Lead the Way (12 page)

She turns her complete attention towards him.  She doesn’t want to miss anything.  She wants to feel every touch and she wants to be completely present while he takes her body.  She wants to forget everything outside of this bedroom for a while.  It’s just her, Gabriel, and this moment.  It is the first time a man has made love to her in five years and she wants to remember every single minute of it.

* * * * *

Ryan’s been sitting outside mystery man’s house for days, waiting.  The mystery man hasn’t left for anything.  The fact that the mystery man hasn’t left the house for days intrigues Ryan even more.  What kind of man doesn’t leave his house for days – not to go to work or to the store?  Ryan has been dying to find out what the mystery man has been doing inside those walls. 

Ryan was starting to think that he was never going to leave, until today, when everything finally changed.  When the mystery man finally left, the mystery man looked him right in the eye as he drove fast.  Ryan thought that he was busted, but when the mystery man kept driving, he breathed a sigh of relief and prepped to break in.  His mission?  To find out everything he can about Eva’s mystery man.  He needs to know how he’s going to use the mystery man for maximum benefit and if this mystery man is going to be a problem for him. 

Breaking in the house is easy.  He can thank his youth, growing up on the mean streets, for his break-and-enter skills.  Growing up he had been a petty thief and a very good one at that.  He’s moved on since then. 

He’s always known that computer’s were the way of the future.  From a young age, he’s learned everything that he possibly could about computers.  He likes to think of himself as one of the best computer hackers in the world.  Being behind prison bars didn’t slow him down one bit.  Being a janitor in the jail and cleaning the administrative buildings without much supervision, he had access to a computer whenever he chose.

He can hack into just about any network or system he wants.  If he had any trouble, he would just consult other inmates convicted of computer crimes and problem solved.  His skills have allowed him to never be without enough money and he’s been able to keep very close tabs on Eva.  She’s never been out of his sight.

What the computer didn’t tell him was who this mystery man is.  He makes his way through the house.  He travels through the kitchen, picking up unopened mail on the kitchen table and looking at it.  The mail is addressed to a woman.  Is this mystery man married and cheating on his wife with Eva? 

He travels down the hallway to the bedroom area.  He is hoping that the bedroom will provide some better answers.  He passes the first bedroom.  It’s clearly a woman’s bedroom with perfume bottles neatly lined up on the dresser and woman’s clothing hanging from hangers in the closet.

He makes his way to the next bedroom.  He notes men’s clothing hanging in the closet and he steps inside.  If this mystery man is married, then he and his woman are sleeping in separate bedrooms.  It seems odd.  He decides that whoever is living inside the home is not married, but possibly relatives or friends. 

He picks up a piece of paper that is lying on the dresser.  It has the logo for the Navy on the top.  He quickly skims over it.  So, our mystery man is named Gabriel Law and he has been officially discharged from the Navy.  Ryan smiles to himself.  So, the mystery man is a tough guy, and could quite possibly, be a problem for him.  He will need to move Gabriel out of the way to get to Eva.  Mr. Navy Man is not going to go down without a fight, that he is sure of.

His thoughts are disturbed by a noise coming from the other room.  He freezes to listen.  “Gabriel?” a voice calls out.  It’s the probably the woman, who’s name is on the mail in the kitchen.  He hides behind the bedroom door.  If the woman knows what’s best for her, she’ll let it go and not come into the room, because he will not hesitate to harm her.

“Gabriel, is that you?” she calls out again.  Ryan can hear her making her way down the hallway to find the noise she heard.  When she gets to Gabriel’s room, she pushes the door open.  “Gabriel?” she says again, hobbling into the room on her crutches.  When she realizes that there is no one in the room, she turns to leave and makes eye contact with Ryan.

“Ryan, what are you doing in my house?” she exclaims.

Ryan doesn’t answer.  He hits her in the head with the butt of his pistol.  He watches her body go limp and she falls to the floor, her crutches falling on top of her.  He doesn’t recognize this woman’s face.  How did she know his name?

He sits on the bed and watches a blood pool form around the woman’s head.  He contemplates whether or not to kill this woman.  He decides that he will use this moment to his advantage.  When this woman regains consciousness, she will tell Eva that he has been around.  It will instill fear into not only Eva, but her mystery man, Gabriel.

It will remind them that he has the upper hand.  It will remind precious Eva, that he can get her to at any time and no one in her inner circle is safe.  He likes these psychological games.  She will know that she is next.  She will know that he will be coming soon.

Chapter 10

              “Morning,” Eva says, walking into the kitchen and rubbing her eyes. 

              “Morning,” Gabriel says, in the middle of making scrambled eggs.

              “How long have you been up?” Eva says, kissing him and then taking a seat at the kitchen table.

              “A while,” he says, smiling at her.

              “What time is it… and what are you up to?”

              “It’s ten o’clock in the morning and how do you know something is up?”

              “I can tell by the look on your face that you’re up to no good.”

              “I wouldn’t exactly call it no good, but I do have a surprise for you.”

              “What kind of surprise?”

              “I have to warn you that my surprise will require that you completely vacate this apartment.”

              “I will have to go outside?”

              “You will have to go all the way outside of this apartment, into the car, and to a place where I take you.”

              “Gabriel, I don’t know.”

              “Eva, you can do this.  Do it for me.”

              “You know what, fine.  I will go along with your surprise for now, but I’m telling you, if there is any moment where I feel uncomfortable, you have to promise that you will bring me home.”

              “I promise.  Scout’s honor.  Hey, have you talked to Rosa at all?”

              “No, I haven’t.  Is something wrong?”

              “I’ve been trying to call her for the past couple of days and she hasn’t returned any of my calls or messages.  I find that really strange.  She always returns my calls.”

              “That does seem a bit odd.  Rosa always returns my calls too.  I don’t think there has ever been a time in the past five years where I haven’t been able to get a hold of her.  The max that I haven’t been able to get of hold of her, is maybe, a couple of hours.”

              “After we eat, I’m going to go over and check on her.  Maybe she’s fallen or something and can’t get to the phone.”

              “I doubt it’s that serious, but better safe than sorry.”

              After they eat breakfast, Gabriel jumps in the shower.  He can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong with his Aunt.  He wishes that he forgot about the shower and just went over to her house.  He gets dressed, kisses Eva goodbye, and gets in his car.  He tries to call his Aunt again on the way, but there is still no answer.

              When he pulls up to his Aunt’s house, her car is in the driveway.  He doesn’t think that she would be able to drive with her cast, but he wouldn’t put it past her to try.  She is a stubborn woman and hates to ask for help.  He wouldn’t at all be surprised if he received a call that she had been in an accident trying to drive herself to the store.

              When he gets to the back door, nothing seems out of place.  That is until he turns the knob and he realizes that the door isn’t locked.  His Aunt wouldn’t leave the door unlocked.  He rushes inside. 

“Aunt Rosa?”  He doesn’t get an answer.

              He begins to work his way through the house, calling her name and getting no answer.  He starts to convince himself that maybe his Aunt had someone pick her up and take her out.  He has been gone for a couple of days and maybe she needed something from the grocery store.  The panic he initially felt starts to disappear.

              He decides that he will wait around a while for Rosa to get back, and while he waits, he will get some clothes to bring back to Eva’s.  Before he gets to his bedroom door, something on the floor catches his eye.  He’s not sure what he’s seeing until he gets closer.  Finally, what he sees, registers.  It’s blood.  He rushes into the room to find Rosa on the floor. 

“Aunt Rosa,” he says, frantically.  He checks for a pulse.  He is able to find one, but it’s weak.  His Aunt’s breathing is shallow.  He frantically dials 9-11.  “Rosa, it’s going to be okay.  Help is on the way.”

He waits for the ambulance, staring at his Aunt in disbelieve.  Who would want to

hurt his Aunt?  Was it a robbery gone wrong?  Why is she in his room?  So many questions run through his mind.  He’s just thankful that his Aunt is still alive.  If he had waited much longer to check on her, he may have found her dead.  She’s in rough shape.

“Hold on Aunt Rosa,” he says, over and over.

              It seems like an eternity before the paramedics arrive.  He watches in shock, as they load his Aunt onto the stretcher and into the ambulance.  He asks them over and over, if she is will be okay, but they can’t give him any answers.  He knows they aren’t being dishonest with him.  He knows that they can’t possibly know the answers to his questions.

He follows behind the ambulance to the hospital.  They rush his Aunt in to have

emergency brain surgery.  The police are waiting for him when he gets to the hospital. 

“Hello.  I’m Officer Williams, we need to ask you some questions about your

Aunt,” the officer says, shaking Gabriel’s hand.

              “Sure.  I don’t have much to tell you.  I came home to check on my Aunt because she hadn’t been returning my phone calls.  I found her lying on the floor, bleeding.  That’s all I really know.”

              “Did you happen to notice if anything was missing?”

              “No, but I didn’t really look.  The back door was unlocked.  I remember thinking that was strange, because my Aunt would never leave the door unlocked.”

              “Did you Aunt say anything to you when you found her?”

              “No, she didn’t say anything.  I tried to talk to her, but she was unconscious.”

              “Does the name Ryan mean anything to you?”

              “Ryan?”

              “You’re Aunt kept saying the name Ryan in the ambulance.  Does that mean anything to you?”

              “Actually, it does.  My girlfriend was attacked five years ago by a guy named Ryan Collins.  He just recently got out of jail.  My girlfriend was warned that he might try to come after her.  Do you think that it could be the same Ryan?”

              “It’s possible.  We wouldn’t rule it out at this point.”

              “I don’t understand how he would know about my Aunt, unless he’s been watching me or following me.  My Aunt works for my girlfriend, but she broke her leg and hasn’t been over to the apartment in weeks.  He couldn’t possibly have known where my Aunt lived, unless he’s been following me.  Holy shit, I have to call my girlfriend.”

              “Mr. Law, I wouldn’t jump to conclusions.  You’re Aunt sustained a very serious head injury, so anything she says we have to take with a grain of salt.  What she was saying might be accurate, but we can’t possibly know for sure with the level of impairment that comes along with head injuries.”

              “I understand that, but you are going to investigate, right?”

              “Of course.  Is there anything else you remember or want to tell us?”