He sighed heavily when nothing about the house changed.
Jack waited and watched, jotting down her arrival time in a notebook. He was intent on learning as much as he could about her and her precious lover boy so he could plan his revenge.
About fifteen minutes after Sonya went into the garage and closed the door behind her, Jack noticed movement in the bushes behind her garage.
Lifting the binoculars again, he hastily adjusted them to focus on who or what it was.
“Lloyd,” he said, and chuckled. “I knew ya wouldn’t be able to stay away long. Gotta get your fuck on, don’t ya?”
He watched as Lloyd struggled with a bag he was carrying while he navigated through the tall bushes; it had the logo of a local Chinese restaurant on the side.
“Aw, you’re such a good boyfriend, ya chump,” Jack said, laughing. “I think you’re just hopin’ she doesn’t decide to rip your dick off and feed that to ya for supper.”
After Lloyd disappeared from view, Jack wrote down the time and the name of the restaurant the food was from.
He settled into his seat and closed his eyes, knowing he’d be waiting a while for lover boy to leave. He planned to follow him back to wherever he was staying, so he would have the upper hand when it came time for action.
***
Sonya was soaking in a hot bubble bath when she heard faint noises somewhere in her house. She knew it was Lloyd, so she wasn’t worried. A smile crept across her face and she bit her lip, anticipating him coming into the bathroom and finding her just the way he’d requested. If this went like normal, he would take his time washing her, and then she’d be expected to reciprocate—they’d end up in the shower together for the finale before dinner.
She lay in the bathtub with her eyes closed, thinking about what she knew would happen, and smiled as the bathroom door opened with a haunting creak. The sound didn’t grate on her nerves like it usually did—this time it made her shiver with anticipation. She opened her eyes to see Lloyd standing in the doorway, looking her over.
“Perfect,” he said, and smiled, coming into the room and closing the door to keep the warm air in the bathroom. “I’ve been thinking about you like this all day.”
“Really?” she asked, blinking up at him.
“Oh, yeah,” he said, kneeling beside the tub. “Have you washed your hair yet?”
She shook her head no and bit her bottom lip.
He reached for the shampoo bottle sitting on a little shelf beside the tub.
One of the things that had drawn Sonya to the house when she’d been looking for a place to stay was the separate bath and shower: the bath was an old clawed foot one; and the shower was a stand-alone unit along the opposite wall from where the tub sat.
She and Lloyd made good use of them both.
***
“Shit,” Jack said, shifting uncomfortably in his car. “How long does it take to screw and eat?”
He glanced at his watch and noticed it had been almost four hours since Lloyd had entered Sonya’s house.
“Either they’re fuckin’ like rabbits or they’re asleep,” he mumbled, and decided to climb out of his car to take a leak in someone’s bushes since it was finally dark enough for him to move around without being seen.
Jack climbed out of his car, stretched, and headed toward Sonya’s house. When he reached the home directly across the street from hers, he turned to walk up the driveway like he knew the residents; he even walked around toward the backyard. No lights were on in the house and he hadn’t seen any movement from it all day, so he knew it was a “safe zone” for his bladder relief needs.
Just after he’d unzipped his fly to urinate in the bushes beside the house, a car turned the corner and drove down the street in his direction. The car pulled into the driveway, and he hurriedly hopped into the bushes while trying not to piss on himself. He tried to stop, but he couldn’t get the flow to shut off.
A family climbed out of the car.
Squeals and laughter could be heard as two small children charged across the yard toward the front door, and that’s when Jack picked up the sound of a dog barking—a large dog.
He squatted down a bit so he could see the family and the car better, and that’s when the tone of the barks changed.
The dog paused and sniffed the ground before its head swung in the direction of Jack’s hiding place.
Shit! he thought, trying to hurry up and finish.
The dog growled and lunged in his direction, but a man stepped forward and grabbed the dog’s collar before he could get to the bushes.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” the man scolded. “Remember what happened the last time you went after a skunk? We aren’t playing that game again—I’m too tired tonight.”
“What’s going on, hun?” a woman called from around the front of the house.
“I think there’s a skunk in the bushes again!” the man hollered, dragging the dog back to the front of the house. “Keener is freaking out!”
“Get him inside,” she yelled back. “We don’t need him stinking up the house again.”
“Really?” Jack heard the man mutter sarcastically.
The man pulled the dog around the house, swearing at it the entire time.
Jack breathed a sigh of relief once the family—and dog—were inside, but light now poured out of the windows and he knew he would have to be careful heading back to his car.
***
Sonya purred and stretched, opening her eyes as Lloyd climbed out of her bed.
“Where you going?” she mumbled sleepily.
“I gotta go, babe,” he said, looking around for his clothes.
She pouted. “I don’t want you to go.”
“I know you don’t, but I have to—I have a meeting in the morning. Where are my clothes?”
She rolled from her stomach onto her side, enjoying the view of him standing in front of her naked.
“In the bathroom, silly,” she said, and giggled.
“Duh,” he said, and slapped his forehead playfully, laughing at himself. “How could I forget?”
She shrugged and yawned. “Don’t know.”
“You should get some sleep—you have to work tomorrow,” Lloyd gently scolded over his shoulder as he headed out into the hallway and toward the bathroom to retrieve his clothes.
Sonya pouted and closed her eyes.
Lloyd came back into her bedroom a couple minutes later, buckling his belt, and caused her to jump and open her eyes.
“You were almost asleep again, weren’t you?” he asked, bending over her and brushing stray hairs off her cheek while kissing her shoulder.
“Mmm, hmm,” she mumbled, and turned her head to kiss him. “You can’t go yet, we haven’t talked about the plan.”
He chuckled. “You’re too tired to concentrate on that now. Rest—we’ll talk soon.” He kissed her soft, pink lips.
“I wish you could stay,” she whispered as he stood.
“Me too,” he said and sighed. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow—go to sleep.”
She smiled, closed her eyes, and buried her face in her pillow as he tucked the blankets around her.
Sonya was asleep before Lloyd left the room.
***
Jack had finally made it out of the yard and back to the sidewalk, and was heading toward his car when he saw a shadow slinking away from Sonya’s house.
“Shit,” he snapped angrily, and sped up to a jog. He knew it was Lloyd leaving and he didn’t want to lose him.
“’Bout time, lover boy,” he muttered as he opened his car door and climbed into the driver’s seat, slamming the door behind himself in his haste.
He turned the key, which he’d left in the ignition, and peeled away from the curb, heading toward the end of the street to circle around to the next block, assuming that was where Lloyd had left his car. He no longer cared about keeping a low profile—his mind was set on not losing his prey.
Jack took the corners fast, squealing tires
every time he turned. He almost crashed into the side of Lloyd’s car as he turned onto the next street over.
Lloyd looked up and Jack caught his surprised expression, which instantly turned to anger as he recognized Jack. The headlights only illuminated his face for a couple of seconds, but Jack knew his cover had been blown, because Lloyd floored it and sped away.
“Motherfucker!” Jack screamed, and punched his steering wheel in frustration.
He braked, steered roughly to the side, and skidded into a wide driveway sideways, before gassing it again and tearing through someone’s yard, giving chase to Lloyd.
After running multiple red lights and careening around a couple of sharp turns, Jack gave up on finding Lloyd.
He pulled up to a curb on a side street and ranted to himself about the damn family and the stupid dog who’d slowed him down. Sighing deeply and deciding he might as well go home and formulate another plan—one that would keep him alive now that Lloyd knew he’d been following him—and possibly get some sleep.
Jack sat forward and turned his head to check his blind spot before pulling back out onto the street, and nearly screamed when he saw Lloyd standing just outside his car watching him.
Panicking—thinking Lloyd planned to kill him there and then—he pressed his foot down on the gas pedal and shot away from the curb, almost plowing into a car coming up beside him. They honked and swerved to avoid him.
He looked back in his rearview mirror to see Lloyd still standing in the same place, calmly watching him drive away.
He was shaking, but he told himself it was anger for the rest of the drive home. Every time he looked in his mirrors, he expected to see Lloyd behind him, waiting for him to stop so he could kill him.
***
Lloyd watched Jack drive away with anger swirling in his soul like a rabid demon, burning to get free so it could kill. But he felt a perverse satisfaction knowing he’d scared the shit out of the damn idiot. Being smart, he knew Jack had to have been watching Sonya’s house, waiting for him to arrive and leave. He figured Jack wanted to know where he was staying, so he would have the upper hand. The man was sloppy and had ruined his chance of ever finding that out. No one knew where he was staying, not even Sonya.
Still standing in the street, he extracted his cell phone from his pocket.
He sent a text to Sonya, saying he was in full favor of Roger’s participation in their plan.
Lloyd knew they needed someone to keep tabs on Jack; he was proving to be too much of a variable. He didn’t mention what had happened, knowing it would be best to share the information in person, but after a slight hesitation he did add, “Watch your back” to the text message before he sent it.
Chapter Seventeen
The world was dark when David got off the airplane in Memphis, Tennessee. The lights of the city did nothing for his depression. His external reality seemed miles away. He’d cried out his grief before his flight and had been numb while he’d typed up his theory to send to Agent Harmon.
He was desperate to get to Nashville and dig around, but he had to visit the FBI office in Memphis first. That’s where he’d have access to the missing persons database and the case files. Once he was satisfied with the research and information, he’d go out into the field to do the grunt work of tracking down, what he now believed, to be a group of medical professionals killing people and harvesting their organs for the black market.
Once he made it to his hotel, he continued with his research as much as he possibly could. While he could log into the bureau’s databases from his laptop at the hotel, he didn’t like to do so. He’d previously worked closely with one of the FBI’s cyber divisions and he’d learned how much information could be accessed and hacked using open or publically shared Wi-Fi signals. His most urgent concern was hearing back from Agent Harmon. He wanted to know what his boss thought of his latest theory.
He received an email back from Harmon, but it wasn’t what he’d expected. The response simply said to call him.
Frowning and sitting at the foot of one of the beds in his hotel room, David called his boss.
“You said to call…?” he said as soon as his boss picked up.
“I thought you’d want to know as soon as possible that a new case has been found,” Harmon said.
“Holy shit! You’re serious? You’re not just messing with me…?”
“No, I’m not messing with you,” Harmon said, and chuckled. “The search you had running in the database got a hit on a report only a couple days old, in Pittsburgh.”
“I guess I’ll be changing my travel plans,” David said, standing and pacing while he thought about what this meant for his case.
He was close—only a couple of states away.
“We’ve booked you a flight to Pennsylvania, but it doesn’t leave until tomorrow afternoon.”
David wanted to travel right then, but he knew the urge wasn’t practical. Even if he drove, he wouldn’t get to Pennsylvania any sooner.
“I think the organ harvesting theory is plausible—it makes sense,” Harmon said. “Go ahead and go into the Memphis office as you’d planned. Do more research while you wait for your flight.”
“That’s a good idea,” David admitted. “I’ll do that and I’ll keep you in the loop.”
With that, the agents ended the call.
David stopped his pacing at the window. He was three stories up and had a great view of the surrounding area, but he didn’t see it.
His cell phone weighed heavy in his hand. He wanted to call his mother to tell her what was going on and how close he might be to finding out what had happened to Daniel. Then he remembered how he’d fallen apart at the mere idea of Daniel being dead. He couldn’t bring himself to do that to their mom on a maybe. He wanted to know something definite before he hurt her. But he still wished he had someone he could talk to about what he was thinking and feeling.
With a sigh, he turned back into his room and laid his cell phone on the small desk between the window and the dresser that supported the TV in his hotel room. His plans for the night were to take a shower, find some food, and try to sleep so he could have a successful day of research before he headed out to his new, promising destination.
Everything seemed to be happening really fast all of a sudden. As he stripped before stepping into the shower he mumbled to himself, “Be careful what you wish for—you might just get it.”
He was going to find out the truth and he feared he wasn’t ready for the reality that sped toward him, especially since just the idea of what might be left him shaking.
Chapter Eighteen
“Watch your back.”
The words wouldn’t stop running through Sonya’s mind. She kept wondering what she was supposed to be watching out for. Lloyd knew she could handle herself, so it baffled her that he would even bother sending her such a message. She was also wondering what had prompted him to say Roger could be included in the plan.
When she pulled into the hospital parking lot, she checked to see if he’d responded to her text, asking him what was going on—he hadn’t. With a sigh, she decided to text Jan and tell her she’d check and see if anyone at the hospital had admitted an unidentified man.
Opening her car door, she balanced her travel mug full of coffee and her keys in one hand, and stood, holding her phone in the other. She slid the electronic device into the front pocket of her shirt and slammed the door with her foot, heading toward the medical facility twenty yards away. As an afterthought, she pulled her phone back out and texted Miles as she entered the building.
Sonya: How are things?
She jumped when her phone vibrated and chirped almost instantly after she hit send. She frowned down at the phone.
Miles: Fine…you coming down?
Quickly, she put her things in her locker and headed to the elevator bank to ride up to her floor and start her shift.
Sonya: Later. Have to get to my floor.
***
Several hours lat
er…
Sonya headed downstairs, tired after her shift. They’d been short-handed and all the rooms had been occupied. Running her ass off and working like a dog at the whim of sick, grumpy people wasn’t her idea of a good time, but she kept herself going by thinking of ways she could murder them and make lots and lots of money. The morbid thoughts had kept a smile on her face all day.
Knowing Bill Housen was dead, she didn’t even bother going and checking about him. Instead, she exited the elevator and headed down the hall to collect her things from her locker. When she came back out into the hallway, she turned the corner to the elevator that would take her down to the morgue.
She pressed the button and stepped in when the doors slid open. She pressed the button for the morgue and waited. The doors slid shut and she was alone for a moment to lean against the wall and close her eyes. The ding when the doors opened signaled it was time to get the meeting over and done with, so she straightened up and trudged out into the hall.
Normally the cool, shadowy corridor soothed her, but she was so tired, just being down there annoyed her, and she had a feeling Miles was going to annoy her to the point of anger.
She spied him through the window, weighing a heart he’d taken out of a body. He spoke as he did so, recording dialogue notes as he proceeded with an autopsy.
Stepping up to the door, she knocked, and he glanced up.
He smiled behind the clear face shield he was wearing and tried to wave, almost dropping the heart he held in his rubber-covered, bloody hands.
Despite her bad mood, she couldn’t help but laugh at his blunder. She shook her head and nodded to the left of the doorway, indicating she’d be waiting in one of the chairs in the hallway.
She sighed as she sat, feeling the muscles of her body momentarily relaxing. She wished for a bubble bath…a bubble bath with Lloyd. Sighing again, she bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes, envisioning what she would do with Lloyd if her wish came true.
Nurse Blood (The Organ Harvester Series Book 1) Page 11