Suffer II (2 page)

She took small, deliberate steps as she made her way to the back of the house. With her gun drawn, she turned the knob on the basement door. When it gave way, she lowered the night vision goggles over her eyes. Pitch black was replaced by a green hue, illuminating her path inside.

Every doorway, corner, and shadow became a threat. Abby Coleman tried to control her breathing in the dead quiet room. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears and feel the pounding in her chest. Remembering her training, she tried to slow everything down before taking another step.

Abby knew she had to take those steps in order to save Jane, an eleven-year-old girl abducted from a mall two days earlier. The team had set up surveillance on the large abandoned farmhouse the night before, but they weren’t inside with her for the rescue. She was alone, except for the two armed, violent pedophiles lurking somewhere in the shadows.

After slowing her breathing, she peered into one of the many rooms in the massive basement. When her vision was blocked by the doorway, she took a quick step inside. With her weapon raised, she swept the gun from corner to corner and then immediately checked behind the door. With the room cleared of any threats, she looked in every space that could conceal a young girl. Abby repeated the process five times before entering the last room in the basement.

As she swung her arms to clear the right corner, the silhouette of an adult came into her gun sights. In a heartbeat, her finger slid from the guard to the trigger. Before she applied enough pressure to fire the weapon, her brain processed what she saw. A slight smile crept across her face as she stared at the mannequin wearing a sundress.

Hearing heavy footsteps above her head erased the smile. She tried to determine if it was one set or two. After the sounds faded back into silence, she made her way to the stairs that would take her to the first floor. She raised her foot to the bottom step.

Please don’t creak
.

The first didn’t. The second did. She aimed at the door and waited to hear footsteps or see the knob turning. When neither happened, she made more silent wishes and worked her way to the top step. It was her turn to be at a disadvantage. She reached out for the knob.

Please don’t squeak
.

It did.

Abby knew she had no other choice but to go fast. If she heard those footsteps moving towards her, she needed to find a concealed firing position with a wall at her back. Being fully exposed and standing in an open hallway would get her killed. It would also guarantee Jane’s death moments after hers.

When she stepped into the hallway, she could see the faint light from a lantern at one end. She then turned to locate the front door to the house on the other. Abby knew there was a room a few steps behind her on the left and another larger room to her right close to the front door. She darted inside the space on the left, cleared it with speed, and ducked into a dark corner. She was ready to shoot the first head that came through the doorway, but after a few minutes silence was the only thing that entered the room.

Her plan was to get to Jane before engaging the two monsters that took her. She thought about how impossible that plan seemed in the massive maze of a house. She knew she had luck on her side to that point as she crouched in the corner, but also knew it was going to take more than that to find Jane and get her out undetected. She had no choice but to push it further.

Abby swept her weapon from left to right as she entered the hallway again. She had to believe that at least one of the suspects was near the light source in the kitchen. She kept her gun aimed in that direction as she took a few steps backwards. By her third step, she knew her luck had run out.

After hearing the floor creak behind her, she swung her arms around to confront whoever made the noise. Her eyes arrived on the target ahead of her weapon. The man standing six feet away fired the shotgun into her chest.

She couldn’t hear herself scream over the ringing in her ears from the blast. With no expression on his face, he fired a second and third time before walking through her. She lifted the visor on her helmet.

“Did you have to make it so loud?” asked Abby.

“The program regulates the sound to make it more realistic,” said Evan Royal, sitting in the control room in the basement.

“Try not letting him get so close next time,” said Grey Collins, standing next to Evan. “But you did get further on this one than the last. You’re definitely getting better.”

“Doesn’t feel like it,” said Abby, taking off the gloves fitted with sensors.

“Go change your pants and then we’ll debrief,” said Grey, earning a chuckle from Evan.

“The new components will be here tomorrow,” said Evan, shutting down the virtual combat program. “After I install them, we’ll have one of the most realistic simulators in the country.”

“You mean one of the most expensive.”

“Hey, man, she told me to spare no expense.”

“Mission accomplished, buddy,” said Grey, looking through the control room windows. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Evan had taken his movie special effects company from a garage to the center stage at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. He designed every aspect of the virtual combat range that occupied the entire basement floor of Kate Freeman’s palatial home in Miami Beach. He used every inch of the three-thousand square feet to build moveable walls and obstacles.

Three-dimensional projectors mounted in the ceiling could display countless scenarios used to train the members of the team who had no close combat experience. The introduction of the virtual helmets allowed them to create another layer of realism that extended past the basement simulator. It’s what allowed Abby to move upstairs and transform the six million dollar home on Miami Beach into an abandoned farmhouse in Kentucky.

Abby walked into the control room carrying the gear needed to bring the virtual experience to life. She handed Evan the helmet that controlled the sights and sounds, the uniform with integrated sensors that tracked her slightest movement, and the CO2 pistol that mimicked the recoil of a handgun when fired.

“That was intense,” said Abby, handing Evan her helmet. “The mannequin was a nice touch.”

“Thank you,” said Evan. “I threw that in on the fly.”

“Where do you think things went wrong?” asked Grey.

“Squeaky doors,” said Abby, smiling.

“Walking backwards,” said Grey. “There wasn’t a target in front of you, but there was an uncleared room behind you. We didn’t add the bad guy on the fly. He was in there the entire time. You would’ve seen him crouched in the corner if you had entered the room.”

“Lesson learned,” said Abby.

“Other than that, you did very well,” said Grey. “I’m glad you’re taking this seriously.”

“He’s here,” said Evan, pointing to a video monitor.

“Okay,” said Grey. “Let him in and I’ll meet him at the front door. Abby, could you go get Kate, please. She’s in the pool.”

“Will do, boss,” said Abby, running her fingers across his hand as she left.

FBI Special Agent Carlos Ramirez parked his sedan at the front steps to the home. It had been two months since his last visit with Kate. Grey knew why he was there, but the rest of the team didn’t.

“Good to see you, Carlos,” said Grey, extending his hand.

“Glad to hear you say that.”

“I appreciate you giving her time to get stronger,” said Grey. “She probably knows I asked you to wait a while before bringing us anything. She’s still always two steps ahead of me.”

“You and me both, brother,” said Carlos. “But this one has been skipped over by the media. It didn’t take me long to figure out why.”

Grey brought Carlos into the War Room. It was a secure space they created to gather intelligence, conduct briefings, and plan missions. The room had been dormant for eight months.

Evan was already seated at the table. Abby and Kate joined them a few minutes later. The final member of the team, Chief, was a hundred and fifty miles away on Sugar Loaf Key. He was in court for an arrest he made before he retired from the top position with the police department. He was finished for the day and joined them via a video call.

“Hello?” asked Chief, moving in closer until his face filled the big screen TV. “Is this thing on?”

“I can see your brain through your nose,” said Evan, leaning back in his chair. “You may want to back up a tad, Chief.”

“Gotcha, kid. Okay, there you guys are. How is everyone?”

“We’re all doing fine,” said Kate. “Glad you could join us. Carlos just arrived.”

“Wouldn’t miss it. Whatcha got for us, Carlos?”

“Something we believe has been swept under the rug because of victimology,” said Carlos, standing and pressing a remote. A young woman’s mugshot appeared on another screen.

“Her name is Emily Pierce,” said Carlos. “She went missing three months ago from Boudreaux, Louisiana. My contact in the New Orleans field office reached out to me last week about her.

“She contacted him several months ago with a story that was hard to believe. He said she was scared, but was more concerned about her mother’s safety. He decided to do a little digging on his own time. He couldn’t explain why, but he told me there were some things going on down there that caught his attention. When he started to ask questions in Boudreaux, Emily disappeared.”

“Is the FBI in on this one?” asked Chief.

“No,” said Carlos. “There was never an official investigation opened about her allegations. The local police and state patrol didn’t open an investigation either. In fact, it’s hard to find any information about this case. It was filed as a missing person’s report by her mother, Karla Pierce. Emily has a checkered past, and the local authorities think she overdosed or is working the streets in New Orleans.”

“Why do they think that?” asked Abby.

“She’s been arrested numerous times for various drug-related charges and prostitution. She went to rehab and was kicked out for concealing drugs in her dorm room.”

“I’m sorry, Carlos,” said Evan. “I’m a little confused here. I thought you were going to bring us someone that needed our help. Finding a missing junkie prostitute isn’t what I thought we were trying to do here.”

“There’s a bit more to this,” said Carlos. “Her mother believes she’s been murdered. She thinks someone killed her and then dumped her body in the swamp.”

“Still,” said Evan, shifting in his chair. “I’m not getting this one. I thought we were going after bad people who hurt good people and got away with it.”

“The town killed her,” said Kate, sitting in the back of the room.

“What was that?” asked Chief, filling the screen with his ear.

“You’ve already made contact with her, haven’t you?” asked Grey.

“I spoke with her yesterday.”

“Here we go again,” said Grey, looking down at the table and shaking his head.

“Emily tried her best to keep her problems away from her mother,” said Kate. “She’s not in the best of health and hasn’t been since her husband died five years ago. But it’s a small town and everybody knows everybody’s business.”

“We have very little to work with since all of her arrests have been expunged,” said Carlos.

“Expunged?” asked Evan.

“Yes,” said Carlos. “Every arrest record and court document associated with Emily has been destroyed.”

“Is that normal?”

“It’s not uncommon,” said Carlos. “If a person makes a mistake when they’re young, sometimes the court will expunge the record so they won’t be haunted by it for the rest of their lives. Other cases usually involve some type of witness protection or the need to conceal the identity of undercover agents. We’re not sure of the reason in Emily’s case. What does make it uncommon is the fact they were destroyed three weeks after she went missing.”

“By whom?” asked Grey.

“That’s another red flag,” said Carlos. “There’s no record of the order to expunge. At this point, we don’t know.”

“That’s what we’re going to find out,” said Kate. “Her mother believes Emily was targeted by some influential people in their community. People who wanted to disgrace and discredit her. She thinks they killed her to keep her quiet about something that happened to her.”

“You believe this woman?” asked Grey, turning to Kate.

“I do.”

“From one phone conversation with a stranger, you’re willing to get us involved with this?”

“A mother knows, Grey. A mother always knows.”

Grey listened to the rest of the briefing, but he added little to the conversation. When the meeting ended, he walked with Carlos to the front door. Their guest wasn’t surprised when Grey continued down the stairs and opened the passenger door to his sedan.

“This isn’t the way we’re going to do this, Carlos,” said Grey, closing the door after taking a seat. “I’m not going to be the last one to know.”

“I am sorry about that,” said Carlos. “I told her this would irritate you.”

“But you did it anyway?”

“She can be persuasive.”

“This I know, but I need your help here, buddy,” said Grey, taking a deep breath. “How can I make good decisions and keep everyone safe if I don’t know what’s going on? I’m not going to be an outsider looking in. I’m going to be the guy going in first. You know that.”

“I do,” said Carlos. “I also know she needs to feel like she’s in control of something, anything.”

“No offense, but you haven’t know her as long as I have. You don’t know that woman like I do.”

“None taken,” said Carlos, “but I know her better than you think.”

“I don’t want to argue with you,” said Grey. “You’ve been there for her – for us – since the beginning of all this. I appreciate the things that you’ve done. I know you’re risking your career and even prosecution for helping us, but everything needs to come through me first. That’s just the way it has to be. Can I count on you for that?”

Carlos turned his eyes away from Grey, leaned back into his seat, and looked out the front window. He knew there was no easy way to make him understand. Any angle would still cut deep.

“You’re not in control, she is,” said Carlos, turning back to Grey. “You need to come to grips with that.”

“You and I have over forty years of experience as federal agents, and you’re telling me Kate, who has zero experience in law enforcement, is in control here? Have you lost your mind, Carlos?”

“She has experienced terror, loss, and suffering to a degree that you and I will never understand. She fought her way out of a coma after watching her son being murdered and her husband committing suicide. She could’ve given up and nobody would’ve blamed her.

“I was there every day while she put herself through agony in physical therapy and then cried herself to sleep after. I was there when she was trying to make sense of everything that was happening to her and her family.

“She wasn’t in control of anything. I was there when she made the decision to change that. You need to give her more credit than you do. She’s stronger than both of us will ever be.”

Grey sat in silence, absorbing the words. They did cut deep, but he couldn’t argue the truth in them. He knew he wasn’t in control and hadn’t been since Kate awoke from her coma. Hearing those words from a colleague he respected made them more real.

“I know you care about her,” said Grey. “I know you were there for her during her recovery and that you bonded with her in a way we couldn’t.”

“I did,” said Carlos. “I’d go home after spending the day with Kate and hug my wife so tight she’d start laughing. I couldn’t tell my son enough times how much I loved him and would always be there for him.

“She told me everything, Grey. Everything that psychopath did to her. She also told me everything that was going through her mind while he was torturing her and Caleb. Unimaginable things. Things that will haunt me for the rest of my life that didn’t even happen to me. They happened to her.”

“That’s how she got you to help, isn’t it?” said Grey. “She knew you had a wife and a young son. She knew you’d think about what you’d do if the same thing happened to them.”

“I believe she did.”

“That doesn’t bother you? It doesn’t bother you that she manipulated you into risking your career for her? I’m not trying to be a jerk here, Carlos. I just need to know.”

“No, it doesn’t bother me. She found them. She found everyone that had anything to do with the crime. All of us helped her, of course, but she hunted each one of them down. She took most of the risks, and when she found them she punished them. In a way they deserved to be punished. I have no problem with that.”

“How far down that road are you willing to go?” asked Grey.

“I don’t know,” said Carlos. “I don’t believe she’d push any of us that far.”

“You can’t be sure of that.”

“I’m sure enough. You need to be as well.”

“What do you mean?”

“Whatever she asks of me, I’ll do because I trust her. I trust that she doesn’t want to see any of us get hurt. I’m not naïve, Grey. I know we need to go into dark, dangerous places to find the assholes that live there. The difference is, she’s willing to go in first. I’ll be right beside her. Will you?”

“I’ve already been there with her.”

“Then maybe the real question is, are you willing to go back?”

As Grey walked up the stairs to the front door after leaving Carlos, he already knew his answer. Turning the corner into the War Room, he found Kate sitting alone and staring at Emily’s mugshot on the big screen. He watched her for a moment before turning to the image.

“She really is striking,” said Kate. “Even with the weight of all that trouble, she’s beautiful.”

“I wonder if that’s part of the reason for the trouble,” said Grey.

“If not all of it,” said Kate, turning to face him. “I’m sorry about today. I should’ve told you before I reached out to her mother.”

“You don’t have to explain your reasons to me, Kate. Not anymore.”

“What are you saying?” asked Kate, giving her undivided attention. “Are you leaving?”

“I thought about it more times than you know. All I ever wanted to do was keep you and everyone else safe. I wasn’t able to prevent what happened to you, Paul, or Caleb, but I thought I’d be able to take care of you after. The problem with that is, you don’t want to be kept safe. I realize that now.”

“I do feel safe with you,” said Kate. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Yes, you do. You’d keep fighting. You’d keep putting yourself in harm’s way for others. It’s who you are now. It’s who you’ve always been, you just didn’t know it.”

“It’s not about putting myself in harm’s way,” said Kate. “It’s about putting myself in a position to help someone who feels helpless. Right now, Karla Pierce feels helpless and ignored. But she’s not willing to give up on Emily. I don’t think any of us believe she’s still alive, but that doesn’t matter. What does matter is finding out who hurt her and making them feel as much of that pain as possible.”

“It’s different now,” said Grey. “You were the victim. I was able to kill for you because I care about you. I was able to hunt and punish Diego because he hurt the people I love. I don’t even know Emily or Karla. None of us do. How are we going to be able to do the things we need to do if we don’t feel their pain?”

“You will feel it,” said Kate, reaching over and taking his hand. “Trust me, you will, and you’ll care about Emily. You’ll care about what happened to her. We don’t have to know them to know their pain and suffering. We’ve already experienced what that feels like.

“But I agree with you, we need to get to know them before we can do the things that need to be done. That’s why I’d like for you to come with me to Boudreaux.”

“You’re asking me?”

“Yes,” said Kate. “I’m asking.”

“Then my answer is yes. When do you want to leave?”

“Our flight leaves tomorrow afternoon.”

“You are a very unique woman,” said Grey, laughing.

“What? You could’ve said no.”

“When have I ever said no?”

“Exactly. You’re making my point for me.”

“What’s the plan that you already have and probably already started?”

“Evan and Abby are staying here and digging up everything they can about Emily’s records, the town, and who runs it,” said Kate. “Karla believes she’s getting railroaded and pushed to the side by every official she turns to for help. As tenacious as she seems, that can’t be an easy thing to do.”

“And you and I are going to Boudreaux to dig up everything we can about Emily’s life.”

“You’re good at this,” said Kate, grinning. “Chief is in court until next week. If you need him with you, we’ll put him on a plane. If not, he’ll help Evan and Abby here.”

“We’re going to a very small town which means we need to keep a low profile,” said Grey. “The fewer people who know we’re there poking around, the better.”

“You and Chief will be able to keep a low profile; I won’t. What happened to me here will be impossible to keep quiet, so I’m not even going to try. I’ll be staying with Karla at her home and going with her on Monday when she makes her rounds.”

“You’re not going to make anything easy for me, are you?”

“Probably not, but I know how much you love a challenge,” said Kate, waiting for a smile from Grey that didn’t arrive. “Evan is working on a smoke screen for me. It’ll explain why I’m there and how easy it was to get me involved. You’ll have to ask him for the details.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Kate stood and made her way around the table to Grey. She pulled him up by his hands and wrapped her arms around his neck. He returned the embrace.

“I love you, Grey. There’s nobody else in the world I’d rather have by my side than you. Do you understand that?”

“I do,” said Grey, pulling away from her. “I trust you. You’re going to have to learn how to trust me as well. I’ll follow you anywhere you need to go. I won’t hesitate and I won’t let anyone hurt you again. Do you understand that?”

“Yes, sir, I do.”

Kate left Grey and headed upstairs to take a shower. She stood in front of a full-length mirror as she undressed. When she was naked, she stepped closer to the mirror.

Looking at her face, she traced the path of the scar with her fingertips from her eyebrow, over her prosthetic eye, and down her cheek. She did the same for the light scar across her throat. She lowered her eyes to her chest and abdomen, repeating the process several more times. With every touch, she forced herself to remember the blade that caused the horrific wounds that brought her to the brink of death. It was part of her daily routine that she started the first time she saw her reflection after the attack.

When she lifted her head, she replaced her image with his face. She stared into the eyes of the man who held the knife that inflicted the wounds and murdered her son. A face she needed to see to take her deeper into the darkness.

“I made you pay for what you did to me and my family,” whispered Kate. “You made it easy for me to watch you die in agony. You’re burning in hell right now, but there are more like you out there still walking this earth. Your kind took Emily from her mother like you took Caleb from me. I don’t care why anymore. All I care about is being so close that I can hear their last breath leave their bodies. Just like I did yours.”

Kate reached for her robe and covered herself. It was still difficult to linger in the place that brought the rage she needed to fuel her determination. Having to think about Diego meant she would have to remember everything he did to Caleb. She looked once again into the mirror before erasing his image from her mind.

“I took your power from you and made it mine. I’ll use it to find them, hurt them, and then send them to hell with you. Even if I have to drag them there myself.”