A Family Stolen
Disclaimer: I own nothing
A/N:
Chapter 10 (Another Victim)
"Jade. Jade West." Hayley laughed openly as she made her way towards Jade like a devil walking through fire. Jade held her breath and pushed her hands into her jean pockets, locking her thumbs through her belt loop. "God it's been how long?" Hayley tossed her hair back and grinned.
"A while." Jade tried her best to make sure not to show any fear, but wasn't sure how she was doing. Normally she would be able, but not when all she saw was all the ways this woman could murder her.
She'd stared down people before; but those were people she could control, people who she never thought could do a damn thing to her. This was different. This was a known killer, someone with a violent history that had the means, the power and ability to kill her. This wasn't someone she could bully, this wasn't a person she could talk down to that wasn't going to retaliate against her; this was a devil.
"How have you been?" She smiled politely, attempting to maintain her composure. There was a slight waver in her voice, however, and she instantly hoped Hayley didn't notice. "I heard your dad's club was under new ownership." Hayley clicked her tongue and moved her eyes up, appearing to gaze past her with a dull expression.
"Yeah, it seems people didn't think he was running his business the right way." Hayley shrugged and crossed her arms.
Thinking about what Sikowitz had been teaching them, Jade tried to observe Hayley's body language while figuring out ways to escape. Hayley was standing tough, almost like Jade used to back her days of bullying people. Her pose was intimidating, dangerous, and not open in any way.
At her belt, she had what looked like a switchblade knife clipped on her right. Jade swallowed silently, thinking about how quick Hayley could drag that knife a cross her throat without a moment of remorse or thought. "Well what have you been up to these days, Hayley?" The two men started to move forward, standing on either side of her.
Jade tried not to react, breathing in slow and relaxing her body. The second woman walked out from behind Hayley and appeared to be moving past the guys. She raised an eyebrow and motioned. "Who's that, and what happened to the other girl?"
Hayley's eyebrows slid up in the center and she tilted her head. "Tara? Yeah, we're no longer friends." Jade frowned and watched as Hayley gave a nonchalant shrug, treating her old friend as though she were nothing more than an acquaintance met in passing. "She thought I was too controlling, but whatever. She's not my problem anymore."
Jade turned and tensed her face. "Yeah. No offense, but I don't like being crowded. Think you could step back a little bit?" The guys next to her raised their hands up and took a small step away. The second woman crossed her arms and stared back at her with a deep scowl. "Thanks."
"So." Hayley reached over, touching Jade's hair and smiling while running her fingertips through the red highlight. Jade stiffened and retained her polite smile. "It's so funny that I ran into you here." The girl let out an airy laugh and narrowed her eyes. "You know, I've thought about you from time to time since my dad lost his job."
"Oh yeah?"
"I forgive you for what you did." Jade raised an eyebrow. "I blamed you for so long. You see, when daddy lost his job because of your friends' stunt, he…" Hayley's voice trailed off for a second and her blank expression returned. There was an empty, somewhat soulless look in her eyes that terrified Jade. "Daddy withdrew. He stopped talking, stopped doing anything. It was like the life got sucked away from him. He never left the dining room chair."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"I know." Jade sniffed the air and focused her mind on the malice that seemed hidden in Hayley's tone. "Tara was so worried too, poor dear. She was there when my father passed away, it was tragic." Jade's chest began to tremble and the lump in her throat swelled as fear started to rise up in her heart. "It was so tragic that she took it harder than I did."
"Huh?"
"Poor Tara, kept bashing her head against the table, crying and screaming. It wasn't as though my father had become useless once he lost his job. I mean, however was he going to buy shit?"
Hayley's tone started to darken, and Jade watched the girl's hand fall beside the switchblade knife. The fingertips twitched beside it, her long and red nails tapping it gently. "How did he pass, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Suicide." The word rolled off Hayley's tongue like it was nothing. There was no doubt in Jade's mind that it wasn't true. There was no pain, no sorrow or emotion expressed. "My heart was broken, I mean what on earth was I going to do?"
"I don't know." She stammered, unable to contain the fear inside of her any longer. It was clear to her what happened. Hayley murdered her father in cold blood, and Tara was witness. Tara must have freaked, wanted to call the cops, and was murdered as well. "You moved on, the best you could?"
Hayley flashed a sick smile. "I tried to be strong. I had to take care of myself now." Hayley's fingertips embraced the tip of the switchblade handle, caressing it as though an object of fascination. Hayley closed her eyes and let out a soft groan. "Yes, I moved on, my boyfriend showed me how."
"Oh, you've got a boyfriend? Good for you." Jade started to turn, chuckling nervously. "But I really must get going." Hayley's eyes shot open and the girl glared at her skeptically.
"But where are you headed? Weren't you about to cross the street?"
"I was, but I just remembered I forgot something at the store."
Jade turned her back to Hayley, despite knowing the move was one of the worst mistakes she could have made when dealing with a violent person. "It can wait." She heard the sound of the knife flicking out and felt a rush of adrenaline in her. "I think it would be best for you to come with us, my boyfriend is really eager to meet you."
"No, I've got somewhere I need to be."
"I wasn't asking you." Without another word, Jade took off running, holding her purse strap on her shoulder. "Shit, get back here!" Her heart raced as she heard the sound of feet striking the sidewalk behind her.
"I'm done talking to you, Hayley."
"We're not finished here."
She wasn't going to be victim to this woman; she knew exactly what Hayley had in store for her. "If you want my money, I'll give you my purse."
"I don't want your fucking money bitch, I want your life." Jade ran around the corner of a building and rushed down the alleyway, knocking over metal trash bins and any other debris she could. She heard Hayley grunt and picked up her pace, feeling that every second Hayley hit an obstacle was a second she got further ahead. "Quit that. I only want to talk. Let us work this out."
"There's nothing to work out, I want nothing to do with you." She needed to learn to fight, but even then she knew fighting back wouldn't be a smart move. Most people would say when faced with a criminal that had a weapon, the best thing was not to get tough but to stay calm and try and find an escape; never confront or combat the attacker. "You're not going to kill me."
"Kill? No dear, my boyfriend wants you alive."
"Who the fuck is your boyfriend? I don't even know him. What does he want with me?"
"That's not for you to know yet."
Jade ducked into another alley, stopping when she came up to a dead end. Her chest was heaving with each heavy breath and her knees started to buckle as her widening eyes focused on the brick wall. "No," she said with a swift exhale. "Oh god no."
"Finally!" Shadows extended along the alley and on the wall. Jade's heart sank and she turned her head, whimpering as Hayley's darkening glare focused on her. "Relax Jade, I just want to talk." Jade glanced to the knife in the girl's hand and pointed to it.
"With that?" Hayley looked down and chuckled softly before closing and pocketing the blade.
"There." The girl showed her open palms and smirked. "Happy?"
"I'd be a lot happier if you put that knife on the ground."
"Oh please, if I really wanted to kill you, you'd be dead already." Jade backed up until her shoulders and waist touched the wall. Hayley walked towards her with a menacing gait, chuckling darkly. "We're really going to have fun with you. You ruined my dad, I hope you know."
"Your dad ruined himself. It was only a matter of time before someone complained. If it wasn't my group, it could have been someone else." She pressed her palms against the wall and kept her gaze focused on Hayley. She could feel her heart practically jumping out of her chest, filling her head with its incessant beating.
"Whatever." Hayley cracked her knuckles and flared her nostrils. "You can't even begin to understand the severity of what's about to happen."
"You don't say." She scanned the area, trying to see if there was anything that could be used as weapon against this deranged psychopath. She saw a crowbar, but it was behind Hayley and in front of the three people in her group.
"Hey!" Jade's heart stopped and she watched as Hayley jerked around, startled by the familiar tone. To her surprise and relief, she saw Jason and Andre rushing the group from behind. Andre grabbed one of the men in a headlock and tackled him to the ground while Jason performed a sweeping kick into the second man's head.
"Son of a bitch." Hayley growled and flicked out her switchblade while turning her back to Jade. "Where in the fuck did you assholes come from?"
"Bad idea." Buckling forward, Jade charged like a bull into Hayley's back. The girl shrieked and fell towards the ground, leaving time for Jade to sweep the floor with her hand and grab the crowbar. Rising up, she saw the other girl running for her, practically on top of her. "No!" She swung the crowbar up and struck the girl in the jaw with the back curve.
Her eyes widened as the girl collapsed to the ground and grabbed her face, screaming out in pain. The men continued to fight with their targets, leaving Hayley to push herself from the ground.
"Oh you little whore." Hayley wiped saliva from her lips and Jade turned slowly towards her. "You are going to pay for that. I am going to make you suffer." Hayley's eyes darkened and the woman let out a powerful scream while charging for her. "Come here you little bitch, I don't care what my boyfriend's got planned, I'll cut your heart out and feed it to the fish!"
"You are one sick little princess." Jade ducked in time to avoid a sweep from Hayley's knife. Thinking fast, she swung the crowbar and struck Hayley in the side with the back curve. Hayley's eyes bulged from her head and she flung herself away.
"Damn you!" The woman put her hand to her stomach and gnashed her teeth. Jade kept her eyes on the knife, not wanting to get slashed without seeing the attack. "I'll have your head. I'll deliver it to them on a silver platter." Hayley swung in a downward arc, full of ferocity and intent, her eyes filled with a fire like that which Jade hadn't seen before.
Thinking fast, Jade swung the crowbar upwards. "I hope you like tetanus, bitch." Hayley's eyes grew large as the pointed prongs of the crowbar dug into her wrist and cut through the side of her hand, tearing away the blade, skin and bone. Jade was horrified by what she'd done, but in that moment all she could think about was her own safety.
Hayley's scream echoed in the air and the glare Jade received looked like a glare from the devil himself. "This isn't over." Hayley ran past her, ignoring her crew while clutching her wounded and bleeding hand as firmly as she could.
Andre pinned his target and Jason's lay unconscious beside them. It wasn't long before Sikowitz, Sam and Beck showed up with pistols drawn. The adrenaline rush left Jade, and the relief caused her to collapse to her knees in a frenzy of tears.
"What the hell, Jade?" Jason narrowed his eyes and looked at her as though she were insane. "Beck called us and told us you'd been tailing people. Thank god we found you. Driving all over the place, we saw you running this way..."
Jade could hardly speak, to rattled and frenzied. When she attempted to explain her actions, she could only blather.
Beck holstered his gun and hurried over to her, draping a towel around her shoulders and holding her. "It's alright," he said, "It's okay." Sikowitz and Sam started making arrests, though Jade was concerned it would raise red flags to their investigation.
"I-If you arrest them, won't people know what we're doing?"
"Not quite," Sikowitz muttered. Police sirens filled the air and Jade looked up to her mentor with mournful eyes. "This was an attack against you, and you're stating Hayley seemed mad about her father losing his job, right?"
"Right…"
"So it becomes about that. Not about the other thing."
"Oh. Good, I suppose." She wrapped her towel tighter around her body, clutching it firmly and shaking back and forth as the police arrived to take the gang members. "That was close, too close."
Jason shook his head and crossed his arms. "Hayley got away too." Jade looked down at the crowbar in front of her and shrugged.
"I got a chunk of her hand." Tears welled up in her eyes and she quickly cleared her throat. "I um, I think I need to learn to fight."
"It's better to try and flee, like you did; but yeah, it wouldn't hurt to learn some self-defense. You could benefit from knowing how to disarm an attacker."
"Could you teach me?"
"I suppose. First thing's first though, let's get you home."
Jade raised her head, speaking low and under her breath. "She's insane. Hayley is…truly insane." Jason raised his eyebrows and Beck whistled as she hugged herself tighter. "I never saw anybody so-I don't know. The way she talked, the way she acted; and you know what else?"
Sikowitz walked up, with Sam and Andre in tow. "What is it, Miss West?"
"I think she may have killed her father and best friend. I'm almost certain she did. The way she talked about them. No emotion when she said her dad committed suicide, and then talking about how Tara was so grieved that she started bashing her own head on the table."
Sikowitz's brow furrowed and he exchanged a concerned look with Sam. "Um, Miss West." Jade hummed curiously, looking up at him. "Her father's in Detective Malone's cold case files. He was found with a stab wound in his back…also, Tara Ganz has been missing ever since."
Jade was too numb to be horrified or shocked. She couldn't say she was surprised, but she didn't want to be right.
Once the police were gone and it was just them, she tried to be able to relax. Sikowitz turned to her once more, breathing in deep. "Beck said you found something out about Sinjin…as much as I hate to ask, because he said it pertains to our investigation…what is it?"
"You won't like it." She tried to walk forward, trembling in her step. Beck had to grab her to help her stabilize. She thanked him with a nod and met Sikowitz's eyes. "He's involved." Sikowitz frowned and bowed his head.
"You're right, I don't like that."
"It sounds like he doesn't want to be though." Beck slid an arm around her waist and she leaned against his body for warmth. "Take me home. I'll tell you everything I heard. It-It could help us."
Well, that was intense. What are your thoughts about everything here? Good thing the others were out looking for her.