Chapter 26

THOMAS CLIMBED into his Maserati where he had parked it next to Mata Hari. He slumped in the darkened car for a minute and tried to process that Charles had come for him again. He pictured poor Brian Gallagher—just a horny young guy who was looking to have a little sex, and Thomas fit the bill. If Thomas had turned him down, had never taken him home, he’d still be alive.

He remembered the scorn heaped upon him by his father and then by August Drake when he pushed him out of the law firm. They blamed him for the stalking because he was too foolish to see the danger. At the time it seemed monstrously unfair.

But two years older and confronted with the consequences—ones that others were paying far worse than Thomas himself—he knew they were right. He had believed so firmly in his own intelligence and savvy that he was sure he could spot a danger a mile away. He had been so confident in his own charmed life that it had never occurred to him that his promiscuity could cause him to bring home a man as dangerous as Charles. Brian Gallagher suffered for that blind spot. Somehow Daniel Owen suffered too. Though Thomas didn’t understand the connection, he had no doubt the responsibility fell at his feet.

And worst of all…. He clenched his jaw and pounded on the leather-wrapped steering wheel of his car. Worst of all Zachary would pay for Thomas’s hubris. Zach—the other man he never saw coming—the beautiful and happy transplant from Utah who burst into Thomas’s life and who, without even trying, caused Thomas to dream of abandoning his careful rules. Zach, who gave his time to abandoned gay and lesbian teenagers, who sang torch songs he was too innocent to understand, who liked Star Wars and Star Trek and God knew what else. Yet he could turn that naïveté and charm around to dominate Thomas in bed.

Zach had brought Thomas to question everything he ever knew about himself and his desires, and Thomas absolutely craved more. His eyes welled with tears. He wanted more of Zach, but Zach was going to be hurt or killed by Charles because he made the huge mistake of sleeping with Thomas. Thomas had indeed infected Zach with his bad judgment. He made him a target for a madman.

He started his car, drove out of the parking lot, and headed toward his apartment. He leaned his cheek on his left fist and held the steering wheel in his right as he made his way through the quiet night. Childhood prayers rose in his mind. He prayed first and foremost for Zachary Hall—that he might be spared from evil.

His phone rang in his suit-jacket pocket, and he assumed it was Randy. When he pulled the phone out, however, Zachary’s name appeared. Heart instantly pounding, he accepted the call on speaker mode.

Charles’s voice filled the cabin of his car. “I’m ready at last, Jason,” he said, and excitement made his voice quiver. “It’s been so long, but I found my way back to you. I can’t wait to show how Zachary deceived you, so you’ll finally understand that no one can love you as completely as I do.”

Thomas fought down the urge to scream and to rage at Charles. That had failed every time before. Begging for Zachary’s life would get him nothing either and might drive Charles to harm him sooner. “What do you want me to do, Charles?” he asked as steadily as he could.

“I need you to come to me, Jason,” Charles said, and fervor shaded his tone as he recited an address off Pennsylvania Avenue. “I hate to make our reunion tense, but I must remind you not to tell anyone where you’re coming. Not the police detective, not your friend at Mata Hari. Nobody. Do you understand?”

“Is Zachary alive?” Thomas asked, unable to keep his voice from cracking.

“Oh yes. You’ll see him soon.”

“I’m not coming until I know he’s alive.” Thomas held his breath and hoped he hadn’t pushed too hard. “Please, Charles. Give me some reason to believe you,” he requested in a softer tone.

The phone was silent for a moment, and he heard Charles snort. “Fine. You’ll receive a video as soon as we disconnect so you can see the creature is alive. Now you’re about fifteen minutes away from my apartment. If you aren’t here at my door in twenty minutes, I make no promises that the creature won’t suffer early. Are we clear, Jason?”

“Yes, Charles. We’re clear.”

“Good. I’ll see you very soon, Jason.” Charles’s tone was kind, and that was almost worse.

Thomas disconnected the call. He threw his phone onto the passenger seat and waited for the promised proof as he drove toward the address near the Capitol. In moments the phone chimed, and he reached out to activate the video attached to the message.

It started with a close-up of Zachary on his back. His eyes were wide and afraid, and a ball gag was in his mouth. Off camera, Charles recited, “We’re giving Jason assurances that you are currently alive, so nod for the camera, please.” Thomas saw Zachary hesitate and then nod slightly. Charles continued, “Now let’s give Jason a little preview of what a whore you are, shall we?”

The view pulled back to show Zachary naked and strapped to a leather bench by a band buckled across his chest. Restraints on his ankles and his wrists were connected together by hooks of some kind and forced Zachary’s legs up and back. What was Charles doing? It made no sense to Thomas.

A horn honked, and he swerved the car as he jerked his eyes back to the road. He had nearly driven over the line into coming traffic. His heart pounded as he pulled sharply over to the right shoulder to play the short video clip again and tried to understand the way Zachary was being held. He couldn’t, but the threat was clear.

He froze the video on the close shot of Zach’s terrified face. As he stared at it, certitude gripped his heart. More than anything in the world, Thomas wanted Zach safe, at whatever cost to himself was necessary. He looked at the road and the oncoming traffic. If he thought it would save Zach, he realized, he would drive into a median or over a railing. If Charles could be distracted enough by Thomas’s own death…. But no, that would accomplish nothing. Charles would still blame Zach and kill him before anyone could find them.

Thomas selfishly wished he could tell Zach—just once—how much he had come to mean to him in such a short time. This terrible situation was Thomas’s fault, and Zach could never love him back after the danger Thomas had brought to him. But dear God, he wished he could at least beg forgiveness.

None of that mattered while Zach remained in danger, though. Thomas was wasting precious moments on the clock Charles had set for him, so he pulled back onto Massachusetts Avenue and continued toward the address he finally realized was in the Newseum, a few blocks away from the Capitol itself.

He had no weapon in the car and no time to stop and get one, but Thomas would do anything in his power to prevent Charles from hurting Zach. He would strangle the maniac with his bare hands if he got the chance and take the consequences gladly. If he had to pull Charles out a window with him, it didn’t matter.

Charles would not harm Zachary. No. Fucking. Way.