Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me?

from the hole. But he comes and pushes me in.’
    His arm tightened around her. ‘And then?’
    ‘I wake up. I guess it’s not exactly subtle on the symbolism. I never scream out loud, at least not that I know of. I kept thinking I’d grow out of it, that I’d move past it, but I never have. I mean, it wasn’t like I even saw anything. I just heard it. But I can’t forget the screams. And the nightmare never goes away.’
    He was quiet for a long time. Only the fine tension in his body told her he wasn’t asleep. ‘I know.’
    His voice had gone hollow. Haunted.
    Daphne turned in his arms, looked up into his face. His jaw was taut, his eyes open but unblinking. Staring straight ahead. At nothing at all.
    ‘Tell me,’ she murmured, laying her hand against his jaw. ‘What do you know?’
    He blinked then, looking down at her, pain in his dark eyes. ‘I know what it’s like to hear the screams and not be able to make them stop.’
    ‘You heard Jo scream?’ she asked, very quietly.
    He nodded. ‘They wanted a ransom. Thought my family needed incentive.’
    Oh no, she thought, fearing what had made his wife scream. ‘What happened?’
    He said nothing, rolling to his back and tucking her up against him. His fingers were in her hair, his palm cradling her head. She spread her hand over his heart and let him hold her, cocooned against him. And she waited.
    ‘She wanted a big wedding,’ he finally said. ‘I just wanted my ring on her finger. We were both still deployed, but her unit had been assigned to another ship. I guess I felt making it official would make it more real. So we compromised. We’d have a civil ceremony with a military chaplain, take leave for a short honeymoon, then do the big church wedding when we both got home.’
    ‘Where did you go?’
    ‘Paris. In the end it wouldn’t have mattered where we went. She’d been a target for a long time.’
    ‘Because she was a pilot?’
    His chest moved in a single bitter huff. ‘Because she was mine. And I was rich. And so damn naïve I thought nobody knew it.’
    She thought about what he’d said the night before, about wanting to be his own man. Of getting into the Academy on his own. ‘You didn’t tell anyone about your family.’
    ‘No. I wanted people to respect me . . . to like me for myself. Not because I was my father’s son. But it turned out quite a few people on the ship knew I was my father’s son, that I had millions at my disposal. One of them, an ensign, wanted a few of those millions. He knew I was going on leave because he worked in the admin office, processing the requests. He knew Jo was too.’
    ‘What did he do?’
    ‘Hired some pals from the States to be there when we got to Paris. We had three days together and it was . . . beautiful. I’d hired a car to take us back to the airport and that’s where everything unraveled. The ensign had a driver waiting in the lobby. He’d canceled the reservation I’d made weeks earlier. So the car that picked us up at the hotel pulled off an exit halfway to the airport, overpowered us, drugged us, and the next thing I knew I was waking up in the dark. Jo was in another room, screaming. Begging for help. For me. But I was tied up and couldn’t get to her. I have never felt so helpless.’
    ‘I know.’ She had to force the words from her throat.
    ‘I know you do. One of the kidnappers shoved a phone to my ear, told me to talk to my father, tell him to get the money to them fast and not to contact the police. Dad got on a plane with the cash. He also contacted the Parisian police. One of the kidnappers went to get the money, the other stayed to guard us. I’d been working the rope they used to tie me ever since I’d woken up and had made a little progress, when the one who’d stayed behind got a call. When he hung up he told Jo that they’d gotten their money, but that he’d have “one last go” for the road. He started again and I . . . lost it. Just raw rage.’
    She didn’t know what to say. What to do for him. She’d been a terrified child. He been an adult, Jo the woman he’d loved. ‘What did you do?’ she whispered, horrified.
    ‘I clawed at the rope until finally I could rip my hands free. It took the top layers of skin off my hands, but I didn’t even feel it. Not then anyway. I got the ropes off my ankles and charged. But I was too late. He’d . . . finished and was dressed. I don’t know if he’d ever gotten completely