Fragrance of Revenge (24 page)

Chapter 73

He wasn’t feeling any pain now,
since he was on some heavy duty pain killers. His injuries could have been much
more serious. He knows they were rescued relatively soon after their abduction,
but he still wondered what Mercedes had suffered. If he asked she probably
wouldn’t tell him. He still felt bad about not protecting her like he planned.

“Feeling some better now Ralph?”
Mercedes asked as she came over to his side.

“Yeah, I could use a handful of
whatever they gave me for some future time,” he replied.

“Ralph, I’m so sorry they beat you
so badly.”

“It could have been much worse.
I’ll be okay. I’m sure you did your part to limit my injuries.”

“Actually it was getting to that
point.”

“Mercy, are you okay?”

“I’m okay. We were both lucky we
were rescued when we were. We still do not have any idea who called the
military and told them where we were. There’s an angel out there and I could
give him a big hug.”

“Speaking of hugs…I’m sorry I
didn’t protect you like I planned.”

“Ralph, you did as much as you
could. You weren’t even armed. Fortunately, they didn’t kill you.”

“No they wanted me there so they
could get you to give your body up. I need to ask you this.” He tried to think
of the best way to ask it. “You seem to be in good spirits considering what we
went through…did any of them take advantage of you?”

“If you mean did they rape me? No
they didn’t. Captain Chavez was the only one who came near me, and fortunately I
kept him talking long enough to avoid any real issues.”

“Then he did do something to you.”

“Ralph, all he did was put his
hands on my body. I suffered worse than that when I was kidnapped the first
time.”

“I’m very sorry.”

“Please don’t give it another
thought. I’m okay and I learned some information that will help us find the
people we were looking for. Other than Paula Scott, the people who went missing
in Bermuda are all alive, but there are more than sixty other people, many from
the US and the balance from Europe, who still have not been found.”

“Mercy, I know I apologized for
what I did to your apartment. It was childish of me and you didn’t deserve that
treatment. I hope I haven’t caused a problem with Scott.”

“Thanks for telling me you’re
sorry. I know you like me and I think we can be friends. Scott at the moment is
in some hot water of his own.”

“Why, what has he done?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve tried to reach
him, but he isn’t at his apartment or mine. There’s a slight chance my earlier
words might have sent him to someone else.”

“He would be a fool.”

“Thanks. He told me he had some
bad news and some bad news. I asked him what the first bad news was and he said
he went to see an exotic dancer do her stuff.”

“Well he told you.”

“Yes that is Scott. He doesn’t
lie. However, he wouldn’t tell me what the other bad news was. I hung up on him
and haven’t talked to him since.”

He saw her tears forming. He put
his arms out and she bent over. He could smell a hint of Gardenia. It hurt to
hug her but they both needed it. He realized how lucky they both were, but
Scott was luckier than he was.

“Ralph, that was nice of you. I needed
a hug. I’m going to share something with you and it has nothing to do with
you.”

He saw her tears running down her
cheeks and realized she wasn’t as tough as she seemed. He tried to wipe them,
but the IV prevented him from reaching her cheek. “Once again I seem to be just
a little too far away.”

She wiped the tears. “Ralph, when
I get back to the states, I’m giving my notice. I’ve had two close calls and
there are more important things to do with my life. I can’t take the chance the
next time I won’t be this lucky.”

“I’m going to miss working with
you partner. For all the dumb things I’ve done, I’m sorry.”

“You’re a good agent and will do
even better without my distraction.”

“Yes, but you were such a nice
distraction.”

She bent down and surprised the hell
out of him kissing his lips briefly but with some obvious feeling. He could
feel his own emotions and his eyes started to water.

“Hello you two,” Max said as he
entered the treatment room. “Is everything okay here?” Max looked at Mercedes
for an answer.

“Everything is just fine here and
couldn’t be better,” Mercedes said as she kissed him again, but this time on
the forehead. She left the room without saying anything else.

“Ralph, she looked like she was
crying. Are you sure everything is okay?”

“We both patched some things up.
I’ll be fine and she will be even better.”

“I’ve found out who we have to
thank for both of your rescues. Richard Damelio’s brother Robert is here and is
working with a former military person. Robert got a call from the states that
alerted them that you and Mercedes were abducted. They got to the right people
in the military to make a timely rescue.

“I guess we all have our angels
when we need them most.”

“Should I be worried about you and
Mercedes working together?”

“No, that won’t be a problem at
all.”

“Good. I arranged for you to
return to the states in two days. Do you think you are going to be ready to
travel by then?”

“Thanks Max. Sounds good to me,
and I’ll miss these pain killers, but I will be ready.”

Chapter 74

She left Ralph’s room and went to
the ladies room. Several things surprised her. The first was that she told him
she was giving her notice. She had only thought about that, but while she was
with Ralph she solidified her decision.

Her two close calls were weighing
heavily on her and she was very lucky she wasn’t more seriously damaged by
either of those two abductions.

The other surprise was that she
felt very close to Ralph. Not as a lover, but as a friend. She was glad he was
alive, and she was glad he made her feel like she had value. He obviously has
deep feelings for her, and she was sorry she couldn’t reciprocate his feelings.
They would be friends for sure after she leaves the FBI.

She was surprised she was crying
back there and now. She rarely does that, but for some reason all the emotions were
too much to handle. They had both been rescued. He from being more seriously
hurt, and her from being raped and having to live with those scars for the rest
of her life. Her beauty was an asset in many ways, but she realized it was a
definite liability when dealing with the scum of the earth.

She was also concerned about Scott
and sorry they had words. She was wrong hanging up on him and should have been
more tolerant. Not being able to reach him and talk to him, along with not knowing
if he was okay, was also a major concern. If he had actually spent some time
with Maggie, she was going to forgive him. He must have needed her. That was
her fault, not his.

All her adult life she had worked
to become an FBI profiler. She had managed to reach that, but it wasn’t what
she really needed. She wanted Scott and she wanted a family. Having children
would be risky if she were still with the force. It wouldn’t be fair to them if
something were to happen to her. It obviously could have already happened. Her
angel saved her and this was a wake up call.

She asked Scott not to do any more
investigations, but realized she was asking him to give up something she should
be giving up. They both need to do something less risky and more conducive for
family life. They had skills and would be able to use them.

She looked at her image in the
mirror and noticed how white her face looked. She looked sickly and suddenly
felt her stomach turning and an awful taste in her mouth. She made it to the toilet
just in time. Maybe she should have eaten something. She felt the same thing
and leaned over the toilet once again.

She was trying to concentrate on
getting her stomach to relax, but thought of Scott’s scar. He was so lucky to
be alive. Her sister could have killed him twice. Then she thought of what she
had forced him to do. He has never really told her what she made him do, but
can imagine what her sister had made all the men do. Since she was keeping them
for that purpose, why would she think that her sister wasn’t successful?

She then thought of Ralph being
tortured and the pain Scott must have endured when Melanie cut the arrow into
his abdomen. She felt her stomach turning again, but this time it was just bile
coming up.

Once she had some composure back,
her thoughts went to her dad. He was keeping something from her, she could
tell, and she wondered if it was the affair he had had. Maybe he’s still having
one. Her mom hasn’t been right for years since Melanie’s first rampage in Boston with those other women. Prior to that, her mom had shared that her relationship
with her father was just for show and to keep the business on an even keel.

She missed the simple times before
she attended Harvard. Sailing with her grandfather and her sister was a special
time. Why is everything so complicated now?

Scott losing his wife Lisa in that
car accident was a tough pill for him to swallow. However, it took her call to
him two years later to get him off the dime and for him to realize he needed to
get on with his life. From the time she first met him at Harvard and they did
that exercise to identify the classmate’s description with the class member,
she felt her body react to Scott. Then in the cabin, when she wanted him so
badly, even with both of them naked, he was faithful to Lisa.

She knew now Scott couldn’t have
spent any private time with Maggie. He had shown her many times how much he
loves her, and although he saw Maggie dance, that doesn’t convict him of making
love to her. There was something else Scott was hiding from her.

Her father was hiding something
too. That’s got to be it…he’s doing an investigation, which is the ‘other bad
news’ he wouldn’t tell me about. So, he must be doing an investigation for my
father, which is the only person he would take that risk for. That explains why
my dad was acting strangely about contacting Scott.

She thought she was done being
sick, but it was just dry heaves this time. She stood and went to the sink to
wash her mouth out. She did her best to make herself presentable and knew she
needed to find Max to solidify her travel arrangements.

So where are you? What kind of
investigation would you get involved in for my father?
She had a strange
feeling that Scott was in trouble.
Unfortunately I can’t help you this time
Scott…I’m hundreds of miles away. You need a guardian angel, and it isn’t me
this time.

She knew Scott was going to ask
her to marry him and she already had her answer prepared. She said a silent
prayer and hoped it would be enough.

Chapter 75

Scott finally had his tongue out.
“Progress at last. You can put your tongue back in your mouth. We only have a
few minutes until Chris comes back. You know very well what I want to see.”

“Alexis don’t you feel bad about
what you did to the doctor?”

She couldn’t hold the smile back.
“Okay Scott, here’s the deal. The good doctor has been caring for me since I
was a baby. I was sent to that facility by my uncaring father because I had
hair on my face and elsewhere…basically I looked like a werewolf. He took
advantage of me from the time I was twelve. He thought he hypnotized me and
took pictures of me in various positions. That’s not the worst part.”

She saw him watching the razor as
she waved it back and forth. “He made me do things to him while he thought I
was under a trance. To be honest, once I failed to tell him he hadn’t
hypnotized me, I had to play along with what he instructed me to do. He made me
do some things to his body, which I learned to like. I think I was doing a good
job of learning how to make him really happy.” Her free hand was trying to undo
his belt.

“Once my body started to lose the
hair covering it, he told me I got more beautiful. It took me years to finally
understand that I had indeed developed into a butterfly instead of an ugly
moth.” She needed to put the razor into her mouth while she used two hands on
his belt.

“At the same time, he showed how
excited he got when I was naked. He liked to play with my body and I tried not
to show him how much I liked it too. However, I learned my dad was paying for
my care at the facility and paying him separately to keep my presence a secret.
He never once came to visit me. So for years, Doctor Adler took me to his home
and, in effect, trained me how to make us happy.”

She undid his pants and slid his
zipper down. “You thought I wouldn’t get to this point by having me talk.
Right?” He didn’t answer and she made him regret it. “Right?”

“Okay, you’re right.”

She lifted his shirt and slid his
briefs down slightly.

“Well look at what we have here.
Looks like an arrow. How did this happen?”

“Your twin cut me when she had me
prisoner.”

“Were you worried she was going to
cut something else?”

“It had crossed my mind.”

“Okay enough banter. Let’s see
what the arrow is pointing at.”

The interior lights came on when
the driver’s door opened.

“I got us a room. What the hell
are you doing?”

“Mind your own business.”

“Alexis, we have two queen beds. I
suggest you wait until we get in the room and then do what you want?”

“Will you watch?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“See how well he has learned his
lessons. You will have your opportunity too. Besides, the suspense of what you
really look like down here will make me even more excited.” She tapped against
him. “Save me the effort of getting you back together. When we go through the
hotel, don’t do anything to call attention to us. I have nothing to lose in
killing you. Besides, anyone there should be focused on my entry not yours.”

She closed the razor but kept it
in her hand. They started towards the hotel.

She wondered if she should do a
twin arrow on Scott. Wouldn’t that be a fitting memorial?