Erick

by Dale Mayer

  “Oh, don’t worry. They’ll be coming in after us soon enough.”

  She shot him a horrified look. “And we want that?”

  He picked up a chain, wrapped it around both his fists, using his damaged hand as capably as his good one. He held the chain taut at a one-foot span in between his hands. “Oh, yes, we do.”

  She studied his face and realized he was damn happy to no longer be a prisoner and to have regained control of his destiny again. Regardless of what ended up happening, he wanted the ability to fight back, to get at the men who had taken him by surprise. She reached out a hand and placed it over his clenched fist. “It’s not your fault, you know.”

  He turned and stared at her, but there was no give in that glance. “It might not be my fault,” he snapped, “but they got me in a weak moment. And that’s not allowed.”

  “What exactly happened?” she asked.

  “I stepped out of the restaurant. Something was thrown over my face. I think a rag soaked in chloroform, and I was smacked on the head. Before I knew it, I was dragged out to a side exit. And then I was out cold. When I woke up, I found myself here.”

  She nodded. “I looked for you at the restaurant, but I couldn’t see you.”

  “What the hell happened to you? I thought you were having breakfast with your friend.”

  She narrowed her gaze at him. “We won’t use that term any longer in reference to David.” She quickly explained their conversation. “I guess I’m added incentive for Erick to show up and to meet David’s ‘friend,’ then I’m goods because I’m to be delivered to David for private time with him,” she added in disgust. “At this moment I wish he were here in front of me without his goons, so I could kick him where it counts.”

  He frowned. “Did you text Erick?”

  She nodded. “I didn’t have a choice, so I told him about you and the meeting here. No, I didn’t tell him about being delivered to David’s place afterward. I didn’t want him to be distracted with that news. I did tell him this was a trap.”

  “Good,” Laszlo said with satisfaction. “They’ll handle it.”

  She shook her head. “You don’t understand. You and I are the hostages to make Erick toe the line.”

  Laszlo shrugged. “I don’t worry about Erick when it comes to things like that. He’s a great strategist. He’ll have this all locked down and sewed up in no time.” He glanced around the room. “I do wish I knew where we were.” He glanced back at her. “Did you see where they drove us?”

  She shook her head. “They blindfolded me when we were in the vehicle. I just saw us leaving the hotel and getting into a big black SUV.”

  He nodded. “That’s to be expected, I guess. And maybe it’s better that way. Because, if you did know everything, then they weren’t expecting to keep you alive.”

  She swallowed hard. “Really?”

  He nodded. “This way you don’t know anything. Therefore, you’re not a danger to them.”

  She preferred that, but it was a little daunting to hear it spoken about in such black-and-white terms. “Well, I sure as hell hope somebody has some answers, because this guy had questions. I can’t believe David knew about the accident I was in with Erick.”

  Laszlo spun and stared at her. “He knew about the accident?”

  She nodded. “I don’t know why. I mean, obviously I hit Erick, but it was a pretty minor accident. We did file reports, so insurance got involved, but, other than that, I don’t see why anybody would care.”

  He stared at her for a long moment. “Have you had any other contact with Erick since the accident?”

  She raised both hands, palms up. “No. I just saw him again for the first time in the hotel lobby here.” She shrugged. “At the time I thought it was a coincidence that I was here when Erick was. And, when I said that to David, he told me there were no coincidences in life.” She shrugged. “Then how much can I believe him when he had his own plans for me right from the start.”

  Laszlo nodded. “Most military units have the same thoughts about coincidences though.” He paced the small room, the chain curling and uncurling in his hands.

  “Unless it’s got something to do with Kat. Because he did show me a picture of us together.”

  Laszlo slowly turned to stare at her again. “You know Kat well?”

  She smiled and nodded. “We’re good friends. Been so for years. We’ve done some stuff together, attended some workshops. We do a lot of volunteering together. It’s no big deal.”

  “Except Kat is now with Badger—and anyone tracking her movements would know she was in England with him recently. And she’s a center point for us because of the work she does.”

  “David didn’t mention anything about them,” she said slowly. “I sure hope he’s not going to do anything to hurt them.”

  “Do you still have your cell phone?”

  She shook her head regretfully. “No, they took it from me.”

  “Hopefully somebody has warned Badger to keep an eye out for Kat.”

  “But, if you’re connected to Kat, and Kat’s connected to the rest of the unit, and you’re here, it could be that the chess master has been moving pieces around the board. The question is, what does he want? I sure wish to hell somebody would tell me.” She paced angrily. “David completely blindsided me this morning.”

  Laszlo chuckled. “You’re really not one to look in the mirror, are you?”

  She glanced at him and frowned. “What are you talking about?” Then she understood. She could feel the heat flushing up her cheeks. “I’m okay to look at,” she said firmly. “But I’m not knock-’em-dead model-type stuff. And I’m definitely not someone a man is willing to risk everything for to have a few days with me. And believe me, there was nothing nice about his offer.”

  “Maybe not but you’re definitely the kind who makes a man stop in his tracks.”

  She rolled her eyes. “So not.”

  “David’s attention, what was it like before this?”

  “It seemed personal and professional at the same time. I met him years ago in New York. He said I caught his eye back then. We communicated ever since. We covered a lot of topics but mostly about the latest stem cell research. I mentioned Kat because she’s interested in stem cell research for her clients. There are all kinds of job opportunities, special cases, that I could be part of and that would really be exciting. That’s what I came for. Some incredible stuff is happening here.” She spoke with so much enthusiasm that he laughed again. She shrugged. “Honestly I had been trying to go to Swiss or English conferences for years but never was accepted, so, when David called about the last spot at the conference, I didn’t think anything of it. We talked for quite a while. He asked me if anyone, maybe Kat, was able to come with me. I said there was no way I could get anyone to come with on so little notice. And, yes, I think he would have spirited me straightaway to his place even if this friend’s issue hadn’t come up.”

  “David was smart about it,” Laszlo said quietly. “You never knew a thing about it until this morning, did you?”

  She shook her head. “No, and I can’t say I feel any better knowing now. I feel … icky. I know that’s a childish way to look at it, but it’s such a creepy thought.”

  “Did you get any benefit out of the workshop?”

  She nodded. “I sure did. In many ways it was way ahead of anything I could even possibly do, so it was possibly useless. Yet nobody ever asked me about my attendance or made it seem like I didn’t belong or even made it seem like I didn’t have the experience or the knowledge or the practical application to be there. But I found the workshop incredibly informative. David was just a friendly colleague, I thought.”

  “So why would he jeopardize all that in order to get himself involved in this mess?”

  “He said something about his friend wanted him to do this. And, therefore, he would do whatever his friend said so he could keep doing business in Kabul.”

  “Aah. That makes sense then. Because he�
�s probably being blackmailed by this friend of his.” Laszlo’s gaze sharpened as he considered that. “And then he gets you too?”

  She nodded. “At the restaurant I got a queasy vibe from him and was looking around for you to see how to get the hell out of there, but you were already gone.”

  He swore softly. “I’m sorry about that. I was getting texts and phone calls, and stepped out of the restaurant to make a private call. But I was standing at the entrance where I could keep an eye on you. And that’s when they took me out.”

  “Yeah, well, it doesn’t matter. We’re here. Now it’s a matter of how the hell do we escape?”

  “You want to try the door?” He motioned toward the knob. “Check to see if it’s locked.”

  “Will they notice?”

  He shook his head. “If you do it really slow, they won’t see the movement. If it’s locked, you’ll hit the end of the rotation very fast.”

  She walked over and grabbed the knob firmly and tried to turn it slowly. It wouldn’t budge. She shook her head. “It’s locked,” she said in a low whisper.

  He nodded. “That’s what I expected.”

  Just then they heard footsteps walking toward them. She backed away from the door, turning in terror. He held up a finger to his lips, replaced his chair and sat back down again in the same position he had been. Only this time he was holding the chain instead of the chain holding him.

  She looked at him. “I don’t know that that’ll fool anybody.” She spoke in as low a voice as she could. “Before you looked like you were unconscious.”

  He nodded, gave her a grin and said, “Not to worry. As soon as they come in, I’ll look exactly the same.”

  Just then the door opened, and a man walked in. He took one look at her, barked an order that had her backing up, and he took one look at Laszlo and snorted. He walked over and smacked Laszlo across his face.

  She glanced at the doorway, but nobody was with him. In just that split second that she took her gaze off them, Laszlo jumped, threw the chain around the man’s neck, wrapped it tight and choked him. And he held on until the man dropped to his knees, out cold.

  Or dead.

  She stared at Laszlo in horror as he dragged the man back behind the door.

  He just grinned a hard feral grin. “It was him or me.”

  Erick approached cautiously. He was several blocks away yet but had no intention of driving any closer. His men were spread out, coming in from all angles. He parked, then walked casually down the street, knowing he was being watched. He wasn’t sure by whom, though apparently Brandon was already in place, and that was a huge help. One extra man in a situation like this could make all the difference.

  Erick didn’t give a shit about himself, but he was really worried about Honey. That she’d been caught up in something that was none of her doing was just wrong. That it got to the point where she’d been kidnapped along with Laszlo, … well, that was something these assholes would pay for. She didn’t deserve this.

  But, after England, he realized things had changed. Not only had they come up on somebody’s radar, but that somebody was doing a hell of a job making sure they weren’t here any longer. Wanting to ask him a few questions was a bullshit story. Sure, they might have some questions, but that had nothing to do with the reason they wanted to meet. They could have just called him. No, they wanted a face-to-face meeting, and they wanted more than answers.

  They wanted him to stop this investigation. Stop was one thing he just wasn’t prepared to do. If they hurt Honey, he wouldn’t rest until every one of those assholes was six feet in the ground. And they should know that. He didn’t get to where he was without leaving a reputation behind. They all had one. But, in his case, it was justified.

  The building was up ahead. It was dark, deserted, with shattered windows on the second floor. He caught sight of some glass down on the main pavement and realized somebody had knocked out one of the windows, probably to get a sniper rifle out. He’d have done the same thing. Nothing quite like knowing what you’re up against. Which brought him back to Badger’s news after that tape recording had been heard from inside their truck before it blew up. Had this been orchestrated by one of his own unit? It went against the grain to consider it. Maybe their betrayer was ashamed of what he’d done now? Or was following along, making sure to cover his tracks, so it didn’t appear like he had anything to do with it? None of it made any sense, but, after a certain amount of time in the navy, you realized there wasn’t a whole lot that made sense in the world.

  People killed each other over the smallest things. When it came to the big issues, … that entailed an all-out war. It sucked. He wanted to get out of all this. Find an industry where he could put some of his skills to work and live a life, like Honey did. He’d go to work every day nine-to-five, come home potentially to a wife and kids. His mind filled with the image of a little girl, her hair the same color as Honey’s. Her smile the same vivacious, innocent …

  He shook his head. Way too early to head down that path.

  Catching movement out of the corner of his eye, he saw a man rounding the corner and walking down out of sight. It wasn’t one of his men. And that was what he cared about. If it wasn’t a friend, that made him an enemy.

  No innocents were in this game. That was unfortunate for any bystander. Both sides would take any other presence here as having a vested interest, one way or the other. He’d never killed somebody who hadn’t deserved to die or who didn’t have a weapon held on him. And he’d hate to think that, at this point in his life, it would happen. But his focus was on getting Honey out. And fast.

  Erick was six feet away from the front entrance. Instead of approaching and walking inside, he passed and kept going until he was at the corner of the street. He walked around the corner to see if there was a side entrance. There had to be at least a rear entrance, if they were following any American building codes.

  But the codes were much laxer in much of the rest of the world. And that made life a little bit harder for recon work. Still, it only made sense to have a back entrance for deliveries.

  The space behind the building was barely wide enough for a delivery truck to get through. And definitely not enough room for two of them to travel at once. Another building was butted up close.

  He walked up the back of the alley, looking for that rear entrance to the address he had been given. And found it at the other end of said building.

  There was a lock on the outside. He nodded. That at least made some sense.

  He quickly picked the lock to make it a useable exit from inside, then retraced his steps back around to the front of the building and casually, with full confidence, took the two steps to the entrance and opened the door into the subject building.

  He stepped inside and stood with his hands at his hips, looking around. Dark shadows came off whatever deserted furniture had been left—a chair, an odd table, a set of shelves. Dust lay thick and heavy on the floor, easily showing the multiple sets of tracks inside.

  He studied the tracks to see that they all headed to the far back right corner and what appeared to be a hallway. Likely it would lead to the back door he had located. The front area had probably been a shop, the rear area an office with a large storeroom.

  Honey would be back there somewhere. It was possible she was on the second floor, but there were no stairs visible from where he stood. He looked again at the footprints that confirmed his hypothesis. Small footprints, a good one-third smaller than the man forcing her along, went straight to the back. At least he knew where she was. Deliberately he turned and wandered the large empty space. He let his head show in the windows each time so his team would know where he was. He walked the whole front space, and then, sure nothing else was hidden herein and that no other entrances or exits or stairs came to or from this room, he followed the tracks to the back.

  He knew the kidnappers had been aware of his presence blocks before he’d arrived. Let them wonder what he was doing. Only a
fool didn’t scope out the floor plan of a meeting place when he had a chance. He matched up what he knew from the blueprints. Letting his heels click, he moved in the same line as the footprints. He didn’t see or hear anyone as he continued to travel the space. At the corner was a hall that turned quickly into another hallway with several closed doors.

  One of the doors was slightly ajar. He stopped short and listened. Obviously Honey would be behind one. But who was behind the others? He turned to look at the other two doors, noting the oiled hinges on one. He smiled, but there was nothing nice about his grin.

  He stepped to the door that was almost open and gently nudged it farther open. It was a small room with a chair in the center, but now the chair was sideways. He kept pushing the door wider and wider. And then he saw a boot. He grinned. He started snapping his fingers of his good hand. Soft, low key, but something Erick knew Laszlo would recognize. No way would Erick go in there and get his head split open.

  Instantly Laszlo poked his head out from around the corner of the door. He took one look and grinned.

  Erick motioned for Laszlo to come out. Erick whispered in Laszlo’s ear, “At the back of this hall is an exit leading to an alleyway.” He motioned to Honey standing right behind Laszlo.

  She took one look, and relief and joy filled her face.

  He held a finger to his lips, and she nodded, coming forward. He wrapped an arm around her and held her tight. He turned to look at Laszlo. Erick pointed at the door with the oiled hinges. Laszlo took one look and nodded. Erick motioned Honey toward the rear door exiting the alley. He gave one last look at Laszlo, motioning at the door ahead and said soundlessly, Go.

  Honey opened her mouth to protest, but Erick gave her a hard glare.

  Erick watched as Laszlo turned the handle and pushed it open ever-so-slightly. If anybody was lying in wait of somebody escaping, they would attack now.

  The door was jerked open wider, and Laszlo reached up, ready to attack. And froze. Erick took one look and realized Brandon was outside the door. He nodded to Laszlo who quickly nudged Honey toward Brandon and said, “Get her out.”