant to accept, but he does.

“Make a small incision here and here to
open it,” Jack directs.

I ball my hands into tight fists as Leo
cuts my skin.  It takes every bit of strength and willpower I have to keep my body
still under the blade.  When he finishes that step, Leo takes a deep breath and
exchanges the scalpel for the forceps.

My body was braced for the sensation of
the metal instrument poking around inside me, but I wasn’t fully
prepared
for just how painful it would actually be.  My eyes squeeze shut
as all my focus goes into not moving.  I grit my teeth together to keep my
mouth from screaming.

“I’m sorry.  I’m trying.”

Leo sounds frantic as the pain builds
to something I can no longer tolerate.  My body needs to release the pent
-
up pain somehow, so my foot starts kicking up and down
wildly
against the couch cushion.  A groan builds at the back of my
throat.  I don’t know how much longer I can keep from screaming at the top of
my lungs. 

“There,” Leo says with relief, and the
surge in pain drops to a dull ache.

I open my eyes to see the bloody
remnants of the bullet resting innocently in Leo’s gloved hand.  I look
straight to the ceiling and sigh in relief.

Compared to the feeling of Leo digging
around within my flesh, the rest of the cleaning and dressing of the wound is
not that bad.  I feel like I can finally breathe again when the last piece of
tape is applied over the gauze bandage and my arm is secured in a makeshift
sling.

“You need to take it easy.  Rest. 
Enjoy your time being waited on by these gentlemen,” Jack says to me as he
finishes packing up his medical bag.  He hands me a small unlabeled prescription
bottle.  “Take these twice a day for a few days.  They’ll help with the pain.”

“Thank you,” I say as I look from Jack
to Leo.  Now that they’re done
,
I feel slightly bad
for convincing them that Leo should perform the procedure, but the small extent
I was able to relax was solely thanks to knowing that Leo was the one behind
the medical instruments poking and prodding my body.

“Until the next gunshot wound, then,”
Jack says with a smile as he gets up to leave.

Mark approaches the three of us from
his desk and shakes Jack’s hand.  He was so quiet the whole time I didn’t even
notice he was still in the room, or maybe I was too distracted by the people tearing
into my flesh to notice him there.

“If everyone behaves we shouldn’t
require your services again for a
while, though it is always great to see you.  I’ll try not to shoot
or maim anyone in the near future.”

I wonder if Mark’s words are an attempt
at warning, but in Jack’s jovial response I figure it’s just Mark’s twisted
sense of humor showing through.  “Yes, take it easy on the shooting and
maiming, please.  I’m supposed to be retired, after all.”

Leo walks Jack to the door and shakes
his hand.  “Thanks, Jack.”

“You did all the work.”  He leans in to
speak to Leo
quietly
, though I can still hear what
he’s saying.  “Take care of your girlfriend there.  She looks like quite the
catch.”