That hadn’t stopped him from some late night rendezvous however. It was actually fun tiptoeing around in his own house in order to get some booty. Ty grinned. He could just hear what Katy would say if she heard him call their lovemaking a booty call. He couldn’t wait to get home and see her again. It had only been a few hours and already he missed her.
Ty had tried dating over the years. He’d even come close to love a couple of times. There was a woman last fall he’d dated and thought that she could be the one, but then an old friend of Jared’s came to town and stole her away. In the end it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. As soon as Katy came back he knew there was no one else. They’d wasted so many years apart. But, no more.
He still had the ring he’d bought her in high school and planned on placing it upon her finger when he returned. It wasn’t near as fancy as the rock Katy’s ex had weighed her down with, but that was okay. He’d scrimped and saved as a teen because he’d chosen it as a gift of his love, and there was no price tag you could place on that. When he was closer to home, he’d give Jared a call and have him take Kyle out for a night on the town. Maybe stop at the store for some strawberries and champagne. Ty grinned. He would never have taken himself for a romantic, but he certainly was when it came to Katy.
He almost missed the warning chirp from his phone. He turned down the music and listened, but there were no incoming calls. Ty shrugged off the foreboding feeling twisting his gut in knots and lowered the window, whistling. He drove another ten miles before it dawned on him what that beep might mean. Jared’s new security system.
His hands tightened on the wheel and his foot pressed down on the gas pedal. He kept an anxious eye on the road until he found a place to pull over. Signaling, Ty turned in and slid to a dust raising halt. He grabbed his cell from the console and started thumbing, in search of the app that would connect him with the theatre’s new camera system. Why hadn’t he paid more attention when Jared walked him through everything after the install? He jabbed the little icon and waited for the application to load.
C’mon, c’mon already.
Shit, he only had one bar. Ty hopped out of the cab of the truck and using his arm like an antenna, wandered around the side of the road looking like an idiot. Suddenly the picture came in and what he saw stopped him in his tracks.
Kyle, at least it looked like Kyle—kind of hard to tell with the whole Carrie thing going on—was wandering dazed among chunks of what seemed to be cement shards all over the floor of the main gallery. His hair was matted with blood and grotesque rivulets ran down his face.
“Kyle, what the hell happened?” Ty roared. Where was Katy? Fuck, he knew he shouldn’t have left town. “Kyle.” No response. Obviously the audio feed was down.
Ty jogged back to his pickup and gunned her back onto the road with chirping wheels and irate honks from fellow travellers. Shit, he was too far away to do any good. Hopefully, the motion detectors had done their job and set off an alarm for the police.
Using hands-free, Ty called Jared.
“Yeah, I see it,” were his friend’s opening words.
“What the fuck happened?” Ty was beyond frustrated. His foot pressed the pedal to the medal and the scenery became nothing more than a blur.
“I don’t know, man. Everything was fine when I locked up last night.”
Ty had given the men a much-needed weekend off after all the hard effort they’d put in, now he wished he hadn’t. “I have no sound on my end, how about yours?” He was desperate to learn of Katy’s whereabouts. She must have decided to show off the theatre to her brother. There was no way she’d leave his side if he were injured.
Unless she had no choice.
“Me either. Some… knocked the wiring out or the cops would already be there.” Jared’s words came through the truck’s radio disjointed as Ty moved in and out of range.
“Call now. I’m on the way.” Ty swallowed hard. “Make sure she’s all right.”
“Will do. Don’t worry, she’s probably looking for the first aid kit, you know Katy.”
Ty hung up. He sure as hell hoped that’s what was happening, but the twinge in his gut had turned into a stabbing pain.
~~~*~~~
Katy couldn’t believe this was happening. Her brother lay unconscious at her feet with a possibly severe head wound and a mad man stood behind her with a gun pointed at her back. Talk about your crazy melodramas, if this was on stage it would be a hit.
She rose slowly and turned to face her nemesis, keeping her body between him and Kyle. “What do you want? My purse is on the counter up front, take it and go.” The man wore a balaclava but the eyes were the same. It was the shooter from the alley, she was sure of it.
He laughed, and the spooky sound filtered by the cloth raised the hair on her arms. “You think you can get rid of me that easily? Oh no, I’ve been thinking about this day for a while now.” His thumb caressed the stalk of the gun and made her want to throw up. “You and me, we’re going to have us a little fun and maybe if you ask me nice, I might let that brother of yours live.”
Katy gulped down her panic, aware that if she let him see how scared she was he’d use it against her like the rabid dog that he was. “Look, my family has money. Let me make a call and I can get you whatever you want. But, you have to get help for my brother. Now.”
“Tut, tut, tut. I don’t think you realize who it is that’s calling the shots here.” He waved the gun in the air and giggled. “Get it? Shots? I crack myself up sometimes.” Then in an abrupt about-face, the gun leveled out and pointed straight at Kyle’s head. “Maybe you need some incentive to listen.”
He cocked the weapon and Katy shrieked. “No.”
She flung herself over her brother’s prone body, the tears she’d held back pouring down her face. “Please,” she cried. “I’ll do whatever you want, just leave him be. Please.” She wasn’t above begging if it meant her brother might live. This was a nightmare. Where were the police? The security system should have sent out a silent alarm by now. Kyle needed medical aide soon. She had to find a way for him to get the help he needed. Whatever the cost.
“Get up.” And when she didn’t move fast enough to suit him, he grabbed her by a handful of hair and screamed, “I said, get up.”
Forced to awkwardly climb to her feet, Katy barely held back the cry of pain. Her hands went to the hair caught in his grip and held on, trying to ease his hold. Good thing she had a tough scalp. Her abductor yanked on the swathe of hair in his hand like a set of reins.
“Let’s go.”
They tripped through the debris-laden aisle, his elbow pushing her where he wanted her to go. When they arrived at the foot of the stairs heading up to the second level he stopped her.
“Wait a minute.”
In the next instant her arm was wrenched behind her back and a plastic cuff went around her wrist. “Give me the other one.” When both were tied together he said, “Up you go, nice and slow. Just remember which one of us has the gun and you’ll be fine.”
With every fiber of her being Katy prayed someone would show up to save them before it was too late. Ty would be devastated. They’d finally found each other and now this. It wasn’t fair. She hadn’t even told him about her efforts to find their son yet. She’d thought there would be time later, when their relationship had gained firmer ground.
As she stumbled up the dark staircase Katy focused on the past week, filled with firsts for them as a couple. The first night spent in each other’s arms. The first time they made breakfast together. The first time they made love after breakfast. Their first shower together. Moments of intimacy that she wasn’t ready to give up. She wanted to build a life with Ty, to have children, and grow old together. She certainly didn’t intend to spend her last hours with the psycho following one step behind her. The urge to fling herself backward and knock him down the stairs was overpowering. Except that with the tight bindings on her wrists there was no way she could save her fall. It would do no good
for Kyle if she broke her neck trying to be a hero.
At the top her abductor grasped her arm in a bruising grip and yanked her to an even darker corner of the room. The seats had been removed up here for refurbishing and their harsh pants echoed off the walls.
“Please,” she cried. “Let me go. You don’t want to do this.”
Katy fancied she could hear him lick his lips. “Oh, that’s where you’re wrong, missy. Your momma should have never messed around with ol’ Ramsey. She made promises she never bothered to keep.” He mumbled something behind the mask, and then said louder, “Besides, you and me, we gots us a score to settle. You made me kill that old coot the other day. Now the cops ain’t ever going to let me alone. Someone has to pay for that.”
Shocked, Katy barely even noticed when he forced her to her knees and began unscrewing a section of the floor beside them. What did he mean her mother made him promises? How did her upstanding, snobbish mother know a man like this? None of it made any sense.
He finished the last fastening and used the screwdriver to pry the floorboards up and out of the way. It revealed a hidden passageway that Katy had no idea was there. And if she hadn’t known about it, chances were her brother didn’t either.
“I think bootleggers made this in the old days to hide their booze. Now I get to use it to hide my floozy.” He chortled. “You first, and watch out for that first stair, it’s a doozy.” He slapped his thigh and laughed, so cocksure of himself. “I’m full of them today.”
He was full of something all right, and humor wasn’t one of them. He stood back with that gun glinting at Katy like an evil eye and waited for her to climb to her feet—not easy with her hands tied behind her back. Going down those rickety stairs in the dark without overbalancing was going to take all of her iffy abilities. Time enough to figure out what was going on when she made it to the bottom all in one piece.
After being made to wait while he lowered the hatch and re-screwed it, this time from beneath the floor, Katy concentrated on placing one foot solidly in front of the other and heaved a silent sigh of relief when she came off the last stair. They’d gone round and round the zig-zag staircase until now she wasn’t sure exactly where they were, but she had a feeling her time was running out.
It was probably a futile hope someone might hear her cries for help. The room he’d pushed her toward after traversing a dank tunnel filled with cobwebs and who knows what else, smelled of mildew and moist soil. The only light came from a small flashlight in Ramsey’s hand. At least there was a slight stream of fresh air coming from beneath a wooden door. Her heart jumped in anticipation of escape.
He noticed where she was looking and chuckled, the sick bastard. “So you want to leave me already, do you? Now what would be the fun in that?”
He set the flashlight on the floor and pulled the balaclava up and over his head. Katy shuddered as his features came into view, casting a huge shadow on the wall behind him. He looked so… average. Like the guy next door, or the clerk who bags groceries. The kind of person you’d pass on the street and never even see. Nondescript brown hair, brown eyes, even brows. All of it so normal.
Yet inside resided a monster.
And he wanted her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Ty broke the sound barrier in his race to return home. If any cops wanted to give chase, good. The more, the merrier. Jared had called back with regular updates, none of them satisfactory.
“You better pull over for a minute,” he warned.
“What’s going on?”
Jared hesitated, then flatly stated the words Ty had been afraid of hearing. “She’s missing.”
Ty’s heart clenched. He jerked the wheel, and the tires squealed as he fought to regain control. “What the hell do you mean, missing?”
“We’ve scoured the building, man, she’s not there.”
“What the fuck’s going on, Jared?” Frustration was eating him alive. He hated the fact that he wasn’t there. Stupid shit ran through his brain like a sieve. She’d changed her mind and skipped town. Her ex had come and spirited her away. She’d decided she needed more time. None of which explained what happened to Kyle or the falling vase.
“Calm down, you won’t do her any good if you’re dead.” Before a fresh wave of panic could hit, Jared relayed the facts. “I called Jack who phoned for backup. We got there about the same time. He’d already checked the station and there were no reports of the alarm going off.”
“So, Kyle had Katy’s key. That’s no reason for an alarm, right?” Then Ty picked up on what hadn’t been said. “Are you saying the accident wasn’t a coincidence?”
There was a moment of heavy silence. “No. I’m sorry, man. I wish I had better news. Someone infiltrated the theatre and sabotaged the motion detectors and audio. We were just lucky he missed that camera I put in the speaker box.”
“Who? Who did this?” The memories of Katy’s earlier assault flashed through his mind. “Oh shit, no. Please don’t tell me it’s her attacker.” But inside he knew. Fate had stepped in and thrown them another curveball. Son. Of. A. Bitch.
“The camera caught him hiding behind the curtain on stage. He must have been watching them the whole time. He wore a balaclava, but it’s him, we’re sure of it. As soon as they separated he moved in. We’ve replayed the tape a few times now and I noticed him pull something out of his pocket. I thought it was a cell phone, but now I’m figuring it for a detonator.
“As soon as Kyle got close enough the bastard tripped the switch and the vase on the second floor railing exploded.” Jared’s voice portrayed his grim anger.
Ty punched the steering wheel. He couldn’t fucking believe this. “What about Katy? Was she hurt?”
“No, she was across the room when it happened. Listen, you’re not going to like this,” Jared warned, as if Ty had liked anything about this situation so far. “As soon as she rushed over to help Kyle, the asshole jumped her. He held a gun on them. It was obvious either she left with him or he was going to shoot her brother.”
Ty pushed the guilt and terror he felt to the back of his mind for now. If … no, when he got her back, he’d spend the rest of his days showing how sorry he was that he hadn’t trusted her. Here she was fighting for her life and he’d been worrying about his own pansy-assed feelings of abandonment.
He rubbed a shaking hand across his mouth and sucked in a harsh breath before replying. “Okay, I’m about two hours out. Keep looking, man. She’s… everything. I can’t lose her again, Jare. I just can’t.”
“I know, bro, I know. Jack has half the damn town out searching. We won’t quit until we get her home. You just drive safe, we’ll handle this end.” He hesitated a moment, then said, “I got your back, buddy. I won’t let anything happen to your girl.”
Ty swallowed hard around the lump in his throat. “Thanks man, I know you do. See you in a few.” He clicked off before he started blubbering like a baby.
The thought of what that animal could be doing to her right now was enough make his blood run cold, so he cranked up the tunes, opened the windows for the bracing night air, and drove like his life depended on it.
Because it did.
~~~*~~~
Katy kept a wary eye on her abductor as he went to the door, cracked it open a couple of inches, and checked the area. It was full on night now. Unless she did something to notify someone of her predicament soon, this was going to be too late.
Heart in her throat, she gathered her courage and rushed toward him with her head down like a battering ram, screaming at the top of her lungs. She’d hoped to catch him off guard and maybe smash his hand in the doorjamb so that with any luck he’d drop his weapon, but that didn’t happen. As soon as she opened her mouth he slammed the door shut and turned so that she literally fell into his arms.
“Shut up,” he hissed. His hand, the one with the freaking gun, came up and covered her mouth with bruising force. Then he laughed, his eyes in the dark two glowing embers of spite and mali
ce.
“You’re a spry one. We’re going to have a good time together, we are. Ol’ Ramsey likes teaching lessons to smartass women who think they’re too good for the likes of me.”
He rubbed his disgusting crotch against her belly. Her eyes widened in terror and her heart beat like a frightened bird against her ribcage. Her legs buckled. If he hadn’t been holding her she would have collapsed to the ground. The smell of his garlic laden breath made her gag and he threw her away from him. She fell, injuring her back against some crates and bruising her side, then sank to the ground hard. Her shoulder blades screeched with pain from the strained position she had them in. She couldn’t even feel her fingers any more.
The only thing she had left to protect herself with was words. Maybe if she could distract him for long enough and someone, please God, heard her scream, help would come. If not… that didn’t bear thinking about, so she rushed into speech.
“Why are you doing this? Who are you?” And the question she most wanted answered, “How do you know my mother?”
“Nosy little thing, ain’t ya?” He paced the narrow confines of the room like a caged animal, kicking up little clouds of dust in his wake. Katy choked and realized they had to be in some sort of storm cellar. Crazy to think her and Kyle had run over every inch of the theatre as children and never noticed that passageway.
“Your darling momma hired me to cause a little mischief for her ex by sabotaging the renovations. You just happen to be my bonus.” His smarmy gaze trailed across her sprawled form. Katy hurried to tuck her legs into her chest.
“Your mom figured she could order me around like one of her minions, but I don’t take commands very well. We’ll see who’s bossing who by the time I get done with you.”
He was stark raving crazy.
But at the same time a grain of truth ran through his bluster. Katy had known for some time now that her mother was growing unstable. At first it was little things, like forgetting names and whether or not she had milk at home, when in fact there would be quart after quart sitting in the fridge going bad. Then the extreme mood swings began; from amusement to condescension, to anger and confusion. It wore on everyone around her. Soon the board members were asking Katy if something was wrong and all she could do was shrug it off. If not for the years of service her mother had given to the hospital, they probably would have relieved her of her duties.
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