Chapter thirteen
Thank you to all of those who read, reviewed and enjoyed the last chapter. I want to especially thank SugarMuffin08, who always gives very insightful comments and helps me to go more in depth into the story. I have been really busy with my post grad so I'm sorry for the late update.
It was two am, the second night in a row that Steve had not been able to sleep. Even now he lay in bed, after he had exhausted himself at work. They had been working on finding Naomi and another case at the same time, which they could not abandon, even though for the first time his focus was not completely on the case.
All he could think about was Naomi. Every time he closed his eyes, an image of her when he had first rescued her came to him. At that time she had been terrified and the condition she had been in was horrific. He could only hope that she had not slipped into a paralyzing terror again.
He thought back to the days when he used to make Naomi work out in what she used to refer to as his 'boot camp'. Her fitness had started getting better, he had even taught her some self-defense moves, but he knew those would not be enough to fend off a serious offender.
And at this point he was sure her disappearance was suspicious. They had yet to locate her roommate Kat, who had vanished without a trace. Because of the senator's disappearance, the FBI had also gotten involved, which was proving to be a problem.
He needed to get a location on her, then he could contact some of the members of his SEAL team who were available and go get her. It sounded rash and brash, but it was the only way it could be done. They would have to do it the way they had rescued her all those years ago.
There was no point in lolling around in bed, so Steve got up changed into a pair of jeans, t – shirt and shoes. He would head to work and get started on gathering some intel on Naomi and her father's location.
When he reached the Five – O headquarters, a sudden thought came to mind. On a whim he decided to check James Remington. He had conducted a background check on him earlier, but everything had been legit. Maybe he needed to dig deeper.
He called Kono, Chin and Danny to come in early. They were meant to be working on the case, which was a special request by the Governor, but this took precedence. He would call Governor Jamieson and explain the situation once he had some concrete evidence.
He met up with the team at six – thirty am, Kono walked in with a tray of coffees but he was already too wound up to have anything.
"Kono I need you to get as much info on Remington and what he does. I know we already did a background check, but I can't shake the feeling that we missed something" Steve paced as he talked.
"Don't worry boss, if we missed something the first time, we'll get it now" she reassured him and started doing whatever she did best.
Steve turned to Danny, but he stopped to say whatever he was about to say, when he saw his partner's expression.
"Steve I know you're thinking of something extreme, but you need to think this through" Danno paused, "We have nothing against James yet".
"I know but I cannot shake this crazy feeling" he could literally feel his gut twisting.
Danny put his hand on his shoulder, "Just relax, you know nothing can come of you going insane".
Steve knew he couldn't say anything, but he would plan something out. He had contacts even now, even though he was only in the reserves. His team would come and help if they could.
And if they couldn't, then he would try and rescue Naomi all by himself.
-X-
Naomi looked at the clock in front of her. Counting the seconds was the only thing keeping her sane. She was thankful though that both she and her father had been moved from wherever they had been before.
Last night they had been blindfolded and taken out of the room, then they had driven for about two hours and she could tell from the sway that they had been delivered onto a luxury yacht.
She looked at her surroundings, and if she had not been kidnapped and been held captive she would have loved it. But she had instead been locked into this stateroom, separate from her father. As she walked to the little porthole window the door behind her opened. She was shocked at the person who entered it.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Naomi asked.
Kat only smiled at her as she leaned against the door, "Hi there roomie" she said in that annoyingly cheerful voice.
Naomi had never liked her, and now she knew why, "I always thought you were a bit annoying" she voiced her opinion.
"I have heard that before" Kat didn't seem too fazed.
"So you gonna tell me what you're doing here?" Naomi came and sat on the edge of the bed.
Kat walked toward her, taking a seat next to her. She raised her hand and played with a strand of Naomi's hair, making her flinch away from her, "You see roomie, I'm actually James' half sister. And he sent me to keep an eye on his investment".
"Well you didn't do a very good job now did you?" Naomi couldn't hold back the hatred from her voice. "After all you failed to keep me 'unspoiled'".
"Yes I did fail, but I made up for it in a big way" she smiled, and for the first time Naomi noticed that her smile didn't reach her eyes. She had always smiled like that, no wonder she had never warmed to her roommate.
"So you're the one who hit me in the head".
Again Kat smiled, looking rather pleased with herself, "Oh yes, and that earned me big points. You see that wasn't the plan as such, but then you started seeing the hunky SEAL guy" Kat got a dreamy smile on her face, "He was FINE".
Naomi smiled a little, not wanting to show her fear and anxiety at the situation, "So now what roomie?"
"Now, we need to get you dressed, you have a date" Kat got up and walked to the walk in closet. She opened a locked door, then rummaged through it, "Aah, here it is. This should fit you. You two were the same size after all".
"Who are you talking about?" Naomi couldn't help but be inquisitive.
Kat smiled again, "Why James' wife, Mariska".
That was news, "James is married?" she asked somewhat in shock.
Kat shook her head as she pulled out a stunning red beaded gown, "Not anymore. Mariska was depressed and she committed suicide".
"Oh that's sad. When did this happen?" Naomi wanted as many details as possible.
"It was a long time ago. James loved her a lot, but he couldn't save her" for a minute Kat looked at her, "You'll do well, even though I never noticed before".
"Noticed what?" Naomi asked, very curious. The entire situation was completely bizarre.
For a moment Kat looked like she was going to elaborate, but then stopped, "No time for that right now. You need to get dressed, then I'll come back in fifteen minutes to do your make up".
Kat smiled and left. Naomi looked down at the bed where the beautiful red dress had been laid out, complete with matching lingerie and sexy strappy silver sandals, a size larger but still wearable.
On closer inspection she was glad to see that the lingerie was brand new, complete with tags. It was too sexy and she never wore anything like this, but she had no choice.
Her last thought as she walked into the bathroom was that her father was okay and that whatever she was about to do, better be worth it.
-X-
Danny watched Steve sitting in his office going through his phone. He could only hazard a guess, but he was pretty sure his partner was looking at pictures of Naomi.
He had never seen Steve this way. He was still the same laser focused tough guy he always was. The only problem now was that he had no idea how to proceed. They had come to a dead end on everything. Kono was still working on James, even though she had looked over everything twice, hoping she would pick up something she had missed before.
Just as he was about to walk into Steve's office he heard Kono running behind him.
"Call the boss, I picked up something" she ran back to the computer.
Danny opened Steve's office door, "Kono's got something". Danny had never seen Steve move so fast.
They reached the computer when Kono was pulling up something on the screen.
"What've you got Kono?" Steve asked as he braced his arms on the edge of the computer.
"I checked and double checked everything, but nothing hinky was showing up on him. But when I was going over everything the third time, I noticed one thing that kept popping out at me" Kono paused as she through up a picture of a woman, "James Remington was married to a Mariska Szabo, the daughter of a Hungarian peasant turned superrich business tycoon".
They all looked at the picture of a shyly smiling young woman, she couldn't be more than eighteen or nineteen, had dark brown hair, pale skin and wide green eyes. He heard Steve's intake of breath.
"She looks exactly like Naomi" he said.
"Yes, which is very disturbing. Because according to records, James and his wife of two years were holidaying on their yacht near the Greek islands when she mysteriously disappeared eight years ago. It was surmised that she committed suicide because they found a drawer full of anti-depressants on the yacht and at their home".
"So does this mean anything in relation to Naomi?" asked Danny even though he knew the answer. He also knew that Steve knew what was coming, he was quiet only listening but his shoulders had bunched up in a way that reminded Danny of a lion about to pounce on his prey.
"That's not all" Kono rapidly threw up more images, all of women with the same general look, "James has made it a habit to be with women who look like his dead wife. Out of all the women he has been with, two have disappeared, but considering they were call girls, no one looked too closely into it. Another woman died in a car crash, last year and the year before that, one of his girlfriends died of a drug overdose".
They all jumped as Steve banged his fist on the computer, "Why didn't we know this before?" Danny and the rest of them could all see the rage in his eyes.
"Because we were not looking in the right place. His wife's suicide was in Europe and since it was tied up neatly was not a big red flag. The other women all died in different circumstances, well after they had been associated with James" Chin spoke this time as he tried to remain calm.
"How does this tie in with Senator Morales?" this time Danny couldn't keep quiet.
Steve spoke, "Morales was about to sign some business deal with Remington, and I am guessing the way he was pushing Naomi to him and objecting to us being together, there was probably some kind of arrange marriage thing being orchestrated" Steve spoke as he turned to Kono. "Since James has a shipping company, there is no doubt he is using that as his cover. Find out what the deal was with Morales, and what yachts are registered under his name and which ones are in the vicinity or just plain sailing. Also check up on Kat, her name may be an alias so check all known associates of James that match her physical appearance".
Danny followed him as he entered his office and reached for his phone, "Before you do something rash you want to share what you're about to do?" he asked.
"I'm getting my SEAL team together, how many ever I can get. You guys will be my backup. I'm going to inform the SEC NAV about the Senator's disappearance, if they don't know already. We'll have to work with them" Steve proceeded to dial a number.
Danny watched as his partner as he could do whatever he could. The only other time he had ever seen him like this had been when Mary had gone missing. At least they had been able to find her location fairly easily.
Naomi was still missing and they had no idea where to start. Danny could only pray that for the sake of both his friends, Steve and Naomi, they could find her.
-X-
Naomi felt like a pancake had been laid on her face, so heavy was the makeup. She could feel her pores being clogged. The shoes were a little big and she felt as if she were playing dress up in her mother's clothes.
When her make up was done, Kat led her down a corridor into what looked like a den or office. It had a huge mahogany desk complete with a state of the art computer and fax system. The walls were covered in dark wood paneling giving the room feel closed in, making it hard for her to breathe. She heard a door open, so she turned.
In walked James, despite everything looking relaxed in a black tux his bowtie undone, a smile on his handsome face. If someone from the outside saw them, they would see a man smiling at his beautiful date, anticipating a romantic evening. What they didn't know was that the date was chomping at the bit to get away from this madman.
"There you are. May I say you look absolutely beautiful" He came toward her and pressed a light kiss to her forehead, as if he were a lover. She tried to keep her cringe from showing.
James moved to a bar and poured them some champagne that she had not noticed was chilling in a bucket.
"What am I doing here James? Where is my father?" she asked as she accepted the drink, although she had no intention of drinking it.
"All in good time, my love" he caressed her cheek, almost affectionately. "I've changed my mind".
"So you're going to let me go?" she asked hopefully.
James only laughed as he took her glass away from her, put it on a near by table with his, then pulled her into his arms. With a remote she had not seen before he switched on the music. "Oh darling I am not going to let you go. Don't you know you're mine?" he asked indulgently as if he were talking to a child.
He began to dance with her, and Naomi had to do all she could to keep from puking on his shiny shoes. "We are going to be married tomorrow. My captain will marry us, then your father will sign the deal and all will be done".
"Why do you insist on tying yourself to someone who doesn't love you?" Naomi couldn't help but ask, almost wanting to gaud him out of this false romantic mood.
"Oh you'll love me" he sounded so confident.
Naomi couldn't keep the snort in any longer, "I only love one man and he is not here".
It happened so fast she couldn't even blink. James grabbed her throat and sneered in her face, "You will forget about soldier boy. If you want him and your father to live, you will forget him".
Naomi choked as she tried to breathe, his hands were so tight around her throat. She tried to claw at his hands but he didn't budge, "You be a good wife and I'll forgive your little indiscretion. If not, you'll be swimming with the fish, my love" James releaser her throat as she gasped for breath.
He murmured something that Naomi couldn't catch as he kissed her bruised throat apologetically. Then pulled her into his arms in a tight hug, soothingly stroking her hair. She was too shaken up to move out of his sickening embrace.
Naomi spotted a picture on the wall directly in her line of sight. It was a smiling James as he had his arms around a woman dressed in a beautiful white wedding gown. She had dark brown hair and wide green eyes.
Naomi's own green eyes widened as she realized what James had said to her as he kissed her throat.
"I'm sorry my beautiful Mariska".