Divorced! Now what?
Chapter 131

Scott POV

Being woken early in the morning to the words that Bethany had been taken outside her building and that I had failed Bethany again was the worst sound ever. My men should never have left the vigil outside the police station; I had ordered them to stay with her no matter what; those men will never get a job like this again. They cannot be trusted to do their damn job. I had to go to Bethany and apologize for failing her a second time if I could find her and bring her back safely. NO, not IF, WHEN. I hit the road running, sending out orders to my men and getting a team on the road as I headed to get geared up in my Kavilar jacket and at least three guns hidden on my person. I was headed out for war. This time, the person who had taken Bethany was going to feel a bullet. I wanted to kill him, but I knew it was better to bring him in alive if I could. The team was good, and my turn to men when in a tight spot, not like the idiots that had put me in that spot. We took off in the direction of the quarry, the place I had men watching. I had three there now, and he said the boss was in the stables and looked like he was waiting for company. Bingo, I put my money on that is the place they are taking her. I planted my foot on the accelerator.

Theo texted me to let me know that she had been seen and was in the stables at the old quarry. I am leading this one. I got to get Bethany back. It breaks my heart to think she is being hurt again.

I took the lead SUV and sped up, and we had already been heading towards the quarry when I heard they had taken the sewers. It was a place I had had under investigation for a while, and I thought it might be where they would take her. It had a good setup, better than the tunnels she was in before, and was run by a more organized man. However, I have just learned how he had been slipping through the cracks. When I found out yesterday who was running that little show, I could hardly believe it, and I had not yet had a chance to talk to Jacko about him.

When we arrived, I pulled up about a ten-minute walk from the stables and had the men slowly spread out, ensuring we surrounded the stables, where Bethany was. It was slowly becoming light. This half-light time is good for sneaking up on people as it is harder to make us in the shadows. Lucky for us, they had not posted any guards, and I made it up to the door and looked in; they all had their backs to the door, a rocky mistake; the four men at the side were busy watching the action with Bethany. He asked where Cynthia was and did not like the answers.

'She was my life, my lover, and the best thing, she introduced me to this kind of life, and I loved it; she taught me how to shoot a gun and about contract work; we were a team, and you had to spoil it all. She hated you for what you had and even more that you had what she could never really have. Her hurts ran deep; each time Bethany got praised, she felt another dagger in her heart because she was never commended by the people she wanted it from; she never got her father's love, only his backhand across her face when she would defy him and say no to his orders. I had to hide her several times after her beating and cover for her by saying she was on a business trip, which helped conceal our relationship because I was not with her, so no one thought anything of us being more than work competitors vying for the same jobs. Each sports day, she would hide away because she was so jealous of your relationship with Bob, and at school, she slept with anyone who would show the affection that she craved. I tried to get her out of that, which was why everyone thought we were boyfriend and girlfriend. I used to get ribbed for being the boyfriend of the school tart. All she craved was someone to love her truly, and even though I told her often that I did, she said it was not enough, that my love was not enough for her. Now she is dead; she will never feel the love she truly deserved, and that is why you have to die too, because you are getting all the love and kindness that Cynthia deserved to get, too.' I listened to his reasoning, his belief that what he would do was all for Cynthia, and the sad twists in the minds of the two who deserved each other.

Then he lifted his gun and pointed it at Bethany, and I did not think I had just acted and shot him in the back of his head, blowing his brains over Bethany's face and shirt. She sat there, staring at him as his now faceless body fell to the floor, and screamed at the top of her lungs at that sight. I rushed forward while my guys attacked the four men who were slow to react to the loss of their boss, and deep down, I didn't think they really cared, as they did not put up much of a fight.

I pulled Bethany to me and held her, and one of my men came and undid her hands and feet; I lifted her and carried her out of the building and looked up at the helicopter above, letting them see I had her, and raised one of my hands, thumbs up, so they knew she was okay and safe.

'Bethany, I am sorry I was not there for you again. Forgive me! I whispered in her ear as she wept on my shoulder.

'It is okay; you did not know that Pam sent the men away. It was late, and I think Pam thought we would be there all night.' Bethany was a kind soul. I doubt she holds grudges.

'My men should have never left you. Your Dad and Theo are hovering above, in the chopper. They will be down soon.' I said, and Bethany looked up at the chopper overhead, waved, and then burst into a fresh set of tears.

'You all came for me when I had no phone and lost the necklace in the fight; I thought all was lost, that you would never find me! She sobbed; I was not letting go of her until that chopper landed, and Theo took over. The paramedic approached her, and she held on to me tighter, not wanting to let go of a familiar face.

'Sorry!' I said to the paramedic. He shrugged and waited close by.

The chopper landed, and Bob and Theo ran over to us, and we were soon enveloped in a group hug. Bob and I relinquished her to Theo, and I led Bob back to the stables to see who was had, and I was interested to see his reaction.

'I found out late yesterday and had yet the chance to tell anyone, but the person, or the missing link was.' we entered the stables, and the body came into view.

'Bret?' Bob said, looking at the man with half his face missing, and Bob looked like he was genuinely shocked.

'Yeah, Bret, he is tied to a lot of this, and he is also responsible for a lot of murders along with Cynthia. They tag-teamed and were each other's alibi, which is part of why they got away with it for so long. Wendy killed some, but it was mainly those two.

'I did not see any of this; I am a bad copper if I could not see what was right under my nose. They played me like a fool.' 'No, Bob, they were good at what they did, plus you had Wendy defending them, making you think it was stupid to consider them as killers. The three of them had us all fooled for years! I would not let Bob take this on his shoulders; he could do little without the evidence, thinking they might be involved and catching them, which were two different things.

'It was Pam, by the way, that called off my detail. I have reprimanded them and will give them lower-level jobs till they prove themselves, but I can't blame them when a high-ranking officer says that she was looking after her and to go home. I would take the blame, but he needed to know that his woman did not look after his child.

'I heard, and she will need to do a lot of sucking up to get back into my bed; what she did was inexcusable. Do you think the threats are over now? Can we stop the bodyguards?' Bob sounded so unsure; he must be doubting everyone now. I hope he does not quit as the top cop; we need him more than he realizes; he never gave up on this case; over five years, he has worked hard on it.

A man came in behind us, and Bob turned and said to him,

'Clean this up, get all the evidence you can, and bag it. I want the whole quarry and building searched, and look for hidden trap doors or places in which things can be hidden. Bret has been building this place for a long time, and I want to get everything. The man saluted Bob and called on others to come in. They started with the photo taking, and the usual crime scene workers arrived; even the coroner arrived to collect the body.

When we left the stable, I noticed that the paramedic was giving Bethany the once over, checking her wrists and ankles and the black eyes she had gained; each bruise or mark on her had Bob cringing.

'You did not fail her, Bob; she always believed you would find her.' I lied, knowing she had thought that she would not be found with the loss of her tracking devices until it was too late.

We walked to the ambulance, waited for him to finish his examination, and returned her to Theo's care.

'Want to fly back home?' He asked softly.

'Yeah, get me out of here.' I shook Theo and Bob's hand and hugged Bethany, promising to catch up and watch them climb into the chopper, up into the sky, and out of sight.