Page 14 of Intangible
“I’m still here.”
“Maybe next time it will be you who gets wet. That way, I can rip the clothes off of you. I think I’d like that.”
Memphis groaned aloud, adjusting his growing erection before disappearing.
Chapter 5
“You’d better not be havingany fucking ideas about her. I’ll cut your balls off and feed them to your dog. Thirty-three is too old for her.”
Memphis heard the gravelly threat from Knox when he came back, but it took him a few minutes to understand why it was directed at him. Looking down, he adjusted his seat when he saw the lingering erection.
“It’s nothing. I don’t ever get close to my finds; they often wind up dead,” Memphis said. Knox growled at him again before handing him a bottle of water.
“It’d better fucking be nothing.” Memphis rolled his eyes at him, pissing Knox off even more. The big man crossed his arms over his chest, the muscles of his forearms bulging as he scowled down at Memphis. Memphis knew, however, that he couldn’t find her without him, so he waited until Knox visibly started to calm.
“I had water and snacks delivered while you were gone,” Knox said after a few minutes. Standing, Memphis walked to the counter with the mini-fridge, digging out a stick of cheese.
“How do you know how old I am?” Memphis asked, turning to look at Knox.
“I saw your file. It had your birth date.”
“No, it didn’t. My file has the hell redacted out of it and is buried so deep at the Pentagon, no one should be able to find it. The government doesn’t want one of our enemies to discover what I can do. Just think of what Russia or North Korea could do with me. So answer my question. How did you know how old I am?”
“I called in a favor.” Knox shrugged like the information was no big deal.
“That’s a fucking big favor. What else do you know about me?”
“I know you and your mom were abandoned by your dad when you were around three. She died of cancer when you were seven. You bounced around foster homes until you won a full ride to the University of Tennessee to play baseball. Joining the ROTC program, you entered the Army for six years before attending vet school at Oklahoma State University.” Memphis’ heart rate sped up as he listened to Knox.
“I know exactly what you did for the Army and I know why they finally let you out.” Memphis sunk to the floor, putting his head between his knees. Knox had enough information to destroy him. He could simply sell him to the highest bidder.
When Murphy ran over, crawling under his legs, whimpering, Knox fell silent.
“What do you plan to do with me after this is over?” Memphis asked when he had his breathing back under control. He had to push the dog away to keep him from bathing his face with his tongue. Stretching across his lap, Murphy waited for Memphis to start petting him as he stared at the floor.
“What the fuck are you talking about? I’m not doing anything with you. I’m taking you home where you can live out your days expressing anal glands and cutting off balls. Shit like that.” Knox stood up worriedly, looking at Memphis. He knew his face was deadly white and he was pouring sweat. Memphis also knew the dog had just saved him from another full-blown panic attack.
“I would never make you do what you did in the Army. The only reason we came at all was because we were desperate.” Memphis nodded at Knox unconvincingly. Knox could never understand how much Memphis’ gift cost him. He didn’t understand what it meant to constantly live in fear of being discovered by someone wanting to hurt him.
Holding a hand out to Memphis, Knox pulled him off the floor.
“Let’s head to bed,” Knox said. “You take the bathroom first while I feed Murphy for you.” Memphis watched the dog happily follow Knox to his food bowl by the door before walking into the bathroom.
Splashing his face with water, his thoughts turned to Thayer shivering in that cold, dark cell. He didn’t think he could survive even one more death played out in front of him without losing his mind. They had to find her soon.
* * *
The next morning, both men were out of bed at five. After dressing, they walked in silence to the local diner for breakfast. Memphis did little more than rearrange the food on his plate. He still felt wrung out from last night.
“So I think they bring her food before they all have to head to practice somewhere. I need to be in place around six thirty, I think.” Memphis kept his eyes focused on his plate.
They had left Murphy in the room, so Knox wrapped up a couple pieces of bacon to take back to him.
“I should have just enough time to walk Murph before going back.”
“Yeah, sounds good. You about done?” Knox asked. They walked back to the room the way they had come, in silence. After walking the dog, Memphis settled into the chairs in the room. “Okay. I’ll be right here.”
“Whatever,” Memphis muttered, grabbing the bunny.
