Avenging Laura (Special Forces: Operation Alpha)

Chapter 34

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Laura was beside herself. Diesel and York checked the whole house. They found six listening devices and six cameras that didn’t belong to Highlander in the home. They removed all the devices that were found and took them in.

“Laura, what do you want to do? Are you staying here or somewhere else?” Raso asked as she stepped up when they zipped the last bag with the devices found.

“I’m staying here. I’m not letting them run me out of my home,” Laura told her best friend and sister-in-law.

“I’m staying with her. I’ve already called Dominick to check on the kids and let him know what was going on,” Highlander decided as Raso smirked at him.

“Joe, no. The kids need you. I will be fine. I can stay here. You have your cameras still in.”

“Lass, the kids are fine. Dominick is doing movie night with the kids. Aurora is already conked out. I am staying. Unless ye don’t want me here,” Highlander dared her to deny she wanted him here.

“I do want you here. I just don’t want you to feel like you’re forced to stay here,” Laura whispered to him, looking into his eyes after she had turned around to face him.

“I’m not, lass. Ye are my number one priority. I’m staying because I want to.”

Laura stared at Highlander for several seconds before she nodded her head. She turned to look at Raso and nodded at her as well.

“I’m staying here, and Joe is staying with me. Up patrols. I don’t think they are going to come back but better safe than sorry.”

“What makes you think they won’t be back? We took their devices.” Rameriez walked into the kitchen.

“Because we’re already on alert. They know we will be keeping an eye out for them. They will bide their time. This is one of their thugs. I know I killed Ziegler. I crippled them when I took him out and I know I caused issues when I nearly took out Cyrus. I don’t know how badly I hurt him since he managed to escape, but I know I hurt him enough to cause them to go into panic mode.”

“We didn’t go into detail with anything about the bunker. Can you answer some more in-depth questions now?” Captain Irby looked at Laura with hesitation.

“Yeah. I’m good, Captain. I promise.”

“Let’s go sit in the living room,” Highlander suggested to everyone, leading Laura to the couch and taking his spot next to her, holding her hand.

“I know you said you mostly dealt with Cyrus and Ziegler. Did anyone one else ever show up to the bunker?” Captain Irby sat down on the table in front of Laura.

“Not physically no. I lost count of how long I was there. Everything really. I know I had been there a couple of days already when Cyrus started getting furious with the fact that I wasn’t giving him what he wanted.” Laura fidgeted with her fingers, looking down at her hands while talking about her ordeal.

“What did he want, lass?” Highlander took one of her hands into his.

“My pain. For me to scream. Cry. Beg. Break me,” Laura admitted to Highlander, looking down at their hands. “He was angry he couldn’t do any of that just from the torture he was doing. Beating me. Waterboarding. Punching me. Electrocuting me. Baseball to the stomach, back, and legs. Punched me. He took turns with Ziegler on all of that.”

“Ye are safe, lass. I know the extent of ye injuries and what happened.” Highlander kissed her forehead, calming her down.

Taking a deep breath, she looked over at Highlander for a few seconds before turning to her captain. “The last thing I truly remember, before waking up in the hospital was the large screen tv that Cyrus had hung up in the area where he loved to torture me. He had Ziegler bring me in like always. Naked, bruised, bloody, and tied up. He did his usual of hooking my wrists to the hook and then making me hang with my toes barely touching the floor. When Cyrus came into the room, he hit a button on his remote. David and Maria popped up on the screen looking smug. We exchanged insults, which pissed Maria off as always.”

“Could you tell where they were at?” Captain Irby asked, keeping her voice calm and soft.

“No. I could tell they were in an office room. That was it. No way to see where they were to pin them down.”

“What did they want when Cyrus brought them on screen?” Captain Irby pushed, seeing what else could be found out.

“To gloat how they have managed to stay ahead of us. David admitted he wasn’t my father since his kids were ‘perfect’ in every way. David is still determined to get Dominick in the organization and felt the only way that would happen was if I was dead. Once they had Dominick in the organization they were going to come after Joe and the kids. They ordered Cyrus and Ziegler to torture me some more. When they got the same response as before…nothing…that’s when Maria said that she knew the one way to break me and make me nothing. She told Cyrus and Ziegler to have fun with me before they kill me. T-they were told to record what they did to me and send it to Joe. They wanted him to watch as I was raped, broken and made into nothing.” Laura sniffled, trying hard to fight the tears threatening to fall at the memory.

“I never got anything.” Highlander looked at Laura and Captain Irby in confusion.

“Laura, do you remember taking out Ziegler and what happened with Cyrus?” Captain Irby leaned forward to take Laura’s other hand.

“I heard a little girl screaming for their mom. I thought it was Ryleigh. Sounded just like her. I don’t remember how I got there. Just the pain and hearing the screams. I remember finding a pipe or something and Ziegler coming at me because I wasn’t dead. He was cocky. I don’t know how I had the strength to swing that pipe. Then Cyrus coming at me and me grabbing Ziegler’s gun. I think I fired three or four shots. I know I hit Cyrus, but that’s it. Next thing I knew I woke up in the hospital.”

“What are ye thinking, Captain?” Highlander asked as he pulled Laura into his arms.

“They know Cyrus never got you the video. They are purposely causing a wedge between Laura and everyone she knows. They are trying to separate her from everyone. Classic domestic violence moves. Destroy her self-confidence, isolate her from everyone she knows, take her out completely. We’ve fallen into their trap.”

“They did that, Cap. We all left her alone for weeks. Why didn’t they strike then?” Diesel questioned, standing behind Laura and the couch.

“Because, it would have been too easy. They almost won when she broke after Highlander left. They didn’t know he was still keeping visual of her,” Captain Irby surmised as she looked between Laura and Diesel.

“Maybe so, but they never banked on one thing.” Laura smiled weakly as she looked at her captain.

“What’s that, lass?”

“Their moves made me stronger. Made us stronger as a couple. They may have broken me. Destroyed my confidence in myself. Caused us to separate and everyone to isolate themselves from me. The only thing that did was force me into counseling and face all the demons I had hidden. They tried to create a monster. All they did was force my demons and I to become best friends,” Laura declared without hesitation.