Tempting Calm Waters

by Samantha Wolfe

  "Hello?" I asked softly as fear fluttered around in my chest.

  "Well, hello to you too, bro," a familiar and brash male voice replied.

  "Vinnie?" I growled out in shocked surprise. "What the fuck are you doing with Lu's phone?" I looked up to meet Calder's now sharply focused stare, the furrow on his brow deepening with concern.

  "The better question is what am I doing with Lu?" he responded with smug satisfaction.

  "Put her on the goddamn phone," I demanded fiercely. "Now."

  "Sorry, bro," he said giddily. "No can do. She's all tied up at the moment."

  I stilled as cold icy dread fell over me. "What have you done?" I asked harshly. The little fucker had been creeping on Lu at the club, but I never thought he was an actual threat to her. Fuck. Me.

  "Payback is a real bitch, bro," he answered in a low growl.

  "Payback?" I snarled out. "For what?" If anything, I should be pissed at him since the fucker basically left me to die from my first overdose.

  "You'll find out soon enough, Conrad," he said, his animosity for me clearly evident in his tone as he spoke my name with disdain. Then he rattled off an address. "Be there in one hour for my next call, alone and unarmed. No cops. No friends. Nothing. Or you won't like what I do to her sweet luscious little body." His tone was lecherous and sickening.

  "You motherfucking piece of lowlife shi-" I began viciously as I flew to my feet, but the call abruptly ended in the middle of my tirade. I pulled the phone from my ear to scowl at the fucking thing, my fingers blanching white as I gripped it so tight that it hurt. "Fuck!" I bellowed, my body trembling and vibrating with an impotent rage that had no outlet. It was all I could do not to fling it against the nearest goddamn wall. Instead, I threw it down on the sofa and began pacing and pulling at my hair, picturing that fucker touching my Lu right now while I was here unable to do a fucking thing about it.

  If that sick fuck harms one hair on her perfect gorgeous head, I'll fucking ki-

  "Scott!" Calder's sharp and sonorous voice snapped me out of my freak-out.

  I jerked to a halt and looked at him, just now realizing that he'd already said my name several times to get my attention. I'd been too lost in my own head to hear him. Deep concern was etched into every line of his face. He wasn't used to me losing my shit like this. Hell, I wasn't either. I was usually calm and collected, focused and in control, but right now I was none of those things.

  "Sit the fuck down, and tell me what's going on," he demanded harshly as he pointed at the sofa, and I did as he said.

  "That little fucker, Vinnie, has Lu and wants me to come alone to an address somewhere," I snarled out. "He says it's payback, but I don't know what the fuck for or why. I haven't seen the guy in years. How the hell did he manage to snatch Lu, and why would he even want to-" My words died as a sudden and horrifying realization hit me. "Holy fuck," I rasped out in a stunned voice.

  "What?" Calder asked with a deep frown.

  "He's the killer." Terror surged up inside me, making my heart rate spike and my breaths turn quick and shallow. "He's the goddamn killer, and he has my Luisa." Anger followed in the wake of my fear, pushing it back down to a level I could manage.

  Calder's face turned grim. "You know it's a trap."

  I nodded, already using the anger to focus on what my next move was and figuring out what weapons I'd need. It should be easy to come up with a plan to foil Vinnie. He might be a killer, but he wasn't a fighter. He was a fucking coward praying on unsuspecting women. He didn't have the skills that I did with a gun or in a fight. He'd fucked with the wrong man when he took Lu, and now I was going to make him pay for it.

  Calder rose abruptly and walked over to his desk. He picked up his phone and began typing out a text. I watched him for a moment until he looked back up to meet my curious gaze.

  "Just telling Ella I'll be working later than usual tonight."

  I knit my brows in bewilderment at his comment.

  "You don't honestly think I'm letting you do this alone are you?"

  "But your family-"

  "I wouldn't have this family if it weren't for you, Scott," he cut me off vehemently, his eyes filled with a fierce determination. "I wouldn't even be alive if I hadn't met you in rehab. You're my best friend, and I'm coming with you. So shut the fuck up and let's go save your woman."

  All I could do was nod in agreement and be grateful to have this man in my life.

  CHAPTER

  THIRTY-SIX

  ____________________

  Scott

  Within the hour Vinnie gave me, we were in my old Buick Le Sabre and driving into the shittiest, most crime-ridden part of town known as The Armpit. We were armed and dressed in black over Kevlar vests, with the surprise addition of Pete taking up most of my back seat with his massive frame.

  I'd called Désir Dangereux on our way to my place to see if Pete could spot Lu leaving on any of the video feeds. I was curious as hell to know how Vinnie got the drop on her. Pete informed me that the cameras in the main club room, and at the entrance had frozen again right about the time Lu would have been leaving, and he couldn't find her on any of the feeds from the back entrance or the parking lot either. It figured that idea would be a bust. It was awfully convenient too, and I now suspected that Vinnie must have had a jammer that froze the camera feeds in the club. Anyone could pick one up cheap on the Internet. I was pissed at myself for not thinking of it sooner.

  When I told Pete why I needed to know, he immediately informed me that he was coming with us. The man could handle himself, and I wasn't about to turn him down. I'd do whatever it took to get Lu back.

  We'd been driving in silence that was only interrupted when Calder occasionally called out the directions from the GPS on his phone. We were only a few blocks from the place now, and I was getting anxious and jittery about what we were walking into. I didn't like going in blind like this, but we didn't have much choice.

  "Huh," Calder suddenly said out of no where.

  "What?" I asked, glancing over to see him staring at his phone.

  "I think I know this place," he replied as he narrowed his eyes intently. He studied the screen a moment longer, his thumb rubbing across his lips, before finally nodding and meeting my eyes with certainty. "I do," he said. "It's an old homeless shelter. I stayed there a few times as a kid when Mom got us evicted from whatever apartment we were living in."

  Calder had grown up in The Armpit with an addict for a mother and the shitty childhood that went along with it. Needless to say, he didn't like being here right now. This wasn't the first time that Calder's personal knowledge of The Armpit came in handy, and I hoped it would be the last. The last few times I came into this neighborhood were for dicey and dangerous situations that I just as soon avoid if I had a choice, including the night that I helped Calder save Violet from her sociopath of a father. Tonight wasn't going to be any different, but if he knew the place that we were heading to, then we'd have an actual advantage. I sighed in relief, feeling better about our chances of getting Lu back from that little prick unscathed.

  When we were half a block from our destination, I pulled over to the curb and put the car in park. I turned to Calder as he brought up a satellite image of our destination on his phone.

  "What do you remember about the layout?" I asked him.

  He sighed as he stared at the L-shaped building on the screen, his thumb coming up to rub at his lips again, but this time with a frantic edge. It was his nervous tell. I hated putting him in a position that dredged up bad memories and feelings for him like this, because the man had a lot of them from this neighborhood.

  "I remember the building was three stories tall with cinder block hallways lined with the rooms we stayed in on the left end of the L, and a gym, kitchen, and offices on the right side."

  "How many exits?" Pete asked he leaned closer from the back seat to look over Calder's shoulder at the image.

  "Um..." He blinked a few times, and frowned. "Three I think?
Maybe four? The front entrance," -he pointed to a circle drive at the inside corner of the L- "two side doors on each end, and maybe one in the back. I'm not sure." He met my gaze with a pained expression. "I'm sorry. It's been a long time."

  "A little knowledge is better than nothing," I reassured him. "Can you hand me that bag next to you Pete?"

  "Aye," he replied, grabbing my black gym bag for me. I opened it on my lap and reached inside. I pulled out three tiny wireless earpieces that could be connected to a cell phone via Bluetooth. I handed one to Calder and another to Pete, before putting the third in my ear. We set up a conference call and made sure we could all hear each other.

  "Alright," I announced when we were ready. "You guys get out here and make your way closer to the building on foot and scope it out. I'll pull up to the front and wait for Vinnie's call, then we'll go from there. Sound good?"

  Calder nodded with an uneasy expression.

  "Got it," Pete answered in a deep rumble from the backseat.

  I huffed out a sigh. We were as ready as we were going to be.

  "Let's do this," I growled out, then handed them each a flashlight from my bag.

  Calder and Pete got out of the car, and I watched them hurry away under a street light then disappear into the darkness, leaving me alone to face what came next. I immediately put the Buick back into gear and drove the last half block to the abandoned building. I turned onto the cracked and weed strewn driveway that led to the front entrance of the old pale beige brick building with its rows of darkened windows. I pulled around the circle drive, my headlights briefly illuminating a decrepit awning above a sidewalk that stretched from the curb to a set of graffiti covered double doors. They were currently chained shut with a thick chain and a large padlock. Well, I guess I wasn't getting in that way.

  I stopped and shut off the car, the darkness abrupt and unsettling as my headlights winked out. I checked my watch. I had five minutes to spare until the hour was up.

  "Talk to me," I said, needing to hear from Calder and Pete.

  "I scoped out the back, and there's an entrance there, but it's chained shut," Pete said quietly. "We're nearing a door on the east end, and it's not chained. It could be how he got inside. I can also see some light in one of the third-floor windows on this end of the building."

  I glanced up through the windshield and scanned the top-floor windows. I spotted a faint glow just like Pete described.

  "I see it too," I replied. "Hang back until the little fuck calls me."

  "You got it, boss."

  Not five seconds later, my phone rang. My heart rate spiked as I snatched it out of my pocket. I answered it, putting my conference call with Calder and Pete on hold.

  "What now, dumbfuck?" I snarled in greeting. It probably wasn't the wisest way to answer the call, but it pissed me off that this fucker had me at such a disadvantage.

  "Well, that's no way to talk to your best bud, now is it, Conrad?" His voice was bright and cheery, and made me want to rip his throat out through the goddamn phone.

  "Where's Lu?" I growled out, ignoring his question. "Put her on so I know she's okay."

  "Sorry, bro," he said unapologetically. "She's...taking a nap right now, and won't be waking up for a little while."

  "You fucking drugged her?" Shit, she could be overdosing on whatever the fucking he gave her right now.

  "She's a feisty one, bro," he answered in infuriating amusement. "Couldn't take the chance that she'd go all cop on my ass before I could get her where I wanted her."

  How the fuck did he know Lu was a cop? Then I remembered my brother's engagement party and the conversation I had with my mother with Vinnie only yards away. Fuck, he'd heard it from Mom. Son of a bitch. Had my own mother inadvertently painted a target on Lu? Did he suspect we were investigating the murders I was now convinced he'd committed?

  "Don't worry," he continued nonchalantly. "She's still breathing."

  "She'd better be or I'll end your pathetic fucking excuse for a life, you-"

  "What you'll do," he snarled out, interrupting me, "is get your pathetic fucking ass up to the third floor if you want her to stay that way." Then the fucker hung up on me again.

  I reconnected my call with Calder and Pete, then snarled viciously as fear and frustration fueled rage overwhelmed me. I beat on the steering wheel with my fists a few times until pain shot up my damn arms. I started sucking in harsh and rapid breaths as I clutched the wheel, feeling almost completely unhinged.

  "Focus, Scott," Calder's quiet yet stern voice spoke in my earpiece, and I closed my eyes as he continued speaking. "Lu needs you calm and in control, not panicked and useless to her."

  "I know," I rasped out as I focused on slowing my breathing and worked to calm myself. It took a few moments, but I managed to get a grip. "I'm good now," I said in a more even tone.

  I leaned down to touch the Smith and Wesson 9mm pistol in my ankle holster, feeling reassured by its presence. I didn't give a shit what Vinnie said, I wasn't going in there unarmed. I doubted Vinnie would even think to check for a gun there anyway. I grabbed a flashlight for myself and climbed out of the car, determined to get my Lu back no matter the cost. I just wanted her safe and alive. I didn't even care what happened at the club tonight anymore, especially when I now suspected she'd only said and done what she did out of fear. Luisa was mine, damn it. Mine.

  "The fucker wants me on the third floor now, so I'm heading your way," I said quietly as I hustled down the crumbling and uneven sidewalk toward the east end of the building. There was just enough light from a few nearby streetlights for me to see where I was going without using the flashlight just yet. Why announce my location to that little prick until I had to?

  I rounded the corner of the building and followed the brick wall to a single faded red door. Just like Pete said, there were no chains on it. Its handle was dangling half off by one screw. When I got closer, I could see that the door was ajar an inch or two, so I curled my fingers around the edge and carefully eased it open just enough for me to slip inside and keep the noise from its creaking hinges to a minimum. I was half afraid the damn thing would fall out of its frame.

  Hushed silence greeted me as I stopped just inside the dark interior. I flicked on my flashlight and shone it around to see that I was in a stairwell. The concrete floor was littered with dirt and bits of the bland beige paint that had peeled from the walls all around me. I studied the stairs for a moment, and the treads all appeared intact. Good. The last thing I needed was to fall through the damn stairs and never make it to Lu at all.

  "I'm inside," I whispered. "It's a stairwell and I'm heading up to the third floor now. Wait a few, then follow me." I wanted them close by, but not too close.

  "Got it," came Calder's reply. "Be careful."

  "Yeah," I whispered absently as I set one foot on the first step and thankfully found it solid.

  I continued up the stairs, growing more confident as each tread held my weight. When I finally made my way up to the second-floor landing, the faint sound of music caught my attention. I paused and cocked my head to listen closer, and the low dramatic strains of some sort of creepy-ass classical music hit my ears. What the? What was this, a horror film? Vinnie was fucking nuts. It made me fear for Lu even more, but at least the noise would drown out the sound of Pete and Calder following me up here.

  I shook my head as fear ricocheted around in my gut, and I continued up the stairs, my heart pounding harder and harder in my chest as adrenaline coursed through me. When I reached the third-floor landing, I could make out enough of the music to identify it as "O Fortuna", the opening movement of Carmina Burana. It was a dark and dramatic piece composed in the 1930s by some German guy I couldn't recall. It was based on a Latin poem from the thirteenth century also called "O Fortuna" that was about the inexorableness of fate for gods and men. Don't ask. I had a Latin teacher who thought teaching through music could make a dead language more interesting. I guess it kind of worked since I actually remembered s
omething from the class.

  A heavy steel door was currently lying on the nearby floor, having fallen from its frame and leaving the doorway onto the third floor wide open. The creepy music echoed out from the hallway that stretched off into the darkness in front of me, and I could see light streaming out from a doorway several yards ahead on the right. I flicked off the flashlight since I didn't need it anymore.

  "We're in," Calder's quiet voice spoke in my earpiece.

  I wisely didn't reply. His presence gave me the courage I needed to force myself to move forward, despite the fear that continued to rise higher with each step I took.

  When I came to the doorway, I paused next to it with my back against the grimy cinder-block wall. I itched to draw my pistol out of my ankle holster, but feared it would be a mistake to show my hand right out of the gate. I needed to bide my time. I didn't think he would just kill me outright, since he'd worked so hard to plan this all out. The little fucking drama queen he'd always been would want to drag out this insanity until he got what he wanted, whatever the hell that was. I'd just have to choose my moment to act carefully and hope it was enough to save Lu.

  "I know you gotta be out there, bro," Vinnie called out in an infuriating sing song that grated on my nerves. "If you don't get your ass in here, I'll start the show without you."

  I ground my teeth together as I glanced up and down the hall, wishing I dared to check the nearby rooms to make sure he didn't have any friends to ambush me from behind. However, there was no time. Vinnie had never been a patient man, and he could be impulsive. I couldn't chance Lu's safety to take the time, so I sucked in a breath and stepped into the room, putting what happened next into the fickle hands of fate.

  What I saw next stopped me in my tracks. In the center of the far wall and dominating the small squalor filled room was a large wood-framed bed with only a mattress on it. Lying in the center of the filthy stained thing was my Luisa, spread eagle in her little white dress with her wrists and ankle chained to the bed frame with heavy leather cuffs.