Rescued by the Navy Seal (3 page)

Rita woke to darkness. Something wasn’t right, but her
brain felt fuzzy. Shaking her head, she realized that she was blindfolded. And
then, she remembered. She had taken Casey outside and turned around at Casey’s
growl. A man she had never seen before was standing there. Before she could say
anything, Casey had launched herself at him and bit down hard on his forearm.
As he struggled to shake her off, Rita ran for the house. As she reached her
phone, she felt herself start to fall. The only thing that made sense is the
man must have caught up to her and given her something to knock her out. As the
vehicle bounced, Rita came down hard.
Ouch
. Reaching for her head, she
found her wrists taped together. Her ankles suffered similar treatment and
there seemed to be some sort of rope keeping her from moving too far.
Hello?
She tried to call out, but the gag made her tongue feel like an old wool
sock. Taking a couple tentative breaths, Rita concluded that she was in a
moving vehicle. Judging from the echo, she was guessing some sort of cargo van.
Going where, she didn’t know. But she wasn’t going to panic. She knew that
Jared would find her. And she hoped that Casey was ok and that she’d taken a
firm bite out of their assailant. As the van continued to bounce and lurch,
Rita determined that they were in typical Southern California traffic. Before
long, the driver picked up speed again, only to slow several miles later. A
couple tight curves and the terrain felt different. They were no longer on the
freeway, but had switched to surface streets.

A couple more bounces through some ugly potholes and the van
rolled to a halt. She heard the door open and shut and the sound of footsteps
walking away. They returned moments later and she heard the back door open as
someone climbed in and shut the door behind him.

“I know that you’re awake. Cooperate and things will go
less painfully for you.” As the assailant reached for Rita, she braced to kick him
as soon as she could, but pressure on her shin brought tears to her eyes. “I
know a lot of different ways to inflict pain like you’ve never felt before.
Cooperate and avoid it. Understand? Nod your head.” Giving a quick assent, Rita
felt hands reach for the tape around her ankles. As her legs were cut free,
additional pressure to the shin had her rethinking any further attempts at
escape. Her assailant made quick work of the tape on her wrists and pulled her
blindfold off. Rita blinked in the gloom of the van as large hands reached down
to pull her to a sitting position. “The effects of the sedative are wearing off
and you should be ok shortly. As he tugged her gag free, he pressed a bottle of
water into her hands. “Drink slowly. It will help.”

As Rita took the bottle, she looked around. She was in a
nondescript cargo van. She had spent the trip tied in the back and secured to
cargo hooks to keep her from sliding about and probably finding something to
cut herself free. A couple more sips from the bottle and the back door was
opened as her assailant stepped out. The sudden bright sunlight brought
additional tears to her eyes and she couldn’t see more than vague shadows. The
man reached inside and scooped her up, before setting her down on the ground,
steadying her as her legs buckled. When she was able, Rita looked around. She
was in a parking lot. Surprised at the public location, she turned to her
abductor who smiled at her behind mirrored glasses. He was still holding her up
and pressure on her side from his fingers had her gasping for breath. “Behave
now,” he said casually as he scanned the parking lot. Seemingly satisfied, he
held her tightly to his side as he shut the van and lead her toward a marina.
As they walked toward a gate, he pulled a key card from his back pocket as he
escorted her through and down a short ramp. They were soon on a dock and
weaving down walkways. As they turned one more time, Rita spotted a yacht with
the name, “Lovely Rita.” Grinding to a halt, she stared.
It couldn’t be
,
she thought.

“Come, now. He’s waiting.” As her assailant walked her
toward the yacht, she trembled.

“Please,” she said in a whisper. “There’s still time to
turn away. I won’t tell anyone. I promise, but please, don’t bring me to him.”

Tightening his grip on her, he remained quiet as he
brought her to the yacht. Opening the gate to the gangway, he waited for her to
walk up ahead of him, but Rita refused to move. As Rita turned to plead with
him again, he reached for her. Quickly holding her hands up in surrender, she
turned and walked slowly up the gangway, followed closely by the one man who
could have stopped this. As they reached the deck, he put a hand on her back to
guide her into the cabin. As they walked inside, she stopped short as her
ex-husband, John Tucker, swiveled around in a Captain’s chair.

“But how,” she started to ask. The last she had heard,
her ex was under court-appointed psychiatric treatment and forced to wear a leg
cuff while he served out his time under house arrest. Quickly looking at his
ankles, she turned questioning eyes to her ex who stretched and flexed his bare
ankles in front of him.

Smiling maliciously, he said, “I changed lawyers. The new
one is much more to my liking. Better in court and an excellent fuck.”

At Rita’s flinch, he laughed. “What’s the matter, honey?
You did encourage me to move on. It just so happens that my current fling also
knows how to use her body in ways you never could. Pity she doesn’t scream like
you do,” continued Tucker as his eyes narrowed at her. As Rita started to back
away, her assailant grabbed one of her wrists and pulled it behind her. “Put
her over there,” said Tucker as he motioned to an identical Captain’s chair.
“And be sure she can’t move.”

Rita was quickly pushed down into the chair. Rope was
used to secure her to the chair. “Might as well gag her now,” called out Tucker
as he watched his ex-wife. “While I do like to hear her scream, I’m in no mood
to hear her talk.” As her assailant finished securing her to the chair, he
knotted a rag, which he started to secure around her head. “Not like that,”
said Tucker as he rose quickly. Walking over, he grabbed the rag and shoved it
in her mouth securing it with duct tape.

“That will tear the skin,” said her assailant as he
watched Tucker check his knot work.

“As I said,” began Tucker as he tugged at the ropes to
make sure they were tight, “I like to hear her scream. Oh, what about the dog,”
he asked as he continued to fiddle with the ropes.

“Left the dog in the backyard.”

Turning quickly, “What do you mean you left the dog,”
Tucker demanded in a shrill tone.

“I told you before, I don’t harm animals. The dog was
left in the yard.”

Visibly shaking himself off, “Fine, fine. I guess I can’t
have everything. No bother. Much.” He said as he waved his hand dismissively at
Rita’s assailant, “Payment has been made. You’re done here.” Giving the ropes
around Rita’s wrists and ankles one last tug, Tucker stood up. Rita’s hands
were already changing color as pins and needles set in.

“The ropes are too tight,” commented the assailant as he
headed to the door.

“Once again, not your concern. Get out. NOW,” said Tucker
merrily as he headed out the cabin door to begin preparations to leave. Giving
Rita one last look, the assailant walked out and headed down the gangway.

Rita wanted to scream in frustration. When her assailant
originally tied her up, he’d left sufficient room to avoid pinching off
circulation, but as Tucker talked and fussed, he tightened them bit by bit.
Rita’s hands had gone cold and while she couldn’t see them, she knew they were
changing color. She kept silently pleading with her assailant to see how crazy
Tucker is and help her. She knew this was a money transaction, but even he
could see that she was in serious danger. The fact that Tucker didn’t care
about her circulation before they even left the dock told her that he was
playing for keeps and she probably wouldn’t survive whatever trip he had in
mind. As she choked on a sob, she hoped that Jared got back to the house and
figured out that something was wrong. If her assailant had left Casey outside
as he said, then Jared would know that something was up. Casey couldn’t stand
being outside by herself and would scratch and claw her way to Rita. The only
time Rita had tried, it resulted in an expensive vet bill, as they had to pull
wood shards from Casey’s paws. Since then, Rita always made sure to leave Casey
in the house so she could wait by the door.

As Tucker prepared his boat for departure, he couldn’t
help humming his favorite tune. And as he walked past the cabin, he knew that
Rita could hear him as she snorted and choked through a sob. Ah yes, it was
good to have his wife back and he was looking forward to leaving his imprint on
her. His lawyer was a fun distraction, but she was a total pain slut. It wasn’t
until he cut her open that she truly screamed for him and well, that didn’t
last long. Rita would scream much louder and longer provided he didn’t go to
fast and he was planning on taking his time with her. Chuckling to himself, he
started the engine and backed the Lovely Rita out of her berth. It would take a
couple hours to get to his planned destination and then he would rip off the
gag. This was going to be fun.

As Jared and Drake neared Long Beach, Drake’s phone
beeped. As he checked messages, he swore under his breath. “Bad news, security
reports that Tucker’s yacht has left the harbor.”

Slamming his hand down on the steering wheel, “Dammit,
how far are we?”

“At least 30 minutes.” Accelerating, Jared began weaving
in and out of traffic. “Slow it down, I don’t have jurisdiction here and we’ve no
proof of an abduction. If we get pulled over, we’ll lose more time.”

As Jared concentrated on the road, eating up the miles as
quickly as possible, he had no idea how Tucker managed to get out of his home
arrest confinement. “Can you find out the status of Tucker’s home arrest? He’s
supposed to be wearing a monitor and sticking close to home.”

Pulling out his tablet, Drake pulled up Tucker’s files.
“According to his file, he got a new lawyer a couple months ago. Three weeks
ago, she had the judge’s ruling overturned.”

“When did he buy the yacht? Can you find that out?”

“Yes, saw it here somewhere. Here. He’s had it a month.
It’s called the “Lovely Rita. And here’s something else, his lawyer has been
missing for…ten days.”

“Dammit!” Jared accelerated the truck. Cops be damned, he
thought. As they entered the off ramp, Jared had to slam on his brakes to avoid
skidding. Taking the turn at a dangerous speed, he headed toward the marina.
“What about Harbor Patrol? Any chance someone has laid eyes on the yacht so we
know where they’re headed?”

Nodding his head, Drake fired off a couple messages. “If
anyone has seen him, we’ll know by the time we get there.”

As they drove into the parking lot, both Jared and Drake
looked around. On a rainy day like this, there were few vehicles in the parking
lot. A couple vans, some trucks with loaded trailers and a few smaller cars
interspersed throughout. As they rolled to a stop, Drake jumped out. “I’ll
check in with security,” he called out as he jogged toward a dark building.

As Jared jumped out, he had an idea. He grabbed Casey’s
leash. He didn’t have much to go on, but maybe Casey could help. Giving the dog
a quick head rub, he looked at her. “I need you to find your momma.” As if
Casey understood, she began walking around the parking lot sniffing at the
vehicles. For the most part, Casey would give it a quick sniff before moving
on. When they got to the second van, Casey spent considerable time sniffing the
back door. As Jared became hopeful, he looked down. Bending, he picked up a
crumpled piece of duct tape. At Casey’s growl, Jared spun around. A man was
walking toward them with his arms raised slightly. Catching sight of his left
arm, Jared saw a new bandage. As his eyes narrowed at him, the man stopped.

“I can’t tell you exactly where they’re headed, but it’s toward
the Channel Islands.” Looking over his shoulder, he saw Drake leave security
with a short, round man in uniform. As Drake waved to Jared to come quickly,
the assailant slowly lowered his hands.

“Why are you helping me?” asked Jared.

 “Can’t seem to get the look on her face out of my head.
Probably should have stopped all this, but money is money. Don’t usually have
reactions like this.” Shrugging his shoulders, the assailant pointed toward
Drake and the security guard. “Better hurry, he has at least 30 minutes on you
AND, he knows where he’s going.”

As Jared swore under his breath, he abandoned his desire
to crack the man’s skull open and tugged Casey toward Drake. Time was their
enemy and they had to hurry.