Chapter 24

As the universe's appointed, first runner up, I was getting accustomed to sleeping with women. I mean that literally. I was getting accustomed to SLEEPING with pretty women.

Not having sex.

Not getting my pipes cleaned.

Not nothing.

Whoa is me ... I'm so sad.

Seriously.

Abigail washed up, dressed for bed in one of my oversized t-shirts, and a pair of my soft boxers, and cuddled up beside me like she'd been doing it for a decade. She was asleep way too fast, and it just wasn't fair.

Or maybe it was...

But this whole, "I'm the universe's safe' man," is going to make me cranky. I can feel it coming on.

I wallowed in self-pity for a little while, then turned on my side and slept very well.

The sound of the shower woke me. With Abigail using my bathroom, I opted for the guest bath, and was just about ready to face the day when she opened the door, stuck her head in and said, "How do you like your eggs?"

Her entire persona was different. The twenty-four hours separating her from the worst part of her life seemed to bring her back to herself, or at least she was trying to make it seem so. I was all for it. "Please make mine whichever way you are making yours," is how I responded.

We enjoyed breakfast like a couple, instead of a couple of strangers. I got us moving and when we were a short ways from a town, I said, "We need to get you some things, and you need to think about letting your mother know you're alive."

That got us talking about how to get her some clothes, since she was too bruised to want to be seen in stores, and what to say to her mother, what type of lawyer to call, and if she should report her kidnap, and abuse now, or when she gets back home. I said, "Abigail, you might want to call your lawyer and make sure he KNOWS you are alive and safe, and that your husband attempted to have you tortured to death, but you managed to slip free. He will begin moving the ball forward to protect you and your mother from the psychotic rage your husband is suffering, and get things moving to have him permanently out of your life.

"I can buy you a burner phone to use, so no one can trace your location, and once things are under control, you can go home and pick up your life where you left it the other day. I think the best way to deal with this is for me to buy a bunch of burner phones, and throw each one away as soon as you use it once. Until your husband is behind bars, along with his psycho friends, you and your mother are at risk. Once your divorce lawyer finds out what your husband did, he will know what steps to take to make sure you're safe.

"What do you think of pursuing it that way?"

Abigail considered my words and added a few thoughts of her own. "I need to let my lawyer know that I didn't just disappear. Musawri would love to claim I abandoned the marriage and try to steal everything that belongs to me.

"I'm afraid, Noah. I'm afraid for me, and I'm afraid for my mother. I'm even afraid for you, because you ruined Musawri's grand plan to have me killed and ride off into the sunset with everything I own. He seemed completely insane to me when he sold me to those evil bastards, and I don't want you to be hurt, or killed because you helped me."

I smiled at that. "Let me worry about me, and let your lawyer worry about your property, and let the police worry about Musawri and his crazy friends. I'm going to pull in when we reach the next town and buy you those phones, and if you tell me your sizes, and the brands you like, I will get you clothes, toiletries, makeup an anything you can think of, that you might need." Abigail visibly relaxed now that she had a plan for how to proceed, and I got us docked for fuel, a wash down, and a washout while I walked to the nearby stores and fulfilled Abigail's needs.

When I returned with a bag full of burner phones, each one activated, and loaded with minutes, Abigail was trying to figure out how to call her lawyer, since she didn't have her phone with his number pre-programmed. "Let's let Google find it for you," I said and quickly got it for her.

She excused herself to use the bathroom, and took the phone with her so she could call her mother, as well as the lawyer. Before she got away, I reminded her to use each phone only one time, and bring them to me so I could destroy them once she made a call on each one.

I didn't see her for about an hour. When she came back there was clear evidence of serious distress on her face. I took the two phones she handed over, and smashed them with a hammer, then pulled them apart, and tossed the pieces over board at intervals to keep them from being all in one place, and then settled down to hear Abigail's story.

She had cleaned up, used a little of the makeup I bought, and changed into clothes that fit her, which was a big improvement.

Her facial expression was another matter.

"My mother was stunned when I told her what Musawri did," she said, tearfully. "He had called her and told her that I got mad and disappeared and he was so worried, ' about me, because he claimed that I seemed very unstable. Mother said she didn't believe a single word he said, and sent him away mad. When I told her what he did, and that she wasn't safe, she grabbed her overnight bag and went to my Aunt's house until things calm down.

"I told her about you saving me from drowning, and how carefully you've been taking care of me. My mother said to thank you.

"Then I called Mike, my lawyer, and he had heard from Musawri's lawyer that I was suicidal, and had disappeared. They wanted Mike to push the divorce through under new terms, since I was obviously mentally unstable.' Mike said he told them to go pound sand, and now that he has the facts, the will have the state police and prosecuting attorney's office on Musawri.

"I promised to call him later and get an update."

She was near her breaking point. For some reason reconnecting to her former life brought back all the horrors of her capture, torture, and near drowning. I moved her onto the helm seat beside me and held her while she cried it out. Abigail was fragile, hurt, sad, and frightened. She needed time to heal and get things in perspective. I needed to keep her safe, and let the river, the calm, quiet, days, and the peacefulness do their work on her injured soul.

I also needed to call Roy.

He was glad to hear from me. I was using another burner phone, and he was using another temporary phone number. When I caught him up on some of what Abigail had told me, and how it might help him capture her tormenters, he laughed. "Musawri had a very unfortunate automobile accident late last night. His Jeep, along with his body will be found sometime later today, at the bottom of a steep hill. The skid marks will prove that he was driving very fast, with a lot of alcohol and some cocaine in his system, when the Jeep left the roadway and plummeted hundreds of feet, smashing into the rocks at the bottom and crushing him in the wreckage."

Roy took a deep breath and went on, "The two accomplices were taken without incident and died tragically when they both committed suicide, naked, after extensive homosexual sexual relations, most of it of the sado-masochistic variety. The evidence of their pervious sadistic crimes is conveniently on display on the desktop computer in their apartment, along with the tools, and accessories they used to abuse and torture women.

"The police will find lots of evidence of their crimes, but the evidence of their suicide is unimpeachable. They chose to die together rather than be found out and sent to separate prisons.

"It was most tragic " I promised to get him paid immediately, and when I did, I added a significant bonus, from an untraceable off-shore account. It was over. Abigail was revenged, and her tormenters were dead. All I had to do was keep my mouth shut and play dumb when she found out.

That happened shortly after lunch.

Abigail left me to go call her lawyer, and when she returned, she was white as a sheet. I hurried to grab her before she collapsed, and she wept in my arms for over an hour before she was in any shape to talk. When she did talk, it all spilled out.