Sara's Game Part 14

Sara twisted Brian's ring around her thumb, feeling the sweat between skin and metal.

Why...why...his wedding ring...his ring...oh my G.o.d... she knows what happened to him...she knows...

How? Unless she kidnapped him, too? Stole him from me. Took him away.

She knows...maybe he...maybe he was having- No. Don't think like that. He wouldn't.

Would he? An affair?

Not Brian. He wouldn't...there were never any signs...I never suspected anything...

You know that's not true...

...the receipt...

Teddy moaned behind her, followed by the dull sc.r.a.pe of wood on wood as the chair legs scratched against the floor. Then, silence. Nothing more. Back to the darkened depths of her solitude.

She took a small sip of water, just enough to wet her tongue.

Brian...what did you do?

The receipt, the one that had fallen out of the book he'd been reading on his trip to San Diego. Two meals at a restaurant. A bottle of wine.

Brian never drank wine...hated it. Hated the taste. It made him sick.

At the time, she hadn't questioned it. Business trip. Colleagues with a taste for expensive Bordeaux. Trying to woo a new client at a conference. It meant nothing. Less than nothing. An innocuous drink with someone who had money to invest. Choked it down with a smile to earn a hefty commission.

But was that it? Was that all?

She thought back to all the connections she'd made earlier in the day, back when she'd thought it might've been a woman, back when she thought it might've been someone inside LightPulse. The mention of a breakaway, the mini-bomb idea that led her to believe it was Teddy.

A woman at the office...was Brian having an affair with one of the girls at work?

No, couldn't be. He was in San Diego.

They could've met him there. Was anyone on vacation then? Anyone missing from the office?

I can't remember...so long ago...

Sara's stomach churned. The realization of a deeper truth to his disappearance took her breath away, tightened its grip around her lungs. Made her head swim, made her dizzy. She rubbed her eyes, wiped a tear from her cheek.

What did I do, Brian? Was it me? Did you not love me anymore?

The betrayal. The anguish. The pain. It was too much. All those years of loving a man who would dare to take another woman to bed. Had it been going on for some time? Or was it a single act of indiscretion? Too much wine? Promises to do all the things between the covers that they had grown too tired and bored and busy to do? Their relations.h.i.+p had seemed great. To her. To her family. To everyone who complimented them. To her friends, who admitted to jealousy over the emotional connection they had.

It was true that their s.e.x life had faded to once or twice a month. Brief encounters when they had enough energy to squeeze it in after long days, after the kids had gone to bed. It was the typical scenario of many busy marriages, something they'd discussed and were excited to fix, but he'd gone missing before they'd had the chance.

Went missing, or left intentionally for another woman?

She wanted to run away, leave, disappear. Evaporate into a fine mist and escape the cage walls. But, she was trapped, contained, forced to deal with her regret and sorrow with no way out.

Sara drew her knees up to her chest, buried her face in her arms.

d.a.m.n you, Brian. Who was it? Who was she?

Someone at the office...which one? Who was there two years ago when he disappeared? Me. Susan. She wouldn't...Kara and Sandra in R&D. Mandy at the front desk. She was cute. Her? Jenny in Accounting. Not his type. What was the office manager's name, the one who retired...Janet...Janet? Too old.

Six of them. All gone. All moved on to different places in their lives. New jobs, higher paying jobs. Motherhood. From what she'd heard, they were all living in Portland, except for Janet, who'd moved to Key West.

This woman knows about stuff in the new Juggernaut...all the women who used to be there are gone, so if he was cheating...she's been hired since he disappeared...

Why do that? Why get so close to me if she was sleeping with my husband?

Keep tabs on me? Make sure I wasn't getting closer to finding him?

Such a stretch. Somebody could be breaking the NDA, pa.s.sing along info.

Lots of new faces...Sh.e.l.ley and Amy and Wendy and Shay and Christina...

Was it possible? Could any of the women who were there now be the one who had destroyed her life? Damaged her children's lives? Still so many questions, still no closer to a reasonable answer. The possibilities were endless. So were the motivation and reasoning. It didn't make any sense. None of it.

And what if she was completely off? What if Brian hadn't been having an affair, and the woman was some psycho targeting her family for some unknown reason? She had access to confidential LightPulse information, but it didn't mean she was actually inside the company. And it could be one of the men, a partner, pa.s.sing along details. What if they had murdered Brian, taken his ring, kept it all this time in order to torture her, toy with her, make her play a game? Was it a game of life and death? Was that really what was going on?

I need to know more. Teddy...his pain...more clues...

No, don't. You can figure this out.

How? I know nothing. One...two...three...seven...eight. Eight other women in the office. It could be any one of them. And if it's one of the guys...how many women do they know? It's impossible. Why does she have Brian's wedding ring? No idea. None whatsoever. Affair? Maybe. Kidnapped him and took it? Murdered him and took it? Why me? Why now? Why two years later?

I could ask Teddy...what if he saw her face?

She clambered around inside the cage, felt the metal bars digging into her knees. She thought about tugging at the blanket, slipping it off so she could see him, but that would be against the rules. Breaking them would result in another phone call, another scream from one of her children in pain because she refused to obey.

"Teddy," she whispered. "Teddy. Wake up."

Sara c.o.c.ked an ear, listened over her shoulder. Tried to hear any movement coming from the other room. Earlier, who knows how long ago, she'd heard the tall man moving around, followed by the front door slamming. Was he gone? Sitting on the front porch? Taking a leak out in the woods?

I need to pee...almost hurts...

"Teddy? Can you hear me?"

She heard him inhale, imagined him waking up, opening his eyes. Panic setting in as he realized that it wasn't a dream, that he was tied to a chair in a pitch black room. He mumbled her name through the gag. It came out as a question, testing the s.p.a.ce in front of him, like he was unsure if her voice was truly there.

"I'm here, Teddy, I'm here. Keep your voice down, okay?"

His response was m.u.f.fled and wet. "Okay."

"Are you in pain?"

"A lot."

"I'm sorry. Listen to me. Listen. Everything will be okay. We'll get out of here. I'll get you out, I promise."

"What's...what's going on?"

She could tell it was difficult for him to speak, difficult to push his words around the cloth binding his mouth open. "Someone's playing a game with me."

"A game?"

"A bad one. They have my kids."

"What?"

"They've been kidnapped." She scooted close to the cage wall, wrapped her fingers through the bars and whispered, "How'd you get here? Did he bring you?"

"The guy...him."

"Not so loud, okay? He's working with some woman, any idea who?"

"No. A voice...on a phone."

"What did she say?"

"Said I...said I deserved this. For being...a pig."

"I think it's somebody at the office."

"Said I'm...motivation."

"Motivation? Teddy, focus. Who's doing this?"

"Don't know."

"Anything at all. Think. Guess."

"Don't know."

"Teddy, please. Say the first name that comes to your mind."

The seconds ticked by. He was silent for so long, Sara thought he might've pa.s.sed out again. Finally, he mumbled, "Maybe-maybe it's-"

The door crashed open, slamming against the wall hard enough for Sara to feel the vibrations through the floor. Thundering footsteps, followed by, "Quiet!" The voice echoed off the walls as Sara screamed, pus.h.i.+ng herself up against the far side of the cage, away from him. Light from the open door penetrated the black cloth enough to illuminate the interior. She could see her hands shaking.

The sickening thuds of fists on flesh replaced the noise of her gasping. It sounded like someone with a sledgehammer beating a dead animal carca.s.s.

Teddy coughed and gagged. Moaned. She was almost relieved that she couldn't see what was happening to him, but the images in her mind were just as bad.

One, two, three more punches, and then it stopped.

The black cloth whipped open and the tall man knelt down in front of her.

"Don't hurt him again," she begged.

"Penalty," he said, slipping another note through the cage.

Sara grabbed it. Hands unsteady, paper flapping like a wounded dove. She didn't want to read it, terrified of what it might contain. What penalty had she brought upon herself? What had she done by breaking a rule? If it was for her, she'd take it. She would take the punishment.

Not the kids...not the kids...don't hurt them anymore...I'll play...

Fingers trembling and uncooperative, she fumbled the note open.

THE PENALTY IS SEVERE. NO MORE CLUES. NO QUESTION FOR THIS ROUND.

AND NOW YOU MUST CHOOSE YOUR PATH:.

1. HE DIES a YOUR CHILDREN ARE SAFE AND YOUR CAGE TIME ENDS 2. HE LIVES a I'LL REVEAL WHO I AM BUT THERE MAY BE CONSEQUENCES One simple choice that changed the game completely. Sara dropped the note to the cage floor. It was easy. The first option was clear: order Teddy's death and the kids would be fine. The ambiguity of the second choice left her wondering. It didn't say anything about harming Lacey, Callie, and Jacob, just that she would reveal her ident.i.ty.

She won't do anything to hurt them. The game is over if she does.

I can't risk it. I can't. It's not-it's not even a choice.

She'd read about questions like these before. Psychological tests designed to a.s.sess compa.s.sion. A pa.s.senger train is speeding down the tracks, a single person in its path. Derail the train to save one man and risk countless lives, or run him over and save everyone on board? The problem with the question was the lack of guarantee that anyone would die in the first option.

But this...this was different. There were no alternatives.

She would have to play G.o.d. Choose when and where someone died. The remainder of her days would be spent wondering what might've happened if she had picked the second option, but the regret would pale in comparison to what she'd feel if she had read too far into it and something happened to her babies.

The tall man said, "Choose."

"Give me a minute."

She listened to Teddy's breathing.

He was clueless. His fate contained in a simple slip of paper. No idea that he was about to die. Had to die. If he knew what the note said, would he offer himself as a sacrifice? Would he say, 'Do it, save them,' or would he be the same self-centered, egotistical brat that he'd always been? Could he, for once, let go of his self-absorption and care about another person? She'd heard stories of soldiers jumping on hand grenades, surrendering their lives to save others. That level of personal disregard was almost incomprehensible. She would do it for the children. Would Teddy? If he knew what was at stake, would he make that choice?

He wouldn't. He would come up with an excuse. Run if he could.

Forcing away her pity didn't make the decision any easier. But, she only had one to make.

She kicked the cage, close to the tall man's face, surprising him. Watched him fall backwards, landing on his a.s.s. "Number one," she said.

He grunted, groaned, crawled back to his feet. Grabbed the cage and shook it. His only form of retaliation.

Sara thought about kicking his fingers, smas.h.i.+ng them against the bars.

He pulled a handgun from his waistband, screwed a silencer into the barrel. Pointed it at her head.

She lifted her arms, knowing the fleshy s.h.i.+eld would do no good, but it was a natural reaction.