One Journey Ends

Adam watched the Japanese girl move into her next class unawares. He had been watching her and Tara for a week now and knew their patterns. He had decided that today he would grab the girl from school. She sometimes went home with her Argentine friend unannounced, so he figured no one would suspect her disappearance until later that night. And tonight he would grab the woman from the supermarket.

The police wouldn\'t know until Tara\'s shift ended that she was gone, too. By the time they figured it out, he would have dealt with both females and would have a good head start out of the area. The thin man would still be around to take the fall. Rubbing his hands together, he waited patiently for the class to start. The sooner it ended, the sooner Seka would go to the nearby girl\'s bathroom to freshen up. She had a study period next, so she would take her time, as usual. Adam would take her then. His car was parked in a nearby space, so he wouldn\'t have far to carry her once he knocked her out.

He settled in and smiled. His long-standing urge was finally about to be quenched. Twice.

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Justin was on his way to the school when he was pulled over for speeding. He was late in getting out this morning because some of his inquiries on Adam came back from an old acquaintance of his. Sven had told him the police guard would get Seka safely to school and would keep an eye on the grounds that day. That meant that he would not only have to hide from Adam, but from the police as well. He kept his outward demeanor calm as he handed over an alias license and his rental agreement.

\"This cannot be happening,\" he sighed to himself as he waited for the officer to process it and write the ticket. (A/N: Which always takes much longer than it should given the small amount of writing space on the ticket. What\'s the deal with that, anyway?)

A half hour later, Justin was finally on his way again. If he hurried, he would catch sight of Seka just as her study hall let out. He moved stealthily to the room and watched the kids begin to filter out. Seka must be one of the last ones, he mused. As her Argentine friend walked out, Justin waited expectantly for Seka to be following close behind. She didn\'t. A few minutes later the teacher walked out and locked the door behind her. And Justin felt his sense of dread rise.

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Sven was waiting for Tara to change and leave for her department store job when he got Justin\'s frantic phone call.

\"What do you mean she was not there?\" the Scandinavian man asked in shock.

\"She was not there in her study hall class,\" Justin said in a monotone voice. But Sven wasn\'t fooled. He knew his lover was distraught that the delay had left Adam the opening he\'d need to grab Seka. \"I have been all over the school, to all of her classes. I even spoke to Maria.\"

\"You showed yourself?\"

\"What choice did I have?\" Justin\'s voice cracked on the last note, letting Sven know his suspicions about his lover\'s stress level were correct. \"She said she had seen Seka in English and was planning to see her in study hall, but she never showed up. Maria is also worried.\"

\"What can I do?\" Sven asked, mentally running through scenarios in his head that made him sick.

\"You cannot leave Tara alone,\" Justin insisted. \"I do not think it is wise.\"

\"I could have the police watch her for tonight,\" Sven offered. \"You cannot work with them to find Seka and I can help you much more than they could anyway.\"

\"I do not want Tara in danger,\" Justin sighed.

\"She will not be,\" Sven asserted. \"Sullivan, himself will watch her tonight. I think he is a good man.\"

There was silence on the other end of the line and Sven knew Justin was weighing his options very carefully. He also knew that if he were not there for his love, Justin would turn back to his cold and unemotional side to help him solve things. He also knew that would be a mistake. One that Justin would never forgive himself for. Sven didn\'t like to leave Tara, either, but he knew he had to. He needed to save Justin and help the dark man save Seka without turning to his past.

\"All right,\" Justin finally relented. \"Call me when you have arranged it.\"

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Adam nodded to himself in satisfaction as he lowered Seka\'s unconscious and bound form to the bed in the abandoned cabin. It was sold, but the occupants wouldn\'t be moving into it until next week. Much as he would love to wake her and begin his usual routine, he needed to ready himself to take Tara. In just a couple of hours, she would be on her way to the supermarket to begin her shift. Once the guard tailing her saw her safely into the store, he wouldn\'t be back until eleven, when the shift was over. But Tara would be long gone by then. In fact, she\'d never make it to her register.

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Sven jumped into Justin\'s car and they sped off back to the apartment. Justin wanted to go over what little information they had on Adam to get an idea of where they could find him. Sven watched his partner\'s pinched- looking profile and knew the guilt was gnawing at him.

\"This was not your fault, Justin,\" he said quietly, knowing that the other would not easily accept it.

\"If I had been there earlier.\"

\"But you were not,\" the blonde man countered. \"And you had not seen him at the school for a while. We both assumed he was lying low until the police involvement abated.\"

\"But that is no excuse for lax measures!\"

\"Justin, this could still have happened if you had still acted like you used to,\" Sven replied softly. \"You know that. You also know that you could not have maintained the unemotional demeanor any longer. If you could have, I would not have been able to track you.\"

Justin appeared to be contemplating this as he drove. He turned his eyes to his lover and Sven saw the pained look that broke his heart. But the dark man also looked thoughtful and he nodded slowly.

\"You are right, my love,\" he said and turned back to the road.

Sven wasn\'t happy about the predicament, but so long as he could hold his lover together, they would get through it.

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Tara touched up her lipstick in the bathroom of the supermarket and rubbed off a stray line. She checked herself again and turned away, almost running into a person standing behind her.

\"Excuse me,\" she said smiling, before she noticed it was a man in the ladies\' room. Certain she\'d never seen him before, her spine straightened in fear and she backed up.

\"You shouldn\'t have taken my package away,\" he said in a cold tone that matched his eyes.

He advanced until her small body hit the wall with a soft thud. Suddenly, Tara decided it wouldn\'t be so bad if he ended her miserable existence. It\'s what she wanted anyway. So she shrugged and felt the fear slowly ooze out of her.

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What the hell? Adam couldn\'t believe it. He was excited at the fear he initially got from the girl but now it was slipping away, as if she no longer cared what he did or said. Oh no. That wasn\'t how it was supposed to be. He\'d get her to feel fear again. He grabbed her arm and pulled her against him, making sure he knocked the wind out of her. Other than the small wheeze, the blonde woman remained unresponsive, so unsatisfactory for him. He sighed and squeezed the nerve in her neck that rendered her unconscious. Well, if he couldn\'t elicit a fearful reaction from her before he killed her, he certainly would from the watching Japanese girl. One of them was going to give him his thrills tonight.

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\"Where could he have taken her?\" Justin\'s voice sounded thin even to himself. The urge to revert was growing and he could see in Sven\'s concerned expression that the blonde man feared he would lose him. \"He has sold the cabin. I do not even have him registered at any of the hotels.\"

\"We will find him,\" Sven said calmly, rubbing Justin\'s hand comfortingly.

Without the blonde man\'s help right now, Justin knew he would be lost. Sven anchored him to who he had become and he didn\'t want to lose that. He had never felt happy in his life before and he wasn\'t about to lose that now.

\"We are overlooking something,\" he sighed.

\"Perhaps,\" Sven said thoughtfully, the rubbing stopped. \"I am thinking it is right in front of us. He has only recently sold the cabin, right?\"

\"Yes,\" Justin said softly, wondering where the blonde was headed with this. He was so hopeful it would be useful. Please, Sven, he thought. Please have a viable option.

\"Have the new owners moved in?\"

Justin stopped cold. He had checked the sale out thoroughly and the new owners weren\'t set to move in for another week or so. He had a strong feeling that Sven was onto something. Yes, that\'s it! What would he do without this man he loved so much?

\"Not until next week, I think,\" he smiled. \"You do realize how much I love you, do you not?\"

\"I have an idea,\" Sven said coyly as they both grabbed their jackets and headed for the door.

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Seka watched in horror as the man dumped Tara\'s groaning form on the floor in front of the bed. Seka herself was gagged and tied securely to the headboard so she couldn\'t do anything to help her friend. Tara moved slowly to get up but the man punched her in the back and sent her flying back down. There was another groan but Tara made no move to defend herself.

Seka watched the man with frightened eyes. She knew he was the one she had originally been sent to before Justin and Sven had rescued her. Now they were back in this awful cabin and she knew he intended to kill them both. The trouble was, Tara didn\'t look like she cared. But she hadn\'t seen Seka yet. She probably thought she was alone.

\"Get up!\" the man shouted to the small blonde on the floor.

Tara painfully got back to her feet and turned slowly. She saw Seka on the bed and her eyes widened in terror.

\"Look, do anything you want to me, but let her go!\" she finally said to the man.

Seka shook her head vehemently. She didn\'t want to see Tara sacrifice herself.

\"How magnanimous of you,\" the man replied coldly. \"It\'s about time you showed me the respect I deserve.\"

\"What?\"

\"You acted like it didn\'t matter to you back at the store,\" he explained. \"I don\'t like it when I\'m dismissed that way.\"

Tara backed up until she tripped over something squirming on the floor. Seka looked down to see a thin man also bound and gagged on the floor.

\"You?!\" Tara exclaimed.

\"He\'s the one the cops will think did this,\" the cold man explained. \"It\'s too bad his remorse will kick in and he\'ll off himself, too.\"

Tara looked back to him in fear and rage.

\"I know,\" he replied. \"You hate me and wish you could kill me.\" He smiled cruelly. \"If you\'re good enough, maybe I\'ll let this one go,\" he nodded toward Seka.

The bound girl on the bed knew he was lying. He would kill both of them tonight. But Tara believed him and nodded slowly. Seka could only cry as she watched her friend walk willingly to him.