Not Alone: The Beginning (The Fighter Series Book 1) Read online

  Choked to the point of passing out Riley had no concept of time. Here she was again this time sitting in front of Ringo, drinking water he’d given her. Influence Stockholm syndrome. I’m not biting. The liquid soothed the damage in her throat, but didn’t ease the hatred boiling inside her veins. He was wearing fresh blood on his hand. Riley knew the bullet she’d put in him at the hospital was creating some problems. Now, a medical pack was being shoved her way.

  “You’re going to stitch this up.” He said in an agitated tone. “Your bullet. Your problem.”

  Riley chuckled. He slammed his hand down on the table. She jumped. He leaned toward her withdrawing a large serrated knife. Run. He read her thoughts and nodded no.

  “There’s no place for you to go. I’ll gut you. Slow.” His said through gritted teeth. “I should do it anyway.” A small amount of saliva had gathered at the corner of his lips making him look rabid. Cujo.

  Riley believed him. Leaning back in his chair, he took off his shirt. Ringo, other than the angry bullet wound on his shoulder, was in extremely good physical condition. He’d snap her head like a twig. This upped the ante. Turning, Riley opened the medical pack. Autoclaved surgical instruments fell to the side along with needles and thread.

  “There’s a bottle of peroxide on the counter. Get it.” He ordered. “Don’t fuck around.” His demeanor had changed.

  Moving to the counter, Riley grabbed the peroxide if only there were something I could stab you with. A blade to cut his black heart out. When Riley saw the whiskey, she grabbed it.

  “This is going to hurt.” She said, feeling immense satisfaction. Riley set the whiskey on the table. He grabbed her by the arm yanking her off balance. The only thing that kept her from falling was Ringo. Grinning, he pulled her close in his lap. Ringo pulled her in closer. Sweat was beading up around his brow. When he pressed his face against her hair, Riley closed her eyes and prayed. I am not strong enough to get away from him. Riley wanted to live.

  “Keep praying to your God but don’t get any ideas.” He whispered into her ear. “Or I’ll be the one performing surgery on you.”

  Riley had no choice. He’d kill her in the ugliest way possible. Riley needed a white knight in shining armor and she needed one soon.

  “I know you’ll do a good job.” He said allowing her to stand. The wound was almost as angry as she was.

  First things first, make it hurt like hell. She poured the peroxide on the wound. The liquid bubbled up running out the hole and down his arm, but he never flinched. Trying to keep some distance was going to be impossible. Riley rotated his arm to look for an exit wound. I should’ve used a hollow point. There was no exit wound. Lodged deep into the flesh was the bullet. The hole, an angry volcano erupting and oozing white foam mixed with blood. Unfortunately, Riley was going to have to dig the bullet out of the assholes arm. She didn't want to.

  “The bullet’s lodged.” She said.

  “Not for long.” He said, handing her a pair of long tweezers.

  Pulling the gloves out of the pack, Riley hesitated. He glared at her and pulled gloves on.

  “You have a lot more to worry about then contaminating yourself with my blood.” He said, but she ignored him. He took a long swig of whiskey. “Who stitched your face up?”

  He seemed unmoved by the pain when I slid the tweezers into the wound. Therefore, she went deeper. When he flinched, Riley jerked back. He grabbed her hand. Not needing to speak, his touch said it all. Her forehead was damp sweat started to trickle down the side of her face. Repositioning his arm, he let his fingers fall to her inner thigh. Uncontrollable fear held her hostage. Her fingers trembled.

  He was slugging down the whiskey. She hoped it’d work in her favor. Then he spoke. “What did you see the night of the shift?”

  Analyzing expressions, and movements, he’d attempted to get into her head already. This time, he waited for her to answer. She didn’t want to answer, but she did. The consequences of not were far worse.

  “It was raining.” What a perfect storm it had been.

  The tweezers tapped metal. Grabbing a chunk of meat, Riley tried to loosen the tip of the bullet. He never moved. Blood oozed from the wound and dripped down onto the floor. Her blue gloves turned red. Sweat ran down his forehead. Pass out. To help him along, Riley went even deeper.

  “Riley!” He yelled out. “You have one chance left.”

  Taking hold of the bullet, Riley clamped down and yanked it out. Blood rolled from the hole. The bullet fell on the table and then rolled to the floor leaving a trail of blood.

  “I knew you could do it.” He lowered his voice. “You’ve killed just like me.”

  “I’ve had no choice.” She said annoyed by his analogy of her. “You think you know me. I’m not like you.”

  “I need the boy.” He said wiping blood away. He looked at the hole in his arm and then at her. He took another swig from the bottle. “You did good Riley. Stitch it up.”

  The thickest needle in the pack had Ringo’s name on it. She wanted to smile, but before Riley could lift the thread, he snatched up her hand taking the needle from her. He cinched his fingers down on hers, squeezing.

  “Not nice Riley.” He said plucking up a smaller needle, he handed it to her.

  Ringo was an in control drunk and not stupid. After Riley stitched him up, he checked her work and then stood up to dress every ab muscle in his lower torso prominent. Riley took a slug off the whiskey. Inventorying everything in the room, two windows, one on each side of the door, and secured by bolted locks. The kitchenette was just that, the table they sat at, and a bathroom to the left of the room where he kept her. Another room sat to the right.

  “Not much. Is it?” Ringo said to her.

  He can read my mind?

  Ringo chuckled.

  Outside the cry of a cat broke the solitude between them. Riley didn’t flinch. A grin formed on Ringo’s lips. He watched her and then reached down and took another swallow off the whiskey.

  Riley rose and started for the sink, but he stopped her. “I need to wash.”

  He pointed at the sink. There was a pail full of water inside the tub. She took out only what she needed scrubbing her fingers. All the while, Riley felt him watching. There was nothing on the counter tops.

  A scuttle broke out outside. The angry voices of pissed off cats made her heart race.

  “Listen. The animals are hungry.” He said behind her. “You’ve worked with wild animals, right?”

  “I worked with people and protected the wild animals.” She said not liking where this was going.

  He grinned. “Ever feed a tiger Riley?”

  “I was a field officer, not a zoo keeper.” Riley said sarcastically, but stupidly. Really, you dumb ass. Of course, I fed mountain lions every day and played Hide and Seek with bears. Then she had a bad feeling he’d heard her.

  “You better hold on to that fire Riley. Come on.” He said, standing up. Her heart skipped a beat. He was taking her outside. Before she could move away, he reached over and laced a rope around her wrists. Wrenching them tight, Riley felt the blood stop flowing to her fingertips.

  “Too tight?” he asked. “Too bad.”

  Riley tried to pull away from him, but he jerked the rope. This pulled her fists to his chest. Riley could smell the whiskey both on his breath and on the wound she’d just stitched. “You behave, you hear.”

  “I just did you a favor.” She said through gritted teeth.

  “And I appreciate that.”

  Pulling Riley to the door, she felt a stream of cool air come from the outside. The bolts spoke to her, as they were unlocked. Freedom!

  “Shoes.”

  “You don’t need any.” He replied.

  Riley panicked realizing every minute she lived was another minute he could torture her. When Riley stepped out onto a small porch, the sunlight blinded her filling her eyes with tears. The snow beneath her feet almost felt soothing, but only for a second then they started to ache.
The cool air touched the damp sweat on her face, chilling her. He pulled on the rope. Down the steps she went landing hard in the snow.

  “Mother Fu….” Riley started, but he stopped her.

  “That’s not lady like.” He said. “Lesson number one. If you live through this one you’ll get lesson number two.” He started to drag her, but the survival mode she’d grown accustomed to allowed her to jump to her feet.

  Frantic. She tried to adjust to the light. When she did, rows of large enclosures and buildings appeared framed by high fences topped with razor wire. Her throat went dry and all hopes for escape faded fast. A chocolate striped body appeared in one of the enclosures. The rare white tiger licked his lips taking long white whiskers back with its tongue.

  “Please.” Riley breathed. “Don’t.”

  “Don’t what Riley. I’m not going to feed you to the tiger, yet. I only want you to feed him.” He said, shoving her face toward the tiger’s enclosure. Riley slid several feet inches from the chain link fence. “That” He said. “Is a rare…well as you can see….white Siberian Tiger? Much bigger than the Bengal and bigger than any cougar.”

  Grabbing her by the hair, he shoved her into the fence. Reaching out, Riley used all her strength to keep her face from pressing into the links. The tiger bolted towards me. The big cats face brushed her fingers. Riley screamed as the tigers paw missed her by a quarter of an inch. She could smell the rotten meat and old blood on his paw. Every ounce of adrenaline surged through her. She twisted backward falling to the ground hard her left wrist snapping under her. There was an electric shock as the bone broke. She rolled to the side. With her other hand, she clambered to a partial sitting position. She’d been spared being clawed. The tiger stood, growling and then hissing.

  “Aw that didn’t go as planned. I’ll do it this time.” Ringo said. He took a chunk of meat from a metal box and opened a smaller door to the enclosure. The meat slid down a shoot landing inside the pen. The rushing tiger grabbed the meat in his teeth and then dragged it off to the side. He went to a prone position with his giant paws in front of him and began to chew.

  “See! It’s not that hard.” Ringo said. As if this were just another day, he reached down and untied the rope from her wrist. She screamed out in agony. “I think you understand. Now, tell me where the boy is.”

  The cat looked up from his snack and licked his lips. Riley understood all right. Through her tears, she looked down the row of enclosures. Her fears were adding up as another tiger, and then a panther, and several bears, to name a few, came out after hearing the dinner bell. In reality, Riley only understood how much harder it would be to escape. She had become the prey.

  Ringo knelt beside her and whispered in her ear. “Where is my boy, Riley? Tell me and I’ll let you live.”

  Caught between frustration and fury Riley did something she would come to regret later. Riley spit in his face. Maybe he was surprised, but she’d never come to know if the look on his face was one of admiration or one of anger. He wiped the spit away slow like. Riley began to pull herself backward. Her feet got tangled underneath. I stitched you up you son of bitch! Like something unnatural and animal like, he came at her. His fist couldn’t have been clenched any tighter as he threw a blow to her jaw. Her eye swelled immediately shut and the sky turned black. Shiny white stars pulsated back and forth across the sky. Something inside her brain trembled and the world began to swim around her. The distance between the ground and her face was closing fast. Her cheek met the snow. In her mind, she felt Ringo lift her and she hoped she was only imagining him opening the gate to the tiger’s enclosure. Make it fast. A dark fog clouded her head. Utah and Megan’s faces danced in her thoughts.

  “I don’t even know those people.” Riley screamed out blood spraying outward mixed with saliva. Not listening, he shoved her towards the opening. “Jack, Jack Coulter, or Colton.” She screamed. “That’s all… I know. I swear to God! That is all I know.” Riley didn’t want to say it, but she had a feeling he already knew that information. He was testing her.

  “There is no God Riley.” He said pausing. “I’m not done with you.” He pulled away and shut the gate. The tiger sat down near the opening hoping for a change of heart.

  Ringo tossed her on the ground.

  “Sick bastard.” Riley whispered. Another mistake because he’d heard her.

  The toe of his boot slammed into her side. Several ribs popped. There was a rusty taste filling her mouth. She spit it out while clenching her side. If I die, I will haunt you for the rest of your life. Evil radiated off him. He paused knelt down beside her. Riley never wanted to kill anyone more than she wanted to kill him right here and now. His words trickled through a thick fog broken.

  “I have to go away for a few days, but you’ll be safe inside the cabin. Lucky for you I didn’t drink all the whisky. You’re going to need it if you live.” He pulled her to her feet. “Now let’s go get you fixed up.”

  Riley went into a darker less painful world. She didn’t care whether he carried her or dragged her by the feet. In the end, she would have her revenge regardless.

  FIFTY-FOUR

  Scott sat in the passenger seat waiting. “So now that we have time, tell me the rest of the story?”

  “Which part?” Jack said.

  “The part where she made an impression on you.” He said, digging.

  “Riley.” Jack mumbled playing dumb. “I don’t know her story. But I’ve got this feeling I’ve met her before.”

  “Only?”

  “Stop worrying about my love life buddy and focus on the job at hand.” Jack said pulling up to the house. “Let’s get what we need and get going. Then you can interrogate her yourself.”

  Lynn met them inside the house. “What’s going on?”

  “24 questions.” Jack said, hugging his sister gently. He found himself doing that more often these days. “How’re you doing?”

  “Good, ribs are healing.”

  “Good.” He hesitated. “How’s Megan doing?”

  “She’s stabile.” Lynn let go of Jack. “Hey Scott, good to see you’re back.”

  Scott wrapped his arms around Lynn, hugging her gentle like. “Sorry about what happened here.” He said.

  “Thanks. How’s Kate?” She asked changing the subject. “I meant to get out there but…”

  “She’s doing well. Baby’s kicking her day and night.”

  Lynn stayed back with Scott while Jack keyed in the code to the weapons vault. The vault was Jack’s man cave. In it was his collection of things lost and things taken for granted. LED lights lit the way, encasing the walk in vault with white light. Rows of semi-automatic weapons, pistols, shotguns, and revolvers lined the walls and underneath cases of grenades, rocket launchers and other various forms of firepower lined the floor. In shadow boxes and admired from afar were several historical rifles and revolvers salvaged from various places.

  It didn’t take Jack long to retrieve several autoloaders from their holders and the first weapon in the bag was an M & P Smith and Wesson .22, most recognized in the past as a Military and police center fire semi-automatic rifle which held 25 rounds. 25 rounds he could put right into Ringo’s chest. He placed a handful of loaded magazines into a separate bag. There was always room for guns. Jack gathered the Weatherby Vanguard .308 followed by a NightHawk Enforcer 45 with a fiber optic front sight, a handful of eight shot magazines and several other semi and fully automatic treasures. To some, all of this may have seemed an odd mixture of lever action and automatic loading guns, but to Jack he had a weapon for every situation. He grabbed an armful of boxed .45 rounds, .22 and .308 boxes. He packed them all in a separate bag. Before Jack stepped out of the vaulted room, he reached in a box and withdrew a pistol. He then handed it to Lynn. She took it.

  “You can load magazines on the way over.” Jack said to Scott.

  “Gee, thanks.” Scott took the bag. “I don’t know if this is enough,” Scott said. Jack smiled at his friends sarcasm tossing
him another pack “One thing about you Jack, you lack nothing in toys.”

  “No one should,” He said.

  “No liberals in this family. Expensive taste.”

  “Who said I bought these,” Jack said. “Who’s covering for you in school?”

  “Christmas break Jack. Don’t you ever look at the calendar? I noticed you guys don’t have a tree up yet.”

  “Gee, glad someone noticed.” Lynn said, chiming in from behind. Jack shot Scott a look.

  “Shit,” Jack said. “Thanks’ for reminding me.”

  “No problem buddy. Just trying to help.”

  “Help my ass. You’re always getting me in trouble.” Jack said setting the remaining bags outside of the vault.

  “Hey always happy to have your back buddy.”

  “Good then you won’t mind helping me out.” Jack said moving out the front door. Scott followed.

  The Christmas tree was heavy and full with thick limbs making it a tight squeeze through the front door. Boxes of Christmas decorations were already neatly stacked off to the side waiting in the living room awaiting placement.

  “Hey sis. I think Santa was here.” Jack said guiding the trunk into the tree holder while Scott steadied the oversized tree.

  She smiled at Jack. “I thought you’d forgotten.”

  “I have to chalk this one up to Shay and Ben. Luckily, there’s a tree lot this year. Anyway. Have fun. I’m sure the kids and Shay will help you with make it all Christmassy and stuff.”

  “Don’t you want to stay and help decorate it?” Scott said, inspecting the tree a little closer.

  “Nope.”

  “You’ll change your tune when you have kids.” Scott teased.

  “Who said I’m going to have kids.” Jack said. “Anyway if I had kids they’d have to attend your history class. That’s just weird.”

  Lily and Jonah came scrambling into the living room sliding to a stop when they saw the tree. Lily screeched out. “Mama, can we make hot cocoa and sing Christmas songs?”

  Lynn looked at Jack. “How can that not make you smile Jack?”