We Will Always Have the Closet (17 page)

“We have your girl.” The voice on the other end was deep and it seemed to hint at a big body bulk. “Stop your investigation and tell your employers you have found no evidence of wrong doing or your sweetheart gets it.” Sam thought he heard whimpering in the background.

“If you touch a hair on her head, I will kill you,” Sam growled, red hot anger filling him. “Who are you?” Liam stole curious looks toward him, his knuckles turning white as he tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

“She’s fine,” the other man said, “but it won’t last long unless you do what I tell you.”

“How do I know she’s okay?” Sam asked, using the usual strategy to stall the kidnappers.

The other man yelled an order away from the phone and after a few seconds, Sam could hear Petra’s familiar voice. “I’m okay, Sam,” she said. Just as she finished the word, she was pulled away from the phone and the man was back. “Do what we tell you and nothing bad will happen to her. Don’t, and…” The pause was pregnant with threat. “She’s a pretty little thing, isn’t she? I bet she’s good in bed.”

Something snapped in Sam’s brains, and all the anxiety was replaced by pure wrath. “Listen to me, punk,” he said, lowering his voice. “You so much as look at her the wrong way and you can kiss your life goodbye.”

“Strong talk for someone who’s not in a position to bargain,” the other guy continued, obviously piqued by the threat. “You call your employers and tell them that Linden’s business is clean as a whistle and that all your suspicions were unfounded. Then, and only then, we will let your girl go.”

“How will you know I did it?” The sign for Discovery Park was in sight now and his heart reveled in the thought that soon he would be able to strangle the man he was talking to. It wouldn’t be easy to find them, though. The Park was a huge area, scarcely inhabited, and with many places to hide.

“I will know,” the other man said cryptically. They had someone on the inside by the sound of it. “Just do it. I’ll call again in half an hour.” He hung up.

Sam had to come up with a way to speed up the rescue. Somehow, they had to figure out where in the Park they could be hiding her. “Her phone,” he exclaimed. Liam looked at him, not understanding. “She has her phone with her. It has that Find Me app on it. I just have to activate the GPS.”

Liam stopped the car in a semi-hidden area. It was almost dark by now. Sam was punching buttons and looking intently at his phone. Time seemed to stretch forever, but soon enough, the phone started emitting a faint beeping. “I got it,” he said, swiping his face with his hand. “I got it. They’re not very far from here. Head north,” he said, pointing in that direction.

Following the GPS signal, they were taken in a winding path that at times followed the shore, other times it was encased by the woods. Eventually, it took them to an old, poorly kept road that seemed carved out of old evergreens and oak trees. “We’re close.”

***

Petra

Petra heard the car slowly stop and the doors opening and closing. The heavy footsteps walked away from the car. They were leaving her in the trunk for now, it seemed. Her legs hurt from being curled in an odd position and her left arm was numb under her side. She kept expecting to wake up from this nightmare, but reality was sinking in fast; this was no bad dream. Someone had taken her away from her home and thrown her in a smelly trunk.

Whoever those two thugs were, they weren’t very smart. Or, at least, they didn’t expect her to be. Underestimating her wiles, they had neglected to find the phone she had hidden in her bra while they chased her around the kitchen. Leaving her untied inside the trunk had been another fortunate oversight on their part. She had been able to kick one of the lights out from the inside and contacted Sam.
Oh, God! Sam!
Coming to her rescue with sweet Liam in tow. She had just put both of them in terrible danger. Why couldn’t she just have fended off those guys? Why did she have to rely on the help of the two men in her life that she least wanted to put in any danger? Because she wasn’t Wonder Woman, she told herself, trying to resign herself to the fact that she needed help. As much as she cringed at the idea of those two amazing men coming head on to rescue her, what other choice did she have? The bad guys were big and armed. She didn’t stand a chance alone against them, she knew.

Scared and confused—she still didn’t know why this was happening—she lay in a fetal position waiting. “Oh, Sam,” she said out loud. “Please, be careful.”

One of the men came back much later, opened the trunk, and practically dragged her out by her arms, scratching her legs on the metal edge of the lock. Once inside, he tied up her legs and arms and threw her against a wall of the old house.

“You stay nice and quiet,” he said in a rumbling voice. “Don’t upset my partner. He’s a loose cannon.” His riotous laughter made her cringe and close her eyes. “He’s already mad you cracked his head with that bottle.”

“Shut up, idiot,” the other man called from the other side of the room. He was dialing a number on his phone. “I’m calling her boyfriend.”

Petra heard them talk on the phone even though she couldn’t tell what they were saying. They exchanged a few words before bringing her the phone and allowing her to talk to Sam for a second, but then they took the phone away and the second man pushed her roughly against the wall again. The phone call didn’t last long.

Her arms and legs tied, Petra leaned on the wall and watched the two men in masks talking to each other. They were agitated after their talk with Sam on the phone. Sam had said something that got them all riled up. Since they had brought her inside the house from the car, only the smaller of the two men had spoken much. She was fine with that. Maybe the biggest one was afraid she might recognize his voice. A terrible thought crossed her mind. Jonas had two very bulky guards. She saw them the night she had gone to the gala at the galleria of art. Were these the same guys? And if that was the case, did that mean Jonas was indeed involved in criminal activities? Was her ex-husband behind her kidnapping?

Of course, you idiot.
She was angry at herself. She hadn’t heard the whole phone conversation, but the truth was dawning on her and it crushed her. The idea that the man she had called her husband for almost five years had sent his dogs after her was too much to bear. How stupid was she? Even after her dysfunctional marriage, the betrayals, the lies, the demeaning words, she was still willing to believe the best about the man who was at the center of those miserable years of unhappiness. She so wanted to believe that there was something good and honest deep down inside of him. A sob came up her throat, but she managed to silence it. She wasn’t going to shed another tear for that man. Ever!

***

Sam

Coming around a corner of the road, they finally saw the place. It was an old home at the end of that road, standing alone and neglected among the trees. There was a car parked in front and they could see faint lights through the windows. Liam parked the car out of sight and turned the lights off. “Now what?” he asked, looking anxiously at Sam.

“We need a distraction,” Sam explained. “Petra told me there were at least two of them. Do you have a gun?”

Liam shook his head. He was an artist. Guns were not part of his world, as much as he certainly wished he did indeed have one at this moment. “What do you want me to do?” he asked. “I’ll provide the distraction.”

“Drive the car to the other side of the house and honk…a lot,” Sam said. “Flash your lights at the house, but stay out of sight. When one of them comes out, come back here if possible. We may need a quick exit.”

“What are you going to do?” Liam asked, mercilessly squeezing the steering wheel with his hands.

“As soon as one comes out, I’m going in,” he said. “I can handle one of them on my own. Hopefully, I’ll be able to rescue Petra and get out of there before the other one comes back.”

As plans go it was pretty simplistic, but they did have the element of surprise on their side. The two men with Petra had no idea she had contacted them. As far as they knew, Sam was still in town. Liam may be unarmed, but he was also another unexpected element. They wouldn’t have expected him to have enlisted anyone else’s help. Sam was certain they held a good chance of success.

Stepping out of the car into the darkness of the night, Sam waved Liam away. He watched as the Brit drove around to the back of the house. Wound up like a spring, Sam waited to hear the commotion. He didn’t have to wait long. In a few minutes, he heard the car’s strident horn cutting through the silence and saw lights flashing into the sides of the house. Soon after, a big man came running out of the house pointing a handgun in the direction of the light source. Good as his word, Liam turned off the lights, and, Sam hoped, fled out of the area with the armed man in pursuit. This was Sam’s break. He sprinted, heading toward the front door of the house, which had been left ajar. The coast was clear and he could hear muffled sounds coming from the inside. He followed the sounds, listening closely for any movement ahead. The corridor was very long, straight, and narrow. Not many places to hide, but he managed to get to the end of it without incident. It opened to an old large living room sparsely furnished with some chairs, a small rickety table, and boxes that were being used as tables of sort. Petra was sitting in a corner on the floor. Her feet and hands were tied, but she wasn’t gagged. The house was so isolated from everything else, the kidnappers must have not thought a gag to be necessary. Sam stood hidden by the wall. The other man was along the opposite wall with his back to Sam as he looked through the window, probably checking on the progress of his buddy. Sam waved, trying to catch Petra’s attention, but she had her eyes on her feet at first.

Her head suddenly snapped up and her eyes lit up when she saw him. Soon, though, her eyes reflected fear, a terrible dread that her boyfriend would get hurt or worse while playing her hero. Sam stuck a finger in front of his lips to quiet her and she obliged. Coming out of his hiding place, he walked swiftly and stealthily toward her, gun at the ready, wanting to get as close to her as possible before the other man turned around. With his head, he gestured to Petra to try and move away. Shuffling as fast and as quietly as she could, she moved a few feet along the wall to put some distance between them. It was very hard to move with her legs tied like that.

“Put your hands where I can see them,” Sam yelled out suddenly. The other man made as if to turn, but decided against it. His hands went up on his head. “On your knees. Now!”

The big guy laid down on the wooden floor and Sam was able to tie his hands behind his back with a bit of twine left on one of the boxes. He removed the gun the man had stuffed in the waist of his pants and walked to Petra, still tied and trembling by the wall. Moving quickly, he cut her free. “Are you okay?” he asked as he got rid of the ropes around her wrists. Petra wrapped her hands around his neck and hugged him so tight he thought she would choke him. “I know, I know,” he cooed, hugging her back. “But we have to move quickly. There’s still another guy on the loose.” As soon as the words had left his lips, another man came noisily through the door waving a gun in front of him.

“Drop the gun,” Sam yelled, standing up in front of Petra, shielding her. The men pointed their guns at each other. “Drop it.”

One shot rang out and Sam fell, his heavy body dropping to the floor like a rock right before a terrified Petra. Sam’s gun now lay by her feet, a few inches away from his lifeless hand. Screaming in anger and shock, Petra stared at the other man with his gun now trained on her. Running on adrenaline and instinct, she grabbed the discarded gun and shot in the direction of the criminal, hitting him twice. The man went down with a sickening pop of bone and muscle hitting the wooden floor, but Petra wasn’t paying attention anymore. She dropped to the floor and crawled the short distance between her and the inert body of the man she loved.

“My God, Sam,” she called as her hands searched his body for wounds. The hands came away bloody and a sob caught in her throat. “Sam, please, don’t leave me.” A groan left Sam’s mouth, letting her know he was still alive. “Sam, are you okay?” She froze as a dark red puddle of blood, coming from a wound in his upper chest, grew alarmingly fast underneath him.

Coming to, Sam groaned again. “I’m okay,” he said, slurring his words. “Let’s get out of here. Call Liam. Tell him to pick us up in front.” His voice was groggy as he tried to sit up and failed, collapsing on his back again.

By the time Liam came running inside, Sam was barely conscious, the bloody puddle extending further away from his body. “Oh my God, Sam, you were hit,” he exclaimed, raising a hand to his mouth.

Petra, on her knees, tried to sit him up with her hands wrapped around his shoulders. The adrenaline and pure panic running through her veins at that moment made her stronger than her body would normally allow, and Sam’s dead weight did not deter her from the work at hand. A little gasp of distress escaped her lips every time their movement caused more blood to gush out from the wound.

“I’m fine,” Sam said, startling Petra into almost dropping him. He leaned on her, feeling dizzy and weak. His vision came and faded away in spurts. “Let’s go now,” he said, moving to prop himself up. But the movement caused the room to spin madly around him and he had to shut his eyes to stop it.