The American nods and fixes his left shirt cuff. “So, short term physical torture doesn’t seem to bother you. I wish we had more time, but sadly, we don’t.” He taps his mouth with his finger. “I wonder how strong you are mentally.” He smirks. “Mr. Donovan, would you please join us?”
Cole’s gaze moves to the door when he hears footsteps.
It only takes a moment to realize who it is. A wheel of photos flicker through Cole’s memory, the most recent from when they were doing surveillance on the house and this guy showed up. A navy blue suit on his wiry body, with a cream-colored cloth bag over his head is hard to forget.
“I take it you recognize me?” he asks, smirking.
“I do,” Cole grunts.
“You see, Colonel, we have a problem. You screwed up a very important business deal for me.” He moves closer. “This can be very easily fixed if you would just give me Ms. Miller.”
Cole has an idea. He rotates his shoulder and flops his head around like he’s losing consciousness.
Mr. Donovan looks at The American. “Can you at least put him in a chair or something?” He points to Cole’s stomach. “This is offensive to me. I don’t need to see this all stretched and bloody.”
The American shakes his head slowly, annoyed, but calls for the men to come. “Don’t try anything,” The American says, sticking a 40mm in Cole’s face as the men release the pulley system and lower him into a wooden chair. They keep his hands and feet bound, but don’t tie him to the chair. He notices one of them is wearing a longhorn belt buckle. The horns look more like a weapon than a decoration.
A dull ache runs through him as he starts to feel the beating his body took, but he relishes the fact that his plan worked and he was released from the ceiling. His mind slips back into survival mode as he sits, his body starting to build strength as the seconds tick by.
“Now,” Mr. Donovan says as he takes a seat in front of him, “where’s the girl?”
Cole moves his tongue around his mouth. Tasting tin, he spits to his side…yup, blood. He looks over at the man, taking his time answering. “Why the girl?”
“Do you know who I am?” He leans forward in his chair. “I mean, really know who I am?”
“Luka Donovan, the mayor’s assistant.”
“Correct. I’ve known the mayor’s daughter for a long time,” he says, smiling at Cole.
Cole smiles back, but for a very different—much more violent—reason.
“You see, the mayor is up for reelection. The numbers are good, but due to his daughter’s constant fuck-ups, they’re not great. So, a change was necessary.” He leans back and shakes his head. “I never would have been able to pull it off if it wasn’t for Lynn.”
Cole always suspected Savannah’s best friend, but could never connect the dots.
“Savannah trusted her more than anyone,” he continues conversationally. “So, when Lynn and I met for dinner and she agreed she could get a customer of hers to pose as a prospective client who could lure her ‘friend’ down to the parking lot at the right time, it was perfect.”
“Joe Might?” Cole interrupts.
Luka nods with a shrug. “You see, Colonel, much like in your profession, I, too, meet a lot of shady people. You start to learn things. Like money doesn’t always buy you what you want, but a pretty face and a smoking body like Savannah’s can.”
Before Cole even thinks about what he is doing, he lunges forward, plowing Luka off his chair and into the wall.
Luka grunts as the wind is knocked out of him.
Cole elbows him in the face and knees him in the stomach just as he feels a hard crack between his shoulder blades. He drops to the ground, and the butt of the gun collides with his temple. The pain doesn’t register as he tries to get back up, but The American sticks the gun in his face, and he freezes.
“Make one more move, and I’ll blow your head off,” he hisses.
Cole closes his eyes, teeth grinding loudly, no doubt trying to calm himself.
“Get him out of here!”
Two men grab hold of Cole, and another keeps his gun in his face.
He sees Luka in a ball on the floor, moaning and holding his stomach. He tries to force himself to control his thoughts, as the deadly violence in them will probably get him killed if he doesn’t. Handcuffing him to a water pipe in a small closet and slamming the door closed, they leave him alone in the dark. Cole shifts and leans his head against his hands, using pressure to stop the bleeding from his temple. He lets out a long sigh and thinks of all the ways he could escape. He just needs to get his hands on a weapon.
A small breeze of cool air next to where the pipe meets the wall draws his attention. He lines his eye up with the one-inch hole, and he can see outside. There are lights about twenty yards away. He must be in a small town. He turns back around when he hears footsteps, then muffled voices and a loud crack, followed by a thump. The light under his door goes dark as something is dragged outside the room. He shakes his head, not eager to know.
He pulls at the pipe to test its strength. He leans back, kicking at the base of it, but it’s no use. “Fuck!” he whispers to himself, resting his head against the wall. He needs sleep. He closes his eyes, but all he can think about is Savannah. She must be beside herself right now. His chest hurts at the thought of her. He knows she will be devastated to find out Luka and Lynn are behind her kidnapping.