Christy Barritt - Key Witness

“Elle?”

She pointed at the floor. “There are pictures of me. From this morning.” Reading on her laptop inside the sunroom. Drinking coffee by the window. Sitting pensively on the porch.

Denton picked one up. “Pictures? How did someone get pictures?”

“There was a message, too, Denton, stuck on a sticky note.”

“What did it say?”

Terror seemed to freeze her expression, make her unable to move. “It said that ‘Agony awaits.’”

* * *

“Is it really necessary for me to leave right now? Can’t I just make an appearance at the reception?”

Denton kept a firm grip on her arm as he led her toward a door at the back of the building. “More than necessary. You do understand that the person who’s threatening you was—maybe still is—here tonight, don’t you?”

She nodded, her eyes dazed. “I do, but...” She paused from her distress to shake hands with a few people who tried to chat with her about the debate. Denton urged her onward. Once she escaped from the crowd’s grasp, she looked up at him. “I don’t know what to think right now. This is just crazy.”

“The police are going to search for any evidence here. They’re sending me the security tapes so we can see who’s been in and out of your dressing room. No one, other than authorized personnel, should have had access to that area, though. I want to know how someone got back there.”

“You need to talk to Bentley.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I will. Just as soon as I know you’re safe. Which, right now, you’re not.” He pushed open the door and cool nighttime air hit them. He did a quick examination of the area outside to make sure everything was clear. Just as they stepped onto the sidewalk, a black SUV pulled to a stop and one of his agents stepped out.

Denton led Elle to the backseat, opened the door and gently prodded her inside. He climbed into the front seat and did another scan of the area for danger. Nothing appeared out of place. Without wasting any more time, he pulled away.

Elle leaned between the two front seats. “Who was that who drove the SUV to the door?”

“Sit back and put on your seat belt. And that was one of my men.”

Her harness clicked in place. “You had some of your men at the event tonight? I thought my father only hired you?”

“He did. But I always plan for the worst. It’s a good thing I did.”

The suburbs and strip malls of Virginia Beach blurred past them as Denton escorted Elle away from the Convention Center. He let silence fall while the reality of the situation sank in for Elle.

The person behind these threats was brave. Coming to an event like this and sneaking into Elle’s dressing room where they could easily be caught showed a lot of brazenness. The suspect was clearly bent on making Elle shake in her boots. But despite the threats, Denton would make sure that all this ended well. He’d see to it that nothing happened to Elle.

“Where are we going?” Elle’s voice sounded quieter than usual as it drifted from the backseat.

“To your parents’ house.”

“But they took pictures of me there. Is it safe to go back?”

“Those pictures were taken with a telephoto lens. Most likely, the photographer wasn’t even on your father’s property—not directly, at least—when those pictures were snapped. My men are going to canvas the perimeter tonight. We’re stepping up security.”

Silence stretched for a moment, until Elle finally whispered, “Denton, I’m scared.”

He softened his voice. “I know, Elle. Let me do the worrying, okay? That’s my job.”

In the rearview mirror, Denton saw her nod, but her eyes didn’t look convinced. She hunkered down in the backseat, just as he ordered. He glanced in his rearview mirror again, this time at the road behind them. Though it was dark outside and an array of headlights glared behind them, his gut told him they were being followed.

He watched the vehicle behind them, noting that it was keeping pace with them at a close clip. He needed to figure out if they were being tailed. He switched lanes and noticed the vehicle behind them did, also.

“Your seat belt is on, right?”

“Of course. Why?”

“Because this ride is going to get a little crazy.” He pushed on the accelerator and shot into the right lane of the interstate, swerving onto an exit ramp.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m making sure we’re not being followed. Stay down.”

Elle’s eyes widened just before she disappeared behind the seat. His gaze went to the rearview mirror again. The headlights were still there.

He zipped down the right lane of the highway. The vehicle behind them was so close now that Denton couldn’t even see the headlights except for the rays that illuminated up from his bumper.

A red light waited ahead. He couldn’t stop. Not now.

As the intersection approached, he didn’t slow. He remained in the right lane, prepared to turn. When he reached the cross road, he jerked the steering wheel to the left, narrowly missing the oncoming traffic. Horns blared. Tires skidded. People yelled.

But everyone was safe. For the moment, at least.

Elle’s high-pitched voice rose in the backseat. “What are you doing? Are you trying to get us killed?”

Denton watched as the SUV behind him threw on the brakes then skidded to the right.

Denton breathed easier. He’d lost them. For now. It would only be a matter of time before those men found Elle again.

Would they be this lucky next time?

FOUR

Reality embedded itself deeper and deeper as Elle gripped the edge of her seat so hard that her knuckles began to ache.

Agony awaits.

What did they mean by agony? What had these men planned for her?

The thought of death alone was scary enough. But to think about dying slowly, painfully, was enough to make panic begin to quake inside her.

She’d heard stories about people who’d been tortured. She’d always felt immune from the reaches of people who inflicted pain like that. But was anyone immune? Not really. It was simply that no one wanted to face the reality that something like that could happen to them.

Would even Denton be able to protect her? She believed the man to be capable, but no one was superman. All it would take was one wrong move.

She was right with God. She wasn’t afraid of being dead. It was the dying part that got to her.

Finally, the vehicle seemed to slow and merge in with the flow of traffic. Her heartbeat eased some. The reality of the situation wouldn’t leave her, though.

“Where’d you learn to drive like that?” Her voice had lost any sense of perkiness it may have once had. Even with some effort, her pitch still sounded dull.

“I’ve had some training.”

“What did you do before you worked for...what did you call it? Eyes?”

“That’s right. Iron, Inc. is our real name, but everyone who knows about us calls us Eyes. I was a Navy SEAL for a while before the CIA recruited me.”

“You were a spook?”

He smiled. “I’d tell you what I did for them, but then—”

“Let me guess, you’d have to kill me?”

“Smart lady.”

She pushed herself back into the seat, her head beginning to pound as her limbs throbbed. That’s what happened when adrenaline pulsed through her uncontrollably only to wither over and over again, she supposed. “Tell me about Eyes.”

“A friend of mine, Jack Sergeant, started it several years ago. We do contract work, a lot of it for the Department of Defense, but we also work for local law enforcement agencies, as well as for citizens.”

“I see. It sounds dangerous.”

“Depends on the job.”

“And what’s your job there? Bodyguard?”

He chuckled. “No, I’m actually the assistant director.”