The Pale: Volume One by Jacob Long (red novels TXT) 📖

on the bluffs, and everyone stepped out of their respective rides except for Téa. She sat in stoic passive resistance and had to be dragged out by one arm. They led her inside, and her hostage cell turned out to be a rather lavish guest room off the main hall. It was furnished with a king-sized bed, plush clean linen, art on the walls, a wardrobe, and a flat-screen television.

The only fixture Téa couldn’t manage to appreciate was the perpetual guard that sat in the corner. She spent the first hour or so staring the ape down in utter silence while he awkwardly tried to avoid eye contact. She sat calmly against the pillows at the head of the bed, just staring and waiting. She hoped to spend his endurance and get him to fall asleep, but damn if those pillows weren’t comfortable. Without realizing it, she gradually sank into the warm embrace of the bed, and before she knew what had happened, her eyes were opening back up to the room—a room pleasantly illuminated by the rising sun.

Téa sat bolt upright on the bed and looked to the guard at the other end of the room. It was a new guard, but he was asleep. His head lolled limply, resting his chin on his chest. The position constricted his nasal passages, and he snored fitfully. Without hesitation, Téa slid from atop the bed and gradually landed her weight on the floor. Her sneakers snuck easily across the carpet, and she reached the door right next to the slumbering guard. Téa barely breathed as she reached for the gleaming handle. She rested her hand on the lever and turned it gingerly, but it didn’t give way. The room was never meant to be a cell, so she simply unlocked the handle and tried again. On the second try, it opened soundlessly. With her heart pounding more fiercely with each inch the door swung, Téa poked her head outside the portal. The smell of cooking breakfast food quickly washed over her. The sizzle and pop of frying bacon was coming from the open kitchen.

Someone was awake, so she had to be careful. She knew the exit was on her right, and it looked clear, so she peered left around the door, checking for anyone who might see her. As the farthest reaches of the den came into view, someone shouted, “Surprise!” and brusquely smacked the door into her face. Téa cried out and was sent sprawling to her back.

Joshua Truong stepped out from behind the door in a bath robe, smiling down at her, amused. “Where you going, doll face?”

Téa scrambled to her feet and tried to make a run for it, but Joshua was quickly behind her. He grabbed a good handful of Téa’s hair in one hand and pulled her back. Her whole body nearly came out from under her as she was forcibly diverted.

“Nah-ah-ah!” Joshua admonished menacingly. “Get back here!”

Téa kicked and screamed, clawing at the hand that held her, but Joshua didn’t relent. He dragged her up the hallway until he handed her off to one of his more trusted henchmen. Téa flailed like a jungle cat in the man’s grip, but it wasn’t enough. The goon had his arms wrapped around her, and she only tired herself out. Soon she was just glaring balefully from behind her wild tossed-about hair, teeth clenched, skin red, heavy breaths filling the hall.

The guard who had fallen asleep watching Téa appeared just outside her cell, looking bewildered and flustered. Joshua followed everyone’s gaze and turned around to see. The guard met his eyes with terror.

“Hey, man,” Joshua said, “I thought I told you to watch her. You fall asleep?” He hardly needed to ask. The man’s eyes were still a little puffy.

“Yes, Mr. Truong,” the guard responded, wide-eyed. “I’m sorry, Mr. Truong. It won’t happen again. I can take her back into the room, and I’ll watch her all day. No one needs to take my place—”

Joshua held up one halting hand. “Yeah. Okay. All right. Shut up. Get the fuck out of here. Go home.”

The guard hesitated, unable to move. “You sure?” he asked.

Joshua’s voice was just on the cusp of yelling. “It’s what I said, didn’t I? Go on!”

The guard’s eyes darted around uncertainly for a moment, but then he turned and quickly exited via the front door.

With the man gone, Joshua released a long sigh. When he turned around, Téa saw that the exchange had drained him. He looked exasperatedly past Téa’s head and addressed the other henchman. “Take care of that fuck. I don’t ever want to see him again.”

The guard only nodded in agreement. Meanwhile, Téa’s expression had gone slack.

Joshua took a deep breath through his nose in a clear attempt to calm himself. “You know,” he said, then focused on Téa, “before your little escape attempt, I was coming to invite you to breakfast. So please . . .” Josh beckoned Téa toward the open dining area with his hands. It was only a bare intimate table that overlooked the deck, bathing in the sun.

Without waiting for an answer, Joshua went to the kitchen. Bacon and eggs were already sizzling in a frying pan, and the young crime boss resumed seasoning them as if nothing happened. His grunt had released Téa and guided her to one of the kitchen chairs at the table. She sat without resistance, suddenly not wanting to aggravate her situation further.

“Why did you try to escape?” Joshua suddenly asked.

Téa stayed quiet. Her face only scrunched up like she just put something in her mouth she shouldn’t have.

“It’s not like I have you hanging upside down by your big toes in there.” Josh never took his eyes off the eggs he was whipping.

“Are you serious?” Téa managed to croak.

“Yes.”

“Then you’re crazy.”

“Oh, I’m crazy. You’ve been kidnapped by real live criminals who only want to find this mystery man that attacked my brother—all guns and muscle and rap sheets a mile long, and still . . . you tried to escape. You dared everything, even though this isn’t even that bad.”

Téa stayed facing the window like a good hostage. She heard toast pop up. “Why do you care so much about finding this guy?”

The sizzling quieted to nothing, and the room was suddenly uncomfortably quiet. For whatever reason, Joshua was hesitating to answer. Téa heard a knife scraping against toast, then the clink of a plate. Finally, the elder Truong reached around his hostage and gently placed a plate with a toasted bacon-omelet sandwich in front of her. He then walked around the table and took a seat directly across the way. He looked brooding with his hand bracing the side of his head on the table, fingers combed into his dark hair.

“Nobody messes with my family,” Josh said at last. “I’ve always said as much, and in my line of work, nobody gets to commit a crime like that against me and get away with it. I can’t let it slide. Besides, this savior of yours, with the burning green eyes and freaky strength and endurance, he’s just too interesting. I want to see it for myself. I want to throw a few guys in the ring with him and see what happens.”

“What?” Téa asked, having never touched her sandwich. “What do you mean?”

“You really were out for that whole thing,” Josh said. “Yeah, the bouncer said he tried to break the guy’s arm. It wouldn’t take. Then the guy muscled his way through a fight with three different guys and stared down a gun to get you out of there. Even I have to admit that’s pretty ballsy.”

Téa’s skin flushed.

Joshua continued, “But amazing guy or not, he decided to fuck with my brother, and when he did that, he screwed up big time. Now he has to deal with me.”

Téa glared at her captor again.

“That’s just how it is. Now you never answered my question: Why are you so committed to being such a damn handful? You know I don’t have a lot of patience.”

“You already have your answer,” Téa said plainly.

Joshua had to think but a moment, then the ghost of a smile manifested at the corner of his mouth. He leaned back in his chair with a full grin on his face. “Huh. Ha ha. You’re quite the character.”

Suddenly, the rousing theme from an anime cut through the mood. It was muffled by a layer of plush fabric, but Téa instantly recognized it. She looked across the table into Joshua Truong’s big dark eyes, which were already watching her, expressionless, like a snake in the grass.

“Oh,” Josh shifted and dug into one of the pockets on his robe. “Sorry, that’s me.” He pulled out Téa’s tortured phone and looked at the screen. “Huh. Just a number. Unknown contact. Let’s see if we can make a new friend.” Joshua set the phone onto the table, and Téa’s heart shuddered when he pressed the shattered screen and it worked just fine. Josh even put it on speakerphone for her to hear.

“Hello?” Josh greeted with a smile.

“Hello?” A barely readable man’s voice crackled over the speaker. Téa knew it was Adam and slipped on her best poker face.

Josh tried again. “Hello? Hello, this is Téa Vardo’s phone. Who is this?”

“Hello? Téa? Is that you?” the voice asked. “I can’t understand anything you’re saying. It’s like 99 percent static.”

Josh wasn’t giving up. He tapped the microphone. “Hey! Hello?”

“Yeah. I still can’t hear you.”

Josh looked to Téa, who just couldn’t hide the satisfaction she felt.

“Look,” Adam continued, “I’m just gonna head back over to the house and scope it out. If they’re still around, I can just keep driving. I’ll try you again before I hit the block. Talk to you later.”

By the time Adam cut the call, Téa’s grim satisfaction was gone, but Josh’s was quick to take its place. Josh picked up the phone and rocked himself to his feet. He paced around the table. “You should try out that sandwich. It’s my specialty, and you might need the energy later. You can move about the house all you want, but my man here will stay with you. Don’t go too close to any doors or windows because he’ll break your arm.”

Joshua continued toward the master bedroom and left Téa to her thoughts. She toiled in dour contemplation, but after a time, she caved and gave the sandwich a little nibble. It was delicious.

20

Lamont stopped in front of the door and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. It was such a beautiful day, made even more beautiful by the flower garden that decorated the facade of the house he was visiting. Birds chirped to one another without a care. Bees buzzed as they went about their busy work. A person could convince themselves that everything was right with the world the more they gazed upon the tranquility of the Rodriguez home—too bad it had to be ruined by such terrible business.

The sergeant very nearly rang the doorbell, but then he hesitated again. He needed another breath. He just didn’t know what he was going to say. His only lead toward finding Adam Rodriguez, if that was indeed who he was after, was the boy’s mother, but how could he possibly broach the subject of whether or not the poor widow had seen her deceased son? What if he was wrong? After all his doggedness, it was confronting this woman he couldn’t take.

The door opened before Lamont, and he was stuck staring into the headlights that were Lena Rodriguez’s dusky eyes.

“Hello,” Lena said. “Can I help you?”

“Uhh, hi,” Lamont stumbled.

Lena was amused by her visitor and his shy manner. He was certainly a handsome man. The scene grew her an honest and pleasant smile. “Hi!”

Lamont inhaled as if to speak, but the words escaped from him again.

“What’s your name?” Lena asked.

Lamont was amazed at the mother’s poise. A strange black man arrived on her doorstep, and she hardly batted an eye. She even wanted to speak. He knew how some people would have reacted. Lena Rodriguez really was as kind as the papers made her out to be. “Uh, I . . . uh, I’m . . . I’m Lamont Fisher.” He pulled his coat to the side to reveal the badge on his belt. “I’m a police officer with the Farol Verde Police Department.”

Lena was