Black Kat Read Online Free Page A

to see why such a young woman had so much to report, Alexander flipped open the file.  And immediately wished he hadn’t.
    Staring back at him was an old newspaper clipping with a picture of a teenage Kat underneath the headline M ISSING GIRL FOUND.  POLICE HAVE NO LEADS.  Alexander picked up the article and read the brief generic recap of when Kat was reporting missing and where she was found.  He searched his memory and couldn’t recollect hearing about this case at the time.  Even though it was eight years ago, if it was big news, he would have remembered.
    Because of her age at the time, sixteen years old, the media did not release any details of her captivity.  Fortunately , Alexander had sources that went well beyond what the average journalist could dig up.  Setting the article aside, he reached for the next stack of papers - a fifteen page written report by his top investigator, Gil Westin.
    Kat’s full name was Katya - very Russian, though her ancestry was not.  She grew up in the same neighborhood where Dane’s gym is located and where she still lives.  Her mother was a junkie, who never knew who Kat’s father was and died of an overdose several years ago.  She wouldn’t have won any parenting awards, and Alexander’s jaw clenched as he read on.
    In July of 2005, Kat was reported missing by her mother - eight days after she actually went missing.  What kind of a mother doesn’t notice her sixteen year old daughter is gone for over a week?  Given her mother’s history and the neighborhood in which they lived, the police brushed it off as a case of a runaway teenager.  Even though nothing in Kat’s own history suggested she was into any sort of trouble.  She had good grades, never missed school and kept to herself and away from the drugs and violence that ran rampant in the streets around her.
    Fifteen more days passed until the truth of what really happened to Kat was discovered.  A rookie cop responded to a disturbance call a mere three blocks from where Kat lived with her mother and found Kat being held in the basement of an abandoned house.
    Alexander laughed humorlessly as he read on.  The rookie cop who rescued her was none other than Alexander’s nemesis, Agent Colin Lewis.  Apparently he began his law enforcement career with the LVPD.  Perfect, Alexander thought sarcastically, just perfect.
    Accompanying the report were pictures of the crime scene.  A damp musty basement with a dirty mattress on the floor.  There were thick ropes at each corner connected to steel pipes rising up from the concrete floor.  They were just pictures, but Alexander could feel the chill and dampness in the air and smell the rancidness of the room.
    The hospital report was included and detailed every injury Kat had suffered.  Her wrists and ankles were raw from struggling against the ropes, her face and body were severely bruised and she had internal injuries that could only come from being repeatedl y raped.
    Alexander had to take a break from reading.  In his line of work, he had seen more than most people could handle seeing in the movies, let alone in real life.  Never once had he flinched or recoiled from sights of violence.  Until now.
    Quickly skimming through the rest of the file, Alexander picked up some additional important details of the life of Kat Rossi.  First, the police had never caught the man who did this to her.  Second, Kat’s mother did absolutely nothing to help her heal.  She continued to make Kat live a mere three blocks from the house that held her nightmares, and there was no record of Kat receiving any kind of professional help or therapy.  Third, she had maintained some sort of relationship with Agent Lewis over the years.
    Was he looking out for her well being, or were his feelings for her more than pr otectiveness?  Having seen Kat for himself, Alexander was betting on the latter.
    The report showed that Kat had returned to her life as it was before her