Closer (13 page)

Tony pulled out a pair of pliers and approached Ahmed making a show of the tool he had in his hand. Sweat dripped from Ahmed’s head and onto his worn windbreaker. Was Ahmed strong enough to endure their torture? He kept telling himself he had to be. Then he heard a scream and realized it was coming from his own mouth. Tony had removed this thumbnail with the pliers. The pain was intense and brought immediate tears to Ahmed’s eyes.

Ahmed had lived a relatively calm life before joining the GIA. He was actually recruited for his knowledge of weaponry. He heard the screaming again and begged the big man to stop.

“Please, no more. No more,” he sobbed through agony.

“We can be done if you tell us where they are holding the American woman,” Tony said with deadly control.

The blood that was dripping from Ahmed’s fingers formed a little puddle on the concrete floor. Ahmed knew he wouldn’t bleed to death; he just had to be stronger than they were. He wanted to see America get what it had coming to it and the GIA was just the nefarious organization with the underground power to deliver justice.

Emma could hear the man screaming through the ear buds in her ears. Whatever they were doing was causing him a great deal of pain. Surely he couldn’t stand much more. Then the wretched sound ripped from his body again. She cried and turned the headphones up louder.

Five of his ten fingernails were gone. Losing a fingernail caused one of the worst pains a human body could bear because of the exposed nerve endings. Ahmed had never experienced this type of intense, relentless pain before. He wasn’t sure he could endure that same torture afflicted upon his other hand.

“Once I remove all of your fingernails, I’ll start removing the tips of your fingers,” Michael said to Ahmed. “Is the American woman still alive?” Rob’s face fell at Michael’s question, but it had to be asked. She could already be dead and then their whole plan would have to change.

“She’s alive,” Ahmed sobbed. “She’s hurt, but she’s alive. Please, I can’t tell you anymore. They will kill my family,” he reasoned as tears cleansed a path down his dirty face.

Rob gave silent thanks that they hadn’t killed her yet. She was strong and as long as she was alive, she would be all right.

“You should have thought about that before joining such a ruthless terrorist organization,” Steve responded walking closer to Ahmed. This time it was Steve who picked up the pliers. He reached down and clasped them together tight against Ahmed’s nail. He twisted, keeping his tight grip; the fingernail peeled off and Ahmed passed out. The pool of blood on the concrete floor was growing larger by the second. Tony got the smelling salts from his bag. He walked over and held the salts under Ahmed’s noise bringing the man back from his reprieve.

“We still have four more fingers to go before we start cutting,” Michael suggested to Ahmed.

“Please, no more,” he begged.

“Then tell us what we want to know,” Rob responded.

“She is being held at a house in Homestead about twenty minutes north of here,” he heaved trying to catch his breath.

“You are going to show us,” Michael commanded as he got bandages for Ahmed’s fingernail beds.

Rob took care to bandage Ahmed up so he wouldn’t lose any more blood. Once Rob was finished and Tony had finished packing up the tools, Michael did a little reconnaissance to make sure they’d left no traces in the warehouse. Michael motioned for the guys to wait a few minutes before bringing Ahmed to the van. Michael opened its back door to find Emma’s beautiful face stained with tears. He crawled into the van and sat next to her burying her face in his chest. “You could still hear him, couldn’t you?” he asked as he stroked her hair keeping her tight against his chest. He couldn’t bear to look into her eyes while she was crying; it would kill what was left of his soul. He rocked her back and forth.

“Did he tell you where Lizzie is?” she sobbed between breaths.

“Yes. And it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. He still has all of his fingers,” he joked trying to lighten the mood. But it wasn’t funny. She clung tighter to him as he rocked her gently back and forth.

“He is going to show us where to find her. Score one for the good guys today,” he said trying in vain to make himself feel better despite the torture he’d just inflicted upon another human being.

After hearing the guilt in his voice, she hugged him even closer. “What can I do to make it better, Emma?” he gently asked her coaxing her chin up so he could meet her eyes.

He knew what he would find in her expression would rip him apart, but he would take it like a man. When their eyes meet, he was floored at the love which shined through. Emma looked at him with love and understanding. He thumbed the teardrop that spilled down her check and kissed the spot it left. He kissed her eyelids, her nose, her forehead, and then he brought his mouth to her lips. She melted into the kiss. It was exactly what she needed to heal her aching heart.

“We better get moving. Rob is anxious to find Lizzie,” he said as he pulled reluctantly from her embrace.

“I understand,” was all that she could mutter as she crouched and moved into the passenger seat of the van.

It took the better part of the day to get the information they needed. The men loaded the van with their tools and Ahmed. They had to recover their cars. Once that was accomplished, they found a Best Western to hole up in for the night. Emma needed time to recover. Hell, Michael needed time to recover.

They pulled into the parking lot with a very anxious Rob. Michael asked for a room on the first floor next to the emergency exit again and was given the key. They snuck Ahmed in through the emergency exit and into Rob’s room. If they weren’t going in tonight, Rob wanted that fucker Ahmed right where he could keep his eye on him. No chance of a phone call alerting his terrorist friends to what went down. Rob did, however, need Ahmed to make a phone call saying his employee, Michael, was delayed by a day due to weather and would not be delivering the package until tomorrow. Rob had to make sure Lizzie stayed safe. But Rob knew if he and his brothers didn’t save Lizzie, they would surely kill her, with or without the package. That’s why Rob wanted to go in, guns blazing. He had to calm down and listen to reason before he was able to agree to develop a plan to retrieve Lizzie. Michael had said that they needed to treat this like any other hostage retrieval they had done, and Rob knew he was right.

“Ahmed, write down the address of the house,” Rob demanded as he shoved a piece of paper and pen in his face.

“What you need this for? I told you, I show you,” Ahmed said with a worried expression.

“Just do it,” responded Rob, standing there with the paper and pen in his outstretched hand. Ahmed reluctantly took the paper and wrote down the address of the house. “Now, I need you to make a phone call delaying your arrival by a day. Blame it on the weather,” he said handing Ahmed the phone. “And don’t try alerting your friends to anything, or I will kill you right here, right now,” Rob growled.

Ahmed did as he was instructed. Rob felt a little better about having time to come up with a plan now, for as far as the terrorist cell knew, Michael would still deliver Emma tomorrow. And Rob couldn’t help but think about the real danger Emma put herself in by even going along with this mission. Things could go wrong, and she could end up like his Lizzie, held prisoner by the bad guys.

All of the brothers had gathered in Rob’s room to begin working on a plan to retrieve Lizzie. Before conversation could get underway, Rob’s phone started buzzing with an incoming call. Rob looked at the phone and then at his brothers.

“Who is it?” Michael asked Rob as he watched Rob’s worried expression morph into one of anguish.

“It’s the GIA,” Rob explained pressing the green button on his cell phone and bringing it to his ear. “Hello,” Rob said cautiously. He knew pissing these people off would get his Lizzie killed. The phone was silent for a minute before the same man that contacted him previously started to speak.

“Right now, my man has his cock buried deep in your girlfriend,” the man enjoyed saying as Rob dropped to his knees, tears spilling from his eyes.

The brothers stood around Rob looking like they were ready to kill someone.

“What more can I do?” Rob asked the man on the phone.

“He will leave her, once he’s done of course, if you deliver Emma, her field notes, and the prototype to us within two days. If you fail to meet my requirements, I will turn my beast loose on your American woman again,” the man said while Rob raked a hand through his hair.

“Let me talk to her. How do I know she is still alive?” Rob asked begging for a chance to hear his name whispered on her lips.

“You want to hear her moan, you got it,” the man smiled through the phone. Rob could hear her grunting and screaming as the terrorist raped her.

“Leave her alone! I swear to God I am going to take great pleasure in making you feel nothing but pain before I kill you, you mother fucker,” Rob countered in a deadly calm voice. Something came over Rob. Michael could see it. Rob had stopped crying and he stood up.

“Now you listen to me, you sick son-of-a-bitch, I will bring everything you require in three days’ time. I will meet up with my man and personally deliver Emma Welby myself. But so you know, I will be walking out of there with Lizzie after I have taken great pleasure in killing you and everyone else in your little group,” he calmly told the man on the phone.

Lizzie screamed in the background again and Rob went deathly pale.

“I need three days to drive back up to Maine and then back to you again. Where will I make the drop?” Rob questioned not giving away the fact that they had their exact location from Ahmed.

“I will call you in three days. I expect you will be back in Pittsburgh at that time with everything I require. I will provide instructions to you then,” the man said in a calm, happy voice. And why shouldn’t he feel happy, he thought Rob was playing right into his hands. Little did he know Rob wasn’t alone, or Rob wasn’t kidding when he said he would be the one to kill him.

Michael made his way back to the room he shared with Emma after formulating a plan to retrieve Lizzie. It was already 2200. It took a long time to calm Rob down and to reassure him waiting was the best course of action. There was also the little matter of retrieving all of the field notes Emma had complied on Project Hummingbird, as well as sneaking the prototype out of the lab.

Michael raked his hand over his stubbly face as he made his way down the hall to his room. He slid the keycard into the door and viewed the green light. He pushed the door open and saw Emma sitting on the double bed staring off into space. He knew it had been a long, tiring day for her. A tiring couple of days, by his count, and it was nowhere near over yet. He walked into the room and stood beside the bed. “I just want to hold you tonight. I need to reassure myself you’re safe,” Michael told Emma as he ran the back of his hand down her cheek.

She met his gaze and smiled. She scooted over and made a place for him to sit down beside her.

“How are you feeling?” he asked her running his fingers up and down her arm.

“Much better. I am not as sore as I was yesterday,” she explained.

He lifted her shirt to look at the bruises, which were now a dark shade of purple. He ran his fingers slowly over each bruise and she winced. He knew he just should hold her tonight. Her body was still recovering, and he couldn’t take the chance of hurting her again. The skin around her eyes had started to turn the same shade purple. He bent his head forward and lightly kissed under each eye. He ran his lips lightly over her face down to her mouth. Her busted lip was closing nicely. She would be just fine from the injuries she suffered at Ingrams’ hands. He just had to take extra care with her.

She craved his touch like a drought craves rain. She needed to feel his body pressed against hers to know she was indeed safe. She leaned into his touch, reaching out with her own hand to cup his stubbly jaw. She ran her thumb over his bottom lip imagining his sweet taste.

The stubble on his jaw made him look rougher, sexier. Would he take her again, make her forget herself and the situation? Would he press into her core with his perfect thick cock and force naughty words out of her mouth again? God, she hoped so.

He had left her alone with her thoughts for a few hours and in those hours her mind started wondering. She realized, after the adrenaline had subsided, that she was frightened at what was about to come. They still had to use her as bait to lure out the terrorist cell.

“Why can’t we call Homeland Security and give them the address?” she questioned Michael as he sat next to her on the bed.

“Rob received a phone call from the terrorist cell while we were working on a plan,” he said to her.

Emma sat up straight, “What did they say,” she asked with baited breath.

Michael told her of the new requirements. He explained how they would have to sneak out her field notes and prototype in order to save Lizzie. Her eyes glistened and tears streamed down her face. She was so sick of crying. She didn’t want to feel so hopeless and so selfish at the same time. She allowed her work to define her for the past two years. Now she had to give it up to save someone’s life. Not to be misunderstood, she told Michael she would gladly retrieve every last bit of information to save Lizzie. But she couldn’t help but wonder what that meant for her identity. If she wasn’t the one to develop and complete Project Hummingbird, then who was she?

“What if we get Homeland Security involved? Can’t they help?” she begged Michael.

“Emma, I know that sounds easy, but remember someone with knowledge of your project gave it to a man who was supposed to kill you. We don’t know who we can trust and because of that, we trust no one,” he assured her. “I am not going to let anything happen to you ever again. And that means we do this on our own. You can trust my brothers. I have known them for six years. We have been in some serious shit together and have always had each other’s backs. They will protect you with their dying breath; the same way I will protect Lizzie with mine,” he continued to explain, as she looked into his deep, sincere eyes.