What Happened?
Vex
The quiet before the storm.
This won’t last long. Either Shock or Dyce will figure out where Marlie is in the next few minutes, and then it’ll be my turn to get her regardless of what it takes. Whether that involves killing Plant matters not to me. A clean scene and a living stupid woman are the only two things that matter. It would have been nice to be able to figure out more about the organization before making a move, but that isn’t an option now.
If they operate like normal, when Plant dies, they’ll disavow and move on to another supplier. Shock will be waiting and watching.
Payne walked into my office with Imogene in tow. “Did you get to punch someone yet?” He’s grinning, but his eyebrows are wrinkled.
“It’s been close. Hello, Imogene.”
She steps closer to Payne. “Hey, Vex.”
He wraps an arm around her waist.
“I heard you’ve been having a hard day. Is there anything I can do to help? ”
Disappear. That would help the most, because I could really use Payne’s help right about now. But that isn’t an option. “No, but thank you.”
See, I can pretend to have manners.
“Where is everyone?” Payne asks as Imogene moves to the couch.
That’s safe enough to answer. “Barb is finishing her inventory, and Shock is up in his loft working on a project with my irritating friend. She just randomly stopped by this afternoon.”
Payne chuckles. “She really hates you.”
My sentiment exactly. “She’s not endearing herself to me, either. Especially when she loses things that aren’t supposed to be lost.”
“You two are so cute trying to talk in code in front of me.” Imogene winks at us before going back to stare at her tablet.
“It’s for your own safety, Immie.” Payne gets all googly-eyed staring at her.
Gross. Do I look at Dahlia like that? Probably worse. I’m a besotted fool over her.
And I don’t care in the least.
“I know.” She nods. “You two are heroes, masquerading as vigilantes. And you want to protect me from the evil surrounding you.”
That woman pays too much attention to us.
“But eventually you’re going to realize that you can trust me with your secrets. You both risked your lives to save mine. There’s nothing in the world that could make me betray your trust. But until then, I’ll match up tiles and pretend you aren’t talking about mischief and mayhem. Whoever it is you’re trying to save today, I hope you’re successful.” She takes a container of earbuds out of her purse and pops them in.
Impressive speech. But the fact that I believe her is even more impressive. She knows what it’s like to be imprisoned with no hope of escape and to be tortured. It didn’t break her. Imogene could keep our secrets. “Your woman is kind of all right.”
“I know.” Payne grins.
My phone rings.
That’s Dahlia. Everyone else with that number is in this building. A grin spreads across my face as I lift the phone to my ear. “Hey, Dahl.”
“Mr. um…Vex?”
That is not Dahlia. I check the number that called. It’s Dahlia’s phone number. “Who is this? Where is Dahlia?” The voice sounds familiar but I can’t quite place it.
“My name is Mindy.” Her voice wavers. “I work with Dahlia.”
Mindy? Dahlia’s almost work friend. She just stopped talking. I want to shake some answers out of her, but I can’t do that on the phone. “Did something happen to Dahlia? Was she hurt?”
“Yes. No. Sort of. Adonis is taking care of her.”
And now I want to murder someone, but that will have to wait. “Is he taking her to the hospital?”
“No. No. It’s nothing like that. She’s in the break room crying. She keeps asking for you.”
“I’m coming to get her now. Call me if something changes.” I click off the phone. “Payne, I need you to drive.”
“On it.” His eyes move to Imogene. “Should I see if Immie can stay with Barb?”
Dahlia is crying. She might need a woman. Even thinking that feels wrong, but it’s not about me. “Bring her. Dahlia might need her.”
Payne walks over to Imogene and scoops her up off the couch.
She pulls her earbud out. “What’s going on?”
“Dahlia is in trouble.”
With that, we run down the steps and out of the club into Payne’s car. Ignoring the unmarked vehicle waiting for us to use to rescue Marlie. She will just have to wait.
There is nothing and no one more important than Dahlia.
It’s the longest drive of my life even though Payne ignores the speed limit and most laws.
I jump out of the car even before it stops in front of the government building .
Adonis steps out the door, holding Dahlia in his arms.
He’s dead. I’m going to kill him. Tear him limb from limb.
My beautiful Dahlia is a small mass in his arms. Her hair is mussed, and her face is hidden against his chest.
WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?
“Give her to me.” I don’t wait for him, but reach out and carefully take her from his arms.
“Vex. I want Vex,” Dahlia whispers.
“I’m right here, Dahl. You’re safe.” I squeeze her tight.
“He’s going to hurt her. He’s going to hurt me.”
“No one will ever hurt you.” That is a vow I’m going to keep.
But I can’t just walk away with Adonis staring at her like he owns her. I lean over and whisper in his ear. “If you ever touch my woman again, you won’t have hands to touch anything else.”
Then I stand upright and say, “Thank you for taking care of her.”
Imogene hops out of the car and closes the door after I slide in with Dahlia in my arms.
“What happened?” Payne asks as Imogene gets in the front seat.
“I don’t know yet.” But I’m going to find out. Dahlia might need Barb. “Head to the club.”
Payne nods, and the car starts moving.
“Dahlia. It’s me, Vex. You’re safe, Dahl. You’re safe in my arms. Nothing will happen to you.”
“Vex?”
She lifts her head up and her tear-streaked face almost breaks me. “Can you tell me what happened?” Who do I need to kill?
“He got her. No one believed her. And now he’s got her, and he’s going to hurt her.”
It takes every ounce of self-control that I possess not to tighten my body and hit something. “Dahl, you said he was going to hurt you. Who was going to hurt you? ”
“That doesn’t matter.”
DOESN’T MATTER! “It is the only thing that matters.”
“No. It’s not. I’m safe with you. And he’s got her. He’s going to hurt her, I know it. You had to hear her. She was terrified. He’d tormented her for months and months, and now he’s got her and no one believes her. No one believes her. But I know you’d believe her. You would save her. You have to save her. Tell me you’ll save her. That man can’t hurt her. He can’t keep her in a hole.”
There’s a quiet sob in the front of the car, and the battle is lost.
First, I need to save this nameless, faceless woman.
Then, I’m going to kill whoever it is that threatened Dahlia.
“I believe her. And I’ll try to save her. But Dahlia, you have to remember I can’t save everyone.”
She takes a deep breath. “I know. But someone has to try. We can’t just assume when a woman calls us terrorized and afraid that she’s mentally unstable and making it all up. We need to help her.”
I run a hand down Dahlia’s hair, offering her comfort and reminding myself that she’s here in my arms and safe.
“Dahlia’s right. We need to do something,” Imogene finds her voice. “I’ll help search for her, too.”
Two women who could barely fight their way out of a cornfield are going to try to save the world.
“Tell us everything you know.” Hopefully, it is something easy. There’s no more space in my life for a complex rescue.
But today nothing has been easy.
“We should wait until we get inside.” Payne nods to the road in front of us.
We’re almost back at the club thanks to his lead foot. “We’ll wait until then.” I cuddle Dahlia closer to me and listen to the steady beat of her heart.
That’s enough for now. She’s alive. She’s safe.
** *
Imogene settles into Payne’s lap as I sit down on the couch with Dahlia in mine. It’s tempting to never let her go again. She could just be permanently attached to my side.
“Okay Dahl, tell us everything you know.”
“Marlie called in at—"
Marlie? It can’t be. That’s too much of a coincidence. But the times would fit. “Did Marlie tell you her last name?” My eyes go to Payne. He’s got to be thinking the same thing as me. But it feels impossible.
“Marlie Wonderosh. Why?”
Because that was the first smart thing Marlie did today.
In order to keep my promise to Dahlia and keep her safe, I need to do one thing before we race up those stairs. “Dahlia, Imogene, I need you both to promise me something. This promise could mean life or death to a lot more people than Marlie.”
“What’s going on? What are you talking about?”
“Vex and Payne already knew about Marlie,” Imogene answers for me. “Whatever we need to promise, count me in.”
“You knew. How could you know?” Dahlia twists her head to stare into my eyes. “How could you know?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
She takes a deep breath. And one more. “What do you need me to promise?”
“When you step out of my club today and until Payne or I tell you otherwise, Marlie Wonderosh is a crackpot, mentally unstable person who’s probably a drug addict.”
“What? How can you say that? Take that back.”
“No. I can’t. And you need to promise me that you’ll say that until you believe it and others believe it when you say it. Because otherwise, people will die.”
“Dahlia, you need to believe him,” Imogene leans forward in Payne’s arms.
“Of course, I believe Vex. My brain just can’t process what he’s saying. ”
I can’t tell her how much I wish I didn’t have to say that. But I wait for her to give me her word, wasting precious seconds that we need to save Marlie.
“I promise. Whatever happens in the future, Marlie was just a weird phone call I got from a mentally unstable person. That’s what Adonis thinks, anyway.”
Adonis is a fool. Her words are enough.
I pop up and head to the door.
“Where are we going?” Dahlia wraps her arms around my neck as I take off at a jog.
“To find your friend.”
“But you’re going upstairs, not downstairs.”
“I know, Dahl.” Payne follows close behind me with Imogene in his arms.
“How can you move this fast?”
“Practice.” Lots and lots of practice. Running up or down stairs fast enough can mean the difference between life and death. Payne used to complain that we train harder than firemen.
And he was right.
Hopefully, we’re in time today to save Marlie.
I’ve walked through Shock’s door more times today than I have in the last six months.
Shock and Dyce turn around as we walk in.
“What are they doing here?” Dyce looks ready to go to war with me.
And even though I desperately want to punch something, now isn’t the time. “Dahlia got a phone call at work today. I need you to trace the call. Marlie Wonderosh called her.”
“What?” Dyce’s voice is almost a whisper.
“How long ago?” Shock turns back to the computer.
All eyes shift to Dahlia.
She shrugs. “Marlie was my first call after break. Which ended at about 10:45.”
“Got it.” His fingers start flying across the keys .
I set Dahlia on the bar, but don’t remove my arms from around her and Payne sets Imogene down on the stool next to us, giving her a bit more space than I can bear to give Dahlia at the moment. “While Shock does that, why don’t you tell us more about the phone call, Dahlia?”
Dyce takes a step closer, but I ignore her, keeping my eyes fixed on Dahlia.
“It was so painful to listen to her. At first, I thought she was mentally unstable talking about how no one believed her and there was a man following her around. She said it was a cop that was terrorizing her, but I couldn’t get the name.”
“Plant,” Dyce fills in the gap for Dahlia.
“How do you know that? How do you know anything about Marlie?” Dahlia isn’t asking me. She’s staring past me at Dyce.
“Because I’m Marlie’s lawyer.”
“You didn’t believe her. She said you didn’t believe her. How could you not believe her?” Tears fill Dahlia’s eyes.
I can’t let Dahlia vilify Dyce for something she didn’t do. “Dyce did believe Marlie. But remember that promise I made you make? I asked Dyce to do something similar.”
“You did?” Dahlia’s voice gets really small.
“I had to.”
“People could die,” she repeats.
“Yeah, Dahl.”
“I hate bad people.” She tucks her head into my neck.
“Got it!” Shock shouts. “And the phone number she called from. Let's see if I can get the location of the phone.”
“When she hung up, Marlie said she was a few blocks from his house. That she was going to get proof the Plant was terrorizing her.”
Could there be proof in his house?
“She didn’t need to get proof.” Dyce pulls something out of her pocket. “I have all the proof she’ll ever need. Including Plant showing up at the safe house she was hiding in up until today. ”
Dahlia lifts her head off my shoulder. “Safe house?”
“Yeah. Even though I had to pretend to let the case go, I put Marlie in a safe house.” Dyce takes another step towards us. “He shouldn’t have been able to find her, but he did.”
How? This isn’t the first time Maddox has used a safe house. He knows how to hide a person.
That’s a question for later.
“Plant wasn’t the one that took her.” Shock’s hollow voice doesn’t bode well for finding Marlie.
A clear video feed of a street fills the wall.
There’s sound, but it doesn’t catch what Marlie’s saying on the phone as she walks by on the other side of the street.
Marlie isn’t running, but she’s not ambling down the road. Two seconds later, a man passes by the same spot. “Freeze that.”
“Freezing and enlarging,” Shock nods.
“That’s not Plant,” Dyce says what I’m thinking. “He looks similar. Close enough to fool Marlie, while giving Plant an alibi.”
“An air-tight alibi.” Shock flips the screen over to the police department feed where Plant is joking around with a dozen other cops at the exact same time.
“That isn’t good, is it?” Dahlia asks.
“No, Dahl, it isn’t.” The likelihood of finding her just dropped.
“That guy is wearing makeup… and a prosthetic.” Imogene points to our kidnapper.
And they dropped even more. “Shock, tell me you can track this guy.”
“I’m trying, but this guy is a pro.”
“Does that mean you can’t save her?” Dahlia turns to me with expectant eyes.
Time for some hard truths. “Most likely not. If Shock can find her before they transport her out of the country, there’s a possibility. But once they do that, it’s almost impossible.”
“Transport? Out of the country? You don’t think Plant is putting her in a hole somewhere. ”
A hole would be easier to find. I shake my head.
“Is there anything we can do once that happens?” Imogene asks.
“One thing.” Well, more like one person can. “But it will most likely be a pointless endeavor. Women that leave the country like Marlie might be doing right now don’t live long.”
“We have to try.” Dahlia squeezes my arm. “We have to try.”
“We will. If Shock doesn’t find them, I’ll make a phone call.” Won’t Torment love that. But he’s the best tracker in the world. If anyone can find her, he will.