Before Josh could get close enough to look in her eye and see that there was nothing there, a beeping noise came from the corner of the room. It seemed like it was coming from the large rectangular machine there. Allie remembered seeing something like that in one of her art classes in elementary schoold. It was a kiln.
Even as she identified what it was, she noticed there was thick smoke pouring out of its sides. It wouldn’t take too long for that smoke to fill up the entire room.
It was another trap.
“Everybody! Get out! Now!” Allie pointed to the smoke billowing upward from the kiln, its outer edge close to enveloping the dominatrix. She had taken off one of her boots and was rubbing the arch of her foot. The corseted woman looked up, saw the danger, and scuttled toward the door as fast as she could hobble on one heel.
As the group escaped the latest deadly threat, Stavros slammed the door shut and backed away from the door as smoke began curling out from the crack at the bottom of the doorframe.
“Time to get away from here. Fast.”
CHAPTER 9
Keaton wracked his brains, trying to remember what mickeys he had here, nearby. For some reason, his brain wasn’t working quite as well as it normally did. Under typical conditions, he was sharp. Quick. Witty, even.
Now? He felt like his thoughts were moving through thick syrup. Maple.
Man, he was hungry.
This killer was really pissing him off. Employees dead, mickeys destroyed, clients carved up like sides of beef. It was more than enough to put the guy in Keaton’s very small “people I will never do business with” book. But poisoning the food? That was just petty. Like, beyond the pale, you know?
Stavros’s voice intruded on his vindictive reverie. “New location. Now, Keaton.”
Yeah, yeah. Right. Poisonous smoke coming out from the door and stuff. Or some kind of explosion brewing inside the door. Whatever, they needed to move out of here.
And then an idea came to him. Brilliant.
“We can go to the studio.”
“Studio?” Stavros asked.
“Yeah. It’s for our boudoir videos. ‘Intimate Moments.’ It’s pretty popular with the above-forty set.” Keaton had never gotten that, but hey, to each their own. Oh, and what about…? “Also, I forgot, there’s a whole control center there. Video feeds of every part of the Hive. We can see everything.”
Stavros froze. Even his face went completely still. Keaton had learned enough of Stavros over the last few hours to know that this was not a good thing.
The drug king-pin slowly revolved around to face Keaton, his face a wooden mask. He breathed in and out slowly. Keaton found it strangely mesmerizing. Like what cobras did with their prey.
“There’s a control room?” Stavros breathed out, his voice barely above a whisper. Strange that such a small sound could convey so much menace. Keaton filed that information away for future reference. He’d have to practice that one if he wanted to get it just right.
“Um. Yes?” Keaton wasn’t quite sure how to answer that question. Clearly, Stavros was upset. Maybe agreeing with him would calm him down.
Apparently not. Stavros lunged at Keaton, reaching for his throat. This did not bode well for their future business relationship. Josh threw himself in between them, holding up his hands in front of Stavros. “W…w…wait. Don’t hurt him.”
Kat thrust herself in at that point, getting into the boy’s face, mocking his stutter. “W…w…why not? He totally deserves it.”
“Hey!” Allie grabbed Kat’s shoulder and spun her around to face off with her. “Don’t make fun of my boyfriend!”
“Boyfriend,” Kat sneered. “Whatever.” But Keaton noticed that she backed down. Smart move. Keaton was pretty sure that little Latina could take down any of them. Well, except for Stavros, of course. And maybe Lacresha. Oooh. Come to think of it, that could make for a wicked awesome pay-per-view event.
In the meantime, Stavros had been stalking around the hallway, looking like nothing more thana big, caged cat. Keaton had to figure out how he did that. Panther said power. What kind of animal did Keaton project? He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
“Okay, everyone,” Keaton held up his hand to mollify the group. “We can sit here and point fingers at each other, be all ‘he said, she said,’ or we can go try to catch a killer. Am I right? Whatcha say?”
“Keaton’s right,” Stavros agreed, his voice still coming out as something of a growl. “There’ll be plenty of time after we catch this psycho to take care of fingers.” Somehow, in the way he said it, Stavros made it clear he was talking about breaking them, not pointing them.
Not exactly what Keaton had been shooting for, but for now, he’d take it.
* * *
As they filed down the hallway, on to the next of who-knew-how-many of these freaky rooms, Josh bounced back and forth between elation and despair. Allie had called him her boyfriend. In public. To other people. That should have been enough to keep him flying for weeks to come. If he actually lived that long.
But having Kat dig into him for his stutter had knocked the air out of him, enough so that even Allie’s breath of fresh air hadn’t completely inflated him back up again.
He had spent so long trying to overcome his stutter. He hated it. He had friends who complained about their hair, their acne, being fat. As far as he could tell, they all had it pretty easy. His stutter went right to the core of his ability to communicate with the world around him. It sucked. Bad.
It just wasn’t fair. No one should be expected to keep a handle on something like that while being chased around a huge house by a killer.
Now it was out in the open. Seven had definitely heard. He heard and saw everything that Kat did and said. And Seven wasn’t exactly known for being a good keeper of secrets. Once more, Stephen would totally have his back. Seven? Not a chance.
And Allie? Josh had no idea what Allie must be thinking right now. Sure, she had leapt to his defense, but now the reality of having a boyfriend with a speech impediment was probably sinking in. It was only a matter of time before she got sick of it—and him. Josh wasn’t sure he could handle that, especially after getting his hopes up.
Even as he thought that, he felt Allie’s hand slide into his. The scent of her strawberry shampoo wafted into his nostrils. He couldn’t bring himself to look at her, but he felt the warmth from her palm travel up the length of his arm and settle somewhere close to his heart. It might be temporary, but he was going to enjoy every second of it.
Another two turns and the group arrived at the next door. They fell into their places behind Stavros as he tipped the door open. Seven broke the tense silence.
“Soooo…what’s it gonna be this time? Any bets?”
“I’m going with death by adult novelty toys,” Kat replied.
Josh wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, but whatever image it might have given him, it didn’t match what they found. The room was filled with video equipment of all kinds. Several cameras, multiple tripods, lights, backdrops, props. There were items lying around the place that had no practical function that Josh could fathom.
One of the cameras, a huge monstrosity, perched on top of an open tripod and faced a large green screen that completely covered the opposite wall. Sprawled on the floor in front of it was a man with what looked like a camera lens stuck in his mouth. Thrust into the hollow of the man’s throat was a Leatherman, a multipurpose tool that Josh had seen on a movie set during his one and only experience as an extra. Hey, it was Hollywood, and his friends had dragged him along. It hadn’t been a great experience.
Set against the adjacent wall was a bank of television screens, each one with a different view of different parts of the Hive. Josh moved over to the array, glancing from one to another. He started to ask a question when Lacresha stepped up to the desk in front of the screens and picked something up.
It was an audio recorder. Josh was pretty sure it was what guys on the set had called a Zoom. It had a s
ticky note on it that said “Play me.”
“Well, what have we got here? Some bedroom play captured for our amusement? Perhaps I should take notes.” The dominatrix pushed the play button as Stavros leapt across the room to stop her.
“No! Don’t—”
But before he could get to Lacresha, a distorted voice leapt from the device.
“Congratulations on staying alive so far. Well done. This is just a note to let you know that your reprieve is over. I’ve been going easy on you. From here on out, I play for keeps.”
“What? He hasn’t been serious up to this point?” Keaton squeaked. “Is this guy for real?”
But apparently the recording wasn’t done yet. “Oh, and if you’re still listening, you might want to get out of the room. Now.”
None of them had to be told twice.
* * *
The explosion rocked the hallway where the group had just been. As Allie clamped her hands over her ears, she felt the impact thump through her body like a wave of violation. If she had thought the dubstep was bad…
After the noise and dust receded, Allie reached out for Josh’s hand again. He’d been distant and pretty much silent since Kat had called him out on his stutter. Allie wanted to make him feel better, but was afraid that anything she did or said would just make things that much worse. So she kept holding his hand, hoping that he’d realize after a while that she didn’t care. Not even a little bit.
She was about to ask him if he was doing okay after the explosion when he shook off her hand. Hurt, Allie looked over at him to see what was going on, but Josh was headed over to Stavros and Keaton. He held up a hand and smiled at her, as if to say he was sorry for the disconnect.
“Hey.” Josh had interrupted the two in the middle of some kind of heated discussion. It was probably about Keaton’s habit of “forgetting” important things. Allie was about to take a go at the man herself.
Ignoring the irritated looks that both men pointed at him, Josh plowed ahead. “Before we j…jetted out of there, I saw something on one of the screens. Actually, someone.”
That got their attention. Both men left off their argument and turned all of their attention on Josh. Stavros gave him a “go-ahead” gesture.
“What exactly did you see?”
“Well,” Josh continued, “It was just for a split second, but there was someone staring right into one of the cameras. A man.”
“What’d he look like?” Keaton probed.
“Tight-cropped dark hair. Big guy, with—”
“Wait. Was he wearing overalls?” Keaton cut in.
“Uh, yeah, I think so.”
Keaton stood up, running his fingers through his hair. “No way. No freaking way.”
“What? You know him?” Stavros raised an eyebrow in Keaton’s direction.
“Yeah. I think…” Keaton brushed his hair back down with his fingers, artfully fluffing and spiking it without even paying attention, the motion done apparently from long practice. “I think it’s my janitor.”
“Fantastic,” Stavros muttered. “We’re getting our panties kicked all over this place by a janitor.” He turned back to Josh. “What else did you see?”
Allie could see Josh’s forehead crease up as he tried to think it through. “It seemed like there was a bunch of white frilly stuff.”
Keaton snapped his fingers. “That’s the mail-order bride mickey. It’s in the same wing as Granny. As long as we get over there fast, he’s trapped back there.”
“All right, everybody. Time to move out. Let’s go!” Stavros roused the group and frog-marched them down the hall to their destination.
Allie couldn’t help but feel like it might also be their doom.
* * *
There was something nagging at Keaton. He didn’t like the feeling. So far, every time he’d felt this way, Stavros had ended up getting mad at him. He didn’t like it when Stavros got mad at him. The two of them were like the parents here. They had to be a united front for the rest of the group. You know, to keep up morale.
But still, there it was, that irritating tugging in his brain that kept saying he was forgetting something. Ah well, it would probably come to him in time.
“Man, I wish I had a gun,” Stavros said to himself as he scanned the hallway ahead for more traps.
“A gun?” Keaton said without thinking. That was it. That was what had been pestering him. And now that he’d remembered, he kind of wished he hadn’t.
Something in his tone must have alerted Stavros, as he stopped dead in his tracks and got really quiet again.
“What did you say?”
“Um. Nothing?” Keaton tried.
Stavros just glared at him, his left eye twitching ever so slightly.
“Well… it’s just that…” Keaton started.
“Yes?” Stavros sounded kind, patient. Overly so. It sent a chill down Keaton’s spine. Man, this guy was good. Leadership just oozed out of his perfectly manicured fingers.
“I think…well, I’m pretty sure…that my mail-order bride lady…” Keaton swallowed against the lump that had suddenly formed right below his uvula. “… ah… keeps a Glock.”
“Keeps a Glock?” Stavros echoed, his voice still eerily calm.
“Well, yeah. You know, sometimes a disgruntled client would—” A hand clamping itself around his esophagus kept him from finishing his sentence.
Stavros somehow managed to keep his voice friendly and conversational while attempting to squeeze the life out of him. Keaton’s vision was beginning to tunnel. Was that a light he saw in the distance? Pretty.
“There’s a gun. On the premises. Not just any gun. A Glock.” The voice droned on as Keaton started to get all drifty.
Another voice intruded. A girl? Must be that Latina chick. “You can’t kill him. He’s the only one who knows the way around here.”
“Oh, I’m not going to kill him. Yet.” The constriction abruptly ceased and Keaton heard someone retching and gasping for air. Oh. Wait. That was him.
The room eventually stopped reeling around and settled into some semblance of normalcy. Wow. Was a strangulation attempt an indicator of a bad relationship? Maybe he could convince Stavros to go to counseling with him. Work out some of their issues.
“How’re we feeling?” Stavros purred, his face looming in close to Keaton’s.
“Oh, hey, yeah. I’m doing okay. Nice of you to ask.” Maybe there was hope for them yet.
“Good. So glad to hear it. Now. On your feet; we’ve got a gun to fetch.”
Keaton worked his way back up to his feet, trying to remember when, exactly, he’d fallen. Then another, more immediate, thought pushed that one out of his head.
Just how many bullets did that Glock have in its clip?
Keaton was hoping and praying there was just the one. You know, for the killer. Any more than that, and he might just be in trouble.
* * *
Josh wasn’t sure how it had happened, but danger had started becoming a bit hum-drum for him. As the group fled down the hall, running from a ceiling cave-in apparently triggered by Seven brushing his hand across a trip wire set into the side of the wall, the normal adrenaline rush Josh had come to expect had yet to show up.
Maybe he’d just run out.
And that was after they’d passed by more death in a room used for dental veneers—that had been terrifying—a room for making tie-dyed clothing, and another for something Josh hadn’t been able to identify and wasn’t sure he wanted to know about. Everywhere around them was death and destruction, hunting them down like vermin. And yet, Josh was having a hard time making himself care too much.
The only thing that kept him going was the hand in his. Allie was worth everything and anything he could possibly go through. And he wasn’t about to let anything happen to her.
After what seemed like a pretty perfunctory glance at the door, Stavros pushed his way into the next room. Josh followed behind, feeling like he’d stepped into an issue of Brides. The room
looked like a wedding reception had thrown up all over it.
Except for the splotch of red in the middle of the room. There, a pretty, dark-haired woman was dressed in the poofiest wedding dress Josh had ever seen. She looked like a meringue pie—except for the fact that her chest had a gaping hole where her heart should be. Blood had soaked through a good portion of the dress, as well as creating a pool over the desk and chair where the woman was splayed.
“Ah, man.” Keaton whined. “She was one of my best employees. Couldn’t speak English for crap, but man did the male clients love her.”
“We’ll cry over her body later.” Stavros was all business. “Right now, you need to get me that gun.”
“Gun. Right. It should be right over here.” Keaton moved toward some shelves and opened up what looked like a cigar humidor.
A rattle issued from the open box and Keaton sprang back into Stavros’s unwilling arms. “Whoa! What was that?”
Extricating himself from Keaton and taking a cautious look, Stavros moved away from the shelves before answering. He motioned everyone away from that area.
“It’s a rattlesnake.”
“Okay,” Keaton breathed. “That is the last time I stick my hand into an enclosed space.”
Lacresha, who apparently had little fear of snakes, used her riding crop to close the lid of the humidor on the percussive reptile. She cooed to the snake as she did so.
“Don’t you worry, little one. Aunty Lacresha will come back for you after this whole thing’s over.”
Josh gave a little shudder. If he’d ever had any curiosity about S&M, it was now gone forever. Although the thought of Allie in a corset like that…he shook his head to get rid of the image. Couldn’t let thoughts like that get in the way of important things like being able to walk. He glanced at Allie out of the corner of his eye, still not able to believe that she was holding onto his hand.
“Okay,” Stavros grunted, once the humidor was safely secured. “No gun. Is there anywhere else she could’ve hidden it?”
“Well, there’s the ‘get to know me’ room off to the side, but I don’t think—” Keaton started.
Down & Dirty: A McCray Crime Collection Page 45