BARE HUNTER

Chapter 7

On the way home, I stopped at Burger King and ordered a couple of Whoppers and a drink from the drive-thru. Shoving them into my mouth as I drove, I went over the conversation with Greg line by line. IT might be dirty. Couldn’t call in officials, like cops, or FBI because we handled government accounts. Our company would be toast if there were any questions about our air-tight security system. He wanted me to set up surveillance on the IT department. Where? How? Who were these dudes he trusted to run whatever I set up? So many questions and not enough answers.

When I arrived at my apartment, Becca was sitting on the porch steps, crying. Shit. Just what I needed tonight. Why couldn’t she get the message?

“You bastard!” she yelled, loudly enough for the whole neighborhood to hear.

“What? What are you talking about?”

“You know what. You know damned well what,” she cried, neighbors peeking out from behind curtains at us.

“Becca, I can’t do this right now. This. You and me. My life just got incredibly complicated, and I can’t put the kind of effort you need into a relationship.”

“So, why didn’t you just tell me that, instead of ghosting me, as if we were a one-night stand or something?”

“I’m sorry. You’re right. You deserved an explanation. I didn’t know how to explain myself, I guess.”

“You’re a fucking coward, Ted. A miserable, low-life coward. I don’t know what I saw in you. Don’t worry. I’m gone. All I wanted was a fucking explanation. Thank you, loser.”

With that, she stalked to her car and left me stunned, yet relieved, on the porch steps with another migraine coming on. My love life was ruining my real life. Or maybe it was the other way around. I stumbled into my place and rummaged through the fridge, looking for something that went with Paroxetine, Zoloft, and Rizatriptan. Angry Orchard Hard Cider was good enough. I found my meds, popped the cap off my drink, and washed down all three pills to be sure. Tonight, I was going to stop the migraine before it started.

I opened the bedroom closet and reached onto the top shelf, pulling down what I called ‘My War Box.’ It was a cardboard box filled with mementos of my time in the Marines, pictures of buddies, dead and alive, medals, commendations, journals, and my address book; running my finger down the pages, I found Captain Howard’s last known address and working number. Once I had my ducks in a row, I would call him to find out what he and Greg had discussed. Captain could be a bastard, but he wouldn’t let me get caught up in anything he thought was sketchy and I trusted his judgment on most things—almost.

__________BECCA___________________

That miserable piece of shit. I had our entire lives planned out and he was playing shuffleboard with me. Never there when I needed him and barely texted me when I’d send him mountains of texts paragraphs long. ‘yup’, ‘nope’, ‘ok’. That was not acceptable. I was a high-value woman and I deserved to be treated like one. Not like an option he could call when he was horny.

I drove to our special running spot off Route 80 and parked on the grass beyond the shoulder. I so needed this run to get him out of my head. I quickly stripped off my work clothes and reached into my beach/computer/running/ and everything that wouldn’t fit into my pocketbook bag, grabbing my sweats, t-shirt, socks, and Nikes.

I was getting ready to pull the sweats on over my panties when a sharp rap on the window almost made me pee my pants. What the fuck!

A non-descript SUV had parked directly in front of me, and a man was leaning down, looking in at me. He motioned for me to unroll my window. Uh, uh. I don’t think so, Instead, I made sure all the doors were locked and began backing up to pull out of my parking spot, only to find myself blocked in by a truck parked sideways directly behind me.

Another man hopped out of the truck and came loping to the passenger side window of my car. My breathing became ragged, leaving my mouth dry as I tried to think of a way out of this terrifying situation. I reached into my purse for my cell phone only to realize there were no signals. The man at my window smiled and held up a device, making me realize they had cut off the cell phone coverage.

With shaking legs, I did the only thing I could do; I rammed the SUV in front of me, surprising them both, as they ran to catch up with me, and then I backed hard into the truck. I kept this up until my hood was bent and the engine was smoking. Their vehicles had body damage, but mine got the worst of it. It did throw them off guard, as they tried to avoid getting pinned between vehicles. I took that opportunity to put my sneakers on and escape to the woods near the running path. Ted and I had explored every inch of that property, looking for places to fuck. At least I was somewhat ahead of my attackers. My cell phone was in my panties, so if I got far enough away, I could try for a 911 call.

Another thing that helped boost my confidence that I could escape was how much I had been running since Ted and I met. He was a fanatic, and I had to try and keep up with him or he’d get bored.

I could hear them yelling as they stumbled through the woods behind me, “Here, little piggy. Sowee, sowee!” “Over there! I hear her. To the left. To the left!”

Footsteps thundered through the leaf-covered ground as they gained on me. Branches cracked and scuttled through the dried leaves closer and closer to me as I started feeling exposed. My running would be no help if or when they caught up to me. I kept running anyway. If they wanted me, they’d have to work for it. I had to laugh at my last thoughts before my life had been turned upside down by these monsters. ‘I’m a high-value woman and deserve to be treated like one.’

I was pretty certain that if these miscreants caught me, I would not be treated like a high-value woman. I shuddered involuntarily, as I heard their footsteps inching closer to me. I began running for my life toward the stream. If I made it that far, I could jump into it from the bank and elude them, riding the stream as far as the next town, where it emptied into Shimmer Lake. reaching the bank, I sighed in relief, as I prepared for a jump that might break both my legs or worse. Better to take a chance with nature than with man, I thought, as a rough hand in a rubber glove grasped my arm just before I took to the air.

“Got her, Ted,” the hand had a voice.

My skin prickled when I heard him say, ‘Ted.’ What? Was Ted in on this? Is this his revenge for me dumping him? My mind was reeling. The other man never spoke, nor did he remove his balaclava. I was too rattled to identify him or anyone else, for that matter.

“Well, well, little piggy. Nice to make your acquaintance. We heard you were a good fuck, and we wanted to see what all the excitement was about,” the unmasked man said with a leer.

“What do you want?” I hollered as if I didn’t know.

“We want you, piggy. Thank you for taking your clothes off for us. We prefer a naked chase. Now, we aren’t monsters, so if you do what you’re told, we’ll let you go,” he said with a chilling smile.

“No, you won’t. You’ll do what you want and then kill me. But you’ll have to scrape all your skin out of my fingernails, because I’m taking your DNA with me when I go,” I threatened with more starch than I had.

“Oooh. Teddy, you picked a sassy one. I like her. Let’s keep her alive for a while,” the gloved guy said, finally making me certain Ted was behind this and in on it.

Ted pulled off his running sweats and unwrapped a condom, passing one to his accomplice. Then, he slipped on a pair of blue rubber gloves, like his friend, and pushed me down onto the ground. The other guy said, “Roll over on your hands and knees, bitch. Now, stick your ass into the air for us. That’s a good girl.”

Ted peeled off my panties and tossed my phone to his friend, who crushed it on the ground and pocketed the broken pieces. After taking my phone, he violated me with two fingers, then three, then his entire hand, while I screamed and squirmed, trying to stop the pain.

His friend put a foot on my back to hold me still, “Take it easy, little piggy. He's doing you a favor. It’ll be easier if you relax and go along with it.”

He tossed a rope to Ted, who tied my hands and ankles together underneath me, finishing up by tying the ends around my neck, so that if I squirmed or tried to get away, I would be strangled. How could I have dated this monster for all these weeks and not have known what he was about? Was I so desperate for love I could have ignored all the red flags? As they took turns battering me and ripping me apart from behind, I kept thinking of ways to get out of this situation. Hope springs eternal