Page 45 of Resurrect Me

The door slams open, smacking the wall behind it, as a recruit rushes in. He’s sweating through his black t-shirt and is flanked by a middle-aged woman wearing a gray jumpsuit. She looks familiar, but I can’t quite place her.

“Mr. King?”

I rise from my seat at the head of the table.

“Yes, what can I do for you, Sir? Ma’am?”

The young man nods his head and looks visibly nervous. His hands are shaking and a bead of sweat rolls off his forehead.

“Well, umm, I think you might want to come see this,” the man says. “The mole has some kind of device attached to him.”

“A device? What the fuck does that mean?” Clyde bellows.

“Like a tracker, Sir,” the woman chimes in. “Just under the skin at the back of his head.”

“How did you find it, Ma’am?” I ask.

“He passed out and Bran noticed a bump on the back of his head. Just above his spine. And the name is Jackie,” she says.

“He’s sleeping?”

She shakes her head, “not exactly. We had to knock him out. Every time someone went in there, he’d freak the fuck out. Cursing. Spitting. Even bit another recruit that brought him some water.”

I laugh despite the situation. Which garnered some rather dubious looks from my crew. “That’s Reggie. Well, thank you, Jackie and Bran. But we won’t be punching my best friend anymore. Suspected spy or not. I’ll go see him now.”

Clyde, Thor, Shawn, and I leave the council room and head towards the interrogation room. As we walk the hall, I can’t help but ruminate. I hate the idea that my best friend is being held on suspicion that he’s the fucking Org’s spy. A traitor. And being imprisoned in the room Tacy and I just made love in, no less. Well…fucked.

Chapter 24

Tacy

It’s the second week I’ve been on vacation from work, and I’m losing my fucking mind. The kids only keep me busy when they’re not at school. All I can do is sit around and obsess over my husband being alive, how I’m supposed to keep that a secret, and how he’s part of a secret militia that’s formed to take out some elite group of criminals. And I’m supposed to just sit around and accept all of this and do nothing about it? When one of The Org’s members had me kidnapped and nearly killed by my homicidal ex-boyfriend? I’m not one to sit idly by and do nothing. My mother used to say I didn’t just get into trouble, that trouble found me. I’m starting to believe she might have been right.

I pour myself another cup of coffee and take a seat at the kitchen table. My laptop sits on the other side, taunting me with its knowledge. My fingers itch to do more research, but my brain is telling me to distance myself from it. Maybe keeping myself in the dark a little bit might be better than knowing everything. Because the more I know, the more I want to join Aris in wiping the earth clean of these sick mother fuckers in power. Although he wants me to stay out of it. I’m in too deep now, though. So, fuck it.

I slide the laptop over and open it. I type in my code and open the browser. Then I research someone I should’ve already known everything about: Declan Harvey. I scan Google, first perusing Dee’s political website, one I’ve seen quite a few times, then scanning his social media pages for any clues. I don’t really know what I’m looking for, just anything that stands out as fishyor linking him to pharmaceutical companies, big corporations with a dark history, et cetera. But all I find is a stream of cheesy photographs taken of Declan in front of the capital building downtown, in his office, and shaking hands with the Senator. I’ve almost given up when something catches my eye. Well…someone. In a picture taken at a restaurant downtown, Declan stands next to the Senator, and just behind him and to the right, is one of the shareholders of the hospital chain I work for. “That mother fucker. I knew he was dirty. I fucking knew it.”

I click on the photo and expand to get a better look at their faces. To see if I recognize anyone else in the photo. And my doorbell rings. Probably just a delivery. I stand up and peek out the front window. Yes, there’s a box on the front step. I open the front door and bend down to retrieve it. I pick it up, easily, and it’s almost as if the box itself is empty. I turn around to walk inside when the world around me grows fuzzy. Wavy. And then…it’s lights out.

I come to and immediately realize I’m in my home…but I’m restrained. My hands are cuffed behind my back and attached to the kitchen chair, my vision is blurry, and my mouth is covered with duct tape. I peer down and see my legs tied to each of the chair legs.

“What the fuck?!” I push out a muffled scream.Who the fuck did this to me?Someone drugged me and tied me up…in my own kitchen. Was it Aris? No. He would never drug me like this.

I look around, but everything’s still blurry. Everything seems the same in my kitchen, though. I blink my eyes rapidly, trying to focus my vision…until finally, the fog clears, and I see him. Standing in the hallway, staring at me, a serrated knife in one hand. A smirk on his smug face.

“Ahh, there you are,” Declan sneers. “I thought you’d never wake up.”

I try to lift myself in the chair and try to shake myself free. But all I manage to do is knock myself over on the floor, sending Declan into a fit of sickening laughter.

“Oh, Tacy, Tacy, my love,” he chides. “Always so rambunctious. So feral.”

Declan crouches beside me and runs a hand through my hair. I nearly gag on my own vomit rising in the back of my throat. I glance at the knife in his other hand and grit my teeth. Tears threaten to spill from my eyes, but I forbid myself from showing this dickhead any semblance of emotion. Is he going to kill me? He has enough reason to. For one, I rejected him. And second, he knows that I know about the Duselizab deaths. This little antic only solidifies my suspicions that he was the one who hired Starkey to abduct me in the first place. But this isn’t the first time I’ve been tied up. And he should know by now, I’m fucking resilient. I ain’t going down without a fight.

He sets his knife on my kitchen table with a clink and flips me up, chair and all, so that I’m upright again. Now I’m face to face with him. I growl as I imagine all the violent things I’d like to do to him. Knock that arrogant look off his face. Slit his throat with his own god damn knife. Push him off a fucking cliff.

“There’s no need to fight me, Tacy,” Declan whispers. His breath is hot on my face. I pull back, but inevitably there’s nowhere for me to go. I’m bound, gagged, and exactly where everyone knows I’m supposed to be. At home. I glance at the clock on the wall. It’s almost time to pick up the kids. And…once again…I won’t be there. What if my mom picks them up and comes here? Will they see my dead body lying in the kitchen?

Declan waves the knife around in the air, then brings it dangerously close to my face. The metal gleams in the kitchen light, matching his slimy yet shiny smile. Veneers. Probably got an upgrade when The Org placed him in office. I grunt and wiggle, fighting against the chair that’s keeping me bound, and hoping I can free myself. Which is ridiculous, I know, but in the moment, you’ll try anything to liberate yourself from your captor.

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