Silent Vows (4 page)

****

It was dark. His first three stops at local shelters were futile. No one had seen the woman from his picture. Her frightened expression on the paper had him worrying over what she looked like now. Jane Doe was in trouble. He knew it. He scanned every alley and every street.

Nothing.

He changed direction to the south side of town, the side of town even the toughest of the tough didn’t go unless they had to. Drug dealers and prostitutes made their living on these streets.

He tried to think of what might be going on in her head. She wouldn’t know this side of town wasn’t safe. Then again, maybe she did. Doubtful.

Her big brown eyes and her words flashed in his memory.
“I don’t know where to go.”

So he searched, and would search all night if he had to. She was out there somewhere. Alone.

****

Night fell in around her. The deafening sounds from earlier in the day diminished into a dreadful eerie silence. The occasional car drove by, headlights shining in her path.

The hum of machines that heated the buildings attempted to fill the silence but failed. Only the soft pat of her feet hitting the pavement kept her company.

She slipped away from the mission shelter almost as easily as she had the hospital earlier in the day. The trouble was she didn’t know where to go. Where she would find safety?

She walked the deserted streets. The cold night air oozed into her bones. “Where are those warm nights, Tara?”
I’ll keep walking. It will keep me
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awake and warm.

Piercing cold prickled up her back and made the hairs on her neck stand up. Myra felt the eyes long before she saw the face.

Cruel, black eyes watched her.

She used every power within her to see inside the man.

Within his darkness, she saw herself as he did.

Easy prey!
His mind shouted.

She braced for attack.

Out of nowhere another man, at least one hundred pounds heavier than her, stepped into her path from the darkness of an alley.

She turned and moved in the opposite direction, never making eye contact with her foe.

Remain calm.
She heard Tara’s words whisper in her ear as if she was standing by her side.
Don’t
show fear.
Myra tried, but the day’s events rushed into her mind.

Fear blossomed and grew.

She quickened her pace and walked directly into the path of a second attacker.

This one, lanky and thin, had skin that held a deathly hue of green. He undressed her with a look, chewed on his tongue, and licked his ugly, sore-covered lips.

Keep moving.
She attempted to walk around him. The vicious man blocked her path.

Scooting to the side, she stepped past him.

He laughed.

“Excuse me.” She moved again, her heart raced.

He stood close enough for her to smell stale tobacco and something else she couldn’t identify.

“Lookie what we have here, Cutter.” He reached out and touched her hair. “Now ain’t you soft an’

pretty.”

Frozen in place, she felt his fingers whisk past 26

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her cheek. She pulled away.

“Now what could you possibly need out here at this time of night? Whatcha need? A hit?”

Myra started to breathe faster, her heartbeat soared as she battled her losing fight with fear.

He grabbed her waist and shoved.

She landed against his vile companion. His smelly body heat suffocated her.

“Where you going, lil’ lady? We’re just gettin’

this party started.”

Looking over, she saw the sneer from the man standing behind her. His partner laughed.

Trapped, her mind raced to find a way out.

Myra saw a garbage can across the street on the sidewalk. With little more than a glance, she focused and raised it five feet into the air with her mind.

Then she let it drop.

It crashed to the sidewalk with a bang.

Both men turned.

She stomped on the instep of the one who held her. He roared in pain and let go.

She ran, her legs pumping faster than any time in the past.

Footsteps pounded the pavement in pursuit.

Headlights of an oncoming car shot out of the darkness.

Myra ran toward it and waved her hands for help. Brakes screeched when the car almost slammed into her.

To her dismay, it swerved around and didn’t stop. The driver leaned on the horn as he drove away, leaving her alone with her enemy.

Myra ran into the dark alley. It was a dead end.

There was no escape.

The men were a few feet away. Fear gripped her throat.
They’re coming…

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Chapter Three

He missed her by half an hour. Jane Doe #33

registered into the mission on the wrong end of town. The staff gave a positive ID and men he recognized as known felons out on parole told him she had been there.

She was gone. No one saw her leave.

It was past ten, and the streets were bare except for those people who lived on them.

He drove with his windows opened so he would hear each sound. He followed every noise. She was out there somewhere in the urban jungle. Those who would stalk her would be no less deadly than a jaguar or lion.

A horn blasted his thoughts. He heard a woman’s scream. With his heart racing, Todd gunned the engine in the direction of the desperate outcry.

****

They advanced on her slow and steady.

Myra gritted her teeth and nestled into their heads. Repulsive images of violent hands moving over her naked body sprung forth in her mind.

They laughed.

With no place to run, her mind raced and bordered on complete panic. She forced herself to calm down. It was the only way to survive what they had planned.

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No knights who served her family would hear her cry or come to her rescue.

She could only depend on herself and her magical Druid gifts.

“If you turn around now, I’ll let you go,” she said, her voice wavering.

They looked at each other and broke out in laughter.

“And if we don’t?” the big one asked.

She watched each of them, trying to see which one would attack first. The smaller man’s movements were jerky and unpredictable. Cutter held lust and murder in his eyes, his intent clearly written in his thoughts. His eyes told her he had killed before. “God’s teeth,” she muttered.

Again they laughed. The lanky one ran toward her. Closer…

She pushed the wind from beneath his feet.

His unsuspecting frame hit the ground, halting his laughter.

Myra tried to dart around Cutter, but he grabbed her arm in a deathly grip.

She screamed—surprising them both. When she tossed out a hand, the garbage piled up next to the drain on the street burst into flames. With a flick of the wrist, the fire leaped toward them.

She ducked even though her arm was still in Cutter’s grip.

The flame caught Cutter in the chest. He let her go and started beating the flames off his shirt. He danced around in circles yelling.

Clutching her bag to her chest, Myra ran again.

When she looked back to see if they followed, she stumbled straight into the chest of another man.

****

Myra burst out of the alley as if the devil himself chased her. Todd caught her around the waist, and at the same time leveled his gun at the 29

Catherine Bybee

men who followed her.

“Police!” he yelled, halting the man and silencing the woman’s scream.

The skinny one was in his sights, but the larger man heaved himself over the chain link fence and moved out of firing range.

Todd shifted his eyes to the top of the woman’s head buried deep into his shoulder. In that second, the scrawny guy made his escape.

He would have given chase if he’d had back up.

Instead, he holstered his gun and focused on the woman trembling in his arms. He didn’t know who was more startled, her or him. Renewed fear for her safety quickly replaced his relief at finding her.

She held on to him. He found his arm inching around her waist and pulling her close. She let out a slight whimper that reminded him of a wounded animal scared and alone.

“They’re gone. Shh... It’s okay now.” His hands stroked up and down her back.

Her body relaxed and the tears started to flow.

She mumbled something in a language he didn’t understand.

He couldn’t tell if it was an oath or a prayer. He pulled away and looked at her. “Did they hurt you?”

She shook her head. “If you hadn’t come...”

“They’re long gone and can’t hurt you now.”

Nodding, she sucked in a deep breath in what Todd thought was an attempt to control her emotions.

He kept his arm around her and walked back to his car parked half on the curb with the driver’s door open and with the engine still running. “Let’s get you out of here.”

He helped her into the passenger seat and then took his own.

“Buckle up,” Todd told her before putting the car in reverse.

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The car moved. Her hand clutched her bag in a white-knuckled grip.

“Buckle up,” he told her again.

When she responded with a blank gaze, he assumed she was in shock. He reached across her chest, pulled the strap over her lap, and clicked it in.

She still trembled.

“Hey, you’re safe now.” Todd placed his hand on hers. Heat surged with the connection he tried his best to ignore.

She gazed up at him with her innocent, trusting eyes.
Thank God she’s safe.

“What are you doing out here, Officer Blakely?”

Her words stopped him from staring at her.

“Todd,” he placed his hands on the wheel and maneuvered his car onto the street. “Call me Todd.”

“What are you doing out here, Todd?”

“Searching for you.”

“Why?”

Why? Dammit.
Wasn’t that the same question he had been asking himself over the past nine hours? He stopped at a red light. “Because you don’t belong out here.” Her hair was escaping the rubber band holding it. Her dirt smudged face held those big Bambi eyes that resembled a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car. No. She didn’t belong on the streets.

“I’m not going back to that place, that mission.

The minds there are sick.”

“True.”

“And the hospital is for those who are ill.”

“True.”
Now what?
He hadn’t thought farther than finding her. Now what was he going to do with her. He knew of a women’s shelter, but they closed their doors after ten, it was going on eleven now.

Not that she’d be any safer there. The women in those places led hard lives.

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“So, where are you taking me?”

He let out a long-suffering breath, and hoped he wasn’t making a huge mistake. “Home.”

****

Todd’s home was a small bungalow nestled in an older part of town. The streets were tree-lined and quiet. The yards were small, but not so much that he could hear every conversation his neighbors had, just the ones when voices were raised.

He walked around the car and opened her door.

She either was accustomed to this, or had no idea how to open it. By her expression, he wasn’t sure which was true.

Once inside, he tossed his keys on the table by the door and switched on the lights.

She walked behind him and glanced about the room. It was sparsely furnished with an old worn leathered sofa and two side chairs. He had a small fireplace that hadn’t been lit in years, and a flat screen television hanging above it.

Todd disappeared around a corner and called out. “Make yourself comfortable. Would you like something to drink?”

What the hell am I doing
? He twisted the cap off a beer. The woman standing in his living room had been lying to him since they met, and yet he still brought her here, to his home.

He was breaking the ultimate rule of police work and getting personally involved. She wasn’t a suspect in any crime. Not that it made him feel any better. “I have beer, wine or soda if you like.”

“Wine would be nice.” Her voice moved closer.

Todd’s gaze took in his bright kitchen and the few dishes sitting in the sink and a forgotten newspaper on the counter. What a mess.

She walked into the room and smiled.

He removed the wine from his refrigerator, poured her a glass, and handed it to her. “Have a 32

Silent Vows

seat. I’m going to make a sandwich, want one?” He’d missed lunch and dinner.

“Nay. This is fine.”

He watched her eyes close as the wine went down her throat. Her features started to relax for the first time since he found her. “Feeling better?”

“Aye, I mean yes. Thank you.”

“You really are from Scotland, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” She stopped the glass before it met her lips. “I mean, I think I am.” She put the wine glass to the side and settled into one of the tall chairs.

“Uh-huh...” He watched her nerves return, and her lies. “Right.” He tossed bread, lunchmeat, and lettuce on the counter.

“You live here alone?” she asked.

“Yeah.” He stacked ham between the bread with a slice of cheese. “I tried roommates, but they didn’t work out.”

“Why not?”

“Different lifestyles, I guess. Some were pigs, never cleaning up after themselves. Others wanted to party all the time.” He put his plate on the counter and moved to sit next to her.

“No family?”

“No.” He took a bite.

“You don’t have a housekeeper?”

“No.”

“You do your own cleaning?” She sent him a puzzled look, as if she didn’t believe him.

“You sound surprised. Did you grow up with housekeepers?” he asked without thinking.

He noticed when she opened her mouth to answer, but bit back her words.

He took another bite of his sandwich, chased it with beer, never taking his eyes off her.

Nerves dangled on her sleeve like fringe. Lying was new to her, but like any practiced art, she was getting better at it.

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