Duke

by Candace Blevins

He lifted Gen to the bed, pulled her Sig off her right hip and put it on a side table. “I knew you’d have it, so I had to take you down fast.”

  Gen still had the three-eighty under her arm, but it did no good with her wrists bound behind her back.

  “Gonna fuck you before we die, and you’re gonna like it with me as much as you do with Duke.”

  Terror spiked through her veins, and she spoke without thinking, “Over my dead body.”

  “No, that’s after. First, you’re gonna be very lively, and if you aren’t, I’ll hurt your new friend here.”

  “Mike, you’re a good man. You were a cop and I know you enjoyed bringing in the bad guys. I heard your stories, listened to you talk about helping out the victims of crime when you could. I’m not sure what went wrong, and I wish I could go back and change it, but I’m not sure rape and torture are in you. If you’re about to die, is that really what you want your last acts to be?”

  “You obviously never knew me at all. I became a cop for the power it gave me, not because I wanted to do good. And you took that power away, so you’ll pay. I know you’re hard headed enough you won’t give me what I want no matter how much I hurt you, so instead, I’ll make you watch me hurt her, see if that gives you the motivation I’m looking for.”

  The whole room was quiet as they heard a motorcycle on the main road, but it went by and Mike said, “Crotch rocket.” He picked Gen’s gun up and said, “I hear a Harley and I’ll kill us all before he makes it down the drive.”

  Oh, God. He was going to kill her with her own gun. She wasn’t sure why this was worse than using his gun, but it was, and it pissed her off.

  “Screw you, Mike. I’ll never be able to enjoy sex with you because you have a skinny penis and you don’t know what the heck to do with it.”

  Okay, so the first part wasn’t necessarily true, but the second seemed to be, as he hadn’t been able to get her aroused and excited. She’d never said ‘screw you’ before in her life, and it felt pretty good.

  Pebbles laughed and said, “God, Gen, I really like you. We get out of this alive and I hope we can be friends. You know, if my husband forgives you for getting me kidnapped, but I’m pretty sure I can talk him down.”

  “Would you two bitches shut the fuck up?”

  “Did you know the Chattanooga Police Department had you under surveillance?” Gen asked Pebbles.

  “Yeah, I knew. It’s only for certain kinds of communication though, and I thought it’d be safe to let conversations and emails with my Realtor be a matter of public record. Which means, kind of, that it isn’t your fault we’re kidnapped, but mine.”

  Mike cut Gen’s ankles loose and sat on her legs all at once. She felt him connecting first one ankle and then the other to the iron footboard, and wondered if he knew the house was only staged for show and there were likely no sheets beneath the bedspread.

  “Let’s not assign blame, Pebbles. He’s my ex-boyfriend. What does your husband do?”

  “Ummm, assuming we’re gonna get out of here, let’s leave that one alone for now. Okay?”

  “He imports drugs,” Mike said, his voice full of hate and fury. “Decides which gangs get the good stuff, which get the crap. Helps with manpower when someone against drugs moves in and locks out territory.”

  Which meant it was highly likely Jiminy and Duke weren’t going to be the best of friends, but Gen didn’t share this with Pebbles. They were being held in an almost three million dollar house, and since Gen held the listing, she stood to make a seven percent commission on the sale. Not that Pebbles would want this one after being kidnapped in it.

  One minute, Mike was pulling her pants down past her bottom while muttering about her “lovely ass,” and the next he was thrown across the room and Duke was pulling her pants back up as Brain cut the plastic away at her wrists and ankles.

  “God,” Brain said as he worked, “tell me you didn’t kill him. There’s a civilian here, we’re gonna have to get the cops involved, Duke. You knew that.”

  “Not a civilian,” Pebbles said as she stood and tugged her very snug dress back down over her thighs, Dozer’s arm around her for support. “If I can get my phone from my purse, I need to call my husband,” she looked at Duke as if she expected him to recognize the name when she said, “Jiminy Davidson.”

  All three RTMC men muttered, “Fuck me,” at the same time, and both Pebbles and Gen laughed.

  Mike had ripped the button from the top of her pants, and destroyed the zipper, so while her pants were pulled up, they weren’t going to stay. She sat on the bed, pulled her legs up to hide the state of her pants, and said, “Let her call her husband, Duke. Let’s get this sorted as quick as we can, okay? Someone else is due to show the house in a little over an hour and I’ll need to be sure it’s put to rights before we leave.”

  Pebbles’ head turned to Gen. “You lied to him?”

  “Oh yeah. I lied all over the place, trying to figure out how to stall. As soon as he took the battery out of my phone, I knew Duke would come, I just needed to stall him.”

  Duke’s hand landed on her back and he said, “Yeah, when our control room saw her phone drop out of the network, and we couldn’t reach her, we used the GPS on her car to see where she was. We drove a club vehicle so he wouldn’t hear the bikes approaching.”

  Pebbles had her phone to her ear and she said, “Honeybunch? I’m fine, not a scratch on me, and I hate that this happened the one time you let me go out without a guard, but we kind of had a situation.”

  “No, honey, seriously, I’m fine. A bunch of bikers came to our rescue. Gen’s ex-boyfriend was a cop, and he used the surveillance feeds on us to find out which houses we’d be viewing. So, he was after her, but only knew where to lay in wait because of our surveillance.”

  “Yeah, he’s here, I’m pretty sure he’s Gen’s boyfriend. I’ll let ya’ll figure out what you want to do from here, okay?”

  “Yeah, but he put me in a hog-tie, so if I get a request then I want one of his shoulder’s dislocated. It can go right back in if you want, it doesn’t have to stay out.” She paused a second and said, “I love you, too, Honeybunch. Here’s Duke.”

  * * * *

  Duke took the phone from Pebbles and said, “Your wife is safe, and we’ll make sure she stays safe until we can hand her over to your custody. I didn’t create the mess. I’m just trying to clean it up.”

  “How did you know they were in trouble? Or where to find them?”

  “Our control room monitors Gen’s phone, and I have a tracker in her car. He pulled the battery from her phone, and when her cellphone went offline we came to her car to check on her.”

  “He’s a cop?”

  “Suspended for putting audio and video inside her house without a warrant. Hasn’t gone to trial yet, but he’ll be off the force once it does. She has a restraining order against him, but we all know how well those work.”

  “Tricky. You want it to go to trial, or do you want him to go away?”

  “I’d prefer the latter, but you’re right about it being tricky.”

  Jiminy sighed. “You and I need a sit down about your business practices, but for now we need to be able to work together. With me?”

  “Yeah, I’m with you.” He looked up, saw Gen and Pebbles talking, and said, “Our women seem to be bonding, though. Fair warning.”

  Jiminy laughed. “Why am I not surprised? Okay. I’m on my way to you now, based on your cellphone coordinates. We’ll find his vehicle and I’ll have one of my guys drive it to a local chop shop, with a warning the parts need to move far away, and the body scrapped. I’ll get it to a shop run by one of your enemies, so it won’t be tied back to you if it’s found local. I want to dislocate his shoulder while Pebbles watches, then if we can agree on someone who can escort them the rest of the day, my guess is my wife’ll want to finish viewing the properties, if your woman’s up to it.”

  Duke looked up and asked, “Ma’am? Your husband seems to think you’ll want to
go back to viewing properties once we finish up here?”

  Pebbles looked to Gen. “Are you up to it, Sweets? I really want to see the one on the river.”

  “I need a change of clothes and then I’m up for just about anything.” Gen’s gaze went to Duke, wondering if he’d be okay with her plan, and he smiled at her before speaking into the phone.

  “Yeah, Dozer can stick with them the rest of the day. You’ll meet him when you get here.”

  “I have some safety pins in my purse,” Pebbles told Gen. “Let’s go to the bathroom and see what kind of repair we can work.”

  Gen smiled at Duke and asked, “Can someone go out to my car and get the royal blue scarf out of my trunk? Please?”

  Duke shook his head as he retrieved her keys from her purse. “I’ll go, that way I’ll be outside waiting for Davidson when he gets here.”

  Dozer growled, “Brain, get the prisoner so I can stand behind Duke.”

  Realizing it wouldn’t be a bad thing to have one of his enforcers standing behind him, he didn’t argue with his men.

  Jiminy pulled up in a black BMW seven-sixty, someone who was likely ex-special forces in the passenger seat. The two men got out and Duke stepped forward and offered his hand to Jiminy, saying, “I’m Duke. Gen sent me out to get a scarf from her trunk. Your woman is assisting her with clothing repair. McPherson got a little rough with Gen.”

  Jiminy’s eyebrows pulled together in what looked like true concern and he asked, “She okay?”

  “Yeah. She’s tough. Our deal was for her to be protected by me or one of my men when not working, though she’d need someone with her for any new clients. But, she met your wife in the office once, and this had been set long enough we didn’t think there was any danger of you being connected to McPherson. Still, she had a nine mil on her hip and a three-eighty under her arm, and was trained to use them long before I came along. Unfortunately, he knew she’d be armed, and with his cop training he took her by surprise and zip-tied her before she could react.”

  “Call me Jiminy. We’ll go through the details later,” Jiminy said, “but I’m not holding you responsible. I’d like to get inside and see Pebbles, though.”

  Duke nodded to the door. “Up the steps and end of the hall. They’re in the bathroom but I’m sure she’ll come out when she hears you. I’ll get the scarf from the trunk and be up.”

  Pebbles was in Jiminy’s arms when Duke made it upstairs, and he stuck his head around the partially closed door of the bathroom to hand Gen the scarf. He watched as she tied it around her waist and knotted it at her right hip. He leaned in, touched her hip, felt her Sig back where it belonged.

  “You were right. He had me tied up before I had a chance to even think of drawing.”

  “It’s what he’s been trained for, Beautiful. Just remember this the next time we disagree about your safety though, okay? I was right?”

  Gen smiled and rolled her eyes, and he stepped into the bathroom and drew her into his arms. “I was so scared, and it’s been a long time since I felt true fear. Longest damned ride of my life.”

  “I tried to signal you almost as soon as he took me down.”

  “And I got it, but that’s for discussion later, we need to go back out, if you’re put back together okay?”

  “Yeah, as good as I’m going to get.”

  * * * *

  When Duke walked Gen back to the master bedroom, Jiminy and another well-dressed man had taken control of Mike.

  For some reason, the first thing that came to Gen’s mind was the fact the house would be shown again this afternoon, so she said, “No blood. Another Realtor will be here with prospective buyers in less than an hour.”

  “Good to know,” Jiminy said without turning around. “Cut the zip-ties, Fox.”

  As soon as Mike’s arms were free, Jiminy grabbed him by the forearm, spun him around, lifted his arm, and yanked. Gin saw his shoulder dislocate, and Mike’s scream went through her and made her realize she needed to pee. She turned into Duke, buried her head in his chest, and he held her, his body tight but his arms comforting.

  Gen heard a second scream, and looked around to see both of Mike’s arms hanging loose. Jiminy punched him in the gut, and when Mike leaned forward, Jiminy grabbed his arm and held it out as Fox grabbed Mike’s torso and held him in place, and Jiminy forced Mike’s arm back into the socket.

  * * * *

  Duke let Gen run from the room, and nodded for Brain to follow her. He wanted to be there for her, but needed to be in this room with Jiminy and Mike even more.

  Dozer and Fox worked to get the second arm back in, and Jiminy turned to his wife, who was standing strong a few feet behind her husband. “Anything else, Babe?”

  “Yeah. Restrain his arms behind him again, and I want him on his knees.”

  Jiminy motioned to Fox, and Duke retrieved the stack of zip-ties they’d pulled from McPherson’s pocket and handed a few to Dozer.

  When they had him restrained and kneeling, Pebbles stepped to him and said, “Make him look at me, and spread his legs a little, please.”

  Fox grabbed Mike’s hair and pulled his head back as he kicked the man’s knees apart.

  “Gen might be too nice to do this, but I heard what you had planned for her and I’m gonna ask my husband to send you to his cohorts in South America, where there’s a nice market for male sex slaves. They’ll beat the fight right out of you, so you’ll bend over and take it up the ass anytime you’re ordered.” Duke watched in fascination as the petite woman pulled her foot back and aimed her pointy-toed high-heeled shoe directly at Mike’s nuts, and had a very satisfied look on her face as he fell forward with another scream.

  Pebbles turned and looked at Duke, “You got a problem with my solution?”

  Duke shook his head. “I don’t know what he had planned, and I’m gonna want to get a few of my own punches in once we get him out of here and don’t have to worry about blood, but it sounds like a great long-term solution to me.”

  She turned to her husband. “You can make it happen?”

  “For you? Anything.”

  She nodded. “Good. I’m going outside with Gen.” She looked at Dozer. “You’re our designated body-guard?”

  He smiled. “If your husband approves, yeah.”

  Pebbles glanced at Jiminy, looked back at Dozer. “He approves. Hand the asshole over to Duke and come with me. We’ll send Brain back up before we go.”

  “Tell Gen I need a kiss before ya’ll leave,” Duke told her, and she smiled and nodded.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  “So,” Duke asked, “You and Pebbles had an enjoyable day after your kidnapping adventure?”

  “Yeah, I really like her.” Gen let him hold her, glad he wanted to touch her, happy to once again feel safe in his arms. “Can I ask you something?”

  “You can ask anything you want, Beautiful. I’ll give you the answers I can, based on our agreement.”

  “Pebbles told me to trust her to tell me what I needed to hear, and no more. She said Jiminy had let her decide Mike’s fate, and that he wasn’t going to be killed, but he understood he’d never be welcome in Chattanooga again. Does that mean I still have to worry about him? She assured me I don’t, but… is he on his honor to not come back? Because he’d planned to kill me and then kill himself. Death threats aren’t going to scare him away, Duke.”

  Duke pulled back, looked at her a few seconds, and said, “What Pebbles said was accurate. I’ll just add that he’ll be been taken far enough away it’s doubtful he’ll ever find his way back.”

  “The cops are going to ask me about him when he comes up missing, aren’t they?”

  “Yes.”

  “And I’m going to have to lie.”

  “Do you want to tell them the truth?”

  “Well, no, but I don’t want to have to lie, either.”

  He walked her to the sofa, sat down, and pulled her into his lap. “How about saying you haven’t heard from him and have no i
dea where he is. I think the only actual lie you’ll need to tell is that the last you heard from him is when he knocked on your door and you called nine-one-one. Other than that, you haven’t heard from him since the last time he harassed you, and you don’t know where he is. Both of those statements are true.”

  “Not entirely honest, but true.” Gen rearranged herself on his lap and leaned her head into him, her hands loose at his sides. “On a positive note, Pebbles likes the nearly three million dollar home on the Tennessee River. I’m showing it to her and Jiminy together tomorrow morning, and if he likes it, I assume we’ll make an offer.”

  Duke sighed. “And that’s the weakest point of this whole thing. If they can point to Jiminy being involved in McPherson’s disappearance, they’ll have a direct link to you. Or, it could work the other way. Someone sees the link from you to him, and goes from there.”

  “So I should hand this off to another Realtor?”

  Duke shook his head. “No, too late for that. There are records showing you contracted with them to show them houses. Just pointing out it’s the weak link.” He kissed her forehead. “Kind of a moot point anyway, if you and Pebbles are gonna become buds.”

  “What’s the deal with you and Jiminy?”

  “In a crazy sort of way, Mike may have helped us avoid a turf war. Jiminy and I agreed to a one-year cease-fire. I called a club vote, and then agreed not to expand our no-drugs territory for one year, though we reserve the right to expand our no-hookers-on-corners territory, and a few other things. In exchange, Jiminy will tell his people they’re going to have to live with our no-drugs zone, and he won’t back them in a fight to reclaim it.”

  He stroked her hair, kissed the top of her head. “Can we have our conversation now?”

  Gen’s heart dropped into her stomach, but she said, “Yeah.”

  “Hey, no need for that. I don’t want to smell fear and grief on you. I got enough of that when I walked into that room.”