Wicked Games

by A. D. Justice

  “Brad, anything on the digital recorder yet?”

  “No. Nothing yet.”

  Chapter 15

  Brianna enjoyed the smooth ride of the limousine and asked the driver to take his time. She wanted to take in the sights and sounds one last time before going to the club. She had him drive the entire length of Ocean Drive to South Pointe Park. He waited while she walked with her toes in the sand and shoes in her hand. She stood and listened to the waves crashing, breathed in the salty air, and enjoyed the ocean breeze for several long minutes.

  She finally made her way back to the limo and closed her eyes, as he drove her to Washington Avenue. In the backseat of the limo, the memories that she wanted to take with her played like a movie in her mind. Her thoughts were always of Noah. She could see him, feel him, and hear him close to her. She felt the car slowing to a stop and opened her eyes.

  A long line of people, wrapped all the way around the block, waited outside Mirage. Young ladies, in various states of dress, were flirting with the bouncer, trying to get in ahead of the hordes of others waiting in line. Small groups of guys and girls talked and laughed with each other, without a care in the world, other than having a good time.

  Brianna stepped out of the limo and looked directly at the security camera, smiled, and waved. She knew it was a blatant challenge and Richard wouldn’t be able to resist. She was here, willingly, and waiting for him. She strolled up to the bouncer, smiled, and waited. She noticed an earpiece in his ear and knew he would soon be given orders. He looked down at his clipboard list, then back up to her, as he opened the red velvet rope and let her in. Several people called out to him to let them in, too, as she made her way into the exclusive club.

  The multi-level club was packed with bodies writhing to the music on the enormous dance floor. Strangers were chatting and looking for company for the night, others at the bar getting another glass of their poison of choice. The DJ was set up in the middle to give everyone a good view of the show. A light show danced with the beat, changing colors on the ceiling and walls. Brianna walked through the crowd, refusing several requests for a dance and more.

  She reached the VIP room and took a deep breath. It was a smaller room for more intimate gatherings, but still large enough for a good sized party. The room included its own bar and plush leather couches. Richard stood as she walked in. His eyes raked over her, and he had the type of smile that reminded her of a sleazy, used car salesman. She swallowed the bile that tried to rise in the back of her throat and stopped in front of him.

  “Brianna…. I’m so shocked to see you. I thought you were dead.” He wasn’t even trying to sound genuine.

  “Well, it seems we’re both back from the dead, Richard.”

  “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

  “I’m here to ask you to leave Noah alone. Call off your dogs.”

  “You know what I want, Brianna. When I get what I want, you get what you want.” The smile didn’t reach his eyes. There was no humor or compassion there. His eyes were stone cold, and she knew he was lying, but played along anyway.

  Brianna looked around at the others in the room. There were several young women scattered throughout the room, enjoying the free drinks Richard supplied. There were also several hired henchmen waiting for a reason to pounce. “This really isn’t the place to talk about it. Is there somewhere else we can go?”

  Like the cat who had caught the mouse, he smiled and said, “Of course, of course,” and motioned for one of his men.

  They walked out of the back door of the club and got into the back of Richard’s car, as the man drove in silence. She watched the buildings go by. The people out having a good time were oblivious to her predicament. She took mental notes of the direction they were headed – away from crowds, hotels, clubs and restaurants. They were headed to a more deserted area, where they would have plenty of privacy.

  Playing the victim, she looked to the man driving, then to Richard. “Where are we going?”

  “Oh, just a little place I have acquired. It’s a good place to talk. Very private.”

  They continued to hold eye contact until she finally turned her head and looked out the window. They pulled up to a windowless building made of large concrete blocks. The door was solid steel with an industrial deadbolt lock. The driver got out and opened the door for Brianna while Richard exited from the other side. The driver unlocked and opened the building door for them, locking it when they were all inside.

  Richard flipped on the light to reveal a large room with a single chair in the middle of it and a long, thin table was against the wall to the right. There was a doorway in the back wall that led to another darkened room. The second room was somewhat smaller than the one she was in, but she couldn’t tell what was in it.

  She turned to Richard and asked, “What is this?”

  Richard didn’t answer. The driver walked to the table, picked up a wand to sweep her for bugs, and walked back to her. The wand made no noise, and he ran it over her front and back. “She’s clean.”

  Then he walked back and laid the wand back on the table. The sound of a door opening came from the darkened room, and Brianna jerked her head around. Three more men strolled in and stood silently, waiting for orders.

  Brianna reached down and tugged on the hem of her dress, pulling it down, as in a move of modesty. She activated the hidden listening device and flattened the wrinkles in her dress. Richard watched her, but didn’t seem to know what she was doing. The corners of his mouth curved up slightly, as if he were amused at her attempt to cover herself in that dress.

  “Oh, don’t worry. These guys aren’t here for that.”

  “Why are they here?”

  With an ominous chuckle, Richard gave a nod to the men, and they stalked towards Brianna.

  Chapter 16

  Three of Noah’s men followed Richard, as he left the hotel and headed to the nightclub. The car let Richard out at the front door. They watched as the bouncer opened the red velvet rope and let him walk in ahead of the line of waiting partiers.

  “Blake, follow the car and put a GPS tracker on it, in case they leave again,” Roman said, as he handed the tracker off. Blake took it and walked around the building, following the car. He watched it pull into a parking lot behind the building and the driver jogged back around to the front. Moving silently through the parking lot, Blake secured the GPS to the underside of the car.

  Climbing into the SUV, Blake said, “GPS is ready. There’s a parking lot behind the building with a back door. The driver didn’t go in that door, though. If she shows up, we will need eyes on it.” Roman found a place to park where they could watch the front door. Blake opened the GPS tracking software and confirmed the steady dot on the screen.

  “Do we have any intel on this guy? Does he have a team of guys? Or another car?” Alex asked from the backseat.

  “We know he has men, but we don’t have any other specific info.”

  “So, we’re flying blind.”

  “Pretty much.”

  “Good. I hate when people spoil the ending.”

  The men chuckled and kept vigilant watch on the front of the nightclub.

  ***************

  An hour after he lost sight of her at the hotel, Noah finally arrived at the nightclub. He found Roman and Alex on the sidewalk in front of the building and Blake was walking towards them from the corner.

  “We have a situation, Reaper.” Blake hated being the one to deliver the bad news to his boss.

  Noah’s hard stare bore through him, as he asked through clenched teeth, “What?” He knew his men were good and whatever happened was probably beyond their control. But he wasn’t very logical where Brianna was involved. Especially tonight, when he knew exactly what she intended to do, and he had no doubt Richard would have no problem with complying.

  Roman spoke up, “We were in place, staking out the front door while we waited for Brianna to show up. Blake put a GPS tracker on the car parked in the back lot
. There was a wreck, an 18-wheeler and a drunk driver. The semi blocked our view of the door, so we moved closer. When we got around the rubberneckers and the semi, we saw a limo turning at the end of the block. Blake went to the back lot to check for movement. She may be inside.”

  Noah rudely pushed through a group of people, who were in his direct line to the bouncer. The guy at the door knew Noah owned Steele Security. Noah told him he was looking for someone who may be in the club, and he needed to have a look around. The bouncer opened the rope to let Noah, Bull, and Rebel in. Roman told Blake to go around back and keep watch, just in case, while Roman stayed at the front door.

  Inside the club, Noah, Bull, and Rebel split up to look for Brianna. He didn’t really care where Richard was. His only focus was to find Brianna. The entire place was packed with wall-to-wall people. There were multiple rooms with various seating arrangements. There were high backed booths, soft cushioned chairs, actual beds, and some people were even sitting in the floor. He slowly walked through the crowd, his eyes scanning everyone, as he made his way through.

  He saw Rebel and Bull systematically making their way through the lower level of the club until the three men had covered every square inch. They made their way to the second floor mezzanine and continued their search. They turned around and performed the search again on their way back to the front of the club.

  Damn, where can she be? Noah tried to keep his mind in professional mode and not let his personal feelings enter the equation. Emotions would only make it worse and keep him from thinking logically. The three men stood in the foyer of the club, watching people entering and leaving for several minutes before walking back outside. As they moved away from the crowds of people, Blake came running around the side of the building.

  “West! They’re headed west! Let’s move!”

  Scattering to the SUVs, they headed out in the direction Blake had last seen the car. Alex looked at the GPS tracking software and said, “This isn’t moving!”

  Blake shot back, “They had a second car!” He gave everyone a description of it, as they pulled out of their parking area. Traffic was heavy with people trying to get to the late night parties. By the time they pushed their way through the blaring horns of angry drivers, they had lost sight of the car.

  Noah punched the dash of the SUV. “Fuuuuuccccckkkkkk!”

  They split up and proceeded to canvas the area, one block at a time.

  “This is fucking useless. We don’t even know if they went back to the damn mainland or somewhere else on the island.” Noah was racking his brain to figure out what to do next, where to look, but nothing came to him. Bull kept looking, driving block by block, anything to keep busy.

  Noah raked his hand over his face and his hand stopped just over his mouth. His elbow was propped on the door, and he stared out the passenger window. Bri…where the hell are you?

  Just then, Brad yelled out, “Reaper, she’s activated the bug!”

  “Pinpoint her location. Now!”

  Chapter 17

  Richard’s men surrounded her and forcefully shoved her towards the chair. The chair was made of thick wood. It was painted black, very sturdy, and had armrests. The legs were reinforced with two-by-fours running between each one, on each side, front and back. Once she was sitting, she understood why it was constructed that way. They used duct tape to secure her arms to the armrests and her feet were duct taped to the legs.

  Without saying a word or asking a single question, one man backhanded her across the face. Her body shifted violently to the left. She saw stars and felt a sudden burst of intense pain in her cheek, then tasted the metallic taste of blood in her mouth. Her eye immediately started to swell. Still dazed, she turned her face back to the front when another blow rocked the other side.

  With blood running down her cheek and out of her mouth, Richard walked up to face her. “You’ve caused me a lot of fucking trouble. I want those damn documents back, or you’ll hurt a lot more than this.”

  “What documents?” Say it. Say it!

  “Don’t play coy with me. You know damn well what documents.”

  She heard a loud “thwack!” in her ear, as something slammed in the side of her head. She knew she’d been hit, but she didn’t know with what. A fist? A baseball bat? Oh God, it hurt!

  Her vision blurred, as she struggled to hold her head up. Then she felt blows to her ribs that knocked the breath out of her. She coughed and felt her chest convulse, as she tried to suck in oxygen. It hurt to breathe and it hurt to not breathe.

  “You stupid fucking bitch. Give us back the weapons’ invoices!” She felt another blow to her head, but she was so disoriented she didn’t feel as much pain as before. Or her brain didn’t register it. Whatever the case, she knew she wouldn’t get out of here alive.

  At some point, she passed out from the beating, because she awoke to one of the men slapping her in the face, “Wake up. Come on. Wake up!”

  She tried to open her eyes, but they were both almost swollen shut. Her vision was blurry, and she couldn’t make out any faces now, only dark figures moving around her. She could feel the darkness enveloping her and was confused about what was going on around her. She seemed to lose moments of time.

  “Tell us now, or you die, Brianna.” The male voice came from the dark figure directly in front of her. She heard the slide of the gun, as he readied the bullet in the chamber. She saw the dark figure pull his arm up, straighten it in front of him. She couldn’t see it, but she knew he held the gun in his hand.

  She heard heels clicking across the floor, as a female voice said, “Give me the damn gun if you can’t do it, Richard. I sure as hell can.”

  Just as she thought it was over, she heard another voice in the room with them. It was a very familiar voice. But in the fog and haze of her battered body and brain, she couldn’t quite place it.

  “Put the gun down. I already told you, man. This isn’t happening.”

  “Oh, it’s happening all right. I’m putting a fucking bullet in her head and feeding her to the damn sharks.” That was Richard – I know that voice.

  “I’m not asking. I’m telling you. Put the damn gun down. This is your last chance.” Who is that?

  “Last chance? What? You think you can fucking stop me?”

  “Yep.”

  Brianna saw Richard’s dark figure turn from her and face the other dark figure that had just stopped in front of her. Richard’s arm was down at his side, but she could feel the tension in the room.

  “And how the hell do you plan to do that? There’s five of us and one of you.”

  A menacing chuckle, “I don’t need five.”

  She saw the shadow of Richard’s arm move up, and she heard the loud pops of gunfire and people moving all around her. She heard shouting that seemed to come from everywhere, echoing off the walls. She had lost sight of Richard’s dark form, there were so many now, and she couldn’t tell one from another, and her eyes were so heavy. Did more of Richard’s men come in?

  She was still taped to the chair and couldn’t shield herself. She heard someone scream and realized it was coming from herself. She suddenly felt a white hot, searing pain in her shoulder. Just before she passed out, she heard a calm voice that soothed her, “Hold on, Sunny, help is coming.”

  ***************

  Noah paced back and forth in the surgical waiting room at Jackson Memorial Hospital. He hadn’t seen Brianna since the paramedics left with her in the back of the ambulance. She wasn’t awake when they loaded her on the stretcher, and they were frantically working on her in the back of the ambulance as it pulled away. He didn’t make many friends at the hospital when he arrived at the emergency room and couldn’t find her.

  A nurse finally informed him she had been taken straight to surgery upon arrival. He was more than aggravated that he had to fill out registration paperwork on her before the nurse would tell him where to wait for word of her condition. After more than two hours of jumping every time any of the medic
al personnel walked by, a doctor came into the waiting room and called out, “Tate family?”

  Noah, Bull, and Rebel rushed to the doctor. He motioned for them to sit down, “I’m Dr. Sullivan. She’s out of surgery and in recovery now. She had a gunshot wound to the right shoulder. The bullet went straight through with minimal damage. We cleaned it out to help avoid infection, and she will need some physical therapy to restore full range of motion.”

  Noah let out a sign of relief, “OK, we can deal with physical therapy.”

  Dr. Sullivan nodded, but the look on his face was serious. “I’m afraid that’s not all. She was badly beaten. She has a significant concussion with large hematomas on both sides of her head and there is some slight swelling around the brain. That is the most serious injury right now. We will continue to closely monitor her brain activity and swelling. I’ve asked Dr. Conley, a neurosurgeon, to oversee that part of her care. He’s one of our best.”

  Noah’s face drained of all color.

  Dr. Sullivan continued, “She also has numerous cracked ribs, along with contusions on both sides of her ribs. Contusions were also found on her arms and legs. This lady has sustained significant trauma to essentially her entire body.”

  Noah couldn’t think of a single intelligent medical question to ask. “When can I see her?”

  “She’ll be in PACU for at least an hour, more likely two, while we monitor her vital signs and her brain activity. If her vitals remain stable, she’ll be moved to neuro-ICU until we’re sure all danger of swelling has passed. Once she’s in ICU, you can go in during visiting times, as long as you’re family.” His eyebrows rose, as he questioned their relationship to her.

  Noah responded, “Yes, I’m her husband.” Maybe not right now, but I plan to be.