Run to Me (17 page)

Ethan’s face was an infuriating mixture of anger, sorrow, and amusement. The anger she could handle. Even his amusement. But she was damned tired of the sorrow.

Chin lifted, back straight, she drew in a calming breath. “I’m going to put some clothes on. When I get back, you and I are going to have a talk. I understand why you and Noah didn’t want to tell me about Rosemount before, thinking it would color my memories. Well, those memories are coming back. I want to hear about Rosemount from you, and I’ll tell you what I remember. Agreed?”

The mouth she’d had some interesting thoughts about twitched—with humor or words? She didn’t know. But he nodded in agreement, and that was all she needed. Grabbing a handful of clothes from a drawer, she marched into the bathroom, slammed the door, and sank to the floor.

Pretense.
It was all she had right now. Despite Ethan’s assertions that she would be safe from Rosemount, she knew she wasn’t. Now that parts of her memory had returned, an acidic flood of terror swamped her, eating away at any security she’d felt. She needed information. She had information to give. Then she would determine what should be done.

Run away? Hide? She still had no memory of her life before Rosemount, but something told her she wasn’t the type to run. An image of pure evil flashed in her mind, followed by the memory of severe agony. She shuddered and shook her head. She might have not been the type to run before, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t change.

The knock on the door had her stifling a scream. “Shea, Noah’s on his way in. Are you about ready?”

“Yes.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

The door handle jiggled as Ethan turned the knob. Thank heaven she’d locked it. “Shea?”

“I’ll be out in a minute.”

She hadn’t meant to snap, but since the drug had been in her system, that’s all she’d been doing. Dr. Norton had assured her that the surly mood would go away. Some type of steroid fueled the anger, supercharging even the slightest aggravation into rage. Yes, she was angry, but the violence surging through her felt unnatural and wrong.

With a heavy sigh, Shea picked herself up from the floor and pulled on the jeans and shirt she’d brought with her. She was determined to get through the next few hours without going either ballistic with fury or weepy like the overemotional bundle of nerves tap-dancing through her screamed for her to. Taking the time to braid her hair and apply makeup might seem foolish to some. To Shea, it provided a feeling a normalcy she desperately needed.

She stood back and surveyed the damaged woman staring back at her. With her translucent skin still too pale, the black beauty mark below her left eye looked like a black dot in a sea of white; shadows under her green eyes made them look sunken and dull. She had no concept of what she’d looked like before Rosemount got his hands on her, but she was damned sure that what she saw in the mirror wasn’t what she wanted to continue to see.

Shea turned and marched out the door. Determined to get hell over with so she could get the hell on with her life.

Ethan ushered Shea into a small living room the staff members used when they were on a break. Noah and Samara sat on one sofa. Gabe sat in a chair in the corner, far removed from everyone. Though his friend had made his doubts about Shea known, Ethan was glad he had enough sensitivity to allow her the space, whether he believed her or not.

Dr. Norton rose from his chair when Shea and Ethan walked in. He pointed to the sofa across from him. “Sit over here, my dear. We’ll try to make this as easy as possible.”

Shea took a step toward the couch. Ethan grabbed her hand and walked with her. She might be mad as hell at him, but there was no way she was going through this without him by her side. She could slug him later if she wanted.

A soft groan left her lips as she lowered herself to sit. He’d heard her tell Dr. Norton that every inch of her body ached. After she told them what she could, Ethan had every intention of giving her some relief. He just wondered how much he’d have to battle her to get her to agree. Didn’t matter. In this, he would have his way.

Noah leaned forward. “Before we get started, Shea, I want to apologize for what happened. Jolene’s credentials were reviewed thoroughly. She passed every security check we put her through. We don’t know how Rosemount found our facility, much less how he put one of his people in it.” He glanced over at Gabe. “We’ve got some theories, but nothing concrete yet.”

As all eyes turned to Shea, Ethan felt a shuddering breath go through her. He knew she was gearing up to go through hell.

“Take your time, Shea.” Samara’s soft voice lessened the building tension in the room.

“My memories are still scattered. Some have a concrete basis. Others have no meaning. Most have no beginning or end. I see images. Thoughts and knowledge, but most of them are there without comprehension.” A slender shoulder lifted. “Does that make any sense?”

Dr. Norton nodded. “Yes, it does. You’re saying you have pockets of knowledge without knowing why. That’s normal.” His bushy eyebrows met in a frown. “Well, as normal as this can get.”

“I remember watching a group of men fighting … they were training. I’m standing in the door … a gun in my hand … I don’t know why. I remember feelings of anger … sorrow. I don’t know the cause.”

“That may have been when you first found Rosemount—before you were captured,” Noah said.

“Maybe … I just …” Fingertips rubbed her forehead. “I wish I could remember.”

Ethan placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, while everyone else looked on, waiting for her to continue. No one spoke or urged Shea to go on. This was a nightmare no one should encourage … even if it was something that had to be done.

She closed her eyes on a small sigh. “I woke up in a bed. My head is pounding. My feet and legs are bound. I’m furious at myself for getting caught. For not doing what I had come to do.” Her eyes opened, flickered up at Ethan. “I still don’t know what that was.”

Ethan swallowed hard. At some point, very soon, she would need to know.

When he didn’t speak, she turned her gaze back to the other people in the room. “A soft, evil voice … high-pitched but masculine … tells me …” She swallowed audibly. “He’s going to enjoy taming me.”

Teeth gritted, gut clenched, Ethan worked hard to show no reaction.

After another long, drawn-out breath, she whispered, “I remember pain … torture. He enjoys this immensely.” She closed her eyes and said, “I hear high-pitched laughter … almost like squealing. I know it’s his. I think he designs the torture based on what he thinks would be the most degrading and painful.”

When she opened her eyes, Ethan wanted to howl at the stark pain reflected. “I was hung upside down naked … and sprayed with cold water. Then he would have them cut me down and leave me lying there, my hands and feet bound, for hours. This happened over and over again. The days blurred together into one giant nightmare.

“Then, something changed. For some reason, after those first weeks, he started treating me differently. I still don’t remember exactly what he did to me. There are still so many blank spots. But I do know that the pain stopped, I was allowed to bathe, and had clothes to wear.

“I remember pulling a woman into a van. I don’t know when or where. She’s crying, begging us not to hurt her.” Another hard swallow. “While men held her down, I injected her with a drug. We took her to a warehouse.” Her brow furrowed with concentration. “I don’t know what city we were in… . The voices I heard were American… . I think she was American. We stayed there for a few days. She was tied up and blindfolded. I sat in a corner and watched her.”

In a voice thick with emotion, she said, “I felt nothing for her. No remorse. No emotion. I listened to her cry, day and night, and didn’t care.” She shook her head as if unable to comprehend, then after a shaky breath, added, “Later, we took her in the van again. Untied her and left her on a back road in a wooded area. Then we came home.

“I did this several times. I don’t know how many or where we were. I was told who to get, and that’s what I did.” She stopped, blew out a long breath, and looked at Noah. “There’s not a lot more… . Can you ask me questions? Maybe something will click.”

“Do you remember who gave you the orders?” Noah asked.

“No.” She rubbed her forehead. “Crazy, I know, but the information is just there, without any idea how it came to me.”

“What about a location? Any idea where Rosemount’s main headquarters are?” Ethan asked.

“I don’t remember the names of locations. I know we moved around frequently … because I remember being in a van a lot … but I don’t know if it was when we were abducting women or if we moved from one of his locations to another. Those images are blurred. I remember hearing Spanish … much more than English.”

Ethan took her hand. It felt small and vulnerable in his—and ice-cold. “Can you tell us what Rosemount looks like?”

Breath shuddered through her. “He’s below average height … I think. I remember standing next to him and I didn’t have to look up.”

“What about ethnicity?”

“White … very pale … as if he doesn’t spend a lot of time outside. He has light red freckles on his hands.”

“What else?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know … I can’t see his face. I’m not sure I was allowed to look directly at him.”

A loud, disgusted snort came from the corner where Gabe sat.

Noah shot him a dark look. “You got something to say, Gabe?”

“A short pale man with a high voice and freckles. Hell, let’s go get him right now.”

“Shut the hell up, Gabe,” Ethan snarled.

Gabe waved an arm at Ethan’s anger. “We’re not getting anywhere with this kind of questioning. Either she remembers him or she doesn’t.”

Shea whirled around and glared. “What exactly do you want me to do, Mr. Maddox?”

“I want you to tell the truth.”

“You think I’m making all of this up?”

Gabe’s stare told her exactly what he thought.

“Gabe, if you don’t have anything constructive to share, maybe you should keep your prejudice and opinions to yourself.”

Though furious at Gabe, Ethan couldn’t suppress a small grin of appreciation at Samara McCall’s gentle reprimand. Noah’s wife looked like a tiny angel, but she had a way of getting her point across very effectively.

Gabe grunted and slumped back into his chair.

Shea gave Gabe a frustrated, irritated glare, then turned back. “Maybe if you told me what you know about Rosemount, that might trigger something.”

Noah leaned forward. “Donald Rosemount came up on our radar about five years ago. A man went missing. His daughter called us a few weeks after the authorities ran out of leads. We dug in, found some things out about the daughter’s husband. Turned out he’d had his father-in-law kidnapped for ransom. Rosemount split the ransom with him.”

A grim smile curved his mouth. “After it was over and the man was returned … the son-in-law spilled the beans … confessed it all. We got enough information to realize there was a kidnapping organization starting up but never got close enough to pinpoint who or where. Eventually, Rosemount got better, not only at choosing his jobs but also at the actual event. We gave the authorities what leads we had, but somehow, the creep always seemed a step ahead.

“From what we know, he gets his clients in a variety of ways. We believe most of them come from the Internet. He’s also used personal ads in the paper, along with recommendations from one satisfied customer to another.”

“So he kidnaps just for ransom?” Shea asked.

“Can’t prove anything yet, but we suspect he also kidnaps and sells his victims … some women, some kids.”

Fierce denial crossed her pale face. “No, I don’t remember any children. There were just women. And I believe they were all released.” With agony in her eyes, she turned to Ethan. “Please tell me I’m not responsible for kidnapping children.”

“No, as far as we can tell, you were only involved in abducting wives of wealthy men.”

She released a sobbing laugh. “I never thought I’d be relieved to hear that.”

Ethan squeezed her hand.

Noah continued. “Rosemount’s a recluse. We know that’s not his real name, but we have no clue what it is. He obviously had plenty of money before he got started in the abduction business. Where it came from, where
he
came from, is a mystery. You’re the only one we know who’s gotten away from him alive.” He gave Ethan an unfathomable look. “Last year, we set up a sting. Sent out an ad on the Internet and Rosemount responded. One of our operatives went undercover to get kidnapped.”

Ethan stiffened. How much would Noah reveal?

“The op went bad. The kidnapping didn’t take place, but one of our finest men … Cole Mathison … was killed.”

Shea twisted her head and looked up at Ethan. “So that’s the reason you want to get Rosemount so badly.”

Ethan searched her face, saw nothing to indicate that she remembered anything about Cole. Aware that she was waiting for an answer, he muttered, “One of the reasons.”

Noah shot Ethan a hard glance and then looked back at Shea. “Then there was another abduction. Family called us almost immediately. It had Rosemount’s stink all over it. We were barely into our investigation when we got a call saying the man had been found dead … his neck broken.”

“Why do you think this was Rosemount?”

“Had all the markings of one of his abductions. Ransom demand within a certain amount of time. Drop-off point for the money in a public place. We were told where the victim could be found. Alive. Phone calls and emails were similar to those used on his other jobs. The family was wealthy … the wife had gathered the money, did everything she was told to do. We were going to make the drop for her and do our damnedest to capture Rosemount’s people.” Noah shrugged. “Never got the chance.”

Noah glanced at his wife. “Samara and I went to visit the widow. Needless to say, she was devastated.”

“Do you think something went wrong? Or was he planning to take the money and kill him, too?” Shea asked.

“Hard to say. There haven’t been any other deaths like that.”