Hunted: A Suspense Collection

by J. L. Drake

  “What are we going to do about the FBI?” Sonya asked.

  “I guess we’ll wait and see what you find out from Jan tomorrow,” Jennings said. “At least we’ll have some inside information—I’m glad I had you make friends with the woman, otherwise this would have blindsided us. With us knowing they might be coming, we have a heads up to be careful. I was hoping this would be our last meeting until we planned for the family harvest, but now we’ll have to meet tomorrow night and make some plans. After we have the information we need, then we’ll lay low for a while.”

  “Sounds good,” Roger said, standing. “I guess that will be all for this evening then.”

  “I guess,” Jennings said. “I’ll call around and try to find a moving van or truck, to see if Sonya’s moving idea will work.”

  “Okay,” Sonya said, and she and Lloyd stood as well. “I’ll see what I can find out tomorrow.”

  Roger headed for the door and the couple followed him.

  “Are we still going to ask him?” Sonya whispered to Lloyd.

  “Sure,” he whispered back, and nodded.

  “Roger—wait up!” Sonya called, and rushed ahead into the shadows of the vast area of the building were he’d disappeared.

  ***

  Lloyd was about to increase his pace to catch up with Sonya when a hand clamped down on his shoulder.

  “Not so fast,” Jennings said from behind him. “I want to talk to you.”

  Lloyd clenched his fists at his sides, not wanting to deal with the old man and the bullshit he knew was coming. He turned to face Jennings.

  “What can I help you with?” he asked sarcastically, crossing his arms.

  Jennings stared at Lloyd for a few moments before he began.

  “I really don’t appreciate you killing my team member,” he said. “I thought we had an…understanding.”

  Lloyd shrugged. “He crossed too many lines and he was a stupid asshole. What did you expect me to do, just tolerate it?”

  “Yes,” Jennings all but screamed. “We have work to do and that work makes us all money.”

  “Yeah, and working with stupid people risks getting the rest of the team caught or killed,” Lloyd snarled back. “I blame his death on you, because you’re the one who hired his fucking ass.”

  “Now you listen here,” Jennings snapped, standing toe to toe with Lloyd. “I know what’s best for the team.”

  “Do you?” Lloyd asked, his eyes blazing with anger. “Do you really? Because I don’t think you do. If you did, you wouldn’t have had one of them spying on others, trying to cause trouble. I ended that trouble before it really began, while you were oblivious.”

  Jennings frowned and took a step back.

  “What are you talking about? Who was spying?”

  “That asshole was watching Sonya’s house and tried to follow me home,” Lloyd said. “I caught him in the act. How would things work out for the team if Sonya or I had been hurt by that bastard? What would you have done then? You wouldn’t have your bait or your mover then, would you?”

  “Fuck!” Jennings exclaimed. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you come to me?”

  Lloyd laughed. “What would you have done about it? Give him a talking to? The bastard was planning something. Besides, I won’t let anyone hurt Sonya—ever!”

  “She can take care of herself,” Jennings said. “You should have come to me. I could have handled Jack.”

  “You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t believe that,” Lloyd snarled. “I have to go—you have a good night.” He turned to leave.

  “Wait!” Jennings called.

  Lloyd turned back. “What?”

  “This man—the one you want to replace Jack with—can he do the job?”

  “I wouldn’t have suggested him if he couldn’t,” Lloyd said. He turned and walked away into the shadows of the building.

  ***

  Roger paused and turned back when he heard Sonya call his name.

  “What?” he asked as she reached him.

  “I need to talk to you about something.”

  He smiled. “What do you need to talk to me about?”

  She laughed. “I can’t tell you here…right now. Can you come over tonight, or tomorrow morning before I go to work?”

  “I guess…” Roger said, confused. He knew better than to push the issue, knowing if she didn’t want to talk about it at the factory it was something she didn’t want everyone to know. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yes,” she said, “everything’s fine.”

  Lloyd suddenly appeared from the shadows behind Sonya, and he looked angry.

  She turned to him with a puzzled expression.

  “What was that about?” she asked.

  “I’ll tell you later,” he said before shifting his attention to Roger. “So, Roger, what do you think?”

  Roger frowned. “Uh…about what?”

  Lloyd glanced at Sonya; she shrugged.

  “I didn’t want to talk about it here.”

  “Now you two have me curious,” Roger said, and laughed. “I’ll be at your house in an hour.” He nodded at Sonya and left the building.

  As soon as Roger was out of earshot, Lloyd glanced behind him to make sure they were still alone. He turned back to her and spoke in a hushed tone.

  “You go ahead and explain things to Roger,” he said. “I’m going to tail Jennings.”

  She pressed her chest against his, wrapping her arms around his neck.

  “Why didn’t you let me come with you to handle Jack?” she asked playfully, biting her bottom lip and tilting her head to the side.

  “Because you were a bad girl,” he teased, and slapped her ass.

  She squealed with delight before becoming serious.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered with tears in her eyes.

  He sighed. “I know.” He leaned forward and kissed her gently.

  Sonya jumped when her cell phone rang. With a frown, she stepped back from Lloyd to answer it.

  “It’s Miles,” she said, glancing up at Lloyd.

  He grinned, but his eyes were hard and deadly. “You know I’m going to kill that bastard, right?”

  She smiled broadly and nodded, answering her phone as she turned and left the building.

  Lloyd followed, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists as he heard the woman he loved flirting with another man…one she’d fucked hours before.

  Chapter 23

  Sonya barely heard Miles as he droned on and on in her ear about how wonderful she was and how much he cared for her. Normally the rambling would annoy her or make her sick to her stomach, but she kept thinking about the look on Lloyd’s face when he’d said he was going to kill Miles, and it turned her on. Apparently that pent up sexual energy came through in her voice whenever she spoke, because Miles seemed to be getting turned on too, and was highly disappointed when she wouldn’t agree to meet him somewhere to repeat what they’d done earlier.

  Reaching her car, she ended the call with him, promising to see him tomorrow at the hospital. She sighed as she hit the “end” button and looked across the parking lot to see Roger had already left, and Lloyd was starting his car. She paused before getting in to text a message to Lloyd.

  Sonya: I WANT you. Come by my place later if you want.

  Not waiting any longer, she opened the door and climbed into her own car and started the engine.

  Lloyd was leaving the parking lot as she was backing out of her parking space, and she jumped as her cell phone received a text.

  Grabbing her phone, she brought up the message.

  Lloyd: Maybe.

  She sighed, shook her head, and drove out of the parking lot, heading home.

  ***

  Lloyd felt a rush of hot satisfaction course through his body as he read the text from Sonya. He wasn’t going to let her off the hook easy for what she’d done, though. He fought the urge to say “fuck it” to tailing Jennings and go over to her house and make her remember
she was his. He wanted to fuck her so good it would ruin her for any other man for the rest of her life. He thought about what he wanted to do to her when he did get his hands on her again and groaned as he got an erection.

  Jennings was out of the building and heading toward his car less than five minutes after Sonya had pulled out of the parking lot, so he decided to go ahead with his plan despite his discomfort.

  Watching and waiting, he drove away from the curb he’d pulled up beside after Jennings had driven more than a block away.

  After twenty-three minutes on the highway, Jennings got off at an exit to a town Lloyd had never visited before, and it wasn’t hard to keep an eye on where he was going, since it was a very small town with few roads.

  Lloyd got off the highway as well, and pulled to the side of the road for a few minutes to let Jennings take the lead and show him where he lived.

  ***

  Jennings pulled into his garage and sighed with relief. He treasured the times when he didn’t have to worry about having to deal with anything or take care of anyone. Knowing his planning of the family harvest would be taking up a lot of his time, he’d taken a couple of vacation days, and since Sonya had given them the news the FBI was getting close, he would now be even busier in the short time he had to devote to the team and its endeavors.

  He climbed out of his car and slammed the door as the garage door slid closed, and entered his house through an adjoining door. Everyone on the team looked for houses with this set up because they could load and unload things from their cars without the prying eyes of neighbors.

  Out of habit, he said, “I’m home,” to a picture of his deceased wife as he passed her photo hanging on the wall right inside the doorway. He went to the kitchen—straight to the fridge—and took out a home-cooked meal on a plate, which he’d put there the night before. He unwrapped it and heated it in his microwave, then took it and the tumbler of scotch he’d poured himself while the food was heating, with him into the living room. Sitting on the couch, he set his plate on the coffee table.

  He sighed heavily and looked up at the large photo of his wife he’d set at eye level on his entertainment center, where most people would put their TV.

  “This is getting complicated,” he said to her, looking deep into her blue eyes. “That Lloyd bastard killed Jack and the FBI is now trying to get us.” He sighed and glanced down at his plate, picking up his fork. “I don’t know what to do about them anymore.”

  He took a bite of food and chuckled. “Yes, I know we’re doing the right thing and we’re saving people like you, who need organs that are hard to find, but sometimes I want to quit, to just walk away and let everyone else handle it.” His fork clinked as it hit the plate when he scooped up another bite. “Don’t worry. I won’t though. I promised you I’d make things better for people—it’s my responsibility, being a doctor—and I’ll make sure I keep that promise.” He shoved the bite of food into his mouth and chewed, but swallowed hard and responded to the voice of his wife in his head. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you, damn it! I tried.”

  Jennings dropped his fork to his plate, covered his face with both of his hands, and wept.

  ***

  Lloyd watched Jennings through the window where the curtains had gapped slightly. He frowned in confusion, watching the old man talk to himself and start to cry.

  He circled around the house silently to look in a different window, to see the room in which Jennings was in better, thinking that perhaps someone was there that he couldn’t see. When he arrived at the new window, he peered in through the sheer curtains hanging over the glass and was even more confused to see that there was almost nothing in the living room of Jennings’ house—only a single, large photograph of a woman, sitting on a simple wooden entertainment center.

  “He’s off his rocker…” Lloyd said. He shook his head, turned, and walked away into the night. When he got back to his car, he texted Sonya.

  Lloyd: On my way, babe.

  ***

  Sonya jumped when her doorbell rang and her cell phone received a text at the same time. Laughing at herself, she pulled out her phone and headed for the door while she read the text from Lloyd. She was smiling when she opened the door, expecting to see Roger.

  Miles stood on her doorstep holding a dozen red roses, smiling like a goofy idiot.

  Her smile started to turn to a frown of anger, but she quickly glued it back in place and gasped with fake excitement.

  “Oh, you brought me flowers,” she cried, and reached for them.

  He stepped forward, handed her the flowers, and gave her a passionate, wet kiss on the lips.

  She swallowed her reflex gag and kissed him back, hooking her free hand around the back of his neck.

  He moaned and groped her ass, nudging her backwards into the house with his body.

  “I can’t stop thinking about you,” he whispered, pulling back slightly to look down at her.

  She noticed he already had a hard-on and was panting.

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t right now,” she said, and pouted, batting her eyes at him. “Roger—from the team—is coming over to talk shop, and we can’t let him know we have a relationship.”

  “But I need you now,” he panted, trying to nudge her back toward the couch while stumbling a few steps because of their tangled feet. Sonya caught a glimpse of Roger’s truck pulling into her driveway through the open door.

  “He’s here,” she squealed, and tore herself away from Miles. “You have to go! This is serious.”

  An angry expression possessed his features as he straightened up and looked at her.

  “I don’t get why he can’t know,” he said. “Are you ashamed of me?”

  “No, no,” she whispered, and rushed forward to rub his arms reassuringly. “We just made a promise not to get involved with anyone we work with—I could get fired! I really need the money, babe―we both do.”

  He sighed and rubbed both his hands over the top of his head.

  “Okay,” he finally said. “I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered, and smiled broadly. “You have to go.”

  “I’ll see you at work tomorrow,” he said with a leering smile. “He won’t be around to interrupt us then.”

  “Yup,” she said, and shoving him toward the front door gently; she nearly jumped out of her skin because Roger was right on the other side, ready to ring the doorbell.

  “Uh…sorry, am I interrupting something?” he asked, looking back and forth between the two.

  “No,” Sonya said in a rush, “not at all. Miles just stopped by to give me something, but he’s leaving now.”

  Roger looked at her and tried to stop himself from smirking, but only half-succeeded and ended up twisting his face in an unnatural way.

  “Are you okay?” Miles asked as he stepped out of the house. “You’re not having a seizure, are you?”

  Roger laughed. “No, I just thought I was gonna sneeze.”

  “Oh, okay,” Miles said, and looked back at Sonya. “See you tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow,” Sonya said, smiling and nodding.

  Roger stepped into the house and she quickly closed the door.

  “So…does Lloyd know?” Roger asked behind her, bending down to pick up the bouquet of forgotten roses from the floor where they’d been carelessly dropped.

  She spun to face him and hissed, “Yes!”

  He laughed and shook his head, holding the flowers out to her.

  “Poor bastard.”

  “Who?” she asked, yanking the flowers from his grasp with one hand and putting her other hand on her hip.

  “Miles,” Roger said, “because what Lloyd does to him will make what he did to Jack look like a day in preschool.”

  Chapter 24

  “I know,” Sonya said with an evil grin.

  Roger arched an eyebrow in question, but didn’t say anything. He found it rather strange that she liked the idea of Lloyd slaughteri
ng men for her, but then he considered that it was Sonya he was thinking about and almost laughed out loud. She was one of the strangest women he’d ever met and she definitely had some perverse appetites.

  Following Sonya as she walked to the kitchen, he asked, “So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

  She paused with her hand halfway to a cabinet door and looked over her shoulder at him.

  “What do you think about Jennings?” she asked, and turned back to her task. She opened the cabinet and withdrew a vase, and after putting the flowers on the counter, filled it half full of water at the sink.

  Roger frowned and watched her movements, trying to figure out what he was supposed to say, knowing his response was in some way important.

  “He gets on my nerves sometimes, but other than that he doesn’t bother me,” he said, hoping he’d said the right thing.

  Sonya was silent as she filled the vase with the flowers Miles had brought her.

  “I want to bring you in on our plan,” she said softly, still focused on her task, “but you can’t tell Jennings.”

  “What kind of plan?” he asked, moving forward and turning around, resting his hip against the counter to see her face while they talked.

  She looked over at him calmly.

  “We’re going to kill him,” she said. “Right after we harvest the family.”

  Roger was shocked and had to fight hard not to show it.

  “Why do you want to kill Jennings?” he asked, and frowned.

  She sighed and finished arranging the flowers before she answered.

  “He’s been lying to us.”

  “You’re going to kill him because he’s been lying?”

  “Yes,” she said, and smiled at him as she lifted the vase and walked it over to her dining room table, setting it in the center. “He’s been lying to us for a long time, and he’s been withholding money.”

  “I find that hard to believe,” Roger said, standing up straight and walking over beside her; he placed his hand on her shoulder and gently turned her around to face him. “Why would he lie to us or steal from us? How do you know any of this anyway?”