Cal ends his speech and holds his arm out for Elizabeth to join him at the podium, except she doesn’t move. She sits in her chair and stares straight ahead. She’s not blinking, her face a vacant mask. Cal turns back to the crowd, waves, and smiles nervously before turning back toward Elizabeth. At that moment someone comes up on the stage and grabs her elbow, attempting to get her to stand up.

“Come on, stand up, sweetheart,” I whisper to the screen. After a little coercion, she finally gets up with the help of the staffer and walks off the stage. “God dammit.” My fingers can’t type fast enough as I search for articles on what happened. After a minute or two, I find a statement that was released by his press secretary.

After today’s event, Mrs. Fitzgerald was taken to the hospital and treated for exhaustion. At this time we ask that you respect Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald’s privacy and allow her to recuperate. We will update you as her condition changes. Thank you.

I slam the lid closed on the laptop and shove it across the table. I’ve got to get to her. I had planned to wait until all of this was over with Cal, now I’m thinking I don’t have the time.

A week later and I can’t get the video of Elizabeth out of my mind. It haunts me every day. In my gut I know something isn’t right. I used to get this weird feeling whenever we’d go out on a mission in Iraq or Afghanistan and I thought shit was going to hit the fan. It was like this small voice that would make the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end telling me we were headed toward a fucked up situation. I’d joke with the guys and call it my Spidey Sense, but it was rarely wrong. And when it was right, there was nothing funny about the shit we had to deal with. I’m having one of those feelings now whenever I think about her.

Hutchison is campaigning near Cal’s home turf, which works out for me. It’ll give me a chance to sneak over and see Elizabeth. As much as it’s going to kill me, I can’t let her know I’m alive. If Cal senses anything is off with her, it might blow my whole cover. I just want to check in on her and see if she’s getting better. There haven’t been any other videos of her with Cal since she froze last week, and that bothers me.

I’m about to head out to scout the area around Hutchison’s appearance, or that’s what I’m telling Rodney and Bruce. These two guys are like dumb and dumber. I even convinced them to give me my wallet back, arguing that I might need money during an emergency. As long as I use the line, “If I get caught, we all go down,” they seem pretty compliant. Hell, I could probably convince them to let me go if I tried hard enough.

“How long are you going to be gone?” Bruce asks me as I’m heading toward the front door.

“I shouldn’t be more than a few hours.” I don’t wait for a response, grabbing the car keys off the table and walking out the door. I have to say I was a little surprised when I mentioned taking the car and wasn’t met with a lot of resistance. But I’m not a damn idiot either. I’ll bet the car is bugged with a tracking device. That’s why I’m going to park it near the intended location and take a cab back to Elizabeth’s house.

I have the taxi stop a few houses down from Elizabeth’s. From here, I can’t see her house since there is so much space between each residence. After paying the cab driver, I get out and walk over to a car. Tyler, one of the guys assigned to watch her, sees me approach and motions for me to go around to the passenger side.

“Hey, Tyler,” I say once I’m in and the door is firmly shut.

“How’s it going, Matthews?” he asks, surprise in his voice. It’s obvious he wasn’t expecting me to show up. Turner would have my ass if he knew I was here.

“Not good. Where’s the video surveillance?” Looking around the car, I don’t see any equipment and I don’t see Elizabeth.

“There is none,” he responds casually. I have to work really hard to cool my temper.

“What the fuck do you mean there is none? I thought you were supposed to be watching her.” My fists clench at my sides and I can feel the vein pulsating in my forehead as my anger rises. How the hell are they supposed to get to her and save her if they can’t even see her?

“Turner said it wasn’t in the budget. He petitioned the department for it, but they shot him down saying she wasn’t the priority and all resources should be used to bring down Cal and whoever else he’s working with.” This isn’t Tyler’s fault, I know, but the way he says it so nonchalantly like it’s not a big deal makes me want to put my fist through his face.

“So what the hell are you doing out here then?” My hands tremble, needing to direct my pent-up frustration.

“I’m watching her as close as I can. I note if someone other than the neighbors drive by. So far everything is pretty quiet. I’ve only seen one car come by. Other than that, no one has been here, not even her husband.” My jaw clenches at that word.

Husband.

He’s not a husband; he’s her tormentor and holds her mentally captive while he advances his own agenda.

“Can I use your phone?” I ask him. He pulls it out of his coat pocket and hands it to me. After I dial the number, it rings a couple times before it’s answered.

“Turner. Whatcha need, Tyler?” he asks, sounding bored.

“Hey, sir, it’s Matthews. Why the hell is no one watching Elizabeth?”

“What the hell are you doing there?” His loud voice booms through the phone. “You want to blow this whole mission and get her hurt in the process?” I knew he’d be pissed, but tough shit.

“I’m not blowing anything. Why isn’t anyone watching her?” I demand.

“There is someone on her, which you know since you’re calling from Tyler’s phone.” He’s lowered his voice, but it’s clear he’s still mad as hell by the way he’s talking through his teeth.

I take in a deep breath through my nose in an attempt to remain calm. “No, he’s not watching her at all. Where is video surveillance?”

“I tried, but the department said no. She’s not the priority, getting Cal is.”

“This is bullshit. You want Cal? Then you get eyes on Elizabeth. I can’t concentrate on my job when I’m worrying about her,” I spit out.

A long sigh comes through the phone. “I’ll work on it, Matthews. You just focus on what you’re supposed to do and I’ll do what I can.” It’s not the confirmation I wanted, but there really isn’t anything I can do about it right now. After I hang up, I turn my attention back to Tyler.

“She hasn’t left the house at all? Do you know who came by?”

“No. The windows were blacked out on a Mercedes.” He picks up his coffee mug and takes a drink. I’m not sure why, but something about his observation just doesn’t sit well with me.

“How long were they there for?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. A couple hours maybe.” Great, they assigned a dumbass to watch over the one thing in this world that means everything to me.

“Just so you know, I really want to beat the shit out of you right now,” I deadpan. “You better wake the fuck up and pay attention. If she leaves, you better write down who she’s with and how long she’s gone until I can get some kind of video feed in there.” Leaning forward and lowering my voice, I stare straight into his eyes so he can see the seriousness of the situation. “If you fail to do that, I’ll pull every string I have and see to it that your ass works behind a desk for the rest of your miserable fucking life. You got it?”

“Relax, man. All of this over some girl you banged? Geez, she must have been a real nice piece of a—” The rest of his sentence is cut off when my fist connects to his jaw.

Fisting his shirt collar, I pull him across the center console. “You better watch what you fucking say! That girl in there is the only damn thing I care about right now and if anything happens to her I will hold you accountable.” I release him and swing the car door open. I need to get the hell out of here before I lose my shit completely. Before I close the door, I say, “Call Turner and see if he can tap into their alarm system. We’ll be able to hear what’s going on at the very least.”