𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 - Mitch Rapp

23

Distant chatter and mumbled voices stirred Mitch awake from his short slumber. His eyelids twitched the more alert he became, his eyes gradually making out two figures from across the room.

Mitch quickly realized he was in hospital, but that wasn't his concern. What happened to Ava?

The assassin immediately darted up and began ripping IVs out of his arm, wincing at the aftermath of blood shooting out of the tiny wounds the needles left behind. Irene swiftly turned her head at the sudden Commotion, hastily shuffling to his bed.

"What are you doing? You need to lie back down, Rapp. That's an order", she scolded the brunet, trying to grab as many wandering IV wires as possible.

"Where is she?", Mitch demanded, his eyes shifting around the room in search for his clothes.

Irene glanced at the alarmed nurse by the door, gesturing for her to leave them alone for the time being. Mitch was overstimulated right now, and not in the state of mind for bad news.

"Mitch, I need you to listen to me", she began, her voice intentionally soft-spoken. "You need to lie down, your body still needs rest after the severe injuries you gained, I-"

"Where the fuck is Ava?", Mitch bellowed, growing increasingly angry by the second.

His chest rose and fell dramatically, his pupils were dark, wide. The scene genuinely took Irene aback. She had no idea how to break the news to him. Irene slowly paced to the far side of the room, taking a seat on a lone chair.

"Irene, if you don't answer the fucking questio-"

"She's gone, Mitch. We lost her GPS tracking shortly after she was taken to the boat. We are, however, working on tracking the boat from the depa-"

Irene was bearishly cut off by the door suddenly opening. A man appeared at the door, suited like one of her employees from the surveillance team.

"Apologies for interrupting, I have some information on the missing agent", he explained in a tone of the utmost calmness. Like he didn't truly care whether she was missing or not.

Mitch strode towards the suited male, disregarding Irene's orders to back up. "Her name is Ava, now where is she?", he demanded, his eyes glaring at the male.

"Mitch, I can handle this. Now I understand that you're a little stressed, but this isn't the right way to go about it", Irene declared as she stood from the chair. -"Thank you agent gates, I'll follow you into the next room. Mitch, if you're still willing to co-operate with me, then you can get yourself dressed and meet us outside. Mr gates, if you will", she gestured her hand to the next room, immediatley following the agent out of the room.

Mitch unconsciously clenched both his fists before launching his right fist into the wall next to the door. The harsh impact caused an immense amount of pain, but he didn't care. This was his fault, he thought to himself. He wouldn't rest until she was found.

-

The uneven motion of the moving van caused an overwhelming feeling of nausea in Ava's stomach. Add that to the thought of what that creep was seconds away from doing to her, the brunette thanked the timing of the ring leader's phone call. Although Ava was trained to supress dark matters, nothing would have helped her get through the aftermath of being raped. The thought alone was enough to make her physically ill.

"Not a word to him about our little encounter back there, we clear?".

The thick australian accent reeled her back to reality. Ava glanced to her right from her position. She could see his rough face from the rearview miror. He had thrown her into the back of the van like a dead deer, which caused her to lay sideways. Her hands were bound behind her back, truly leaving her in the most vunerable position of her life. She pondered several different responses to her capturer, but somehow, Ava thought it was best to remain quiet. If she wanted to escape, she would have to concentrate, take her time to think about every kind of way out possible.

"One little word out of your mouth, I can promise you, you won't like the outcome", he added with sincerity.

After several more minutes of eerie silence, the vehicle slowed to a halt. It was pitch black outside, but faint sounds of water lightly tapping against something solid indicated they had arrived at the river. Which meant even more hell was to come. Struggling to peer out the window from the position she was in, Ava was quickly caught off guard when the passanger door abruptly swung open. Her legs were forcibly dragged backwards, causing her body to harshly collapse onto the pavement beside the car.  A faint cry escaped her lips from the impact of her head hitting the ground, which certainly didn't faze her abducter.

"Get up. We're here".

The largely built man grabbed Ava by her bound hands, effortlessly picking her up from the ground to a standing position. Ignoring the throbbing pain at the back of her head, Ava tried to get a more clearer view of her surroundings. Although this area of the river was quiet and vacant, a part of her hoped someone would happen across the scene, or even alert the police. But the idea seemed far fetched. The man then started to push her forward, in direction of the river edge where a long ramp led to a medium sized boat, or rather a yacht. The outline was hard to make out with the darkness of the night, however, a dimmed light glowed from the inside, a clear telling that someone was inside, awaiting their arrival.

Once they reached the first deck of the boat, the man let go of Ava,and instead pointed a gun at her back. She could feel the tip of the gun against her back as he informed her to continue walking forward towards what appeared to be a main door. A cold shiver ran up her back when the door swung open, revealing a finely groomed man in his thirties. His black suit was pressed to perfection, not a single crease in sight. She expected someome older, perhaps scary looking as well. But the man standing in front of her looked..normal.

"You're late, Bruce. About forty minutes to be exact", the man suddenly spoke, his blue eyes glaring at the australian currently stood behind her.

The gun that was digging into her skin disappeared. She could hear him shoving it back into his belt. "Apologies, Sir. This one was being difficult", he added before shoving her slightly forward with his shoulder.

Ava vaguely stumbled an inch, but what happened next stunned her to the point of disbelief. Unexpectedly, the suited figure lunged forward, his fist pumelled into the face of her abducter. Her body instinctively ducked out of the way, not that his fist was coming anyway near her. The large man fell to the ground with a thud, blood smeared all over his crooked nose.

"What the fuck, man?", he croaked, his hand reaching for his gun.

"I told you to bring her unharmed. I should've known not to trust a dim witted australian.Pathetic".

It all happened so fast, but in Ava's eyes, it was slow motion. Like an early 1900's film clip. Before Bruce could pull out his weapon, the suited figure was two steps ahead of him. In an instant shot of his trigger, the once intimidating man flung backwards, his back crashing to the ground. The ring leader had shot one of his own men. Shot him dead over a minor breach of instruction. Ava couldn't believe her eyes at first. Her name being called three times eventually snapped her out of it.

Now kneeling in front of her was the man who shot her capturer. A worried look written on his pale complexion. Confusion swarmed Ava's mind. Her green eyes stared into his blue ones, trying to find any reasoning behind his actions. And then it struck her.

"Who are you?", she eventually asked, her voice almost muted.

The man glanced at the ground briefly, then met her eyes again. "How about I unbind you first, hm?".

"Im lost", she exhaled, shaking her head.

The suited man gently lifted her to a standing position. From there he untied her hands, throwing the rope across the floor. "Follow me, I think we need a more comfortable setting to talk".

-

A/N

A rather short update this time round. I wanted to end it there so the next one will be more lengthy. Hope you like the story thus far❤️