Homecoming Hearts Series Collection

by HJ Welch

  When he checked the screen, there was no caller I.D.

  His blood ran cold. He should go down to Levi and let the damn thing go to voicemail. But he wanted to talk to this asshole, no matter how stupid it was. He wanted to know why they were doing this to him.

  “Hello,” he said, keeping his voice as steady as he could.

  “Raiden,” said an unfamiliar voice. “My little cockroach. I’ve been waiting for some time for you to ditch that Marine of yours. I see my present did little to keep you two apart.”

  “You. Where are you?” Raiden demanded, looking around. Could this dickhead see him?

  The voice, a man as far as he could tell, laughed. “Don’t bother spinning around like that. I’m not there. But I can see you.”

  Raiden stopped, then looked up until he found a security camera on the ceiling.

  “Clever boy,” said the hacker. “Why don’t you give me a nice little salute?”

  “Fuck you,” Raiden spat. “Who are you, and why are you doing this to me?”

  The hacker laughed again, but this time it was more of a sneer, filled with loathing. “Are you fucking kidding me? You don’t recognize me? Fine. You’ll work it out soon enough. In the meantime, give me a goddamned salute, or you won’t like what happens next.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Raiden demanded, but he got no reply.

  At least, not for a few seconds. Then he heard ragged breathing down the phone. “Say hello, sweetheart,” the hacker’s voice came faintly.

  “Raiden?”

  Icy cold fear flooded Raiden’s body in a second. “Pearl?” he spluttered. She sounded hoarse, scared. “Pearl, is that you? What’s happening?”

  “Raiden, you fuck this asshole!” she screamed, even as the phone was obviously moved away from her mouth. “He’s insane! Don’t you-”

  She cut off with a crack that sounded liked a hand slapping her face.

  Raiden was trembling with fury and terror. “If you’ve hurt her, you sick fuck,” he began, but the hacker interrupted.

  “I won’t hurt her if you do as I say. Which means starting with that fucking salute.”

  Raiden’s heart was like a jackhammer in his chest. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to throw up or scream. This couldn’t be happening. Pearl had texted him only a few hours ago to say she and the rest of the band were on the road to NYC. But now he thought about it, they were all split between different cars. Pearl drove alone.

  Slowly, Raiden turned back to the camera, then touched his fingers to his temple in a salute.

  “Thank you,” said the hacker. “Right, here’s what’s going to happen. You are going to go out the front of the building and walk to the blue Honda Fit parked on the curb. You will get inside and follow the GPS instructions. You’re good at doing what you’re told, if I remember correctly.” Raiden glowered at the camera and the hacker chuckled. “Oh yes. Did you know your phone can be turned quite easily into a microphone? I’ve heard the most repulsive things over the past few days. You really enjoy letting that soldier-boy degrade you, don’t you?”

  “Fuck you,” Raiden snarled, feeling his face heat up.

  “No thank you, knowing what you’re into,” the hacker shot back. “Speaking of which, under no circumstances are you to contact that beast or anybody else. If you use your phone, I will know. If you alert the authorities, I will know. And pretty little Pearl here won’t be happy if you do.”

  “Fuck you!” Pearl screamed, making Raiden’s heart break. He’d never felt so helpless.

  “Okay, all right,” he hissed before the hacker could hit her again. Blood was pumping so loudly in his ears he could barely hear himself. “I’m going, look?” he glanced towards the camera, then headed towards the hotel’s front door.

  “Good boy,” the hacker said, clearly mocking Levi. Raiden burned with fury and humiliation that anyone, let alone this fucker, had heard what they had done together. “I’ll be in touch when you reach your destination. Don’t take long.”

  The line went dead. Raiden clutched his phone in his hand so hard he thought it might crack. But he did as he was told and didn’t contact anyone else. He desperately wanted Levi, though, and willed him to come back up looking for Raiden. Please, he willed the universe.

  But he was on his own.

  The small Honda was there, just like the hacker has said. As Raiden approached, the doors unlocked, sending a chill all the way down Raiden’s spine. He slipped into the driver’s seat, feeling rusty from lack of practice as he turned the key waiting in the ignition. He couldn’t freak out about driving now, though. Pearl was depending on him.

  Numbly, he followed the directions the GPS gave him. Was he driving to his death?

  He tried to stay positive. But he had no idea what this maniac wanted. Was he bringing Raiden to him, or somewhere else entirely? Would he let Pearl go, or was she in just as much trouble as Raiden?

  Was she already dead, now she’d been used to lure him away from Levi?

  Raiden took a deep breath and blinked back tears. He couldn’t think like that. He had to keep his head screwed on. He didn’t know anything yet, and it would make no sense to panic before then.

  Traffic wasn’t that bad for a weekday afternoon in a city. Raiden couldn’t have gone any faster, so he just hoped the hacker knew that and didn’t do anything rash.

  “I’m coming, Pearl,” Raiden whispered to himself. “Just hang on.”

  His cell rang, making him jump. When he glanced at the display, it was Levi’s face and number flashing back at him.

  Raiden bellowed in frustration. He wanted Levi so badly it made him sick. He was so out of his depth, but Levi was trained for this sort of thing. He would know what to do. Raiden just had to let the damn call go to voicemail, and he bashed the Honda’s steering wheel in bitter defeat.

  After around fifteen minutes, he found himself in a slightly rundown neighborhood with the GPS telling him that his destination was three hundred feet up on the right. Raiden parked the car in front of a boarded-up office block covered in signs proclaiming it was under renovation and not to be entered without a hard hat. As soon as Raiden unclipped his belt, his cell rang again. This time, the screen was blank.

  “Well done,” the hacker said. “Now get out and go through the front door. It’s open.”

  Raiden stayed silently on the line as he trotted up the stairs and carefully pulled the door open. Like the hacker had said, it wasn’t locked.

  Inside was gloomy in spite of the summer sunshine beaming down outside, as all the windows were boarded up. Raiden swallowed as the door swung shut behind him. “Now what?”

  “Walk over to the elevator and head to the fifth floor.”

  Raiden frowned, confused as how it would have power when the rest of the building looked gutted. He glanced at the dusty sign in front of him that pointed towards the stairwell.

  “The steps are partially collapsed,” the hacker said. He obviously had cameras somewhere here too. “A whole floor of them are gone. But don’t worry, the elevator works just fine.”

  Raiden really didn’t like the idea of trusting this guy not to drop him several floors once he was inside. But the door to the stairs was gone, leaving a gaping hole covered in warning tape where he could see big chunks of debris from a collapsed wall on the floor.

  It looked like the hacker was telling the truth. Besides, if he was watching, he’d know if Raiden deviated from his instructions and might hurt Pearl. With an increasing sense of dread, Raiden called the elevator down from the fifth floor.

  Sure enough, the display panel lit up, showing its progress from the upper level. When the doors opened, there was a light on inside too, even though there was dust and little bits of crap all over the floor. It looked like work had been abandoned on this building for the time being. It didn’t leave Raiden with much hope that anyone would be able to hear if he and Pearl screamed for help.

  His hand shaking, he pressed the button labeled with a
number five. He still had his phone pressed to his ear, but the hacker wasn’t talking.

  It seemed like forever until the doors opened again into a similar-looking corridor to the lobby he’d just left. To his right, the hall led to an open plan office, or what was once an office. Now there were only a dozen or so desks left where there probably had been fifty, and several wheeled chairs loitering around, most of them covered with old sheets. Cardboard boxes and shredded paper were scattered around everywhere.

  The windows not facing the main street had had the wooden boards that had been nailed over them ripped off, letting in some natural light. The wood had been thrown haphazardly to the stained carpet with all the rest of the trash.

  One of the tables in the middle of the floor had been cleaned and was currently holding several laptops, computers and other bits of technology that Raiden couldn’t identify by sight. Next to that was one of the office chairs, where Pearl was tied up, gagged and struggling. By her stood a man Raiden took a good ten seconds to place.

  “Glenn?” he cried. He cut the phone call off and dropped his cell into his pocket, stepping forward with complete confusion. The two of them were about twenty feet away from him. What the hell was his dad’s IT guy doing there?

  Glenn Browne curled his lip and dropped his own phone on the desk with the rest of the computers.

  Then he picked up a handgun and pointed it at Pearl’s head.

  “Hello, Raiden,” he said with an ugly smile.

  28

  Levi

  Levi had been looking at the roadmap for ten minutes before he realized how much time had passed. Raiden should have been down to the garage by now. Unless there had been a problem?

  Maybe his card had failed again. Belatedly, Levi realized he shouldn’t really have let Raiden out of his sight. If he was lucky, it would just be his credit card. Or, even better, a long line at the checkout desk.

  It was probably nothing, but Levi jumped out of the Jeep in any case and jogged back up to the hotel lobby. Grinding his teeth, he wondered if he wasn’t really cut out for this private security business. He was used to taking orders, not always being the one calling the shots.

  By the time he reached the first floor he’d begun to really worry. But what could have happened to Raiden in such a short amount of time in front of so many people?

  The lobby had perhaps two or three dozen people milling around or queuing at the front desk. There was no sign of Raiden though.

  Levi approached reception with an increasing sense of unease. He held up his hand to the person next in line as he cut in front. “I’m sorry, ma’am,” he said, wishing he had a badge to flash. “But this is a matter of security.” He turned to one of the people serving at the desk. “Excuse me, sir, I’m looking for my friend. Asian-American man, mid-twenties, my height, smaller build.”

  The redheaded clerk next to the guy Levi was addressing perked up. “Mr. Jones?” she asked. “You’re his friend.” It wasn’t a question.

  Levi nodded and moved over, apologizing to the man she had been serving. “Yes, ma’am,” he said. “It’s urgent, did you see him?”

  “I checked him out,” she said, eyes wide.

  “Did you see where he went after that?”

  She nodded. “He took a phone call over there,” she said, pointing to the middle of the lobby floor. “He looked upset. I was going to see if he needed any assistance once I’d finished with my next guest, but then he walked out.”

  “Which direction?” Levi asked, fear mounting. The hacker. It had to be. He’d proven he had Raiden’s number the night before with the text after the bomb scare.

  She pointed again. “Front door. I don’t know where he went after that.”

  Not down to the parking lot, that was for damn sure. Levi nodded tensely. “Thank you, ma’am. You’ve been incredibly helpful.”

  “Of course,” she said. “Let us know if there’s anything else the hotel can do?”

  He nodded again and moved away, phone in his hand already dialing Raiden. “Come on, come on,” he muttered. “Pick up, baby.”

  The call rang out, though, taking him to voicemail. Levi cursed and hit the end call button. Next, he brought up his GPS to show him where Raiden was. He had to zoom the map out a fair bit until the little dot showed up. From the looks of it, Raiden was in a moving vehicle, going away from the hotel.

  “Fuck,” Levi said, breaking into a sprint back down to the garage. This was really, really bad.

  He jumped into the Jeep and brought the engine to life with a roar, slamming the pedal down and zig-zagging his way out of the lot. He had to wait for the barrier to scan his ticket before it would rise, all the while Raiden’s dot was still moving away.

  “Hold on, Raiden,” he growled, tearing out onto the street. “Hold on. I’m coming for you.”

  Traffic wasn’t great and Levi pissed off several other drivers by cutting them off. He scared the hell out of some pedestrians when he mounted a curb to get around a line by some roadworks. But there was no way he was letting Raiden and whoever was driving him get too far away from him.

  If anything happened to him, Levi would never forgive himself. He could just about convince himself that all those terrible mistakes in Iraq were out of his control, but there would be no one else to blame but Levi if any harm came to Raiden. That simply couldn’t happen.

  Mercifully, the dot came to a halt. Levi picked up his speed. He risked taking one hand off the wheel to zoom his phone’s display in to see if Raiden moved again. Sure enough, after a few moments, his dot slowly shifted from the road to the sidewalk and into whatever building was there.

  “Please,” Levi growled to no one in particular. “Please, please, just hold on, a few more minutes.”

  It was more like ten minutes before he finally caught up to the dot. He found an unremarkable blue Honda parked on the curb in a slightly rundown neighborhood. There was no one inside. The building directly to the left of it was an old, small office block of eight stories. Judging by Raiden’s now stationary dot, that was where he had walked into.

  Levi quietly closed the door to the Jeep and un-holstered his gun, clicking the safety back. No one was around close enough to especially pay attention to him. After a quick look around, he dashed up the few steps and made his way through the unlocked front door.

  He really should have backup, but who could he call? The cops? He didn’t necessarily know if Raiden was in trouble or not, let alone what the circumstances were. He could be bringing men and women into an extremely volatile situation if he involved them without knowing all the facts. For now, he just had to handle this on his own.

  The lobby of the office block was as derelict as the outside suggested. Levi moved into the gloom inside with his gun raised, sticking to the walls and shadows. There was no movement inside, though. A glance to his left showed him a stairwell blocked off with warning tape. As Raiden wasn’t in the lobby, he slipped under the tape and took a look beyond.

  He barely made it to the second floor before the steps crumbled away and became extremely creaky and unsafe. Peering around the corner, Levi could see that between the first and third floor there were hardly any steps at all.

  Raiden hadn’t gone this way.

  Levi quickly made his way back down and realized that if Raiden had indeed come inside here, his only option was the elevator. Surprisingly, the display was lit up, and when Levi pressed the call button, a car began to descend from the fifth floor.

  What the hell was going on? Was the hacker here, or had they coerced Raiden here for some other reason? Who had picked Raiden up? How had they been able to convince Raiden to get into the car? Surely Raiden knew better than that after everything the hacker had already pulled.

  When the doors opened, Levi saw no choice but to ride the elevator up. As the car had come from the fifth floor, that was the button Levi now pressed to take himself. He had no idea what would be waiting for him when the doors opened once again.

 
As the display telling him the floor number slowly crept upwards, Levi thought of all the elevator rides he and Raiden had taken together in the past few days. They had all been in silence. Some filled with anger, others filled with deep sexual longing. With love.

  If anything happened to Raiden when Levi had only just worked up the courage to tell him how he truly felt, he was going to burn the world down.

  He couldn’t focus on that, not until he knew the facts. Instead, as the elevator pinged to announce as it passed the fourth floor, Levi inhaled slowly.

  Calm filled his veins as he channeled his adrenaline like he had been trained to do. Perhaps he wasn’t a natural bodyguard. He’d made too many mistakes now for him to believe anything else. But combat was in his blood. This was his home. Whoever thought they could take him on in his own backyard was sorely fucking mistaken.

  And when Levi got his hands on them, he wasn’t going to show a shred of mercy.

  29

  Raiden

  Pearl cried out in fear as the gun barrel touched her temple. Tears ran down her face, tracing black mascara into the cloth gag in her mouth. For an awful second, Raiden thought Glenn had taken her pants off. But then he realized she was wearing short shorts with a hoodie and combat boots. Even though she was clearly terrified, she struggled her wrists and ankles against the cords securing her to the chair.

  “You fucking bastard,” Raiden whispered, holding his hands up in an effort to stop Glenn from hurting Pearl any further. Through her smeared makeup Raiden could see a black eye forming. “Let her go.”

  Glenn swallowed and shook his head. “You’ve been so spectacularly uncooperative so far. I think I’ll keep her as a little insurance.”

  Raiden almost lost his temper, but he saw the fire in his friend’s eyes and kept himself calm. He was going to get her out of this if it was the last thing he did.

  “What do you want, Glenn?” he asked. He risked stepping closer so they didn’t have to shout. Glenn watched him until he was only about ten feet away, then twitched the gun.