Riveted (Art of Eros #1) (20 page)

He cut the zip ties holding her wrists together and handed her a bottle of water from a bag on the floor before he sat back on his heels. “You need to eat something. I wouldn’t want you to pass out on me or anything.” He smirked. “Then we’ll tackle this clusterfuck tomorrow. I need time to think things through. You’ll be my little pet for the evening.”

The windows appeared to be covered with holey black curtains, but she realized it was the night sky in window frames absent of glass. The only light came from the dim bulb hanging from the ceiling, making the room seem harsh. It reflected the severity of her situation. Brock went back into his bag and pulled out some sandwiches and snacks, shoving one at Mara. She reached out to grab it, accidently brushing his fingers. A sensation of cold steel coil traveled up her arm, spearing her heart. She recognized the coldness because she lived in it for so long. Like an out of body experience, her former self examined her new self. She couldn’t understand how she lived with Brock for so long and not see who he really was.

As things continued to change, she questioned if she ever loved him. Time after time, she cowered, living in the shadow of his brutality. Her naïveté kept her from knowing the difference between healthy and dysfunctional. Growing up in a family with an absent father and a protected lifestyle had its downside, but Mac helped her become a changed woman. The old fear left, replaced by hope.

No wonder Mac seemed like that ray of sunshine. He showed her what made up a real man. She felt worshipped by him. He attended to everything about her, every nuance of her body. Mara hoped he was helping her sisters find her despite what happened between them.

She could hear Brock’s voice but lost in thought, she ignored his words.

“Hey, princess, where did you go there? Thinking about how your boyfriend is going to save you? I doubt he’ll get very far. I’ve covered my tracks very well. God knows I spent a lifetime doing that.” He casually bit into his sandwich and stared at it as if his past life was half a thought.

Mara ate her sandwich in silence, but things still nagged at her. She knew enough not to ask about the Russian mob connection. Holding her cards close would be the wiser move—no sense in making a bad situation worse, after all—but she wanted answers to some lingering questions. She would take the opportunity to find out how wrong her choice had been when it came to Brock. She shouldn’t care, but she did. Her ego reared its head and wanted some attention.

“I get that I was a means to an end, but were you ever attracted to me? Did I repulse you that much? You always made it a point to tell me how ugly I was. What was the purpose of all that?” The crack in her voice gave away her vulnerability but he understood her reference.

“No, Mara. You’re one of the most beautiful and innocent women I’ve ever met, but anger took over and I wanted to hurt you like I hurt. You had everything growing up and I had nothing. You weren’t even aware of poor people. You just lived in your overpriced life in ignorance. I wanted what you had and more. I said you were ugly to keep you from leaving me. It was a brainwashing of sorts. If you believed you were beautiful and desirable, you would have left before my plans were complete. I kept you where you needed to be. You served a purpose. Besides, I enjoyed seeing you weak.”

The ice in his voice and the reality of his words cut like shards of glass. She had no defense for this news, seeming incomprehensible that someone like him existed on the planet. The rivets had already popped out of place and her steel wall had already come down because of Mac; she would be damned if she would rebuild it.

With that, the dam of emotions broke. Mara couldn’t believe what she heard. The final nail hammered in the coffin for the old Mara. Brock was about to meet the new Mara, or was this the Mara who hid in fear for so many years? She couldn’t believe there was anyone capable of such deceit and cruelty to satisfy their own delusions. Something clicked over inside her and she was about to unload. She had nothing to lose.

“You are so fucking twisted. You make Ted Bundy look like a dream. At least he had the decency to
kill
his victims. You just torture them for years on end. You know what, asshole? I grew up a lot in the last three months. You weren’t worthy of me then and you sure as
hell
aren’t worthy of me now. Your shitty childhood is not an excuse for what you’ve done. You can have your fucking money and stay the hell away from me and my family.”

Oddly, she wasn’t surprised by her words; they seemed to flow of their own volition. While she spoke, his face contorted into an ugly mask. It reminded her of the angry red dragon she had flung out of the tent on the beach. He slowly stood and stalked toward his prey as a lump formed in her throat. She might have poked this red dragon a little too hard. Before she could see it coming, he backhanded her hard across the face. It stung worse than the shark’s tail due to its point of origin, but she refused to cry, refused to let him feed off her weakness.

“Oh, so now you’re all grown up? Don’t forget who’s in charge, Mara. I had every right to do what I did, you rich, uptight bitch. I deserve it all. I deserve to be happy and wealthy. Besides, you have no idea how much it’s cost me. Ted Bundy, eh? What makes you think I won’t put you out of your misery once I get the passwords?” He reached in his pocket and threw her red dragon in her lap. “Here’s one of your childish trinkets to keep you company tonight.”

She picked it up, remembering what Mac said about red dragons. They represented anger, danger, aggression and a warning. Her subconscious was definitely sounding an alarm, because this red dragon was very much alive and standing in front of her.

He laughed while he bent down to cut the ties on her feet. Roughly grabbing her by the arm, he threw her across the room to the naked soiled mattress that lay on the floor.

“Where did you get this?” Mara was bewildered at seeing her ugly creation again in her hand.

“I watched your every move, princess. I was so close to grabbing you but the doors of the elevator closed. You got lucky then. As I was walking on the beach, you threw it out of the tent. Did you and lover boy have a good time? You should cherish that moment, because I can’t wait to see the look on your face when I put a bullet in his head.” He started laughing again and she turned in his direction with horror on her face.

“Leave him out of this. He has
nothing
to do with this!” She screeched in panic.

“What’s he going to do when he finds out he’s been fucking a married woman? Eh, Mara? You
did
fuck him, didn’t you? Or were you worried it would hurt too much.” He chided her with a pouty face. When she didn’t answer, Brock went on. “Poor Mara. It doesn’t matter. That’s probably all the dead fuck he could handle for a lifetime.” His face, hardened like stone, lacking all emotion. She remembered a time when his eyes seemed softer, but that softness faded shortly after the ceremony.

She followed his eyes as they moved to a place on the floor. A chain attached to a bare pipe that went from floor to ceiling was his target. Brock dug his fingers in Mara’s wrist, a reminder of his pain and handcuffed her to the pipe. Fear swept across her flushed face.

This is it. He’s going to rape me one last time. One final round. Something to remember him by, as if I could ever forget his torture.

Brock spent years deciphering all her facial expressions. He used it to manipulate her with the greatest of ease. Brock bent down, grabbed the back of Mara’s hair and hissed, “Don’t worry, princess, I have no desire to fuck you. I’m just not that desperate for a stale fuck. Besides, I don’t do leftovers.” The hatred in his voice rivaled the devil himself.

She curled up on the mattress, remembering her phone in the zipper pocket of her waist. Even if she could text someone, she couldn’t tell them where to find her. The mattress dipped as Brock moved behind her. He didn’t touch her, but she wanted to steel away from his burning breath on her neck.

“Go to sleep and don’t worry. No one is coming for you. I’m sure you’ve scared off lover boy.” She felt him smile behind her as if he held all the cards, but she had a couple of trump cards of her own.

Her mind drifted back to Mac and what he told her before she left. If he was an agent then he had resources to find her. She prayed she hadn’t burned that bridge. She understood the reason he didn’t tell her right away. This world was unfamiliar to her and became scarier by the minute.

She was out of her element with this Brock, like she hadn’t known him at all. All these years, he hid this evil, dark side of himself behind designer clothes and money. In his desperate need just to survive, Brock’s true colors were finally displayed, and they frightened her, feeding her fear. This new information shed light on the fact that he killed someone and used the body to fake his death. He had a connection to the Russian mob, who might have helped him. He certainly didn’t care for her one iota, nor did he ever. She would have to watch what she did and said, not wanting to set him off. As her mind ran a mile a minute, it brought her back to Mac.

Tears built up threatening to spill over. Closing her eyes, she brought her thoughts back to her night with Mac, a man so incredible, gentle and knowledgeable, the exact opposite of Brock. Mara wondered if love could happen that quickly, feeling more for Mac in the last couple of days than she had ever felt for the man laying behind her. Mac just got her. He took time with her, asking questions, confirming his actions and her feelings. When she gazed in his eyes, there was an invisible silk thread of an unspoken connection. They knew each other, recognizing each other’s missing pieces. They didn’t work at being comfortable and relaxed with one another. He listened when she talked and enjoyed her playful side.

What gutted her more than anything was the thought she might not make it out of this alive and she would never see Mac again. If she did live to tell about it, she would go all-in, wanting him to show him how he affected and changed her life, even if it was for what would be left of her vacation.

Mara escaped in thoughts of Mac when her phone vibrated again in her hidden pocket. She froze knowing Brock heard it.

“What the fuck was that, Mara?” He lunged at the back of her, grabbing at her waistband. He rolled her over on her front as they both struggled with the zipper. Brock grabbed her free wrist, yanking it above her head.

“Keep your hands off it!” Unzipping the pocket, he found the phone. He glared at her with such disgust she thought he might kill her right then and there. Brock hurled the phone across the room. Hitting the concrete wall, it shattered into a million pieces, as the sound echoed in the barren room. He searched the debris on the ground to make sure the SIM card had been dislodged and crushed it beneath his heel.

He turned to a trembling, huddled Mara and moved within an inch of her face. His face was red with fury as he spoke through gritted teeth. “I guess your lifeline is gone. It’s just you and me out here in the middle of a deserted Mexico. Don’t try anything else or I
will
kill you. I can’t afford to get caught for a lot of reasons, none of which I’m willing to share with you.”

With that, Mara rolled over and gave him her back. She couldn’t stand the sight of him. This was the situation she wanted to avoid, but life had a way of throwing you curve balls. Brock unlocked her wrist from the handcuff and hauled her up to her feet.

“We need to move now. I’m not taking any chances that someone tracked that phone. You’re a goddamn pain in my ass, as always, but I’ve always been good on the fly.” If he could have spewed venom on her, she would have been covered in it.

Moving out the door and downstairs, they walked into the dark, steamy night.

Chapter 20

Evening approached as his ringing cell jarred him out of his thoughts. He knew who was on the other end.

“Do we have any information on the DNA results of the dead guy?” His words came out quickly as he got impatient for answers.

“Bad news, mate. The DNA came back and the dead body in the car does
not
match Walker’s DNA. It’s conclusive. There’s no doubt that Walker, according to the evidence, is still alive.”

Mac felt like someone sucker punched him, feeling slightly dizzy. “I had a hunch. I think he may be here in Mexico. There’s a man who sort of fits Brock’s description who tried to drug Mara at the club the other night. My old partner, Sydney, is down here trying to find him. I read her in on the case today and she’s doing some recon work for me.” Mac’s whole body went rigid as the thought of Mara in danger almost sent him over the edge. He needed to keep it in check. As a trained operative, there was no room for emotions, but he had never fallen in love with the asset before.

“Don’t forget there’s another player in this game. If we know he’s alive the Russians aren’t far behind. If he’s in Mexico, you need to find him as soon as possible and bring him in. We need him alive, Creighton, to give us information on the Russians.” Neil wanted to make sure Mac understood the full scope of the situation as it escalated on an international scale.

“I had to tell Mara about my assignment. Needless to say, it didn’t go well. Mara left their suite hours ago and hasn’t returned.” Mac mumbled to himself and dreaded telling Mara’s sisters about the resurrection of her dead husband.

The longing in Mac’s voice gave him away. “You’ve got it bad, don’t you, Creighton?” The longing in Neil’s voice betrayed him. “I think they need to know despite what the CIA or NYPD decides to do. Good luck. It sounds like you’re going to need to dig deep on this one and keep your wits about you, and I’m not talking about Walker, either. You can handle him.” With that, Neil hung up, leaving Mac to deal with the impending shit storm.
Round two was going to be worst than round one.
His first contact needed to be Syd, giving her the latest information. Then he would deal with the dynamic duo.

Mac called Syd and she sounded a little giddy. He guessed she’d had picked up someone at the pool while she was in the field. He heard someone in the background knowing he was definitely interrupted something.

She got rid of her guest so she could talk to Mac privately. “So, what’s going on?” Syd recovered quickly to be ready for the next phase of this assignment.

“John Walker, a.k.a. Brock, is alive and possibly down here in Mexico. Did you find out anything about the guy in the baseball hat?” Mac needed intel and fast to stay ahead of whatever Brock might have planned for Mara.

“I got nothing. There are a lot of guys with baseball hats and blond hair at this resort.” Syd was always very thorough with her investigations, talking to everyone necessary.

Maybe Brock isn’t even staying at the resort.

“Keep on top of this and start asking questions off the property and see what comes up. My gut tells me Brock must be getting desperate at this point. If he has Mara, I haven’t figured out what he wants with her. Let me know what you find out.” Mac only had his gut instinct to go on. There was no proof that Brock was even in Mexico. Mac’s mission was to find this asshole before he got to Mara.

Now comes the hard part.

He would have to go to Leigha and Raquelle and tell them everything, giving them an introduction to his world that they could do without.

~

As Raquelle and Leigha ran down the beach, they kept desperately trying to phone Mac, but cellular reception in Mexico was spotty at best. Every time they tried, the call dropped out.

Back at the suite, they decided to text him, hoping that worked better. Mac responded immediately that he and Sydney were on their way back to them. Within minutes, the two were charging through the door.

“Tell me exactly what happened and don’t leave anything out.” His accent heavier than usual, his words ran together. Leigha responded first after deciphering what he’d said.

“We were walking down the beach when we spotted Mara’s shoes, but her cell phone wasn’t there. She must still have it on her. We picked the shoes up and started to follow a set of large footprints, probably a man’s. The footprints led to a road, but that’s where they ended.” Leigha wasn’t the crier in the group, but relaying what happened let the reality of the situation sink in. She shut down her fear and continued to stay her stoic and in-control self. Tears stung behind her eyes, but she pushed them away for Raquelle’s sake.

Raquelle interjected, “We think Mara was taken.” Her voice shook, showing her raw emotions.

“You both need to sit down for a minute. I have some news that I need to share with you.”

Leigha and Raquelle tentatively sat down in the nearest available seat.

Mac eyed them wearily, rubbing the scar above his eyebrow. “I got confirmation from my boss that the DNA results are back and they don’t match Brock’s. That means there’s a very good possibility he’s here in Mexico. He might have taken Mara but the question is why? He’s taken quite a bit of money from his clients. I don’t think Mara was in on this with him. She didn’t seem to quite know what he did for a living.”

Raquelle stood up like a Jack-in-the-Box. “First of all, there is no way in hell Mara is in on anything with that douchebag. Second, if he took her, he just gave me a reason to kill him once we find him.” 

“Raquelle, take a deep breath. I need you, and Mara needs you. So before you go killing anyone, can you and Leigha take me back to the beach where you found the shoes?” Mac gripped Raquelle by her shoulders to keep her focused on him. To some extent, it helped keep him grounded as well.

Leigha stepped in. “Yes, we can take you back to the exact spot on the beach. Do you think Brock has Mara?” She locked onto Mac’s eyes not wanting to miss his reaction, wanting to gauge his gut instinct when it came to this new situation.

“Yes. It’s a strong possibility at this point. Sydney, can you stay here and start putting together your computers for a triangulation of the cell phone? Also, I need you to contact the resort security and get the footage of the last twenty-four hours.” Mac felt in control giving orders. His head was in work mode, but his heart was a mess, a tug-of-war between the job and his emotions. If Brock had Mara and he was fighting to survive then all bets were off on how this all might go down.

Leigha managed to keep herself together to concentrate on the search. “I think I should stay here and help Sydney set up. I might be more useful here. I have some tech savvy.” She viewed Sydney through interested eyes. Going back to the beach sparked too much emotion and she needed to stay in control of her emotions for her sister’s sake. But this new woman intrigued and calmed her.

“Okay then. Raquelle and I are going back to the beach before we lose light while you two set up shop.” With that, Mac and Raquelle left the suite to search for any traces of evidence that might lead them to Mara before it was too late.

When they reached the beach, Raquelle showed Mac where they found the shoes and the footprints. They followed the footprints to where they stopped further down the road toward the resort, Mac began to search for tire marks of any kind.

“Here. It looks like a car was parked for a while in the sand. If we follow the tracks, the car moved forward and turned around. I don’t see the same tracks on the other side of the road. They must have moved down the beach.”

Mac scrutinized the tire tracks, stopping to take pictures of them. After being on the job for so long, he could feel the rhythm of the case, hoping it would lead them in the right direction. Although sometimes, you get sideswiped, needing to change course. Mac needed Mara back with him where she belonged. He had unfinished business with her, like a lifelong contract that needed to be fulfilled.

Back at the suite, Leigha helped Sydney setup the computers while she listened to her explain how triangulation worked. As they finished up, Mac and Raquelle walked in.

“Hey, what did you find? Anything we can use?” Sydney worried they hit a dead end.

Mac’s face fell, the heaviness settling in his chest that she might be gone for good. Mexico tended to be a place where people disappeared without a trace. “No, just the tire tracks. A car traveled down the beach from that area. I took some pictures to see if we can match the tires.”

“Speaking of, Leigha takes pictures of everything. If we go through her camera, we might find Brock’s face in the crowd. Then we’d know for sure Brock has her. It’s worth a try.” Raquelle would do whatever it took to bring her sister back. She knew faces from every angle and would use her talent to help save Mara.

“Why don’t you and Leigha look at the pictures? Sydney, where are we with security footage from the area?” Mac pushed his heart aside. If he got caught up in his fear, he would be no use to Mara. Every second counted in a kidnapping with no time to waste. The first forty-eight hours were always the most crucial in these scenarios.

“We need to go to them and review their feeds. They have cameras everywhere, thankfully, but viewing them could take a while. Why don’t we meet back here in an hour and see if we can find out who has Mara.” Sydney expertly delegated the jobs and would piece things together afterwards.

“That sounds like as good a plan as any right now.” Mac’s heavy sigh indicated his growing weariness.

For the next hour, Raquelle and Leigha searched through all of her pictures for anything that remotely resembled Brock.

Raquelle noticed the looks Leigha gave Sydney. She didn’t think it was because Sydney was gorgeous. “So, what do you think of Sydney? She’s really quite nice to look at, isn’t she?” Raquelle said with a tone of casualness, without making eye contact.

Frowning, Leigha turned to look at Raquelle. “She may be beautiful, but she’s also quite intelligent. There’s a calmness about her I can appreciate.” Leigha’s lack of emotion gave her away; Raquelle knew her sister too well. She would get to the bottom of what was going on eventually.

“Hmm,” Raquelle gave a noncommittal hum. She didn’t want to push Leigha too much, but she got the feeling something had been eating at her the entire trip.

“Wait! Look! Is that a side profile of Brock?” Raquelle turned her head back to the LCD screen of the camera. She hoped her skills as a gifted portrait artist paid off. “Can you enlarge that one?” Raquelle almost hoped the picture was Brock; that way, they at least identified who they were dealing with and one more piece of the puzzle was in place.

Leigha pushed a few buttons on her camera to enlarge the picture. They stopped on a picture of a disheveled Brock wearing a baseball hat with greasy, dirty-blond hair standing in the background focused on something. They stared at the picture without saying a word. It wasn’t the fact that they weren’t used to seeing him like that, but the realization that hit them full-force. Raquelle finally broke the silence in a voice barely above a whisper “He has her.”

As they got ready to call Mac, he and Sydney came through the door. They looked rather somber. The sisters stood up, making it like a Mexican standoff on who was going to tell the other team the bad news.

Leigha spoke up. “We know he has her. We found a picture showing a profile of him on my camera. That son of a bitch is very much alive. But we’re going to do everything we can to get her back and make him pay, right?” Somehow, Leigha found her strength again. Knowing who had Mara made it easier somehow, but she didn’t know that the Brock they once knew didn’t exist anymore. He replaced that persona with the real him.

Mac didn’t acknowledge the emotion in her voice. “The question is what does he want with her? He embezzled millions of dollars from CZR Investments that he could access. The money was untraceable and literally seemed to evaporate into digital space.” Mac tried to put all the pieces together. “Let’s go back to the insurance policy. It was for five million, but that seems like chump change for the millions he took.”

“Maybe he wants the five million as seed money to start up somewhere else. God knows if he accesses the other money, it will trigger a red flag and the agencies will be all over him. The Russians will be alerted as well. That’s the last thing he wants.” Sydney looked at things through the eyes of a criminal, making her a valuable operative.

“Let’s assume he wants the five million in insurance money. If he easily accessed her email accounts to find out she was coming here, why not do the same with her other accounts and transfer the money?” Mac felt he missed something crucial to the investigation, something they needed to get their fingers on right away. The puzzle pieces weren’t fitting together.

Raquelle and Leigha stared at each other as if a light bulb had gone off in their heads.

“He can’t access them anymore. Our lawyers had her change all her usernames and passwords to all her accounts. They also added another layer of security and encryption features so no one can hack into her accounts.” Leigha wondered if this new information would lead to a moment where they would form a plan to bring Mara back.

“Well, that explains a lot. More than likely, he accessed all of her accounts before and now needs her to get into them so he can transfer some money. I don’t think he counted on that and it’s making him scramble to come up with a new plan. I don’t mean to scare all of you, but the question is will he need her after he’s transferred the money?” Sydney knew it was in everyone’s best interest to put it out there and deal with the reality of the situation. The statement was meant to put everyone on high alert. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a favorable outcome.