Black Harvest

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

Lucas and Stephanie lay on her bed, face to face in each other's arms. He felt her warm breath on his shoulder, the pulse of her life beating against him. Lucas stroked her hair. It was damp from the long shower she'd taken when they'd gotten to her apartment. She hadn't talked since they'd left the safe house. It was beginning to worry him. He held her and tried to surround her with calm, with safety.

Lucas knew what it was like to be tortured. He still bore the scars. The anticipation was almost as bad as the actual act. Knowing you were helpless. Knowing you were at the mercy of a psychopath.

Lucas was no choir boy. He'd grown up in the ghetto. He'd been an agent for a long time. He'd done and seen his share of things no one should have to endure in the name of duty or expediency or survival. But he had never resorted to inflicting excruciating pain to gain intelligence. Torture disgusted him. He thought of Wendell Lodge and what had happened to Stephanie and for the first time felt the kind of hatred that would inflict pain for its own sake. He imagined Lodge helpless before him. Maybe strapped naked on a hard chair, in a cold room where knives gleamed under harsh light.

Steph stirred.

"I didn't tell him. But I would have. Whatever he wanted."

"Sshh. I know. You did good. It's all right now."

"His eyes. He had awful eyes. He liked what he was doing."

"They always do. But he won't hurt you or anyone else again."

"How did you find me?"

"Nick called me. They found your purse in the garage, they knew you'd been taken. It had to be Lodge, they said. That house was the best bet."

"What if you'd been wrong?"

"I wasn't, that's what matters."

"The drug he gave me. It was awful. He told me it would wear off and I should think about it. He told me he was coming back."

"Yeah, they like to do that, people like him."

"He was getting ready to start again when the shooting began upstairs. That's when he put that poison in the syringe. He told me what it would do. In detail." She shuddered. "Then he just waited for you to find us."

Lucas stoked her hair.

"I love you."

"I love you, too, Steph."

"What are you going to do about Lodge?"

"I don't know."