Hi: Thank you for your patience. The last two chapters were of a different style. Fast moving with information, but lacking detail. I needed that to set up the future chapters.
Chapter 68
All things come to a head
"Ben!" The almost screeching voice of Maddie travels the length of the small motel room.
"Maddie, what…" The lifeless body of John halts his words.
"Ben, he…they kidnapped me."
"Who!?" The stern tone freezes the distraught young woman. Moist eyes let out a deluge of tears as trembling hands glide from her face to the wild, matted hair.
"Ben, it was money. Somehow Tia is…was involved. " She takes a breath and a sudden strength flows through her veins. She stands erect and grabs Ben's arm.
"I killed him. I didn't mean it. But…" Another pause as Maddie inhales raising her chest.
"Maddie, when you called me you were hysterical." His arms circle her tense form.
"That doesn't matter. Everything is in focus for me. Everything…" She pulls him closer and pushes her lips onto his. Her mouth opens shooting a twirling tongue as if to devour his soul. She pulls back.
"I'm pregnant."
Ben stiffens at her declaration.
"I don't know who the father is, but I know one thing."
"Maddie, you don't have to talk say anything." His blue eyes sparkle. Ben's gaze is one of discovery. He has never seen her with such strength and command.
"I love you, her tone is almost defiant. I've always loved you." She puts her finger to his lips. The anxious woman needs to finish.
"I don't know why Ryn let you continue with the injections."
Ben tries to speak but is stopped by Maddie's sharp words.
"Did she do it so you and her would be together under the sea, and I'm left brokenhearted and lonely on shore." She snorts a shot laugh at the suggestion.
"But Maddie. She wants you to experience what she and I have together. You know she loves you. She wants you to have the stem cells."
"Really…" Maddie's lips tighten as she sweeps her upper teeth over a lower lip.
"Ben, I know she loves me as I love her…but undersea creature or just some jealous bitch on land, she wants to be your number one."
"Maddie, no." His quick reply as he pushes her away.
"Look at what she has done to you. Don't you see it?" Everyone sees it. Even your mother." Maddie touches Ben's chin and turns it to meet her vision. "You were a free spirit. You never played those macho, bossy games with me…" Her tense facial muscles relax, as her expression melts into compassion. Eyes begin to moisten as a sparse smile emerges. "Ben, she is a woman, a female. You think any woman wants to share someone they love?"
Ben's cell phone signals a call.
"It's Ryn."
Maddie's eyes squint as strained facial muscles tighten.
After a fragmented conversation with an angry Ryn, Ben manages to say yes, and then goodbye during continuous nodding.
"We have to meet her. Something happened, she won't give me the details." He tells a silent Maddie.
"It probably has to do with…John and the others." Her teeth are clenched as the mention of his name.
"John and what others?" Ben asks.
Maddie, pushes him out the door.
"Let's see what happened. Are the children ok?" Her last words before climbing into the passenger seat.
The young Pownall home
"What is it?" Snaps Nicole. Frustrated at the list of questions that her superiors will want answers for, as she has none. A glint of sparkle echoes from her dark eyes with the information filling her ear from the I-phone.
"Chief!" Her bellow fills the bottom floor, as the seasoned NCO leaves the kitchen.
Before he can report, she sends the other members of the Chief's team to their vehicles. "Chief, they've located the whole crew."
"How?" His only reply.
"Air sensors picked up that body heat, or lack of any in a small motel." Leaving the home, she continues. "A clean-up crew will take care of this…well hard to explain stuff." Martinez shakes her head as she looks back at the headless body. "We can be there in fifteen minutes. Be prepared." She expresses concern. Her face has taken a stern expression. "We don't know if they are being held or by who."
As the Naval caravan leaves in the direction of the motel, another female is not so delighted by a sudden phone call.
Two blocks South of the home
"What!" Vanessa's lips spread open, showing disbelief. Her breaths take on a shallow tone.
"Vanessa, what is it?" Mike asks. Putting his hand on the trembling shoulder of the woman he loves.
Amid a flood of tears, Mike is told of the discovery of John's body. Eddie had been sent by his sister to check on the older member of the group and their captive. After seeing Maddie leave the motel parking lot with a man, he check the room. His immediate response was to call his big sister.
After taking the I-phone from Vanessa's shaking hand, Mike had gathered enough information from the anxious Eddie to plot out an intercept of the stranger and their one-time captive.
"Listen, baby. Vanessa…you gotta be strong."
As she controls her breathing, the still distraught woman waits for Mike to speak.
"Listen, that bastard must be the male merman. John's neck was broken."
He stops to check on Vanessa. She is transfixed on his words.
"They are heading for Highway 99. They must be going to Canada. I can get ahead of them. They're on a dirt road that only leads to 99. We got to take a chance." He swallows under a grim expression, as the realization of John's death has taken effect.
"And it's not cause of the money."
Vanessa hands him the keys as she remains silent.
"I will kill that half-man. Half-fish with my bare hands."
The couple switch seats, as a flushed Mike grips the wheel as if it's Ben's neck.
Note to reader:
Yikes!
Tell me what you think.
