Could This Be Love Page 8

  When the phone didn’t ring. She called Joe again and this time it rang once and then went to voicemail. “I really need you to call me. Come on, Joe, don’t leave me hanging like this.”

  Chapter 11

  Raven went to the police station, trying to get help for Joe. But since she hadn’t been able to get a location and the fact that his phone had been turned off, the police weren’t able to track his whereabouts and were therefore limited in how they could help.

  She left the police station disheartened, but as an idea struck, she pulled over to the side of the road and pulled out her cell phone. With the high-profile clientele they dealt with, Joe was always worried that someone might feel as if Raven knew too much and desire to get rid of her. So, he’d installed listening devices and cameras in her home, GPS tracking on her phone and car. Raven had also made sure that Joe did the same for himself in case she ever needed to track him.

  Raven pushed the tracker app on her phone and hit the button to locate Joe’s car. Her mouth fell open when, after searching for a few seconds, the locator pinpointed Joe’s car and began giving her voice activated directions to get to it. All Raven could do was thank God for technology as she drove full speed ahead.

  It took twenty minutes of following the directions from her cell phone to reach the location where Joe’s BMW was parked. She pulled up behind it and was about to get out of her car when her cell phone rang.

  She wouldn’t have picked it up except that it was RaShawn, who she figured was at the airport and would be expecting her to pick him up in a few hours. He needed to know what she was doing in case she didn’t make it to pick him up.

  “Hey RaShawn, are you at the airport?”

  “Yeah, my plane leaves in ten minutes. I just wanted to let you know that I should be there in about an hour.”

  “I need you to be praying while you’re on that plane. I’m out looking for one of my business associates. I’m afraid something terrible has happened to him.”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m on a residential street.” She looked out her window at several houses, trying to decide which address to give her brother. She said a quick prayer, asking the Lord to show her which house to go into and then she gave RaShawn the address. “Write it down,” she told him. “If I’m not there to pick you up in an hour, call Marcus and have him get someone over here right away.”

  “Okay sis, but before you hang up, I want to pray for you.”

  Not knowing whether Joe was dead or alive, Raven knew she needed a lot of prayer. So she kept her seat and allowed RaShawn to pray God’s protection over her life and the life of her unborn child. When he was finished praying, RaShawn said, “The Lord revealed to me that this is a spiritual battle you’re in right now. You can’t fight this with your own strength. Let the Lord fight this battle.”

  That sounded so good, but Raven wasn’t sure what to do besides pray, so she asked, “How do I do that?”

  “I’ll be praying that God opens your eyes so that you can see that God has got this for you. You don’t have to fight in your own strength because the Lord will fight this battle.” An announcement was made over the loudspeaker. Then RaShawn said, “Oh God, if only I had a little more time.” RaShawn sounded rushed as he said, I’ve got to go, sis, they’re boarding my plane.”

  “Wait! I don’t understand how the Lord fights my battles.”

  “Don’t go in that house before reading 2 Kings, chapter six. Just start at verse fifteen. I love you, sis, I’ll see you in a little bit. I’ll be praying.” He hung up.

  Raven was left to stare at her phone. She was confused by her conversation with RaShawn. Driving over there, all she could think to do was go in this house, get Joe and get him to a hospital, if need be. She had no clue about any type of spiritual battle. Fear was gripping her heart, so she did as her brother suggested and opened the Bible app on her phone and started reading in 2 Kings:

  And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?

  So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, “Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

  So Elisha was able to make a request of the Lord to fight the battle for him and the Lord did just that. That sounded good to Raven. She was just about to put away her phone and then knock on each door until she located Joe when she received a text message that read, What are you waiting for? Come on in. Raven recognized the number from the text message. Senator Allen had left her text messages from this phone on two separate occasions and now he was taunting her to come inside the place where he’d taken Britney and done God knows what to Joe.

  Raven had given RaShawn a street address, but she hadn’t been positive that Joe was inside that house, until the door opened and no one stepped out. She texted Marcus and gave him the address to the house she was about to go into and then told him, “Call the police, your father is holding Britney hostage in this house.”

  Getting out of her car, Raven touched her belly as she mumbled to her baby, “Your grandfather needs Jesus in a big way.”

  She took a deep breath, looked towards heaven and then entered the house. “Senator, are you in here?”

  ***

  Marcus had plans of doing good and looking out for the people he was charged with serving, rather than trying to line his pockets or gain political points. He just hoped his constituents understood his heart even though he wasn’t willing to have some gimmicky jump-on-the-band-wagon type of campaign.

  But even with his political future up in the air, Marcus felt better than he had in a long, long time. He was married to a beautiful woman, they had a baby on the way and he’d just discovered that God had a purpose for his life. Nothing could be sweeter than that.

  “I know that Governor Lewis was making preparations to relocate some of the governmental offices in my city to the state capital, but I’m hoping that you will reconsider this move,” Mayor Taylor said.

  “I reviewed the information. It seems like a sound plan. Most of the functions are already handled here in Richmond so it just makes sense to move all of them here.”

  “I do not agree. As governor, you should be looking out for what’s best for the entire state and not just the city your offices are located in.” Mayor Taylor leaned forward as he continued, “Look, Governor Allen, you have the right to do whatever you want, but I’m just asking that you consider how moving almost a thousand jobs out of my city will devastate the community that I represent.”

  Nodding, Marcus said, “I can appreciate how keeping those jobs in your community benefits your city. So, I’ll give the plans another viewing to see if there is any way that we can keep some of the jobs in your city.” Standing, Marcus put out a hand to Mayor Taylor.

  Taylor rose from his seat and shook Marcus’ hand. “I thank you for hearing me out. You’re a good man, Marcus; if there is ever anything I can do for you, just let me know.”

  “I’ll hold you to that come election time.” Marcus grinned as if he was joking, but he was serious. Calling in favors was what politicians did for breakfast, lunch and dinner… and at birthday parties and on Christmas, too, if need be.

  Marcus walked the mayor to the lobby and was headed back to his office when someone put a hand on his shoulder and turned him around. He smiled as he came face to face with his father. “Hey, what brings you to our great state this morning? No votes in the senate today?”

  “I’m all voted out this week. Not that any of our votes are going to do a bit of good once they
go to The House. Those clowns act like they never watched that cartoon about how a bill becomes law when they were kids.” He shook his head. “I needed to get away. Thought I’d come spend some time with my son, the governor.”

  “I have tons of meetings today. But if you don’t mind tagging along, I don’t think anyone will mind. After all, you are one of the greatest senators Virginia has ever had.”

  “That’s what they tell me.” Senator Allen’s smile widened as his chest puffed out.

  Father and son stepped into Marcus’ office. He had left his cell phone on the desk. Tapping it, Marcus leaned over the desk so he could see if he’d missed any calls. No calls, but he had a text message from Raven that caused him to snatch up the phone and then look at his father with questioning eyes.

  “What’s wrong?” Senator Allen asked.

  “Why does my wife want me to call the police on you? Evidently she has found Britney and says that you are holding her hostage.”

  “I’m right here in front of you, son, so I couldn’t be holding Britney hostage. And why would I want to do that anyway?”

  “We both know the answer to that, don’t we?”

  Senator Allen grimaced. “Why do you believe Britney over your own father? I never touched that girl.”

  With arms folded across his chest, Marcus shook his head. “She loved you, Dad. And as confused as her mind was, she actually believed that you loved her, too.”

  “You just said it yourself, Marcus. Britney is a confused young woman. Don’t you think it’s possible that she mistook my kindness and dreamed up this whole relationship business? I’m a happily married man; why would I cheat?”

  “I don’t have time for this. You’re here, so at least I know you’re not somewhere attacking my wife.”

  “Of course not. I would never attack Raven.”

  His assistant buzzed in and informed him that his next appointment had arrived early. Marcus was about to asked that he be sent in, but something about Raven’s text bothered him. Yes, his father was right in front of him. But Raven didn’t just make things up. So, something was going on. “I need you to cancel the rest of my morning appointments. I have to leave the office for a little while.”

  “I’ll get on it right now,” his assistant said.

  Marcus hung up the phone and grabbed his keys.

  “Where are you going?” Senator Allen asked with a look of incredulity on his face.

  “To see about my wife.”

  “You’ve got work to do here. I was expecting Brian to stop by again today so the three of us could go to lunch and talk over your campaign.”

  “Give it up, Dad. I’m not your errand boy. I’ll run for office on the platform I choose, not on any of this craziness that you’ve involved yourself with lately… things that I don’t even believe.”

  Senator Allen grabbed hold of his son’s shoulder and pulled him toward himself. “Don’t you see why I didn’t want you to marry that girl? She likes to spout off about her family’s Christian principles but the first chance she got she was in bed with you. Doesn’t that show you that they’re all just a bunch of hypocrites?”

  Marcus pried his father’s fingers away from his shoulder as he said, “No, it tells me that she and I made a mistake in how we handled our relationship. But thanks to you, we rectified that in a hurry. Now she’s my wife and there isn’t a thing in the world I wouldn’t do for her… and that includes calling the police on you, if you’ve done something to her. Now, I have to go.”

  “I’m coming with you.”

  They rushed out of the Capitol and headed down the streets of Richmond. All that was on Marcus’ mind was finding his wife and getting her out of whatever kind of trouble she had found her way into. “Lord God, we sure do need you now,” was all he kept saying as he neared the location where his father was supposedly holding Britney.

  Chapter 12

  Raven went from room to room looking for Britney and Senator Allen. It was a ranch style house with a basement. No one was on the main floor so Raven turned on the lights for the basement and made her way down the steps. “Senator Allen, are you down here?”

  No answer.

  As she touched the last step she called out, “Joe, are you here?” Rounding the corner the foul odor hit her first, then Raven’s mouth flew open at the shock and horror of what she was witnessing. Three huge cages lined the unfinished walls of the basement. The one at the farthest end of the basement was empty, but the other two…

  “Oh my God, Britney!” Raven exclaimed as she ran over to the second cage. “Why would he put you in this thing?”

  Britney crawled to the front of the cage. She grabbed hold of the cage and pleaded, “Get out of here or you’ll be next.”

  “I can’t just leave you here. What the senator has done to you is inhumane. And I promised your mother that I would bring you home safe and I plan to do just that.”

  As sadness crept into Britney’s eyes, she said, “My mother doesn’t want me back.”

  “Of course she does. Why do you think we came looking for you?” Raven glanced down and noticed that there was a lock on the cage. A cot and blanket were on the floor with a bucket that must have been put there for human waste. She couldn’t see what was in the bucket, but she smelled it… boy, did she smell it. “Let me find something to break that lock.”

  “You won’t find anything. I’ve been looking for months,” a woman in the third cage said.

  Glancing over to that cage, she saw the extended belly on the woman first, then as her eyes lifted, Raven looked into the face of the woman who had made the news for more than a week after her disappearance. “Rita?”

  The woman nodded. “It’s me,” she said as tears drifted down her face. “I’ve been locked in this cage for so long I don’t even know what month we’re in right now.” Her hands held onto her belly. “But I think my baby is about to come and I’m terrified to have it delivered by the monster that’s been keeping us down here.”

  The senator’s ex-lover wasn’t dead after all. He had held her in dungeon-like conditions with Britney for God knows how long. The man was truly, as Rita had proclaimed, a monster. “You won’t have to deliver your baby in here. I’ll get you out. I’ll get both of you out.”

  “Just leave,” Britney yelled at her. “Go outside and call the police. Or do you want to get shot like that man over there?”

  “Are you talking about Joe?” Raven asked, suddenly remembering that she had come to this God forsaken place to find her friend and business associate.

  Britney pointed towards the third cage. Raven rushed over to it, not knowing how she had missed the fact that a body was lying on the floor just a few feet from where she stood. She’d seen Britney and Rita, but hadn’t noticed that anyone was in the third cage… probably because he was on the opposite side of the mattress and in the fetal position. “Joe, oh my Lord, Joe, please say something to me,” she said as she stepped into the open, unlocked cage and frantically checked for a pulse.

  It was faint, but there was a pulse. “Don’t you die on me. I’m going to go get help and get you out of here. But you’ve got to wait for me, okay, Joe?” Tears were in her eyes as she tried to convince herself that she would be able to get help and get back to them in enough time to keep Joe alive.

  “I’ll be back for all of you.” She stood up, preparing to leave when the door to the cage was slammed shut.

  “You’re not going anywhere.”

  Raven heard the words, and by the time she swung around to see what was going on, the lock had been snapped on the cage and a gun was being pointed in her face.

  Britney had tried to warn her. She should have never entered the house without calling the police first, but she had been so worried about Joe that she hadn’t been thinking. She was thinking now, though, and wondering how she was ever going to get out of this messy situation. She wasn’t just worried about Joe living. With the lock on the cage and that gun in her face, Raven wondered if she would l
ive to give birth to the child she was carrying.

  ***

  The moment RaShawn got off the plane, he texted his sister, Are you okay?

  By the time he picked up his bags she still hadn’t responded. As fear for his sister tried to clench his heart, RaShawn carefully reminded himself of who he was and who he belonged to. And he knew with everything in him that the God he served would never let him down.

  Raven had asked him to call Marcus for a ride if she didn’t arrive by the time he got off the plane, but RaShawn didn’t feel like hanging around the airport waiting when he needed to get to his sister. He got into a taxi and gave the man the address Raven had given him. Once the taxi was on its way, RaShawn placed a call to Marcus. When Marcus answered he told him everything Raven had said to him before he got on the plane.

  “She sent me a text. I’m on my way to that house right now.”

  “Good, then I’ll meet you there,” RaShawn told him.

  “My father is with me so hopefully we can get to the bottom of whatever is going on. I just don’t want anything to happen to Raven.”

  “Then we need to pray.”

  “I’ll be praying,” Marcus said, “but, RaShawn, I need you to pray real hard, too, because I can’t lose her… she means too much to me.”

  “Ditto,” RaShawn replied as they hung up.

  ***

  “Put the gun down. You don’t have to do this,” Raven said as she backed away from the cage door, hands in the air.

  “You shouldn’t have meddled in our business. And you shouldn’t have gotten yourself knocked up by Marcus. You’re nothing but a tramp, looking for a meal ticket.”

  Raven wouldn’t have believed it if she wasn’t seeing this with her own eyes, but Liza Allen, the senator’s wife, was holding a gun on her and saying disparaging things to her about being pregnant by Marcus. She understood why Liza would be upset about Rita being pregnant by the senator, but what she and Marcus did was between them and God. “Why are you upset about my baby? I would think you and the senator would be happy for a grandchild.”