Page 76 of The Captive Missing

When the lawyer returned with a sandwich, Shane and the security guards came back inside with him. Instantly the room boiled with renewed tension. Shane pointed out that the court’s time limit had been reached, then demanded he resume custody of Val. As before, the dialogue escalated quickly. Both sides found themselves yelling and making threats.

Through it all, Val focused on the sandwich. It smelled of hot baked bread and turkey, there was even a hint of Swiss cheese in the air. Her mouth flooded with saliva. She yearned to unwrap it from its crinkling white paper.

Reaching her hands out, she had to lean up from her seat to just grasp the edge of the plate and pull it towards her along the table. Agent Finn was the only one who watched her now. His eyes were calculating, but reserved. Quickly, she unwrapped one side and took a massive bite. The flood of taste erupted over her tongue as she chewed, a soft moan escaped her mouth.

But one bite was all she got before Shane was grabbing her arm, yanking her up beside him. What happened next was a blur of motion.

The two security guards had entered the room after their boss, and one of them was still stuck behind an attorney. Shane had ranged out in front of them in his effort to get to Val, so when he grabbed her, he was at least three yards away from his normal hulking protection. It was as if Jason had been waiting all his life for this particular moment. He moved fast. Faster than Val could even blink, and slammed his fist directly into the center of Shane’s face.

Val rocked back with the shared impact, until Shane’s hand sprung open and released his grip. Then Jason was on top of him, smashing Shane into the ground, hitting him over and over. A look of pure satisfaction transformed his handsome face.

For a split second, Val stood over the pair of them in absolute shock. But then Cambric security was pushing past her, diving on the pile in an attempt to rescue Shane. Val tipped to one side as the police officer followed suit. Stumbling back, she glanced over her shoulder and looked directly into Agent Finn’s face.

He grabbed her arm and hauled her hurriedly from the room. Down the corridor they went, out past the receptionist and into a bathroom. He released her then, and jogged to each stall, slamming open the doors to make certain they were empty. Taking his phone out of his pocket he placed it into a sink and turned on the water to flow over it.

“Finn?” Val blinked at him, wondering what was going on.

“I told you before that I couldn’t help you.” Finn dug around in his pocket and produced a thin black box, one that resembled a cell phone in every way, except that it wasn’t one. “And I had to do my job returning you to Cambric.”

“I know.” Val nodded as Finn took her right forearm and pressed the box to her skin just above where the tracker lay.

“But if I have to watch that psycho put his hands on you one more time, then I might have to try to kill him myself.”

“You let Jason do it,” Val gaped. “You let him hit Shane.”

“Hell yeah I did,” Finn acknowledged, the black box beeped once and he shoved it back into his pocket.

“What are you doing? What is that?”

“I can’t help you myself,” Finn qualified. “But it turns out that I know a gal. We don’t have much time. Just remember what I’m about to tell you, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Be patient and trust the process. Can you do that?”

“Be patient?”

“And trust the process, Val.”

“What did you do to my scanner? Will they know?”

“It will open doors and function just the same.” Finn glanced to the door of the bathroom, then back to her. “But instead of turning cameras on, it turns them off, and there won’t be any record that you were there.”

“You’ve hacked it.”

“Do not tell anyone about this. Got it?”

“Okay.”

“No one.”

“Alright!” Val twisted her fingers in worry. “I won’t.”

“And when you get where you’re going,” Finn said finally. “Tell Ava hi for me.”

Ava? The name was a question forming on Val’s lips, but before she could utter it, Agent Finn had retrieved his phone and was marching her back out the door.

Waiting at the end of the hall was Cambric security, and a very pissed off Shane. When they spotted Val, she could hear him growl. The sound had her trembling under Agent Finn’s touch. His eyes darted to her once, then away.

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