Jacob
“Back off.”
Mitch and Driver are blocking my way to the chopper, which is about to take off with Rajani.
“There’s no room for you in there,” Mitch points out.
“I fucking need to tell her something.”
I want her to know I love her before it’s too late.
“You’re just gonna hold them up,” he insists. “She needs to get to a hospital.”
I can see the helicopter take off from the field in front of the lodge. Too late now. I drop my head and hunch my shoulders. I’ll never fucking forgive myself if something happens to her.
She looked bad. By some fluke the bullet had broken the window, missed Olson, and ended up in Rajani’s chest, right below her left breast. I heard someone say her lung had collapsed.
Jesper Olson may have escaped the bullet, but he did not survive the deep cut in his neck. It’s uncertain whether that had been intentional or by accident.
“Let’s get you looked at and then we can follow her to the hospital,” Mitch suggests.
I want to object but suddenly all the fight is gone from my body. I’m exhausted. My hand comes up to the back of my head, where Wheeler’s bullet apparently grazed me. At the time I didn’t even feel it, but my head is throbbing now.
I watch with a weird detachment as Wheeler is brought out in handcuffs by one of the CARD members, limping slightly as a result of having been tackled to the ground by Opal. He’s placed in the back of one of the CARD vehicles. Next two body bags are brought out. One I know holds Gordon Chen’s body, and the other Jesper Olson.
The EMT looking at me in the back of the ambulance a few minutes later tells me I’m lucky. I’d have gladly—and without hesitation—passed on any luck to Rajani. If by some diabolically cruel fate she does not survive, I’ll wish myself dead, like I did fifteen years ago when I woke up in a military hospital in Germany.
All of this, all these years, would’ve been for nothing.
Things were unresolved after she discovered who I was, but even if there’s no hope for us as a couple, I would want her to live with the knowledge she is loved.
She always was.
“So…Jacob.”
I lift my head and meet Janey’s eyes. It’s no use hanging onto the aliases I created for them.
“What the hell is with the cloak-and-dagger stuff?” she snaps.
I’m glad someone broke the heavy silence that’s hung in the hospital waiting room for however long we’ve been waiting here.
“Easy, Janey,” Lee mitigates.
Her dark eyes snap to her partner. “Easy? I just want to understand why the secrecy. I don’t get it.”
“I do,” Kate offers, her eyes narrowed on me. “Because we already knew him before he became Jacob, didn’t we?”
“What are you talking about?” Mitch asks his spouse.
Her eyes never leave mine.
“It’s Nathan, right? We were told you were dead. Raj was never the same.”
Janey jumps to her feet. “Nathan? Are you kidding me?”
Mitch throws up his hands.
“Will someone please the fuck explain what is going on?”
“I can,” I volunteer. Time to pay the piper. “My name was Nathan Ramos when I was at Transition House and Rajani Agarwal was my girlfriend. I was—”
“Yeah,” Janey scoffs, “and then he disappeared, apparently faked his death, and left all of us there in that hellhole.”
“Janey, let the man explain,” Lee suggests, I’m sure motivated by journalistic curiosity.
She huffs in response, but stays quiet.
“I was taken from Transition House by Wheeler, and kept prisoner in his house for almost three-and-a-half years.”
“Bullshit,” Janey mumbles.
“I wish,” I react. “Raj and I were leaving. We had a plan to make our way to Lexington and find someone who would believe us. We knew we couldn’t trust local law enforcement, but wanted to get help for everyone at the house. Wheeler intercepted us in the kitchen. We were so close.”
“How come Rajani never told us?” Kate questions.
“I hope with all my heart you’ll get a chance to ask her that,” I reply. “But my guess is he threatened all of you if Raj told anyone, just like he threatened to hurt all of you, if I did not comply with his wishes.”
“We were already being hurt,” Kate reminds me.
“He told me he could get a good price for you abroad,” I convey. “I thought you’d stand a better chance here in the U.S.”
“Why would Wheeler want to keep you a prisoner?” Lee asks.
I glance at him.
“Because he prefers boys. I didn’t resist when he took me. I thought I was keeping the girls safe. He led me to believe he still had control over them. Then one day he brought me back to Transition House. Other than Josh Kendrick, Elsbeth Sladky, and David Wheeler, no one else was there. I overheard them talk about the sale of the property, and the need to clear out the basement.”
“That’s where the conditioning was done,” Kate explains to Lee and Mitch. “I remember there were different apparatuses and even toys down there, I can see why they’d want to clear that out.”
“Fucking hell,” Mitch hisses.
To which Janey comments, “Yes, it was.”
“I set the fire when they were down there,” I admit. “I guess after three plus years under his control, Wheeler didn’t think I’d step out of line. He was wrong. The moment all three of them were down there I locked the door, pulled the hall tree and any other furniture I could get my hands on quickly in front of the door. Then, with fuel siphoned from the vehicles outside, I set the whole damn pile ablaze.”
It’s like, now I’m free of the burden of anonymity, there is no stopping the purging of secrets.
“Good,” Mitch grumbles. “Too bad they didn’t die there. How did they get away?”
“An old coal cellar I didn’t even know was there.”
I remember running out of the building and hiding in a tree on the grounds to watch the place burn down. I was convinced I’d killed them when I suddenly saw the ground move right underneath one of the kitchen windows. A door was flung open and I saw three figures crawling out, covered in black soot. It looked like something from a horror movie, three monsters crawling straight from the pits of hell.
I ran like I had the devil on my heels.
But for many months after I was plagued by nightmares.
“Rajani Agarwal’s family?”
We all surge to our feet when a young man in scrubs walks into the waiting room, a face mask tucked under his chin. He looks around the room, appearing somewhat puzzled. I imagine we look like a motley crew.
“We are,” Janey speaks up.
“Very well. Surgery was successful, I ended up resecting a small, damaged part of the lower left lobe and was able to remove the bullet. Of course, we’ll also need to monitor the concussion she sustained. We will see in the next day or so, but she’ll likely make a full recovery.”
Relief has me sinking back down in my chair and I drop my face in my hands.
“When can we see her?” I hear Kate ask.
“She’s still a little groggy and in the recovery room. I’ll have a nurse come and get you when you can come in. One at a time for now though.”
“Maybe Jacob should go first,” Kate suggests when the surgeon leaves the room.
I shake my head and get to my feet. “No, you guys go. I need to go find Matt Driver.”
I have to confirm I’ve done everything I can to make sure Wheeler will never see the light of day again. Plus, there’s the matter of the other individuals the CARD team was able to pick up from the cabins at Grandview Estate. I need to tell them all I know.
“Can’t believe you’re leaving. Again,” Janey grumbles when I pass her on the way out the door.
Her words stop me in my tracks, but I don’t bother turning around.
“I’m leaving to finish the job, making sure all loose ends are tied. Make no mistake though, I love that woman more than life itself.”
With that I walk into the hallway, only to feel a hand clamp on my shoulder when I’m waiting for the elevator. When I turn both Lee and Mitch are standing behind me.
“We’re coming with you,” Lee announces.
“You won’t get very far without wheels,” Mitch points out.
It’s the male version of forgiveness.
I’ll take it.
Onyx
The last things I remember are the knife in my hand, the shock of the window shattering, a sudden, immense pressure on my chest, and then falling backward.
Janey told me I likely lost consciousness when my head hit the ground. She also told me Wheeler is in custody and his son is dead. I assumed the same bullet that struck me had killed him, but I guess I was wrong.
“You mean he wasn’t shot?” I ask Agent O’Neill, the federal agent who came in with Matt Driver.
O’Neill shakes his head. “No, both his carotid artery and jugular vein were severed.”
My blood turns to ice.
“Are you saying his neck was cut?”
“Almost more like a stab wound, but yeah. You don’t remember cutting him? I understand you had the knife to his throat?”
It sure sounds like an accusation. Please, tell me this isn’t happening. Am I going to get charged?
“I did,” I tell him honestly.
I’m not going to lie about it. If they want to charge me with something they can go right ahead. There is no way Jacob would let that happen. At least I’m guessing he wouldn’t. I wouldn’t really know, since I haven’t seen him since I woke up in the hospital.
That was three days ago. I know he’s been asking for updates, but he hasn’t called or shown up. Of course, I haven’t called him either. I’m still struggling with everything that has happened, and that includes seeing him so vulnerable, strapped to that spanking bench. Good God.
I would’ve done anything to spare him more agony.
“I didn’t know I cut him, but I’m not going to apologize for it. I had a knife to his throat in self-defense.”
“You have nothing to worry about,” Matt assures me. “We know it was self-defense. There are no repercussions for that.”
He directs a sharp look at Agent O’Neill who seems annoyed, but changes his tone.
“I’m merely making sure I have all the details right. This is a large and complicated case that spans decades, involves a lot of suspects, victims, and locations. We need to be meticulous to make an airtight case against Mr. Wheeler.”
O’Neill spends a little longer asking me questions and clarifying details, when we’re interrupted by a nurse who wheels in a cart. When she announces the doctor will be by shortly to remove the drainage tube from my chest, both agents jump to their feet.
“We’ll let you get some rest,” O’Neill says, before leaving the room.
Matt walks over to the bed and grabs my hand.
“I don’t want you to worry about anything, okay? You heal up and I’ll be in touch.”
The only thing I’ll say about removing the damn tube is that I’d opt for a root canal any day, given the choice. Unpleasant, as the nurse warned me it might be, has to be the understatement of the year.
“Keep an eye on that,” the doctor instructs me. “It can continue to drain a little bit the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours. If it goes on for longer than that, call my office. Keep up with your exercises, they’re important, and I’ll see you again for a follow-up in four weeks. Until then, you need rest, don’t overdo it. Do you have someone to look after you when you get home?”
“I do,” I lie.
I’ll figure things out when I get back to my apartment. Janey and Kate will help out where they can. I’m sure one of them won’t mind picking up a few of my things at Four Oaks to tide me over until I can pick up all my belongings.
“Can we call someone to pick you up?”
I smile at the nurse. “I have a friend coming. She’ll be here any moment.”
Kate said she’d be here at four, with something for me to wear. I’m going to need it because I have no idea where my little black dress went. I’m assuming it wasn’t salvageable.
“In that case, let me get your discharge papers together so you’re ready when she gets here.”
Fifteen minutes later, I’m confused when Bernie walks in, carrying a tote bag. I look behind her to see if perhaps she came with Jacob, but it looks like she’s alone.
“How are you feeling, dear?” she asks, dropping the tote bag on the foot of the bed.
“Getting better, thank you.” I smile at her, a little nonplussed. “I’m surprised to see you here.”
“I offered to take you back to the farm. It made more sense, since I’ll be looking after you the next few weeks anyway.”
There is no way I can hide the fact I’m taken aback.
“You are? That’s…um…that’s very kind of you. I’m sorry, I had no idea.”
“Of course you didn’t. Jacob is so used to doling out orders, he sometimes forgets to communicate like a normal person,” she says with a little shake of her head.
Then, as if it’s the most normal thing in the world, she pulls a pair of my yoga pants, my favorite slouchy sweater, and a pair of underwear out of the bag. It’s actually something I would’ve picked out.
“Are you okay on your own, or do you need help?”
“Um…I think I’ll be okay, thank you.”
I swing my legs out of bed and grab the clothes she pulled out, disappearing into the bathroom. I take my time, splashing some water on my face, putting on some deodorant, and brushing my teeth, while I ponder how I should proceed. I really don’t want to upset Bernie—it’s very sweet of her to do this—but somewhere in all of this arranging, someone forgot to notify me.
I shove my toiletries into the small bag Kate brought me a few days ago, and quickly dress in the clothes Bernie came with. It’s amazing how much something so simple tires me out.
So much so, I don’t complain when Bernie has a wheelchair waiting for me when I walk back into the room. She grabs my toiletry bag and gestures for me to take a seat. Then she places the tote in which she put all my belongings on my lap, and wheels me to the elevators.
I’ll go to the farm with her and not complain, but only so I can address Jacob’s highhandedness with him directly.
It’s about time he and I had a good talk.