As you guys have probably noticed I like to leave off with cliffhangers. Wahaha. No seriously, you guys are amazing and incrediblypatient. I do understand if you guys get frustrated when I take forever to update, but I'll finish the story, you guys can make sure of that.
So sometimes I like to attach songs to chapters and chp 10's is Ellie Goulding's Love Me Like You Do. I just think that it describes Tommy's hesitancy with Lindy pretty well. Like with "you're the cure, you're the pain," etc. Chp. 5's is Demons by Skye Holland. Idk what you guys think. Just wanted to throw that out there I guess. Here's another chapter.
As soon as Tommy shut off the water he knew something was wrong. He could hear the muffled sound of Boris' frenzied barking through the bathroom door. Tommy frowned. Frenzied wasn't a word he normally associated with his dog. Boris was always calm and well behaved, but frenzied was the only way he could think of to describe the way he was barking right now. He toweled off quickly and pulled on his pajamas that he'd left hanging on a towel rack. It was the closest, easiest thing to wear under the circumstances.
As soon as he got out of the bathroom he saw Boris snarling and banging himself against the front door. Tommy was completely taken aback. Boris never acted like this. The only other time he could remember him acting remotely close to this had been just after he had rescued him.
They were heading out of his building to take a walk to the park. Just as they had passed one of his neighbor's door, a small thump had come from inside. It could easily have been mistaken as the noise of a dropped object. Tommy started to walk away, but Boris wouldn't follow despite how many times Tommy called to him. He'd started acting the same way he was now. It turned out, that the old woman who lived there had had a heart attack and Boris' refusal to leave had saved her life. So Tommy knew better than to just brush off his dog's behavior now.
Tommy grabbed his gun, cautiously opening the door, and peering out, but Boris slid through the opening and took off running. "Boris!" Tommy yelled after him. His dog ignored him and kept running, barking the whole time, only reinforcing the idea that something was wrong. Boris never disobeyed him. Tommy ran after him, his gun in hand, Boris' barking guiding him. Just as he rounded another flight of stairs he heard a sharp bark come from Boris, making Tommy's pulse hammer in his chest. The barks were no longer frenzied, but a sharp bark came at intervals, as if Boris had found what he had been looking for.
There, on a landing, he could see his dog near a fake potted plant, and next to that, something that caught the morning light coming in through the skylight above.
Tommy stepped toward it cautiously, his bare feet making no sound as they approached the discarded object. He didn't recognize what it was until he was standing right over it. His breath caught when he realized what it was and a cold wave of dread filled him.
It was Lindy's necklace.
Lindy's necklace, which he knew for a fact she had been wearing when she had left his apartment earlier. He had never seen her without it. He had seen her use it and knew that it was important to her as a hacker. He wanted so badly to believe that she had accidentally dropped it, that it had come off and she hadn't noticed it had fallen, but he knew he was only kidding himself. Lindy may be reckless but she was not careless.
Either she had deliberately left it here for him to find or someone had torn it off her neck. His blood boiled at the latter, at the thought of someone hurting Lindy. But as he picked up the necklace and inspected it from every angle, he could see that the cable wasn't frayed or torn. The necklace had been unclasped at the front. It had to be the first option. She had dropped it here for him to find, but just in case…
He ran back up the stairs, Boris at his heels. In his apartment, he grabbed his cellphone from where he had left it on the coffee table the night before and dialed Lindy's number by heart. It went straight to voicemail. Tommy swore and with his heart thundering in his chest, he called it again with the same result. He could feel his chest tightening as he dialed another number.
"Sophia," he said as soon as she picked up.
"Tommy are you okay? You sound out of breath."
He ignored her question. "Is Lindy there?" He wasn't a religious guy, but he prayed to every deity he knew right then, that she was home safe with Sophia like she was going to do when she had left his apartment, but what Sophia said next shattered his hopes.
"No. I haven't seen her since last night. She left pissed off to go see you. And then when she didn't come back…"
Tommy could hear the suggestion in her voice, but his rising sense of panic was drowning out everything else. His heart was beating so hard it hurt, his mind flooding in panic.
"You didn't piss her off again, did you? I thought for sure you two had made up last night," Sophia drawled.
Tommy hung up. He wasn't trying to be rude, but then again politeness wasn't his number one priority at the moment. He still had one more call to make before he could go on full on panic mode. There was one other place where she could possibly be.
"The world must literally be ending right now," George croaked. "I can think of no other reason as to why you interrupted my beauty rest and a rather lovely dream with Pascal, where we-"
"George!" Tommy cut in sharply. "Is Lindy there?"
"No," George said, sounding baffled by his tone. "Why? Did she say she was coming over?"
Tommy gulped. She wasn't there. "George, I need your help. I need you to meet me at the Cyber Unit." Tommy forced the rest of the words out despite how tight his throat felt. "I think Bubonic took Lindy."
X
"It seems that the security cameras in your building were cut around the time Lindy left your apartment." Yeager pointed to a still shot of Lindy on the monitor. It showed her at the end of the hall outside Tommy's apartment, headed toward the stairwell. "This is the last thing the cameras outside your apartment show just before they're cut, but they come back on fifteen minutes later." Yeager sighed dejectedly. "I'm sorry to tell you this Tommy, but the only people, besides Lindy, that have come in to your building live there. No one out of the ordinary or suspicious came in today or the night before."
They were both sitting at a workstation in front of the monitor at the precinct with George typing furiously on the computer next to them. They were all looking for Lindy. So far all they had was her necklace and her cellphone, which had been found discarded in a trash can outside of Tommy's building. The only fingerprints on it had been Lindy's.
This cannot be happening. This cannot be happening. This cannot be happening. It was the only thing that kept running through Tommy's mind. As if he somehow repeated it enough it would end up being true. This had to be some kind of messed up nightmare where any minute now he would wake up and Lindy would be just a phone call away. But no matter how many times he tried to convince himself otherwise he knew he was only deluding himself. Bubonic had taken Lindy, but one thing Tommy knew for damn sure was that he was going to make him pay.
"Tommy? Tommy?!" Yeager was waving a hand in front of his face, trying to get his attention. "Don't get lost in yourself. We're going to find her. You can't sit here muddling in your anger. Lindy needs you right now."
Tommy shot up from his chair angrily. "You have absolutely no idea what I'm feeling right now, Yeager. Tell me. How would you feel if Bubonic had kidnapped Sophia?" Yeager flinched. "Tell me that you would not be sitting here doing the exact same thing, imagining what you would do to the bastard if you have him in front of you." Tommy's hands were balled at his sides. He was so angry he was shaking. "You have no idea what it's like to finally tell someone you love them and they seem to reciprocate those feelings… only to have her taken away from you." He said the last part softly that Yeager almost didn't catch it.
"You're right. I don't know what you're going through. And you know what? I hope I never do, but don't take your anger out on me. Remember who the real enemy here is, Tommy. I want to help you. I am helping you. And I'm always going to help you." Yeager placed a hand on Tommy's shoulder, knowing it wouldn't calm him the way Lindy's touch did. "Remember that." He looked Tommy straight in the eye. "We will find her. Don't doubt that, okay? You just need to focus." Tommy nodded stiffly, his jaw clenched. Yeager dropped his hand and turned back to his computer, trying to find a trace, a clue, anything, that would lead them to Lindy.
Tommy turned to see George typing on his computer with a ferocity he wouldn't normally associate with him. He was completely in the zone. He walked over to him slowly, not wanting to startle him. "How are you doing George?" Tommy asked him.
"How does it look like I'm doing?" George said without looking up. "My best friend got kidnapped…again, and I haven't been able to find a single trace of her." Tommy flinched at George' choice of words. He knew George wasn't being mean, he was just angry and worried, like him, but what really bothered him was what George seemed to imply, like they weren't going to find Lindy any time soon.
"We're going to find her," Tommy said roughly. "We have to."
"Well of course we are." George swiveled around in his chair and glared at Tommy. "I'm using every single hacking skill I know to look for her. There isn't anything I wouldn't do to find her…" He trailed off, his fingers tapping out an angry rhythm on his knee. Tommy was trained to read people and he could tell that George was using his anger to hide the fact that he was scared.
Tommy placed a hand on George's shoulder. George looked up at him reluctantly. "We're the same there," Tommy said softly. "There isn't anything I wouldn't do to find her too."
George looked at him steadily. "You love her." It was a statement not a question. Briefly, Tommy wondered how many people had been able to tell how he felt about Lindy before he had even admitted his feelings to himself. Clearly, he hadn't been as good at hiding his feelings as he had thought. Even Bubonic had figured it out. Anyone half-awake, can see how much you care about that girl. The psychic told him. Tommy had been skeptical, but clearly she had been right.
"Yeah, I do," Tommy said, before turning on his heel and heading to his computer to do his own search on Lindy.
He could hear George's clatter on the keyboard before he had even sat down.
X
They had been working for a while when Sophia came in, looking frantic, with Connor at her heels. It had fallen on Yeager to tell his girlfriend the reason for Tommy's phone call that morning, wondering where Lindy was. Yeager was the best person for that kind of news because he knew how to make Sophia feel better.
As soon as Yeager caught sight of her, he made a beeline for her and put a protective arm around her, leading her to a chair. She sat down reluctantly, looking upset. Yeager and Connor exchanged a few words. Yeager then crouched down in front of Sophia and took her hands in his, saying something to her, surely trying to assure her that everything would be okay. Tommy felt a twinge as he looked at the easy way they were able to show their affection for one another and the way Yeager was able to comfort Sophia. They talked for a bit, Sophia looking calmer, before she nodded in understanding, and Yeager got up and went back to his computer.
Tommy turned back at his own. He hadn't been able to find anything so far. George had told him that when Lindy had been taken by Jake, she had been the one to contact him, telling him where they were going to be. He hoped now that Lindy would be able to do the same this time, but it was unlikely Bubonic would give her access to a computer, knowing her skills.
"Tommy?" Tommy jumped at the sound of his name, bringing him out of his reverie. He whirled around to see Sophia standing behind him.
He exhaled slowly. "Hey, Sophia." She smiled wanly. Her arms were suddenly around him, squeezing him hard, before he even knew what was happening. He didn't know if it was for his benefit or hers, but he hugged her back just as hard. She pulled away as her eyes searched his face, taking in his deep frown, his rumpled clothes, and his hair that was in slight disarray. Tommy ran a hand through his hair, feeling self-conscious. He had grabbed the first things he could find in his closet and hadn't even bothered to run a brush through his hair. Sophia wrinkled her nose, looking almost fond, before reaching into her purse and pulling out a mini hairbrush, and began running it through his hair.
"Sophia…"
"Shhh, let me do this." He clamped his mouth shut. When she was done, she put her brush back into her purse and pulled a chair closer to him. "I know what happened between you two."
He didn't have to ask what she meant. He knew that she was talking about him and Lindy last night. "How?" he asked, feeling his chest tighten.
"When she didn't come back, I knew." She fixed him with a serious look. "She isn't one for random hookups, you know."
Tommy could only nod, his throat felt too tight to answer. He simply turned back to his computer and went back to searching for her.
He tried typing in a command, but nothing happened. He tried again, but still nothing. Suddenly, codes appeared in green on his computer and cascaded down quickly, like a waterfall. He knew this behavior. He typed in more commands, trying to regain control of the system, but it was useless. Yeager and George as well as the rest of the team of people searching for Lindy were having the same trouble. He could hear their protests as they lost control of their computers.
Connor walked closer to them, uncertainly, wondering what was going on. Sophia looked around, confused. "Tommy, what's happening?"
"Tommy," George called. "We're losing control of the system."
"I know," he answered back. He stopped typing. This was Bubonic taking control. Bubonic was doing this because he had something to say to him and Tommy needed answers.
"Tommy…" Yeager began.
"It's okay. Bubonic has something to say. I want to hear what it is."
Catherine came out of her office, the unusual activity alerting her that something was wrong. She had allowed Tommy to use all of the resources of the Cyber Crimes Unit and to lead a team to search for Lindy as soon as he told her what had happened. "What's going on here?" she demanded.
Before anyone could answer, the image on the monitor changed and Bubonic appeared, his plague doctor mask in place.
Catherine stiffened. Yeager walked over to Sophia and put an arm around her, keeping her close, as if Bubonic would reach through the monitor and whisk her away. Connor looked alarmed, and George's face was one of pure hatred which probably mirrored Tommy's.
Bubonic surveyed the room slowly, shrewdly, before his eyes finally landed on Tommy, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Well hello, Detective Calligan."
If he had been physically in front of him there was no telling what Tommy would have done to him. "Where is she?" Tommy turned. George was leaning on the desk beside him, staring hard at Bubonic. "Where is she?" George asked again.
Bubonic calmly turned his gaze to him and smiled. "Ah, yes, George Reyes. I remember you. A real shame that you left my organization. You were a very promising hacker."
George looked disgusted. "Did you really think that I would keep working for you when I found out who you really were? I'm glad Lindy told me when she did."
Bubonic shrugged and turned his attention back to Tommy, clearly not interested in that conversation. "Where is she?" Tommy demanded, before Bubonic could say anything else.
Bubonic tilted his head at him and smiled slowly. "She's safe…for now."
"What have you done with her? Why the hell did you even take her?" Tommy growled. "Your problem is with me, not her."
Bubonic gave a low laugh. "This is the reason why. Your reaction alone." The smile dropped from his face suddenly. "I wanted you to experience what I felt when you took Melanie."
Tommy's breath was coming out in shallow bursts, he was almost hyperventilating. This cannot be happening. But he knew with a sickening feeling that it was. "She has absolutely nothing to do with this, Bubonic. Your problem is with me, not her. Let her go and I'll give myself up to you."
"Tommy, no!" Sophia cried suddenly.
Bubonic's attention turned to her. "Sophia. Lindy's roommate and best friend, right?"
Sophia gave him a withering look. "How do you know that?"
He leaned in closer so that his mask filled the screen. "I'm a hacker. I find out as many things as I can. I find out what I need to know." Connor and Yeager pulled Sophia behind them, blocking her from Bubonic's view.
"Leave her out of this," Tommy told him in a low voice.
"You're right. She is of no interest to me." His eyes drifted back over to Tommy. "But Lindy is. How do you think Lindy felt when the man I sent took her? Do you think she was filled with terror? Left wondering where you were to help her when surely you had told her you were going to keep her safe? Do you think she thinks that you have failed her?"
Tommy felt every word cut into him. He had told her many times that he wouldn't let anything happen to her, that he would keep her safe. He had told her that just last night and just this morning. "As long as I live I'm going to keep you safe." He had failed her.
When Tommy said nothing, Bubonic continued, sounding disturbingly thrilled. "I recorded what happened. I thought you might like to see it, Tommy." His face disappeared and another image took over. It was the missing security footage from his building.
On the screen was Lindy, shutting the door to his apartment, looking fine, a smile tugging at her lips. Cameras followed her down to the second flight of stairs from the bottom. Suddenly, a figure unglued itself from the shadows and lunged at her. Lindy seeming to have sensed danger, leaped back before he could grab her. Tommy's breath froze, his horror coming hours too late. Even though he knew what was going to happen, he hoped that Lindy would get away as he watched what had happened that morning unfold.
He watched as she ran, taking two steps at a time, trying to put as much distance between her and her imminent danger as possible. He watched as she fought like hell and how the bastard grabbed her by the hair just as she had made it back to his apartment, and Tommy heard too late her scream of pain. The sound felt like a blade going through his heart.
He watched as she wouldn't give up and felt a twinge of pride as she was able to get him off of her and even break his nose, but it was short lived as he saw the rest of the scene unfold. He felt the wind go out of him as if somebody had punched him in the gut when she screamed, "Tommy! Tommy! Help me!" She did everything right, but it was the rag over her mouth as she laid on the steps, trying to make her way back to his apartment, that finally put an end to everything. She had fought so hard and it was a damn rag with a chemical that had determined the outcome. He watched as the man half carried, half dragged her away and then the image blinked off, returning to Bubonic's smug face.
The entire Cyber Crimes Unit was silent, everyone having watched what had happened. Tommy couldn't get enough air into his lungs. He glanced over at George. He looked absolutely shell shocked as did Sophia with tears in her eyes, Yeager's jaw was set tightly, his arm wrapped tightly around her, and even Connor looked at a loss for words.
"You bastard," Tommy growled.
Bubonic only smirked. "Maybe now you understand how helpless I felt when I found out that Melanie had died."
Tommy was stricken. Lindy shouldn't have suffered for something that only pertained to him. It was all his fault. "What can I do so that you'll let Lindy go?" Tommy asked him, defeated.
He heard Catherine make an indistinct noise behind him, but he ignored it, staring hard at Bubonic. It was directly against their policy to make deals with criminals, especially with one as deranged as Bubonic, but he wasn't following any rules right now. This was personal.
"For now…nothing. I'm going to keep her as long as I want. You see, you involved Melanie when the problem was only between me and your Cyber Crimes Unit, so now I'm going to do the same. At least I'm giving you the courtesy of knowing where she is. I had no idea where Melanie was until it was too late."
"Courtesy!" Tommy exploded. "You call this courtesy? You kidnapped her and now you're only rubbing it in my face. I'm willing to make a deal with you, but you won't go for it. This is just you gloating. Now I'll give you the courtesy to have you return her, unharmed, and maybe we'll cut you a deal."
The room was quiet, everyone holding their breath. Bubonic stared at him steadily, Tommy refusing to look away. Suddenly Bubonic burst out laughing, but it was a laugh with no humor in it. "It's so sweet, you know. How concerned you are for her and yet you still manage to keep that bad cop façade, although there are definitely cracks in it now. The best I can hope for out of this is that maybe you'll cut me a deal? Well the answer is no. No deal. For now, I'm keeping her, but we'll keep in touch, Detective."
The screen went blank.
"No!" Tommy screamed, pounding his fist against the desk. "No, no, no!" He barely felt as Yeager and George pulled him back toward Catherine's office. He managed to shake them off and strode out of the precinct, ignoring everyone's calls for him to come back. He felt as if he stayed there one more minute he would suffocate.
Usually the fresh air calmed him, but now his chest was tight with the feeling that something terrible would happen to Lindy if he didn't find her soon. He had to find her. He had to. There was no knowing what Bubonic would do to her. He was a sociopath and hell bent on revenge.
This is all my fault. He should have kept her at a distance so that Bubonic wouldn't have known how important he was to her. This is all my fault. He should have kept a better eye out for him. If only he had agreed to the protective detail sooner. If only. This is all my fault. He walked quickly down the street, almost running, trying to keep his fears at bay, and ignore the gnawing feeling in his stomach.
He had broken his promise to her…again.
X
Lindy woke up, her mind foggy, the world slowly coming into focus in front of her. Her head throbbed slightly, a lingering affect from the chloroform. Her memories came whooshing back. Her leaving Tommy's apartment, heading for her own, and then the attacker coming out of nowhere, her struggle, and then managing to drop the necklace just before everything went black.
Her only hope now was that Tommy had found her necklace and that they were searching for her. I will never stop looking for you, Lindy. The words came rushing back to her. They had been used in another time and in another place but she hoped—she knew, that they would still apply now. Tommy was going to keep his word. If only she could get her hands on a computer to speed up the process.
She grit her teeth, trying to ignore the throbbing in her head and the prickly feeling that she was being watched, despite the fact that no one was in the room with her. She patted her pockets, but of course they had taken her phone away. Her eyes scanned the room, taking in the crumbling brick walls, the cement floors, and the low ceiling. There wasn't much except for the cot she was lying on, two plastic chairs lying in a corner of the room, and an array of moldy looking boxes. She must be in some kind of an old storage room. The door was in front of her, but she had no doubt that it was locked. It brought the memories of waking up in the asylum on Hart Island full force. She suppressed the nightmarish memories with a shudder, scanning the ceiling for surveillance cameras. There were none that she could see, but she had no doubt that they were there.
She sat up on the cot, clasping her hands. She might as well alert whoever was watching her that she was awake.
Fifteen minutes later, she heard footsteps outside approaching her room. She waited patiently, already knowing who was going to come in through the door.
She wasn't disappointed.
What surprised her was that he wasn't wearing his mask. Although, she guessed it made sense. She had already seen him without it before. He had shown her his face willingly. He smiled when he saw her sitting on the cot, twiddling her thumbs. She was not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her scared. She was going to let her anger control her actions, and luckily for her, she had enough of that.
"Hello, Lindy," he greeted.
"Bubonic."
He headed to the corner of the room where the chairs were lying, lazily picked one up, and set it down in front of her. He slid his hands along the back of it as he made his way around it, before finally sitting down, never taking his eyes off her.
Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. "Are you going to tell me why I'm here or are we just going to sit here staring at each other all day?"
He regarded her calmly, amused, before chuckling. "Oh, Lindy. How did I forget what a delight you were?"
Her hands curled into fists. She wanted to just knock him from his chair and beat him senseless for all that he had done, but she restrained herself. Instead she asked, "Why am I here?"
His fingers drummed out a rhythm on the arm of his plastic chair as he answered her. "You're here because I want revenge on Tommy, but you already knew that. But what I really want is to make him suffer the same way he made me suffer when he took Melanie." He leaned in close to her, crowding her space. She wanted to scoot away, but she made herself stay still. She was not going to back down and show him she was afraid of him.
"You know I spent an entire day searching for Melanie?" he said softly. "Amanda, my most trusted worker, tried to convince me that Melanie had left me, but all of her clothes were still in her apartment. Curious, I pressed her as to why she thought Melanie was never coming back and she slipped." His voice turned cold. "I made her tell me everything and she admitted that she had gone to the Cyber Crimes Unit and given them some sensitive information on some of the work I'd done and how she was the one who had told them about Melanie in the first place." He paused then, his eyes faraway and glittery with something dangerous. "After I found out that she had betrayed me—I killed her." He fixed her with a look that appeared slightly deranged to Lindy. "She betrayed me. I trusted her and she betrayed me." He leaned back in his chair, pressing a hand to his face as if trying to press the memories out. "This is what you and I have in common, Lindy. The people we grow to trust end up betraying us in the end."
"That's where you're wrong," she said forcefully, her heart was hammering in her chest, but she kept talking. "We have nothing in common. Tommy may have kept something about Sara from me, but he earned my trust back. I trust him completely."
He clenched his fists. "They're all liars. They lie once and there's no turning back from that. What's to stop them from doing it again? That's why you have to get rid of them before they get another chance to do it."
Her mind was running a thousand miles a minute. She thought about what he had just said. How he had to get rid of people as soon as they lied. He was a very paranoid person. And suddenly she knew.
"It was you," she said horrified. "You threatened Melanie. You told her that if she ever betrayed you, that if she didn't remain loyal to you, that if she didn't keep your secrets…you would kill her, didn't you?"
Bubonic stared at her, silent, unblinking, his breath coming fast. Lindy knew then that she had hit the nail on the head. "You don't know anything," he said softly, an acrimonious undercurrent in his words.
"But it's true, isn't it? That was why she killed herself. She was afraid that she would slip up and would have to face you afterward. She killed herself rather than to have you kill her."
He stayed silent, but Lindy knew she was getting to him from the bulging vein in his neck from his suppressed anger.
"It wasn't Tommy's fault," she continued. "You just needed someone to pin the blame on because you can't admit to yourself what you did. You can't face the real truth."
"Shut up!" he screamed suddenly, leaning into her. Lindy stared at him, refusing to back down. He took a deep breath, calming himself, and leaned back in his chair, studying her. "What happened," he said slowly, "is not your concern. I'm here to talk about something else with you." When Lindy said nothing, he continued. "You are a very talented hacker, Lindy, full of potential, and I would like you to work for me."
"You want me to work for you?" She was sure she hadn't heard him right. What he was asking her was absolutely ridiculous.
"Yes."
Cold anger and disgust filled her. "What makes you think that I would ever work for someone like you?" she said coldly. "Especially after everything you've done. You hurt Tommy, you kidnapped me, you killed Richard, and who knows how many other people." A small smile tugged at his lips, which only served to infuriate her more. "I would never work for you."
Bubonic tapped his fingers together, unable to hide his grin. "Oh, Lindy. Have you already forgotten that you were going to work for me once?"
She tensed. "I thought you had something that I needed then, but I was wrong. It was a lie."
"Orchestrated by your friends in Cyber Crimes." His voice oozed smugness.
"True. But unlike you, I can learn to let things go." He was silent for a while seeming to contemplate something.
"What makes you think that I don't have something that you would need now?"
Lindy's breath froze, her mind going a mile a minute, although she forced her face to stay impassive. What could Bubonic possibly have that she would need? She already knew Sara's approximate location. Was there something that he could have uncovered about her whereabouts that she hadn't? She shook herself mentally. No. The information she had on Sara had been very difficult to obtain, and as much as she hated to admit it, the reason she had it was only because of the video Jake had given her.
"There's nothing that I would want from someone like you, Derek."
Derek stilled, his eyes widening slightly, caught off guard, but then he laughed softly. "My, well you have been busy, haven't you?" He looked like he was almost proud of her. "You managed to figure out my real identity. Impressive."
"You weren't careful enough. You've become arrogant and careless," she said. He had shown her and Tommy his face despite the great lengths he went to hide it from others, thinking they wouldn't have connected the dots.
Derek shrugged. "If it serves a purpose, it's fine." He seemed nonchalant, but Lindy knew he was filing that information away in his mind. "But onto what you want. You need that thing that fills your days, isn't that right?" He said slowly, deliberately, knowing exactly where he was going with this. "You want your sister."
There was no way she could deny it. She had joined his organization back when she had thought he was J.J to find her. "Of course I want my sister," she said, wondering with dread where he was going with this. "But there's nothing more you can tell me that I don't already know. She was kidnapped and she disappeared," she said bitterly, thinking how Sara had actually left, not been taken, like she had thought for so long, but there was no way she was going to tell him any of the new developments she had found out about Sara. There was no knowing what he would do with that information.
His smile was outright wolfish by now, making Lindy grow uneasy. "What would you do if I told you I knew exactly where she was?" Lindy's breath lodged in her throat. He knew where she was? She looked into his eyes in disbelief. He looked amused, yet serious. If he knew where Sara was then she was in danger, and Derek would use her as a pawn in whatever twisted game it was he was playing.
"You don't know where she is," she said with forced conviction.
Derek reached into a pocket inside his coat and pulled out a tablet, handing it to her. "Here."
Lindy held it in her hands, simultaneously wanting and not wanting to see what was in it. "What am I supposed to do with this?"
He nodded at it. "Turn it on." Gone was the smugness and humor, he was utterly serious now, completely down to business. She wondered what would happen if she slammed the tablet in his face and tore out of here, but she knew that was foolish. No doubt there was a guard stationed outside the room and would grab her as soon as she took one step out the door.
Grudgingly she pressed the power button and the tablet came to life. An image of what could only be from a security camera showed someone in a room very much like hers. She was a girl, in her late teens, pounding on the door to the room she was obviously locked in. "Let me out!" she shrieked. "Let me out!"
Lindy's breath froze when she realized that she recognized her. She was taller than the last time she had seen her. Her hair was dark and cut short, but nevertheless, she recognized her. She knew that girl the same way she knew her reflection in the mirror.
She looked up into Derek's smug face, horrified. She could still hear the girl's panic stricken screaming and the pounding of the door to her room through the tablet.
"Sara?"