The Leah Ryan Thrillers Box Set: Three Chiller Thrillers (Repo Chick Blues #1, Finding Chloe #2, Dirty Business #3) (Leah Ryan Thrillers Box Set, Books 1-3)

by Tracy Sharp

  She aimed straight at my face and I saw her finger squeeze the trigger as I lunged forward. I thought I felt the bullet whiz past my head as I sank my knife into her leg. She shrieked and dropped the gun. I grabbed it. Considered killing her, but left her there. If she didn’t bleed out she’d be okay. Maybe turn her life around. Maybe not.

  I scanned the mayhem and saw Jack dragging Woodard out of the park, firing at the remaining gang members. Only three were still standing. Patrick walked backward, picked off two. The other turned tail and ran. None of us was about shooting someone in the back. Even slimeballs who sell drugs to children or who are associated with scum like Brent Woodard. So that last one got away, running past the bleeding girl who was dragging herself across the grass, holding her hand out to him for help.

  Nice to know who your friends are.

  Callahan was walking toward her, his hand out to her.

  She grinned and reached around to her lower back. She pulled out a gun, aiming it square at his chest. He froze, gun at his side.

  I screamed and brought my gun up. Heard no other sound than the shots, one overlapping the other, as we both pulled our triggers.

  She fell back, eyes gazing at the star-speckled sky.

  Callahan stood still for a moment, a heavy sigh escaping him before he fell sideways onto the damp grass.

  My heart was in my throat as I watched Jack and Patrick help Callahan into the passenger’s seat of Will’s car. He was still breathing, but he didn’t have much time. His belly was covered in blood. He gave me a faint smile and waved weakly but his eyes were glazing over in shock. I swallowed hard as I watched Will bullet away from Cherry Street at top speed.

  I wanted to go with Callahan. To make sure he would be okay. This was my chance with Woodard. We finally had him. This was my chance to find out where Jesse was. I couldn’t mess that up. My chest felt heavy, as if my heart were being squeezed. Callahan would be all right, I told myself. He had to be.

  If only I hadn’t been so stupid. If only I’d finished the girl off when I’d had the chance.

  It was becoming my mantra.

  If only.

  * * *

  We took Woodard to Jack’s shop.

  We figured it was safe to say that we hadn’t been followed. Woodard didn’t have too many friends left alive. It seemed that this cold, hard fact was dawning on him. He stared around, eyes wide with panic as Jack and Patrick dragged him around to the back of the motorcycle shop where there were all kinds of fun tools to play with. All sorts of noisy toys to cover his screams.

  Sharon and I had taken my Jeep and I was grinning a little crazily when I led Buddy out of the back, giggling when he hit the ground and stretched out his back legs. It had been a long wait for him while we were in the midst of our little gun and gang party.

  Sharon looked at me, lifting an eyebrow. “You okay?”

  “Oh, I’m better than okay,” I smiled widely. “I’m just peachy.”

  “Ooo-kay.”

  “You’ll see why in a minute,” I told her, patting Buddy’s head as she opened the door to the shop.

  When we walked in, Jack and Patrick had already tied Woodard to a metal chair. He was stripped of all of his clothes and he was shivering. I didn’t think it was from feeling chilly.

  His arms were tightly strapped to the arms of the chair with duct tape and his ankles were tied to the legs of the chair in the same fashion. His eyes flashed with seething hatred when he saw me but grew round with terror when they fell upon Buddy.

  I grinned, patting Buddy on the head again.

  “Get that thing away from me!” He tried to pull his arms free of the duct tape but they wouldn’t budge.

  “Good job, guys. Buddy’ll just have to chew the tape off when he finishes with the rest of him. It won’t be a problem.”

  “GET HIM AWAY!” He tilted his head back as he screamed at me, his mouth so wide and huge that it seemed it was all I could see of his face. He looked like a cartoon character the way he was yelling like that.

  Buddy’s back bristled and he snarled.

  “Now this is a Kodak moment,” Patrick said, turning on a band saw for background noise. “Don’t wanna disturb the neighbors with your hollering. They’re used to the normal sounds of the shop equipment, though.”

  “Damn, where’s a cop when you need one, huh, Woodard?” Jack stood behind Woodard and smacked him hard on the side of the head. “You got any more friends on the police force?”

  It was as if Jack hadn’t touched him. He was completely focused on me. “You don’t know what you’re getting into, girlie. I’ve got all kinds of friends in this town.”

  “Not anymore you don’t. Most of them are out of commission.” I started over to Woodard, Buddy close at my side. I stopped in front of him and knelt down, whispering low in Buddy’s ear. He responded by licking my face.

  “You think Finn was the only cop on the take in this city?” He giggled. “You’re in for a rude awakening. Finn only got caught because he was stupid. He couldn’t control his impulses.”

  “Well, you may have other cops friends, Sebastian. They’re not here to help you now.”

  Shock flickered across his eyes. “How do you know my name?”

  “None of your business. Now I wanna know where my brother is. I’m done playing your little reindeer games. I’m going to instruct my dog to chew you up, piece by despicable piece, until you tell me where he is.” I leaned in and stared into his vacant, green eyes. They darted from Buddy back to me again. He was deathly afraid of Buddy, but he didn’t believe me. His mind was still working, trying to figure out where he knew me from.

  Patrick spread garbage bags on the floor around the chair.

  Woodard stared at him, his eyes as big as quarters. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Oh, you’ll see.” Patrick smiled brightly at him.

  I stared down at him, hatred consuming me. “You haven’t changed a bit since you were a kid. Still raping and killing females. You must be awfully threatened by us. That shit’s coming to an end, my friend.”

  He stared back at me, eyes narrowed. Then recognition dawned on him. “Holy shit! You’re that skinny little girl from juvee that kept burning herself with cigarettes.”

  I said nothing.

  “You’ve changed. You were just a scrawny little thing. Long black hair tied in a ponytail.” He nodded. “Yeah. I would’ve nailed you six ways from Sunday if it wasn’t for your crazy friend. Whatever happened to him?” He was stalling … and it was pissing me off.

  Jack stepped from behind the chair and punched him in the face. “Right here, sunshine.”

  “Well, nice little reunion party we’ve got going on, but it’s time for my dog to chew your nuts off. So tell me where my brother is, you piece of shit.”

  Woodard stared at Buddy and it looked like he was about to start bawling at any second. “I’m not telling you shit,” he said, his voice lacking conviction.

  “Did you hear that, Buddy?” I leaned down and patted Buddy’s enormous head again. “He doesn’t want to tell us where Jesse is.”

  I bent down and pointed to Woodard’s left leg. “Grab hold, Buddy.”

  Buddy moved in without hesitation and wrapped his teeth around Woodard’s ankle, grabbing a firm grip but not biting down yet.

  Woodard shrieked. “NO! NONONONONO!”

  I leaned in close, looking him in the eye. “Now that I have your complete attention, I’m going to tell you a little bit about my friend Buddy.”

  Woodard sat stiffly, as if doing so would help him avoid getting his leg chewed off. His eyes darted from me to Buddy constantly.

  “Since he and I have become acquainted, I’ve discovered that Buddy’s had a lot of training as a guard dog. He knows all the commands, Sebastian. And I’ve even taught him a few of my own. See, thing about Buddy is, he’s a real quick learner. He’s very smart and he’s very, very eager to please me. So he’ll do whatever I tell him to do. You get my drift?”<
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  “Yeah,” he managed to choke out.

  I nodded slowly. “Good.” I stood back, crossed my arms over my chest and watched the scene for a long moment before saying, “So where is he?”

  Woodard sat quietly, trying on a defiant glare. It wasn’t quite working.

  “Buddy bite down some,” I said.

  Buddy bit down, enough to draw blood but not enough to tear Woodard’s leg off.

  Woodard screamed again and the front of his jeans darkened. A trail of urine made its way down his leg and began to puddle on the floor.

  The band saw drowned out most of his screams … not enough to take the joy out of it for me.

  He told me where my brother was.

  Chapter Thirty

  He was buried alive.

  That’s what Woodard said he’d done to him. He said he’d “planted” him not far from the old shack where he and Finn had kept the women. The irony wasn’t lost on me. We’d gone there to rescue him and we’d rescued the women instead, leaving him out there in the woods somewhere, maybe able to hear us but not call out. Patrick and Buddy stayed with Woodard while Jack and I went to look for Jesse.

  When we found him, his eyes were closed and his head was slumped almost to the ground. He was buried up to his neck and had been gagged with some kind of bandana.

  I called out to him. I said his name over and over as we worked to dig him up but he wasn’t responding. He was alive, but just barely. If we didn’t get him to the hospital soon, he wouldn’t make it.

  I could tell by the way Jack looked at him that he had his doubts.

  We finally got him free and carried him to the Jeep, gently getting him into the backseat and laying him down as best we could. I draped my jacket over him, and drove like a demon to get him to the hospital.

  “Stay with me, Jess,” I kept saying. “You’re going to be fine. Just stay, please?”

  It was like a chant for me. I barely noticed the tears blurring my vision. I blinked them away until they dropped from my eyes and rolled down my face.

  I could see the road better that way.

  He was severely dehydrated, they said, but he’d be okay. I almost fell on my knees next to his bed but kept it together long enough for the doctor and nurses to leave the room.

  I looked down at Jesse as he lay there unconscious in the hospital bed, shaking my head slowly. “I almost lost him, Jack.”

  “I know.” His arm came around me and he gave me a little squeeze. “But you didn’t. We got him back, Leah. He’s going to be fine.”

  I kept my eyes on Jesse. “It’s not good enough.”

  I heard him take in a long breath and exhale slowly. “I know that.”

  “Did you call Patrick yet?”

  “Yeah. Everything’s the same as we left it.” He rubbed a hand across his jaw. “You sure about this?”

  I nodded. “I won’t lose any sleep over Finn and I’m sure not going to lose sleep over Woodard. He’s a parasite, Jack. He hurts people. He sucks the life out of them.” I shook my head. “I can’t let him keep doing it. That would make me just as bad as him. I’d probably never sleep again if I knew he was still out there.”

  He looked at me for a long time. “Okay.”

  The hole that Jesse had been buried in was still open. Woodard had chosen a nice, secluded spot where nobody would find Jesse for a long time. It would do just fine for Woodard.

  But when the wildlife caught scent of the blood smell on him, they’d find him pretty fast. He wouldn’t have to worry about dying a slow death of dehydration.

  * * *

  When Callahan saw me come through the door of his hospital room, he gave me a lopsided grin and waved me in. Other than his pallor being a little pale, he really didn’t look too bad.

  I stood over him, a big, goofy smile on my face. I couldn’t help it. I was just so damned happy he was okay. “Wow, you can take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’. Just what I like in a man.”

  “Cool. I just knew that getting shot would get your attention.” He grinned.

  I rolled my eyes. “You jerk.”

  “It wasn’t as bad as it looked. She hit me in the side. It was a through and through, didn’t hit any vital organs.”

  “Thank goodness she was a lousy shot.”

  “Yeah.” His eyes searched my face.

  I dropped my gaze and looked around the room. “Where’d you get all the flowers? All of your heart-broken girlfriends?”

  There were vases and baskets filled with every variety of flower. There were even a couple of fruit baskets and a balloon bouquet.

  “Yeah, you know. I guess I had more friends than I thought.” He made a show of craning his neck and looking over all of the flowers. “So which one is from you?”

  “Oh, I…” I felt heat crawl up my neck and face.

  He snickered. “I’m kidding. I know you’re not exactly a flowery kind of girl. And anyway, you’ve been sorta busy.”

  “You’ve got that right.”

  “Jack told me you got Jesse back. I knew you would. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for it.”

  “Yeah, get shot on your own time from now on, would ya?”

  “All right. I apologize profusely.”

  I giggled, sounding far too girlie for my own liking, then stopped and looked at him, feeling a lump rise in my throat. “Thank you, for everything you’ve done. I mean it.”

  He smiled. “Hey, I’d get shot for you anytime, baby.”

  “Okay, now you’re really milking this getting shot thing. Enough with the pity party. Sheesh.”

  He laughed, tilting his head back. My heart felt lighter watching him.

  “Can I at least get a real date out of it? I mean, I think I’ve earned it, haven’t I?” His eyes were normally green but at that moment they were like rich coffee as they regarded me with amusement. His hair was all messed up and he looked delectable.

  I paused, making a show out of considering it. “Well, okay. Don’t expect me to be too nice to you. That’d be pushing it.”

  “Absolutely. Deal.”

  “Kool and the gang.”

  We looked at each other for a long moment. As always, I broke eye contact first. “Well, I guess I’d better let you get some rest. You need to heal up fast. I can’t wait for you forever you know.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure.”

  I paused, looking at him, not really wanting to leave yet. “See ya.”

  He lifted his hand from his lap in a small wave. “See ya.”

  I turned and headed out of the hospital room, walking quickly before I succumbed to the urge to run back to Callahan and hug him as if I’d never see him again. I’d been so afraid that I never would. And now he was okay. And my brother was okay.

  Life was pretty good.

  Now if I could just avoid messing it up again.

  It took a few days for it to hit me that Sean was really gone. Up until I got Jesse back and he was safe in my house with Buddy and I, my grief over his death had been anesthetized by my fear that something would happen and I’d lose him again. Once I let some of that fear go, the reality of Sean being gone for good was like a slow dawning. Before I’d laid eyes on him again at Jack’s shop, I hadn’t seen him since we’d gone our separate ways when we were just teenagers. After he popped back into my life, I’d only see him twice before he died.

  I found myself wondering what would’ve happened if I’d welcomed him with open arms. If I’d welcomed him into my bed the night he’d come to see me at the house. He’d expressed his wish to settle down, be in a committed relationship. I’d been so hard on him. Now I felt like shit about it. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe he really did want those things, as much as I didn’t have faith in his ability to do it. It just wasn’t Sean. I didn’t think it was me either. It had been easier projecting that truth about myself onto him rather than face it myself. It wouldn’t have worked out between us. It hadn’t back then and it wouldn’t have now. Regret was a waste of energy. Still, I regretted.
I couldn’t seem to stop.

  I’d always think back on what he did for Jesse with a mixture of awe and gratefulness. Some old bonds stay strong no matter how much time goes by. Looking at Jack, Sharon and Patrick for the first time in so many years, time had compressed. It was as if it had been just yesterday that we were so inseparable. Like the others had done, Sean had put his life on the line for Jesse and me. And I couldn’t help but wonder, knowing how lost and lonely he’d been when he’d come to see me, if he’d gone into the lion’s den knowing he wouldn’t come back out.

  * * *

  End of summer gave in to fall and life had returned to some semblance of normalcy for me. Jesse stayed until after Christmas, then found a place of his own. He kept working at Jack’s shop, enjoying his apprenticeship and learning everything he needed to know about designing and building bikes. He said he’d finally found his niche. And I learned to let him go and trust that he could take care of himself.

  By May, I realized I’d put off the inevitable for far too long and took Buddy to the vet. He’d never been neutered, and although I felt bad for doing it, it had to be done. He was driving me crazy with his whining and pacing and he’d been eye-balling the white toy poodle across the street. Heaven help us if he ever escaped me for even five minutes. The results would be disastrous.

  So off to get snipped he went. I took him on a sunny, warm day before I went off to repo a speedboat. He’d have to stay overnight and I felt a pang in my chest and a tightening in my throat as they led him away. It was the way he looked back at me, like he might never see me again.

  “I’ll see you later, Buddy. I promise.”

  He snorted and turned away, allowing the vet attendant to lead him into the great unknown.

  I took a deep breath and went back out into the shiny day to meet Callahan at Lake George. I had the top off the Jeep and my Joan Jett C.D. cranked up, not caring who stared at me at stoplights as I sang Bad Reputation at the top of my lungs.