Contemporary Romance: Passage of Arms - A Military Romance Novel (Romance, Contemporary Romance, Military Romance, Romance Novel Book 1) (21 page)

Nothing But Fear

“Hey.”

Sarah heard Bruce’s voice through the cotton bag that had been placed over her head. Hearing his voice only made her angry. She wanted to kick him, to hurt him any way that she could, but she knew that struggling wouldn’t help her. She found that out the morning he took her and Ruth by force from her house. Sarah could not remember a time she had been so scared.

Sarah’s mind was still reeling with the events from the past day. The only thing that had given her clarity was when Dave contacted her cell phone. Bruce let her speak to him under strict orders that she was to give away nothing…
or else.
She didn’t want to find out what the “or else” meant, but she was glad to hear him and the concern in his voice.

Did he know that she and her daughter had been kidnapped? Did he know about Bruce, and whatever it was he was messing around with? Once forced into his car, Sarah hadn’t seen anything else, but she felt the gravel beneath her feet and she heard the orders and talking around her. She smelled the stale air and heard the train whistles in the distance.

She knew she was deep into Nashville, possibly by the river, but beyond that, she didn’t know anything else. She and Ruth had been kept in a dark room. It had been hours, maybe even a day since she had seen sunlight. They were given food though. Decent food. She was thankful for that, but she hadn’t felt like eating much. Once Bruce had taken her, he was suddenly nice again, as if her kidnapping shouldn’t be kept between them.

She felt like he was crazy—like she was crazy, maybe even a bit stupid. How could she have ever even considered the idea of having him in her life? What was she thinking?
Five years is a long time
, he kept saying. He had been
warning
her, right? He had even called her vulnerable, and he was right!

Bruce was some twisted sort of snake messing around with drugs or something—all she wanted was to take her daughter and run away. Perhaps hide in her house if Bruce would never come after her again. He was convinced she knew something about Dave and was holding out on him.

He kept asking her, switching from being mean to nice, as if she would respond better to the nice man. It was making her head spin. Seeing Bruce anger was just scary. Sarah had even thought of making something up just to appease him, but after she explained that Dave had told her he was going out of town, and it was confirmed with the messages Dave had sent her, Bruce had stopped pressing the issue. He was just the sweet guy again, the one who had always come to check on her back on Camp Lejeune.

“Hey,” Bruce repeated. “Can you hear me?”

“I hate you,” Sarah spat. Her voice was much too frail and shaking with fear to be intimidating. She didn’t care. Just as long as Bruce knew that she wanted nothing to do with him was good enough.

“No, you don’t,” Bruce replied. Sarah felt his fingers through the sack. He reached for her face. She wanted to bite his fingers, to grind them against her teeth, maybe even bite one off. Instead, she just froze, hating the way his touch felt on her skin. Although he touched her through the bag over her head, she hated his presence nonetheless.

“I’m really sorry about this, Sarah,” Bruce whispered. “I hope you know that. You were never supposed to be involved, but something’s happened. That’s why you’re here. I’ve told you this.”

“I can’t believe anything you say,” Sarah pulled her head away from his fingers. Bruce didn’t try to pull her back.

“I’m telling you the truth. I might not have been honest about what I do for a living, but that doesn’t matter. I live a great life. If you can overlook that little thing, you’ll be alright,” he touched her arm.

Sarah scoffed. “You’re crazy. You keep talking like there’s a chance,” she spat her words at him with heavy disdain. “I want you to take me and my daughter back to my house, and then I never want to see you again. That’s what I want.”

“That’s what you
think
you want,” Bruce said smoothly. “Because you’re scared. I get it. I scared you. I overreacted about some things. I thought you were lying.”

“Why would I lie to you?” Sarah snapped. “I want to go home.”

“We can compromise,” Bruce spoke over her. It was as if he couldn’t even hear her words. “First, I need you to meet with Dave. Remember what we talked about. What you’re going to tell him, okay?”

Sarah didn’t respond. She didn’t want to listen to him anymore. Just the sound of his voice was making her sick. No matter how deeply Sarah pushed for a breath, her lungs swelling to expand for a breath, it still didn’t seem to be enough.

Her head started to spin. In the distance, she heard herself whimpering, begging to be released. That’s when Bruce moved closer to her. She hated it, but she was strapped into a seat in the back of a car. Bruce rode beside her. There was nowhere she could go. She smelled his breath inches from her face and was thankful for the bag over her head.

“You’re going to pass out if you keep breathing like that,” Bruce warned her softly. She heard concern in his voice, but she knew it couldn’t be real. What kind of monster would do this to her?

“Please, take me home,” Sarah whined.

“We’ll talk about that after you speak with Dave,” Bruce replied, not even a bit fazed by the whimper in Sarah’s voice.

“I hate you,” Sarah managed. She hated how weak she sounded, but she couldn’t keep herself from crying. “You’re a monster and I hate you.”

“Well, that hurts,” Bruce said pointedly. Sarah heard his response but sat dumbfounded. How did he expect her to feel about this?

“I’m not a monster, Sarah. You’re just scared right now. I don’t blame you. It’s okay to be scared.”

“Please, stop talking to me,” Sarah wished she could cover her ears, to block out the nonsense, but they were handcuffed in front of her, and her  feet were wrapped and secured with some type of ribbon or soft tether. That happened after her head was covered. The entire thing seemed like some crazy Liam Neeson movie, except Bruce wasn’t her savior, but her captor, and a crazy psychotic captor at that.

From what she had overheard from conversation, Dave somehow became some annoying extra piece to the puzzle, whatever that was. She hated listening to their conversation while she was kept in the darkroom, but she couldn’t block out the conversations she knew must have been about Dave. It sounded like they had tried to kill him.

That thought still didn’t make sense to her. In her world, people didn’t try to kill people. That’s why the bad guys did in the movies. She didn’t belong to that type of world, and yet she was most definitely sure that someone had tried to kill Dave, except he didn’t die. The moment they, whoever
they
were, realized that Dave had the potential to be alive is when Bruce had been contacted at her house. That’s when everything changed.

“Okay, we’re here,” Bruce said moments later. She felt him hook his fingers beneath the bag and lift it up. Her hair moved with the bag, falling down in feathered lumps. Bruce looked her over.

“Are you okay?” He asked softly, intimately. Sarah scowled, making Bruce smile. “You’re really beautiful, you know that?” He touched her chin and she yanked her face away. Bruce reached for her chin again and turned, forcing her to meet his eyes.

“You’re a devil,” she said in a huff. Bruce shook his head.

“No, I’m not. You know who I am. I’m a good guy, remember? A Marine.”

“Ex,” Sarah stressed. Bruce’s eyes narrowed. After a pause, he took a deep breath.

“You’re not going to blow this, are you? I trust you to keep your part in this, Sarah. If you don’t, I can’t guarantee your safety and I’d hate for something to happen to you,” Bruce’s words seemed honest and sincere. “I mean that, Sarah. I really do.” He searched her face. “Do I have your word?” Sarah swallowed, her lips beginning to tremble. Bruce shook his head quickly.

“You have to stop crying. It’s making your eyes red.”

“I can’t do this,” Sarah said quickly. “Please, take me home.”

Bruce chuckled and cupped Sarah’s cheek in his hand. She tried to turn, but was too week. He stroked her skin with his thumb.

“You’re a strong woman, Sarah,” Bruce said quietly. “Pull yourself together. You have 15 minutes before he arrives. Can you do this as we discussed?”

Sarah started to force deep breaths. She wanted to avoid Bruce’s eyes, but he was still holding her face. She didn’t want to agree to anything, but finally, she nodded. Bruce pressed his lips together, and waited. After a moment, he spoke to her again.

“Say it out loud for me. I need to hear it, your verbal agreement.”

“I’ll do it,” Sarah stammered.

“Are you sure?” Bruce asked softly.

Sarah frowned. “Do I have a choice?”

“No,” Bruce smiled. “Tell me again that you’ll do it. Tell me what you’re going to do.”

Sarah blinked. “I’m going to talk to Dave. I will tell him about what I knew of you when you were in the military five years ago. I won’t tell him anything else, I promise,” Sarah spoke slowly, sounding out each word carefully and watching Bruce for approval. His face remained like stone.

“And if he asks if you’ve seen me?”

“I’ll tell him the truth,” Sarah said softly. “You came by twice.”

“Three times,” Bruce corrected.

“Okay, uh, sure,” Sarah frowned. “Three times then, I guess.”

“Sounds great,” Bruce’s face cracked with a smile. “You’ll do great, beautiful. And afterwards, we can talk some more.”

“I don’t want to talk with you.”

Bruce shrugged. “We’ll talk later,” he placed a hand on the door handle behind him and opened the door. He helped Sarah to the edge and then produced a key to release her hands. When the cuffs fell off, he took her by the wrists gently and began to rub.

“This guy shouldn’t even be here,” Bruce said softly. His voice was different, not edgy or sweet, just plain and flat. “After you meet with him though, I’ll take care of him properly since apparently, I can’t trust people to do that,” he was muttering to himself.

“What are you talking about?” Sarah asked with a thin voice. Bruce stared at her with empty eyes.

“Are you seriously going to keep pretending like you don’t know who this guy is?” He asked her. Sarah just stared. “I’m pretty sure dating you was just a clever ploy to get closer to me. I’ve known someone from the agency has been on my trail for quite some time, but I never thought they would use you like this.”

Sarah shook her head. “Dave didn’t use me.” Bruce chuckled and rolled his eyes. His grip on her wrists tightened.

“And the attack that killed Alpha Company was just an accident,” Bruce chuckled, and then grinned when Sarah’s eyes widened. “Listen, Sarah, this world is a lot more dangerous than you think it is—.”

“If Dave is supposed to be dead, then why are you letting him meet with me?” Sarah asked suddenly.

Bruce smiled. “Apparently, half a kilo of coke is all it takes to switch loyalty around these parts. Someone dropped Dave off at the hospital. That’s why he’s still alive—and that’s the only reason why,” Bruce’s eyes narrowed. “He doesn’t know what I know about him. He probably thinks you’re still going to be at home, or work, or whatever it is you do,” Bruce paused and wet his lips. “We’re going to let him keep thinking that. And afterwards, I’ll take matters into my own hands and get rid of him properly.”

Bruce’s words were so heartless, and yet he spoke them with ease, as if it were nothing more than an ordinary conversation amongst friends. He knelt before Sarah and began to loosen the tie around her legs. She watched him quietly, wishing she had the strength of a 100 men to hit him in the head and run. Instead, she just sat and rubbed her wrists. When Bruce stood, he smiled back at Sarah and handled her a 20 dollar bill.

“You can get yourself some coffee if you want,” he helped Sarah from the car and she stood, shielding her eyes against the sunlight. The wind played with her hair and stroked her face. Being outside felt good. It reminded her of the boat ride she had with Dave.

“Are you ready?” Bruce asked. Sarah was reluctant to open her eyes, but she realized that the sooner she was in the shop, the sooner she could clear her mind to think. She nodded and clenched the money in her hand.

“Wait a moment,” Bruce reached into his pocket and withdrew a black rectangle. “This is your phone. I’ll call you when it’s time for you to leave.”

“Am I leaving before him?”

“Yes,” Bruce’s voice was becoming edgy. “Are you ready?” He asked again, this time with more impatience. Sarah nodded and swallowed. She clenched the money and phone in one hand. “Don’t think about sending any messages either,” Dave warned suddenly. “I’ll know.”

“Okay,” Sarah nodded and took a feeble step away from Bruce. She paused and looked back to him, waiting. He nodded approval and she took another step away and then stopped to look over her shoulder at him again. His arms were crossed. He didn’t make a motion to her, he just stood, his face stone as he watched her.

Frowning, Sarah turned and walked towards the main parking lot. It was a small restaurant, but the parking lot was completely empty. She stopped and looked behind her, across the highway separating the café from the business on the other side of the street. It was a bank. Its lot was empty too, and the blinds over the windows were closed.