Love's Protector: A Maverick's Shield Novel (31 page)

Amour awakened to the feeling of saw dust under her thighs and what seemed like the smell of manure in her nostrils. She had a huge headache, was very dizzy and when she tried to open her eyes they stung like hell. What the hell was going on here? Where was she? All she could remember was being in the bathroom of the Harrington home washing up but nothing after that. After some time had passed and her head started to clear, she started to remember a bit more details. Someone walking into the bathroom, grabbing her by the shoulders and neck, something covers her face, the smell of something sweet and then…here. Where
is
here? Her eyes were still stinging but her vision cleared enough to see what was around her.

Raising her hand, she wiped her eyes with the back of it and realized they both were restrained by large metal cuffs locked to her wrists and hooked to long link chains on the wall behind her. “Shit! Not again!” she said to herself. Jason was
really
going to be pissed at her now. But how would she have predicted this? Her mother’s killer was in jail, the phone calls had stopped…but they hadn’t. She received one in the bathroom earlier today or whenever it was. She wasn’t sure how long she was asleep in here at this point; all she did know was that she was scared out of her mind. She looked down at her feet and realized that they too were shackled. Oh well, there will be no kicking anyone in the face now. She put her face in the palm of her hand. “That’s it, I’m gonna die.” She had no idea where she was or even if Jason knew either. She guessed that he didn’t. They found her the last time didn’t they? Maybe they will again. Jason is very good at what he does and knowing that made her a little less scared.

She looked around to see that she was in what looked like a warehouse full of gardening supplies and a gigantic industrial looking machine the could’ve maybe been used to slaughter animals. That would explain the awful smell in the room. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall praying that Jason or anybody would find her and she would make it out of the hell hole alive. Her mind started to drift into a daze and thoughts of her father came up as well as thoughts of Jason. “Please find me…” she said softly. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a large door slamming shut and footsteps approaching. Her heart started to pound in her chest and she started to shake. She heard voices, they were muffled but voices all the same. It was more than one and they were vastly approaching. The footsteps suddenly stopped on the outside of the room but the voices continued. It almost sounded like the two people
were arguing. The sound of a key turning a lock filled her ears and then the turn of the large door knob.

She closed her eyes and took in a large breath because she had no idea who brought her here and what they were going to do to her. She heard the sound of the large door being pushed open and the footsteps coming inside the room. She decided to open her eyes just in case if by some miracle she managed to get out of here alive, she would be able to identify these people. When her vision focused and she was able to clearly see the two figures, her eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat. She couldn’t believe who was standing in front of her with a shot gun to her face.
“Y…You?”

“Surprise!”

* * *

“Why are you stalling man? Let’s go!” Alex said to Jason as the stood living area of the Harrington home.

Anger boiled in Jason’s blood because he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He pointed at the large photograph of the Harrington family that hang above the fireplace. “Did you happen to notice this?”

“Nope, what about it?”

He picked up the photograph. “Take a close look at it. Do you notice anything
familiar
about it?”

After observing the photo for a few moments, Alex froze. “Holly shit! Is that…”

“Yes!” Jason interrupted. The two of them stared at the painting in a state of shock and then everything suddenly started to make sense.

Once on the road, Alex pulled his cell out of his pocket and logged into his account on the tracker’s website. After about five minutes, the results were sent to him. “Shit!”

“What?”

“It’s not giving me anything. It’s saying that she’s out of range.”

Jason’s heart started to beat faster.
“Do you think whoever it was found it on her?”

“Maybe but it’s doubtful unless they were really searching her. It’s designed to be easily hidden.”

“Can you try again?” Jason asked.

“Yeah but unless she moved to a different location all of a sudden, it’s probably gonna keep giving me the out of range result.” Alex pressed a button on the screen of his phone and waited another five minutes. “See.” He lifted the phone up to show Jason.
“Nothing.”

Jason slammed on the brakes and put his head on the stirring wheel. His breathing became rapid. “I can’t breathe. Where the fuck is she?”

“We’re going to find her man, just calm down.” Alex unbuckled his seat belt. “Let me drive.”

After the two of them switched places, Alex placed a call to Ace. “Hey boss, I need your help.” A few seconds passed and then he spoke again. “I need you to run a trace on a cell for me.” He gestured for Jason to hand him Amour’s cell phone which they’d found inside of her purse on the bathroom floor and then Alex recited her phone number to Ace. “It looks like she received a call about an hour ago; it’s blocked but can you see if you can still trace it for me?” A few more seconds passed. “No, it’s for the woman that Jason is helping…I know Ace but can you please just do us this one favor? It’s very important that we find her,
it’s life or death boss.”

Ace must’ve agreed to do it because Alex thanked him and hung the phone up. “I can’t blame this one on her. I should’ve been watching her more carefully.”

“Jason we all thought that this shit was over man. Neither one of us expected this, especially who’s really behind it. We’ll find her don’t worry.”

“What if we don’t?”

Alex hesitated before speaking. “You love her don’t you?”

Did he? He wasn’t exactly what he was feeling. “I don’t know. I just know I want her home with me tonight.”

Alex patted him on the shoulder. “She will be.”

* * *

Amour’s head began to pound again as she tried to process what she’d just discovered. There, in front of her with the barrel of a shotgun pointed directly at her head was…Angela. She knew something was fishy about her and so did Jason. “What the hell are
you
doing here?” she asked in a shaky tone.

Angela laughed. “Oh dear sweet Amour, you are so naive. You know, if you’re gonna play detective you really should be a little smarter. This
is
in fact the second time you’ve been kidnapped.”

Her fear quickly turned to anger when she looked up at Angela. “Why are you doing this?”

“It’s simple sweetheart, I want you dead just like I wanted Carly all those years ago.”

“You killed my mother?”

“Well, not exactly. I did have a little help.” Angela looked over her shoulder. “Hey! Come in here and say hello…again!” After hearing a few footsteps and the door opening someone walked in. “I’m sure the two of you have already met so I guess there’s no need to introduce you.”

When the figure stepped out from behind her, Amour’s eyes went wide. “Caroline?”

She laughed softly before speaking. “Hi little sis!”

Amour’s breathing began to speed up as confusion filled her mind. “I don’t understand…Beatrice confessed…she’s in jail…”

Caroline kneeled down in front of her and shook her head. “No, she didn’t actually confess, she just pled insanity; that’s different.”

“Why would she do that if she’s innocent?
Especially if it’s protecting a woman that’s sleeping with her husband?”

Angela took a few steps forward and yanked Caroline away from Amour. “She didn’t do it to protect me, god no” She briefly pointed the gun in Caroline’s direction. “She did it to protect her.”

“
You
killed my mother?”

Caroline looked at her and smirked. “Bingo!”

Amour frowned as she tried to sort out all of what’s going on in her mind. “Why? What could she have possibly done to you?”

Caroline’s smirk turned into a blank expression. “She existed.”

“Did you even know her?”

“It didn’t matter! She was fucking my father! That slut deserved to die and so do you!” She reached her arm towards Amour and gave her hard slap across her face. The pain was excruciating. “I hate you!”

Angela grabbed Caroline again. “Now calm down honey. We’ll have plenty of time for that.”

She snatched away from her. “No! All my father ever cared about was you and your slut mother! For years all I ever heard about was how beautiful Carly and his daughter were as if I didn’t even exist!”

Amour wiped the tiny drop of blood off of the corner of her mouth. “How could he have talked about us so much when we were a secret he didn’t want to get out?”

“He did, in private. I would hear him on the phone with Ted asking about you constantly. Wondering what his “lovely daughter” was up to, saying how proud he was of you.” She placed her finger in her mouth and pretended to gag. “It was sickening. I’m his daughter too and he’s never given a damn about what I’m up to or anything else for that matter. Whatever I did it didn’t matter to him. I even died my hair blonde like yours although I could’ve just stayed a red head because it didn’t make a damn bit of difference. I’m glad your tramp mother is dead! Lord knows I was tired of hearing about how perfect she was!” She slapped Amour again. “She was nothing! And you’re nothing!”

The second slap made her dizzy. She took a few breaths to focus. “I…I didn’t ask to be here Caroline.”

“So what, bitch! I sat day in and day out in front of your mother’s house looking at the two of you wondering what was it my father saw in either of you. What it was that made Carly and Amour so perfect. I was so sick of it! ”

Angela stepped in front of her. “That’s enough!” She pointed to the door. “Go over there and shut up!” When Caroline obliged, she turned to Amour. “Okay, here’s what’s going to happen.” She pulled what looked like a small syringe out of her purse. “I’m going give you a little sleepy juice.”

“What is that?”

“Oh, perhaps Caroline can better answer that question.” She gestured for her to come closer to them. “Take it away sweetie.”

Caroline took the syringe from Angela. “This, my dear sis is a drug called Succhinylcholine or what we in the medical field like to call “Sux”. This particular drug here blocks a person’s neuromuscular functions causing them to eventually die from asphyxiation.” She squeezed a tiny amount out of the syringe and the clear liquid beaded at the tip of the needle.
“Causing them to have a sudden “heart attack.” She laughed. “Well, at least that’s what you can easily tell the cops because guess what? The human body naturally metabolizes its components.”

Amour’s heart skipped a beat.
“Oh my god! That’s how you killed her.”

“Duh!”
She walked over to Amour and kneeled down in front of her again. “Don’t worry sis, it won’t be so bad, well at least not initially but you’ll only suffer for about twenty minutes.” She waved the syringe in front of Amour causing her to flinch. “Oh, I said not to worry. You’ll only have to deal with a little muscle paralysis before you stop breathing and your heart stops. And the good news is that you’ll be able to see my face one last time while you’re dying.”

“Just hurry up and do it!” Angela screamed. “We don’t have all day!”

* * *

Alex pulled over when he heard his phone ring and he’d seen that it was Ace calling back with the information he’d asked for. “Hey boss, what do you have for me?” A few seconds passed. “What the hell? Do you think they could’ve been on the property? A couple more seconds passed. “Okay, we’re heading back there now, thanks boss.”

When Alex disconnected the call, Jason turned towards him. “What’s up man?”

“Ace said that when he traced the call, it lead back to the Harrington’s neighborhood.

“What?”

“Yeah, he thinks it could’ve come from someone at their house. The system also just alerted me of Amour’s location just prior to losing the trackers signal. It seems to have gone out somewhere downtown but as huge as that area is, she could be anywhere.”

“Well since the call was traced back to Harrington’s location, let’s pay him another visit,” Jason said.

“Got ya!”
Alex said and then quickly made a u-turn in the middle of the busy street and headed back to the Harrington mansion.

Once the maid had let them back in the house, the two of them headed straight for the backyard. The party was still going on but at the moment, they couldn’t have cared less. All the guests gasped when Jason pulled his gun out and pointed it straight at Pierce’s head. He knew he’d probably be in big trouble for pulling a gun on a state senator in broad daylight with at least twenty witnesses, but he needed answers and he wasn’t big on small talk. “Where is she?”