Page 59 of The Captive Missing

Footsteps came towards them and the door swung inward. An unfamiliar man in a black suit eyed them for a moment before stepping aside to admit them. Val’s guard produced a cell phone from his pocket and handed it to the man.

“Peter?”

“No, I’m his personal security.”

“Is he here? He needs to sign this.”

The man in the suit gestured over his shoulder and Val followed his line of sight. What she saw took her breath away.

He was tall, with dark brown skin and smiling brown eyes. His once black hair had a sprinkle of silver in it, but she knew he wasn’t a year over forty-five. It was Representative Peter Higgins. Her savior. Her dear friend. She had carried his business card on her body for months, memorized his phone number, ran her fingers over the life-line scrawled on the back. He was here to save her.

Her face flushed with the relief of it.

“Peter!” Val called.

Running to him, she flung her arms around his waist. He laughed. Reaching over her head for the cell phone, he scrawled his signature half a dozen times. When the formalities were over, both of the other men exited the suite to wait outside.

No wonder he wanted to be anonymous, Val thought, here was her life-line in person, come to take her home. But then he was kissing her. His lips pressed against hers. His strong hands stroked up her back. One hand snaked around to cup her breast. The shock of it had her reeling. She stumbled back.

“Peter!” Val cried. “Your wife! What are you doing?”

“I know this must come as a bit of a shock.” Peter’s expression was a mix of desire and guilt. “Tawny left me. The political climate shifted after Sharon’s conviction and I could no longer stay in power if I had to follow her standards.”

“But… you wanted to release captives,” Val sputtered, her confusion clear across her face.

“You know what they say about politicians.” Peter took a step closer, ran his fingers through her hair. “Whatever they yell about the most, they’re probably guilty of doing themselves.”

Val gasped and her heart heaved at the sudden reversal of her circumstances. How had she gone from almost freedom to certain doom in a matter of seconds? She ran her hands up through her hair, eyes darting about the room, not able to quite focus on anything.

Peter drew her closer to him. Bending down, he kissed at her cheek and neck. Involuntarily, she stiffened, causing him to hold her at arm’s length and appraise her.

“I settled for the red dress because they didn’t have any of your outfits from our time together on the yacht.” His eyes traveled the length of her body. “We had a moment, I thought, that night when I gave you my card. Ever since then, I haven’t been able to completely forget it. I offered to buy you permanent placement but Cambric won’t sell.”

Val didn’t know what to say. No words came to her mind. Peter ran a finger down her arm, causing a shiver to snake through her system. He smiled at that.

“I know you’re used to nice things and I want you to see that I can give them to you here.” Peter shifted away from her then and strode into the suite’s small kitchen. “Would you like a glass of wine? Red or white?”

“Red,” she called, anything to stall the inevitable.

He chatted easily while opening the bottle. There was an impending vote on the captive industry in Congress. After he and Tawny split, he ran a successful bid for Senate using the donated funds of pro-captive conglomerates. The lifestyle they afforded him was beyond anything he had seen, even though he had grown up an upper-class kid in a private school.

Chuckling to himself, he poured out the garnet liquid into two crystal glasses and handed her one.

“So, it’s Senator Higgins now?” Val asked, sipping on the glass slowly, wondering how the alcohol would mix with the pill that swam in her stomach.

“Yes.” Peter looped his arm around her waist and stood beside her at a wide window. “I like how it sounds on your lips.”

Through the glass, Val looked down on the entrance to the hotel far below. She had been right about one thing; the suite was at the very top of the hotel. The furniture around them was sleek and modern, the art on the walls splashed with color. Peter talked. His voice was a constant buzzing.

Occasionally, he stopped long enough to kiss her shoulder, or run his hands over her hips. Val stood still. A haze had settled over her. In her. She knew all the while that he was speaking, but as she looked at him, the sound would come and go. Sometimes his mouth moved and nothing at all came out.

Blinking slowly, she felt everything fade into the distance. A few moments later it would come in extra sharp and close. The room spun on its axis, then righted itself. In the background, she heard a pounding at the front door.

Peter disappeared from her side and she swayed forward, bracing her hands against the window. Down below, several vans pulled to a stop in the round driveway. People with cameras were getting out and jogging towards the hotel. Val gave her head a little shake to clear it. The blur only increased.

“How’d they find us?” It was Peter’s voice that shouted, and another man who spoke back.

“I don’t know Senator, but if you want to remain anonymous, then we need to get you out now.”

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