by Mia Ford
“You know, now would be the perfect time,” I said, turning my attention back to Heath.
He looked up at me and frowned. “What?”
I gestured to the journal again. “Garth’s going to be a little preoccupied at the moment. I say take it and make a run for it. Drive out of town, far away from Kent. Make a few calls. Get a nice little setup going on before he even knows what hit him.”
“I told you to shut up.”
“Take me with you.”
Heath’s eyes widened. “What did you say?”
“Take me with you,” I repeated. “Come on, you don’t honestly think I want to stay in this hell hole forever do you?”
Heath frowned at me, the confusion etched on his face almost making me smile.
“Alex was just a means to an end,” I said. “This is all a show. Take out Alex, and Samuel would be too heartbroken to do anything but sell. He’d need the money to take care of Kelly.”
“Bullshit,” Heath said. “You know, sometimes I get the feeling you think I’m a complete idiot.”
“Why?” I asked. “Because Garth didn’t tell you about all this? You know him better than anyone. How was this going to be believable if we continued seeing each other?”
“Okay, now you’re just blabbering a bunch of nonsense,” Heath said. “If this was some great plan, then why are you tied up over there?”
“You said it yourself, too many people,” I replied. “Garth doesn’t know who to trust anymore. We staged the whole kidnapping.”
Heath shook his head, but I could already see that he was starting to doubt his own logic. “That’s bull. He would have told me.”
“Actually, he wanted to,” I said. “I convinced him not to. For this to work, everyone had to be kept in the dark, even you.”
Heath ran a hand across his face and scratched the back of his head. He stood up and began to pace back and forth. He shook his head and waved a finger at me.
“See, there you go, playing with me again,” he said. “Garth would never agree to that.”
“It’s perfect, and you know it,” I said. “You just don’t want to believe it because you never thought he’d keep you in the dark about anything. Garth is always going to look out for number one, and that number one is him. He’ll toss anyone aside if it works in his favor.”
“And what’s going to stop him from tossing you to the curb?”
“Nothing,” I said. “That’s why I’m telling you to take me with you. You have his contacts right there in your hands. Every name and number he’s ever needed to build his little empire. All I ask is you take me with you.”
Heath eyed me for what seemed like forever, and I knew I had gotten to him. When you broke him down to his core, all Heath really wanted was power and recognition, both of which Garth was barely giving him. All I needed was a little push to get him to turn on Garth completely.
I adjusted myself on the couch, letting my feet fall to the floor, and opened my legs wide.
“What are you doing?”
“Come on, Heath,” I tried my best to smile seductively. “Don’t tell me you weren’t just a little curious about what made Garth bend over backwards for me?”
His eyes rested on my crotch, and I pushed my chest out towards him. “Take me with you,” I whispered, “and I promise you, you’ll get a lot more than just a journal.”
“Prove it.”
The request took me by surprise, and for a brief second, my composure faltered. “Excuse me?”
“Prove it,” he repeated. “You say you want out. You say you want me to take you with me, that you’d give me all of that.” He gestured with his hand at me. “Prove it.”
I tried to control the shaking in my voice, and faked a smile. “What do you want me to do?”
He walked towards me, dropped the journal on the couch, and leaned in. “Give me a preview,” he said.
He reached down with one hand and cupped me between my legs, pressing the heel of his hand against my crotch. I fought back the gag that threatened to escape my mouth and the bile that rushed up my throat. Play along, dammit! Play along.
“Whatever you need, sweetheart,” I whispered, hating myself for what I was doing.
He cupped one of my breasts and squeezed painfully, but I was quick to hide my discomfort and even pushed my hips forward against his hand. He unbuttoned my jeans and pulled the zipper down, giving himself room to slide his fingers into my panties. I shuddered with disgust as he touched me, the reflex working to my advantage as he smiled.
“You like that, huh?”
I nodded, biting my lip and trying to look as turned as I possibly could without headbutting him in the face. “Untie my hands and pull down your pants,” I said. “I think I might just know how to be a little more convincing.”
Heath hesitated for only a second before pulling a switchblade out of his pocket and reaching around me. I heard the blade snap open, and with a few tugs, my hands were finally free. Heath stood up, replaced the knife in his pocket, and quickly began unbuckling his pants. I gave him my best smile as he tugged and pulled at his pants, and even went as far as helping him pull them down.
Gunshots echoed through the night sky, startling us both. Heath’s head snapped up, his eyes squinting to see what was happening across the street, and I used the momentary distraction to my advantage. I gathered my strength, used every ounce of anger I had to fuel it, and punched him in the crotch.
Heath cried out in pain, his knees buckling as he collapsed onto the floor. I jumped up and raced past him. He curled up in a fetal position, his hands holding his crotch, and called after me. “You fucking bitch!”
I raced to the front door, skidding as I stopped and tried to pull it open. It was locked. I looked for the key on the table next to the door, my hands shaking, Heath’s cries of pain piercing through my ears like sirens.
“I’m going to fucking kill you!”
More gunshots sounded from across the street, and tears quickly welled up in my eyes. I needed to get to Alex. I had no idea what I would do once I was outside, but I didn’t care. All I could think about was racing across the street before it was too late.
Heath appeared at the doorway to the living room, naked from the waist down, cupping his crotch with one hand and brandishing his switchblade in the other. “I’m going to cut you up, you fucking bitch!”
He lunged for me, and I quickly turned and raced up the stairs. I could hear him following me, clumsily slamming against the bannister and wall as he chased me to the second floor. Something cut across the back of my arm, and I screamed at the sudden shock of pain that shot out from where his switchblade had wounded me. I kept going, high on adrenaline, knowing that if I hesitated for just one second, he’d be on top of me. And that switchblade would do a lot more than just cutting.
I ran into Garth’s room and slammed the door closed. Heath was able to get an arm in to stop it from closing completely. I leaned against it, using my body to keep him from pushing it open, but he stronger, angrier, and I felt myself losing the struggle. He swiped at me with the knife, barely missing my face, and pushed at the door with everything he had. I was hurled forward and landed with a thud on the ground.
“You bitch!” he screamed and toppled on top of me. The weight of his body knocked the breath out of me, and I was helpless as he grabbed my hair and slammed my face against the floor. I flood blood trickle into the back of my mouth, and I pushed up against him with everything I had.
Heath rolled off me, the knife falling from his hands, and I grabbed it before he could. Without thinking, I swung my arm around and watched the blade cut across his cheek. He rolled away, kicking me as he tried to distance himself from my frantic swings. Gathering what little strength I had left, I pushed to my feet and raced back out and towards the stairs. Before I could reach them, Heath had caught up with me and threw his body against me, slamming the both of us into the wall.
“I’m going to kill you!” he hissed in my ear.
Screaming, I flung my elbow back and felt it connect with his jaw, giving me enough room to turn around and push him away.
Heath’s eyes grew wide as he lost balance and fell back, landing with a sickening cracking sound on the staircase. I slid to the floor and watched as he rolled down the stairs and came to an abrupt stop at the bottom, his legs and arms twisted in impossible angles and his eyes staring up at the ceiling.
Chapter 24: Alex
My hands tightened around the rifle as I made my way across the side of the house. I kept my head low, looking behind me every few steps to make sure no one was going to surprise me. The lights inside the house were on, but the curtains were drawn, and there was no way I would be able to take a look inside without bringing too much attention to myself.
This is a trap. You know that, right?
I heard Janice’s voice in the back of my head, loud enough to make me believe she was standing beside me and whispering urgently in my ear. Of course, I knew it was a trap. I was a lot of things, but naïve wasn’t one of them. There was no telling what Garth had planned for me, and every precaution I could take was only for my benefit. Ultimately, anything could happen.
I stopped just before I turned the corner towards the back. I leaned against the wall of the house, closing my eyes and listening to the sounds around me. Everything was quiet, except for the chirping of crickets and the occasional croak of a frog. The house was dead silent, and I began to immediately rethink my decision to come here. If Jenni really was inside, there would be some noise, anything at all, even if muffled moans of protest or the occasional shifting of furniture.
Unless they have her in the basement.
But the basement windows were dark, and a quick inspection of the one nearest to me assured me that no one was down there. The silhouettes of construction equipment lined the walls, and the shadows that shifted came from the light of the moon. No, she was definitely not in the basement.
Then why was the house so damn quiet?
A lick of a lighter immediately brought me back from the questions in my head, and I heard the faint sound of a cigarette lighting and someone blowing out smoke. I cocked my head to one side, trying to hear for anything else, and a muffled cough soon followed.
Would he be that stupid?
I doubted it, which could only mean that he wasn’t alone. I don’t know why that took me a little by surprise, although I knew that at least Heath should be here, if not others. But, for the entire drive here, I had convinced myself that Garth was the kind of guy who was a little too proud to let one of his men take me down. A part of me truly believed that he would try and do it on his own. As if he had to prove how efficient he was. It was an instinctive feeling, something that had never let me down before, and I was a little taken aback that I had been wrong about this.
This doesn’t feel right, I thought to myself. My mind was throwing up flags left and right, and I turned and looked behind me again, frowning at the other houses that lined the street. Some of them had their lights on while others looked completely abandoned. Maybe I was being drawn to the wrong place. Maybe Jenni wasn’t here after all. Garth had an entire compound at his disposal, with more than enough places he could have hidden her in. This felt a little too convenient.
Only one way to find out.
I stood up slowly and adjusted my hold on the rifle, taking a deep breath before I burst out from my cover and aimed.
It wasn’t Garth after all, and I stared at the surprised look on Jack’s face, arm still in a sling. He dropped the cigarette from his good hand and reached for his gun. I raised the rifle and aimed it at his head.
“Don’t,” I said.
Jack was apparently as stupid as he looked, because he went for his gun anyway. I lowered he rifle, aimed at his leg, and fired. His leg shot out from under him, his kneecap exploding in a shower of blood as he screamed out in pain and fell to the ground. I rushed to his side and kicked his gun away, pressing the muzzle of my rifle against his head.
“Where is she?”
Jack cried out in pain and slapped his hand against the ground several times.
“Where the fuck is she?”
I heard the gunshot before the window burst, and quickly dropped to my knees. I was suddenly back in Miami, the bullet whizzing past my head and lodging in the tree behind me, showering me in barks of wood. I raised my rifle and fired into the open window, cursing when I realized that I could be shooting at Jenni. The curtains flapped in the wind, and another gunshot tore through the fabric and whizzed over my head.
I heard footsteps race deeper into the house. Jack was trying to push himself up, and I brought the rifle down hard against the back of his head, knocking him out. I grabbed his gun, made sure the safety was on, then lodged it into my belt. I waited, listened, and when I was sure no one was going to shoot at me again, I raced forward and kicked in the back door.
The sudden bright light blinded me, and I whirled back out, hiding behind the protection of the doorframe. I half expected gunshots to follow me, but whoever was still inside had decided to abandon his post and find another vantage point somewhere else. I lifted the rifle up and stepped inside the house, glass crunching under my feet as I moved.
The house was barren, devoid of all life except for a few tables here and there where drills and saws had been left behind. Planks of wood lined the hallway, and a barrel had been pushed up against the front door.
He really expected you to come in through there.
Garth might have been out of his mind, but it was apparent that he was nothing more than a power-hungry amateur who had no idea that he was in over his head.
Careful. Those are usually the dangerous ones.
The unpredictable ones. The ones that would go as far as kidnap a woman to lure a DEA agent into a trap and try to kill him.
I made way deeper into the house, careful as I passed every door, making sure no one was waiting for me inside. I approached the staircase carefully, keeping my aim high, ready to fire at anything that moved. If Jenni was here, then there was only one place she could be. Which meant Garth was up there, too.
“You know, Alex, I would have expected you to be a lot more cordial,” Garth called from the second floor. I crouched down immediately. “I mean, there’s so much that could get done if people would just amicably work together.”
“Those are two big words right after each other, Garth,” I called back. “Careful, you might give yourself an aneurysm.”
Garth laughed, and a gunshot followed that struck the wall ahead of me and showered the staircase with plaster. The point of impact was too far away from me to be of any effect. Garth was just showing me where my limit would be.
“I never told Heath to hurt your old man, you gotta believe me,” Garth said.
“I believe you,” I said. “So how about you let Jenni go and we can sort this out another time.”
“Oh, come on, Alex,” Garth laughed. “You’re a smart guy. I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that she isn’t here.”
Fuck! Always listen to your instincts.
“Where is she, Garth?”
“Across the street,” he called down. “Heath is with her. I told him to do it quickly, but hey, you know Heath.”
I eyed the barrel blocking the front door and decided against testing whether or not I could move it. I jumped to my feet and raced back down the hallway and out the back. I stayed close to the wall, making myself less of a target in case Garth decided to use me as target practice from up there. As soon as I stepped out into the driveway, the front door opened.
Garth came out shooting, gun shaking in his hand and his eyes blazing in anger as he fired at me. The first shot missed me and the second grazed my shoulder as I jumped across the hood of his Mustang and dove for cover. He continued shooting, bullets lodging into the sports car as he screamed bloody murder. I waited for the distinct sound of lifeless clicking, and stepped out, rifle held high and aimed directly at him.
Garth dropped the gun and raised his hands into the air, glaring at me yet smiling. “Whatcha gonna do, big boy?” he hissed. “Arrest me? Or go save your girlfriend before Heath rips her to shreds?”
I glanced at the house across the street then brought my attention back to Garth. “On the ground, Garth.”
Garth laughed and clapped his hands. “Bravo, bravo!” he said. “Always the long arm of the law, aren’t we? You’d rather try and take me in than save your sweet Jenni? I’m impressed, agent Logan.”
I winced at his shrill laughter, and my eyes darted to the house where Jenni was supposedly in. This was just another game. There was no telling if there was any truth behind what he was saying. This could just be his way to distract me while he got away.
“On the ground!” I yelled, my mind racing.
Garth got down on his knees and put his hands behind his head. “I’m not exactly sure how you’re going to cuff me, but make sure you read me my rights. I know Sheriff Blake is going to be incredibly interested in what happened here.”
I wanted to shoot him right there and then, and fought the urge back. I approached him slowly, rifle held tight, and tried to think of the next best move.
“Alex!”