My heart pounds rapidly against my rib cage as I try not to let my mind be consumed by fear.
Who would wanna kidnap me?
Why would they wanna kidnap me?
“You gagged her?” A voice every fiber of my being recognizes questions in disapproval.
No…..
“She wouldn’t stop screaming,” the voice of the man who repeatedly tried to calm me down explains.
“Well no shit.” The hood on my face is removed. “She thought she was being kidnapped.”
Holden’s sculpted face falls into my blurry vision. Instantly, I let my shoulders drop in relief, grateful he’s the first person I see. Our eyes connect and for a split second I completely forget I’m handcuffed, gagged, and sitting in a very uncomfortable chair.
His fingers carefully remove the rag that was making it difficult to shout. “Meena-”
“¿Estas loco?!” I scream, trying to dart forward for him but am unfortunately chained to the chair. “This is how you handle your nanny quitting!?”
“She quit?” A female voice questions from somewhere behind me.
He holds up his hand to hush her. “Meena-”
“¿Has perdido la cabeza? ¡Tan pronto como salga de esta silla voy a matarte!” My feet stomp on the ground and I try to yank my hands free again. “¡Esto es ridículo! ¡Déjame ir!”
There’s not a shred of remorse on his face. “I get that you’re pissed, but I don’t have time to argue with you right now or have you translate what an asshole you think I am for having these agents pick you up the way I requested.” He backs away from me towards the set of wall mounted monitors. “I did what I did to make sure you were protected.”
“Protected from what!?” I scream.
He reluctantly replies, “The same man that tried to take you…took Mia.”
His words roll around in my mind, knocking against every emotion possible.
Take my sister? No one took my sister. She’s just…She’s just being sixteen. Avoiding her parents. Avoiding the pending punishment she knows is coming. And take me? Other than his obviously psychotic ass, no one would ever want to take me!
Holden pulls on his headset with his back now to me. “Asking you to please do as the agents instructed would’ve been one giant headache we didn’t have time for. You can punch me in the face for it later.”
“Oh, I plan on it,” I growl.
“Also, I’m going to leave you like that because it’s the only way I can guarantee you won’t run for the time being or kick me in the nuts.”
“Definitely plan on the latter as soon as you’re within distance again.”
“She’s feisty,” one of the men beside me mutters loudly.
“And unless you would like to see just how much Frankenstein, I suggest you take two steps to the left.”
There’s a small laugh I could identify any time or any place.
Guess that’s what it’s like when you love someone down to your bones.
“What do you mean someone took Mia?” The question feels stranger to say than it did to hear. “She’s…She’s…She’s fine. She’s just avoiding my parents.”
Holden pounds a couple of keys and suddenly the sight on the screen proves otherwise.
Mia’s limp body is displayed prominently in a chair similar to the one I’m sitting in. Her hair is pulled back, her blouse undone, her legs open, all exposing features on her body in a sexual way.
A silent plea escapes, which is when he sighs, “She was taken, Meena.”
“Taken?” My body rapidly shakes. “Like the movie Taken? Like Liam Nieson should hunt this bastard down and put him in the grave taken?”
He bobs his head back and forth. “Close enough. She’s being auctioned off. Those rolling messages are bids and the clock at the bottom is how long I have left to stop him. Not quite the same set of skills with my hands, but just as deadly.”
His words instill momentary hope.
He’ll find her…
He has to.
“T4, you locked and loaded?” Holden questions into his head set, hands typing on two sets of keys simultaneously. One appears to be to Beauty, his trusted laptop, and the other attached to the network in front of us, he seems to be in control of operating.
For the first time since I’ve been granted access to drink in my surroundings I do. There are two men on each side of Holden who appear to be working in some sort of tandem beside him. The wall in front of them has multiple monitors, with different feeds, though the one in the middle still has my sister’s spiritless body visible. Seeing her unmoving body blocks my ability to breathe.
All I want is to see her spunky.
All I want is to see her shouting.
See her…alive.
I glance away and meet eyes with what I assume is another agent who is positioned next to a hallway opening. He offers me a sympathetic nod, which is more than I expect. The entire room itself feels unusually warm, unusually loud, and unusually barren besides the system they seem to be working with. All of a sudden, the obnoxious sound of someone pacing again gets closer, and I look up to see a woman looming too close for my liking.
She doesn’t bother introducing herself. “Reiss, what’s our progress?”
“There isn’t any,” he mumbles. Her voice starts to snap, but he cuts her off. “T4, what do you have eyes on?” The pause is proceeded with, “I’m gonna need more than that.”
“Who’s T4?” I ask, hoping I’ll receive an answer.
Unlike her I get what I want. “A…friend.”
“Friend?”
My skeptical retort tugs the corner of his lip upward. “Associate.” Seconds after he chuckles, “Shut up, asshole. I need to know how’s it going on slowing that bid war down.”
This time when he receives a response he leaks a well-known groan of dissatisfaction.
“Progress, Reiss,” the woman bites. “We need it.”
“I know that.”
“We need it now.”
“I know that…”
“Then what’s taking so long?” She howls. “I’ve never known a live hunt to be this difficult for you!”
He sharply turns in his chair. “You think that’s fucking helping? You think sitting on your throne yelling from the top of Bitch Mountain is really relaxing for me? Do you have any fucking idea how many fucking walls there are to climb to get close enough to get something to give me any clue where she is? And while you think you’ve sent me Teen Titans, it’s more like one more set of people to babysit in hope’s they don’t fuck anything up and trigger this asshole into running! If he runs, Brewster, we’re fucked. If he runs, he will disappear, and I may never get him again. So how about a little fucking patience?”
His roiling attitude reminds me of the first time I doubted his capabilities.
The first time I questioned efficiency.
An idea sparks and I instinctively call to him, “Holden…”
“What?” He barks, eyes now drilling into mine.
“Impress me.”
Like I hoped, the words trigger the arrogant response he needs to be focused. He wets his lips and grows a vindictively, cocky smirk. “You wanna be impressed, baby?”
I nod slowly.
“This isn’t a time for bullshit showboating,” Brewster barks.
“And it isn’t the time for you to treat someone who literally could tell you everything you had to eat yesterday with two clicks, like a nine-year-old who hasn’t finished his homework yet.”
She scoffs. “Excuse me?”
The sound of typing increases as Holden chortles, “Oh yeah. I forgot to mention she bites Brewster.”
I flash her a sarcastic smile.
No wonder he’s always wound so tightly. If I had a bulldog growling at me every time I tried to make a move on my leash, I would probably be a little annoyed too.
“And Brewster…you had cinnamon raisin toast, skipped lunch, and a fellow agent’s dick for dinner.” There’s an undeniable shift in the room. “So, unless you want everyone to know more details, I suggest you take my girlfriend’s advice and stop fucking with me.”
My heart flutters at hearing the title.
After this we’re gonna be so much more.
I need us to be so much more.
I need him to save her first.
Remembering the first time I watched and finding comfort in his explanation, I command, “Tell me what you’re doing, mi Corazón.”
He pauses at the name, clearly acknowledging his own satisfaction from hearing it.
“Tell me how you’re saving my sister.”
His mouth flies as rapidly as his fingers do. “Between the time your sister took a selfie at the mall this morning and the time this auction went live gives me a solid window to comb through. I’ve got programs running to cycle the background images against any other images posted around the same time with similar Geotags and against the mall footage in hopes of cross recognition of a face or frame or something useful. T4 is treading through the exterior footage, traffic cams, and emergency cams looking for vehicles traveling within this perv’s comfort zone.”
“Comfort zone?”
“Most serial traffickers have a comfort zone they operate within,” the man beside the door answers for him.
“I’ve narrowed it down to a radius, but it’s still too big…It’s still too much.” The strain in his voice matches the one in my chest. “This moron is trying to slow down the bidding process, thanks to a little initial help T4 provided. He’s trying to buy us a little time while this moron,” Holden points to the other man to his right, “is tracking the whereabouts of those bidding in the city and quietly distributing the information to the other task forces to those not.”
The clicking sound of more keys causes me to cringe.
Each time he types he’s either one step closer to losing her or one step closer to saving her.
I wanna believe he’ll find her.
But what if he doesn’t?
What if I never see her again?
“He won’t sell outside the city. This was a shorter auction than normal meaning he’s looking for a quick and clean getaway. It’s like something has him spooked, but he still needs a large amount of cash.”
Could this man be onto the fact he’s being watched?
Holden briefly pauses before he shouts, “I’ve got something! T4, I’ve got Mia leaving willingly with a man in a ball cap out an east exit towards a parking garage. Time stamp 10: 02. They just kinda disappear after that. Looks like he knew which cameras to avoid. He had her up for bidding by 10:45. Find me something.” There’s more typing and more yelling. “I gave you a location! How many cars could’ve possibly been leaving that area or going to the area in that time frame?!”
“We have a problem,” the agent to Holden’s left cautiously croaks.
“What!” My boyfriend snaps viciously.
The man merely points at the screen where the time clock has sped itself to 0, closing the auction early.
“No…” Holden shakes his head. “No. No. No.” He continues shaking, “What the hell is happening? What the fuck is happening?”
“He’s shut it down early-”
“I can fucking see that!” Holden yells. “Why! The only reason to ever shut it down early is if…,” horror fills his expression, “is if you realize you’ve been compromised.”
Dread overwhelms me and the tears I was holding back begin to fall.
“I’m gonna buy myself some time,” he mutters. “T4, this all on you. I’m gonna disrupt the connection to delay the wire transfer. I’ve got three minutes at max. Give me something. Start searching for vehicles with A H in the license plate that fall within the perimeters.”
The screen cuts black and I watch his fingers frantically move faster.
“Narrow it down to those driving SUV.”
More clicking.
More tensing.
“Narrow it down to…homes with….basement windows. There was a basement window in the video.”
One of the men beside him starts to speak when Holden glares at him to think otherwise.
“Four?” He questions with hope I’ve heard for the first time in the past two minutes. “Are any of them rental properties?” The person on the headset answers and Holden quickly commands, “Look for the initials A H.” All of a sudden he pulls up a map onto the screen where my sister was only moments prior. “There! That house. The one next door has a signal being piggy backed.”
“Send the address-”
“Sent!” Holden turns to her, voice desperately trying to hold back the fear. He yanks the headset off, call clearly ended. “How long until they can get there? How long does she have?”
Brewster tips her head up confidentially. “They’ll be there in minutes. We’ve got local PD prepared to setup boundaries. Road blocks. He won’t get away, Reiss.”
Her phone starts ringing and she takes the call. “Brewster.”
My boyfriend meets my gaze and an unmistakable heartache is swirling inside them.
He did everything he could…
I watched him do everything he could.
She’ll make it.
She has too.
The room fills with silence except for Brewster’s faint voice. She’s relocated to the opposite side close to the back corner, I assume in an attempt to have privacy.
Collectively, we wait for a response. Grind through the grueling minutes together in a united noiseless state.
My eyes fall shut and every prayer I can think of floods my mind. Bargains about being a better sister, a better girlfriend, a better person begin in endless cycles, all on the basis she’s saved. All on the basis she makes it out of this alive.
“We’ve got him!” Brewster announces loudly.
“Her!” My tear ridden voice screams. “Do you have her!?!”
She pauses, but quickly begins nodding profusely. “We have secured the victim. She’s in custody. She’s alive. Still unconscious. They’re putting her in the ambulance now. Her parents will be notified.” The all-knowing look she gives Holden informs me she had no idea we were related. “I suggest you two meet them at the hospital to cushion the blow. They’re taking her to Grace Wood.”
An audible sob of reprieve is ripped from my chest.
Brewster doesn’t wait for further questions before continuing, “Raid teams, we are on a green light. Green light!” Her body heads for the hallway at the same time she says, “Leah, Steeds, you’re with me. Tech, I expect you back at the agency. Reiss, the files you kept, my desk. Tomorrow morning.”
The one she called Leah tosses Holden the key to my freedom. “Good work, Reiss.”
He nods and gives instructions to the men who were working with him, “You guys go ahead and go. I’ll do a system wipe and shut everything down properly.” They start to insist on helping yet he shakes his head. “I’m gonna need a few minutes with my girl and unless you would like your nuts ripped off too, it’d probably be wise for you to leave.”
There’s no argument this time.
The four men collect the few things they had and promptly exit.
Holden drags his chair to be positioned directly across from me. We remain in silence for a few more moments while he swipes away the tears staining my face.
Once I’ve managed to collect myself, he states, “I would’ve never let anything happen to her, baby. I don’t care if I had to spend the rest of my life hunting where she went until the trail went cold and then hunting him all over again when he resurfaced. I was ready to protect my family at all costs. And trust me when I say T4 would have no problem in rectifying any pain she might’ve endured.”
My shoulders finally loosen. “Before we go, I need to know something.”
“Anything.”
“What did you mean, the man who took her tried to take me once? I’ve never almost been kidnapped before Holden…That’s the kind of thing a person remembers.”
“And making sure it didn’t happen is the kind of thing a man never forgets.” He gives the back of his neck a soothing rub. “We were at Clover Rose…You were still babysitting Lynk. I wanted you to watch him that Saturday so Beth and I could go out to The Row, but you said you couldn’t because your professor was going to meet with you. You said you needed a better grade for the semester and he was willing to give advice off the clock because he liked you. I assumed you were boning him and went digging.”
I instantly glare.
“If you were fucking your professor, it would’ve been good leverage if I ever needed a favor and needed to apply pressure.”
“You’re a bastard.”
He nods. “Yeah, but when I came up empty handed on your end, I checked his. I found him linked to a site where he was auctioning you off already. He was guaranteeing an early evening delivery.”
Bile boils again in the back of my throat.
“So I saved everything I could and called in a fake bomb threat to the school. It spooked him, stopped you from going, and saved your life. By the time I went to turn everything into the authorities, he had disappeared and so had the site. He had a fake name. Fake address. Fake credentials. But exposing him…exposed me.”
“That’s how they found out?”
With reticence, he nods again. “My creditability was questioned and it was quickly discovered that Holden Reiss was a name I gave to myself when I entered their system. I got it changed legally after I was caught. At the time it was nothing more than the name I gave to a persona I spent years building and back stopping. They uncovered that I was actually…Holden Moore, son of a prostitute, son of a killer, foster care system fuck-up who happened to take his only mentor’s first name as his last. However, the FBI was beyond impressed with the skills I possessed and that’s when the chains came. Part of the agreement stipulated you were to never know. The name of the student was to never be on file or mentioned. You didn’t need that on your conscience. I didn’t want that on your mind…”
A melancholy expression drapes onto my face. “Why, Holden? Why did you risk all that to save me?”
“Because Lynk needed you then,” his choked voice replies. “I’d do anything and everything for my children, you know that. I knew he needed you then, just like I know he needs you now.” He sniffles away his tears. “And Sage needs you now. And I need you now.”
I whimper at the declaration.
“I’m so fucking sorry for what I said yesterday. I was wrong. I was out of line-”
“You weren’t,” my disagreement is met with a scowl. “You’re right. They’re not my kids. They’re yours. I shouldn’t have become complacent with my relationship with them. I should’ve-”
“Stop,” Holden commands. As soon as I do he gives my cheek a lovely stroke. “You didn’t do anything wrong. All you’ve done is love them. Love me. And that’s all I want for the rest of their lives. For the rest of mine.”
Confusion cloaks me quickly. “Are you….are you asking….”
“You to marry me?” He promptly nods. “Yes.”
Unsure of how to process the idea of something not only permanent, but permanent with the one person I know I can’t live without, I playfully state, “Could you ask me perhaps when I’m not handcuffed to a silla?”
He chuckles at his mistake yet doesn’t move to correct it. “Does being handcuffed have an effect on your answer?”
I mindlessly hum, “No…”
“Then give me an answer now.”
Completely prepared to accept the emotion ridden proposal, I drop my jaw and start to reply when the argument from yesterday comes screeching back. While it was stupid and childish on both our parts, most likely from parallel over stressed days, the pain of being reminded I’m not their parent is more than I can ignore.
“If I say yes…I don’t just wanna be a ‘step parent’. I wanna legally adopt them. I wanna know you will respect and treat me like I’m an equal when it comes to parenting them, not an understudy.”
Holden’s face falls closer to mine. “You have my word.”
My lips briefly brush his. “Then si…after you un-handcuff me.”
His mouth mounts mine and my entire world seems to make sense again. Our tongues tangle from dangerous combinations of thrill and alleviation of the agony endured over the past twenty-seven hours.
Holden slips his lips away the same time my wrists are freed. Cockily, he states, “I’m taking these home with us.”
I snicker, toss my arms around him, and hug him tightly.
He traps me as close to him as possible, arms caging me in, assuring the protection he continuously promises. In a very quiet tone he announces, “I’ll take you to her and then I’ll take you home…to our home.”
Hearing the certainty in the words and feeling it for the first time in my life, I simply squeeze him tighter.
What we have between us is definitely not temporary.
It’s definitely not fleeting.
It’s what some people spend their entire lifetime searching for, yet never find.
It’s what gave us both the strength to get through the horror we just witnessed and what will give us more determination to get past this.
To build a solid life together.
Our love is far from a fickle thing, even if we’re just now both willing to accept it.