Page 28 of Lover
“No...wait, yes. Bruce is talking to Tuan. He’s telling him to ‘Get rid of him,’ to get rid of me before he gets out of the car and slams the door. The car is moving again, and I can’t focus...can’t stay awake, can’t move.”
“Okay Mannie, I know you’re scared. Just a little longer. Can you tell me...what’s the next thing you can remember?” Rand made a mental note to keep Agent Cummings on speed dial for hostage negotiations. The guy stayed calm and focused, his voice smooth and even throughout, no matter what Junior told them. It was a gift—one that few possessed.
“It’s so cold and dark, and my head is throbbing. My eyes don’t want to open. I have to make a conscious effort and when I can see, all I see is him. His eyes are black, full of hate, and he’s talking, can’t...he’s saying it’s my fault, that he’s going to kill me just like he’s killed all the boys that came before, and he’ll kill all the boys that come after.” Junior blinked, slumping in his chair. “Can we stop, please?” God, he sounded so broken.
“Of course.” Blair soothed the young man, patting him on the knee. “Are you okay to tell us what the hell you did after? How you wound up in Arizona?”
He laughed—well, it was an odd marriage of a laugh, snort, and condemning grunt, but a laugh nonetheless. “The big, dumb oaf never took my cell away. Of course, in his defense, he thought I was dead. When I came to, I was numb all over, but I managed to make my body roll sideways and remove my cell from my back pocket. I called my best friend that I’ve known since grade school, and he pinged my location on my iPhone and came and got me. His uncle is a doctor, so Petey took me to his place, and I was there...fuck, I can’t even tell you how long. I lost so much time—weeks just gone in an instant. Uncle Doctor went to college with the person that owns the apartment I’ve been living in for the past decade. She too is a survivor. Her ex-husband was an abusive alcoholic, so she understands the need for discretion and secrecy.”
Good Lord, what a fucking life to lead. To wake up in the middle of nowhere in winter in Washington with a busted open skull and a slit throat, the goddamn knife still threaded through his flesh. The poor guy had been to hell and lived to talk about it. Worse for wear, that much was certain, but alive. Junior went on to catalog his other ailments in the wake of his failed relationship with Bruce Pearson, and Rand was floored. How in the hell the kid hadn’t died that day was a miracle. The icing on the cake was the souvenir Tuan Nguyen had left, a token of his lack of affection, the knife.
Junior stood, stretching, and Rand took a moment to really look him over. Even with the scars and his constantly rattled appearance, he was quite striking. Long and lean, bordering on too thin, with pale skin and eyes that reminded Rand of the ocean. Dark and cloudy during a storm, calm and captivating when a warm breeze blew in. Rand jumped when Rory shouted. “What?Why the hell would he be in Dallas?”
Rand stood and crossed the room. “Who’s in Dallas?”
Connie pinched her nose, sighing in frustration. “Tuan is listed on the flight manifest for a flight out of Seattle late last night. That flight landed in Dallas this morning.”
“That makes no sense. Why would he come here?” Rand was confused. Chaos ensued. Junior heard the words “Tuan” and “Dallas” and freaked out again. Blair was trying to calm him down, to stop the young man from running, explaining that he was in a building full of men and women with guns. He was also in a room in that building with four people that would protect him at any cost. Connie took out her anger on her keyboard, cursing in Spanish while pounding the keys into submission. And Rory rushed over to his desk to grab his cell, obviously dialing Shannon. “Fuck! He’s not picking up.” Rory dialed again, rearing back to throw the phone across the room when it went to voice mail a second time. Rand rushed over and grabbed the phone from him.
Whirling around, he shouted for everyone to shut the fuck up. “Now, can any one of you tell me what would bring Tuan Nguyen to Dallas? It’s not like he knows that Shannon and Junior are even alive, much less that they’re both in Texas. So, help me understand this.”
“No, there’s no way.” Blair leaned against his desk, arms crossed. “I mean, did any of you list Shannon on anything while you were there? There really wouldn’t have been any need.”
“Oh God, Rand. He was in the waiting area when I tried to call Shannon. You said Shannon is safe back in Texas. You said his name.” Rory grabbed his gun and shield from his desk drawer and moved quickly toward the door.
“Gonzales, let’s go. Cummings, you stay with Junior and keep him safe,” Rand ordered, sprinting down the hall after Rory with Connie right behind him.
Chapter Twenty Five
Shannon
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His worst nightmarecame to life before his eyes when the door swung open, and Tuan Nguyen was standing there. Frozen and mute, Shannon stared at the devil in his doorway. “Look at you, all grown-up and fancy with your dance studio, loft apartment, and FBI boyfriend.” Tuan stepped into the apartment, and Shannon finally found his feet, walking backward until the kitchen cabinets stopped him.
“I always wondered about you Shannon—the one that got away, wondered if I’d ever see you again. He liked you more than any of the others. I daresay he loved you, but I’ve found you now, and I’m going to get rid of you like all the others.” It had been so many years since he’d cowered beneath Tuan’s menacing gaze. He snatched a picture off the top of the bookshelf against the wall by the door and only then did Shannon comprehend, only then did he see the long, jagged knife in Tuan’s black, gloved hand.
“Awwwww, so cute.” Tuan mocked him, dropping the frame on the floor, the sound of glass breaking snapping Shannon out of the haze of fear gripping him.
“Wait,” he gasped, Tuan’s words sinking in. “Get rid of me like the others? It was you. It wasn’t Bruce that killed all those guys, it was you.” It all clicked into place. Even after everything he’d been through, the pain and anguish he’d suffered at Bruce Pearson’s hands, Shannon had been hesitant to believe Bruce was a murderer. Seemed his gut instincts were right. It wasn’t Bruce; it was Tuan that had murdered the attorney’s former lovers.
Tuan laughed long and loud, throwing his head back and howling with glee. “You always were a smart little piece of shit, Shannon Dupree.”
He stepped sideways as Tuan came farther into the apartment, moving around to the other side of the counter and trying to slide the drawer open and keep both eyes on the menacing man in his home. Hands shaking, he managed to get it open far enough to grab a knife, holding it out in front of him, pointing the blade at the intruder. “Don’t come any closer.”
Oddly enough, Tuan stopped moving. The look he gave Shannon though, he couldn’t tell if the bodyguard wanted to kill him or kiss him, and it made his skin crawl. “Why did you do it? Why kill them, kill us? All they wanted to do was get away, to leave. Why kill them?” He was trying to make sense of the mind of a serial killer.
Lips snarling, Tuan’s smile was replaced with disgust and disdain. “Filthy whores, all of them, giving their innocence to Bruce without a second thought. And for what? Money, status? They sold themselves to him for what he could give them, just like you did dear, sweet Shannon. God, how I missed the opportunity to kiss your flesh with one of my blades. The noises you used to make while he broke you were exquisite, and I longed to cut you open and make you bleed.”
Oh, my, God! He’s insane...like, literally insane.Shannon spared a glance out the kitchen window, seeing the moon and stars in the night sky.Rory will be here any minute. He has to—it’s so late. But what if Tuan surprises him? What if he hurts Rory? Oh, God. No, no, no, no, no...this can’t be happening. Why is this fucking happening?Shannon fought to control his emotions, to ease his racing heart before he had a panic attack. Noise, he had to make noise. That would alert Rory that something was wrong and, hopefully, distract Tuan so he wouldn’t see Rory coming.
Darting over to the sink, he grabbed a pan from the dish drain and hurled it at Tuan, the big man lifting his arm and blocking the blow. He laughed, his feet bringing him closer to the kitchen, closer to Shannon; the sound was maniacal and eerie. “Well, look at you. Got some spunk in you now, little Shannon. Bet you could give Bruce a run for his money in the bedroom too.” The mention of Bruce and a bedroom in the same sentence with his name infuriated Shannon. He grabbed the glass coffee carafe and lobbed it across the room, snarling when Tuan sidestepped it, the glass crashing against the wall.
Needing both hands to cause maximum destruction, Shannon tossed the knife onto the counter and began an all-out assault with plates, glasses, anything he could get his hands on. Tuan was getting closer to him and madder by the second if the fire in his eyes was any indication. “No, never again. I will not allow you to hurt me ever again!” he hollered, rearing back and throwing a three-wick candle, clipping Tuan’s head.
“You’re going to pay for that in blood, you piece of shit.” Tuan growled.
A glint of metal caught his eye, the barrel of a gun, and the shadow of a man lingering in the darkness of the hallway beyond his front door. Standing there in the moment, watching the chaos that ensued, it felt like hours, standing in concrete, unable to move or stop something you could see happening before the fact. In reality, it took less than a minute for his book of life to be destroyed, the pages angrily torn from the spine.
