Revealed (The Found Book 1) (3 page)

Sam dove to the first aid kit under the bench seat and pulled out one of the pre-filled syringes with morphine. When he got to her, Rydell already had her arm pulled and prepped so he could administer the medication. Within seconds the chemicals rushed through her system, alleviating her pain and calming her down.

Tearing his friend’s hand away from Kelly’s wrist, he nodded at the horror on Kota’s face when he saw the shredded flesh he had been holding. Both men looked closer to examine Kelly’s injuries, realizing they could actually see to the bone. The kind of pain she must have suffered to fight her restraints to that extent must have been unimaginable.

A movement caught his eye, and for just a moment, Sam thought he saw a flash of blue through the swollen slits.

“Noah,” she whispered, reaching for him before passing out.

Chapter Four

Noah. Had her dream been true? Everything was a blur. She was in and out of consciousness during those first days in the hospital. Her mom later told her they were worried about her eyesight and potential brain damage. What happened if the doctors were right and her visions of Noah were a sign something was wrong with her brain? But it was all fuzzy. Then there were the surgeries done on her wrists and ankles to repair tendons and ligament damage. It was over a week before she was coherent enough to speak with the authorities, but as soon as she was, it was like a cork had exploded out of a champagne bottle.

Every imaginable arm of law enforcement came in to question her, wanting to know why she had been kidnapped. She told them everything she could remember. She’d been grabbed as she’d been leaving work, and she must have been either knocked unconscious or drugged, because the next thing she remembered was waking up strapped to the metal table.

The more people who questioned her, the more agitated she became. It was like she was back there, being held against her will. Finally, her dad kicked them out. He told them to quit with the stupid questions, it was obvious she had been taken because she was one of the
found
children, and now it was their job to
find
the people behind her kidnapping. She loved her father.

“I can’t believe some of the idiots I work with, Kelly. Now, your job is to get well.” He immediately roared for one of the doctors to come into the room. Kelly laughed, and it hurt her head but it felt good at the same time. Her mom was in the corner of the room pretending to read a book and winked at her. The doctor who was handling her case came in with a surgeon. They discussed how well her grafts had taken, and the remarkable rate of recovery she was experiencing. Her doctor was extremely pleased, but the surgeon seemed distant. He asked about her family history, but her father asked them to leave.

“Dad, you don’t have to be so protective,” she admonished.

“Yes I do. Whenever anyone finds out you’re one of the five
found
children, they treat you differently, and I won’t have it. You were just tortured! That weasel will treat you with respect or I will kick him off the roof of this hospital.” She glanced over at her mother expecting to be able to share a grin, but her mother looked as fierce as her dad.

“He’s right Kelly. We haven’t told you yet, but Alfred Hawley was killed during a botched kidnapping in England two months ago.” Kelly’s blood ran cold. She’d met Alfred when his family visited America ten years ago. His adoptive parents wanted to see if meeting another
found
child would help to jog his memories. It hadn’t.

“Expect us to be protective of you.”

“Mom, I’m twenty-five, I have my own life, you can’t protect me twenty-four seven.”

“Until those bastards are put behind bars, you’re moving back in with us.” The fear gripping after hearing about Alfred’s death, eased. The idea of moving back with her parents for a little bit sounded wonderful.

She still couldn’t stop the tears from falling. The wonderful gangly teenager she met was dead—he was so kind and funny. Alfred was three years older than her, and he was one of the youngest people to ever be elected to the House of Commons in England.

“Dad, they’re going to find those motherfuckers and make them pay, right?”

“Oh yeah, little girl, oh yeah.”

She couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer, and slipped back into the comforting dreams she’d been having since arriving at the hospital. She dreamed of a place with a meadow and a kind woman she called Nana. Then there was Noah. Noah had been her imaginary friend all through her early childhood. If something broke, Noah did it. Who let the neighbor’s dog into the house? Must have been Noah. She had a very clear picture of how Noah looked—beautiful milk chocolate brown eyes, short hair that still had some wave to it, not like the silky black curls of his childhood, and gorgeous light cinnamon skin.

In her dreams, she wasn’t Kelly Wachowski, she was Kali, and they lived in a different world together. She’d never had these kinds of dreams before she’d been tortured. Kelly worried maybe the doctors were right, maybe she did have brain damage, but the dreams gave her such comfort she didn’t really care.

Chapter Five

Five weeks later the doctors said she was healed, but she knew better, she knew she was the furthest thing. Trying to find some humor, her ability to laugh left the building yesterday. Things had gone to hell. If confusing dreams with memories were her only problem she could have dealt with it, but there was a lot more going on. Now she’d become a danger to the people she loved more than anyone else on Earth. It’s why she had to go someplace safe. Somewhere she couldn’t hurt the people she loved. She paced around the living room, looking at all of the mementos her parents collected over the years.

“What’s this about Kelly, you’re scaring me.”

Kelly looked at the big blonde bull of a man standing in front of her. This man loved her like she was his own child.

“I’ve called Dr. Fredericks and he’s recommended a neurosurgeon and psychiatrist. I’ve met with the psychiatrist on a couple of occasions and she’s…I think she can really help me.” Watching her parents, her mother showed her normal compassion and patience but her dad looked like he was going to burst a blood vessel. “I’m hallucinating. They’re not sure if this was brought on by the shock therapy they did on me while I was held captive, but bottom line, I’m seeing things, and hearing things that aren’t real.”

“So what?” Her dad came over and wrapped his huge arms around her. Kelly was short to begin with at five foot three and compared to her dad she felt like a doll, this time was no different.

“Dad, I have a real problem. I need to address it.”

“So, you’re suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. I’ve served with men who’ve gone through a whole hell of a lot less than you did, and seen their struggle. I’m not trying to discount what you’re going through, and I think it’s great you’re seeing someone. But you didn’t bring your Mom and me in here to tell us that. You have something else planned and we’re not going to like it, are we?”

“Dad, I’m hearing voices. Remember my imaginary friend from childhood? Noah?” She waited for him to nod. “I’m hearing his voice all the time. In my head. Not like he’s talking to me, it’s like I’m living his life or something. Like I’m tuned into the Noah radio station. He’s some kind of soldier and he’s giving orders, and he’s…he’s…well its bad.” Kelly wiped the tears streaming down her face, thinking about the horror she experienced through Noah’s eyes, and now again looking at the devastated expression on her father’s face.

“The neurosurgeon never heard of anything like this ever happening before, even with the electro-shock therapy I went through. He’s the one who recommended I talk to Dr. Weston, the psychiatrist.”

“Okay honey, what did the psychiatrist think?” her mom asked.

“Up until yesterday, she thought this was something we could work through with sessions. But then things changed.” The tears came more quickly, and she could barely get those last words out.

“What changed?” her dad asked sharply.

Kelly shook her head wildly. She couldn’t tell them, she just couldn’t.

“Mike, don’t push.” Her mother pulled her into her arms, and made everything even worse.

“Mom, the shock treatments and whatever chems they gave me…they messed me up. Last week I ended up on the floor with my hands over my head trying to protect myself from a bomb. But yesterday…” The snot flowed from her nose and her mother, God bless her, pulled out a handkerchief.

“Mom, I waited behind the couch with Dad’s gun for hours, it was trained on the door, waiting for somebody to come through it. I was waiting for the enemy to come inside so I could blow them away. I waited, and waited. I had my finger on the trigger. Then you came in with the groceries. I could have killed you.”

Her mother hugged her close, but she looked over her mother’s shoulder and she saw her dad’s face. He was finally hearing what she was saying.

“I have to leave.”

“Now that is complete and utter bullshit,” her dad roared. “You’re not leaving.” Kelly’s heart unclenched. She had been so sure he would hate her forever when she told him his adopted daughter had a gun trained on the wife he loved so dearly.

“So what’s your solution?” Kelly asked as she gently pulled out of her mother’s arms.

“We lock up the guns.”

“The guns were locked up.”

“I change the combinations.”

“She’s not going back to her apartment and that’s final.”

Kelly squeezed her mother’s shoulder, feeling the steel beneath. Mike Waschowski came over and put his arms around both women.

“Of course she’s not going back to her apartment, she’s staying right here. We’ll figure this out,” he assured his wife.

“Dad, I talked to Dr. Weston, and we agreed I need someplace where I can be safe.”

“Yes, right here.”

“Someplace, where people can be safe from me. I need some time away from others.”

“We. Are. Not. Locking. You. Up.”

God she loved this man.

“She works with a great facility, and I’m going to go there for the next couple of weeks. I have to do this Dad. I’m not me anymore. I could have killed Mom.” Looking at her father she saw her anguish reflected in his eyes. “I need to find out why I think I’m a soldier with a bad guy waiting behind every door. I need to get myself together, and Dr. Weston thinks she can help.”

“How long does she think this will take honey?” her mom asked.

Kelly bit her lip.

“What aren’t you telling us?” He had cops eyes.

“Dr. Weston has agreed if we don’t make progress over time, low level shock treatments might undo what was done to me during my captivity.”

“Over my dead body!”

“Honey, don’t do this, give yourself time.”

“I can take a leave of absence. I can be here twenty-four seven to watch over you. You won’t be alone.”

Kelly couldn’t stop the choked sob as she threw herself into her father’s arms. What had she ever done to deserve parents like these? She thanked the universe she’d woken up in Mike Wachowski’s cop car all those years ago.

After a time she got herself under control. She reached up and kissed her father’s cheek, and gave her mother a hug.

“The cab’s around the corner. I’ve got to go. I love you both so much. Dr. Weston said you could come and visit me this weekend.” Kelly went to her bedroom and came back rolling her suitcase.

“Give me that little girl.” Mike reached for the bag, and the three of them walked out the door. Kelly knew the next few weeks weren’t going to be easy, but she was committed to this path. She refused to harm the people she loved.
And
, she wanted her life back, she wasn’t going to let those bastards win.

Chapter Six

Sam barely suppressed a scream as he sat straight up in his bed, excruciating pain ripping through his head. He knew immediately it was Kelly. Oh God, had she been taken again? No, he would have been notified. He threw off the covers. Apparently, he was going to her apartment a lot earlier than he had anticipated.

He’d been stateside for less than twelve hours. Finally making it to Chicago a little after midnight and realized pounding on Kelly Wachowski’s apartment at such a late hour wouldn’t go over well, so he found a hotel to grab some shut eye. He’d been having trouble sleeping ever since he helped rescue Kelly a little over eight weeks ago. Flashbacks of a time before he’d woken up as a child with no memory on the island of Kauai invaded his dreams. Knowing they were what the media called
found
children, made him think these flashbacks were real memories.

He saw pictures in his head of a mother, father and brothers, and their memories gave him great joy. But by far, the strongest memory was of the little girl with wheat gold hair named Kalani, she had a giggle that could make the gruffest man smile. Those memories would have driven him crazy if he let them, but his adoptive grandfather, the man who raised him on Kauai taught him to believe in things that defied explanation, so he chose to believe.

* * *

Three hours later Sam stood in front of a man as big as himself, and that rarely happened. Mike Wachowski looked as tired as he felt. Both men stared at one another, assessing. Sam was sorry he hadn’t thought to wear his dress whites, it would have gone a long way in winning over the Police Captain.