Revenge

"Um...no. I...I don't think so, Drew. I'm sorry, but I'm just not sure." She looked right at him and said, "I'm so sorry. I just can't tell."

He hit the intercom and said angrily, "Let 'em go."

"That's okay," he told her. "We'll keep trying."

"You mentioned pleasure along with business. Care to tell me what you were thinking?" She smiled pleasantly to try and mitigate his agitation.

"Oh, right. Um, yeah, I was wondering if well, would you maybe like to go out sometime?"

"Why, Detective Dawson, I'd love to go out with you sometime. Should I invite Emma to join us?" She smiled then said, "Pretend I didn't just say that, okay?"

She had no real desire to go on a date yet, but she needed to get close to Dawson in order to get the name of this former soldier, the one they all called 'Sarge.'

"Great," he said smiling back. "I'll give you a call."

"I look forward to it," she said. "In fact, the sooner the better."

"Is tomorrow too soon?" he asked her.

"Not at all. Tomorrow is perfect."

After a date she would have found very enjoyable under normal circumstances—enjoyable enough to invite a man this handsome back to her place—she found herself actually unable to do so yet nevertheless attracted to this very handsome, very charming detective. During the course of the evening she'd learned he was older than he looked. She guessed him to be around 28 but she was off by a whopping seven years. The age difference aside, he was perhaps the most charming and genuinely decent man she'd ever gone out with making her task of using him as a means to an end that much more difficult.

After a second glass of wine, Jensyn said, "So, Drew. This Army guy. The one I wasn't quite sure about. I know you can't give me a name, but is there anything you can tell me about him?" She flashed her best smile at him then said, "Anything at all?"

"Not unless I want to lose my job," he told her smiling his best smile back at her. "Why? Is there something you're not telling me, Jensyn?"

She played coy. "There are a lot of things I'm not telling you, Drew. If you want to find them out, it'll cost you a second date," she told him. A part of her hadn't want a first date, but some other part of her really liked this older-but-very-handsome detective.

"Hmmm. That's an awfully high price to pay," he replied pretending to weigh two very difficult options. "I mean, I'm not sure I can stand to look at that beautiful face of yours any more. I'll have to really think about that."

Before she could reply he said, "Okay. I've thought about it. We can go on a second date."

Jensyn not only didn't push the issue any more that night, she let it be the next time they went out, as well. To her great surprise, she found herself warming even more to this kind, pleasant man and when he went to kiss her goodnight, she allowed herself to kiss him back even if it was very briefly.

"Goodnight, Drew," she said sweetly as the kiss ended. "I'm just not ready to ask you to come inside."

"I can't imagine you would be," he told her. "I'm just grateful you agreed to see me again."

"I might even agree to see you yet again were you to ask me," she told him.

"Okay, I'm asking," he said with a big smile.

She kissed him one more time very quickly then said, "I accept," before closing the door. As much as she wanted to know who this 'Sarge' was, she also wanted to feel normal again and Drew was somehow making her feel that way. Still, she knew she could never let that animal get away with what he'd done to her and at least one other woman. Jensyn decided she would enjoy her time with Drew and if the opportunity presented itself to her then....

After a fourth date, Jensyn felt comfortable enough to accept Drew's invitation to come inside for a drink at his place. She'd even been relaxed enough to make out with him for a short while before feeling anxious.

"I'm sorry, Drew. It's just...."

"I understand. You don't get over something like that in such a short amount of time. I like you a lot, Jensyn, and I can wait as long as it takes."

"It might take a really long time, Drew."

"That's okay," he told her. "You're more than worth waiting for."

His kindness encouraged her and she asked if they could maybe just kiss for a while longer and Drew was more than content to do that and no more.

A week later, they were back from a fifth date and the kissing moved slowly to some light petting. Jensyn initially flinched when he touched her. "Sorry," she said. "That's fine. It actually feels kind of nice." She smiled then added, "Very nice."

It went no further than unbuttoning her blouse and feeling her up and Jensyn felt the need to apologize for making it seem like they were back in high school.

"I told you I can wait and I meant it," he said again, his hands cupping her pretty face. "I honestly don't care how long it takes. I...I have feelings for you, Jensyn. Very real feelings."

She wasn't ready to admit she had them, too, (at least not out loud) but they were there and they were growing.

Two weeks later she finally invited him inside her place and they ended up with Drew's shirt off and Jensyn laying naked underneath him on the couch. She couldn't bring herself to orally pleasure him as the thought of having had one cock after another shoved down her throat for months was still too fresh in her mind. But she was able to allow this amazing man to gently and slowly pleasure her. She came for the first time since the abduction and when it was over, she felt closer than ever to her charming detective.

"Danny Jacobs," he whispered as they lay there in each other's arms.

"Who's he?" Jensyn asked.

"Daniel Thomas Jacobs. The Army guy. Number 4 in the lineup. He got a bad conduct discharge from the Army for raping women in Afghanistan."

Jensyn's blood ran cold as she took in Drew's words.

"Oh, my God. What a sick bastard," she said quietly.

"Does that help?" he asked as he softly stroked her long, soft hair.

"I'm not sure," she replied. She looked up at him and said, "But thank you for telling me."

He kissed her and just smiled.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," he said.

"No, tell me. You want to say something. What is it?"

"No, not now. Maybe later, okay?"

"Drew! Tell me. Please?"

He wasn't talking and that was that. Jensyn's body tingled again when she thought about what it was he wanted to say to her and if it was what she thought it might be, could she say it back to him? The answer was almost certainly 'no' or at best, 'not yet', but she honestly believed that one day she might be able to do just that. For now, it didn't matter all that much. At that very moment, at least, she felt safe and secure here in his arms and on another level, she had another name and that too, felt very good.

It didn't take Jensyn long to track down 'Sarge' even though he didn't own property and worked off the books as a bouncer at a night club. She found him almost immediately on Facebook, but she couldn't send him a friend request as herself. She used a computer at an internet cafe to create a new profile, upload some photos of an attractive woman, then send him a friend request.

'Sarge' eagerly accepted her request and began feeling her out almost immediately. It took her some time to win his trust and that included his requirement of letting him call her. Jensyn used a burner phone and her southern drawl, something Sarge found enthralling.

"I was stationed at Fort Rucker, Alabama," he proudly shared during the first minute of their first conversation. Fortunately, he didn't ask questions about the local area only a resident would know. He was hooked, and she was in.

It took her two more conversations to talk him into meeting her at another very carefully selected location in the same part of town. She'd already gained entrance to the building and would leave the main door unlocked for him. He was no meet her in a smaller, more private room in the back of the building.

"Now why would I ever agree to something like that?" he asked when she'd first proposed it.

"Because mah hussbun' is a ver-ray jealous man, Daniel. Besides, it's mo-uh fun to be a bit...shall we say...clandestine?" She giggled afterward and that was it. "I'd he happy to way-uh what-evuh you might ask me to, by the way. A gull like me will do most anythin' for a handsum ma-yun like yo'self." She'd promised him a French maid's outfit. He'd get black cotton, spandex, and a sharp knife.

This time, Jensyn's heart rate was high, but not out of control as she heard him enter. She knew if she stayed calm and followed the plan, it was game over for Sarge and sweet revenge for her.

Calmly and coldly, she did just that and in less than 30 minutes, Sarge had eaten his last meal and lay dead on the plastic sheet covering the cold concrete floor. Like McEvoy, he'd been all too anxious to spill his guts, telling her who the 'driller' and 'bug boy' were and where they worked, and this time, the information was solid.

The 'driller' was a dentist named Evan Manion while the 'bug boy' was someone named Jerry Flannigan who worked for a pest control company.

Armed with this new information, Jensyn was halfway toward experiencing the revenge she needed to feel whole again—or at least as close to whole and she could ever be. Two down, and two to go.

Her relationship with Drew plodded along slowly but steadily and with her third abductor now within reach, Jensyn found herself able to relax even more and was able to reciprocate when Drew performed cunnilingus on her. She was pleasantly surprised at just how enjoyable it was to give a man a blow job of her own volition again; to do willingly what she'd been forced to do scores of times against her will.

"Wow!" Drew said after coming on her tits after an amazing first blow job. "That was incredible."

Jensyn had cum twice herself. Once thanks to his very skilled fingers and a second time as the result of some very nice work with his tongue. She'd flinched when he'd tried to insert a finger and he'd stopped immediately, apologizing for the 'intrusion.'

She assured him it was only a matter of time just as everything else had been. Sex—actual intercourse—was her 'final frontier' and she was getting close. In fact, Drew was the first man she'd ever wanted to make love to but waited to do with.

It was obvious and becoming more so that she really did have feelings for him; strong feelings that were growing and after coming so close to actual lovemaking she wondered for the first time if she might actually, possibly...love him. He still hadn't told her whatever'd been on his mind and she couldn't stop thinking and possibly even hoping, it might involve the L-word.

After showering together, Drew said he wanted to discuss something. Jensyn smiled and told him she was all ears, hoping to hear him tell her how he felt.

Instead, he said, "Homicide found a body recently."

"That's not unusual in a city this size is it?" she asked nonchalantly.

"No. It's not unusual at all except that this one was burned to a crisp just like Dennis McEvoy's."

"Oh. Well, um...I guess that sounds like something a bit more unusual than your run-of-the-mill killing."

"Yeah, especially when the victim turns out to be Daniel Thomas Jacobs." He stared into her eyes looking for an visible sign of recognition.

"Who?" she said trying to appear detached.

"Number 4 in the line up. You know, the one who caused the reaction when you heard him speak. That Daniel Thomas Jacobs."

"He's dead?" she asked as though she hadn't heard what he'd just told her.

"Uh-huh. Crispy-critter dead. That's quite a coincidence, don't you think? Two people incinerated in the same area of town and the second one not long after I told you his name?"

"Yeah, that is quite a coincidence," she said as she turned away from his stare. "Any idea if they're connected or how?"

"Officially, no," he told her. "But personally, I have a hunch." He waited for her to look at him again and when she didn't he said, "Care to hear it?"

"I guess so," she replied.

"I think that both men knew each other." Jensyn still didn't respond. "I also think the same person killed them." No comment. "I also now strongly believe they may have been involved in abducting women and...well, you can fill in the blanks."

"Um, no, I'm not sure I can," Jensyn said. "Unless you're referring to the kinds of things they do to women who are abducted. Is that what you mean?"

"That and something else," Drew said. "That and the fact that a woman who was abducted and had those things done to her would have a very powerful motive for...revenge."

"Huh. Interesting theory," she said still not returning his gaze.

"As a police officer, that could put me in a very...awkward...place were I to suspect someone I know and...care about very much...was somehow involved."

Again, Jensyn didn't reply. "I'm not saying I'm shedding tears about the deaths of men who could do those kinds of things assuming, of course, they actually had. But it would put me in a very precarious situation; a situation I wouldn't want to find myself in." When she still didn't speak he said, "I could certainly understand a woman in that situation wanting revenge. I couldn't even blame her. But we can't have vigilantes running around taking justice into their own hands, can we?"

Jensyn finally spoke. "You have a sister, right, Drew?"

"You know I do," he said.

"So...how would you feel if she'd been abducted and brutally raped by several men scores of times over a four month period?" He started to answer and she held up her hand. "Further, how would you feel if you learned the only way she could get on with her life was to seek revenge? What if she could never love a man or even be with one again until all of the men who repeatedly raped her were dead? Would you tell her to sit by and wait for the police to arrest them, drag her into court to testify having never seen them and risk their acquittal? Would you put her through all that if she could somehow just...make them go away?"

"Is this a hypothetical question, Jensyn?" he asked. "Wait. Don't answer that. I'm not sure I want to know."

"Let me just say it seems like the proverbial win-win. Justice is done without costing the taxpayers money and this...hypothetical woman...gets her life back. Well, as much of it as can be gotten back. How is that a bad thing? It's not like it's going to trigger a string of vigilante copycats, right? So...other than being technically illegal, if only the kinds of animals who can do that sort of thing to innocent women are put down, isn't that the most humane thing to do? Hypothetically speaking, of course."

Drew stood up and reached for Jensyn's hand. "Come sit next to me, okay?"

She followed him to the couch where he put his arm around her and said, "Okay, let me put it like this. I'm pretty sure I'm...falling in love with you and yet I'm not sure I can be in love with someone who would force me to choose between her and my sworn duty as a police officer."

She turned her head and looked up at him and said, "I already know I'm falling in love with you."

"So...what do you propose we do?" he asked as he kissed the top of her head.

"Would it be too much to ask you not to ask me any more questions about this topic?"

"I'm not sure because I have at least one more to ask you right now."

"Okay," she said as she reached up for his hand.

"Is it reasonable to think this most recent incineration won't be the last death of this type?"

"You mean the incineration part of it?"

"Specifically, yes. Generically, no."

"Well, if there was this hypothetical woman seeking revenge on hypothetical abductors, it would seem possible she wouldn't have to eliminate them in the same way."

"Hmmm. So generically, then...might there be more hypothetical abductors out there in need of her brand of justice?"

Jensyn stroked his hand with her fingers as she replied. "That doesn't seem like an unreasonable conclusion to consider. Hypothetically speaking, of course."

"One last question. For now anyway. Is it reasonable to assume this hypothetical woman won't stop—no matter what—until her mission is complete?"

"Let me answer your question with a question. If four men brutally raped your sister for four long months and she'd um...eliminated two of them...could you reasonably expect her—or even ask her—to stop with a job that's only half done?"

He kissed the top of her head again then said, "You know there's a huge difference between not asking questions and ignoring evidence, right?"

"Yes," she told him.

"So if you really do love me then please never put me in a situation where I can't ignore evidence."

"I understand what you're saying," was how she chose to respond and nothing more was said until a week later when a third body was found.

"This time, the body hadn't been set on fire afterwards," Drew told her.

"So...there's no connection to the other two?" Jensyn offered.

"Not exactly," he said. "All three of them did have something else in common."

"Oh? What might that be?"

"The first two bodies were burned so thoroughly and completely the coroner couldn't be absolutely sure. She was confident but not certain they'd both had their penises cut off and um...stuffed in their mouths. In this third case, where the victim was found hanging in his office, there was no doubt."

"Wow. That sounds...terrible," she said without emotion.

"There's more," he told her.

"Oh?"

"A detective found a long, dark strand of hair on the victim's body."

Jensyn's stomach churned as she wondered if she'd made a fatal error this time by not following through and eliminating any possibility of trace evidence the way she had the first two times.

"Oh, well, there must be a lot of female patients and hygienists and what not who interact with him."

"I didn't mention his profession," Drew said coldly.

"Are you sure?" she said hastily. "I seem to remember you mentioning something about him being a dentist."

Drew reached into his pocket and pulled out a clear plastic bag which had the word 'Evidence' on it. Inside was a single dark hair about the same length as Jensyn's.

She glanced at it then looked away. "I was the detective assigned to investigate along with someone from homicide because their lead detective was on another case."

He reached into another pocket then said, "I found something else." He pulled out a CD case also kept in a plastic evidence bag. I found this inside a narrow slit in the wall behind a rack of supplies in his office. I almost missed it. Do you want to know what's on it?"

"I'm not sure," she said quietly.

"Proof."

"Of?" she asked.

"Let's just say the faces of four men are clearly visible. Let's also say it shows with the clearest of detail what these four men did to two different women, one of whom looks exactly like you bound to a table with a black blindfold over your eyes."

"So I guess this is the point where you're forced to choose, isn't it?" She not only didn't look at him, she spoke barely above a whisper.

"God help me, Jensyn, but after watching just three minutes of this DVD and throwing up...."

He waited for her to look at him before walking over to the sink and dropping the hair into the garbage disposal and turning it on.

"Yes, I've made my choice. I may end up in jail for it, but after seeing what they did to you and the other girl, I can't follow the evidence."

He came back around and stood in front of her and said, "I'm in love with you, Jensyn and I can't lose you. Not because of this. Not for doing the only thing a woman in your place could be expected to do. I can't."

She saw a tear form in his eye as she slid her arms around his neck. "I'm in love with you too, Drew. And very soon, I'll be able to actually love you the way you deserve to be loved."