Finding Anna (Hidden Duet Book 1) Read online

  “Possibly.” He pulls a business card out of his jacket setting it down on the counter in front of me. The police officer heads over to the coffee area, seemingly uninterested in our conversation.

  “There has been a murder across town, at the Midtown motel. We found this in the room where the crime was committed. We hope that you can provide us with any information you may have regarding the victim.” He places another item in front of me, a picture of the guy whose space I invaded. “Do you recognize this man?”

  I pick up the photo in front of me trying to control the shaking of my hand. “Umm, yes he was here yesterday morning. He asked Frank, the owner of the store, for hotel recommendations. I saw him pick up our card on his way out.”

  Detective Sharp cocks his head to one side giving me an inquisitive gaze. “Can you tell me anything else about this man? Did he happen to say where he was from? What he was doing in town? Anything you can remember could be of help.”

  I am certain he is curious about my obvious state of anxiety. “I’m sorry this is just so shocking, a murder here? It doesn’t seem possible.” I shake my head.

  The detective remains silent, patiently waiting for my response to his questions.

  I continue, “I recall he had Kansas plates. He did not say why he was in town. I assumed he was here on business. He didn’t speak except to ask about the hotel.” I lay the photo back down on the counter as I finish my sentence.

  “Did this gentleman purchase anything here? We did not find any books in his room, so I am curious why he visited your bookstore.”

  I glance over to the coffee nook and point. The officer standing there takes a swig out of his cup. He looks up, probably questioning why I am pointing at him. I look back to the detective. “He was sitting over there. He was working on his laptop.” I swallow hard as I say the last word.

  “Hmmm, interesting, we didn’t find a computer in his suite or in his vehicle.” He squints down at me with interrogative eyes, wondering if I am telling him the truth. “Are you certain he had a laptop with him?”

  I nod my head in confirmation. The air is being sucked out of the room. The officer in uniform comes back to the counter asking how much he owes for the coffee. I tell him it’s on the house. He nods his thanks and turns to walk out.

  The detective hands me his own business card. “If you think of anything else please let us know Miss?” He pauses waiting for me to give him my name.

  “Sarah, Sarah Madrono,” I say sucking my bottom lip between my teeth.

  He jots it down on a small tablet he retrieved from his jacket. “I’m sure this is an isolated incident but please be cautious of anything that seems out of the normal.”

  I nod my head again in understanding. In the back of my mind I ask myself if I even know what normal is.

  I do my best to get through the rest of the day. I had thought about locking up early to run home and lock myself in my room but that might look suspicious. I realize that I am not the one that the police are looking for, but I can’t help thinking I have that man’s blood on my hands. I only did a single search and shut out of the browser as it was opening. This is all just a coincidence I tell myself again as I close the store.

  I stop at the gas station on the way home. There are two old guys at the pump next to mine, their conversation catches my attention. “I guess it was gruesome,” one of them says.

  “Ralph told me he was tortured, fingers cut off, blood everywhere. Probably caught up with a drug cartel. He must have really pissed someone off.” He half snickers to himself, acting like the man from the hotel got what he deserved.

  I cover my mouth with the back of my hand, my lunch suddenly crawling up my esophagus. I click the lever on the pump, not even filling my tank. I do not want to be privy to any more of their conversation.

  Somehow I make it home. I am so anxious at this point that my ears have started to ring, I am on the verge of hyperventilating. I throw my bag on the couch and head to my room. I just need a nice hot bath. None of what happened is my fault. It’s a coincidence I tell myself for the twentieth time today.

  I run the bath tossing in one of my lavender bath bombs to help quell my nerves. I sink into the warm fragrant water and push all thoughts of the stranger out of my mind. Instantly my body reacts. I take a deep breath. Everything is fine.

  I close my eyes and focus on what I should make for dinner. I am missing Mrs. Madrono. She was a wonderful cook, me not so much. I’m feeling better as the water cools in the tub. My stomach grumbles signaling me to leave my retreat in search of something to eat.

  I tuck the towel in above my chest as I walk down the hallway to the kitchen to turn the oven on to pre-heat. Frozen pizza it is. I head back to my room to dress. My heart stops. On the table is the letter I received two weeks ago from my mother.

  It is wrinkled but flattened out as if someone was reading it. They had to have pulled it from the trash. I glance down the hallway. Did the Madronos return? My head tells me it could be them, but my heart tells me a different story.

  I quietly make my way into the living room and retrieve my purse from the couch. I fumble in search of the business card the detective gave me earlier today. I’m not sure if he can help me. I have no one else.

  I try to enter Detective Sharp’s number on my phone, willing my hands to get the numbers right. I feel like I’m in a nightmare. You know the ones where you are trying to dial for help only to keep clicking on all the wrong buttons.

  I sense something. Before I can turn a hand slams across me with a cloth covering my nose and mouth. I cannot breathe! There is someone, a large someone behind me like a brick wall. I buck and claw at the hand over my face trying to draw in a breath. A darkness swallows me, the fight within me vanishes.

  Chapter Three

  ∞∞∞

  Dylan

  I’m gripping the phone so tight in my hand I can feel the thin shell bend slightly. “What the fuck do you mean they got another one?”

  “I know it’s fucked up. I should have put someone on the girl. I didn’t think they were here for her. That they would take her. How could I have known Dylan?”

  “Who is she?” I say irritated that Liam couldn’t stop them.

  “Her name is Sarah Madrono. She is not their usual type. I questioned her two days ago in relation to the murder. She worked at a bookstore that the murder victim had visited.”

  I run my hand through my hair frustrated. Another girl is victim to these assholes. “So, do you have a location?”

  “Not yet, but we do at least have a country now. Venezuela. They are being tracked as we speak. Their risk coming into the states just may help. Unfortunate for her, but for us, this is what we have needed,” Liam says. “We are close Dylan, we will find your sister, man. We will, I promise.”

  I hang up the phone without a response. I shouldn’t be so hard on him. He has worked harder than anyone besides myself to locate my sister. He busted his ass to get a position within the FBI, hoping that it would gain us more leverage. He loves her too I remind myself.

  The guilt I feel for leaving my mother and sister sits like a boulder in the pit of my stomach even though many years have passed. I won’t stop until I find her. I must save her. I know it may be too late, but I can’t quit until I get answers.

  I pull up a map on my phone and zoom in over Venezuela. Eight years is a long time. If we find her alive, she is more than likely dead inside.

  I’m putting my trust into the FBI and Liam to handle this one. Every time my guys and I get close to the man behind it all, Oliver Wright, he slips through our fingers. I hope that this time we can end this and annihilate him.

  When we got word that some of his men had shown up in the states we thought this may be our last chance to find my sister. Why they were here, we really don’t understand. The guy they murdered gave no clues.

  My thoughts wander back to the young woman they took. What did Liam tell me her name was? Sandra, no Sarah, Sarah Madrono. Th
ey usually get their girls from outside the United States. The poor thing must have caught their attention somehow. My stomach churns as I fear for her. One day just a plain simple Texas girl working in a bookstore and the next…I force the images from my mind of what they might do to her.

  My guys and I have found cells of their operation over the years. We took a shit ton of the assholes out. Saved as many girls as we could. Their faces haunt my dreams. At least we were able to have saved some of them.

  I looked up the word save once in the dictionary. Save-to keep safe or rescue (someone or something) from harm or danger. We may have freed them, but I knew a few would never truly be saved. They had left their physical bodies too much, drifted too far away from what was happening to them. Many just shells of their former selves.

  My sister could be in the same condition when we find her. If we find her. It doesn’t matter I tell myself. I will save her. I will pull her up from the depths she has retreated while in the hands of these monsters. “Please hold on Sophia, we are close. Liam and I are getting close,” I say under my breath.

  Chapter Four

  ∞∞∞

  Anna

  I’m floating in darkness. Every time I begin to break through I feel the hand and cloth over my face, once again cocooning me within.

  Awareness is returning. I am careful not to move, not to let them know I am coming out of the fog. But I cannot control the shaking of my body.

  My head is splitting. I cannot move my arms or legs, I am tied down to a hard surface. My wrists forced at my side, ankles strapped. The most terrifying thing is that I can tell that I am naked. I shudder uncontrollably, I cannot discern whether it is from being cold or sheer terror.

  “Boss she is coming to again. Do you want me to set her up in a cell with one of the other girls? Doc just checked her saying she is clean, still a virgin. He gave her a birth control injection, so she is good to go,” a gruff voice says from across the room.

  I notice someone move close as I try to process the words I just gathered. I jump as they touch me under my right ear and drift down my jaw, my throat, running between my breasts finally stopping just above my naval. A palm rests there, I can feel the warmth of their skin a contrast to the coolness of mine. I hear a whimper, realizing that it is my own.

  “No, I have something special planned for this one. Once she is fully awake bring her to me.” His tone sounds silky with a hint of menace behind the words.

  The hand glides off my stomach and I pick up the sound of a door opening and then closing. The voice beside me chuckles. “I don’t know what you did to piss the boss off little lady. You better put your big girl panties on.” He laughs again. “Oh, wait you don’t have any panties do you now?” He snorts at his own joke. I do nothing but shake.

  I hear the door again. I stall a few minutes making certain I am alone before opening my eyes. I blink at the bright light above me, I am in a small gray room. I’m strapped to an exam table. I lift my head cursing to myself as it pounds its disapproval and glance down at my naked form, not seeing any injuries. The headache must be from what they used to drug me.

  I lay my head back down to control the shaking and take a few deep breaths. Tears stream down the sides of my face pooling in my ears. I can’t be here. I can’t do whatever this is. I fight the urge to call out for help, knowing no one here will save me. I think back to the day I said goodbye to my mother, the fear I saw in her eyes. I want to kick myself for how stupid I have been.

  I need to figure out where I am and why I am here. Then I will decide on a plan. I must face the monster, he has me and I have no one to blame but myself.

  The silky voice belongs to him. He put his hand on me. I have never been touched by a man like that. In fact, I can count on one hand the number of men who have ever laid a finger on me. None of them touched me the way he did, he was stroking me as if I was a family pet.

  A doctor examined me. To the extent of knowing I was a virgin. They gave me an injection all while I was unconscious. The thought of someone touching me while I was unaware causes bile to rise, burning my throat.

  I need to keep calm if I have any chance at getting away. My mind spins. The detective, will he be looking for me? Will they put the man that was murdered in the hotel and my disappearance together? You’re fooling yourself, Anna. No one is coming, you need to figure this out alone.

  The door opens interrupting my thoughts. A large man with shaggy brown hair enters the room. My hands jerk in the restraints a natural desire to cover myself. I turn my face to the wall, tightly closing my eyes not wanting to watch him assault me with his. The guy laughs, I realize that this is Mr. Jokester.

  “Come on doll, I know you have been awake. You can’t hide in here forever.”

  I inwardly laugh at this, I have been hiding for nine years and I messed it up by one search. Maybe that was a coincidence, but something tells me it wasn’t. I put on my big girl panties and I shift to face him. “Hiding, is that what you call this? I’m fucking strapped to a table. I would call that kidnapping,” I seethe.

  He clicks his tongue. “Girl, I will say this once. You better watch that mouth of yours. Mr. Wright is not someone to mess with.”

  I turn to stare up at the ceiling. Mr. Wright, the monster has a name now. How ironic his name is Wright. Nothing is right about what is happening, this is all wrong…very wrong.

  As the man approaches I try my best to stay still, keeping my eyes trained on the light. He releases my feet from the straps and then moves up to my wrists. As he reaches over to release the last strap he sighs. “Listen and listen close. Do not run, keep your eyes down, mouth shut and do what he tells you. If you do these four little things, no one will hurt you. Up,” he orders once I’m free of the restraints.

  I sit up immediately and wrap my arms around my chest. He grabs my legs at my knees helping me to turn on the table. He lets me adjust to the upright position for a few seconds then takes me by the elbow to help me off the table.

  When my feet hit the floor, I wince at the pain that shoots up my calves. I have no idea how long I was out. It seems like I haven’t stood on my own two feet in a very long time.

  “You got it?” he asks.

  I nod my head thinking how strange it is to have this big burly guy act like he is my nurse maid. He tugs at my arm urging me to take a step towards the door. My feet may as well be cemented to the floor.

  “Let’s go Doll, no use prolonging the inevitable,” he urges.

  One foot in front of the other Anna, one foot in front of the other. I take a step and allow him to lead me like a sacrifice. My heart beats faster with each moment. I keep my eyes lowered as we walk just as he instructed. We pass a few men in the halls, no one seems to take an interest in the naked girl being led to slaughter.

  He leads me up a set of stairs to a main floor of a house. We must have been in a basement. The air is less humid on this level. We cross through an entry way past a door that might lead to freedom.

  He notices my slight hesitation as we pass the door and jerks me tightly close to him. “Don’t even think about it.” He continues pointing us towards a large beautifully crafted staircase that spirals upwards towards a landing.

  We reach the top, then he leads me down another hallway with elaborately carved wooden doors running its length. I haven’t been in a home this luxurious since my own as a child. Except this one does not feel cozy like my father’s estate. Here I can almost taste and smell fear. My eyes watch the designs in the carpet as we walk. It reminds me of patterns in an adult coloring book. We stop abruptly.

  I glance up and see two large doors before me. I peek at the man who brought me here. Staring down at me he quietly whispers, “Remember what I told you.” He waits for me to acknowledge him.

  I slowly shake my head lowering my eyes back down to the floor. He knocks, and I hear the same silky voice from downstairs. “Come in.” He opens the doors and gently nudges me from behind into the office. The room is cold.
My earlier trembling begins anew.

  He pushes me in farther then stops, directing me to sit in a chair facing the front of a large wooden desk. “Here she is boss, anything else?”

  I don’t hear a response. Maybe he nodded his answer, I can’t tell because I’m focused on my trembling knees. I feel Mr. Jokester leave my side and hear the door close behind me.

  I’m alone with the monster, frozen in my seat. I can’t look up at him. After a few seconds I realize that I have been holding my breath, I slowly let it out.

  I can sense his eyes on me. Unmoving like a large cat waiting to jump on his prey. I try to focus on my breathing keeping my vision locked on my knees. Is he wanting to see what I’ll do, if I will run? The more I ponder the more I want to turn and study the door.

  It’s not that far behind me and he is sitting at his desk, it would take him a second or two to get to me. But, once I make it to the exit there is a brick wall with shaggy brown hair on the other side. Just as I’m almost ready to submit to my urge to flee, the man stands.

  He comes towards me slowly. I fight the urge to scamper away as he gets closer. He places a chair directly in front of me and sits. I watch out of my peripheral vision not giving in to the increasing need to make a run for it.

  He reaches down, grabbing the leg of my chair, yanking it close to him, forcing my legs to settle between his long ones. The heat radiates off him and seeps into me. It does nothing to stop the invading tremors. My stomach hurts from the constant racking of my body.

  Reaching out he grabs my wrists and drags my arms away from my breasts. I watch his hands as they guide mine to rest in my lap. He has fair skin and long fingers, reminding me of talons on a bird of prey. My shaking intensifies.

  We sit for what seems like hours, but reality is it is mere seconds. My mind races, fretting over what this man wants from me. Finally, he speaks. “Are you cold?” His words slither up my spine resembling a snake coiling up a pole.