I couldn’t mention the way her parents had been bludgeoned, stabbed, and then shot, or what had been done to her little brother when he tried to come to his parents’ rescue. When that story had been told, the others had chided her family’s killer for not bringing the kid since he’d failed at grabbing the one he’d gone after. It’s a horrible thing to think, but I thought then, and I still do now, that the kid got off easier that night than if he’d been dragged back to that house of horrors.
Once she seemed to calm down, she looked at me without saying anything for a while. “I’m guessing you heard this wherever it was that you were kept. How did these people know, who was it that wanted me?”
“I’m not sure exactly which one of them it was that wanted you. I just know who it was that went to your house.”
She jumped off her husband’s lap so fast it startled me, and I took a step back, but it was no use because she clasped my shoulders hard to keep me in place. “Who is he? Where is he? Where?”
“Um, He’s back in the town I… where I was taken.”
“What’s his name, what does he look like?” She’d gone into agent mode, shooting rapid-fire questions at me.
“Hank, we need to get an artist here right now, I want his face.” She all but growled at her husband.
“There’s no need; I have something here that can take care of that.” He got up and walked across the room and said something low, too low for me to hear, and a part of the glass wall slid back and out of the way.
“Is that a robot?” He typed in something on the phone he withdrew from his pocket, and the lifelike thing came to life and started moving. “What the heck?” I was speechless, to say the least. Isn’t this stuff only real in the movies?
The robot came to the desk and sat down after Mancini entered some more commands. “Okay, you can tell him the description.” I was too flustered to start at first, but once I got that he was serious, I went for it. As I spoke, recalling the face from memory, a screen opened up on the wall, and the face began to form there. Oh, there’s no way he’s letting me leave here alive, not after all I’d seen. That was the only thought running through my head as I finished.
MANCINI
I’m a trembling mess, but I’m holding it all together for my wife. As soon as Catalina and Lily Anna got up to follow my wife and Roxana inside, I knew what they were up to. Since I didn’t have anything set up because I was expecting Roxana to tell Cierra whatever she had to out in the open, I had no choice but to follow them after telling the others to stay put.
I had to come up with something quick so as not to alert them to the fact that I was onto them, so I pretended that I had some leftover work in the lab. Catalina was not pleased neither was she amused, but they headed off to their room under the pretense that that is where they were headed all along, and I went into the lab to the computer.
I read along to everything Roxana was saying until she got to the part about my wife being the one they’d been after. I know her well enough to know how something like that would hit her. Now she’s in warrior mode. At least she was no longer trembling in my arms like a scared little girl. I was going to kill this bastard as soon as I found him anyway, but for that, I’m going to make it ten times worst than I had planned.
On the screen, a face began to take shape. He looked like any other dreg of society to me—a pockmarked disheveled heap with rotten front teeth and dirty blonde hair that fell into his eyes. Cierra squinted at the screen as if trying to place him, and I saw the frustration when she came away empty.
“I don’t remember his face, where is he now?” Roxana didn’t answer right away, and I could imagine from the look on her face what she was thinking. “It’s okay, kid, we’re here to help.” She didn’t look too certain, and then Jason walked into the room and went to her.
I didn’t miss the way she seemed to soften as soon as he stood next to her, or the way she leaned into the hand, he placed around her nape as if offering comfort. I wonder if he knows that that’s how a wolf plays with his mate? Only he uses his teeth to grab her just there. What the hell are you thinking about, Hank? Stay out of their business.