The Revenger (18 page)

He groaned with pleasure. She was like him—broken down to nothing. He recognized the walking dead in her.

*~*~*~*

Toby stood in the dank, night-filled room of the abandoned house with Teresa a week after their last meeting. The pizza delivery guy had started him on a treasure hunt again. But seeing Teresa at the end of it was worth the trouble—and of course, working to free Savvy.

“So let me get this straight, this dumbass is hiring some housekeepers, and you’re scheduled to be one?”

Teresa nodded. “That’s the plan. No weapons. It’s amazing that our connections have opened this up.”

He looked her up and down before asking, “How much of this has to do with my sister?”

“Well, I was going in either way. We’ve been watching the Sagan family for almost two decades. This opportunity is something we’ve coveted.” She shifted from one foot to another.

“You keep saying
we
but you aren’t close to old enough to have been following anyone for twenty years.” He took a step toward her. She took a step back.

“
We
is my employer. They employ the forgotten. Witness protection program? That’s their applicant pool. Reduced sentence for military war crime? They have them by the short hairs. This family has been involved in way more than the usual crime. They’ve always wanted to dabble in world conflicts.”

“No one pays enough to go into a house like that without a weapon.” He took another step toward her, and she held her ground.

“Some motivation isn’t monetary. And they’ve trained me well and I owe them.” Her gaze lingered on his lips. “This is personal for me too. Your sister is in a position to help us, maybe. And if I can get to her, I can keep her informed and hopefully alive.”

“How likely is that? I mean, I don’t know how much time she has left anyway.” Toby gripped his own forearm, feeling the bite of his fingernails.

“Tell me what you know. Starting tomorrow, if I’m selected and hired, I won’t be able to talk to you.” She waited as he wrestled with his loyalties.

Eventually, he came to feel like this was his only option. Teresa had a chance to tell Savvy to get the hell out of that house.

“The doctor Savvy saw after her accident told me the mice they’ve been testing to try to recreate what happened to her got super strong and then attacked the others before dying. I need her to get out of the house so we can get her treatment.” His palms felt moist, but his mind felt less burdened after sharing that information.

“He has a treatment?” She looked interested.

“Not yet. I haven’t heard from him. I was waiting until Savvy was here.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Does he have some? Compound E, that is? The substance?”

“He might. He was testing the bits left on Savvy’s clothes the night of the accident.”

“I’ll need his number.” Teresa pulled out her phone.

“I don’t have it memorized. I’ll get it from my house—but wait, this won’t affect you trying to help Savvy, will it? Shit, I’ll go to that place tonight and get her. I’m sick of waiting.” He punched his hand.

“You would die before you got to the gate. Why do you think we’ve waited all this time to get on the inside? If we could have busted through the front door, we would have. And we have armored cars. Remember, the minute you’re dead, Savvy has no motivation to stay alive. What’s the doctor’s name?”

After hesitating, he told her. He knew they would find it in his phone records anyway. He was becoming accustomed to how invasive the agency could be. But Toby trusted her; it felt amazing to have someone on his side—not looking at him like he was crazy. And it didn’t hurt that she was so pretty. He waited as she spoke sharply to the person she called.

A moment later she looked back at him. “He’s dead. That doctor died in a fire when his lab exploded.”

Toby felt his eyes widen in surprise. “When?” he managed. “How did…” He trailed off. How easily she’d related the information. He heard it much harder. Savvy’s chances of reversing her poisoning had dwindled to nil.

Teresa slipped her phone in her pocket and closed the distance between them. “Hey, that doctor would have been great, but we have researchers raring to get a hold of this, ready and able to do a whole lot more for Savvy. Let me get her out alive. Then we can worry about the rest. I’m sorry. Was the doctor a friend of yours?”

Toby shook his head. “No. My friends have faded away. It’s been all about Savvy since the accident. They didn’t understand how important it was for me to be with her. She’s on the edge, you know?”

Teresa touched his arm. “I know.”

“What was it? What put you on this path? You said it was personal.” Toby covered her hand on his forearm with his.

“Let’s just say being a housekeeper for the Sagans was my family’s business. I know just how they like their sheets folded because I watched my mother do it a million times. And I also watched the beating she took when I messed up one of the rows of sheets in the linen closet. She said it was her. That she’d been careless.” Teresa looked down, and her swallow was audible.

“Is your mom okay?” Toby took his hand off hers and tilted her chin up so she’d look in his eyes.

She shook her head. “She died. Internal bleeding. I’ve never been back to that house. Until tomorrow that is. Fifteen years after I followed my mother as she staggered out of it.”

Toby nodded. This woman had her own demons.

“I’d like to see a good lady live this time,” she added softly. “I’m getting your sister out.”

“How about you get two good ladies out of there? You
and
my sister,” he countered.

Teresa gave him a sad smile before taking to her tiptoes to give him a gentle kiss. He was shocked to find she was interested.

“Why’d I have to find a guy like you right now? After all the damn time I’ve had on this planet…”

Toby pulled her against his chest and kissed her hard.

Do It

The next afternoon, Savvy pulled on her sneakers, ready to take a walk with Boston and the dog. She felt almost completely better, though she still limped for the cameras as Boston had requested. Doc continued to be amazed by her recovery. It had been only a week since she was gasping on the sand. He’d jotted down tons of notes on his last visit, and Savvy assumed these were then delivered to Sagan.

The doctor was less thrilled with having to examine Trooper, but did so before leaving. Apparently the dog still had some bruising and a slight rib fracture that might cause him to yelp if pressure was applied, but generally, they were a recovered pair.

Trooper had already found his leash and now chewed on the metal hook. Boston knocked once and waited for her to admit him into her room. After she did, he laughed at the dog.

“Did you check around?” She stood and wrestled the leash away from him to clip it on his harness. Boston nodded.

“No missing signs, and I called the animal shelter. So far no one’s looking for this little guy.” He reached down and gave the dog a pet. He kept his eyes on the animal while he delivered the next news. “He’ll be here tonight.”

A chill went through Savvy. She’d almost slipped into the rhythm of being held captive with just Boston keeping tabs on her. “Thanks for telling me.” She bit her tongue, knowing the conversation was being broadcast to the man in question. She kept her apprehension inside.

They were silent until they’d walked a good distance from the house.

“You told me in my room for a reason,” she noted. “Why is that?” She unclipped Trooper, who trotted down to the water.

“I want him to know you know. He likes the element of surprise, and I wanted to take that from him.” Boston began skipping stones.

Savvy didn’t let her eyes linger over the pile of rocks that covered her wedding band.

“And yet you didn’t want to hand it to me outright either.” She found a stick and lobbed it to Trooper, who attacked it with gusto. “Go easy, crazy dog!” she called to the dog. “You’re hurt!”

“As are you.” Boston stepped closer.

She looked at her feet as he put his lips close to her ear. “Tonight will be tough. If I could, I’d get you out now. He’s pissed. And he’s been denied. I just think you need to know what’s going to go on.”

She covered her mouth and nodded for him to continue.

“Instead of the usual party, he’s requested that you and few of his favorites be waiting for him in his bedroom.” Boston paused until she looked at his face. “He does stuff there…he’s equipped to proceed as he chooses. There’s no one to stop him.”

“Except me.” She picked up the stick Trooper dropped at her feet.

“You can’t. I just want you to think of your brother. We’ve got to get back, but here’s the MO: He’ll have you dress to match the other girls, meet him at the door, and follow him to his bedroom. There he will bind all of you. Then he gets out his toys and does the same things to each woman, one after another. It’s mind games. If you show any resistance, he’ll show you the assassin near your brother in a live feed. The assassin will have directions to kill your brother if Sagan is hurt. Do you understand? Nod if you get it.”

She nodded. “You’ll keep Trooper tonight?”

Boston agreed and stepped in the direction of the house. Savvy looked from the view of Sara’s ocean to the little pile of rocks that represented her love with Kal. Doing this would keep Tobias alive. But then what? Would she ever get out of here? This wasn’t going to work. Fighting Sagan couldn’t be the solution. But what else could she do? Every fiber of her being longed for his death.

When they stepped through the backdoor, they entered a negotiation in progress. Upstairs, someone was pleading. They climbed the stairs from the basement to the second level to find the commotion.

Boston grabbed Savvy’s arm before she could put it together. In the hall was a lineup of housekeepers, carts behind them. A man held a gun to a little girl’s temple.

Savvy swooned, the child’s crystal gold aura stunning her briefly. The housekeepers behind the girl were a mix of gold and red, but the child shone pure, glistening. The man spoke Spanish, and Boston translated in her ear: “No children. That’s the rule. You stay, but no children. They get in the way. The boss doesn’t like it.”

“I had to bring her; no one would take her. Please. She’s my daughter. My daughter. Please.” The woman responded in English.

Savvy handed the softly whining dog’s leash to Boston. The man with the gun was surrounded by an aura so red it was almost maroon. She could feel its pull.

“Don’t,” Boston hissed. “He doesn’t like the rules disobeyed.”

She gave him a hard look. “You’ll watch this happen? What has he made you in to?” With that she vaulted the banister and landed behind the gunman. Others down the hall pulled their weapons as she disarmed him.

Savvy stood in front of the kneeling girl and addressed the crowd. “No. Not today.”

The child’s mother broke rank and pulled her daughter to her chest. Savvy took a peek over her shoulder to see even more gunmen behind her. Red dots appeared on the little girl’s forehead from their high-powered weapons’ scopes.

Savvy changed her tactic and put the gun she’d freed under her own chin. “If she dies, so do I.”

Maroon aura got up and took a step in her direction. She released the safety, meeting his gaze. “Do it. I dare you. I’d love to feel the blackness this will bring.”

Suddenly, Savvy knew Sagan was approaching the house. His gravity and hers pulled at each other. A magnet and a knife.

Downstairs the front door opened, and Savvy could hear his whores scrambling into place. She heard no further sound except his footsteps on the stairs, and then his gaze washed over her like a breeze—up her leg and grazing her thigh, over her breasts and then to her face. She turned a bit to see his expression. He was furious.

He didn’t yell; he just stepped toward her. “Put it down.”

“The girl gets to leave. With her mom.” Savvy narrowed her eyes and began to apply pressure to the trigger.

“Your brother will pay.”

“His life is not more important than hers just because I love him.” Savvy took a step back, and she could feel Boston before he got to her. The auras had dulled since Sagan walked in with his stupid ring, but Boston still put off a glow. And fortunately she’d already commandeered a weapon, so adrenaline was plenty to keep her going, even as she felt her powers grow shaky.

“Don’t you dare, Boston.” She felt his approach slow.

“Fine.” Sagan stalked over to the mother and daughter. “Go. You’re free to go. Boston, take these two out of here.

Trooper whined from where Boston had tied him to the banister, but Savvy kept the gun under her chin until she heard a car start.

Sagan came to loom over her as they stood toe to toe. “I wasn’t going to kill her.”

She lowered the barrel and put the safety back on. “He was.” Savvy nodded in maroon aura’s direction. “And they were.” The other men lowered their guns as well. “I think you have a rule, and they were going to follow it. Can’t have kids here because you’re such a spoiled brat?”

He smiled at her, and the whores, who had trickled up the stairs after him in matching silver, gasped. “Boston will do anything I tell him. Anything at all. Why don’t you go get dressed. I’ll see you in my room in ten minutes.”