by Reina Torres
The anger she saw in his face wasn’t rage or seething madness, it was calm, cool, and made her whole body start to shiver.
“Where is it?”
She didn’t answer. She couldn’t seem to get her mind to work as he looked at her.
Seth turned his gaze on Robert and demanded an answer from him.
“I told you,” Robert answered him, “she didn’t have it on her.”
“And you searched her things?”
She had to give Robert a point for not rushing out an answer.
“Broad daylight worked against me. She was staying above a shop. The only ways in and out would be seen by the mechanic who was working there.”
“And how do you know it wasn’t in the apartment?” Seth’s tone was cutting.
“I had a gun pressed to her friend’s head and she swore it wasn’t there in Eagle Rock.”
“She swore? Did you make her cross her heart? Spit shake on it? Oh, I know!” Seth’s words spat out like bullets. “Maybe you had her pinky swear that it wasn’t in that ridiculous town!”
As much as she hated Robert, she couldn’t help but admire how he didn’t cower in the face of Seth’s anger directed solely at him.
“She told me the disc was here in California. She hid it before she left.”
And then she was right back in the devil’s crosshairs.
“Is that true, Blake?”
She nodded slowly, trying to keep an awareness of where everyone was in the room. “Yes.”
“If you’re going to lie, don’t. We know it’s not in your apartment. I’ve already had people go over it with a fine-toothed comb.”
“That’s why I left,” she couldn’t keep quiet but there was no use in getting right to the point, and she needed time, “I knew you’d figure it out eventually.”
“So, it does exist.”
“You know it does.” She kept her tone neutral and hopefully her expression followed suit. “I left it here in California. I knew if I took it with me it would be too easy to find me.”
He leaned closer and the ghost light made his skin look jaundiced. “Can’t say I agree with the haircut, but no one really looks at your hair.”
Breathe.
“All you have to do is tell us where it is.” He sounded so reasonable, but it had been a long time since she believed him about anything.
“And I will tell you in the morning.”
“No!” His shout made her jump and take a half step back. “You will tell me now!”
Cowering before him wasn’t an act. She’d never seen him this angry. Cruel? Cold? Sure. But the glint in his eyes truly scared her. The weak illumination of the ghost light gave him a pallor that made her skin grow cold.
“It’s someplace that’s closed right now.”
“We can get in.” That from Robert. Strong tone. Overconfident.
“No,” she turned to look at him, needing the time, “there’s a lot of security. Passcodes. Double locks. The police are always nearby. It’s better to wait until the morning. I’ll walk in and get it and-”
“We will go and get it.” Robert again.
“I hid it, but they won’t give you access. I know this sounds crazy, but it’s the reason why I hid it there.”
“You were expecting us to find you.” She couldn’t tell if Seth’s tone was all ego or a little bit impressed at her. Blake certainly wasn’t going to ask. “You put some real thought into this.”
Nodding, she met his eyes but kept her expression cool. “I wanted it safe. I wanted Zoe safe.”
For the first time, Seth seemed rocked by her words in some way other than anger. His expression was softer than she’d ever seen it.
“She could have had everything you know?” He took a deep breath and let it out. “I was going to give her a big starring role in that new Harlow film. You know, the one about the young girl coming to New York. Zoe,” he sighed softly, “was all bright eyes and that sweet smile. A modern-day Mary Tyler Moore. She would have been big with my support. She would have been the next big thing, but then you stepped into it.”
His eyes grew cold again.
“I’m not going to let you ruin the rest of my life because you just couldn’t keep your nose out of my business.”
“I’m not trying to.” That was the biggest lie she’d told in a long time. “I know why you want the disc. I’m going to get it in the morning, but you have to wait until then.”
Robert stepped in closer. “I can get in anywhere. Just tell me where it is.”
Blake brought her hand up to her head and pressed against the throbbing pain in her temple. “I can’t tell you where it is. I have to show you and you’re not listening to me, Robert. I told you, I picked the place because of the security.” She turned around in a tight circle looking at the other men before she turned to look back at Seth and Robert. “I can retrieve the disc in the morning and it’s less than eight hours from now. Once you have that I’m leaving Hollywood. Leaving California. I’m going somewhere entirely unrelated to the industry and you’ll never have to see me again.”
Lying was one thing. Acting like she wasn’t going to want to see him with a lethal injection in his arm was quite another.
She could see the wheels turning in his head, the narrowed eyes that fixed on her face.
“I don’t know,” his shoulders rose and fell on a long sigh, “maybe I like the idea of you close. Time away might make you feel the need to… get chatty. So, first thing’s first. You’ll bring us the disc in the morning and then I’ll decide how far I’m going to let you go.”
He turned on his heel and looked at Robert. “Your job, if you think you can do it, is to keep her here and keep things quiet. I’ll be back in the morning and we’ll get that disc.”
She watched Robert bristle under Seth’s cold tone and knew that the rest of the night wasn’t going to go well for her, but she’d get through it and hope, beyond hope that Adam was coming to bring her home.
Chapter 16
The Burbank Airfield was close enough for what they needed and when they stepped down onto the tarmac, Adam watched as Hank crossed to two men waiting for them. Both were dressed in black from the neck down, tactical gear.
The three moved back to the base of the stairs as Taz and Tate set up the gear at their feet.
Hank made the introductions. He named off the Brotherhood first and ended that with Adam. Turning back, he gestured to the taller of the two men. “This is Sergeant Thurston-”
“You can call me Palmer,” The sergeant saw the odd looks on everyone’s face, “or not.”
“And this guy is Paxton Fullerton, some of you may have met him before.”
Tate was the one to reach across the circle. “Pax, good to see you again.”
“Paxton just started with us, but he’ll have our backs.”
Shrugging, Paxton tilted his head at the sergeant. “Five is as good as it gets and he’s local LAPD, so he’ll help us with access to the studio.”
“Is that where they have her?” Adam felt the muscles in his neck tighten up until he was sure they’d snap soon if they didn’t get moving.
Lifting the tablet computer in his hand he opened a folder and showed them an aerial shot of the studio with a building marked with a red halo. “We tracked the car that they transported her in and they stopped outside of this building for about twenty minutes before taking the vehicle to the fleet parking lot for Megalodon. There was another vehicle that pulled up. I couldn’t get a close enough view to know exactly who it was that entered the building and left about an hour later, but I think we can all guess.”
The soldiers nodded around the circle, except for Adam. “Is a guess good enough to bet Blake’s life on? Is that all we have to work on?”
Before anyone else answered, Adam’s head dropped down until his chin met his chest. “I should have gotten her a phone or given her mine. I should have done something more to protect her. He just walked her out of the diner and put her in a ca
r.” The ache in his middle was a black hole, sucking him into the dark cycle of blame. “I failed her.”
“Hey,” someone clapped a hand on his back, “hey, she’s alive.”
Adam looked up and saw Paxton standing at his side. “Are you sure?”
Paxton narrowed his eyes at him. “Aren’t you?”
Closing his eyes, Adam took a deep breath into his lungs and then let it out. When he was done, he looked up at Paxton and then everyone else in the group, his heart pounding with new life in his chest. “Yeah. I’m sure.”
The sergeant gestured toward a restricted gate. “We’ll go out that way. I have cars waiting for us to use.”
While Blake waited for the night to come and go, she ignored the pangs of hunger that she felt. She struggled to keep blood flowing into her legs and preserve feeling in her limbs as well. The men took turns walking near the two sets of doors, but after a while they stopped giving her suspicious looks.
The last thing she wanted to give them was trouble.
For her this was a waiting game. And they didn’t know it, but she had an extra ace up her sleeve and if things went south, she was going to play it to stall for time.
Seth Coleman didn’t know it, but she was going to survive this and get justice for Zoe. Two goals and she was sure she had some decent odds.
And, if that all worked, she was heading to Vegas because it would all be beginners’ luck.
Stretching out her legs again, she leaned back against an old wooden crate. Somewhere near the middle of her back there was a splinter sticking into her. Any other day and she would have just moved away from the pain, but as it was, the splinter was keeping her awake and that was good.
Or it would be in the morning.
That’s what she kept telling herself.
And that’s what she would keep telling herself until she was safe and out of this crazy mess.
They made their way through a small hole in the back fence. It was small enough that most people wouldn’t even know it was there, partially hidden in the shadows of a thick patch of oleander bushes behind a mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery.
As they made their way through the narrow space, they had to divest themselves of their gear and put it all back on inside the gate. Once they were all on the inside and redressed, they made their way along the outside of the buildings that made up the patchwork of sound stages in the older part of the studio lot.
And old was exactly what they found. Pieces of sets that looked like they’d been broken off a whole. Rocky outcroppings, the bottom of a Roman column, even the front steps and a door from some kind of fancy home were stacked outside of one of the sound stages.
These unassuming buildings had seen different eras and different countries, wars and romances. If they were there under any other circumstances, their walk might have been more interesting. As it was, those old set pieces were just obstacles and another danger to skirt around.
Hank was at the front of the group and had just made it into the shelter of the shadows of the next row of buildings when he held up his hand for them to stop.
Everyone stopped and found a little corner of the shadows to hunker down in.
It wasn’t more than a few seconds before a long, shadow passed between Hank and the rest of the group.
Adam held himself still in the shadows and prepared himself to see who was moving through the quiet backlot. If this person stood between him and Blake, then it really wouldn’t matter who they were. An obstacle was just that. Something to move through.
The beam of a flashlight burst through the darkness and swung across the cement, sweeping back and forth, uncovering the wooden braces of a set piece and then the corner of a crate before it glinted off something in the path.
Beside Adam, Taz moved forward, silent as death, readying himself to use his weapon. They’d gone less lethal with their choice of weapons in an agreement with Sergeant Thurston.
Still, their weapons would pack a good enough punch to subdue anyone in their path.
The shadowy figure bent down to pick up the piece of metal on the ground and Hank had the best shot at him, just feet away, but they all waited, wondering who it was.
“Who’s there?” The flashlight swung and bathed Hank in its LED halo. “What the hell?”
Everyone tensed as the man stepped into the soft light of the moon and they saw the uniform he was wearing. Studio security.
The man was old enough to carry weight around his middle that made his utility belt sit low on his hips, but that didn’t make the gun at his side any less lethal.
“What the hell are you doing here?” The security guard stepped forward and Adam wondered what Hank was waiting for.
Slowly, as if he was moving through chest-deep water, Hank stood and stepped into the light, and Adam felt his breath stick in his lungs.
“Hey!” The Security Guard moved the beam of his flashlight over Hank’s body, illuminating his tactical gear from foot to head. “You almost made me piss myself!”
Adam could see Tate look over at Swede with a shrug.
Still, Hank didn’t say a word.
Lowering the beam of his flashlight, the aging man let out a belly-jiggling chuckle. “You actors! You’re gonna be the death of me someday.”
Turning around, he swept his flashlight beam around the area and as the beam passed over each of the men, they followed Hank’s lead and stood, lowering the barrels of their weapons but not their awareness of the situation.
“Holy Moly, you guys ain’t playing! I’ve heard of method actors but damn, you boys take this to another level.” Turning back to Hank, the security guard shook his head. “I heard they were making some kind of Special Forces movie. I guess you boys are prepping for the role.” Nodding, he cast another look over the assembled group. “They’re going all out on costumes, I see. Impressive.” The security guard set a hand on his belly. “Back in my day I would have put in for that too, but that was a long time ago. Look,” he smiled, and shook his head again, “if you’re gonna be moving around in the dark, it would be a good idea to call the security office and let them know, because then we would have steered clear of this area.”
Hank nodded and the man narrowed his eyes. “Well, looks like you ain’t the talkative type, and I get it. You’re supposed to be sneaking around all super-secret-like. So, look... I’ll head out and continue my rounds. You boys be careful.”
A couple of the men returned the guard’s wave and the older man started to back away. “Damn, those guns look like the real things.”
No one moved until the man had disappeared around the corner of the next building.
Blake grew increasingly worried when Robert exited the old abandoned office on what would have been the second floor of a normal building instead of a sound stage. He stood on the old catwalk and looked down at her. Pretending she didn’t see him leaning precariously against the railing took real effort.
Any attempt to just relax and let time pass was just that, an attempt. She was quickly and quietly losing her sanity.
Worrying had taken over a good part of her mind. Had Annalise really been let go like Robert had promised? Was she home with her baby? What would Adam think about his sister being taken, because of her?
Adam.
If she had stayed put and just accepted the fact that he didn’t want her, then this… then she…
No. She had set this whole thing in motion when she left California to go on the run like an idiot.
And trading out her car? What good had that done? If she could believe Robert, the sweet lady who had done her a favor was hurt or worse.
A nagging pain twisted in her gut as she thought about it.
And Sadie. If this ended up hurting her or her family?
Adam. Her thoughts always came back to him. What would he think if Annalise was hurt because of her troubles? She’d never forgive herself.
Never.
A hand closed around her arm and pulled her to her feet.
“M-me?”
“Yeah, you.” He narrowed his eyes. “You’re planning something.”
“No,” she shook her head, “I’m just waiting until we can get in to get the disc.” She waited for a moment and saw the suspicion in his eyes. “I was just trying to save you from trouble by trying to break into the place tonight. I picked it for a reason.”
“Yeah,” he smiled, but the expression only left her cold, “you did. And that’s why I’m wondering what kind of a trap you’re walking us into.”
“None!”
He pulled her to her feet, wrenching her shoulder along the way. “Get up.”
“Come on,” he held her arm tighter as he squeezed it tighter in his hand, “we are going to have a little talk before he comes back.”
This wasn’t the plan. The useless thought echoed in her head as Robert moved her toward the stairs. When they reached the bottom, she turned and pushed her back against the railing. “What do you want to know?”
“What are you waiting for?”
Blake shook her head. “I told you. We have to wait until the building opens. Until then I was just waiting. That’s what I told Seth.”
“Yeah,” he tried to move her up the stairs, but she kept a foot planted on the ground, “you said that, but you don’t tell Seth everything, do you?”
She felt her teeth grinding together. “What did I lie about?”
“He put you in films and you’re trying to bring him down.”
“He did the same thing to Zoe that he did to me. If that brings him down then it’s his fault, Robert.”
“No,” Robert’s fingers relaxed a little bit on her arm, but she didn’t try to pull away, “no, it’s your fault.”
She heard the slightest dip in the volume of his voice, felt the tremble of his hand around her arm. That’s when things shifted for her. Robert was Seth’s head of security. The things that he must have seen since Seth created Megalodon, well, it must be staggering. Knowing that she had defied Seth. Seeing how Zoe had left after Seth assaulted her. Blake was absolutely sure that Robert knew that Seth was on his way out.