Wrong Place (The Wrong Series) Read online

  “Now, I think I will ask you my first question. Who do you work for, and what is your purpose for being here?”

  “I work for you, and I’m simply trying to earn a living. What is this place anyway?”

  “First of all, I’m asking the questions and second of all, what do I do to you when you lie?”

  “You hurt me,” Dan said in a low voice.

  “Right, well I won’t disappoint you. After all, I’m a man of my word,” Fields said as he turned and banged on the big metal door behind him.

  Two more men entered the room.

  “I want a tooth this time, maybe something near the front,” Fields said while motioning to the guard.

  The two men held Dan’s jaw, and the previous guard reached into his pocket and retrieved the same pair of pliers. He grasped his top right canine tooth and with a quick yank, the tooth was removed. Blood dripped from Dan’s mouth. It had been extremely painful, and Dan knew that the worst was yet to come, but he simply wasn’t going to give Fields anything in this interrogation.

  “Do you think I like to hurt you, Mr. Driver?”

  “Probably.”

  “This is your final chance. Who do you and Samantha Fisher work for, and is someone named Nathan Grey involved in any of this?”

  Obviously Dan had no idea who Nathan Grey was. The very mention of him was puzzling to Dan. Were there more people involved in this mission that I didn’t know about, Dan wondered.

  “I don’t know anyone named Samantha or Nathan. I also don’t work for anyone, except you.”

  “Okay. Don’t say you weren’t given the chance to spare yourself some pain,” Fields said.

  He then tapped on the door once again and walked out. Two men replaced him in the room. They had a large cloth and a bucket of water. Dan knew what was about to happen. He had been trained to withstand water boarding, but the feeling was not one you ever got used to. It was truly the worst form of torture imaginable. As these new men came closer to Dan, the other three men were undoing the ropes tied to his hands and feet. They then threw him to the floor. Dan had to try to go somewhere else in his mind. He closed his eyes and prayed for strength. Outside the door, Fields could hear extreme choking and gurgling sounds.

  Next we’ll deprive him of sleep, and then if that doesn’t work, Jacob can have his turn, Fields thought as he smiled at the sound of Dan’s suffering.

  * * * * *

  Back in the car, Trish and Jacob were discussing something of interest.

  “What took you so long back at the house?” Jacob asked.

  “I wanted to look around to make sure this guy is who he says he is.”

  “Well, what did you find?”

  “I didn’t have much time to look, so not much. I did get his wallet, though. Unfortunately, there’s nothing in it that would make me think he’s working for any of our enemies.”

  “Let me have a look at it,” Jacob said while snatching the wallet from Trish’s hands.

  “Give me that back. You need to watch the road, Jacob.”

  “I’m fine.”

  Just then, a car passed them and pulled in front of them.

  “Jacob, watch out!” Trish screamed.

  “What is . . .” Jacob managed to say before seeing what Trish was talking about.

  All he could see in front of him were brake lights. He quickly swerved into the left lane and started to go past the car. As he did, he heard what sounded like a gunshot and lost control of the vehicle.

  * * * * *

  Sam raced up toward the car that had taken Nathan. It was a fairly standard black luxury vehicle. She really hoped that this would in no way turn into a car chase. Her poor minivan simply couldn’t take it. As she slowly caught up to the car, she formulated a plan. Not a good one, but a plan, nonetheless. She passed the car she had been pursuing and pulled in front of them. She then began to slow further and further down until she was moving only thirty miles per hour. She pulled out a pistol that she had kept in the pocket of the van and rolled down the window. The car nearly rear ended her, but swerved into the left lane just in time to start going around her. She waited until the right back tire was in view and then shot. She hit her mark. With the back tire shot out, the car swerved to the right and Sam was able to clip them in the right back quarter fender sending them spinning into the ditch. She slammed on her breaks and then came to a stop. Now it was time to get Nathan.

  Nathan awoke in the trunk with his head pounding, only to discover that his hands had been zip tied to his feet. He heard a disturbing sound. A gunshot cried out, and then he heard air leaking from somewhere. He felt the vehicle swiftly swerve and then felt an extreme impact. He was tossed all about in the trunk. When the movement stopped, he noticed something. The trunk lid had been forced ajar. He rolled himself out of the car and as soon as he did, sure enough, broken glass began to stick in his skin. What luck! You’ve been abducted and been in a major car crash in one day, Nathan thought sarcastically. As he began looking around, he noticed something. It looked like the large man who had been his captor earlier had been thrown from the car. He lay motionless a few yards away, and to be honest, Nathan was glad. He didn’t exactly want the man to die, but he had kidnapped Nathan and gotten him into a car accident, so he didn’t care if the big guy was hurt. Nathan scanned the rest of the area and found a minivan a few feet in front of the crashed car. There was also one more thing that was odd. A wallet was lying in the middle of the road that looked a lot like his wallet. I might as well check it out on my way to the van, he thought. He found a way to his feet and began hopping, in his underwear with his butt in air, and yes, it was embarrassing. When he got halfway there, he stopped to grab the wallet as best he could. Then he heard a voice.

  “Hurry up,” it commanded.

  The voice was strangely familiar. Yes, he was sure he knew it.

  “I said hurry up. Come on,” the voice said again, and this time Nathan recognized it.

  Is that Sam, he wondered. Great, first I ogle the girl, then I’m unable to speak to her, and finally, here I am hopping up to her in my boxers. Could this day get any weirder, he wondered. As he reached the car, she opened the passenger side door and motioned for him to get in. How am I supposed to do that, Nathan wondered. After seeing the predicament that Nathan was in, Sam got out and came around to his side. She quickly took a knife from her pocket and cut the bonds holding him. He immediately got into the van, and they sped away. After a minute of silence, Nathan spoke.

  “Okay, what in the world is going on? I need some answers!”

  “I’ll make you a deal. A question for a question,” Sam said.

  “Fine, but I’m going to go first.”

  “Okay then, go ahead.”

  “Why in the world are these people after me?”

  “They probably think you’re involved in the same things I’m involved in. Now, do you have my flash drive?”

  “No, not exactly. It’s probably on the way to Georgia right now. What are you involved in that I’m suspected of being involved in?”

  “I was investigating the company that your interview was at. Why is my flash drive on the way to Georgia?” Sam asked in a frustrated voice.

  “It was password protected, and I have a friend who can unlock things like that. When he’s done, he’s supposed to send it back to me in the mail.”

  “So you do realize that you just made your friend the number one target for these people, don’t you?”

  “Kind of like you did to me, huh?”

  Sam looked angry and irritated at what he had just said to her, but she knew what he said was true. She felt guilty, but she didn’t know how to make the situation better now.

  “I’m sorry. That was a little bit harsh. Here, you can have the next question,” Nathan said.

  Her facial expression returned to normal.

  “Why do you have a dog on your underpants?” Sam asked and laughed.

  “I honestly don’t know, but this is pretty embarras
sing. Where are we going, by the way? Please say to get some pants,” Nathan said while smiling.

  “Yeah, I think we should definitely get you some pants, and then I have a place where we can regroup and plan our next move.”

  On the way to get pants and then back to her hotel room, she told him some of the little details about why she was investigating a simple solar plant. Honestly, a lot of it was hard to believe, but who was he to say it wasn’t true? He had been kidnapped, been in a car accident, and now he was sitting beside a beautiful woman in underwear decorated with a cartoon dog. Yeah, none of that seemed like it would be possible just a few hours ago.

  * * * * *

  Back at the crash scene, Trish woke in a daze. Her head was pounding and for a good reason. At the moment of impact, her head had hit the side window hard, knocking her unconscious. She turned and grabbed the door handle and forced the door open. Upon further investigation, she saw Jacob’s body laying a few feet away. He was motionless. Oh, great. I didn’t like the guy, but I didn’t really want him dead, she thought. She reached down to feel for a pulse, and then he stirred.

  “God, my head’s killing me,” Jacob said and moaned.

  He had some pretty bad cuts and bruises, but surprisingly, he had no critical injuries. After seeing that he was okay, Trish approached the trunk. It was open, and sure enough, Nathan Grey was gone.

  “Damn it, he’s gone!” Trish shouted.

  “What?” Jacob asked while rising to his feet as quickly as he possibly could.

  “We have to call Mr. Fields and get someone to pick us up. Then we have to make a plan to pursue them,” Trish said in a much more calm tone than she had used before.

  “Why? He couldn’t have gone that far. I had his hands tied to his feet. He has to be hopping around here somewhere.”

  “Okay, really think about it. We were run off the road by a car, and that car’s no longer here. Do I really have to spell out to you what just happened?”

  Suddenly, Jacob remembered the car. Normally, he wouldn’t have been so stupid that he didn’t realize that Nathan had been rescued by whoever ran them off the road. Jacob was thrown from the car, and honestly, he was still very fuzzy from the crash. Because of this, he wasn’t able to think straight.

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Jacob said while reaching into his pocket to get his phone.

  He made the call to Fields.

  * * * * *

  Once Sam and Nathan arrived back at the hotel, Sam felt a renewed sense of hope because now she at least had a location for where her most convincing, no, who was she kidding, only piece of evidence, was. Her new companion, on the other hand, seemed to be a little less enthused. The whole day had been a shock to him, and while initially he appeared to take all this pretty well, the grim reality of his situation was quickly starting to sink in. How else would a person react to so many things being thrown at them at once, Sam wondered.

  “This is us. Room 808,” Sam said.

  As she opened the door, Nathan made a b-line straight for the bed and lay down. The day had been too much for him, and all he wanted to do was sleep. Within a few moments, that’s exactly what he was doing. Well, where am I supposed to sleep, Sam wondered. She then stepped out of the room and made a call to talk the situation over with Jason. After catching him up on everything that had happened, he spoke.

  “The good news is that it actually looks like you’re on to something. Now, for all the bad news. We aren’t going to be funding your trip to Georgia, if you go. You also have to know that you’ll officially be looked at as a rogue agent if you go through with this. I won’t be able to cover for you on this one, and finally, and potentially the worst part, Agent Driver hasn’t reported in for the last twenty-four hours. Now, normally that wouldn’t concern me, but with everything new that’s happened and the fact that he’s always been very punctual about checking in between six and seven every night, I have cause for concern.”

  “Okay, so what am I supposed to do? Just walk away? Should I leave Nathan, knowing full well that people are trying to kill him, thanks to me? Can I actually leave a piece of evidence they’re willing to kill for in the hands of some random stranger in Georgia? Also, what can we do about Agent Driver? I can’t, in good conscience, just leave him if something is wrong.”

  “Look, if you want to do this and you can deal with the consequences later on, I can’t stop you, but I’m asking you, as your friend, to stand down. This is the type of thing that will ruin a career, and unfortunately I can’t protect you anymore. We’ll put Nathan in protective custody, and hopefully Agent Driver will pop up soon. If not, there’s nothing we can really do about him.”

  “I’m sorry, but that just isn’t acceptable,” Sam said sounding irritated.

  “Tomorrow I’m going back there and recovering our agent, and then I’m going to Georgia to recover what is mine,” Sam said with determination.

  “Well, if I can’t change your mind then I guess I’ll just say good luck, Sam. Please don’t get yourself killed. This will probably be the last time I’ll be able to talk to you since you’re pretty much considered rogue as it is, so I just want to let you know that it’s been an honor.”

  “Thanks, Jason. It’s been an honor for me, too. I’ll talk to you later. I promise.”

  “Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Goodbye, Sam,” Jason said and hung up the phone.

  After getting off the phone, Jason called his friend Burt into his office.

  “How can I get in touch with Zane Green now?” Jason asked.

  “I’ll get his number for you, but why do you need it?”

  “I’ve got an agent who needs some off-book help, and I wanted to see if he might be willing to help me out again.”

  “Can do. Just give me a few minutes, and I’ll have it for you.”

  “Thanks,” Jason said with a nod.

  Chapter 8

  The next morning when Nathan woke up, he was afraid to open his eyes. Surely everything from the day before was a simple dream. I’ll wake up in my normal bed, and I definitely won’t go to an interview, Nathan thought to himself. Still, Nathan couldn’t help but feel that the temperature in this room was far different than it normally was in his bedroom, and to top it all off, he could feel someone’s presence next to him.

  “Here I go,” Nathan said to himself as he opened his eyes slowly.

  The ceiling was definitely different than his ceiling at home. He then looked to his right and found that there was no doubt about it. He was definitely in the same hotel room from his supposed dream. Why did all of this have to happen to me, Nathan wondered. He looked to his left and there on the other side of the bed, still above the covers, was Sam. Well, there’s one good thing about this situation, he thought to himself. She really was very beautiful to him. He couldn’t stop looking at her. How had he ended up next to this beautiful creature?

  “Stop staring at me,” Sam said with her eyes still closed.

  “How did you even know I was looking at you?”

  “I see everything, and you definitely stare a lot,” she said in a sleepy voice.

  “So I guess you noticed my extended look back at the office then?

  “Wait! What? At the office?”

  “You really didn’t notice? Well, now I’m embarrassed.”

  “I’m just messing with you. Of course I noticed the weird guy who was staring at me. I see everything, remember?”

  “Weird guy. What’s that supposed to mean?

  Sam only laughed at Nathan’s question without answering.

  “Well look, I need to take a shower. I’m pretty sure that I still smell like I’ve been trapped in the trunk of a car,” Nathan said.

  “While I do agree that you probably need to take a shower, you should know I do not take cold showers, so your shower will have to wait,” Sam said while getting out of the bed and making her way to the bathroom door.

  She stopped just before she was about to enter the bathroom and turn
ed back toward Nathan.

  “Remember, I see everything, so no funny business, weird guy,” Sam said while pointing to her eyes and then pointing back at him as if to say in a half joking way no funny business.

  “Yeah, yeah just go on already.”

  After Sam was gone, he lay back on the bed and closed his eyes again. What should I do next, Nathan wondered. Was he really going to go to Georgia with a girl he had just met, and shouldn’t he let his family know something? Then again, what would he say to them? It’s not like any of this would be very believable to anyone. He did the only thing he could think to do at that moment. He sent a text to Lee.

  “Hey! You don’t have to send the flash drive to me. I’m going to come to you,” Nathan said.

  “Great! I’ve been trying to get you out here forever,” Lee responded.

  Nathan would have continued texting Lee, but a knock at the door interrupted him.

  As Nathan started to move toward the door, many thoughts were flashing through his mind. Should he really answer the door? Who knows? It could be the man who had easily taken him captive before, or someone like him. Sam would be in the shower and unable to help him. With that thought, Nathan was ashamed of himself. How much of a man was he? He was worried about answering the door because he wouldn’t have a small woman to hide behind. The thought of how cowardly he was being made him sick to his stomach. With his courage renewed, Nathan unlocked the door and began to open it. He had decided that he would face whoever was on the other side with courage, or at least that’s what he kept telling himself. The truth was that if there were any danger at all, he was still going to scream for Sam. As the door creaked open, Nathan saw who was on the other side of it and was very relieved. It was simply an old man. The old man was Zane Green. Zane looked very confused. Jason had told him that Sam needed some help and that this help had to be off the books, but Jason failed to give him any more details. The mysterious man opening the door raised more than a few questions in Zane’s mind, but even though he was obviously confused, he quickly collected himself.