Save Me (Elk Creek) (25 page)

“I got it!” Blaine said excitedly
.

“Got what?” Matt demanded.

“The son Marcus, his address. He owns an online advertisement firm,” Blaine said, still typing away.

“Okay…
great. What do we do with that?” Matt asked again. I was having a hard time getting any words out.

“I figure the
bastard wouldn’t stay here, he would take her somewhere he felt comfortable, and who better to know those places than his own son?” Blaine smiled.

“We’re going to need guns
,” Matt said, smiling. He seemed oddly excited at the opportunity to play hero. I, on the other hand, only felt urgency and hope. Hope that we would find her. Hope that Maxwell McCarty would die.

Chapter 20-Taryn

There was a soft tickle on my cheek, and another. I tried to swipe whatever was tickling me away, only my arms wouldn’t work. I rubbed my cheek against my pillow, but piercing pain exploded in my head with the movement. I moaned and attempted to take a deep breath, and that was almost too much for my head. With every beat of my heart, the pain reverberated from behind my eyes and through my ears.

I tried to move my arms again, and found them pinned under my back. Pain radiated from my shoulders, sending tingles into my fingers.
I opened my eyes, and for once was relieved when it was only darkness I saw. I stopped moving, hoping the pain would ease, only to feel that blasted tickling on my forehead. As I woke up more, I realized how cold it was. I thought I was lying on concrete, but my fingers were so numb, I couldn’t tell by feel alone.

I tried to ignore the tickling that was making its way down my nose, and I knew it was some kind of
bug. I thought to hold still, but my instinct to get away from it came too fast, and I shook my head hard, causing a groan to erupt from the pain. I stopped shaking, trying to catch my breath when nausea hit me full force. I rolled onto my side just in enough time for the bile to leave my stomach. 

I was trying to breathe through the pain in both my head and my shoul
ders, heck everywhere hurt, when I heard footsteps above me. I stilled and tried not to make any noise.  Fear overwhelmed me. I knew someone had taken me, someone had crashed into the truck on purpose, I only didn’t know who or why.

All the feelings of terror, helplessness, and panic I remembered from Maddox swirled through my head
. I counted my breaths, and kept telling myself I was not that scared sixteen-year-old anymore. I was stronger, I had a life to get back to, and I had Carter. The thought of Carter made my chest squeeze and, to my horror, a sob broke out.

The footsteps stopped, then started again. A door opened with a beam of light flashing directly on me. I flinched and squeezed my eyes shut, hoping the light would go away. Footsteps were coming closer, until I could feel the air shift around my face, telling me the person was very close.

“I’m glad you’re awake, I was getting bored waiting for you,” a deep voice said. I didn’t dare open my eyes, just concentrated on my breathing. In, out. In, out.

“I see you made a mess all over yourself, how ‘bout we get you up and clean? I don’t want to play with you if you’re covered in vomit
,” he said jovially. I was trembling, not sure if it was from the cold or from fear, but every tug on my shoulders sent more waves of pain through me, and I clenched my teeth against the cry that wanted to escape.

Suddenly
, I was gripped by the shoulders and pulled up to a sitting position. I could not hold back the scream of agony. I felt like my shoulders were being ripped from my body, and my head hurt so badly, I had to fight not to pass out. 

“Up you go, you and me
, we have plans. You know all those things I promised you in my letters? Well, we get to start tonight,” he taunted, and my panic shot up. Knowing I was kidnapped and hurt by someone I didn’t know was scary enough, but to be taken by a crazy person who sent those letters was too much. 

Surprisingly
, I wasn’t losing myself to the mounting panic. I couldn’t afford to get lost in my mind—there was no telling what he would do if I was in that state. Not only that, the pain seemed to be overriding my panic anyway, because it was all I could seem to focus on.

When he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder, I let out a guttural moan. I felt each thump of his feet vibrating through my body. I noticed
, as my legs dangled against his abdomen, that they were not tied like my hands. As he reached the top of the stairs and shut the door to an obvious basement, I used all the strength I had and kicked. 

“
Humph!” He stumbled slightly, then threw me to a linoleum floor. The breath was knocked out of me, and I struggled to get air. A blow to my side made me feel as if I were suffocating.

“Do that again, and this will end far sooner than what I would like
,” he panted out. His voice grew softer as he retreated. “I’m not going to let you ruin this, I’ve waited too damn long to see you suffer. Stupid bitch!”

Slowly, I was able to draw air in through tiny breaths. I hurt so much, my vision was blurry, and the thought of passing out was very tempting. He had walked off somewhere, but I could hear him moving around. I looked around to see I was in a kitchen
. It looked old, in shades of avocado green and dark brown, but was clean. The room was a square shape, with a small, round wooden table with two chairs to one side. Behind them was a door that looked like it went outside. A window in it was shielded with tightly closed beige plastic blinds. I couldn’t move right then, or I would have bolted for it, so I mentally tucked away everything I could see.

His footsteps grew closer
. I stiffened and watched as the man from the gas station came around the counter. He was smiling that same sneering smile, and I could see evil determination in his eyes. They were the eyes I knew so well, the same eyes I saw in my dreams. How I didn’t notice that before, I don’t know. Bile was threatening to come up again, and my body was trembling. I gritted my teeth to keep them from clacking together, and to hold the screams wanting to burst out. 

“I think we best get you in the shower. You’re starting to stink up my kitchen
.” His smile never wavered, and as he bent down to look in my eyes, it was all I could do not to let the panic take me. 

“Why?” I croaked.

“Why? You have to ask me why? You really are a stupid bitch aren’t you?” He leaned in closer. “You took away my family. Because of you, my boys are gone, and my wife killed herself. Because of you, I have nothing!” he screamed, sending spittle in my face. He pushed me to my stomach, and I saw the glint of metal. I froze, tensing for the searing pain I knew was coming, but no stab from a knife came. My bound hands fell to my sides, and I thought I should be numb to the pain by now, but the shooting blasts of pain in my arms and shoulders made me scream again.

He hoisted me up to my feet, and when they buckled
, he jerked me against him. He led me through a family room where I noticed another door, down a hallway, and into a bathroom.  He roughly pushed me into the bathtub, causing my knees to hit the porcelain edge, and my head to collide with the wall. Everything seemed hazy. I couldn’t make out what he was saying through the ringing in my ears.

Cold water hit my face, chasing away the haze and making me gasp
, which brought unbearable pain to my side. I felt him tugging at my clothes, and I panicked. I started swinging my arms to thwart him. He struck me in the face, and my right eye felt like it was going to explode out of my head. I tried to kick out, only to be hit in the stomach, which again left me breathless. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t fight back, and I sobbed as he wrenched my clothes from my body, hoping the water would wash this nightmare away.

After he rinsed my naked body off, he dragged me out of the tub, and I found myself over his shoulder once again. I wasn’t registering the pain much any
more. I wasn’t registering much at all. He roughly threw me face down on the floor of the living room. I only noticed when my chin hit the floor, causing me to bite into my tongue. Musty carpet fibers scratched my nose as the taste of blood filled my mouth.

I tried to think of Carter, he was my solace, my haven. His face filled my vision, and I imagined him touching me, not this mad man. I imagined his whispered words of love, not the vile names this man sp
at at me. I was lost in Carter until a burning registered in my back. I tried to get away from it, only to find my hands were anchored to the legs of the couch, and he was sitting on my thighs. Another burn slashed through my back, and I screamed, allowing the sound to escape from the depths of my soul.

“Ah, I like that sound. I like my mark on you, right next to my son
’s,” I heard him say. I screamed again as I felt another slash. I started to see black spots, and knew I wasn’t far from blacking out. I gritted my teeth through the next slash, and tried to stay conscious. 

“Now
, that’s pretty,” he said. His voice was eerily calm and even. “Too bad we won’t get to see what it looks like scarred,” he mused as the weight came off my legs. I lay there, limply, unable to move, hoping God would take me or send someone to save me. I didn’t know if I could survive this man, and was starting to not care anymore.

He lifted me up, and I felt
hot, sticky wetness running from my back down my bottom to my thighs. I smelled the copper of blood, and wondered how much I was bleeding. I wasn’t feeling much anymore, just the pressure in my stomach as his shoulder dug into it. He was carrying me again, only I couldn’t make out where or what was around me.

He set me down, and I heard the clank of metal, before
he pushed me onto my knees and forced my head into what looked like the opening of a dog kennel.

He chuckled
. “A bitch needs a crate,” he said, pushing me into the crate and kicking my legs inside before shutting the door and locking it with a padlock. He grabbed a knife from his waist with bloody hands, and set it on the floor in front of the crate, but out of reach.

“This is just a reminder of what’s to come. You have three years of my time to pay for before you die
,” he said, smiling that vile smile, then turned and walked out, leaving a bare-bulb lamp on. I couldn’t hold my head up any longer. It listed to the side, and my eyes shut on their own. My naked body went completely limp against the cold metal of the cage that held me captive. I lay in the fetal position, my legs curled up to my chest, and pictured every face that I loved, ending with Carter. His rugged, beautiful face with his unruly hair, and his soulful brown eyes. I knew that if he could, he would save me… and then I knew no more.

Chapter 21- Carter

The four of us made a normally five-hour trip in four hours. It was almost eight p.m., and Taryn had been missing for nearly eight hours. I was tense the entire drive, and the mood was somber. No one really talked until we entered the outskirts of Portland.

“Get onto I-84 west, and take the Lloyd Center exit
,” Blaine directed as I steered Ethan’s truck. It was a short argument before I threatened to beat the shit out of Ethan that he relented to me driving. I knew if I wasn’t driving, I would go mad. I had to be doing something to occupy my hands and my mind, to make me feel like I had some semblance of control.

It only took ten minutes before we were piled in the car with
the few guns we had. We all knew how to shoot, but it wasn’t something I did often. Matt, however, insisted we stop at his house, where he picked up several handguns, a rifle, and enough ammunition to take apart a tank. You’d think we were heading into a warzone, with the amount of firepower we had. 

Mitch had called both Ethan’s phone and mine,
and we both ignored him. He would only try to stop us, and none of us would be stopped. Ethan called Jim and told him where we were going, and left a message for Mr. Dalton, who was on his way home from Portland at the time.  We didn’t want him to decide to come along with us.

I followed Blaine’s directions until we pulled up to an apartment building
. It appeared to be in a fairly decent neighborhood, with clean streets and wide sidewalks. The car parked in front of Marcus’ apartment was a newer Audi. Obviously he wasn’t doing too badly for himself.

I put Ethan’s truck in park and turned off the ignition. Looking around, the faces of the men around me looked surprisingly calm and in control. I held Ethan’s gaze for a moment. His jaw muscles t
ensed underneath his skin, and his pupils were large, focusing on me in the evening light. I touched the Colt .45 in my waistband with my right hand before gripping the truck handle. “Ready?” I asked. Each man nodded in silence.

We made our way to the door
, walking up the concrete steps. “2B” a round placard on the door read. Blaine raised his fist and knocked. The fast rapping noise matched the beat of my heart. I could hear rustling near the door before it slowly cracked open.

As soon as the door opened
, all four of us rushed in, pushing who I assumed was Marcus to the floor.

“Hey, what the fuck? Get the fuck off me!”
he yelled. I bent down close to his ear, as Matt had him immobilized with a knee in the small of his back and his wrists pinned behind him.

“Are you Marcus McCarty?” I asked calmly.

“Who’s asking, and what the fuck are you doing in my apartment? Who the fuck are you?” he spit out.

“I’m the guy asking the questions, and if you know what’s best for you, you will answer them honestly. I have no qualms about blowing your fucking head off.”
I pulled my gun out and pressed the barrel into the back of his head. “Do you understand what I’m saying?” 

He nodded, and I p
ut my gun back in my waistband, motioning to Matt to let him up.  “Now I want you to stand up, slowly,” I said. After Matt had cleared him, he slowly stood up.  He had sandy blonde hair with clear blue eyes, and was around six feet tall. His face was lined with anger and confusion.

“Now
, are you Marcus McCarty?” I asked again.

“Yes
,” he ground out. He fidgeted, straightening out his rumpled white t-shirt.

“Do you know where your father is?” I asked, and the look of confusion on his face told me he didn’t before he shook his head.

“No, I haven’t talked to my Dad in more than two years. I have no idea where he is, why?” He narrowed his eyes at me.

“Because he has my sister! Motherfucker!” Ethan
exploded as he tried to get at Marcus.  Blaine grabbed him, and Matt stood in front of him to block his assault.

“We need to find your Dad, he took my girlfriend, his sister. Does the name Taryn Dalton mean anything to you?”
Marcus’ eyes widened with shock, and maybe fear, before he nodded.

“Oh God, what has he done?”
he whispered.

“
We need to know where he might have taken her. Would he take her to his house? Is there another place that he might go?” The questions poured out of my mouth all in one breath. Marcus was so stunned, I didn’t know if he was understanding anything I was asking him.

“Are you sure?”
he asked.

“Yes, he has been working at a gas station
. When he saw Taryn today, he chased her down and crashed into her. He’s been stalking her, and now we don’t have time. He is unstable, and we have to find her before he kills her!” I urged.

He r
aised his head, and I was surprised to see sorrow in his eyes. It didn’t matter right then, he needed to help us, or I was going to rip his fucking head off.

“The cabin, I think he would go to the cabin.” Marcus said sadly. I looked to Blaine and Ethan
. Ethan had calmed down and was listening intently.

“Where is the cabin?” Ethan
pressed him.

“M
ount Hood, past Government Camp,” Marcus answered.

“You’re coming with us
,” I said as I started pushing him toward the door. He didn’t fight back, or disagree. He just trudged to the truck.

Once we were all in,
with Marcus squished awkwardly between me and Blaine in the back seat, Ethan took the wheel. We headed east out of Portland.

“How far past Government Camp?”
Blaine asked

“About ten miles
,” Marcus answered solemnly.

“Why haven’t you talked to your dad?” I asked, wanting to glean all I could about my enemy. 

Marcus let out a sigh. It was long and resigned. “I haven’t ever been really close to him,” he explained. “He was close to my brothers, and they took after him. Both worked with him in the shop, but it’s not what I wanted. After Malcolm went to jail, Maddox went crazy. He became obsessed with your girlfriend.

“After he died, I visited Malco
lm in prison for the first time. He told me that Maddox had told him what he planned to do, and when I saw how happy he was about it, I knew they were both demented. I haven’t seen or heard from Malcolm since that day, and I left to go back to school soon after.” He paused, rubbing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose at the memories. I resisted the urge to push him to keep talking.

“A few months after Maddox died, my mom committed suicide, and whatever
sanity my Dad had left disappeared with her. If I had thought he would go this far, I would have done something. I should have done something. I’m so sorry, she’s suffered enough from my family,”  he finished, and I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for him. 

“
Well, you can do something now,” I said quietly.