Tortured Tides

By Teresa Meeks

You would imagine that a person would live peacefully after the ordeal of being severely beaten and suffering from amnesia. For most people that would be enough torture for one lifetime. Not for Veronica Roberts.

Being an FBI agent, Veronica is accustom to turmoil. Solving cases is her life. But when she finds herself in the middle of investigating the murder of her best friend, it's an all new nightmare.

Veronica will do whatever is necessary to catch the killer. She will even ask her partner, Andrew Carson, to go undercover. Going undercover is one thing to Andrew, but he could never imagine the torture exotic dancer's experience.

Will Veronica's love for the ocean be turned into her last horror? Will tortured tides take her to her rescuers or send her to her death? Will the killers get away? Will she ever find peace and a future?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Teresa Meeks
• Release date: Feb 22, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310976476

Teresa Meeks

Thank you to all my readers.I've been sharing my stories for over 5 years. I'm awed every month when I see people reading my books from locations as far away as the Netherlands, Venezuela, and Australia. These are places I would love to see one day and people are enjoying the mystery of my characters.For those avid followers, I have the sequel to Tortured Journey coming soon. Stay tuned for Tortured Tides. This is my favorite series of books. I’m already working on my next page turner and it will be the 3rd in the “Tortured” series. I hope to have the next adventure out in 2016.I hope you enjoy reading the books because I’ve enjoyed writing them.

Book preview

Tortured Tides

Published by Teresa Meeks at Smashwords

Copyright 2015 by Teresa Meeks

Cover Design and Art by Narvin Meeks

Edited by Donna Gerard, DiAnn Lisica & Narvin Meeks

Discover other titles by Teresa Meeks

Nothing is Always Something

Nothing is Everything

Tortured Journey

Bedlam in Suburbia

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Chapter 1

The distant thunder vibrated through the cold, black water and the night’s darkness. I could feel it with each swirl of water that passed my body. The water's coldness had engulfed me as I clawed my way through the pitch black towards the spider web of lightning that was flashing over my head. The blackness can be solitude or fear. This was my horror as the oblivion continued to surround me and my lungs felt like they were going to burst. I was so thankful for that glimpse of light in the sky, which led my way to the surface.

It was so black at times that I couldn't see bubbles to show me the way to the surface. My lungs burned and felt like they would explode if they weren’t filled with precious oxygen soon. Kicking and grabbing at the water I fought my way upward. The air that I required was so close, but yet so far. The night’s storm hid the full moon that should have been overhead. ‘Kick damn you, kick’ I yelled inside my head. I’d gone through too much to drown so close to the surface.

Last year my life had been transformed. I awoke in the hospital after being severely beaten and run over. I didn't remember who I was or what happened. Because most of my facial bones were literally destroyed, I had a complete facial reconstruction. I had to find my life again. That made me a stronger person and agent. The sense of being lost allows me to truly say that I know what it’s like to start over. In some degree, I had a few months of not knowing who I was, who my true friends were, or what made me who I was. When my memories returned, I found myself in the middle of a drug ring and being questioned by my boss, Director Williams of the FBI.

Kicking and fighting for my life, I finally bobbed to the surface of the shiny blackness and immediately gasped for air. My lungs couldn’t take in the oxygen fast enough. They’d been deprived of the precious air for what seemed like hours; when in reality it was only a few minutes.

The yacht, I had just jumped from, must have been a hundred yards away when I finally located it in the distance. The fifteen-foot plunge into the cold water was my last alternative. My partner, Andy Carson had been shot multiple times in the struggle. It was either be shot and buried alongside Andy or take my chances in the ocean. So over the side of the ship I went. My eyes filled with tears as I remember Andy, slumped on the floor of the yacht. Andy and I had been together for years. We protected each other and suffered together through many of life’s situations. We’d helped each other through loves, breakups, and deaths of family for so long it felt like a part of me died with him. I could feel the bullets as they went into him. I might as well have been shot as well. We didn’t have any more family, we only had each other.

Andrew Carson was my partner of ten years. Last year, he thought he was bringing Debbie Smith in for questioning and realized the woman was me, Veronica Robertson, his partner. Andy was the one who found me and brought me back to my former life. I was a suspect in a drug ring. When Andy realized the person he was interrogating was the partner he thought had died; the partner that was supposedly killed with such brutality that there weren’t any remains, he was stunned. When his lips met mine and it was more like kissing his sister, he knew I was his long lost partner. That was the first and only kiss we’d shared. He thought he was going to be laying a wet one on a stripper out for a buck. He got the surprise of his life.

The first drops of rain hit my face, as the lightning got closer. The yacht was out of sight at this point. Land wasn’t anywhere on the horizon. I’d hoped to at least see the twinkle of small lights from houses in the far distance. The Gulf of Mexico was so vast. The nightmare I’d left behind had put me right in the middle of another one.

The salty ocean water mixed with my tears. My reserve set in to survive as the fresh rain washed away the horrible visions still vivid in my mind. I can’t dwell on the last hour. I have to get through this to make it to the next chapter in my life. Andy would kick my ass if he knew I gave up. Floating on my back, I looked at the few stars that were visible through the thick cover of the approaching storm. The dark clouds were rolling in fast.

I floated as long as I could to preserve my strength. I didn’t want to make too much commotion in the water. I was afraid that I would attract the wrong finned inhabitant’s attention. The water was cold but not enough to send me to a watery grave quickly. Over time maybe, but I knew I would be rescued before that happened. The rain started coming down harder as the lightning got closer. The ocean's waves started getting rougher. I bobbed around like a bottle. All I could do was go with the waves and not fight the current. As long as I stayed on top and kept oxygen in my lungs, I would make it through the storm. This at least made sense while it was happening. I didn’t want to admit that my end would come sooner than later.

The waves were building, as the rain got stronger. The flash of lightning was perfectly timed and lit the sky just as I saw a monster wave heading right for me. Relax, I told myself, big breath. As the wave rose, I rose in the air. Higher and higher I went. I had to have gone twenty feet in the air. At the last minute, I filled my lungs with as much air I could hold. With the crash of the wave, I rolled and rolled for what seemed like forever. I would come up just long enough to get a breath before being pushed back below the water’s surface. The roll of the current and the speed in which I was bombarded with water kept me below and strained my lungs for air again.

Quickly gasping for air as I reached the top each time, I only had milliseconds to take a breath before being sucked below again. I tumbled, rolled, bobbed, and gasped for air until I was exhausted. My limbs felt like they were sinking instead of floating as they would in the ocean. I was so tired that I didn’t notice that the storm was letting up and the sea was slowly calming down.

Veronica, how in the hell do you seem to get yourself into these situations? I asked myself as I made my way back onto my back to float and tried to recover from the battering I had just endured. I