Prisoner and Together: All of You series complete set (33 page)

Chapter Nineteen

Lani

I hear a commotion in the hallway, and I turn to find Tony entering the building with his new clique.  They’re joking with each other, and laughing boisterously.  I return my eyes to the files on my desk, but my attention is still on Tony’s voice.  I listened to his voicemail, after I hung up with my dad, and it made my heart melt.  Just that short message made me feel so much emotion, I had to splash my face with water in the bathroom just to keep myself from tearing up.

“Hey, baby,” I hear him say in his husky voice, as I feel his hand on my shoulder.  He leans down and kisses the top of my head, then his lips gently caress my temple.  I feel my shoulders quiver as a bolt of pleasure strikes the base of my neck, and travels down my spine.  It is so unfair, how he makes me feel… especially since I’m mad at him.

When I don’t say anything, I don’t respond at all really, he sighs and bends down in front of me until he’s almost eye to eye with me.  “Baby, Jamie asked me to go out to grab a beer with him.  You’ve seen your dad, right?  He’s okay?”

I should have expected it.  There’s usually at least one big case a year, whether it’s pot growers on the south end of the county or meth cookers in the north, and after we close it the guys always go out for drinks.  I’ve never been invited, not once.  But I should have known Jamie would take to Tony; Killian has, and Riley.  Everyone loves him. 

“My dad is fine.  Everything’s fine.  Go have your beer.”  I frown as I hear the attitude in my own voice. 

He sighs again, louder this time.  “I’m sorry, Lani.  I’m sorry that Barrett put us in this situation.  But your dad is fine, isn’t he?”

I still haven’t looked at him.  “I said he is, didn’t I?”  That was a little louder than it should have been.  I try to reel in my anger, and calm my voice some.  I don’t even know why I’m angry.  I finally glance at him, and his dark eyes are full of trepidation.  “Just go.  Have fun.”

He touches my chin and tips my face up to his.  I stare at his chin, pouting.  How does he bring this side of me out so easily?  I feel like such a girl around him, and I hate it. 

He pushes my hair behind my ear, and brushes the back of his fingers against my cheek.  “You’re so beautiful,” he murmurs, just loud enough for me to hear.  “It’s still hard for me to believe I can touch you whenever I want.” 

Now I feel guilty.  His eyes are focused on my lips.  His fingers are in my hair, and his palm is against my cheek.  I close my eyes, and enjoy the feel of his skin on mine.  I had absolutely no idea what I was missing before I met him. 

“I love you, Melanie.  The last thing I ever want to do is hurt you, or make you angry.  I just want you to be happy.  If you don’t want me to go, I won’t.”  His sexy voice is low, and it makes my muscles clench uncomfortably. 

My God, he makes me crazy.  I’m angry, contrite, and happy all at the same time.  “Go out and have fun.  I’ll go and stay with my dad until you and the gang come to get me, and take me back to the hotel.  Okay?” 

The smile he gives me makes my heart contract.  He kisses my lips quickly, and says “I love you so much, baby,” before he hops up and practically runs toward the showers.  I chuckle under my breath, but I watch as he speeds away.  Even in the bulky blue SWAT jumpsuit he looks amazing.  His ass is so perfect it’s even accentuated in the plain garment.
You’re beautiful, too
, I think, as he turns the corner and calls out to someone at the other end of the hall.  I need to find Constance.

Tony

“Can I borrow your phone one more time?”  I ask Jamie.  It’s really bothering me that I can’t get through to Lani.  I’ve already tried three times.  I know she was mad at me when I told her I was going out with the guys, but she should have gotten over that by now. 

Riley makes a sound effect with his voice, the sound one would think a whip would make while traveling through the air, followed by the crack the tip would make when landing on its target.  At the same time he flicks his wrist.  It would be hilarious, if he was talking about anyone but me.

“Thanks, that helps,” I mumble.

Jamie rolls his eyes as he pulls out his phone again.  “I’m gonna have to start charging you a quarter.”

“Put it on my tab,” I reply, with a dash too much sarcasm. 

Having the guys buy my drinks didn’t sound bad when they invited me out, but now that they are doing it, it feels way worse than I expected it to.  My SEAL team would sometimes buy rounds, but I always knew I could also buy their rounds next.  Not that I was rich when I was a SEAL, far from it, but we always had enough money for what we needed.  I took care of my family.  Lucy had a fairly new car, I had a reliable truck, and the kids had much more than they needed.  Lucy’s parents spoiled them, no doubt about it; Lauren and Max are their only grandchildren.  My parents have all of my nieces and nephews as well, not that Lucy has let them help out much, or even let Lauren and Max see my parents since she ended my parental rights.

Not that I want to be thinking about any of this while I’m listening to Lani’s voicemail answer again.  “This is Detective Vaden.  Please leave a message after the beep.”

“Lani, it’s me again, for the third time.  Baby, if you didn’t want me to come out, you should have just told me.  Call me and let me know you’ve made it to your dad’s house okay.”  The beep interrupts me just then, which is fine because the message said enough, without me having to say I love you in front of the guys.

“So whipped,” Jamie jabs at me.  He glances over at Burke, who actually appears more sympathetic than usual.

Riley, though, is more than happy to go along with Jamie.  “He has to be the most pussy whipped man I’ve ever seen.”

“Trust me when I say this, because she is my partner.  Melanie Vaden is the most badass woman you’ll ever meet.  She can take care of herself, Tony.  She’ll be fine with her dad for one evening.  Have another beer, man.”  Jamie practically beams with pride as he talks about his partner, who also happens to be the woman I love.  I can’t help but feel jealous, even though Jamie’s married to a gorgeous woman himself.  Lani told me she’d never slept with her partner, and I want to believe her.  I want to trust her.  But then I glance over at Burke, who is actually quiet tonight.  He is watching a hockey game on the television, but I feel like there’s something else going on.

Jamie raises his hand with two fingers up at the bartender.  Normally I wouldn’t mind, but I’m just on edge tonight, more than I should be while I’m drinking good beer with good men.  It’s bugging me she’s not answering.  My life is just too weird lately, maybe.  My nerves are shot.  But I just can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong.

“Do you have Chief Vaden’s number?”  I sound desperate, but that’s probably because I am desperate. 

“Drink your beer, and stop worrying,” Burke finally pipes up.  “She’ll be fine.  Lani Vaden is
always
fine.”

I groan inwardly as I stare at the beer Jamie places in front of me.

Lani

“Lani, sweetheart, I’m gonna stop and get beer.  If I’m not there, just let yourself in.  You know where the key is.” 

I glanced up at my dad’s front door as I listened to his voicemail, wondering why he didn’t assign a patrol car to sit out front, after everything that has happened…

And that’s the last thing I remember, before everything went black.

Everything is still black.  My hands are cuffed behind my back, and there is something covering my face.  I have no idea of how much time has passed since I pulled into my dad’s driveway at eight o’clock.  I watched as Tony left with his new friends, black hair still a little damp, wearing the charcoal gray pants and white shirt I like so much.  He looked stunning as he turned and blew a kiss to me. 

I wonder if he’s too busy drinking to wonder if his pregnant girlfriend is safe at her dad’s.  He’s probably laughing with Jamie, and sharing war stories with Riley.  He and Burke are probably talking about whose favorite hockey team is better. 

And I’m stuck God alone only knows where.  I smell hay, and horses, and I hear owls outside.

I’m in the country.  Great, there are any number of farms in Winston and Mason counties.  I could be anywhere in the state, actually. 

I’m lying awkwardly on a hard floor, I assume, and my shoulder is killing me.  I move around until I’m sitting up, and I hear the horses moving around in their stalls.  One whinnies loudly.  Do I want my captors to know I’m awake, so I can figure out who has me?  Or do I want to break my thumb to get out of these damn cuffs, because I really have to pee.

I move my rear end off the ground, so I can loop my arms under my legs, and with some maneuvering I get my hands in front of me.  At least I can get this sack off my face.  That’s when I hear the sound of chains moving, and feel their tug as I try to pull.

Fuck
,
I’m handcuffed and chained!

I guess I’m breaking my thumb.

I really hope Tony gets here soon.

Chapter Twenty

Tony

“Hey Roman, your girl’s calling,” Jamie continues to goad me, as he pulls his phone out of his pocket.  He glances down at the screen, and his face goes blank.  “Oh, shit,” he says, before he answers, “Detective Johnson.”

“What’s wrong?” I ask.  I just knew I couldn’t enjoy an evening out without something bad happening.  I should have been with Lani.

“No, sir,” he says, into the phone.  He’s making a point not to look at me.  He does, however, glance at Killian, who seems to be as on edge as I am.

“What is it, Johnson,” he demands. 

I groan loudly, and Riley glares at me.

“No, sir,” Johnson says again.  All of the color has drained out of his face, as he hands me the phone.  He says nothing, and refuses to look into my eyes.

“Check, please,” Burke calls out, and pulls out his credit card.  Riley grabs his too. 

“Roman,” I bark into the phone.  I don’t even look at the caller ID.  Maybe I should have.

“Son, don’t panic.”  Of course my first reaction is to panic, especially after the look on Jamie’s face.  Now, he’s looking at me expectantly, while Burke and Riley are settling their checks.

“Just tell me what the hell is going on,” I insist.  I’m not quite upset enough to say,
and don’t call me son
, but I’m very close.

“Lani’s car is in my driveway, but she’s not here.  I thought maybe she’d decided to go with…” 

I interrupt Lani’s father there.  “Where do we meet up, at the station?” I demand, in a tone that is something akin to a growl.

“I’ll call everyone in, and I’ll meet you there.  I assume Burke and Riley are with you?” he adds.

That question makes me even more angry, because one of them should have been with Lani.  “We’ll all be there,” I state with confidence, as I hand the phone back to Johnson.  “Lani’s gone.  Time to meet at the station.”

Although we each only had two beers, everyone is now extremely sober.  “I’ll meet you there,” Jamie says.

“Let’s go,” Burke orders everyone at the table.  It’s fine with me that he’s taking charge, because I can feel myself falling apart.  We’d better fucking find Lani soon, or I will tear this entire town down to the ground looking for her. 

As I walk past Riley, he pats my shoulder.  “We’ll find her,” he assures me. 

I respond with what I’m thinking.  “Everyone in this God forsaken county had better pray to God we find her soon.”  For some reason, none of the men I’m with look surprised. 

Lani

“You’re not going anywhere, Vaden,” a familiar voice says, after I pull the cover off my face.  Then I see her standing there, the head bitch herself, Warden Drake.  Why isn’t she in jail awaiting trial?  “We found your ear piece, no one’s coming for you.”

“Well I guess your powerful connections really did save your ass, didn’t they?” I snap. 

Her smug expression makes me want to slap her even more, and if I wasn’t cuffed and chained I would do it.  But then she speaks, and makes me want to smack her even more.  “Oh, you have no idea what I’m capable of, and the men who back me, well…” she scoffs.  “How’d you like your welcome in DC?”

I laugh then.  “Just like everyone else you send after me and Tony, they just couldn’t get the job done.  You saw Tony kill three men with his bare hands.  Do you really think anything you send at us, short of an army, will hurt us?”

She smiles brightly, her dark, empty eyes almost sparkle.  “I don’t know, Vaden.  Look where you are now.  I’ve got you right where I want you.”

“If you hurt me, Tony will destroy everything you love,” I reply confidently.

“We can’t wait for your boyfriend to join us.  As a matter of fact, we’re counting on it.  And when he gets here, we’ll destroy everything
you
love.”  She’s really enjoying her seemingly impenetrable position of power.  What she doesn’t factor in is Tony.  Does she really think they will ever be able to take Tony alive?  He will rescue me or die trying, and he’ll take out every one of them who gets in his way.

“Careful what you wish for, Drake.  You might just get it.”  I try to let my confidence show through to my eyes.  “I’m not afraid of you, Drake.  You should be afraid of Tony.  He won’t stop until I’m safe.” 

She listens to me, as if she’s politely entertaining a child.  Then she speaks.  “He’ll negotiate, Vaden, your life for his.  Everything is going exactly the way we planned.  Taking your father was simply a distraction, to separate you and your baby daddy.  Word travels fast in Winston.”  She’s been pacing back and forth, but with that bit of information, she stops about two feet in front of me.  “When he’s here, I’ll finally get to kill both lovebirds at once.”

She’s laughing as she exits the barn, almost as if she’s some super genius, who is finally getting everything she’s always worked for.

Too bad for her, I really do know a super genius.  I easily reach up under my long sleeved cotton shirt, reach into my bra, and pull out the real ear piece Constance gave me.  The other one was just a decoy to make anyone looking think they’d found something, so they wouldn’t search me very thoroughly.

I fit it into my ear, and ask, “Did you hear that?”

Connie’s sweet voice fills my ear, and feeds my hopes.  “Every word, baby cakes.  I’m calling our men now.”

“If this doesn’t work, Tony’s going to kill me,” I admit. 

“If it doesn’t work, you won’t have to worry about that,” Connie counters.  “Now be quiet, the phone is ringing.”

“Tell them I said hi,” I quip.

Tony

Before we get to Killian’s car, Jamie’s phone rings.  “It’s my wife,” he says, obviously embarrassed after all the ribbing he gave me earlier.  “Connie, Lani’s...” He begins, but stops abruptly.

There’s a pause, as I open the back passenger door.  Jamie climbs in beside me, and before he closes his door, he yells, “What!”  That does nothing to assuage my fears.  I slam the door closed, and look over at him.  I feel like the entire world is crumbling around me.  He holds the phone out in front of him, so that it’s angled almost in between the four men in the car, then says, “You’re on speaker.”

“Look around you,” his wife says, loud enough for us all to hear.  She instantly has everyone’s attention.  “At the men with you.” 

Jamie, who had been looking out the window, turns immediately toward me.  “Can you see us?” he asks, with pride and a little fear.

“These are the only four men you can trust.  Drake knows that Lani’s pregnant, which means there’s a mole on the force.”

“How do you know that Drake knows…” I begin, but we’re all talking over each other.

“Barrett’s the mole,” Riley states emphatically, and looks at me.

“Don’t tell me Lani faked her own abduction,” Killian groans.

“Connie, you’re amazing,” Jamie exclaims.  Everyone stares at Jamie.  “What?”

“Focus,” Constance snaps.  “There’s a mole in the police force.  Lani’s wearing an ear piece with a GPS chip.  I know where she is.”  That’s met with silence.

“We need guns,” Riley says, and glances at Killian.

“I can’t get my hands on anything here in Winston, but I’m sure Captain Vaden has some stashed somewhere,” he replies, and turns toward me.  “She’ll be okay.”

“Connie said to only trust each other,” Jamie counters.

“You can trust her dad, Jamie,” Constance groans.  “God, you’re so frustrating sometimes.”

Riley speaks.  “I have three guns.”

“I have two, and four at home.” Jamie adds.

I almost don’t want to say it out loud, but I do.  “I have one.”  I pull the gun that Lani gave me out of my pocket.

“Ah, it’s so cute.  Your girlfriend give you that?”  Riley chuckles, but Killian sends a withering glance his way, and he stops.  “Sorry.”

“I have three,” Killian concludes. 

“Let’s go then!” I exclaim.  Killian starts the car.

“No!”  Everyone again looks at Jamie’s phone.  The words “Boo Boo” are displayed on the screen in hot pink letters, with a very flattering picture of Constance in a low cut dress and a million dollar smile.  “Captain Vaden says to meet at the station.  You can’t make it seem like you know where she is.  This might cause Drake to look closer at Lani.  Maybe she’ll find the ear piece, or move her.”

My first instinct is to argue.  My first thought is to go after Lani.  My second thought is that I’m going to wring her neck for putting herself and our baby in this situation.  But they’re right.  We need to make it look like we don’t know, for now, until we figure out who the mole is.  There’s only one choice.  “I’m in.”

“Me too,” Riley says, with a nod to me.

“Agreed,” Killian states, and puts the car in gear.

“We have the smartest women in the world,” Jamie states, and turns toward me.

He might be right.  And at this moment, it pisses me off.

“The plan is for Tony to lose his mind, get angry, and storm out.  Riley follows.  They can’t keep you, Tony.  You’re a free man.  Dr. Foster will pick the two of you up at the convenience store down the street, far enough away so that prying eyes might not see, and bring you to his house.” 

I nod, even though she can’t see me.  At least, I don’t think she can see me.  “Okay.”

“Agent Burke, you’re on your own making up a reason to leave.”

“Fine,” he comments.

“Jamie, Captain Vaden is going to send you out on a bogus call, to get you away from the investigation.  You’re too close, emotionally.”

“No, I’ll be fine.  I can handle…”

“Go with the plan,” Constance interrupts.

“Yes, dear,” he responds without delay.

“Everyone know their role?  Hopefully you’ll all meet at Dr. Foster’s in a couple of hours.”  We all look at each other.  I don’t know of any four men, outside my SEAL team, that I’d rather have on my side.

“Yes,” we all say.

“Good luck, Angels.” 

“Thanks, Charlie,” Jamie says with a grin.  When I glare at him, he grumbles, “Sorry.”

“Sorry,” Constance adds, then closes the line.

Lani

“The guys are on their way to the police station.  Our plan is working.  Just hold on until then.”  It should be a bit unnerving to communicate this way, but I guess ear buds and cell phones have already prepared me.  “And, I think I may know who the mole is.”

“Good.  Why does everything in this county smell like either cow shit, or horse shit?”  I grumble.

Connie answers my rhetorical question, with a reminder.  “You live in the country, Lani.  What do you expect?”

Simultaneously, another voice calls out from the shadows.  “Who are you talking to, Vaden?”  Then she appears.  It’s Hughes.  She looks a little more normal in jeans and a sweat jacket, her hair is down, and it’s a dirty blonde color.  I might not have known who she was, since she’s not wearing the guard uniform, if I hadn’t heard her speak.

“Myself.  I mean, did you have to throw me in a stable?  Were there no dark basements available?”  She crosses her arms in front of her chest, and leans her shoulder against a stall near me.  She’s examining my face, wondering if I’m telling the truth.  She’ll never know.

“Is someone there?” Connie asks.  I don’t know why.  She knows if someone
is
here, I can’t answer her.

“You weren’t this mouthy in jail.” 

I smirk, and say.  “Well, this is the real Detective Vaden, not the prisoner Vaden.” 

“You still look like a prisoner to me,” she states, with a smirk of her own.

“Oh, no,” Connie remarks in my ear. 

“Yea, that’s hilarious.  Real funny,” I groan, as Hughes starts to chuckle.

“Listen, Vaden, I hope you don’t take any of this personally.  I kinda like you.  You really were the perfect inmate.”  She actually smiles when she says it.

“How does it feel, Hughes, to know that you created your own downfall?  I mean, if you’d never put me in that cell with Tony, you’d still have a life.  You’d be employed, you’d be…”

“I’m sorry your sister was died.  The women usually didn’t get hurt.” 

“Except they were raped,” I correct her, with a harsh look.

She cocks one eyebrow, and shrugs.  “Were you raped, Vaden?”  That silences me.  “Not everyone that went to the prison were raped.  Some of them actually wanted to go.  You wanted to go, after the first night.  Didn’t ya?”

I stare at her for several minutes.  She looks so self-satisfied.  I actually move to lunge at her, before I’m reminded that I’m chained to the wall behind me. 

“Sometimes things just happen for a reason, Vaden.  I’m gonna feel real bad when you’re dead, but not bad enough to stop Drake.  You understand, right?”

“No, I don’t understand, Hughes.  You don’t have to…”  I hear a door close, so there’s really no sense in continuing.

“That was brutal,” Connie comments.