Deadly Encounter (Deadly Series Book 4)

by K. L. Humphreys

  “Me.” he laughs, “Who would believe that a Sergeant from the Metropolitan Police would be part of the criminal underworld, let alone be the leader.” I always knew there was something weird about this fucker. “You were so easy to manipulate.”

  “How the hell did you manipulate me?” What the hell is wrong with this guy?

  “Your precious little sister told us all about you. How you became a super soldier, how you have a team of experts in every field possible. I didn't believe her of course, but then I researched you. You’re pretty good, I’ll give you that but oh so stupid.” I don't know whether he's complimenting me and insulting me at the same time or if that's a flat-out insult, whatever it is it's not going to get to me.

  “So stupid and yes you were easy to manipulate. You're here, aren't you? Just where I wanted you.” That creepy grin on his face sends a shiver running through my spine. “Your sister will be dead unless you do as I ask. Then I'll kill your friend here, and the two of you can be with me.” He wants to kill Will, that's not going to happen, and he definitely can’t lay a finger on Winter.

  “What the hell do you want me for?” I ask trying to keep his eyes on my face as I start trying to undo the bindings that have me stuck to this damn chair.

  He rolls his eyes, “Once you were trained to obey me, you’d be working for the organization.” That weird grin is back on his face.

  “Why the hell would I want to work for you?” And as soon as the word you is out of my mouth, Bell is over to Winter in a flash, pulling her hair so hard that he lifts her from her seat. “Leave her alone!” I scream at him as I watch Winter’s eyes closed and a lone tear fall.

  “You’ll work for me because if you don’t, your friend here is going to get hurt.” He lets go of Winter’s hair and kneels down in front of her, “I’m not sure which one of you I’d pick, maybe I’ll have the two of you.” He sniffs Winter, and I want to kill him more than I have ever wanted to kill anyone in my life.

  “You’re a dead man!” I tell him, and I try a little harder to get these bindings off me.

  He stands as he keeps his eyes on me, “We’ll see, now you understand the ante. The question is what are you going to do? Are you going to fold, and do as I say or am I going to have to raise the ante a bit more?” He’s loving this, having me at his mercy. I can’t risk Winter getting hurt. “Tick-tock, time's up!” He pulls his gun out of the back of his pants and brings it down against Winter’s face. The fucker pistol-whips her.

  “I’m going to kill you!” I growl out at him, I can’t believe this is happening. Winter shakes her head, she’s being strong, and I know that it’s a front. She’s overcome so much already, and this could send her spiraling. The fucker has taken my gun; the bastard put his hands on me.

  “I’d love to see you try.” He laughs at me, “What’s your choice, Skye?” I don’t answer him. Instead, I focus all my efforts on getting these goddamn bindings off me. The rope starts to chafe against the skin on my wrist, but I plough through it, ignoring the pain, I use Winter’s erratic breathing to keep me focused. I use her fear and her pain to push through my own pain. I can feel the last knot, and I use my fingernails to dig into it, trying to pull it apart. I feel stickiness and I know that I’m bleeding, but I push through it. I hide my smile as it loosens, thank god! Now I need to get to his gun.

  I hear a groaning sound, and I don’t need to look to see that Will’s coming to; this could be the perfect chance to get his gun. “Who are you?” Will’s voice sounds hoarse. I quickly glance at him and see that he’s not bleeding, well from what I can see he’s not, and he doesn’t seem to be in any pain as my hand holds onto the chair, I’ve only one chance to do this, I need to make sure I hit him hard enough to knock him the hell out. “Who the fuck are you?” Will asks again, and the bastard Bell has a smug grin on his face.

  “Meet Sergeant Bell.” The disgust in my tone makes Bell face me; he doesn’t know that he’s a dead man walking.

  Will looks confused; he knows he’s heard the name before. Hell, we all have, this is the asshole that was meant to help me find my sister. Instead, he was the one who had her kidnapped. “Wait, isn’t this Patrick's contact?”

  “Yep, he’s the one that had Addi and Gloria taken and no doubt he’s behind the murder of Gloria too. Hell, he’s said…”

  “I didn’t kill Gloria that was on Misha! That areole couldn’t keep it in his damn pants. When he came onto your sister who turned him down, he lost it and went crazy, killing her in the process. I, however, did kill Misha and Andrei’s sister.” Bell tells us with a smirk on his face as he takes a seat opposite us like its damn story time. “Darya was nothing but a fucking whore; she was full of empty promises. She promised she’d be good, that she’d behave but she didn’t her and Ivan we’re fucking behind my back.”

  “So you killed them?” Winter asks, and I wish she’d stayed quiet; she’s just drawing his attention to herself.

  “Of course I killed them. No one makes a fool out of me and gets away with it. Her death killed two birds with one stone; it’ll show Misha and Andrei that I own them. That they will do whatever I want otherwise, they’ll end up just like their precious sister.” Bell is delusional does he really believes that killing their sister will make them do what he wants?

  “You’re crazy!” Damn, she’s not being quiet, what the hell? I get that she doesn’t want to be scared but does she have to antagonize him?

  “Crazy? Maybe, but then aren’t all the best minds crazy?” He maniacally laughs to himself; I’m wondering how we always manage to attract the crazies? I mean, first Soph had that asshole Mullah Al-Mohammed after her, then Winter had David Masters, and Skye had Alex, Soph’s half-sister. They’ve all had some crazed freak after us, why should I be any different?

  “Someone want to fill me in on what the hell is going on?” Will demands looking around in utter confusion?

  “Your friend here is coming to work for me.” Bell explains, but it only further confuses Will, “She’s going to be the best member of my organization. Once she’s been trained to be obedient.”

  “What is she going to be... your guard dog?” Who knew Will had jokes?

  The asshole Bell barks out a laugh, “No although who wouldn’t want her guarding them? She’s going to be one of my men, well woman in her case. Do you know that I’m one of the richest crime bosses in Europe? People fear my men and me; she’s going to be the most feared woman in Europe.”

  “The hell she is!” Winter shouts and Bell starts to walk toward her.

  “Back the fuck up,” I tell him, wanting him to come after me, I’m ready for him I can’t give him the chance to hurt her again. “There’s one thing I don’t understand, why use Callum to get to me? Surely, you being a cop would have had a better way? You could have played the ‘I’m going to use the entire resources of the Met Police.” Using Callum never made sense to me.

  He laughs, “That idiot, he’s a no-good piece of shit. The fucking bastard got caught on CCTV, so he’s finished. You women are all the same; see a pretty boy and you’re all over him.” He smirks, “Shame, he got greedy and had to die. Now he’s at the bottom of the Thames.” He starts to move closer to us again.

  “I’m going to enjoy killing you.” I tell him, hating that he played me; he’s been playing me from the very beginning.

  His laughter sends shivers through me, “You’re not going to kill me; you need me because I’m the only one who knows where your sister is.” He’s an asshole; he doesn’t know that Misha and Andrei we’re taking the guys to the compound. “So Skye, you’ve got a choice. You can come and work for me and save the lives of your sister and your friend. Or you can all die?”

  “Mmm, how about neither? You're not in control here; you're the one with the gun pointing at your head. So you have a choice, we can either call the cops, or you can carry on being an asshole and I kill you… what’s it going to be?” His eyes narrow, does he realizes he's fuck
ed? There's nothing he can do to get out of this. This fucker kidnapped my sister, I don't know if she's hurt or not and that kills me but there's no way I'm letting him walk away, he's not getting away with this.

  That smile is still on his face, and I want to wipe it off. I don't know what he has to smile about. “Do you honestly think that my colleagues are going to believe you? That they are going to believe that I'm the head of an organized crime gang? Dream on love, that's never going to happen. Good luck trying though.” He actually winks at me, I really want to kill him, but I know that he'll be in a world of hurt if he’s sent to prison. An ex-cop inside a prison, he'll be someone's bitch quicker than you can say hello.

  “How stupid do you think I am? You think your friends are going to help you? No, they're not, but when I said cops, I meant Interpol.” His face falls, he finally realizes how fucked he truly is. “Come on Bell, you said it yourself my teammates’ expertise covers a wide range. That includes having contacts in every agency worldwide. Interpol, damn, they want you bad and I'm so glad that I'm going to be the one to give you over to them.” My smile widens as he walks a bit closer to me, his gun in hand, I need that gun as he’s unpredictable and could go for Winter at any point.

  He's just standing there looking at me, almost in disbelief. “Why, why are you doing this you could just go home and forget all about it?”

  I laugh, is he for real? “Forget about it? What the hell? Are you crazy? You kidnapped my sister there's no forgetting that.”

  “Nothing happened to her, she’s fine.” He’s backtracking, trying to find a way out of this.

  “I highly doubt that. My sister was kidnapped, no doubt she watched her best friend being killed, so don't tell me that she's fine. I know what it's like to lose someone that you care about. I know what it's like to watch someone you love die, you're not fine, and for that reason, I will never forget about this.” I'm being emotional, but it's true. Watching Smithy die in front of us, it changed all of us forever.

  “I don't know if she saw Gloria die, that wasn't my fault. I didn't kill her, I only had her kidnapped. I needed you to come and work for me, and in doing so, I needed you to come back to England. My plan worked, you found out your sister was gone, and you came running. I didn't hurt her just as I didn't harm you.” He really doesn't understand, he thinks this is normal.

  “Nothing you can say is going to change my mind. Don't you get that? You're going to prison.” Just as I tell him that and he makes his move, and he lunges for me. I’ve been waiting for this, I need to end this, and I lift the chair and bring it down on his head. His gun falls out of his hand and lands at Winter’s feet. He must have a hard head as it makes him fall to the floor but he’s getting back up in seconds. Fuck, I look at the floor and look for the gun. Wait, where the hell is it?

  Bell starts to walk towards me, he’s incensed, the man is deranged and doesn’t like things not going his way and this is definitely not going according to plan. His arms reach out to grab me just as I hear a gunshot. Bell’s eyes widen as do mine as a blood stain forms on his chest. I look beyond him and see Winter standing there with the gun in her hands. She looks terrified.

  “Are you okay?” I asked her soon as I reach her and take the gun out of her hand. I can't believe he hurt her. Hell I can’t believe that she shot him.

  “I think so…” She’s in shock; the shakes are going to start soon.

  I bring her to the bathroom, so I can clean her face, trying to get the blood to stop from where the fucker pistol-whipped her. She’s going to have a bruise, but hopefully, she won't have a scar. As I start to clean it, I ask her “Why did you shot him?”

  “I didn’t want him to hurt you. I had to do it, I didn’t think. The gun was there, and the bindings weren’t that tight.” She starts crying again and I do the only thing I know how to, I wrap my arms around her and hold her close. I'll wait until this crying jag finishes. She doesn’t cry for long, once she composes herself, she turns to me, tears in her eyes “Don't tell Sammy I was crying. he doesn't deal with my tears very well.”

  “I won’t, just promise me something.” She looks at me in question, her head tilted to the side. “Promise me, if things get tough, you’ll talk to someone, I'm always here if you need someone to talk to and I know Kathy will listen to you too. Although don't tell Sam I said that he’d kill me if he found out that I was telling you to talk to me instead of him.” Kathy is her counselor, she’s helped Winter through her rape, and she was there for her for the aftermath of her being kidnapped. I’m going to keep a very close eye on her, shooting someone isn’t as easy as the movies make out. You have to live with that fact you shot and possibly killed someone.

  She laughs just like I thought she would, “I promise I won't tell him.” She makes a cross sign over her heart with her finger, but her eyes don’t light up, there’s something brewing in them and I know that she’s going to need time to deal with the aftermath of today.

  “Okay, let's get your face cleaned up. Blood’s hard to get out of clothes and your dress is way too hot to be ruined.” This time she gives me a genuine smile and I know she's going to be okay, it may take a while to get back to how things were. She’s strong and determined; she won't let a man break her again.

  I've decided to wait for the guys to come back before we call Interpol. If the guys don't have Addi, then they can beat the crap out of Bell to find out where the hell she is. Not only that, Sam is the one with the contact in Interpol, he’d be the best person to get this sorted. Patrick really needs to find new contacts, and when the guys find out what happened, every contact Patrick has will be vetted.

  The hotel door opens and in walks Ryder, he takes one look around the room, he’s surveying what’s going on before his eyes settle on me. He looks me up and down as he stalks toward me, heat in his eyes along with relief. As soon as he reaches me, one of his hands snakes around my waist while the other gets tangled in my hair. He brings my face toward his; he hasn’t even said a word. His lips are on mine, hot, steamy and punishing. This kiss, fuck this kiss. It’s one of those you see in movies and wish that you had someone who loved you that way.

  My hands wrap around his neck as I pull him closer to me as his arm around my waist tightens, I need more. As soon as his tongue touches mine some asshole coughs, causing Ryder to break away, whoever the hell coughed I’m going to kill them. “Fuck Skye, I thought you were gone.”

  I smile at him, “I’m okay, Winter shot him.” I’m so proud of her, Ryder’s eyes widen before he smiles, “What happened? What made you think I was gone?” I’m firing off questions, still in his arms.

  Someone coughs again, “Damn Skye, will you put him down, so I can say hi?” I hear Addi’s voice, and my breath catches. I push Ryder out of the way and look at my sister, her lip is split, and she has a black eye but fuck, she’s never looked prettier. “What no hug?”

  We’re in each other's arms in a matter of seconds, “Thank god you’re okay, I’ve been so worried about you.” I tell her as I hold her a little closer.

  “I’m okay, although I could have done without seeing you and your husband going at it in the middle of the damn room.” She smiles but winces as the cut on her lip pulls.

  “Shut up, honestly though Addi, are you okay?” I hold her face in both my hands, she looks different, and she looks like she doesn’t know who she is anymore.

  “Skye,” Her voice breaks, “What am I going to do? I saw them kill Gloria, they killed her.” She falls into my arms and cries, her sobs wracking her body. I hold her and try to soothe her, hurting that she’s feeling this way. I look over at Ryder who looks helpless, and I know that he wants to make this better.

  I nod for him to come over; he can help me put her into the bed. We need Sam to call Interpol, so Bell can get the hell out of my hotel room and away from Addi. I don’t need to ask Ryder to help me put Addi to bed, he lifts her from my arms, and she lays her head on his chest. I watch as he wal
ks her to the bed and puts her gently down on it and throws the covers over her, she buries her head in the pillow and cries. I’m torn between going over and lying beside her and getting this situation sorted out.

  I decide that getting rid of the giant asshole in the room is the necessity, I’ll comfort Addi throughout the night and whenever she needs me. “Sam, will you call your friend at Interpol? I don’t want this ass’ friends at the cop shop to mislay any evidence or even throw this under the rug as if it didn’t happen.”

  “I’m on it. Hopefully, we’ll have this cleared up, and we can get home.” The guys nod in agreement, we all want to go home. I turn to the bed and see that Addi is still sobbing and tears spring to my eyes. I feel lost, I want to help her but at the moment I can’t, there’s nothing I can do until she lets all of her emotions out. Once she does, she’s going to feel numb and empty, like she’s lost a part of herself. “Interpol are on their way as is the Superintendent of the Metropolitan Police,” Sam tells us as he pulls Winter into his arms, she’s crying again but I see proudness in his eyes. Winter stood up to a monster and for that we’re all fucking proud

  I look back at Addi and I realize that I had better call dad and let him know that Addi’s okay.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Skye

  Interpol just left and thank god for Sam, he answered all of their questions and his contact Iain is actually really helpful. The Superintendent was surprisingly nice, I thought he’d try and stick up for his own. Ryder and Oscar explained what happened at the compound and Interpol are investigating it, we won’t have to deal with the Met police on that count, although Addi will have to talk to them in the morning and give them a detailed statement. We should be able to go home in a few days.

  “Skye, have you spoken to mom and dad?” I thought she was going to sleep; I turn around and see that she’s sitting up in the bed, her eyes are red and puffy from crying, but at least she’s not sobbing anymore.