Brenna walked into the restaurant expecting to see Cody. She was completely taken aback when she saw Katie standing at a table in the far corner. She went to her and immediately was wrapped in a tight, friendly hug. "Katie...what are you doing here?"
Katie laughed as they settled into their seats. "I couldn't stay away any longer. I missed Caleb something fierce." She shrugged. "When I got here and he told me about Mike having a date..."
Shay smiled at Katie's use of Frank's UC name. Apparently Cody had made her understand how important it was not to let anyone hear her say their real names. Shrugging she said, "yeah, well...he's just my partner; there's no reason he shouldn't go out and have fun."
"Oh, please. There's no reason as your partner he couldn't go out and have fun with you," Katie insisted.
Shay laughed. "Funny thing is, I've thought the same thing a time or two. He's just too afraid to let it interfere with the job."
Katie giggled. "Ah...but the fact that he would want to...that's a nice thought. You know that don't you? Cody said he's been miserable."
Shay smiled. "So he says...but damn it all, girlfriend. How can he look the way he does if he's so miserable? I look like something the cat dragged in."
"That's not true, Brenna. You look great...just a little tired. You've been working too hard."
She smiled at her friend and decided to change the subject. "Enough about me...how are things with you and Cody?"
Katie blushed a bit and smiled. "I'll still never understand how he came to mean so much to me. But that night...at the Black Canyon...during the storm...he was like my knight in shining armor."
Shay smiled. She knew that feeling quite well. "How so?"
Katie laughed. "Oh you know...he saved me from that dreaded nightmare. I don't know...when I woke up and he was there...his voice was such a comfort. It just wrapped around my spine and I was lost."
Shay nodded. "So you've decided to stay in Illinois then?"
Katie stared at her friend for the longest time before answering. "I wasn't sure I could leave the Canyon until...well...we've been apart for so long. I realized if it was a choice between leaving my beloved Canyon and leaving a man who makes me feel like a queen...there was no difficulty in making my decision. I've put in applications at a couple state parks and I'm waiting for an answer. But even if I don't get a job that I want....I can't leave him, Brenna."
"Good...you've come to mean a lot to us...all of us. And...like it or not...you're stuck with this extended family of ours." Shay laughed. They really had become more like a family and it scared the hell out of Frank. He feared he would not be able to make the hard choices when he had to make them. His fear was unfounded, because he had made them time and time again. He did not like them, but he made them. When he needed support or comfort for his actions, she made sure she gave him what he needed and sometimes more.
She and Katie chatted throughout their eggplant lasagna and a few hours later they walked out to the parking lot and said their goodbyes. Neither noticed the figure that followed them from the restaurant or the vehicle that pulled out a few cars back from Shay as she made her way back to her apartment.
************
Turning off the engine of her Celica, Shay's shoulders slumped under a blanket of depression. Another night alone, without Frank's tender embrace, without the laughter and love of her children. Disheartened, she made her way toward her apartment.
She slid the key into the lock and was about to turn the knob when a hand came from behind and clamped over her mouth. She was roughly spun around and pinned up against the wall.
Her eyes widened in recognition. Brunell. His body held her against the wall, one arm was pinned by his hip, the other held forcibly within his iron-tight grip.
His eyes narrowed to a slit. He had not realized how much he had wanted this woman...her soft curves felt delicious up against the hard plains of his muscles. "Don't scream and I'll take my hand away." He stared unwaveringly into her eyes waiting for her response and when she finally nodded her agreement, he slowly moved his hand from her mouth.
"Why are you doing this?" she whispered demandingly. "What do you want?"
"Why...I thought you knew, beautiful Brenna," he said as he nuzzled her neck, his body still pressing firmly against hers. He moved his forearm to her neck, pressing just enough to know she need not try to fight. He removed his other hand from her arm to grope her breast roughly. "I know you want me..."
Shay closed her eyes for a moment in sheer disgust when his hand closed over her breast. His touch was painful...bruising. "Stop this...please."
His mouth was a mere breath from hers as his hand slid from her breast to her hip and then slid possessively to the juncture of her thighs. "Yes...you want me," he panted before crushing his lips to hers.
His kiss was abusive and harsh. Tears
of frustration welled in her eyes and when he forced his tongue between her
lips she drew back roughly and cracked her head on the brick facade.
"Give it to me, pretty lady. Let me come inside you," he begged as he pressed his already hard member into her thigh.
Her mind raced as she struggled against him. He took the movement as an invitation and shifted his stance slightly as he bent his head to bite down on her nipple through her clothing. Her cry of pain only spurred him on more.
The feel of his teeth on her person forced her to work past her initial fear. Instinctively and with a swiftness she was unaware of, she lifted her knee to smash into his groin. She felt an uncontrollable amount of satisfaction when he screamed in pain and doubled over, clutching at the organ he pressed so proudly into her thigh moments before. With no remorse whatsoever, she raised her knee and connected with his forehead sending him backwards onto the ground.
Her chest heaved roughly with each breath. Adrenaline coursed through her veins as she pulled her gun from her handbag. Aiming at the fallen man, she threatened. "Get up...crawl...I don't fucking care how you do it...but leave. Leave now...or I'll shoot you. And by God...I will aim at what you are clutching in your hands."
Brunell looked up and read the truth of her intentions in her eyes. "We could have been good together," he croaked as he forced himself to his knees. "I would have given you the world."
"GET OUT!!" She screamed.
Across the dark courtyard, doors could be heard opening and realizing he had no other choice, he pulled himself to his feet and with one last glance in her direction, he limped as best he could to his vehicle some blocks away.
When he disappeared out of sight, Shay collapsed against the door. Whimpering as the fear returned full force; she turned the key in the lock and slid through the door. Once inside, she leaned heavily against the wall as she set the alarm system and then made her way to the bathroom.
She felt him still, over every inch of her body. She felt covered in filth. Diseased. Tainted and unclean. Her body wracked with quiet sobs as she ran to the toilet, barely making it to the bowl before the heaves began and she wretched repeatedly until she fell to the floor exhausted.
When the waves of nausea had calmed enough, she pulled herself to her knees and leaned over the bathtub to turn on the shower. Making the water as hot as she could stand, she stripped down to nothing and stepped into the almost scalding water.
Sobbing and scrubbing herself raw from head to toe, she did not stop until the water began to cool some thirty minutes later. Stepping out of the shower, she grabbed her fluffy cream-colored terrycloth robe and wrapped it around her as she made her way to the bedroom. Curling up into a fetal position on the king-sized bed, she fell into a fitful sleep.
"Eh, querida...you like that..."
"No," she whispered, trying to push him away.
"Tell me how much you like this..."
Whimpering and crying, her head tossed from side to side as she fought an invisible foe.
"SAY IT, beech!" His open hand smacked across her face with his demand while she lay powerless beneath him.
"No...no more, please. Don't...don't beat me again. I l-love it, Jorge. You...feel so good inside me."
"That is more like it, querida. Now...show me how much you love to feel me..."
Shay sat up with a start. Covered in a cold sweat, she had not had the nightmare of her ordeal with Jorge surface for quite some time. Not since Frank's cousin had committed those grisly murders.
She could not hide from her nightmares. Could not hide from the truth of what she had done while she was in Colombia. What she let him do to her. What she had become for her government. She crawled off the bed onto the floor...no place to hide.
************
"Good morning, Mike," Alisha chirped brightly as she entered the IA offices. She waited until she reached his desk before she said; "I had a really good time last night. You're a wonderful dancer."
He smiled thinly. "Thank you, I had a good teacher."
"Oh...and who was that?"
Tired of pretenses and worrying about Shay, who was two hours late for work, he said irritably, "My wife."
"You're married?" she asked, wide-eyed.
"Yes, I'm married." He knew he was speaking out in irritation, but he was past caring. "She's still back in Chicago...she'll be moving here as soon as she sells the house."
"Why didn't you...you're not wearing a ring," she spat.
He shrugged. "I never have." In truth he always wore one; had not taken it off since the day he and Shay were married. Not until he came to this assignment as Mike Richards.
"Is that why...why..."
Frank smiled wryly. It was not the only reason why he would not touch her, but there was no good reason to hurt her feelings deliberately. "Yes...that's why. I love my wife and would never betray her like that."
Alisha nodded in defeated acceptance. "Where's Brenna?"
"A good question. One I might ask myself," Captain George said from behind Alisha.
Frank looked up at George. "I was just coming to ask if she'd called in. I've tried to call her apartment and her cell phone, but there's no answer."
The Captain looked thoughtful for a moment. "I'll have the 6th send a squad car."
Frank stood, shaking his head. "If it's all the same to you, Sir...she's my partner. I'll go."
George nodded. "Call me as soon as you get there."
Frank read the genuine concern the other man held for 'Brenna' and nodded. "Count on it."
--