Run to You

by Lynne King

  “Angel, leave her be, she isn’t doing no harm.” A small hesitant voice carried along the corridor.

  “Woman, hush your mouth.” His words cut through the air like a knife. Then, lifting his glasses long enough for Liz to feel he had bored into her very soul, he turned and walked over to the girl. Her face had paled and her eyes took on a look of terror.

  Liz stood unable to move, her legs feeling as if they didn’t belong. When he placed his arm around the girl and pulled her to him, the display of submission and possession was for Liz’s benefit, the girl’s arms holding him tight to her and returning the forcefulness of his kissing.

  The strength she sought came, her legs carrying her down the corridor, his ugly laugh bouncing of the stair walls closing in on her.

  Once out on the sidewalk, she leaned against the building trying to get her breath back, angry within for the fear and intimidation she had felt and was still feeling. Without touching her, he had violated her mind and body. She started walking fast, faster still until she was running through the crowds and across the road, dodging the slow moving traffic. The sudden blast of a horn brought her to a sudden halt.

  “Jesus, you dumb broad. What the hell are you playing at?” His free hand swept through tawny strands of hair from his forehead, his sky blue eyes glaring out of the open car window.

  She stepped back onto the sidewalk, aware now of what she had done and how close she had been to being run over. There was recognition from both sets of eyes, only this time there was no pleasing smile, just a heavy frown.

  “It’s you!”

  Having managed to regain her breath, anger and fear made her lash out. “Where is your charm today, Detective, in the seat of your pants?”

  A chuckle could be heard from the other passenger in the car, causing a smile to flit across the detective’s face. “You’re lucky I’m in a hurry, sweetheart, otherwise I could have your ass booked for pulling a stunt like that. Perhaps in England you like jumping out in front of cars, but in this country there’s a law against it.” The unmarked police car sped off into the distance.

  Liz could sense people looking at her as she stood. Tears had already formed behind her eyelids and it wouldn’t take much for the floodgates to open. Quickly she walked toward the subway to avoid the stares but by now she was a forgotten spectacle.

  Arriving at the bank, she was greeted by Mark.

  “Elizabeth, are you okay?”

  She guessed her composure was a little off beat today, but breaking down in front of this guy was not going to happen.

  “Yes, fine, thank you for your concern. I’m touched,” she snapped back.

  “Look, Elizabeth, I’m sorry about the other night. I should have said something sooner. What can I say. I was drunk and, in truth, can’t even remember what I said but it was obviously bad.”

  “Yes, it was.” She glared back at him. “Don’t worry, Mark, with what I’ve had to deal with of late, it’s well forgotten.”

  The day that followed was so busy it left little time to dwell on what had happened that morning. Lorraine asked her once or twice if she was all right, but Liz didn’t want to think about it, let alone talk of it. As the afternoon drew to a close though, the dreaded prospect of going back to her apartment took hold. It wasn’t the girl’s fault; she was a victim who had returned to her abuser like the police said she would. Liz knew that to go to the police with nothing more than he intimidated her with his presence wasn’t going to get her far. Especially seeing she had lied and made a false statement in the first place. Besides, he hadn’t exactly made any threats verbally—the intent was there though, in his eyes.

  Stepping out through the electronic doors, she drew her arms tight across her chest. She felt tremors go through her despite the blistering heat, which the sidewalk drew in and retained, the skyscrapers of Manhattan providing the insulation.

  “You all right?” Julie stopped to ask her as she exited the bank.

  “Yeah, fine, thought I’d forgotten something, that’s all.” Pretending to search her purse, she forced out a smile. “No, it’s okay. My keys are here.” She held her apartment keys up for Julie to see. She couldn’t have sounded too convincing going by Julie’s sceptical look. For a brief moment she felt like blurting out her fears until rational thought took over telling her she was acting like a victim now. Julie was not Lorraine and would probably laugh in any case.

  Julie raised her thinly plucked eyebrows, folded her arms, and smiled as a man with dark blond, tousled hair strode up to them.

  “Hi, can I offer you a ride as a way of an apology for this morning.”

  “Well, this is interesting. Elizabeth, you are a dark one. So, Officer.” She leaned forward and read his badge. “I mean, Detective. What offence to my friend here did you commit this morning that warrants such an offer? Unless, of course, you are arresting her.”

  Liz was wishing for once, Julie would keep her smart mouth closed. Obviously her jibes were annoying him, as he threw her a dismissive glance and faced Liz. “If your friend allows me to get a word in, my car is parked around the corner.”

  “Well, excuse me.” Julie gave a broad smirk. “See you tomorrow, Liz, and make sure he reads you your rights before you admit to anything.”

  Watching Julie disappear into the busy pedestrian traffic gave her time to think. So far she hadn’t spoken a word. Confused, worried, paranoid were only touching on the thoughts rushing her mind. This was the second man who had shown up at her place of work knowing far more about her than she did them. Admittedly this one was a cop and could have easily found out from her statement she filled in at the precinct, but why her? Two very attractive and sexually appealing men were stalking her almost. She should be feeling pretty flattered. Instead she stepped back up against the brick building and away from him.

  “No, I’m fine, thank you. I’ll take the subway and I won’t do anything stupid like try and get myself killed. It was my fault so you don’t need to apologize.”

  He placed his hand up against the wall and was leaning into her. “Please, I simply wanted to continue our interrupted conversation, you know, from the precinct and of course, from our very first encounter.” He placed his other hand on his chest. “You can trust me; I’m an officer of the law. My intentions are pure though I can’t speak for the rest of me.” He threw her a wink. “Come on, let me get you home and we can talk on the way.”

  She had to admit, having a detective drive her back to her apartment was a lot more comforting than having to make the journey alone. At least she could get him to check the stairwell for her, but then that would mean inviting him in. There again it wasn’t such a bad idea. “Okay, you can take me home. Obviously you know where that is seeing you found out easily enough where I work.”

  “It comes with the job. I know where all the attractive single under-thirty ladies live within a fifty-mile radius.”

  “How do you know I’m single? I could have a boyfriend or several, details of which I don’t believe were on the form I filled in.” They were walking down a side road now toward a restricted parking bay. His car, remembered from this morning, was parked up the road with a parking permit stuck on the inside of the windshield.

  “I don’t. What about that guy from the cocktail bar? He looked pretty interested jumping in and protecting you from that drunken bore that had you in his grip.”

  Liz climbed into the passenger seat and clipped the seatbelt on. “What about this apology.”

  The engine roared into life. He gave her a brief glance before swerving out of the side road and joining the steady stream of rush hour traffic. “I was on a call to a robbery and homicide so kind of wasn’t concentrating on young women jumping out in front of me.”

  “What kind of an apology is that?”

  “You said earlier I didn’t owe you one.”

  “Yes, well that was…” She glanced over at him and noticed the lifting at the corners of his mouth. He liked to tease and could no doubt do a wh
ole lot more to her sensibilities if she allowed him to. There was no way he was single and if he was it was from choice. She had been attracted to Shaun purely in a flirtatious fun way. This one she felt drawn to like a forbidden fruit that would most definitely break her heart. This was silly jumping ahead as if they were about to start dating. The traffic was at a standstill now and certainly reinforced her opinion that there was no point in getting a car while she was living here. At least he had good air conditioning, not that it stopped the heat within that she felt was down to the now strangely silent driver. What are his motives? She needed to know.

  “Why did you track me down, Detective?”

  “It’s Jack, and I told you, it was to apologize.”

  She shook her head. “You don’t strike me as someone who goes around apologizing.”

  That lopsided smile appeared again. “I do if they happen to be good-looking redheads with a delectable English accent.”

  “Are you off duty or is this being done on police time?”

  “What do you think?” He blasted his horn to a car that had tried to cut him off. “Don’t you think I would have put my flashing light on by now if I was on the job? Traffic jams bring out the worse in me.” Feeling in the breast side pocket of his jacket, he withdrew a strip of gum and tore the wrapper off with his teeth before placing it in his mouth.

  She didn’t exactly believe him, but as she couldn’t think of any other reason he had for pursuing her—unless she was on the most wanted list and didn’t know it—she had to go along with it.

  Finally he pulled up opposite the brownstone building. She glanced up at the second-floor windows and must have revealed her unease in her face.

  “Are you okay? You don’t seem keen to go in?”

  “No, I’m fine.” Still she made no attempt to open the car door.

  “Look, is there something you want to tell me? You reported an assault. Have you been threatened?”

  Lorraine’s words came back to her about not getting involved. She hadn’t been threatened as such and the girl had made it obvious this morning she wasn’t pressing charges. Her fingers released the door catch and she made a movement placing one leg out onto the sidewalk. The light touch of his hand on her bare forearm was enough to send a current straight to her pleasure senses.

  “You didn’t answer my earlier question.” He raised his eyebrows. “About your single status, or has Mister Gallant swept you off your feet with his damsel in distress routine?”

  “For your information, I’m no damsel who needs rescuing. I know exactly how to take care of myself. Thank you for the lift, Detective.” She glanced down at his hand, her look enough to make him remove it.

  “I have a feeling fate will have us bumping into each again, sometime soon, I hope.” He gave her a wink.

  Before shutting the door, she leaned back into the car. “A cop leaving it to fate. Again, you don’t seem the superstitious type that you leave things to chance.” She pushed the door shut.

  Despite telling herself to play it cool, to walk up to her building and not look back, she turned on the steps and watched as his car drove away.

  Chapter Five

  Shaun listened to her voice giving him instructions. He hated taking orders from some tart who even disguised her voice. Certain words though told him she wasn’t American, English for sure. As for who was giving her orders, he hadn’t a friggin’ clue. It bothered him some, but the payment he had received up front and the money transfer once the job was done more than compensated. “Yeah, I collected the photo and necklace from the box. I might not need them though. I can be pretty persuasive, darling,” he replied.

  “You’ll need the guarantee. I told you she’s straight as they come and you’ve got to make sure she doesn’t go running to the cops.”

  “If she does it will be my arse, so don’t insult my intelligence. Now if you’ve quite finished, I’ve got a bit of business to take care of.”

  “I’ll be in touch when the job’s done, then.”

  “Yeah, sure, I look forward to it and make sure the money transfer is in place the second those sirens sound.”

  “The deal was when you dropped the key off.”

  “No, darling, tell your boss the key doesn’t leave me until I see that money in my account. Understand, otherwise the deal’s off.”

  The dead silence told Shaun she was discussing it with someone and had put the mute on.

  “Okay, agreed but remember we know who you are and where to find you. Double-cross us and there will be no place for you to hide.”

  “Tell your boss to go fuck himself. If you knew that much about me you would know if I’m paid to do a job, I get it done.”

  “We’ll be in touch.” The line clicked off.

  Shaun placed the cell phone in the glove department of his car. He glanced at his watch. They would be there waiting, his chosen three. Like Elizabeth, they were all expendable once they had outlived their purpose. It was all part of getting a job done, no loose ends to worry about.

  It was a pity as the taste of her lips came to mind, sweet and pure. He could even say he enjoyed her company—she didn’t bore him like a lot of women did with their silly giggling. She had guts, too, in the way she acted and it certainly screwed up his plans for the rest of the night. She was pretty hot for it in the taxi. Once in her apartment things would have reached boiling point. He could feel himself getting hard just thinking about it. He bet she fought like a cat when cornered, much nicer to have her lying hot and begging for it beneath him. Yes, killing her was going to be a waste, but it would be worse if he never got to fuck her first.

  The meeting was held in an old abandoned warehouse, by the West Side docks. Tony and Mickey, both of Italian descent with harsh upbringing etched into their twenty-five-year-old faces stood listening to Shaun. They were small-time crooks from out of town brought in by Shaun because he knew they were unconnected to the New York scene. They were desperate to pull off something big for themselves away from the usual neighborhood gangs that kept them away from anything worthwhile. Shaun had assured them New York was different, he had all the right connections, and they would be stepping on no one’s toes. It would be split between the four of them, equal shares, just as long as they kept their mouths shut.

  Fred was different; he knew his cheeky face opened doors. The ladies loved him and he was a born and bred New Yorker. It wasn’t coincidence that they often sat in on the same card game in the back room of a seedy little bar in Harlem. Shaun had sought him out from the start with the knowledge he was well informed about security systems, especially banks. Shaun also knew he hadn’t put it to much use, preferring to work alone on small-time burglaries. It had taken a lot of persuasion on Shaun’s part to get him interested in pulling off a bank heist; the gambling debts he had accumulated finally did the persuading. No longer able to get employment in security due to a bogus insurance claim against his name, the doors were closing in on him fast. Even the house burglaries were getting harder to pull of with alarm systems getting more elaborate by the day. The one big break was all he needed and Shaun had convinced him this was it.

  The heist was planned to take place in seven days’ time with everything worked out to the finest detail. Fred knew most of the up-to-date security system in the bank from his inside connection, yet he was still worried. Systems were regularly updated with sometimes even the staff unaware of some measures taken. The reliability of his informant was also under some doubt.

  “You sure our inside man is up to it and won’t crack.” He directed at Shaun.

  “He’s sound and knows what will happen to him if he even thinks of doing a deal and ratting us out.”

  Fred was about to question some more and then thought better of it. On the outside Shaun O’Riley gave little away, his past an even bigger mystery. Fred, not wanting to stick his head out for some scheming opportunist, had made it his business to find out what circles O’Riley moved in. It had proved more difficult than he had
first thought, but certain things had come to light eventually through the use of his Irish underworld contacts. They were just rumors, but it was enough to figure out what type of man he was dealing with and it hadn’t painted too good a picture. O’Riley was an alias—that much he knew—and his sponsor was a known sympathizer and fundraiser here in New York for so-called liberators back home. The war might be over, but there were a lot who had blood on their hands and needed to disappear.

  All this troubled Fred. Terrorists were the worst kind to be mixed up with. They held no morals, and innocents could die along with the guilty as far as they were concerned. Sure he was probably capable of killing if his own neck was at risk, but contract killing and maiming and killing women and children was something he could never live with. He had to speak up.

  “There will be no killing. We go in there clean and come out the same way, otherwise I want no part in it. I’ve made my position clear on this from the beginning. Just make sure these two wise boys know it.” Fred glared over at Tony and Mickey.

  “No sweat, hey, we’re not into killing unless a gun gets pointed in our direction, then we take down whoever is in our way. That fair enough for you, old timer?” Mickey was chewing gum as he spoke, his eyes mocking Fred.

  Shaun stepped forward in between Mickey and Fred. “If we don’t fuck up there will be no need for any killing. The heat will be a thousand times worse if some old granny picking up her life savings gets blown away so Fred’s right—we keep this clean.”

  Tony spat on the floor. “All we want is the money. We’re no killers.”

  These so-called assurances did little to ease Fred’s mind. He was looking at one very clever but dangerous man and two head cases—it would take a miracle for no fuck-ups.

  “You’ll have to be the driver, staying with the car the whole time,” Shaun aimed at Tony. “With your height you might be too easily identified. Besides, we need a good getaway driver in case the alarm is raised. Make sure you don’t start sweating and fuck off without us, however close they get.” There was no mistaking the threat behind his words.