Stolen

The darkness was so heavy she could not see the figure in front of her, Liz reached out tentatively, her hand came up empty. “Jayson,” she hissed. The deafening silence was too much. “I – I’m . . . backing out.” She whispered as she folded back on herself she realized the vent they were crawling in was not going to allow her to turn around. She mumbled to herself, “Jayson . . . you . . . some – day . . .” Still silence in front of her Liz inched forward. After a few tense moments the end lightened slightly just as her fingertips touched the edge of the opening. She snatched them back as a shadow moved across the opening.

Leaning as close as she dared Liz saw Jayson’s still form lying in a heap on the floor, he moaned, and the figure raised a weapon of some kind clearly intending to finish Jayson off. Liz was already wired and exploded out of the vent swinging the four-pound magalight, it connected, and the figure went down clearing Jayson’s body from the force of Liz’s attack. She scrambled over to Jayson, lifting his head into her lap, she checked to be sure the figure was not moving. Jayson groaned and tried to rise, Liz helped him up and pulled him toward the vent.

“No . . . no . . .” Jayson hissed, “Check the desk.”

Liz just wanted to disappear, but it suddenly hit her that whoever this was they were also not supposed to be here. Flipping on the flashlight Liz scoured the desk drawers, nothing. “Its not here.” Liz whispered. The ledger was lying loose on top of the desk, Liz stuffed it into the pouch she was carrying and steered Jayson back to the vent. The figure on the floor moaned softly.

Liz pushed and prodded and finally managed to steer Jayson into the vent. He moved too slowly for Liz’s comfort, but they finally reached the end and she lowered him to the ground behind the barn. Jayson kept stumbling but after a struggle both were well hidden in the hedge between the barn and the paddock when the other figure dropped to the ground, he, or she, looked around and then disappeared into the night.

Back at home Liz steered Jayson into her living room, now that she could see the lump on his forehead and the blood running into his eye, she was really worried now. He refused to go to the hospital. Grabbing a bag of frozen peas from the freezer she wrapped them in a towel and pressed it against the lump. “OW hey watch it” he growled as he grabbed her hand. Jayson rarely touched Liz for very long but right now he held onto her hand. He glanced up at the beautiful creature sitting so close, worried about him. Her deep emerald eyes usually sparkled under those long dark lashes were filled with concern, concern for him. She had her long auburn tresses hastily tied up when they left earlier now they were beginning to spill out. One long strand fell across her cheek, usually so smooth and slightly tanned sprinkled with freckles were now flushed with the excitement of the night.

She was so far out of his league, tall, strong and lithe he worked hard at keeping his feelings in check. She was a friend, had been since kindergarten. He winced and made a face, she pulled the frozen bundle away and inspected his lump, gingerly she touched it with one finger. “OW, geeesh,” he exaggerated his response to throw off the emotions filling his belly.

She made a face, “Big baby it is not that bad.” Liz knew he was evading her concern. For some reason he never wanted her close, never wanted to be touched, and she used every excuse in the book to touch him. She couldn’t understand why he always pushed her away. Aside from the debilitating scar across his forehead, his eye and down past the corner of his lip he was simply gorgeous. True, one eye was pale blue from blindness due to the injury when he was twelve, that’s when his brother nearly killed him running over him in his outboard. But he had jet black hair, his good eye was deep blue, high chiseled cheek bones from his mother’s Native American heritage.

Her eyes darted to his deep bronze hand over her pale one. He dropped it almost as though he had held on too long. It hurt but she refused to let him know. “So, the little black book wasn’t there what do we do now?” She deliberately slid back from him, not risking his noticing her disappointment.

“I – I don’t know I was sure it was there.” He said sounding defeated, then he looked up, “and so did someone else. I wonder if we missed it?” He tried to rally as he tipped his head so the long, silken, ebony locks covered his bad eye, he always cocked his head that way, Liz noticed, especially when she was close to him.

Liz shook herself mentally, and then remembered, she scrambled to the door where she had dropped her pack. Pulling the ledger from her pack she held it out to him, “I grabbed this, thought maybe we could learn something about the bit . . . witch’s dealings.

As they combed through the numbers, they noticed the names made no sense, Becky, Sadie, Jimmy Sandy . . . First names only and addresses, Liz followed the list to the last one, Cinder. That was not a common name, it was however, Jayson’s sister’s name. Then she followed it over to the address, that was not Jayson’s parents address. It was however very familiar, Liz sat back thinking.

Jayson continued to study the numbers and names, “Look” he said uneasily, “every single one is twenty thousand dollars, just like . . .” He looked up, his face drained, "just like the twenty thousand in the envelope on the desk.”

Liz leaned forward, “Yeah the one you opened addressed to Foundation in care of J. Kinton and not J. Killian, and if you had read the name right you never would have opened it.” She looked pointedly at him.

“And if I had not opened it, I never would have discovered the twenty thousand dollars, and would have never become suspicious of Samantha.” He was beginning to feel the anger replace the defeat.

Now Liz was pacing, and it finally hit home, she felt sick. Running to him she forgot her vow to make him come to her, she threw her arms around his shoulders and buried her face in his neck, hot tears burning her eyes. “Jayson,” she whispered, “I think they are selling . . .” a sob choked her, “s-selling children. I – I think they sold your – your sister to whoever lives at that address.”

Fear made Jayson grab onto her and hold on. Then anger won out, “How is Kinton connected to this? Is he part of it?” Jayson eased back from Liz staring pointedly into her eyes, his good eye had fire in it now, but she never wavered. “He was your boyfriend.”

Deciding that another heated discussion was pointless Liz remained calm, “I have explained a hundred times, he was never my boyfriend, not even close, I went that weekend because I thought it was a group thing. How was I supposed to know it was a set up and I was the only one besides him?” She sat back but maintained a hold on Jayson’s neck. “As soon as I realized what his plan was, I set him straight.” She decided to come clean, as her thumbs caressed his cheek, she opened her heart, “I thought that you were coming, it was the only reason I said yes, and the only reason I went, I have no interest in anyone else.”

She watched for a reaction as this information sank in. Jayson was shocked, he stared at her wanting to believe but still sure she was joking. Her expression never changed, the earnestness in her eyes told him she was serious. “Any – umm, anyone” he cleared his throat, “anyone else . . . meaning?” His heart beat wildly in his chest as he waited.

Sliding her hands up Liz pushed back his silken hair and laid her cheek on his scarred face. “You Jayson, can’t you see it has always been only you?” She whispered.

Her words flowed through and caressed his heart, then doubt creeped in, and he drew back to look at her. Jayson dropped his eyes, “How, how could you be . . . be you are so incredibly beautiful and I . . . I am . . .” He looked at her again and she could see the quiver of his lips, even the side where it drooped slightly from nerve damage.

Her eyes became soft, filled with emotion, she finally knew the problem. She again reached up to him and without hesitation traced the scar on his face. “Aside from this you are incredibly handsome.” She slid her fingers into his hair, “You have a heart of gold, Jayson, you are kind and funny, loyal and warm and you put others first. This,” she said as she kissed the scar at the corner of his mouth, “This does not define you.”

Jayson gathered her close and held on, he knew she was not the shallow kind, but right now she was amazing, and he still wondered why she chose him. They held on for a long while before reality kicked in. Suddenly Liz began to scramble, in a few minutes she had her computer open and was pulling up the Foundation. Jayson was trying to follow her thinking. “Look,” she said urgency coloring her words, “The address in the ledger matches the donation entry Justin made yesterday, but it is not confirmed. She scrolled back through the donations. “There are two to four a month.”

Jayson grabbed the ledger and began comparing the donations to the entries in the ledger. “Wait, wait we don’t have that much money in the Foundation, where is it?” Liz scrolled over to the outgoing grants, her anger rose several notches.

“For every donation there is a grant that goes out exactly three days after the donation goes in.” She looked up into Jayson’s terrified eyes. She needed to stay calm. “It appears that Justin is laundering the payments through our foundation.” Liz was seething. “Okay let’s keep a level head here. If the payments are going out in three days of their deposit it probably means they have not delivered the . . . the child . . . your, umm sister.” She could see the heartbreak in his eyes.

“Okay, umm okay we need a plan.” Liz tried to go on leading Jayson. “The uh . . . yeah the grants go to the same address every time, something called a ‘Children’s Group Home.’

“Probably fake” Jayson said with obvious disgust.

“Of course it is,” Liz said as she studied the list. She suddenly looked up seemingly startled. “First we have to turn over the twenty thousand to – to that dweeb Justin. Let him deposit it as usual, then we have three days to see who this address belongs to. There are several that are the same and some different.” Liz looked up and absorbed the roller coaster of emotions Jayson was grappling with. She set aside the laptop and took his hands. “This is way too big, Jayson, we have to call in the FBI.”

Jayson sucked in a breath, he gathered her into his arms, taking the initiative for the first time in his life. As he tucked her head under his chin he said softly, “Not until we go to that address, I need to find out who ‘bought’ my sister, and why.”