Chapter 25
Heath finished his early morning meeting and headed back to his hotel room. He needed some breakfast, and then he hoped to stop by Miranda’s house to see her and Sam. He should stay away from them until this mess was all over, but he couldn’t, especially not after last night.
Feeling on top of the world, he fished out his key and walked into his room. Immediately, he knew something was wrong. From the doorway, he saw Miranda’s dress discarded on the floor in the bathroom, but there was no Miranda. Heath took a step into the room. There was a faint, bitter odor in the air. Damn, it was ether.
Then he saw it in the bed sheets, a matchbook. Heath snatched it up and noticed that a number had been scrawled in pen on the outside. He grabbed his cell and dialed. It rang three times before a voice he knew all too well came over the line. “Heath, how good of you to be so prompt in returning my call. But you know, you really should not have gotten such a sweet little girl involved in your mess.” After a rueful sigh as if he detested Heath’s thoughtless actions, the voice continued, “But since you have involved her in our game, I intend to use her as my pawn.”
Heath swallowed convulsively trying to tamp down on his anger and frustration. He needed to be calm for Miranda. He needed to think clearly and be at his best right now. “Where is she, Devon?”
Silence, “I said, where is Miranda?” Heath demanded again with more force. He was having difficulty hiding his anger, but under the circumstance, that was exactly the game that Devon wanted to play.
“Heath, Heath, Heath. I can’t tell you that. Because we both know you would rush down here and try to save her. I can’t have that.”
Heath pulled in a breath. “What is it you want?”
Devon sighed. “Well, I want you to have never stuck your nose into my business, but I can’t have that. So what I want now is to erase you and all the evidence that you have been collecting.”
Dead air, “You know I can’t do that.”
Devon chuckled menacingly, “Oh, yes, you can, Heath, and you will because if you don’t, I’ll have to do some very unpleasant things to this nice young lady.”
Heath’s jaw was clenched so tightly it was a miracle he could speak. “Don’t you lay a finger on her, Devon!”
“Don’t worry, Heath. You know how I hate to sacrifice the innocent, and I’m a man of my word. Just bring all your evidence and yourself to the south docks at 1:00 AM, and we’ll talk man to man.”
Heath growled out, “Fine. I’ll be there.”
“Oh and, Heath, come alone, or I’ll kill the girl.”
Devon hung up, and Heath cursed as he stood alone in the room where for a night it had seemed that his life was finally getting to where it had always been meant to go. Now, things were worse than ever. He flipped open his phone and made a call to a number that was for emergency use only, but this was definitely an emergency. Nothing had ever felt so urgent before in his life.
The phone was answered at the other end, but Heath still heard only silence. He spoke into the quiet, “We have a situation.” Heath quickly filled in the mystery man on the other end of the line and then waited for instructions.
“All right, Agent Brandon, I’ll send two agents to guard the boy and Miranda’s parents, but the larger question here is, what are we going to do about Ms. Hannigan’s current situation?”
Heath shrugged, “I plan to do exactly what Devon demanded that I do; I have no choice. What I need you to do is made sure that she walks out of the warehouse alive tonight.”
There was dead air for a brief moment. “What about you? Will you be walking out of that warehouse, Agent Brandon?”
“I don’t see how that can possibly be, sir, but if you could arrange for it, I would appreciate it.”
“I see; I’ll do what I can.”
“Thank you.” Heath hung up; it seemed that he was destined to pay a much different kind of call on Sam this morning.
It was cold. That was the first sensation that registered with me. Then slowly as my body and my mind began to clear away the fog, I noticed other things. My arms were stiff and tied behind my back. This restrictive position pulled at my shoulders and chaffed my hands. I also happened to be sitting in a hard metal chair, and my legs were tied to the front legs of that same chair. All in all it was a terribly uncomfortable spot to find myself in.
Oh Hell, let’s be honest. I was in major trouble. Damn it, Heath! What have you gotten me into? I turned my head to look around, but everything was cast in deep shadows. Wherever I was, it was dark as night. And from the sound of things, I was alone, which come to think of it was probably a good thing. At least if no one was here, then there was no one to hurt me.
So I sat there alone in the dark, tied up with no hope of escape, and I cried. Tears streamed down my cheeks for me, for Sam, and for the man I loved. I was not naïve enough to believe that I would ever be able to see the two people I loved most in the world again; I would never walk away from this place. And alone in that darkness of despair, I felt a presence around me. Cara was here in this place with me. I sighed, “Of course, you would come. You knew this was going to happen. Why did you lead me here to this?”
I felt the ghost of a hand settle on my shoulder and then felt the words rather than heard them. “Don’t give up. Do you remember the feelings that I have shown you?”
I nodded my head. Yes, I remembered the pain, the loss, the despair. The hand tightened on my shoulder, “Fight, Miranda! When the time comes, you will know, and you must not hesitate, or you will feel your loss as you felt mine in your dreams.”
Tears leaked out of my eyes, but I nodded. “Please don’t leave me alone, Cara. Please stay with me. I’m afraid. I don’t want to be alone.”
Again there was pressure on my shoulder. “I am here.”