by JA Huss
Scott’s hand darts out and catches my fist before it connects with Drake’s face again. “Get lost, Spence. Now.”
“Come on, dude,” Ryan says. “We gotta go.”
I shake my head and point at Drake. “If you have them, Drake… if you’re involved, just remember your own famous last words. Paybacks aren’t a bitch, man. Revenge, now that’s a motherfucking bitch.”
Scott whirls Drake around and pushes him towards the open door to the backseat of the cop car, but Drake plants his feet and calls out over his shoulder.
“You best be thinking about revenge, Shrike. Because it’s about to jump up and bite you in the face.”
And then Scott pushes down on his head and shoves him into the car, closing the door behind him. He points to me. “Get out, now. Or I’ll arrest you too.”
Ryan pulls me back to our bikes, and I go through the motions. My mind spinning. Ashleigh, gone. Kate, gone. Rook, gone. I pull out my phone and press Ronnie’s face.
It doesn’t even ring.
But the operator tells me that this phone is no longer in service.
Chapter Thirty-One
VERONICA
I breathe erratically for several seconds and I swear to God, if I have a panic attack now, I might as well just give it up. Come on, brain. Work with me here. I’m scared, but I cannot afford to freak out like this. Everything in my body is telling me to run away. To hide, call for help, get the hell out of here. My heart rate jacks up just thinking about these possibilities.
But that’s feeding into the panic. I’m safe here. Bobby and that other guy are gone. I know they’re not coming back right away, I know the plan. I’m safe here. Running away would actually make things worse for me.
So I take a deep breath and move the screen aside so I can squirm my way out from under the stairs.
The woman is crying. Her chest is heaving with the effort because it’s almost impossible to cry with the restraints she has on her mouth, not to mention her hands being tied behind her back make it more difficult to breathe. And I can sense that she’s feeling this limitation. Because I’m feeling it right along with her.
I get to my feet and walk over to her, then pluck an earbud from her ear and lean into whisper. “You’re OK,” I tell her. “You’re gonna be OK.” Bobby was adamant that Ashleigh’s sister be contained. In fact, his exact words were, ‘She’s a wild one.’
She cries harder so I just replace the earbud and she tries to talk through her gag. I think she’s begging me to let her go. But that’s one thing Bobby was very clear about. Do not let them go unless I hear shooting. Because if I hear shooting, the game is over and things got messy.
I’m not sure what that means. Messy. But I don’t need to be Ford to figure out it’s bad.
The woman is not placated by my words, in fact, she’s more distressed than she was before because I probably scared her. She begins to hyperventilate, her breath coming in gasps though her gag, and I almost have my own panic attack with the thought that she might die.
Fuck that. I go back over to her and pull the gag down her chin, letting it hang loose around her neck.
She gasps for breath, making all kinds of strange sounds as she tries to get more air inside her body. “Please,” she gasps between her hitching breaths. “Please, let me go!”
I pull the earbud back out and lean in so she can hear me. “I can’t, now stop being so loud. They might be close by and if they come back here and see you, the whole plan will be ruined.”
“My father is rich,” she pleads with me. “My father will pay you to let me go. Lots of money. My sister’s husband, Ford Aston, is rich too, he can pay you right now, he lives here.”
Oh, fuck. “What’s your name?” I ask in a whisper.
“Amber Li,” she sobs out. “I’m Amber Li. I’m Ford Aston’s sister-in-law. I can pay you, please, just don’t let him get me!”
“Who?”
“Tony! He’s a bad guy, whatever your name is. He’s bad. I tried to tell Ashleigh, I tried to warn her. But she fell for all his charms.”
Tony. “The dead guy?”
“You know him? You know me? My sister? Tony’s not dead,” she insists. “He’s been hiding for months. He lied to Ashleigh—”
“Wait.” I cut her off. “Amber, listen to me. There are two guys here, how would I tell which one is Tony?”
“Two? Oh, God, no. He’s gonna kill him too! He’s gonna kill all of us!”
“Who, for fuck’s sake? Who?”
She’s panicking now. Her breathing is coming in long draws and uneven gasps.
“Amber, please. They’ll be back soon and they’re bringing my friend and Ashleigh and Kate. I need to know what to do!”
“Do they look like brothers?” Her voice is low now, but it might just be that she’s having trouble forming words through her trembling lips.
“Yes, like brothers!”
“Oh God, he’s gonna kill him, he’s gonna kill me, he’ll kill you and your friends and who knows, he might even kill Ash and Kate. Oh God!”
I slap her. Hard, right across her face. She recoils and begins to choke on her panic, so I slap her again, and this stuns her silent. “Look, bitch, I need to know what the fuck I’m up against. Which one is which? How can I tell them apart?”
“Tony is the mean one. The animal. The killer who’s been trained since he was a little boy that revenge is the only answer. And right now, we’re all on his list. We’re all on his hit list because every one of us is standing between him and his property.”
“What property?”
“Ashleigh and Kate.”
I slip her gag back up and scoot away once more.
Holy fuck.
What the hell is happening? Is Bobby really Tony? Did that asshole lie to Ashleigh and fake his own death? And I just spouted off my theory to him last night and he never answered me.
My panic attack is back in force and so is Amber’s. We sit there together, sucking up air like it’s our last dying breath, and I can’t take it anymore. I grab my phone and bolt down the hallway. There are still walls in this place, not like the condos downstairs. So there are rooms. I try the first door and the handle turns. I push it open and enter, closing the door behind me.
I bend over at the waist and try to calm down, but that’s one of my panic attack defenses. So I do the opposite. I stand up straight and hop up and down, trying to raise my heart rate with something legitimate, instead of the irrational flood of fight-or-flight adrenaline that is now coursing through my body.
After several minutes of hopping my rate evens out. It’s still fast when I count, but I’ve got a legitimate reason for it now. I’m not in a blind panic, I’m doing a mini-workout.
I stop hopping and notice my surroundings.
It’s not dark in here, but not because there’s lights on nor is there light from outside filtering in through the curtains because there’s no windows. It’s light in here because I’m in the security room and there are walls and walls of monitors, but every one of them is white with static. They’ve been disconnected because after tonight, this place obviously never existed. I’m the only record of what’s happening.
I am not cut out for this shit.
I don’t think Bobby is Tony. I think the other guy is Tony. That guy had killer written all over him. Bobby… he fed me a nice dinner. He was understanding and he gave me a chance to save Spencer and not let him walk into a setup blind. He gave me the chance to protect him. All I have to do is make sure Bobby comes out alive. That’s it. Just have his back and things will be cool.
I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m so fucked.
That mean guy with Bobby already said he was looking for me. Bomb. That’s me. And the mean one was the one grabbing Ashleigh and Kate. Blackbird and Duchess, he said, but I’m pretty sure Duchess is a name Ford calls the baby.
And then I hear her. The loud, incessant crying of a very distressed Kate.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Ford storms into my office and takes a swing at me. I duck and swing back. He lands a fist on my jaw, spinning my head a little, and then I see red. I throw him down on the ground and land on top of him. He locks an arm around my neck and I get him in an armbar, ready to crack that shit if he doesn’t let go.
Ryan and Ronin pull us apart.
“I told you,” Ford says as Ronin pulls him off to a corner. “I fucking told you if she got hurt, I’d fuck you up, Spencer.”
“She’s not the only one missing, asshole! Rook is gone and so is Veronica, so don’t fucking pin this shit on me! Besides, what the fuck happened to that security team you had on her? Huh? How’s their failure my fault?”
“It’s your motherfucking job!” he snarls back. “My job is hacking. Ronin’s job is lying. Your fucking job is security! I did my job and you fucked it up again!”
Ryan extends his hand and I let him pull me up. Ronin offers the same courtesy to Ford.
We all look over at Ryan and he shakes his head. “I’m out, I get it.” He backs out, closing the door behind him.
“My security is gone,” Ford finally admits.
“Gone? How?”
“Like they were never there. Someone infiltrated my fucking team.”
I feel little vindication over this admission. The facts don’t change. It doesn’t matter who’s at fault, the girls are still missing.
Ford paces one side of the office while I pace the other. Ronin stands in the middle, calm. Calmer than he should be since Rook is missing. “What?” I ask him as I pass by. “Why the fuck are you so calm?”
He huffs some air at me. “Because one of us has to think clearly, Spencer. Look, I don’t have all the info here, OK? You two know something I don’t. What the fuck is going on with this Drake guy, Spencer?”
“I fucking told you, Ronin, he’s the fucking son of that Boulder bastard. He was about to get cuffed back there by the little blonde cop he knocked over yesterday and I said, Paybacks are a bitch. And then he said, Yeah, or You better remember that, or some shit like that. Meaning I’m the one getting paid back.” I point to my own chest to emphasize.
“By who?”
Ford makes for the door and I grab him by the arm. “Where the fuck are you going?”
He glares at me and shakes his arm free. “We have the bot. We’re gonna find out right the fuck now who’s behind this shit. And then, I swear to fucking God, whoever took my girls will be dead by tonight.” He stops and looks at Ronin, then me. “I’m not fucking around.”
And then he’s gone.
Ronin looks over at me and swallows. “What the fuck is going on, Spencer?”
“Dude, I swear, I have no fucking idea. But Veronica’s phone has been disconnected.”
“Maybe she’s just tired of you bugging her, maybe she just got it changed?”
“No, I was with her last night, OK? We had a really good night. I told her to be patient, this shit was almost over. She was good, we were good. And now she’s missing too.”
“This just makes no sense, Spencer. Rook’s testimony, Ford’s daughter, your girlfriend. None of these things are related beyond the fact that they’re all our girls.”
I swallow and inhale deeply. “Yeah.” That hurts. So fucking bad. Because all these years I’ve been trying to protect Ronnie and now look. She might be killed because of me.
Ford comes back in, slams the bot down on my stainless steel desk, then opens his laptop and takes a seat in my chair. He types and then pulls up the bot’s memory card via Bluetooth.
We wait as the footage loads. Ford drums his fingers on the desk, refusing to look at anyone. Ronin peeks out the window facing the street. I’m frozen in place, my worst nightmare coming true.
“Here it is,” Ford finally says after many long silent minutes. “Drake came in two days ago, bitching about the theft?”
“Yeah,” I say as I go around the desk and squat down so I can see the monitor. Ronin flanks Ford’s other side, and we watch the footage run in fast-forward. It’s not the best spot for the bot to be parked—it’s got a fifty-five-gallon drum on one side of the bench it’s parked under and the guys in the garage pile shit up on the other side for a lot of the day. But every night, the shop is picked up and the camera has a clean shot of the bay that houses Drake’s bike. His schedule is annoyingly consistent, and the bot’s camera goes into sleep mode after eight minutes of no motion detection. It stays dark all night, every night until…
“Two nights ago,” Ford mumbles as his fingers type on the keyboard. “That’s after he says the bikes went missing. No fucking bikes went missing. Everything goes quiet around eight, like usual, but it comes back to life at ten thirty.” We watch the monitor as he slows it to real time. There’s three sets of feet walking by, but they are too close to the bot to see faces.
“Come on, come on,” Ronin says impatiently. “Fucking fast-forward until they move back, Ford.”
Ford obliges, and the footage gives us absolutely nothing. The screen goes blank again.
“Fuck,” Ford says. He fast-forwards again to get to the next day, which is yesterday. Same thing, there’s nothing out of the ordinary at all. Just customers, mechanics. Drake working on his bike. We keep watching in fast-forward until the screen goes black and then Ford speeds it up again.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I say. “Back it up. I saw a flicker.”
Ford rewinds and yeah, sure enough, at three thirty last night the camera comes on.
And this time we can see exactly who it is.
“Bobby Mansi,” I mutter. “That guy on the left is Bobby Mansi, Ronnie’s new landlord.”
Ford looks at me and shakes his head. “Well, that guy on the right? That’s Tony Fenici. Ashleigh’s dead boyfriend.”
The door bursts open and I’ve got my gun out and pressed against Carson’s head before I even process who he is. “Fuck, Carson, you almost got yourself shot!”
“Sorry, Spencer,” he says, all out of breath. “But shit, you guys need to get over to that penthouse where Ronnie lives, because I followed the Bombshell over there after work, and dudes…” He pants a little as he tries to catch his breath. “All your women are over there with some pretty nasty-looking guys with guns!”
Ford is up before Carson even stops talking but both Ronin and I grab an arm and wrestle him back to the chair.
“Stay focused, Ford.” I point my finger down at him. “We don’t fucking rush in to anything. And right now, they’ve got your wife and baby, so the last thing we want to do is go in unprepared.”
“I’ll kill that motherfucker, Spencer. I swear, I will kill that motherfucker.”
“Understood.” I swallow hard and clap his shoulder.
“OK,” Ronin says, turning to Carson. “Tell us everything you know.”
So he does. And Carson Reed instantly jumps from prospect to Team member.
And then there’s only one thing left to do.
I get the guns.
Chapter Thirty-Three
VERONICA
I dart down the hallway to an empty closet and slip inside. There’s nothing in here, no hangers to rattle and give me away. So I try to calm my racing heart. I open it a crack and push the record button on the phone just as the elevator doors open. He must have a key that makes them work.
The baby is sniffling but her crying has stopped. Rook is holding her tightly to her chest, her eyes covered with a blindfold. Her mouth is not gagged and her hands are not bound, though. She needs those to hold Kate and whisper calming words to her to keep her from wailing in protest at what’s happening.
The baby recoils in terror when the man I think is Tony leans in and talks to her. “Katelynn Fenici, you’re mine, little girl.”
“She’s not yours,” Rook growls back in protective mode. The guy belts her across the mouth. Her head snaps to the side. Blood drips down her lip and Rook spits it out on the floor. It misses the guy’s boots, but just barely. “That’s
all you got, asshole?” she snarls. “You hit like a girl.” He hits her again and this time Rook stumbles to the side, her lip split open good. “You can hit me all you want, it doesn’t change a thing. This baby is not yours.”
Tony pushes a gun in Rook’s back and give her a push. “Walk forward,” he barks.
“I’m not walking blindfolded with a baby. I’ll fall and she’s the one who’ll get—”
The guy pushes Rook hard enough to make her stumble forward. I almost gasp as she begins to fall. Tony plucks the baby right from Rook’s arms and then she crashes forward, landing hard on her side. Tony leans in and says something to Rook, but I can’t hear anything over the panicked wailing of Kate.
He thrusts the child back at Rook and Rook wraps the baby in her arms protectively, bringing her close to her chest as she tries to calm her.
Tony walks over to the large windows and looks out, then turns back to Rook. “If she moves,” he says to no one, “shoot her. You hear that, Rook? You move, you take off that blindfold, you get up and try to escape, my two guys will shoot you.” He kicks her in the leg and then goes back to the elevator, which still has its doors open. Like it requires a command to do anything at the moment.
I can’t see Tony as he gets in, but a few seconds later the doors close and the room is quiet.
“Rook?” Amber says from across the room. I almost forgot she was here. And she’s got her gag off! If that guy had seen that—
“Don’t talk to me.”
“There’s a girl here, not two guys. She’s hiding somewhere, and she’s not going to shoot you. Come untie me.”
“Shut up!” Rook snaps. “I don’t even know who you are.”
“I’m Kate’s aunt, Amber. I’m Ashleigh’s sister. And I’m telling you, there are no guys here, just a girl who is gone. She told me I’d be OK. But right now that guy who just left is going to get my sister and then he’ll come back up here and take Kate and kill us both. He’s an animal. So if you want to live, if you want that baby to live, then you need to get your ass over here and untie me so we can escape.”