Hit man

Peter

"Peter," Bens calls into my office. I lift my head off my desk and she places a coffee in front of me. I smile a thanks. She sits on the edge of my desk.

"An emergency call just came in of a girl calling 9-1-1, claiming to have been buried alive. We checked the number out, and it's Terry's. We couldn't get a clear signal of where it came from, but we got a mile radius. So, we sent out a search and rescue team." Bens explains.

"Good," I say. We've heard from her, but my main priority is Jess.

I've dealt with serial killers and psychopaths, but this was different. The abductor kept texting me from a blocked number-that wasn't traceable- and was giving me hints all night.

"Bens," I say. She looks at me. "Have a team check the old Baler's warehouse. in the atrium."

"Why?" She asks.

"I've been getting hints from her kidnapper. It's like he wants us to find her."

"Okay, hang on," Bens says. Se flips out her phone and dials quickly, commanding a team to go there. She clicks her phone off and smiles at me.

"You're amazing," I say.

"I know," she smiles, hopping off my desk. She stands behind me and looks at my computer screen.

"Wait, wasn't she tied up before?" I ask suddenly. Bens shrugs.

"Now, she's buried alive," she says. "Are these the messages from the kidnapper?" she touched my computer screen where I had laid all the information out. I nod. She grabs the mouse and starts clicking on pictures and messages.

"He just basically handed you a map," she says. "It's also weird that all the stuff has been coming from Terry's phone."

"Yeah, I don't know," I say, taking a sip of the coffee she brought me. Black.

"Maybe she's the kidnapper?" Bens shrugs.

"Who would kidnap themselves?" I ask. Bens shrugs again and pushes my chair with me in it away from the computer, and she starts doing something. I scoot closer.

"Work related?" I asked. She shook her head, a piece of maple hair falling out of its bun. She pushes it behind her ear.

"Ryker related," she said. "I promised him I'd call."

"It's five o'clock in the morning," I say.

"Yeah, and he's in New York, and I said I'd Skype him. So if you could please exit your office for a moment, please?" I surrender my office to her. As I left, I heard her start talking to him.

"Hi, sweetheart," she said in a happier voice than she ever had around the office. I'd never met Ryker, but she talked about him all the time. Whenever I'd ask to see pictures, she'd change the subject. I kind of wanted to meet him, considering she broke up with me for him. Our relationship was okay, but it was never the greatest. She had called me on the brink of tears one day and wouldn't tell me what was wrong and the next thing I knew, she had broken up with me. Our work relationship and friendship still stands, miraculously, but we never talk about the two years we were together, four years ago anymore.

A few minutes later, she opens my office door and allows me back in.

"Sorry," she says, "I couldn't use my computer." I nod to say it's okay.

"When can I meet Ryker?" I ask.

"Soon," she says with a shaky breath, "but not yet."

"What's he like?" I ask. "What kind of job does he have?"

"Um," Bens looks at the ceiling, "he's really nice. And really cute. He doesn't really work."

"So, he's a deadbeat?" I say jokingly. She laughs, then it stops.

"Do you want to meet him?" she asks suddenly.

"Sure," I say awkwardly. I really didn't want to at that moment, and felt like I should get back to work.

She types in a username on Skype and the ringer rings. Suddenly, the screen with our faces gets pushed into the corner and I nearly jump out of my chair when I recognize the face. It's obviously not Ryker.

"Mom," Bens says, then looks at me, smiling, "can I say hi to Ryker?" her mom smiles, and waves to me. "Hello, Peter." she says. I wave back.

"Hi, ms. Tucker," I say. Bens' parents are divorced, and her mother went back to her maiden name. Ms. Tucker shuffles off the screen and I can't move. I stare at the boy in front of the camera and realize Bens never said that Ryker was her boyfriend, I just assumed he was. He couldn't be older than three. He had chubby, baby cheeks. He had a big smile on his face the second he looked at the screen.

"Muma!" he squeals happily.

"Hi, Ryker," she says in her happy voice, glancing at me. I stare at the little boy in complete disbelief. Bens has a kid, a little boy. An adorable little boy with her hair and eyes. But, there was something else about him that I saw. I look over at Bens, who smiled, but it's a forced smile, like 'don't you dare yell at me in front of my kid'.

Ryker starts telling Bens about a toy car he had, and Bens nodded along and smiled and made all the right little gestures a mom would need to. I sat their quietly.

"Okay, Ryker, mommy has to get back to work," Bens says. "I love you."

"Bye, muma." He waves like a little kid, clenching and unclenching his fist.

"Can you say bye to Peter?" she asks him.

"Bye, Peter." Ryker waves at me. I wave back, way more awkwardly than I should have. Bens ends the Skype chat.

"You hate me," she says suddenly.

"No," I say finally. She sighs, "I have to get back to work." I nod.

I open my mouth to say something when the phone rings. Bens picks it up.

"Bens," she answers. "Yes. Okay. Yeah, we'll be there soon." She hangs up the phone at looks at me.

"I don't know why, but you were right," she says. "The warehouse. C'mon. I'll drive."